May 15
1004 Henry II, the last Saxon ruler of Germany, is crowned king of Lombardy following the defeat of Arduin of Ivrea. The city of Pavia riots at the news.
1567 Mary, Queen of Scots weds James Hepburn, Earl of Bothwell, at Holyrood Palace in Edinburgh just three months after the death of her former husband King Henry who was assassinated.
1602 Cape Cod is discovered by English navigator Bartholomew Gosnold. "Compared to the French, Spanish, and Dutch, the English were slow to develop an interest in North American colonization. By the later part of the sixteenth century, however, a group of interested and well-connected Englishmen with experience in Irish colonization began to consider permanent settlements in North America. Bartholomew Gosnold undertook a small prospecting expedition on the vessel Concord in 1602, passing down the coasts of Maine and Massachusetts to explore the northern Virginia coast. Gosnold was the first European to see and set foot on Cape Cod; which received its name for its abundance of cod fish;and built a small fur trading station there. The successful voyage enticed English colonization efforts to turn toward this part of North America. Four years later, Gosnold commanded a voyage to bring the first colonists to Jamestown, Virginia. Several accounts of the 1602 prospecting expedition quickly appeared in print.; this complete one was first published by Samuel Purchas in 1625. Gabriel Archer: The said captain did set sail from Falmouth the day and year above written accompanied with thirty-two persons, whereof eight mariners and sailors, twelve purposing upon the discovery to return with the ship for England, the rest remain there for population..."
1718 James Puckle, a London lawyer, patents the world's first machine gun. As a fisherman, he intends to use it at sea.
1773 Birth: Prince Clemens Metternich. "Austrian statesman and arbiter of post-Napoleonic Europe, b. Koblenz, of a noble Rhenish family. While a student in Strasbourg Metternich witnessed revolutionary excesses, to which he later credited his extreme conservatism and hatred of political unrest. In 1795 he married Eleonora von Kaunitz, granddaughter of the Austrian statesman Wenzel von Kaunitz. She brought Metternich great estates and admission to the highest court circles. Metternich began his state career in 1797 as representative of the Westphalian college of counts at the Congress of Rastatt, and he became Austrian ambassador to Saxony (1801) and to Prussia (1803). The favorable impression he made upon the French envoy while in Berlin led Napoleon I to request that he be sent as Austrian representative to France (1806). Metternich's influence greatly increased when he succeeded Johann Philipp von Stadion as foreign minister (1809). Until 1813 he pursued a policy of acquiescence to French supremacy, but he constantly sought to strengthen the diplomatic and military position of Austria in order to make future resistance possible and to disrupt the alliance between Napoleon and Czar Alexander I. He was successful in securing the marriage of Archduchess Marie Louise to Napoleon (1810) and a temporary alliance with France (1812). The middle course that Metternich pursued between France and Russia developed into a policy of armed mediation, and was supplanted by one of substituting Austrian for French supremacy in 1813. The Quadruple Alliance was formed, and war of the coalition against France resulted in the allied victory at Leipzig (1813). Although Metternich wished French domination checked, he had no desire to see the country crushed, for he did not want Prussia and Russia too greatly strengthened and the balance of power upset. He hoped to make Austrian influence supreme in Italy and, while vigorously opposing German unity, sought Austrian ascendancy..."
1730 Robert Walpole becomes Britain's first Prime Minister. Note: Previous heads of the executive had been known as Chief Minister.
1800 King George III survives a second assassination attempt when James Hadfield fires a shot at him during a performance at the Drury Lane Theatre, London.
1806 Lieutenant Zebulon Montgomery Pike sights a mountain peak that now bears his name: Pike's Peak. The massive, towering (elevation 14,110 feet) mountain had been called "The Long One" by Ute Indians. Its name is changed to honor the young army lieutenant. Lieutenant Pike is leading a survey party into the newly acquired Louisiana Purchase when he spots the snowcapped peak in the distance. "Pike's Peak or Bust!" will be the familiar slogan of many a wagon train settler traveling west in the 1800s.
1848 A communist uprising began in Paris, after news of the suppression of a Polish revolt; workers overturn the government and set up a provisional administration which immediately collapses.
