This Week in History 5/8 – 5/14

This Week in History

May 8:

• VE Day, Victory in Europe Day celebrates defeat of Nazis when Germany signed an unconditional surrender (1945)
• US Civil War: Richmond, Virginia is named the capital of the Confederacy (1861)
• Hernando de Soto discovers Mississippi River (1541)
• World Health Organization announced smallpox had been eradicated (1980)
• Jacob’s Pharmacy in Atlanta sells first Coca-Cola which contained cocaine (1886)
• Ernest Rutherford publishes his discovery of two different kinds of radiation – Alpha and Beta Particles (1899)
• English parliament declares Charles Stuart to be King Charles II of England (1660)
• First installment of Hans Christian Andersen “Fairy Tales” published by C. A. Reitzel in Copenhagen, Denmark (1835)
• John Brown holds antislavery convention (1858)
• Parliament of Worms installs edict against Martin Luther (1521)
• The American Bible Society was organized (1816)
• US establishes the military draft (1792)
• Mohandas Gandhi begins a 21-day fast in protest against British oppression in India (1933)
• US Mexican War: first major battle of Mexican War fought at Palo Alto, Texas (1846)
• Sarah Ann Henley survives 76 mile jump from Clifton Bridge in Avon, England (1885)
• Southern Baptist Convention was formed by 300 representatives from Baptist churches in Georgia, Virginia and South Carolina (1845)
• Jacobus Arminius, who wrote about the doctrine of Arianism, was appointed Professor of Theology at Leiden University in Amsterdam (1603)
• China cedes Taiwan to Japan under Treaty of Shimonoseki (1895)
• First American flag seamstress Betsy Ross weds John Claypoole (1783)

May 9:

• US President Woodrow Wilson issues a proclamation creating Mother’s Day (1914)
• US Revolutionary War: First newspaper cartoon in America-divided snake “Join or Die” (1754)
• 17th amendment provides for election of senators by popular vote (1913)
• Vietnam War: Reporter breaks the news of secret bombing in Cambodia (1969)
• British parliament accepts abolition of slave trade (1788)
• The International Astronomical Union formally adopt Annie Jump Cannon’s stellar classification system which, with only minor changes, is still used today (1922)
• Buffalo Bill Cody’s Wild West Show opens in London (1887)
• WW1: Allies launch dual offensive on Western Front (1915)
• House votes to initiate impeachment proceedings against US President Nixon (1974)
• WW2: The Channel Islands are formally liberated by the British (1945)
• WW2: The Soviet Union marks Victory Day (1945)
• US Civil War: US Naval Academy relocated from Annapolis, Maryland to Newport, Rhode Island (1862)
• US becomes the first country to legalize the birth control pill (1960)
• First horseless carriage show in London featured 10 models (1896)
• WW2: British intelligence breaks German spy codes after capturing Enigma machines aboard the weather ship Muenchen (1941)
• WW2: Czechoslovakia liberated from Nazi occupation (1945)
• The steam locomotive City of Truro becomes the first steam engine to exceed 100 mph (1904)
• Lawn mower patented (1899)
• Reno, Nevada is founded (1868)
• Cornerstone for Hebrew University, Jerusalem laid (1925)
• A financial panic begins in the US following the struggle between two groups to control the railroads between the Great Lakes and the Pacific (1901)
• Ronald Hubbard publishes Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health, which launches the religion of Scientology (1950)
  
• US Civil War: Battle of Dalton, Georgia (1864)
• The first Australian Parliament opens in Melbourne (1901)
• WW2: 5th German Pantser army surrenders in Tunisia (1943)
• Vietnam War: 100,000s demonstrate against Vietnam War in reaction to 4 rioters killed at Kent State (1970)
• Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo starring Jimmy Stewart and Kim Novak, is released (1958)
• Captain Blood attempts to steal Crown Jewels (1671)
• Declaration of Independence of Romania (1877)
• WW2: Hermann Goering is captured by the United States Army (1945)
• Treaty of Windsor between Portugal and England, the oldest diplomatic alliance in the world which is still in force (1386)

May 10:

