Now, I will admit that I did not see this one coming! May 5th resonates for one thing in particular in the United State, and that is the Cinqo de Mayo festivities, celebrating Mexican national heritage. But the History Channel website decides to focus on the first Americans in space, which is also a momentous occasion. Here is their article, and the website is: http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history
May 5, 1961: The first American in space
From Cape Canaveral, Florida, Navy Commander Alan Bartlett Shepard Jr. is launched into space aboard the Freedom 7 space capsule, becoming the first American astronaut to travel into space. The suborbital flight, which lasted 15 minutes and reached a height of 116 miles into the atmosphere, was a major triumph for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
NASA was established in 1958 to keep U.S. space efforts abreast of recent Soviet achievements, such as the launching of the world's first artificial satellite--Sputnik 1--in 1957. In the late 1950s and early 1960s, the two superpowers raced to become the first country to put a man in space and return him to Earth. On April 12, 1961, the Soviet space program won the race when cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin was launched into space, put in orbit around the planet, and safely returned to Earth. One month later, Shepard's suborbital flight restored faith in the U.S. space program.
NASA continued to trail the Soviets closely until the late 1960s and the successes of the Apollo lunar program. In July 1969, the Americans took a giant leap forward with Apollo 11, a three-stage spacecraft that took U.S. astronauts to the surface of the moon and returned them to Earth. On February 5, 1971, Alan Shepard, the first American in space, became the fifth astronaut to walk on the moon as part of the Apollo 14 lunar landing mission.
May 5, 1821: Napoleon dies in exile
Napoleon Bonaparte, the former French ruler who once ruled an empire that stretched across Europe, dies as a British prisoner on the remote island of Saint Helena in the southern Atlantic Ocean.
The Corsica-born Napoleon, one of the greatest military strategists in history, rapidly rose in the ranks of the French Revolutionary Army during the late 1790s. By 1799, France was at war with most of Europe, and Napoleon returned home from his Egyptian campaign to take over the reigns of the French government and save his nation from collapse. After becoming first consul in February 1800, he reorganized his armies and defeated Austria. In 1802, he established the Napoleonic Code, a new system of French law, and in 1804 was crowned emperor of France in Notre Dame Cathedral. By 1807, Napoleon controlled an empire that stretched from the River Elbe in the north, down through Italy in the south, and from the Pyrenees to the Dalmatian coast.
Beginning in 1812, Napoleon began to encounter the first significant defeats of his military career, suffering through a disastrous invasion of Russia, losing Spain to the Duke of Wellington in the Peninsula War, and enduring total defeat against an allied force by 1814. Exiled to the island of Elba, he escaped to France in early 1815 and raised a new Grand Army that enjoyed temporary success before its crushing defeat at Waterloo against an allied force under Wellington on June 18, 1815. Napoleon was subsequently exiled to the island of Saint Helena off the coast of Africa. Six years later, he died, most likely of stomach cancer, and in 1840 his body was returned to Paris, where it was interred in the Hotel des Invalides.
May 5, 1941: Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie returns to his capital
On this day in 1941, Emperor Haile Selassie re-enters Addis Ababa, the Ethiopian capital, exactly five years to the day of when it was occupied by Italy.
Benito Mussolini had been eyeing Ethiopia (also known as Abyssinia) as an economic colony to be added to Italian Somaliland, in East Africa, since the 1920s. He hoped to resettle 10 million Italians in a unified East Africa. Despite Ethiopia's membership in the League of Nations, which provided it with recourse to other member nations in the event of invasion, Italy, also a League member, attacked on October 3, 1935. Selassie formally protested before the League Council, but the League responded with only mild sanctions, fearing that a more extensive embargo, or the closure of the Suez Canal, denying Italy needed supplies and reinforcements, would lead to war-and Italy simply getting its oil from the United States, which was not a party to League agreements.
Britain and France, both fearing that a general war would be harmful to their collective security, proposed secret negotiations with Italy, wherein Italy would be offered territory in Ethiopia's northeast; in exchange, Mussolini would end his aggression. Ethiopia would only be told of this negotiation after the fact; should Selassie reject the terms, France and Britain were off the hook, having made a "good faith" effort at peace. They could then oppose further sanctions against Italy, even propose that the ones in place be removed, thereby sparing themselves a confrontation with Mussolini. But the plans for the secret negotiation were leaked to the press, and both Britain and France were humiliated publicly for selling out a weaker League partner.