1856 Birth: Lyman Frank Baum, author. "...Frank loved children, and delighted in telling them stories. He would read Mother Goose rhymes to his children, who simply could not understand why a mouse would run up a clock or why a cow would jump over the moon. Frank made up his own explanations, which Maud urged him to publish. Her insistence led to Mother Goose In Prose (1897). He continued to write and publish both fiction and non-fiction. Although he published many books, Frank achieved popularity and fame because of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1900). The book wowed audiences with its story and its vivid illustrations. It became an instant hit, and earned the honor of best-selling book in 1900. Since the book had been so successful, Frank decided to adapt it for the stage. Oz, his musical extravaganza became immensely popular, and toured for 9 years. Frank wrote 13 more Oz books, two of which were published after his death..."
1859 Birth: Pierre Curie, French physicist.
1860 Italian leader Giuseppe Garibaldi with 1,000 volunteers heavily defeats the superior Neapolitan army under General Landi at the Battle of Calatafimi.
1862 Birth: Arthur Schnitzler, Austrian playwright, novelist.
1862 The US Department of Agriculture is created by an act of Congress.
1900 Boer War: The Battles of Glencoe and Dundee commence.
1902 Boer War: The Vereeniging Peace Conference begins.
1902 Portugal declares itself bankrupt.
1911 The US Supreme Court orders the dissolution of Standard Oil Company, ruling it in violation of the Sherman Antitrust Act.
1916 WW1: Asiago, Italy falls when Austrian troops under von Hotzendorf attack the Italian front along the Trentino.
1917 WW1: Nivelle is replaced by General Philippe Petain, who quells the mutiny and restores the situation with a combination of tact, firmness, and justice. French counterintelligence completely blots out all news of the mutiny, even from the Germans.
1915 WW1: May 15-25 The Battle of Festubert: "...Haig made a definite change in tactics after the disaster at Aubers. The short, intensive bombardment was to be replaced by a long, deliberate one; the infantry advance to distant objectives would follow the successful French model of a limited "bite and hold" action. Three squadrons of 1st Wing Royal Flying Corps continued to be attached to First Army; they were to carry out a much more extensive programme of interdiction bombing, aiming at observation posts and villages known to be billets, headquarters, stores and so on, and also the Lille-Douai and Lille- La Bassée railways. No aircraft was to fly below 6000 feet on the days of action. Special wireless-equipped aircraft would attempt again to spot the progress of the infantry, as a guide for the artillery..."
1918 Regular airmail service between New York City, Philadelphia and Washington, DC begins under the direction of the Post Office Department, a forerunner of the United States Postal Service.
1922 Weimar: The German-Polish Convention is signed. Upper Silesia is returned to Germany and the minority rights of its Jews are guaranteed. (Atlas)
1930 Birth: Jasper Johns, sculptor, painter.
1933 Holocaust: Erbhoefe, a Nazi law regarding hereditary domains is published, No Jew or Negro can be part of these family holdings. (Edelheit)
1934 Church and Reich: National Socialist priest, Wilhelm Senn, hails Adolf Hitler as "the tool of God, called upon to overcome Judaism..." (Lewy)
1934 Holocaust: Jewish autonomy is abolished in Latvia after a coup led by Karlis Ulimanis. There are some 94,000 Jews living in Latvia at this time.
1934 The US Department of Justice offers a $25,000 reward for bank robber John Dillinger, dead or alive.
1936 Birth: Ralph Steadman, cartoonist. See Also: 1004.
1937 Birth: Madeline Albright, former US Secretary of State under Clinton.
1939 The SS St. Louis, loaded with 930 Jewish refugees, leaves Hamburg bound for Cuba.
1939 Holocaust: Ravensbrueck, a concentration camp for women, is established.
1940 WW2: Holland officialy surrenders to the Germans at 11AM.
1940 WW2: British Air Marshal Sir Hugh Dowding convinces the War Cabinet not to send any more RAF fighter aircraft to France. The decision is also made to send a strategic bombing raid against the Ruhr.