• US Revolutionary War: 2nd Continental Congress in Philadelphia names George Washington supreme commander (1775)
• First Mother’s Day observed (1908)
• US Revolutionary War: 2nd Continental Congress convenes in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and issues paper currency for first time (1775)
• First Barbary War: The Barbary pirates of Tripoli declare war on the United States of America in first US foreign war (1801)
• Transcontinental railroad completed (1869)
• Apollo 10 transmits first color pictures of Earth from space (1969)
• First US Navy ship, the “United States,” is launched (1797)
• Victoria Woodhull becomes first woman nominated for US presidency by Equal Rights Party at Apollo Hall, NYC (1872)
• WW2: The first German bombs of the war fall on England at Chilham and Petham, in Kent (1940)
• WW2: Nazis stage public book burnings in Germany (1933)
• US Revolutionary War: Ethan Allen and Benedict Arnold lead a successful attack on Fort Ticonderoga in upstate New York (1775)
• US President Hayes has first phone installed in White House (1877)
• First Barbary War: The Barbary pirates of Tripoli declare war on the United States of America, first US foreign war (1801)
• J. Edgar Hoover becomes director of FBI (1924)
• Halley’s Comet closest approach to Earth (1910)
• Benjamin Franklin tests the lightning conductor with his his kite-flying experiment (1752)
• US Civil War: Confederate President Jefferson Davis is captured by Union Army (1865)
• A hand grenade which was thrown by Vladimir Arutyunian lands about 65 feet from U.S. President George W. Bush while he was giving a speech, but it malfunctions and does not detonate (2005)
• WW2: Churchill becomes Prime Minister of England as Germany invades Holland and Belgium (1940)
• Vietnam War: US troops begin attack on Hill 937, Hamburger Hill (1969)
• Bacon’s Rebellion begins, frontiersmen vs Virginia government (1676)
• Scottish Protestants under John Knox uprising against Queen Mary (1559)
• Columbus discovers Cayman Islands (1503)
• John Johnson, a free African American, is granted 550 acres in Northampton, Virginia (1652)
• US Civil War: Confederate General Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson dies (1863)
• US atomic sub USS Triton completes first submerged circumnavigation of the globe (1960)
• Nelson Mandela sworn in as South Africa’s first black president (1994)
• Victoria Woodhull becomes first woman nominated for US presidency by Equal Rights Party (1872)

May 11:

• American Bible Society founded (1816)
• First hospital founded, Pennsylvania Hospital, in the 13 Colonies in America (1751)
• In New York City, more than 170 countries decide to extend the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty indefinitely and without conditions (1995)
• Ellis Island added to Statue of Liberty National monument (1965)
• Waltz introduced into English ballrooms (1812)
• BF Goodrich announced the development of tubeless tire in Akron, Ohio (1947)
• The General Court of Massachusetts repealed two laws: one forbidding Christmas, and the second mandating capital punishment for Quakers (1682)
• By a vote of 37-12, Israel becomes 59th member of UN (1949)
• Waltz introduced into English ballrooms which some observers considered disgusting and immoral (1812)
• Mercedes-Benz is formed by Gottlieb Daimler and Karl Benz merging the two companies (1924)
• Minnesota admitted as 32nd US state (1958)
• US Civil War: Confederate General J.E.B. Stuart is mortally wounded at Yellow Tavern (1864)
• British Prime Minister Spencer Perceval is murdered (1812)
• Constantinople becomes capital of Roman Empire (330 AD)
• In Australia, William Lawson, Gregory Blaxland and William Wentworth lead an expedition westwards from Sydney opening up inland Australia for continued expansion (1813)
• While visiting Japan, Prince Nicholas, later Tsar Nicholas II, survives an assassination attempt in what becomes known as the Otsu Scandal (1891)
• Siam renames itself Thailand (1949)
• Jews are expelled from Stria, Austria (1421)

May 12:

