May 1st in History

305 - Diocletian and Maximian retire from the office of Roman Emperor.

524 - King Sigismund of Burgundy is executed at Orléans after an 8-year reign and is succeeded by his brother Godomar.

1328 - Wars of Scottish Independence end: Treaty of Edinburgh-Northampton – the Kingdom of England recognises the Kingdom of Scotland as an independent state.

1707 - The Act of Union joins the Kingdom of England and Kingdom of Scotland to form the Kingdom of Great Britain.

1753 - Publication of Species Plantarum by Linnaeus, and the formal start date of plant taxonomy adopted by the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature.

1776 - Establishment of the Illuminati in Ingolstadt (Upper Bavaria), by Jesuit-taught Adam Weishaupt.


1794 - War of the Pyrenees: The Battle of Boulou ends, in which French forces defeat the Spanish and regain nearly all the land they lost to Spain in 1793.

1840 - The Penny Black, the first official adhesive postage stamp, is issued in the United Kingdom.

1851 - Queen Victoria opens the Great Exhibition in London.


1856 - The Province of Isabela was created in the Philippines in honor of the Queen Isabela II of Spain.

1862 - American Civil War: The Union Army completes the Capture of New Orleans.

1865 - The Empire of Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay sign the Treaty of the Triple Alliance

1875 - Alexandra Palace reopens after the 1873 fire burnt it down.

1898 - Spanish-American War: The Battle of Manila Bay – the United States Navy destroys the Spanish Pacific fleet in the first battle of the war.

1915 - The RMS Lusitania departs from New York City on her two hundred and second, and final, crossing of the North Atlantic. Six days later, the ship is torpedoed off the coast of Ireland with the loss of 1,198 lives, including 128 Americans, rousing American sentiment against Germany.

1925 - The All-China Federation of Trade Unions is officially founded. Today it is the largest trade union in the world, with 134 million members.


1930 - The dwarf planet Pluto is officially named.

1931 - The Empire State Building is dedicated in New York City.

1940 - The 1940 Summer Olympics are cancelled due to war.


1944 - 200 Communist prisoners are shot by the Germans at Kaisariani in Athens as reprisals for the killing of General Franz Krech by partisans at Molaoi

1945 - World War II: A German newsreader officially announces that Adolf Hitler has "fallen at his command post in the Reich Chancellery fighting to the last breath against Bolshevism and for Germany". The Soviet flag was raised over the Reich Chancellery, by order of Stalin.

1945 - World War II: Joseph Goebbels and his wife Magda commit suicide in the Reich Garden outside the Führerbunker. Their children are murdered by Magda by having cyanide pills inserted into their mouths.

1946 - The Paris Peace Conference concludes that the islands of the Dodecanese should be returned to Greece by Italy.


1948 - The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) is established, with Kim Il-sung as leader.

1950 - Guam is organized as a United States commonwealth.

1961 - The Prime Minister of Cuba, Fidel Castro, proclaims Cuba a socialist nation and abolishes elections.

1974 - The Argentine terrorist organization Montoneros is expelled from Plaza de Mayo by president Juan Perón.

1987 - Pope John Paul II beatifies Edith Stein (St. Teresia Benedicta of the Cross), a Jewish-born Carmelite nun who was gassed in the Nazi concentration camp at Auschwitz.

1995 - Croatian forces launch Operation Flash during the Croatian War of Independence.

2001 - Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo declares the existence of "a state of rebellion", hours after thousands of supporters of her arrested predecessor, Joseph Estrada, storm towards the presidential palace at the height of the EDSA III rebellion.

2004 - Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia join the European Union.


2009 - Same-sex marriage is legalized in Sweden.

2011 - Blessed Pope John Paul II is beatified by his successor, Pope Benedict XVI.

2011 - Barack Obama announces that Osama bin Laden, the suspected mastermind behind the September 11 attacks is killed by United States special forces in Abbottabad, Pakistan. Due to the time difference between the United States and Pakistan, bin Laden was actually killed on May 2nd

Famous Birthdays


1218 - John I, Count of Hainaut

1218 - Rudolph I of Germany, Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire

1585 - St. Sophia Olelkovich Radziwill, saint in the Orthodox church


1764 - Benjamin Henry Latrobe, architect, designed the United States Capitol

1769 - Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington

1850 - Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn

1901 - Heinz Eric Roemheld, composer

1917 - Danielle Darrieux, actress and singer

1919 - Mohammed Karim Lamrani, Prime Minister of Morocco

1945 - Rita Coolidge, singer

1950 - John Diehl, actor

1964 - The Lady Sarah Chatto, daughter of Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon

1972 - Julie Benz, actress

1982 - Tommy Robredo, tennis player

1986 - Christian Benítez, footballer


1989 - Alejandro Arribas, footballer

1993 - Jean-Christophe Bahebeck, footballer