May 5, 1955: Allies end occupation of West Germany
The Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) becomes a sovereign state when the United States, France, and Great Britain end their military occupation, which had begun in 1945. With this action, West Germany was given the right to rearm and become a full-fledged member of the western alliance against the Soviet Union.
In 1945, the United States, Great Britain, and France had assumed the occupation of the western portion of Germany (as well as the western half of Berlin, situated in eastern Germany). The Soviet Union occupied eastern Germany, as well as the eastern half of Berlin. As Cold War animosities began to harden between the western powers and Russia, it became increasingly obvious that Germany would not be reunified. By the late-1940s, the United States acted to formalize the split and establish western Germany as an independent republic, and in May 1949, the Federal Republic of Germany was formally announced. In 1954, West Germany joined the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), the mutual defense alliance between the United States and several European nations. All that remained was for the Americans, British, and French to end their nearly 10-year occupation. This was accomplished on May 5, 1955, when those nations issued a proclamation declaring an end to the military occupation of West Germany. Under the terms of an agreement reached earlier, West Germany would now be allowed to establish a military force of up to a half-million men and resume the manufacture of arms, though it was forbidden from producing any chemical or atomic weapons.
The end of the Allied occupation of West Germany meant a full recognition of the republic as a member of the western alliance against the Soviet Union. While the Russians were less than thrilled by the prospect of a rearmed West Germany, they were nonetheless pleased that German reunification had officially become a dead issue. Shortly after the May 5 proclamation was issued, the Soviet Union formally recognized the Federal Republic of Germany. The two Germany's remained separated until 1990, when they were formally reunited and once again became a single democratic country.
CINQO DE MAYO
The History Channel website did have something to say about the Cinqo de Mayo, although you have to search a little deeper. Here is what it says:
Cinco de Mayo—or the fifth of May—commemorates the Mexican army's 1862 victory over France at the Battle of Puebla during the Franco-Mexican War (1861-1867). A relatively minor holiday in Mexico, in the United States Cinco de Mayo has evolved into a celebration of Mexican culture and heritage, particularly in areas with large Mexican-American populations. Cinco de Mayo traditions include parades, mariachi music performances and street festivals in cities and towns across Mexico and the United States.
History of Cinco de Mayo: Battle of Puebla In 1861 the liberal Mexican Benito Juárez (1806-1872) became president of a country in financial ruin, and he was forced to default on his debts to European governments. In response, France, Britain and Spain sent naval forces to Veracruz to demand reimbursement. Britain and Spain negotiated with Mexico and withdrew, but France, ruled by Napoleon III (1808-1873), decided to use the opportunity to carve a dependent empire out of Mexican territory. Late in 1861, a well-armed French fleet stormed Veracruz, landing a large French force and driving President Juárez and his government into retreat.
Certain that success would come swiftly, 6,000 French troops under General Charles Latrille de Lorencez (1814-1892) set out to attack Puebla de Los Angeles, a small town in east-central Mexico. From his new headquarters in the north, Juárez rounded up a rag-tag force of 2,000 loyal men—many of them either indigenous Mexicans or of mixed ancestry—and sent them to Puebla. Led by Texas-born General Ignacio Zaragoza (1829-1862), the vastly outnumbered and poorly supplied Mexicans fortified the town and prepared for the French assault. On May 5, 1862, Lorencez drew his army, well provisioned and supported by heavy artillery, before the city of Puebla and led an assault from the north. The battle lasted from daybreak to early evening, and when the French finally retreated they had lost nearly 500 soldiers. Fewer than 100 Mexicans had been killed in the clash.
Although not a major strategic win in the overall war against the French, Zaragoza's success at Puebla represented a great symbolic victory for the Mexican government and bolstered the resistance movement. Six years later—thanks in part to military support and political pressure from the United States, which was finally in a position to aid its besieged neighbor after the end of the Civil War—France withdrew. The same year, Austrian Archduke Ferdinand Maximilian, who had been installed as emperor of Mexico by Napoleon in 1864, was captured and executed by Juárez's forces. Puebla de Los Angeles was renamed for General Zaragoza, who died of typhoid fever months after his historic triumph there.