• WW2: Konrad Zuse presents the Z3, the world’s first working programmable, fully automatic computer, in Berlin (1941)
• William Wilberforce makes his first major speech on abolition in UK House of Commons (1789)
• WW2: Nazi U-boat sinks American cargo ship at mouth of Mississippi River (1942)
• US Revolutionary War:Americans suffer worst defeat of revolution at Charleston (1980)
• Wireless Radio Broadcasting is patented by Nathan B Stubblefield (1908)
• US Civil War: Last land action of Civil war at Palmito Ranch, Texas (1865)
• Toilet that flushes itself at regular intervals is patented (1792)
• WW2: Nazi blitzkrieg conquest of France began by crossing Muese River (1940)
• US Civil War: Battle of Spotsylvania Courthouse, Virginia (1864)
• George VI crowned King of England after Edward VIII abdicated his throne (1937)
• Body of kidnapped son of Charles Lindbergh is found in Hopewell, New Jersey (1932)
• WW2: 1,500 Jews gassed in Auschwitz (1942)
• WW2: Benito Mussolini ends women’s rights in Italy (1928)
• Wenchuan earthquake, measuring 7.8 in magnitude occurs in Sichuan, China, killing over 87,000, injuring 374,643 and leaving homeless between 4.8 million and 11 million people (2008)
• English barons serve ultimatum on King John leading to Magna Carta (1215)
• Federal Emergency Relief Administration & Agricultural Adjustment Administration form to help the needy & farmers (1933)
• US Revolutionary War: Society of St Tammany is formed by Revolutionary War soldiers which later becomes an infamous group of NYC political bosses (1789)
• Louisiana legalized prize fighting (1890)
• Opium laws enforced (1928)
• Fifty-four Knights Templar were burned at the stake as heretics in France (1310)

May 13:

• Jamestown settlers arrive and establish the first permanent English colony in America (1607)
• Great Dustbowl Storm sweeps across US prairies (1934)
• President Polk declares war on Mexico (1946)
• Approximately 2,000 students begin hunger strike in Tienanmen Square, China (1989)
• US Civil War: Private John Jefferson Williams of B Company, 34th Regiment Indiana Infantry is last man killed (1865)
• WW1: US Secretary of State Bryan sends a note to Germany demanding that Germany disavow the attacks on the Lusitania and make immediate reparations (1915)
• WW2: Winston Churchill says I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears & sweat (1940)
• US Civil War: Queen Victoria announces Britain’s position of neutrality (1861)
• WW2: US sentences 58 camp guards of Nazi Mauthausen concentration camp to death (1946)
• US Federal education funding is denied to 12 school districts in the South because of violations of the 1964 Civil Rights Act (1966)
• In Tallahassee, Florida, the State legislature passed a bill requiring daily Bible readings in all public schools (1925)
• A statute enacted in Rhode Island offered freemanship with no specifically Christian requirements which enfranchised Jews (1665)
• Turkish terrorist Mehmet Ali Agca shot and seriously wounded Pope John Paul II in an assassination attempt (1981)
• Three astronauts simultaneous walked in space for the first time (1992)
• Republic of Ecuador is founded (1830)
• Christopher Columbus’s flagship, the Santa María, is discovered off the northern coast of Haiti (2014)
• Near Fatima, Portugal, three shepherd children reported that Mary, the mother of Jesus, had appeared to them (1917)
• Arthur Phillip sets sails with 11 ships of criminals to Botany Bay, Australia (1787)
• Cardinal Richelieu of France reputedly creates the table knife (1637)
• Mary Queen of Scots is defeated at battle of Langside (1568)
• Republic of Ecuador is founded, with Juan Jose Flores as president (1830)

May 14:

• Traditional date for Ascension of Christ (33 AD)
• Delegates gather in Philadelphia to draw up US constitution (1787)
• First Anglican service in the New World at Jamestown (1607)
• State of Israel formally proclaimed as Star of David flag rises in Jerusalem for the first time in modern history (1948)
• Lewis and Clark exhibition begins (1804)
• Warsaw Pact is signed by the Soviet Union, Albania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary, Poland & Romania (1955)
• US grants Israel de facto recognition (1948)
• First passenger flight in an airplane (1908)
• English country doctor Edward Jenner administers the first inoculation against smallpox, using cowpox pus, in Berkeley, Gloucestershire (1796)
• Vaseline is granted a patent (1878)
• US President Harry Truman signs bill establishing a rocket test range at Cape Canaveral (1949)
• Lina Medina becomes the world’s youngest confirmed mother in medical history at the age of five (1939)
• WW2:Gen Rommel, Speidel & Von Stulpnagel attempt to assassinate Hitler (1944)
• Gail Borden, land surveyor, newspaper publisher, and inventor, patents his process for condensed milk (1853)