May 22 - Events

Events

• 334 BC – The Macedonian army of Alexander the Great defeats Darius III of Persia in the Battle of the Granicus.
• 853 – A Byzantine fleet sacks and destroys undefended Damietta in Egypt
• 1176 – The Hashshashin (Assassins) attempt to murder Saladin near Aleppo.
• 1200 – King John of England and King Philip II of France sign the Treaty of Le Goulet.
• 1254 – Serbian King Stephen Uroš I and the Republic of Venice sign a peace treaty.
• 1377 – Pope Gregory XI issues five papal bulls to denounce the doctrines of English theologian John Wycliffe.
• 1455 – Wars of the Roses: at the First Battle of St Albans, Richard, Duke of York, defeats and captures King Henry VI of England.
• 1629 – Emperor Ferdinand II & Danish King Christian IV sign the Treaty of Lübeck to end the Danish intervention in the Thirty Years' War.
• 1659 – France, England & Netherlands sign "Hedges Concerto" treaty.
• 1762 – Sweden and Prussia sign the Treaty of Hamburg.
• 1807 – A grand jury indicts former Vice President of the United States Aaron Burr on a charge of treason.
• 1807 – Most of the English town of Chudleigh is destroyed by fire
• 1809 – On the second and last day of the Battle of Aspern-Essling (near Vienna), Napoleon is repelled by an enemy army for the first time.
• 1816 – A mob in Littleport, Cambridgeshire, England, riots over high unemployment and rising grain costs; the rioting spreads to Ely the next day.
• 1819 – The SS Savannah leaves port at Savannah, Georgia, United States, on a voyage to become the first steamship to cross the Atlantic Ocean. The ship arrived at Liverpool, England on June 20.
• 1826 – HMS Beagle departs on its first voyage.
• 1840 – The transportation of British convicts to the New South Wales colony is abolished.
• 1844 – Persian Prophet The Báb announces his revelation, founding Bábism. He announces to the world the coming of "He whom God shall make manifest". He is considered the forerunner of Bahá'u'lláh, the founder of the Bahá'í Faith.
• 1848 – Slavery is abolished in Martinique.
• 1856 – Congressman Preston Brooks of South Carolina beats Senator Charles Sumner with a cane in the hall of the United States Senate for a speech Sumner had made attacking Southerners who sympathized with the pro-slavery violence in Kansas ("Bleeding Kansas").
• 1863 – American Civil War: Siege of Port Hudson – Union forces begin to lay siege to the Confederate-controlled Port Hudson, Louisiana.
• 1864 – American Civil War: After ten weeks, the Union Army's Red River Campaign ends with the Union unable to achieve any of its objectives.
• 1871 – The U.S. Army issued an order for abandonment of Fort Kearny in Nebraska.
• 1872 – Reconstruction: U.S. President Ulysses S. Grant signs the Amnesty Act of 1872 into law restoring full civil rights to all but about 500 Confederate sympathizers.
• 1897 – The Blackwall Tunnel under the River Thames is officially opened
• 1903 – Launch of the White Star Liner, SS Ionic.
• 1906 – The Wright brothers are granted U.S. patent number 821,393 for their "Flying-Machine".
• 1915 – Lassen Peak erupts with a powerful force, and is the only mountain other than Mount St. Helens to erupt in the contiguous US during the 20th century.
• 1915 – Three trains collide in the Quintinshill rail crash near Gretna Green, Scotland, killing 227 people and injuring 246; the accident is found to be the result of non-standard operating practices during a shift change at a busy junction.
• 1926 – Chiang Kai-shek replaces communists in Kuomintang China
• 1939 – World War II: Germany and Italy sign the Pact of Steel.
• 1942 – Mexico enters World War II on the side of the Allies.
• 1942 – The Steel Workers Organizing Committee disbands, and a new trade union, the United Steelworkers, is formed.