1940 WW2: Churchill begins sending a long series of telegrams to President Roosevelt asking for American aid. In his first message, which he signs as "Former Naval Person," Churchill presents a long list of requests for destroyers, aircraft and other arms. "...From the start, the correspondence between the two men was marked by an easy and affable writing style that foreshadowed the friendship that was to come. In his very first letter, FDR noted their common experience in Naval matters, (FDR had served as Assistant Secretary of the Navy under U.S. President Woodrow Wilson during World War I), as well as their common interest in history. Churchill responded with alacrity and mild humor, choosing the transparent code name "Naval Person," that he would later change to "Former Naval Person" once he had left the Admiralty and moved to the Prime Minister's Residence at number 10 Downing Street. Over the course of the war the two men would exchange thousands of messages, telephone calls, and indirect third party exchanges. They would also meet in person nine times, including the two famous meetings with Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin at Teheran and Yalta, and in the process initiate a new means of carrying out international relations that what we now call "summit diplomacy." The first of these summits took place off the coast of Newfoundland in August 1941, and resulted in the Atlantic Charter, a set of guiding principles intended to govern relations among states with the coming of peace. The last took place at Yalta, in the Crimea, where the "Big Three" issued the "Declaration on Liberated Europe," and attempted to deal with the difficult question of the fate of postwar Poland, where the war began six years before.
The friendship that developed between Churchill and Roosevelt was not without its difficulties, and it is important not to lose site of the fact that the primary responsibility of both men was to look after national interests. This inevitably led to tensions, which at times became quite pronounced. Serious differences arose, for example, over the question of when and where to open the second front in Europe, and a host of other issues, particularly with respect to economic matters. Furthermore, as the years passed and victory in Europe appeared more and more certain, Roosevelt began to cultivate a bilateral relationship with Stalin that wounded Churchill's pride and signaled the emergence of a bipolar postwar world, dominated not by the British Empire, but rather by the two new Super-Powers..."
1941 Volkishness: Goebbels issues "an order against occultism, clairvoyancy, etc." in response to Hess' flight to England. "This obscure rubbish will now be eliminated once and for all. The miracle men, Hess' darlings, will now be put under lock and key, " he writes in his diary. (Goebbels)
1941 WW2: Petain announces a policy of total French collaboration with Germany
1941 WW2: Britain's first jet aircraft, the Gloster-Whittle E28/39, takes to the skies successfully over Cranwell, England on its top-secret maiden flight; the first test of an Allied aircraft using jet propulsion.
1942 WW2: Gasoline rationing goes into effect in 17 states, limiting sales to three gallons a week for non-essential vehicles.
1942 WW2: A bill establishing a women's corps in the US Army becomes law, creating the Women's Auxiliary Army Corps (WAACs) and granting women official military status. The WAACs gain official status and salary, but still not all the benefits accorded to men. Thousands of women will enliste in light of this new legislation, and in July 1942, the 'auxiliary' will be dropped from the name, and the Women's Army Corps, or WACs, receive full Army benefits in keeping with their male counterparts. The WACs will perform a wide variety of jobs, 'releasing a man for combat', as the Army, sensitive to public misgivings about women in the military, touts. But these jobs will range from clerk to radio operator, electrician to air-traffic controller. Women will serve in virtually every theatre of engagement, from North Africa to Asia. It will take until 1978 before the Army will become sexually integrated, and women as merely an 'auxiliary arm' in the military will be history. And it will not be until 1980 that 16,000 women who had joined the earlier WAACs will receive veterans' benefits.
1942 Holocaust: German Jews are forbidden by law from keeping pets. (Persecution)
1944 Holocaust: The deportations of Hungarian Jews to Auschwitz begins. By the end of June, a total of 381,000 Jews have been deported to Auschwitz, including more than 289,000 from Ruthenia and northern Transylvania. (Atlas)
1944 Holocaust: 869 Jews are deported from Paris to Proyanovska slave labor camp near Kovno. There, 160 are shot, and the rest are evacuated six weeks later. Only 15 survive the war. (Atlas)
1945 WW2: Heavy fighting continues on Okinawa.
1946 US president Harry S. Truman signs a bill of credit for £3.75 billion for Britain.
1948 Hours after declaring its independence and the end of Britain's 28-year-old Palestine mandate, the new state of Israel is attacked by Transjordan, Egypt, Syria, Iraq and Lebanon.