Cinco de Mayo in Mexico
Within Mexico, Cinco de Mayo is primarily observed in the state of Puebla, where Zaragoza’s unlikely triumph occurred, although other parts of the country also take part in the celebration. Traditions include military parades, recreations of the Battle of Puebla and other festive events. For many Mexicans, however, May 5 is a day like any other: It is not a federal holiday, so offices, banks and stores remain open.
Cinco de Mayo in the United States
In the United States, Cinco de Mayo is widely interpreted as a celebration of Mexican culture and heritage, particularly in areas with substantial Mexican-American populations. Chicano activists raised awareness of the holiday in the 1960s, in part because they identified with the victory of indigenous Mexicans over European invaders during the Battle of Puebla. Today, revelers mark the occasion with parades, parties, mariachi music, Mexican folk dancing and traditional foods such as tacos and mole poblano. Some of the largest festivals are held in Los Angeles, Chicago and Houston.
Confusion with Mexican Independence Day
Many people outside Mexico mistakenly believe that Cinco de Mayo is a celebration of Mexican independence, which was declared more than 50 years before the Battle of Puebla. That event is commemorated on September 16, the anniversary of the revolutionary priest Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla’s famous “Grito de Dolores” (“Cry of Dolores”), a call to arms that amounted to a declaration of war against the Spanish colonial government in 1810.
Here is an article on it from the National Geographic Website:
Cinco de Mayo History: From Bloodshed to Beer Fest
The history of Cinco de Mayo: from Mexican battle to U.S. bacchanal.
Stefan Lovgren in Los Angeles for National Geographic News
Updated May 5, 2010
Today fiesta lovers across the United States will gather to celebrate the Mexican holiday Cinco de Mayo—literally "May 5" in Spanish. And some U.S. partygoers may be surprised to learn that Cinco de Mayo history is short on beer, long on bloodshed.
Cinco de Mayo is often mistaken for Mexican Independence Day, which is actually September 16. On that date in 1810, Mexico declared its independence from Spanish rule. (Related blog post: Cinco de Mayo in any language.)
Cinco de Mayo actually commemorates the Mexican army's unlikely defeat of French forces at the Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862. Yet Cinco de Mayo is celebrated only sporadically in Mexico, mainly in the southern town of Puebla (see map of Puebla) and a few larger cities.
In recent years, though, Cinco de Mayo rapidly gained popularity in the U.S., where changing demographics have helped to turn the holiday into a cultural event. Latinos are the largest minority in the U.S. today with 44.3 million people, representing 15 percent of the population, according to a July 2008 U.S. Census Bureau report.
A 1998 study in the Journal of American Culture found that the number of official U.S. celebrations of Cinco de Mayo topped 120.
In 2006 the number of official Cinco de Mayo events was 150 or more, according to José Alamillo, professor of ethnic studies at Washington State University in Pullman, who has studied the cultural impact of Cinco de Mayo north of the border.
Cinco de Mayo is even celebrated in towns across the U.S. that are predominately non-Hispanic, he noted.
"Cinco de Mayo, he said, is "definitely becoming more popular than St. Patrick's Day."
(Related blog post: Happy Cinco de Mayo!)
Cinco de Mayo History: Battle of Puebla In 1862 a Mexican militia led by General Ignacio Zaragoza defeated far better equipped French expeditionary forces on Cinco de Mayo.
Emperor Napoleon III had sent French troops to Mexico to secure dominance over the former Spanish colony and install one of his relatives, Archduke Maximilian of Austria, as its ruler.
Zaragoza won the battle, but the Mexicans ultimately lost the war. Maximilian became Mexico's emperor for three years before the country reclaimed its independence.
Cinco de Mayo: From Brotherly Love to Chicano Power
Cinco de Mayo gained its first popularity in the U.S. in the 1950s and 1960s, partly because of an outpouring of brotherly love, Alamillo says.
"The reason it became more popular [in the U.S. during that time] was in part because of the Good Neighbor policy," he said, referring to a U.S. government effort at the time to reach out to neighboring countries.
