15 May - Today in History - Important historical events happened on this day in India and World History
According to Gregory calendar, on May 15, the day number in a year is 135 and if it is a leap year then the day number is 136. May 15 has a special significance in India and world history, because many such incidents have occurred on this day which have been recorded forever in the pages of history. Let's know some such important events which will increase your general knowledge. The facts collected will be as follows: People born on this day, demise of famous people, war treaty, freedom of any country, invention of new technologies, change of power, important National and International Day etc.
May 15 in History - Top Historical Events
| Year | Event / Incidence / Incident |
| 392 | Roman emperor Valentinian II was found hanged in his residence in Vienne, Gaul. |
| 1602 | English explorer Bartholomew Gosnold led the first recordedEuropean expedition to visit Cape Cod in present-day Massachusetts. |
| 1610 | The Parliament of Paris appointed Louis XIII as King of France. |
| 1701 | The Spanish War began for succession. |
| 1718 | James Pakley, a London lawyer who built the world's first machine gun. |
| 1730 | Robert Walpole was effectively made Britain's first Prime Minister. |
| 1788 | Australian border wars started. |
| 1793 | Inventor Diego Marín Aguilera, the 'father of aviation' inSpain, flew one of the first gliders for about 360 m (1,180 ft). |
| 1811 | Paraguay declared independence from Spain. |
| 1829 | Patent applied for an instrument called Estrian by Damian Cyril. |
| 1836 | English astronomer Francis Baily first observed 'Baily's beads', a phenomenon during a solar eclipse in which the rugged lunar limb topography allows beads of sunlight to shine through. |
| 1850 | Members of the 1st Cavalry Regiment of the United StatesCavalry massacred at least 135 Pomo Indians in Lake County, California. |
| 1851 | The first Australian Gold Rush was announced, although the discovery was made three months earlier. |
| 1858 | The Royal Italian Opera Covent Garden opened in London. |
| 1864 | American Civil War-A small Confederate force, which includedcadets from the Virginia Military Institute, forced the Union Army outof the Shenandoah Valley. |
| 1869 | Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton founded the National Woman Suffrage Association, breaking away from the American Equal Rights Association which they had also previously founded. |
| 1878 | Tokyo Stock Exchange was established. |
| 1891 | Pope Leo XIII issued the encyclical Rerum Novarum, thataddressed the condition of the working classes and is considered to bethe foundation of modern Catholic social teaching. |
| 1891 | Phillips & Company was established in Holland. |
| 1905 | Las Vegas was established as railroadtown, after 110 acres (0.45 km2) owned by the San Pedro, Los Angelesand Salt Lake Railroad was auctioned off. |
| 1916 | Jesse Washington, a teenage African-American farmhand, was lynched in Waco, Texas, US, in what became a well-known example of racially motivated lynching. |
| 1918 | First air mail service launched in the US. |
| 1919 | The Winnipeg General Strike took place in which almost the entire working population from public and private sectors had walked off the job to join the strike on May 15, 1919 in Winnipeg, Canada. |
| 1925 | First Arabic Communist Newspaper launched. |
| 1928 | Cartoon Character Mickey Mouse was appeared for the first time in an American animated short-film Plane Crazy which was released on May 15, 1928 by Walt Disney Studios. It was a silent film then and next year it was again released as a sound cartoon on March 17, 1929. |
| 1930 | Alan Church, the world's first female airhostess, flew in the Auckland – Chicago flight. |
| 1939 | The romantic drama film Goodbye produced by Mr Chips premiered in the UK. |
| 1940 | McDonald, World’s largest chain of hamburger fast food restaurants, opened its first restaurant in San Bernardino, California on May 15, 1940 founded by Richard and Maurice McDonald. It is also the world’s second largest private employer after Wal-Mart. |
| 1940 | Two brothers named Mac and Dick Macdonald started the McDonald's Restaurant in San Bernardino, California. |
| 1948 | The Australian cricket team set a first-class world record thatstill stands by scoring 721 runs in a day against Essex. |
| 1948 | Australia set a world record of scoring 721 runs a day in a cricket match against Essex. |
| 1953 | Don Murphy organized the first pinewood derby, an event for CubScouts of the Boy Scouts of America where wooden cars built by thescouts are raced. |
| 1957 | Britain tested its first hydrogen bomb under Operation Grapple on May 15, 1957 at Malden Island in the Pacific Ocean and henceforth Britain became a thermonuclear power. Britain first test of h-bomb was named as Short Granite. |
| 1958 | Gift Tax Act was introduced on May 15, 1958 as an Act of the Parliament of India to impose tax on the act of giving or receiving gifts as per the specification in Schedule I of the Act. |