1955 The Vienna Treaty, signed by Britain, France, the United States and the USSR, restores Austria's independence.
1957 Britain drops its first hydrogen bomb, on Christmas Island in the Indian Ocean.
1958 The Soviet Union launches Sputnik III.
1963 US astronaut L. Gordon Cooper blasts off aboard Faith 7 on the final mission of the Project Mercury space program.
1969 US Supreme Court Justice Abe Fortas resigns amid a controversy over his past legal fees and shady dealings with jailed financier Louis Wolfson.
1972 Presidential candidate George Wallace is shot by Arthur Bremer in Laurel, Maryland. As a result of the attempted assassination, Wallace will become paraplegic for the rest of his life. In the 1960s he was known as a fist-shaking segregationist who opposed the Civil Rights Movement. In the latter part of his life Wallace will recant many of his earlier conservative beliefs.
1981 The twenty-millionth Volkswagen Beetle is produced at the Volkswagen plant in Puebla, Mexico. Volkswagen first came to Mexico in 1954 as part of a museum exhibit entitled Germany and Its Industry. That same year, two hundred and fifty Beetles were assembled in Mexico. By 1962, Volkswagen had acquired its first assembly plant in Xalostoc, where the company would eventually assemble 50,000 Beetles. Pleased with the new Latin American marketplace, Volkswagen executives made plans to construct a facility in Puebla, a city an hour south of Mexico City. In 1967 the first Beetle was produced at the Puebla plant. Mexico is the only country in the world that still manufactures the original Volkswagen Beetle. If you fly over Mexico City, a city of some twenty million inhabitants, it isn't hard to believe that you will have seen twenty million Beetles crawling around the city's vast highway.
1988 Moscow begins the withdrawal of its estimated 115,000 troops in Afghanistan by pulling a unit out of Jalalabad after eight years of occupation, in compliance with the Geneva accords.
1989 Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev arrives in Beijing for the first Sino-Soviet summit in 30 years.
1990 At an auction at Christies in New York, Japanese millionaire Ryoei Saito bids a record $82.5 million for Vincent Van Gogh's 1890 Portait of Dr. Gachet, smashing the world record of $53.9 million. Two days later, he will spend $78.1 million for Renoir's 1876 Au Moulin De La Galette, also a record.
1991 Edith Cresson, a Socialist and former trade minister, becomes the first woman prime minister of France.
1992 Opposition Popular Front forces in Azerbaijan sweep President Ayaz Mutalibov from power only a day after parliament reinstated him.
1992 Russia, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgystan sign a treaty on Collective Security.
1992 The United States warns Saddam Hussein that allied military forces may 'respond' if his troops attempt to repress Kurdish elections in northern Iraq.
1993 Bosnian Serbs vote in the first of two days of balloting on whether the Bosnian Serb parliament should accept a UN peace plan for Bosnia-Herzegovina.
1995 China conducts an underground nuclear test just days after it had agreed to an extension of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
1996 Right-wing leader Atal Bihari Vajpayee becomes India's first Hindu nationalist prime minister after his Bharatiya Janata Party emerges as the largest single party in a hung parliament.
1996 Bob Dole announces he is resigning from the Senate to concentrate full-time on his presidential campaign.
1998 Hundreds of looters in Jakarta are trapped in blazing shopping malls and burn to death in rioting.
1999 Russian President Boris Yeltsin triumphes over his Communist foes, surviving an impeachment vote in the parliament.
2000 In a 5-4 decision, the US Supreme Court invalidates a federal law allowing victims of rape, domestic violence, etc., to sue their attackers in federal court.
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2002 The White House declares that President Bush had received a CIA briefing in August 2001, the month before the terrorist attack on New York City and Washington, warning that Osama bin Laden planned to hijack airplanes but nothing was said about possibly crashing them into buildings. The government says it had gotten many threats that summer but the information was not specific.
2003 Flights between the UK and Kenya are suspended amid fears of an attack by al-Qaeda on targets in east Africa.
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