"Cinco de Mayo's purpose was to function as a bridge between these two cultures," Alamillo said.
The holiday's popularity really grew in the 1960s, when Mexican-American, or Chicano, activists embraced the holiday as a way to build pride among Mexican Americans, Alamillo says.
The 1862 Cinco de Mayo victory carries a strong anti-imperialist message that resonates with many Mexican Americans, experts say.
"As a community, we are tough and committed, and we believe that we can prevail," said Robert Con Davis-Undiano, a professor of Chicano studies at the University of Oklahoma in Norman.
"That was the attitude of the ragtag Mexican troops who faced and defeated the French in Puebla," he said.
"And Mexican Americans, other Latinos, and literally everyone can feel proud and motivated by that message."
At the same time, Cinco de Mayo was transformed from a strictly nationalist celebration to a bicultural event that expressed the Mexican Americans' identity, Washington State's Alamillo says.
"It allowed for Anglo-Americans to partake in and learn about Mexican culture through Cinco de Mayo," Alamillo said. (Celebrate Cinco de Mayo with pictures of Mexico.)
"Mexican Americans by this point were interested in building this relationship, because they were asking for certain political demands and for more resources for the community.
"It became a really interesting negotiation festival in a lot of ways."
Cinco de Mayo: From Culture to Commercialism
Then came the 1980s, and the commercialization of Cinco de Mayo.
This, Alamillo says, is when the meaning of Cinco de Mayo changed from community self-determination to a drinking holiday for many people.
He says U.S. corporations, particularly those selling alcohol, were eager to tap into the expanding Hispanic population in the U.S.
"It's not just the large number of the Hispanics but also that it's a very young population that is particularly receptive to advertisers," Alamillo said.
"Cinco de Mayo became a vehicle to tap into that market."
Davis-Undiano, the University of Oklahoma professor, still sees Cinco de Mayo as a positive force that can bring Latinos and non-Latinos together, especially at a time when tensions surrounding the illegal immigration debate run high.
(Related news: "U.S. Immigration Law Could Harm Desert Animals, Critics Say.")
"I'm convinced there is a lot of unprocessed anxiety among non-Latinos concerning what changes that will come with a much larger Latino population," he said.
"Cinco de Mayo gives everyone a chance to feel like a single community."
Original version posted May 5, 2006
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2010/01/100505-cinco-de-mayo-history/
Finally, I thought it appropriate to get a more historical perspective from a Mexican (or what purports to be Mexican, in any case) website. So here is the history, according to Mexonline.com: http://www.mexonline.com/cinco-de-mayo.htm
Introduction
The holiday of Cinco De Mayo, The 5th Of May, commemorates the victory of the Mexican militia over the French army at The Battle Of Puebla in 1862. It is primarily a regional holiday celebrated in the Mexican state capital city of Puebla and throughout the state of Puebla, with some limited recognition in other parts of Mexico, and especially in U.S. cities with a significant Mexican population. It is not, as many people think, Mexico's Independence Day, which is actually September 16.
Setting The Stage
The battle at Puebla in 1862 happened at a violent and chaotic time in Mexico's history. Mexico had finally gained independence from Spain in 1821 after a difficult and bloody struggle, and a number of internal political takeovers and wars, including the Mexican-American War (1846-1848) and the Mexican Civil War of 1858, had ruined the national economy.
During this period of struggle Mexico had accumulated heavy debts to several nations, including Spain, England and France, who were demanding repayment. Similar debt to the U.S. was previously settled after the Mexican-American War. France was eager to expand its empire at that time, and used the debt issue to move forward with goals of establishing its own leadership in Mexico. Realizing France's intent of empire expansion, Spain and England withdrew their support. When Mexico finally stopped making any loan payments, France took action on its own to install Napoleon III's relative, Archduke Maximilian of Austria, as ruler of Mexico. Mexico Confronts
The Invasion
France invaded at the gulf coast of Mexico along the state of Veracruz (see map) and began to march toward Mexico City, a distance today of less than 600 miles. Although American President Abraham Lincoln was sympathetic to Mexico's cause, and for which he is honored in Mexico, the U.S. was involved in its own Civil War at the time and was unable to provide any direct assistance.
