May 19
1536 Death: Anne Boleyn, the second wife of England's King Henry VIII and mother of Queen Elizabeth I; beheaded after being convicted of adultery, on Tower Green. "...Anne knew that her time would soon come and started to become hysterical, her behavior swinging from great levity to body- wracking sobs. She received news that an expert swordsman from Calais had been summoned, who would no doubt deliver a cleaner blow with a sharp sword than the traditional axe. It was then that she made the famous comment about her 'little neck'. Interestingly, shortly before her execution on charges of adultery, the Queen's marriage to the King was dissolved and declared invalid. One would wonder then how she could have committed adultery if she had in fact never been married to the King, but this was overlooked, as were so many other lapses of logic in the charges against Anne. They came for Anne on the morning of May 19 to take her to the Tower Green, where she was to be afforded the dignity of a private execution. [Read the Constable's recollection of this morning] She wore a red petticoat under a loose, dark grey gown of damask trimmed in fur. Over that she was a mantle of ermine. Her long, dark hair was bound up under a simple white linen coif over which she wore her usual headdress. She made a short speech [read the text of Anne's speech] before kneeling at the block. Her ladies removed the headdress and tied a blindfold over her eyes. The sword itself had been hidden under the straw. The swordsman cut off her head with one swift stroke. Anne's body and head were put into an arrow chest and buried in an unmarked grave in the Chapel of St. Peter ad Vincula which adjoined the Tower Green. Her body was one that was identified in renovations of the chapel under the reign of Queen Victoria, so Anne's final resting place is now marked in the marble floor."
1588 Anglo-Spanish War: King Philip II's Spanish Armada prepares to get underway from Lisbon, on its ill-fated attempt to conquer England. See: May 28. "The Spanish Armada (Old Spanish: Grande y Felicissima Armada, "large and most fortunate fleet"; but called by the British, with ironic intention, la Armada Invencible, "the Invincible Fleet") was a fleet sent by King Philip II of Spain in 1588 in a failed attempt to bring an end to his war with England by forcing the English government to a peace advantageous to Spain. It was the largest battle of the Anglo-Spanish War, the first of several invasion attempts in the course of the war, and one of the most famous episodes in English history. The Spanish fleet was scattered by an English fire ship attack sent in by Francis Drake in the Battle of Gravelines, battered by storm, and driven back to Spain. Philip's motives were both religious and political. The Protestant Elizabeth I of England had antagonised the Catholics by her persecution of Catholics in England. The execution of Mary I of Scotland in 1587 had outraged European Catholics. The religious antagonism was increased by economic competition in trade with the Spanish Empire in America, and by privateering and piracy..."
1635 Thirty Years War: France declares war on Spain.
1643 Thirty Years War: The French under the Duke of Enghien heavily defeat the Spanish at the battle of Rocroi, destroying the Spanish infantry. "...In 1643 at Rocroi a French army of 22,000 defeated Imperial Spain. Suffice it to say that armies of 5,000 to 15,000 men are large enough to represent major military striking forces in most periods of history. Population figures for prehistoric times in the Mediterranean region are notoriously difficult to determine, but there are some reasonably reliable estimates, as we shall see. Also estimates of New World native populations before contact with the Europeans are impressive for such places as the Hawaiian Islands where prehistoric armies were large. Even some of the Northwest Coast Indian tribes, such as the Tlingit and the Kwakiutl, had populations of about 10,000. In the Eastern Mediterranean as early as the seventh millennium BC 5,000 to 6000 people may have lived at Catal Huyuk in modern Turkey, and the population of Jericho at about 8,000 BC has been estimated at 2,000 with a possible defending force of 500 to 600 men. At the beginning of the Neolithic period in the Near East some armies may have numbered up to 1000 or so, and by the end of the period somewhere between 5,000 to 10,000 men. Armies of that size compare with full scale historic armies of a much later period. If size alone is a consideration, prehistoric armies were capable of practicing warfare in a highly sophisticated fashion. In fact men can be organized effectively for war in groups of less than 500..."
1643 The towns of Connecticut, Plymouth, New Haven, and Massachusetts Bay form a Confederation of the United Colonies of New England, for the protection of numbers in the wars with American Indians.
1649 The Rump of the Long Parliament declares that England "shall henceforth be governed as a Commonwealth and Free State by the supreme authority of this nation, the representatives of the People in Parliament...and that without any King or House of Lords." The Rump appoints a Council of State (largely composed of its own Members) to act as the executive branch of government.
