1774 – Louis XVI ascends to the throne of France
1902 – Portugal goes bankrupt, but its parliament passes a bill converting its external debt. Contributing to Portugal’s troubles is a recent revolt in its colony of Angola, put down on September 6
1969 – US troops begin attack on Hill 937 (“Hamburger Hill”), Vietnam
1973 – Stanley Cup Final, Chicago Stadium, Chicago, IL: Yvan Cournoyer has a goal and 2 assists as Montreal Canadiens beat Chicago Blackhawks, 6-4 to take title, 4 games to 2
1983 – TV sitcom “Laverne and Shirley” last airs on ABC-TV
1989 – NHL Clarence Campbell Conference Final: Calgary Flames beat Chicago Blackhawks, 4 games to 1
2018 – New record auction price for a Latin American artwork of $9.76 million for Diego Rivera’s “The Rivals”
2023 – Heaviest fighting in months between Israel and Palestinian militants as both sides launch air attacks, leaving over 20 dead in Gaza
Category: Historical Events
Historical Events for 9th May 2026
1738 – Britain sends a fleet to the Mediterranean Sea and the West Indies
1846 – Battle of Resaca de la Palma-US sends Mexico back to Rio Grande
1962 – The Beatles sign their first contract with EMI Parlophone
1987 – 183 die aboard a Polish jetliner that crashes in Warsaw
1989 – VP Quayle says in United Negro College Fund speech: “What a waste it is to lose one’s mind” instead of “a mind is terrible thing to waste”
2012 – United States President Barack Obama officially states his support for same-sex marriage
2017 – Jakarta’s Christian governor Ahok jailed for 2 years for blasphemy
2022 – Sri Lanka’s Prime Minister, Mahinda Rajapaksa submits his resignation to his brother President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, amid continuing violent protests causing four deaths
Historical Events for 8th May 2026
1450 – Jack Cade’s Rebellion: Kentishmen revolt begins against King Henry VI and they march towards London
1639 – William Coddington founds Newport, Rhode Island
1905 – Union of Unions organizes In Russia under the chairmanship of Paul Miliukov and joins liberal groups demanding parliamentary government and universal suffrage
1906 – Philadelphia A’s pitcher Albert Bender is deployed to left field in 6th inning and responds with 2 HRs in A’s 11-4 win over Boston Americans at Huntington Avenue Grounds, Boston
1960 – USSR and Cuba resume diplomatic relations
1974 – FC Magdenburg of East Germany win 14th European Cup Winner’s Cup against AC Milan of Italy 2-0 in Rotterdam
1994 – All-female pro baseball team Colorado Silver Bullets play their first game
2019 – Pakistani Christian woman Asia Bibi who spent eight years in prison on death row for blasphemy arrives in Canada
Historical Events for 7th May 2026
1355 – 1,200 Jews of Toledo, Spain killed by Count Henry of Trastamara
1800 – Indiana Territory organized
1856 – Argentina and Brazil sign a navigation pact
1938 – Dutch Minister of Justice Goseling calls fugitives of Nazi-Germany “undesired strangers”
1955 – USSR signs peace treaty with France and Great Britain
1982 – “Is There Life after High School?” opens at Barrymore Theatre, NYC; runs for 12 performances
2011 – 137th Kentucky Derby: John Velazquez aboard Animal Kingdom wins in 2:02.04
2024 – Stormy Daniels testifies in court to a 2006 sexual encounter with Donald Trump as part of a hush money trial against Trump
Historical Events for 6th May 2026
1604 – Leon VII Spanish poet’s first poem is published: La Cocina
1864 – US Civil War: Union Army General Sherman begins advance to Atlanta, Georgia, during the Atlanta Campaign
1889 – Exposition Universelle (World’s Fair) in Paris opens with the recently completed Eiffel Tower serving as the entrance arch; the elevators in the tower are not yet ready, so intrepid visitors have to climb 1,710 steps to reach the top
1933 – 59th Kentucky Derby: Don Meade aboard Brokers Tip wins in 2:06.8
1942 – Corregidor and Philippines surrender to Japanese Armies
1970 – Irish Prime Minister Jack Lynch sacks two ministers in the Irish government over allegations of illegal arms importation
1981 – US expels Libyan diplomats