Marching on toward Mexico City, the French army encountered strong resistance near Puebla at the Mexican forts of Loreto and Guadalupe. Lead by Mexican General Ignacio Zaragoza Seguin, a smaller, poorly armed militia estimated at 4,500 men were able to stop and defeat a well outfitted French army of 6,500 soldiers, which stopped the invasion of the country. The victory was a glorious moment for Mexican patriots, which at the time helped to develop a needed sense of national unity, and is the cause for the historical date's celebration.
Unfortunately, the victory was short lived. Upon hearing the bad news, Napoleon III had found an excuse to send more troops overseas to try and invade Mexico again, even against the wishes of the French populace. 30,000 more troops and a full year later, the French were eventually able to depose the Mexican army, take over Mexico City and install Maximilian as the ruler of Mexico.
Maximilian's rule of Mexico was also short lived, from 1864 to 1867. With the American Civil War now over, the U.S. began to provide more political and military assistance to Mexico to expel the French, after which Maximilian was executed by the Mexicans - his bullet riddled shirt is kept at the museum at Chapultepec Castle in Mexico City. So despite the eventual French invasion of Mexico City, Cinco de Mayo honors the bravery and victory of General Zaragoza's smaller, outnumbered militia at the Battle of Puebla in 1862.
Today's Celebration
For the most part, the holiday of Cinco de Mayo is more of a regional holiday in Mexico, celebrated most vigorously in the state of Puebla. There is some limited recognition of the holiday throughout the country with different levels of enthusiasm, but it's nothing like that found in Puebla.
Celebrating Cinco de Mayo has become increasingly popular along the U.S.-Mexico border and in parts of the U.S. that have a high population of people with a Mexican heritage. In these areas the holiday is a celebration of Mexican culture, of food, music, beverage and customs unique to Mexico.
Commercial interests in the United States and Mexico have also had a hand in promoting the holiday, with products and services focused on Mexican food, beverages and festivities, with music playing a more visible role as well. Several cities throughout the U.S. hold parades and concerts during the week following up to May 5th, so that Cinco de Mayo has become a bigger holiday north of the border than it is to the south, and being adopted into the holiday calendar of more and more people every year.
[Sources: Encyclopedia Encarta, Encyclopedia Britanica, Prescott's Mexico:1900, HistoryChannel.com, other sources. minor edits April 25, 2007]
553 - 2nd Council of Constantinople (Fifth ecumenical council) opens
1260 - Kublai Khan becomes ruler of the Mongol Empire.
1382 - Battle of Beverhoutsveld - population beats drunken army
1430 - Jews are expelled from Speyer Germany
1494 - On second voyage to New World, Christopher Columbus sighted Jamaica on his second trip to the Western Hemisphere. He named the island Santa Gloria.
1640 - English Short Parliament unites
1646 - King Charles I surrenders at Scotland
1665 - Nicolaas Witsen visits patriarch Nikon in Moscow
1726 - Marie de Camargo (16) premieres at Opera of Paris
1762 - Russia & Prussia sign peace treaty, Treaty of Saint Petersburg ending the Seven Years War
1764 - Smolny-institution forms in St Petersburg for noble girls
1780 - Second oldest learned society in US (American Academy of Arts & Sciences) forms (Boston)
1789 - French States-General for It first since 1614 together
1798 - U.S. Secretary of War William McHenry ordered that the USS Constitution be made ready for sea. The frigate was launched on October 21, 1797, but had never been put to sea.
1809 - Citizenship is denied to Jews of Canton of Aargau Switzerland
1809 - Mary Kies of South Killingly, Conn., became the first woman to be granted a patent. The patent was for the rights to a technique for weaving straw with silk and thread.
1814 -The British attacked the American forces at Ft. Ontario, Oswego, NY.
1816 - American Bible Society organized (New York)
1821 - Napoleon Bonaparte died on the island of St. Helena.
1834 - Charles Darwin's expedition begins at Rio Santa Cruz
1834 - The first mainland railway line opened in Belgium.