• 1942 – World War II: Ted Williams of the Boston Red Sox enlists in the United States Marine Corps as a flight instructor.
• 1943 – Joseph Stalin disbands Comintern.
• 1945 – Operation Paperclip – United States Army Major Robert B. Staver recommends that the U.S. evacuate German scientists and engineers to help in the development of rocket technology.
• 1947 – Cold War: in an effort to fight the spread of Communism, U.S. President Harry S. Truman signs an act into law that will later be called the Truman Doctrine. The act grants $400 million in military and economic aid to Turkey and Greece, each battling an internal Communist movement.
• 1958 – Sri Lankan riots of 1958: This riot is a watershed event in the race relationship of the various ethnic communities of Sri Lanka. The total number of deaths is estimated to be 300, mostly Sri Lankan Tamils.
• 1960 – An earthquake measuring 9.5 on the moment magnitude scale, now known as the Great Chilean Earthquake, hits southern Chile. It is the most powerful earthquake ever recorded.
• 1961 – An Earthquake rocks New South Wales.
• 1962 – Continental Airlines Flight 11 crashes after bombs explode on board.
• 1963 – Assassination attempt of Greek left-wing politician Gregoris Lambrakis, who will die five days afterwards.
• 1964 – U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson announces the goals of his Great Society social reforms to bring an "end to poverty and racial injustice" in America.
• 1967 – The L'Innovation department store in the centre of Brussels, Belgium, burns down. It is the most devastating fire in Belgian history, resulting in 323 dead and missing and 150 injured.
• 1968 – The nuclear-powered submarine the USS Scorpion sinks with 99 men aboard 400 miles southwest of the Azores.
• 1969 – Apollo 10's lunar module flies within 8.4 nautical miles (16 km) of the moon's surface.
• 1972 – Ceylon adopts a new constitution, thus becoming a Republic, changes its name to Sri Lanka, and joins the Commonwealth of Nations.
• 1980 – Namco releases the highly influential arcade game Pac-Man.
• 1987 – Hashimpura massacre in Meerut city of India.
• 1987 – First ever Rugby World Cup kicks off with New Zealand playing Italy at Eden Park, Auckland.
• 1990 – North and South Yemen are unified to create the Republic of Yemen.
• 1990 – Microsoft releases the Windows 3.0 operating system.
• 1992 – After 30 years, 66-year-old Johnny Carson hosts The Tonight Show for the last time.
• 1992 – Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and Slovenia join the United Nations.
• 1997 – Kelly Flinn, US Air Force's first female bomber pilot certified for combat, accepts a general discharge in order to avoid a court martial.
• 1998 – Lewinsky scandal: a federal judge rules that United States Secret Service agents can be compelled to testify before a grand jury concerning the scandal, involving President Bill Clinton.
• 2002 – In Washington, D.C., the remains of the missing Chandra Levy are found in Rock Creek Park.
• 2002 – American civil rights movement: a jury in Birmingham, Alabama, convicts former Ku Klux Klan member Bobby Frank Cherry of the 1963 murders of four girls in the bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church.
• 2003 – In Fort Worth, Texas, Annika Sörenstam becomes the first woman to play the PGA Tour in 58 years.
• 2004 – The U.S. town of Hallam, Nebraska, is wiped out by a powerful F4 tornado (part of the May 2004 tornado outbreak sequence) that broke a width record at an astounding 2.5 miles (4.0 km) wide, which kills one resident.
• 2008 – The Late-May 2008 tornado outbreak sequence unleashes 235 tornadoes, including an EF4 and an EF5 tornado, between May 22 and May 31, 2008. The tornadoes struck 19 states and one Canadian province.
• 2011 – An EF5 Tornado strikes Joplin, Missouri killing 161 people, the single deadliest tornado in the United States since modern record keeping began in 1950.
• 2012 – Tokyo Skytree is opened to public. Its the tallest tower in world (634 m), and the second tallest man-made structure on Earth, after Burj Khalifa (829.8 m).