1991 – Space Shuttle STS 39 (Discovery 12) lands
Historical Events for 5th May 2026
1863 – Irish boxer Joe Coburn KOs American Mike McCoole in the 67th round in his first defense of Heavyweight C’ship of America in Charlestown, Maryland
1916 – US Marines invade Dominican Republic, stay until 1924
1917 – St Louis Browns pitcher Ernie Koob no-hits Chicago White Sox, 1-0 at Sportsman’s Park III
1948 – First squadron of jet aircraft boards a carrier
1955 – US performs nuclear test at Nevada test Site
1956 – The first World Judo Championships are held in Tokyo
1961 – Alan Shepard becomes the first American in space aboard Freedom 7
2006 – The government of Sudan signs an accord with the Sudan Liberation Army
Historical Events for 4th May 2026
1493 – Spanish Pope Alexander VI decrees in the papal bull “Inter caetera” that all lands west of a line 100 leagues west of any of the islands of the Azores or the Cape Verde Islands belong to Castile, ultimately dividing the Americas between Spain and Portugal
1861 – At Gretna, Louisiana, one of the first guns for the Confederate Navy is cast
1910 – Wilfrid Laurier passes the Naval Service Act, which creates the Royal Canadian Navy
1927 – Nicaragua agrees to a US supervised presidential election in 1928
1957 – Anne Frank Foundation forms in Amsterdam
1975 – Italian film “Seven Beauties” directed by Lina Wertmüller, starring Giancarlo Giannini, and Shirley Stoler released – first film directed by a women to be nominated for an Academy Award
1988 – USSR performs nuclear test at the Semipalatinsk Test Site in northeast Kazakhstan
2018 – LA Angels first baseman Albert Pujols collects his 3,000th MLB hit in a 5-0 win v Mariners in Seattle
Historical Events for 3rd May 2026
1342 – Count Hartmann II becomes the ruler of Vaduz, Liechtenstein
1864 – Red River Campaign: third day of Battle at Alexandria, Louisiana
1933 – Nellie T. Ross takes office as the first female director of the US Mint
1966 – WDHO (now WNWO) TV channel 24 in Toledo, Ohio (ABC) begins broadcasting
2002 – Military MiG-21 aircraft crashes into the Bank of Rajasthan in India, killing eight people
2002 – “Spider-Man,” starring Tobey Maguire as Peter Parker/Spider-Man and Willem Dafoe as Norman Osborn/The Green Goblin, premieres
2023 – 13-year-old Serbian student shoots and kills nine people at his Belgrade school, eight students and a security guard, before handing himself in
2023 – MLB LA Angels pitcher Shohei Ohtani joins NY Yankee legend Babe Ruth as only pitcher to strike out 500 batters and hit over 100 career home runs in 6-4 over the Cardinals in St. Louis
Historical Events for 2nd May 2026
1598 – France and Spain sign the Peace of Vervins
1923 – MLB Washington Senator Walter Johnson pitches his 100th shutout, beats New York Yankees 3-0
1941 – Nazi occupied Netherlands lays off Jewish journalists
1943 – German troops vacate Jefna, Tunisia
1950 – Dutch PM Malan recognizes South-Africa but not People’s Republic of China
1969 – British ocean liner Queen Elizabeth II departs Southampton on its maiden voyage to New York
1982 – Argentine cruiser General Belgrano is sunk by British submarine HMS Conqueror with the loss of more than 350 men during the Falklands War
1983 – 6.7 earthquake injures 487 in Coalinga, California
Historical Events for 1st May 2026
1850 – John Geary becomes the first mayor of San Francisco
1951 – Dutch Reformed Church introduces a new church choir
1967 – Bernard Malamud wins the Pulitzer Price in Fiction for “The Fixer”
1988 – Two IRA attacks in and near Roermond, Netherlands, kills three British servicemen and wounds three more
2002 – Padres closer Trevor Hoffman sets MLB record for saves for one team (321) in 4-3 win v Chicago Cubs in San Diego
2009 – Same-sex marriage is legalized in Sweden
2014 – Hundreds march through Nigerian capital calling for the release of schoolgirls abducted by Islamic militants, Boko Haram, who oppose Western education
2019 – US Attorney General William Barr testifies before the Senate Judiciary Committee, defending his handling of the Mueller Report