1835 - King Leopold opens Brussels-Mechelen railway
1842 - City-wide fire burns for over 100 hours (Hamburg Germany)
1847 - American Medical Association organized (Philadelphia)
1854 - English pirate Plumridge robs along pro-English Finnish coast
1855 - NYC regains Castle Clinton, to be used for immigration
1861 - Alexandria, VA - CS troops abandon city
1862 - French army intervenes in The Battle of Puebla, Mexico. it is celebrated as the Cinco de Mayo
1862 - Peninsular Campaign-Battle of Williamsburg, Virginia
1863 - Battle of Tupelo, MS
1863 - Joe Coburn KOs Mike McCoole for US boxing title in 63rd round
1864 - Atlanta Campaign: 5 days of fighting begins at Rocky Face Ridge
1864 - Battle between Confederate & Union ships at mouth of Roanoke
1864 - Battle of Wilderness, Virginia (Germanna Ford, Wilderness Tavern)
1864 - Campaign in Northern Georgia - Chattanooga GA to Atlanta GA
1865 - The Thirteenth Amendment was ratified, abolishing slavery in the United States
1865 - First US train robbery (North Bend Ohio)
1874 - Dutch Second Chamber passes child labor law
1877 - Indian Wars: Sitting Bull leads his band of Lakota into Canada to avoid harassment by the United States Army under Colonel Nelson Miles.
1881 - Anit-Jewish rioting in Kiev Ukraine
1886 - A bomb exploded on the fourth day of a workers' strike in Chicago, IL.
1886 - The Bay View Tragedy occurs, as militia fire upon a crowd of protesters in Milwaukee, Wisconsin killing seven
1891 - Carnegie Hall (then known as Music Hall) opened in New York City. Peter Tchaikovsky was the guest conductor.
1892 - The U.S. Congress extended the Geary Chinese Exclusion Act for 10 more years. The act required Chinese in the U.S. to be registered or face deportation.
1893 - Panic of 1893: Great crash on New York Stock Exchange
1900 - "The Billboard" began weekly publication
1901 - The first Catholic mass for night workers was held at the Church of St. Andrew in New York City.
1904 - The third perfect game of the major leagues was thrown by Cy Young (Boston Red Sox) against the Philadelphia Athletics. It was the first perfect game under modern rules. Boston won, 3-0.
1905 - Robert S Abbott published 1st issue of newspaper "Chicago Defender"
1908 - 34th Kentucky Derby: Arthur Pickens on Stone Street wins in 2:15.2
1908 - Great White Fleet arrives in San Francisco
1912 - V Olympic games open at Stockholm, Sweden
1912 - Soviet Communist Party newspaper Pravda begins publishing (4/22 OS)
1915 - German U-20 sinks Earl of Lathom
1916 - US marines invade the Dominican Republic, and would stay until 1924
1917 - St Louis Brown Ernie Koob no-hits Chic White Sox, 1-0
1917 - Eugene Jacques Bullard becomes the first African-American aviator when he earned his flying certificate with the French Air Service.
1920 - German-Latvian peace treaty signed
1920 - Polish troops occupy Kiev
1920 - American President Woodrow Wilson makes Communist Labor Party illegal
1921 - First ranger for Cleveland Metroparks hired
1921 - Miniature newspaper published (Brighton Gazette 10 x 13 cm)
1922 - Construction begins on Yankee Stadium (Bronx)
1924 - Unions terminate Twentse textile strike
1925 - John T Scopes, a biology teacher in Dayton, Tennessee, was arrested for teaching Darwin's theory of evolution.
1925 - Ty Cobb goes 6 for 6, (16 total bases)
1925 - Yankee Everett Scott is benched, ending his 1,307-game playing streak
1925 - Afrikaans is established as an official language in South Africa.
1926 - Geldrop soccer team forms
1926 - Sinclair Lewis refuses his Pulitzer Prize for "Arrowsmith"
1926 - Eisenstein's film "Battleship Potemkin" was shown in Germany for the first time.
1927 - Dmitri Sjostakovitch' 1st Symphony, premieres in Berlin
1930 - First woman to fly solo from Engl to Australia takes-off (Amy Johnson)
1930 - Bradman scores 185* Aust v Leicestershire, 317 mins, 16 fours
1932 - Japan and China sign a peace treaty
1934 - 60th Kentucky Derby: Mack Garner aboard Cavalcade wins in 2:04
1935 - Jessie Owens of US, sets then long jump record at 26' 8½"
1936 - Edward Ravenscroft patents screw-on bottle cap with a pour lip
1936 - Italian troops occupy Addis Ababa, Ethiopia's capital city.
