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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 - Disneyland kicks off its 50th anniversary celebration, even though the park opened on July 17, 1955.

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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867 - Uda, Emperor of Japan (d. 931)

1210 - King Afonso III of Portugal (d. 1279)

1546 - Thomas Cecil, 1st Earl of Exeter, English politician (d. 1623)

1747 - Leopold II, Holy Roman Emperor (d. 1792)

1764 - Robert Craufurd, British general (d. 1812)

1813 - Søren Kierkegaard, Danish philosopher (d. 1855)

1818 - Karl Marx, German political philosopher (d. 1883)

1826 - Empress Eugenie of France, wife of Napoleon III (d. 1920)

1832 - H.H. Bancroft, American historian and publisher (d. 1918)

1833 - Ferdinand von Richthofen, German geographer (d. 1905)

1834 - Viktor Hartmann, Russian architect and painter (d. 1873)

1846 - Henryk Sienkiewicz, Polish author, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1916)

1865 - Elizabeth Jane Cochran, American journalist and writer (d. 1922)

1866 - Thomas B. Thrige, Danish industrialist (d. 1938)

1869 - Hans Pfitzner, Russian-born composer (d. 1949)

1883 - Archibald Wavell, British general (d. 1950)

1887 - Geoffrey Fisher, Archbishop of Canterbury (d. 1972)

1890 - Christopher Morley, American writer (d. 1957)

1899 - Freeman Gosden, American radio comedian (Amos-Amos 'n' Andy) (d. 1982)

1901 - Blind Willie McTell, American singer (d. 1959)

1903 - James Beard, American chef and cookbook writer (d. 1985)

1908 - Kurt Böhme, German bass (d. 1989)

1914 - Tyrone Power, American actor (d. 1958)

1915 - Alice Faye, American actress (d. 1998)

1916 - Zail Singh, President of India (d. 1994)

1921 - Arthur Leonard Schawlow, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1999)

1923 - Richard Wollheim, British philosopher (d. 2003)

1926 - Ann B. Davis, American actress

1935 - Douglas Marland, American television writer (d. 1993)

1936 - Patrick Gowers, British composer

1941 - Alexander Ragulin, Russian hockey player (d. 2004)

1942 - Marc Alaimo, American actor

1942 - Tammy Wynette, American musician (d. 1998)

1943 - Raphael, Spanish singer

1943 - Michael Palin, British writer, actor, and comedian

1944 - Roger Rees, Welsh actor

1944 - John Rhys-Davies, Welsh actor

1948 - Bill Ward, British drummer (Black Sabbath)

1952 - Campbell McComas, Australian impersonator and broadcaster (d. 2005)

1954 - Dave Spector, American television personality and commentator

1957 - Richard E. Grant, British actor

1958 - Ron Arad, Israeli aircraft navigator missing in action.

1959 - Ian McCulloch, English singer of Echo & the Bunnymen

1959 - Brian Phelps, American disk jockey and actor

1961 - Hiroshi Hase, Japanese professional wrestler and politician

1963 - James LaBrie, Canadian singer (Dream Theater)

1966 - Shawn Drover, Canadian drummer (Megadeth)

1967 - Takehito Koyasu, Japanese seiyu (voice actor)

1970 - Kyan Douglas, American TV-personality, see Queer Eye for the Straight Guy

1970 - Juan Acevedo, Baseball player

1970 - Soheil Ayari, French racing driver

1971 - David Reilly, American singer (God Lives Underwater) (d. 2005)

1972 - Devin Townsend, Canadian musician (Strapping Young Lad)

1972 - James Cracknell, British Rowing Champion, Double Olymipic Gold Medalist

1976 - Juan Pablo Sorín, Argentine footballer

1976 - Chad Patton, American wrestling referee

1979 - Vincent Kartheiser, American actor

1979 - Bipasha Basu, Indian actress and supermodel

1981 - Craig David, British R&B singer

1981 - Danielle Fishel, American actress

1981 - Marcelle Bittar, Brazilian supermodel

1981 - Chris Duncan, baseball player

1982 - Jay Bothroyd, English footballer

1983 - Henry Cavill, English actor

1985 - David Nugent, English footballer

1984 - Wade MacNeil, Canadian guitarist (Alexisonfire)

1987 - John Gotti Agnello, son of columnist and author Victoria Gotti and grandson of mobster John Gotti