1796 The first US game law is approved, calling for penalties for hunting or destroying game within Indian territory.
1800 Birth: Sarah Peale, artist.
1802 In France, Napoleon creates the Legion d'Honneur, an order of distinction for civil or military service.
1849 Irishman William Hamilton is arrested after firing blank shots at Queen Victoria in London.
1850 Instrument maker Heinrich Steinweg, age 53, along with Juliane 46, Dorothee 22, Heinrich 19, Minna 17, Wilhelm 15, Hermann 13, Albert 9, and Anna 7, board the Propellor Helena Sloman at Hamburg; their destination, New York.
1857 William F. Channing and Moses G. Farmer patent the electric fire alarm, first used in a massive scale in Boston, Massachusetts. The original system consists of 40 street fire alarm boxes connected by telegraph circuits to a central office.
1885 The first mass production of shoes begins under innovator Jan Matzeliger in Lynn, Massachusetts.
1890 Birth: Nguyen That Thanh, better known as Ho Chi Mihn, North Vietnamese leader, 1946-1969.
1895 Second War of Cuban Independence: Jose Marti is killed in battle at Dos Rios in eastern Cuba.
1898 Death: William Ewart Gladstone, four times Liberal Prime Minister, at Hawarden Castle in North Wales at the age of 88.
1906 The Simplon Tunnel through the Alps between Italy and Switzerland is officially opened by the King of Italy and the president of the Swiss Republic.
1911 Caesar Cella is 'thumbed' in New York City; the first person to commit a crime and be convicted through the use of fingerprints.
1918 WW1: Lance Corporal Adolf Hitler is awarded a regimental citation for outstanding gallantry at Fountaine. (Maser)
1921 The US Congress passes the Emergency Quota Act, which establishes quotas for immigrants by nationality.
1922 The Genoa Conference collapses due to France's insistence that the Bolsheviks recognize and assume Russia's prewar debt.
1925 Birth: Malcolm Little, will prefer to be known as Malcolm X, understandably, in Omaha, Nebraska, civil rights activist, black Muslim leader. Will grow up in Lansing, Michigan, where he will see his house torched by the Ku Klux Klan, and his father, a Baptist preacher, murdered. In 1946, while in prison for burglary, he will join the black separatist sect Nation of Islam and become its leading figure after his release in 1952. Following a pilgrimage to Mecca in 1964, he will convert to orthodox Islam, renouncing the anti-white agenda of the Nation of Islam. He will be shot dead by NOI members at a rally on 21 February 1965.
1926 Thomas A. Edison speaks at a dinner for the National Electric Light Association in Atlantic City. Not a particularly inventive speaker, when Mr. Edison is asked to say a few words into the microphone, he declares, "I don't know what to say. This is the first time I ever spoke into one of these things ... Good night."
1928 'Firedamp' explodes in a Mather, Pennsylvania coal mine killing 195 of 273 miners.
1932 US Congressman Claude Fuller introduces a resolution that requires all Civil Service employees to 'sing, write or recite the words to the Star-Spangled Banner' by memory. The idea will die a red, white and blue death, however.
1934 Bulgaria comes under authoritarian rule after General Kimon Gheorgiev and the nationalist organization Zveno seize power in a coup.
1935 Death: Colonel T. E. Lawrence, a.k.a. Lawrence of Arabia, brilliant self-promoter, British adventurer and writer, following a motorcycle accident in Dorset at 46.
1936 Church and Reich: Hitler's Reich steps up its drive against the religious orders, instituting a number of trials for sexual perversity. The proceedings are given detailed and lurid coverage by the German press. Catholic monasteries are described as breeding places of filth and vice. (Lewy)
1937 Anarchists and radical Marxists in Spain stage an abortive revolution in Barcelona that is opposed by the Socialists and Communists. The Communists, who as the conduit for Soviet aid had become increasingly influential on the Loyalist side, lead a drive to repress the ultra-leftist elements. Many are tortured and murdered.