1938 - Phillies Harold Kelleher faces 16 batters in 6th, as Cubs score 12 runs, both marks are National League records off one hurler in a single inning
1939 - Flash floods kill 75 in Northeast Kentucky
1940 - Norwegian government in exile forms in London
1941 - 2 Fokker's employees flee nazi occupied Netherlands to England
1941 - Emperor Haile Selassie returns to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
1941 - Pulitzer prize awarded to Robert E Sherwood (There shall be no night)
1941 - Chanel No. 5 was released.
1942 - General Joseph Stilwell learned that the Japanese had cut his railway out of China and was forced to lead his troops into India.
1942 - British assault on Diego Suarez Madagascar
1942 - US begins rationing sugar during WW II
1943 - Postmaster General Frank C Walker invents Postal Zone System
1944 - Gandhi freed from prison
1944 - Russian offensive against Sebastopol Krim
1945 - Mauthausen Concentration camp liberated
1945 - Netherlands & Denmark liberated from Nazi control
1945 - Uprising against SS-occupying troops in Prague
1945 - Premier Gerbrandy on Radio Orange tells Dutch they are liberated
1945 - World War II: Admiral Karl Dönitz, leader of Germany after Hitler's death, orders all U-boats to cease offensive operations and return to their bases.
1945 - A Japanese balloon bomb exploded on Gearhart Mountain in Oregon. A pregnant woman and five children were killed.
1947 - Mississippi Valley flooding kills 16 & causes $850M in damage
1947 - Pulitzer prize awarded to Robert Penn Warren (All the King's Men)
1948 - First air squadron of jets aboard a carrier
1948 - Belgian government of Spaak resigns
1949 - Council of Europe forms
1949 - KGO TV channel 7 in San Francisco, CA (ABC) begins broadcasting
1949 - Statue of Council of Europe drawn
1950 - Phumiphon Abundet crowned as king Rama IX of Thailand
1952 - Pulitzer prize awarded to Herman Wouk (Caine Mutiny)
1952 - Ron Necciai of Pitts Pirate's Bristol Twins Class D farm team, strikes out 27, as he no-hits Welch Minors, 4 Minors do reach base
1954 - Military coup by general Alfredo Stroessner in Paraguay
1955 - "Damn Yankees" opens at 46th St Theater NYC for 1022 performances
1955 - Indies parliament accept hindu-divorce
1955 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada test Site
1955 - The Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) became a sovereign state after it was granted from the three occupying powers (France, Great Britain, United States)
1956 - 82nd Kentucky Derby: David Erb aboard Needles wins in 2:03.4
1956 - Broekster Boys soccer team forms in Damwoude 1956 - Jim Bailey (US) runs mile a record 3:58.6 in LA Calif
1956 - World championships of judo are first held, in Tokyo
1957 - Adolf Scharf elected president of Austria
1957 - Betsy Rawls wins LPGA Peach Blossom Golf Open
1958 - KNME TV channel 5 in Albuquerque, NM (PBS) begins broadcasting
1958 - Pulitzer prize awarded to James Agee for (Death in the Family)
1958 - US performs atmospheric nuclear test at Enwetak
1961 - 1961 Alan Shepard became the first American in space. (aboard Freedom 7)
1962 - 88th Kentucky Derby: Bill Hartack aboard Decidedly wins in 2:00.4
1962 - LA Angel Bo Belinsky no-hits Balt Orioles, 2-0
1962 - West Side Story soundtrack album goes to #1 & stays #1 for 54 weeks which is more than 20 weeks longer than any other album
1964 - Separatists riot in Quebec
1965 - First large-scale US Army ground units arrive in South Vietnam
1966 - Borussia Dortmund wins 6th Europe Cup II
1966 - Stanley Cup: Montreal Canadiens beat Detroit Red Wings, 4 games to 2
1966 - Willie Mays hit his 512th HR
1969 - 23rd NBA Championship: Boston Celtics beat LA Lakers, 4 games to 3
1969 - Pulitzer prize awarded to Norman Mailer (Armies of the Night)
1970 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada test Site