| 1963 | Gordon Cooper, an American astronaut, was launched into space aboard the Mercury-Atlas 9 spacecraft on May 15, 1963. It was the final mission of the first manned space program called as Project Mercury and Gordon became the first American to sleep in space during 34-hour mission. |
| 1966 | Disapproving of his handling of the Buddhist Uprising, SouthVietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Cao Ky ordered an attack on the forcesof General Ton That Dinh and ousted him from the position. |
| 1970 | Anna Mae Hays became the first women in the U.S. Military to be promoted to a general officer rank ‘brigadier general’ by President Richard Nixon on May 15, 1970. On the same day, just after a few minutes Elizabeth P. Hoisington was also promoted to rank of brigadier general. |
| 1974 | A unit of the Golani Brigade assaulted an elementary school inMa'alot, Israel, where three armed members of the Democratic Front forthe Liberation of Palestine had taken 115 people hostage, resulting in28 deaths. |
| 1985 | John Anthony Walker Jr. was arrested by the FBI for passing classified naval communications to the Soviet Union. |
| 1988 | The last troop withdrawal of Soviet Army started on May 15, 1988 from Afghanistan following the end of Soviet Afghan War. This conflict is also known as ‘Bear Trap’ and it played a very significant role for emerging of Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and a new era of terrorism. |
| 1990 | Vincent van Gogh's Portrait of Dr. Gachet was sold at auctionin Christie's New York office for a total of US$82.5 million, at thetime the world's most expensive painting. |
| 1991 | Edith Cresson was appointed as the Prime Minister of France on May 14, 1991. She was the first and only woman to become the PM of France, though she had to leave the position within one year. |
| 1993 | The United Nations decided to celebrate May 15 as International Family Day. |
| 1997 | During the dedication of the Laos Memorial in Arlington National Cemetery, the United States first publicly acknowledged its role in the Laotian Civil War, which had ended 22 years earlier. |
| 2004 | Arsenal Football Club became the first team in the English Premier League to become champions without losing a single match. |
| 2008 | Manjula Sood of Indian origin became the first Asian woman to become mayor in Britain. |
| 2010 | Jessica Watson, an Australian sailor, became the youngest person to complete a southern hemisphere solo circumnavigation on May 15, 2015 without assistance. She started her adventurous journey from Sydney and came back here after travelling the distance of 36, 357.7 km which was less than the required distance of 40,000 km to be claimed as world record status for round the world journeys. |
| 2010 | Upon her return to Sydney three days before her 17th birthday,Jessica Watson became the youngest person to sail non-stop andunassisted around the world. |
Famous Birthdays of May 15:
| Year | Name / Profession / Country |
| 1948 | Yutaka Enatsu / Baseball Player / Japan |
| 1952 | Chazz Palminteri / Actor / United States of America |
| 1898 | Arletty / Actress / France |
| 1914 | Norrie Paramor / Producer / United Kingdom |
| 1947 | Graeham Goble / Writer / Australia |
| 1720 | Maximilian Hell / Priest / Hungary |
| 1905 | Joseph Cotten / Actor / United States of America |
| 1924 | Maria Koepcke / Zoologist / Germany |
| 1969 | Emmitt Smith / Footballer / United States of America |
| 1987 | David Adams / Baseball Player / United States of America |
| 1986 | Matías Fernández / Footballer / Chile |
| 1914 | Angus MacLean / Politician / Canada |
| 1945 | Michael Dexter / Academic / United Kingdom |
| 1979 | Chris Masoe / Rugby Player / New Zealand |
| 1958 | Ron Simmons / Footballer / United States of America |
| 1942 | Lois Johnson / Writer / United States of America |
| 1974 | Ahmet Zappa / Writer / United States of America |
| 1944 | Bill Alter / Politician / United States of America |
| 1976 | Torraye Braggs / Basketball Player / United States of America |
| 1951 | Dennis Frederiksen / Writer / United States of America |
| 1922 | Nazir Hussain / Actor / India |
| 1978 | Amy Chow / Gymnast / United States of America |
| 1940 | Don Nelson / Basketball Player / United States of America |
| 1923 | Richard Avedon / Photographer / United States of America |
| 1943 | Paul Bégin / Politician / Canada |
| 1808 | Michael William Balfe / Composer / Ireland |
| 1959 | Luis Pérez-Sala / Racing Car Driver / Spain |
| 1922 | Jakucho Setouchi / Author / Japan |
| 1975 | Ray Lewis / Footballer / United States of America |
| 1936 | Ralph Steadman / Painter / United Kingdom |
This day in other months
January 15 | February 15 | March 15 | April 15 | May 15 | June 15 | July 15 | August 15 | September 15 | October 15 | November 15 | December 15
Related search terms
Today in history | 15 May Major Events | 15 May Important Days | 15 May in Indian History | May 15 in World History | What Happened on 15 May | May 15 Famous Birthdays
Read in Hindi : 15 मई की प्रमुख ऐतिहासिक घटनाएं