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Events

1260 - Kublai Khan becomes ruler of the Mongol Empire.

1640 - King Charles I of England disbands the Short Parliament.

1646 - King Charles I of England and Scotland surrenders to the Scottish Presbyterian Army at Newark.

1762 - Russia and Prussia sign the Treaty of St. Petersburg.

1789 - In France, the Estates-General convenes for the first time in 150 years.

1809 - Mary Kies becomes the first woman awarded a U.S. patent, for a technique of weaving straw with silk and thread.

1809 - The Swiss canton of Aargau denies citizenship to Jews.

1835 - In Belgium, the first railway in continental Europe opens between Brussels and Mechelen.

1862 - Cinco de Mayo in Mexico: Troops led by Ignacio Zaragoza halt a French invasion in the Battle of Puebla.

1864 - American Civil War: The Battle of the Wilderness begins in Spotsylvania County, Virginia.

1865 - In North Bend, Ohio (a suburb of Cincinnati), the first train robbery in the United States takes place.

1877 - Indian Wars: Sitting Bull leads his band of Lakota into Canada to avoid harassment by the United States Army under Colonel Nelson Miles.

1891 - The Music Hall in New York (now known as Carnegie Hall) has its grand opening and first public performance, with Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky as the guest conductor.

 
 

1893 - Panic of 1893: Crash on the New York Stock Exchange starts a depression.

1904 - Pitching against the Philadelphia Athletics at the Huntington Avenue Grounds, Cy Young of the Boston Americans threw the first perfect game in the modern era of baseball.

1916 - American marines invade the Dominican Republic.

1925 - Scopes Trial: John T. Scopes is served an arrest warrant for teaching evolution in violation of the Butler Act.

1925 - Afrikaans established as an official language in South Africa.

1936 - Italian troops occupy Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

1940 - World War II: In London, a Norwegian government-in-exile is formed.

1941 - Emperor Haile Selassie returns to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia; this date has been since commemorated as Liberation Day.

1944 - Mohandas Gandhi is freed from prison.

1945 - World War II: German troops in the Netherlands and Denmark capitulate to Canadian and British forces, liberating these countries from Nazi occupation.

Prague uprising against the Nazis.

Mauthausen concentration camp is liberated.

Admiral Karl Dönitz orders all U-boats to cease offensive operations and return to their bases.

 
 

A Japanese bomb, launched by balloon and called a fire balloon, explodes near Lakeview, Oregon, United States, killing a woman and five children who were examining it during a church picnic.

1948 - PFC CSKA Sofia football club is established.

1949 - The Council of Europe is formed.

1950 - Bhumibol Adulyadej is crowned as King Rama IX of Thailand.

1954 - A coup d'état carries General Alfredo Stroessner to power in Paraguay.

1955 - West Germany gains full sovereignty.

1961 - Mercury program: Mercury-Redstone 3 ? Alan Shepard becomes the first American to travel into space, making a sub-orbital flight of 15 minutes.

1978 - Pete Rose of the Cincinnati Reds hits his 3000th major league hit.

1980 - Operation Nimrod: The Special Air Service storm the Iranian embassy in London after a six day siege.

1987 - Iran-Contra affair: Start of Congressional televised hearings.

1991 - A riot breaks out in the Mt. Pleasant section of Washington, DC after a Salvadoran man is shot by police.

1992 - Wolfenstein 3D is released, the first-ever first-person shooter computer game.

1994 - American Michael P. Fay is caned in Singapore as punishment for spray-painting two cars.

2005 - The United Kingdom general election takes place, in which Tony Blair's Labour Party are re-elected for a third, consecutive term.

2006 - Porter Goss announces his resignation as CIA director.

2006 - The government of Sudan signed an accord with the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA).

 

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