1971 - "Earl of Ruston" opens at Billy Rose Theater NYC for 5 performances
1971 - Race riot in Brownsville section of Brooklyn (NYC)
1972 - Alitalia DC-8 crashes west of Palermo Sicily; killing 115
1973 - 99th Kentucky Derby: Ron Turcotte aboard Secretariat wins in 1:59.4
1974 - Sandra Spuzich wins LPGA Lady Tara Golf Classic
1975 - Pulitzer prize awarded to Michael Shaara (Killer Angels)
1975 - A's release pinch runner Herb Washington (played 104 games without batting, pitching, or fielding He stole 30 bases, & scored 33 runs)
1976 - Anderlecht wins 16th soccer Europe Cup II
1976 - Train collision at Schiedam Neth, kills 24
1978 - Cincinnati Red Pete Rose becomes 14th player to get 3,000 hits
1979 - 105th Kentucky Derby: Ron Franklin on Spectacular Bid wins in 2:02.4
1979 - Masterpiece Radio Theater begins broadcasting
1979 - Voyager 1 passes Jupiter
1980 - Siege at Iranian Embassy in London ends; British commandos & police stormed the building
1980 - Constantine Karamanlis is elected for the first time President of Greece.
1981 - 16th & final Mayor's Trophy Game, Mets beat Yanks 4-1, hold 8-7-1 edge
1983 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1981 - Bobby Sands of the Irish Republican Army died in a prison hospital at Maze Prison in Northern Ireland on the 66th day of his hunger strike.
1984 - 110th Kentucky Derby: Laffit Pincay Jr aboard Swale wins in 2:02.4
1985 - Amy Alcott wins LPGA Moss Creek Women's Golf Invitational
1986 - Hall of Fame & Museum announced to be built in Cleveland
1987 - The U.S. congressional Iran-Contra hearings opened.
1987 - Detroit Tigers are 11 games back in AL, but go on to win AL East
1987 - France performs nuclear test at Muruora Island
1988 - Eugene A Marino installed as 1st black US archbishop
1989 - Mike Tyson gets second speeding ticket for drag racing in Albany NY
1990 - 116th Kentucky Derby: Craig Perret aboard Unbridled wins in 2:02
1990 - ABC Masters Bowling Tournament won by Chris Warren
1990 - Paul Hogan & Linda Koslowski wed in Byron Bay, Eastern Australia
1991 - A riot breaks out in the Mt. Pleasant section of Washington, D.C. after a Salvadoran man is shot by police.
1992 - Country singer Tammy Wynette hospitalized with bile duct infection
1994 - Michael Fay was caned in Singapore for vandalism. He received four lashes.
1994 - "Sally Marrand Her Escorts" opens at Helen Hayes NYC for 50 perfs
1994 - Labour beats Conservatives in British local elections
1994 - North-Yemen air force bombs Aden South Yemen
1995 - Last basketball game at Boston Gardens (Magic beats Celtics)
1996 - "Jack-Night on Town with J Barrymore" closes at Belasco after 12 perfs
1996 - Karrie Webb wins LPGA Sprint Titleholders Golf Championship
1996 - Renette Cruz, Vancouver, wins Miss Canadian Universe
1997 - Iridium-1 Delta 2 Launch, Successful
2000 - Conjunction of Sun, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn & Moon
2004 - Pablo Picasso's "Boy with a Pipe" became the most expensive painting ever sold.
2005 - The United Kingdom general election takes place, in which Tony Blair's Labour Party is re-elected for a third, consecutive term.
2006 - The government of Sudan signs an accord with the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA).
2007 - Kenya Airways Flight KQ 507 crashes in Cameroon.
2012 - 17 people are killed and 47 missing after a flash flood in Nepal 2012 - Japan shuts down its nuclear reactors leaving the country without nuclear power for the first time since 1970
As always, here are the websites that I got the bulk of the information on this blog entry from:
http://www.historyorb.com/today/events.php
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history
http://on-this-day.com/onthisday/thedays/alldays/may05.htm
http://www.infoplease.com/dayinhistory
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