1938 Britain and France reject Hitler's demands concerning Czechoslovakia.
1939 Franco's Spanish Nationalists stage a huge parade in Madrid.
1940 WW2: Horia Sima is arrested in Romania. "Horia Sima was a provincial high-school teacher, a devoted Legionnaire, regional chief of the Banat, and a friend of several conservative government officials. Even before Codreanu's death, Sima took Codreanu's anti-Semitism to a new level and his small underground movement began distributing flyers, beating up Jews, burning their shops and synagogues and eventually, killed a friend of Premier Armand Calinescu, the Minister of the Interior. Though Sima and Codreanu both attempted to stop the murder, it nevertheless took place, and produced harsh consequences. This event forced Sima into exile, led to Codreanu's death and resulted in the deaths of over one hundred legionaries. Sima returned from exile in 1940 as the Commander of the Legionary movement when the government began to free the remaining legionaries. He became a supporter of King Carol and encouraged his followers to support him as well. Sima, along with two of his followers, entered the government under King Carol for a short time. When Ion Antonescu rose to power, Horia Sima became the Vice-Premier and the Iron Guard held the majority of the power. Sima wanted Romania to be a totalitarian Legionary state immediately, and called for the abolition of all other political parties. Antonescu disagreed and, with Hitler's strong support, took it upon himself to eliminate the Iron Guard. Antonescu displaced Sima and removed several prominent Legionary prefects and chiefs of police. Sima went into exile again, setting up a puppet government in Vienna, and moving to Alt-Aussee in 1945. After the war, Sima took on a new identity as Iosef Weber and went into hiding. Sima's rule was not what Codreanu would have envisioned. His movement was "made up of men of the second rank [and] was a looser, more heterogeneous collection, less dedicated, less disciplined, less well trained." The movement began to be accused of Bolshevism, the very thing they hated most and Sima was seen as a weak element that had undermined the authority of the Legion. The Legionary Movement, as first envisioned and created by Codreanu, ended with his death. Codreanu's father went so far as to establish a new Legionary movement in opposition to Sima's Iron Guard and frequently ridiculed Sima in public. In the end, Horia Sima was responsible for the Iron Guard's swift rise to power, as well as their ultimate demise."
1942 WW2: Germans forces attack Kharkov.
1942 WW2: Lithuanian police execute 1,200 Poles in homes and on the street in reprisal for assassination of three Wehrmacht officers by Soviet partisans.
1943 WW2: In an address to the US Congress, British Prime Minister Churchill pledges his country's full support in the war against Japan.
1944 Holocaust: Eight civilians are shot at Natzweiler concentration camp in Alsace. Numerous Jewish and non-Jewish women active in the French resistance, and many Russian and Polish prisoners will be shot in this camp. (Atlas)
1948 Death: Philipp Bouhler, by suicide; Reich Business Manager of the NSDAP in 1925; Director of the "Office of the Fuehrer" in 1934. Bouhler headed Aktion T-4 which supervised the killing of millions of Germans in mental institutions and later millions of Jews, Gypsies, and Slavs in mobile operations and the concentration camps.
1955 The New York Supreme Court authorizes the revival of burlesque shows in New York City after an 18-year ban.
1958 The United States and Canada formally establish the North American Air Defense Command.
1962 Marilyn Monroe sings a sultry version of 'Happy Birthday' to President John F. Kennedy at his Madison Square Garden 'Birthday Salute.'
1964 The US State Department discloses that 40 hidden microphones have been found in the US embassy in Moscow.
1965 FBI agents visit Wand Records investigating the lyrics to the hit rock and roll song Louie Louie. Note: The FBI has been unable to determine exactly what the lyrics mean, but are certain that they are somehow 'subversive.'
1966 Death: A famous tortoise reportedly given to Tonga's king by Captain Cook in 1773.
1967 The Soviet Union ratifies a treaty with the United States and Britain banning nuclear weapons from outer space.
1971 The USSR launches Mars 2, the first spacecraft to crash land on Mars.
1974 In France, Valery Giscard d'Estaing defeats Francois Mitterrand for the presidency in a runoff vote.
1976 Gold ownership is legalized in Australia.
1986 In the first direct talks between China and Taiwan in 37 years, Beijing agrees to return a cargo jet flown to the communist mainland by a defecting Nationalist pilot.
1990 US Secretary of State James A. Baker III concludes an agreement with the Soviet Union to destroy chemical weapons and settle long-standing disputes over limits on nuclear-tipped cruise missiles.
1992 The 27th Amendment to the US Constitution, prohibiting Congress from giving itself mid-term pay raises, goes into effect.
1992 Two doctors who performed an autopsy on John F. Kennedy seem somehow to confirm that the US president died from two bullets fired from above and behind.
1992 President George H. Bush orders the creation of a human fetal tissue bank for medical research.
1993 The Clinton White House announces that all seven staffers of the White House travel office have been dismissed in the so-called 'Travel-gate' furor.
1993 The US government recognizes the Angolan government after it makes democratic reforms and urges UNITA to negotiate peace.
1994 Malawi's aged, autocratic President Kamuzu Banda concedes victory to opposition leader Bakili Muluzi after more than 30 years of iron-fisted rule.
1994 Death: Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, former first lady of the US, of cancer in New York at the age of 64.
1995 The US Senate votes 99-0 to reject President Clinton's spending blueprint.
1998 Millions of pagers nationwide stop working when a communications satellite suddenly loses the Earth.
1999 The US Justice Department renews its campaign to revoke Ohio autoworker John Demjanjuk's citizenship, alleging in the face of clearly contradictory evidence that he was a Nazi death camp guard known as "Ivan the Terrible."
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2005
2161 Syzygy: 8 of 9 planets align on same side of sun.
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