1988 - Jessica Dubroff, American aviator (d. 1996)

1988 - Brooke Hogan, American singer

1989 - Chris Brown, American singer

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200 - Sun Ce, a warlord of the Han Dynasty (b. 175)

311 - Galerius, Roman Emperor

1028 - King Alfonso V of Castile, León, and Galicia

1192 - Duke Ottokar IV of Styria (b. 1163)

1194 - King Casimir II of Poland (b. 1138)

1219 - King Leo II of Armenia (b. 1150)

1309 - King Charles II of Naples

1525 - Frederick III of Saxony (b. 1463)

1586 - Henry Sidney, Lord Deputy of Ireland (b. 1529)

1604 - Claudio Merulo, Italian composer (b. 1533)

1671 - Edward Montagu, 2nd Earl of Manchester, English politician (b. 1602)

1672 - Samuel Cooper, English painter (b. 1609)

1705 - Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 1640)

1760 - Laurence Shirley, 4th Earl Ferrers, English murderer (hanged) (b. 1720)

1766 - Jean Astruc, French physician and scholar (b. 1684)

1808 - Pierre Jean George Cabanis, French physiologist (b. 1757)

1811 - Robert Mylne, Scottish architect (b. 1734)

1821 - Napoleon I of France (b. 1769)

1827 - Frederick Augustus I of Saxony (b. 1750)

1855 - Sir Robert Inglis, Bt, English politician (b. 1786)

1859 - Peter Gustav Dirichlet, German mathematician (b. 1805)

1900 - Ivan Aivazovsky, Russian painter (b. 1817)

1921 - Alfred Hermann Fried, Austrian writer and pacifist, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1864)

1941 - Natalija Obrenović, Queen of Serbia (b. 1859)

1947 - Ty LaForest, Canadian baseball player (b. 1917)

1959 - Carlos Saavedra Lamas, Argentine politician, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1878)

1962 - Ernest Tyldesley, English cricketer (b. 1889)

1971 - Violet Jessop, Titanic survivor (b. 1887)

1977 - Ludwig Erhard, a German politician (CDU) and Chancellor of Germany from 1963 until 1966 (b. 1897)

1981 - Bobby Sands, Irish activist (b. 1954)

1985 - Sir Donald Bailey, British civil engineer (b. 1901)

1988 - Michael Shaara, American author (b. 1928)

1992 - Jean-Claude Pascal, French singer (b.1927)

1995 - Mikhail Botvinnik, Russian chess player (b. 1911)

1997 - Walter Gotell, German actor (b. 1924)

2000 - Gino Bartali, Italian cyclist (b. 1914)

2001 - Cliff Hillegass, American writer and publisher

2001 - Raymond Kessler, American midget wrestler

2003 - Walter Sisulu, South African activist (b. 1912)

2006 - Naushad Ali, Indian composer (b. 1919)

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International Midwives Day

International No Pants Day

Council of Europe: Europe Day.

Albania: Martyrs' Day.

Denmark: Liberation Day (1945).

Ethiopia: Liberation Day (1941).

Guyana: Indian Immigration Day (1838).

Hong Kong, Macau, South Korea and Taiwan (2006): Buddha's Birthday.

Japan: Tango no Sekku (Boy's Day) or Kodomo no hi (Children's Day).

Mexico and the United States: Cinco de Mayo (1862).

The Netherlands: May 5, Liberation day (1945).

Northern Territory, Australia: May Day.

South Korea: Children's Day.

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Ascension Day in Western Christianity (2005).

Saint Angelus of Jerusalem (d. 1222)

Saint Aventinus (d. 1189)

Saint Britto

Saint Gerontius (d. 472)

Saint Godehart (d. 1038)

Saint Nicetius

Saint Hilary of Arles (d. 449)

Saint Pius V (1505-1572)

Saint Jutta of Kulmsee, aka Saint Jutta of Sangerhausen or Saint Judith of Prussia (d. 1260)

Blessed Aleidis

Blessed Edmund Ignatius Rice

Adrian of Monzensk

Great Martyr Irene

Martyrs Neophytos, Gaius and Gaianus

Euthymios the Wonderworker

Barlaam of Serpukhov

Martin and Heraclius of Illyria

Eulogios the Confessor

New Martyr Ephraim of Nea Makri