585 BC – A solar eclipse occurred, as predicted by Greek philosopher and scientist Thales, while Alyattes was battling Cyaxares in the Battle of the Eclipse, leading to a truce. This is one of the cardinal dates from which other dates can be calculated.
1588 The Spanish Armada, with 130 ships and 30,000 men, sets sail from Lisbon heading for the English Channel.
1644 Bolton Massacre by Royalist troops under the command of the Earl of Derby.
1660 King George I of Great Britain, was born (d. 1727).
1754 French and Indian War: in the first engagement of the war, Virginia militia under 22-year-old Lieutenant Colonel George Washington defeated a French reconnaissance party in the Battle of Jumonville Glen.
1759 William Pitt the Younger, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, was born (d. 1806).
1774 American Revolutionary War: the first Continental Congress convened.
1830 President Andrew Jackson signed The Indian Removal Act which relocates Native Americans.
1853 Carl Larsson, Swedish painter, was born (d. 1919).
1858 Carl Rickard Nyberg, Swedish inventor, was born (d. 1939).
1860 One of the worst storms ever to hit the east coast of England, sank more than 100 ships and killing at least 40 people.
1863 American Civil War: The 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, the first African American regiment, leaves Boston, Massachusetts, to fight for the Union.
1905 Russo-Japanese War: The Battle of Tsushima ended with the destruction of the Russian Baltic Fleet by Admiral Togo Heihachiro and the Imperial Japanese Navy.
1908 Ian Fleming, English author, was born (d. 1964).
1912 Patrick White, Australian writer, Nobel Prize laureate, was born (d. 1990).
1920 Dennis Gunn was convicted of the murder of a postmaster and sentenced to death. In what was possibly a world-first involving a capital crime, Gunn’s conviction was based almost entirely on fingerprint evidence.
1926 28th May 1926 coup d’état: Ditadura Nacional was established in Portugal to suppressthe unrest of the First Republic.
1930 The Chrysler Building in New York City officially opened.
1931 Carroll Baker, American actress, was born.
1934 Quintuplets, Yvonne, Annette, Cécile, Émilie, and Marie, were born to Ovila and Elzire Dionne, and later become the first quintuplets to survive infancy.
1934 – The Glyndebourne festival in England was inaugurated.
1936 Betty Shabazz, American civil rights activist was born (d. 1997).
1936 Alan Turing submitted On Computable Numbers for publication.
1937 The Golden Gate Bridge was officially opened by President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
1937 Neville Chamberlain became British Prime Minister.
1940 World War II: Belgium surrendered to Germany.
1940 World War II: Norwegian, French, Polish and British forces recaptured Narvik in the first allied infantry victory of the War.
1942 World War II: in retaliation for the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich, Nazis in Czechoslovakia killed more than 1800 people.
1944 Rudy Giuliani, 107th Mayor of New York City, was born.
1944 Gladys Knight, American singer and actress, was born.
1944 Patricia Quinn, Northern Irish actress, was born.
1945 John Fogerty, American musician (Creedence Clearwater Revival) was born.
1952 Memphis Kiddie Park opened in Brooklyn, Ohio.
1952 – The women of Greece gained the right to vote.
1961 Peter Benenson‘s article “The Forgotten Prisoners” was published in several internationally read newspapers was later thought of as the founding of Amnesty International.
1964 The Palestine Liberation Organization was formed.
1974 Northern Ireland’s power-sharing Sunningdale Agreement collapsed following a general strike by loyalists.
1975 Fifteen West African countries sign the Treaty of Lagos, creating the Economic Community of West African States.
1977 In Southgate, Kentucky, the Beverly Hills Supper Club fire killed 165 people.
1978 Second round of the presidential elections in Upper Volta which was won by incumbent Sangoulé Lamizana.
1979 Constantine Karamanlis signed the full treaty of the accession of Greece with the European Economic Community.
1982 Falklands War: British forces defeated the Argentines at the Battle of Goose Green.
1984 Beth Allen, New Zealand actress, was born.
1987 19-year-old West German pilot Mathias Rust evaded Soviet Union air defenses and lands a private plane in Red Square.
1987 A robot probe found the wreckage of the USS Monitor.
1991 The capital city of Addis Ababa, fell to the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front, ending both the Derg regime and the Ethiopian Civil War.
1995 Neftegorsk was hit by a 7.6 magnitude earthquake that killed at least 2,000 people, 1/2 of the total population.
1998 Nuclear testing: Pakistan responded to a series of nuclear tests by India with five of its own, prompting other nations to impose economic sanctions.
1999 After 22 years of restoration work, Leonardo da Vinci’s masterpiece “The Last Supper” was put back on display.
1999 – Two Swedish police officers were murdered with their own fire arms by the bank robbers Jackie Arklöv and Tony Olsson after a car chase.
2002 NATO declared Russia a limited partner in the Western alliance.
2002 The Mars Odyssey found signs of large ice deposits on Mars.
2003 Peter Hollingworth became the first Governor-General of Australia to resign his office as a result of criticism of his conduct.
2004 The Iraqi Governing Council chose Ayad Allawi, a longtime anti-Saddam Hussein exile, as prime minister of Iraq’s interim government.
2008 – In West Bengal a train derailment and subsequent collision killed 141 passengers.
2012 – The discovery of Flame, a complex malware program targeting computers in Middle Eastern countries, was announced.
Sourced from NZ History Online & Wikipedia.