May 13
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[edit] Births
[edit] Deaths
- 1619 - Johan van Oldenbarnevelt, Dutch statesman (b. 1547)
- 1835 - John Nash, architect (b. 1752)
- 1884 - Cyrus McCormick, inventor (b. 1809)
- 1916 - Sholom Aleichem, author (b. 1859)
- 1926 - Libert H. Boeynaems, ss.cc., Roman Catholic prelate
- 1930 - Fridtjof Nansen, explorer (b. 1861)
- 1945 - Tubby Hall, jazz musician (b. 1895)
- 1961 - Gary Cooper, actor (b. 1901)
- 1972 - Dan Blocker, actor (b. 1928)
- 1975 - Bob Wills, country musician (b. 1905)
- 1988 - Chet Baker, American jazz trumpeter (b. 1929)
- 1999 - Gene Sarazen, golfer (b. 1902)
- 2001 - R.K. Narayan, Indian novelist (b. 1906)
- 2003 - John Savage, former Premier of Nova Scotia
- 2005 - George Dantzig American mathematician
[edit] Events
- 1497 - Pope Alexander VI excommunicates Girolamo Savonarola.
- 1568 - Battle of Langside: the forces of Mary Queen of Scots are defeated by a confederacy of Scottish Protestants under James Stewart, Earl of Moray, her half-brother.
- 1607 - Jamestown, Virginia, is settled as an English colony.
- 1619 - Dutch statesman Johan van Oldenbarnevelt is executed in The Hague after having been accused of treason.
- 1779 - War of Bavarian Succession: Russian and French mediators at the Congress of Teschen negotiate an end to the war. In the agreement Austria receives the part of its territory that was taken from them (the Inn District).
- 1787 - Captain Arthur Phillip leaves Portsmouth, England with eleven ships full of convicts to establish a penal colony in Australia.
- 1830 - Ecuador gains its independence.
- 1846 - Mexican-American War: The United States declares war on Mexico.
- 1848 - First performance of Finland's national anthem.
- 1861 - American Civil War: Queen Victoria of Britain issues a "proclamation of neutrality" which recognizes the breakaway states as having belligerent rights.
- 1864 - American Civil War: Battle of Resaca – the battle begins with Union General Sherman fighting toward Atlanta.
- 1865 - American Civil War: Battle of Palmito Ranch – In far south Texas, more than a month after Confederate General Lee's surrender, the last land battle of the Civil War ends with a Confederate victory.
- 1880 - In Menlo Park, New Jersey, Thomas Edison performs the first test of his electric railway.
- 1888 - With the passage of the Lei Áurea ("Golden Law"), Brazil abolishes slavery.
- 1909 - The first Giro d'Italia took place in Milan. Italian cyclist Luigi Ganna was the winner.
- 1912 - In the United Kingdom, the Royal Flying Corps (now the Royal Air Force) was established.
- 1913 - Igor Sikorsky becomes the first man to pilot a four-engine aircraft.
- 1917 - Three peasant children claim to see the Blessed Virgin Mary above a holmoak tree in Cova da Iria near Fatima, Portugal.
- 1940 - World War II: Germany's conquest of France begins as the German army crosses the Meuse River. Churchill makes his "blood, tears, toil and sweat" speech to the House of Commons.
- 1940 - Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands flees the Nazi invasion in the Netherlands to Britain. Princess Juliana takes her children to Canada for their safety.
- 1943 - World War II: German Afrika Korps and Italian troops in North Africa surrender to Allied forces.
- 1948 - 1948 Arab-Israeli War: The Kfar Etzion massacre is committed by Arab irregulars, the day before the declaration of independence of the state of Israel on May 14.
- 1958 - During a visit to Caracas, Venezuela, Vice President Richard M. Nixon's car is attacked by anti-American demonstrators.
- 1958 - Pierre Pflimlin becomes Prime Minister of France
- 1958 - Velcro's trade mark is registered.
- 1960 - First ascent of Dhaulagiri, world's seventh-highest mountain.
- 1969 - Race riots in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, later known as the 13 May Incident.
- 1976 - The New York Nets defeat the Denver Nuggets and win the American Basketball Association championship, 112-106, in the final ABA game ever played.
- 1981 - Mehmet Ali Ağca attempts to assassinate Pope John Paul II in St. Peter's Square in Rome.
- 1985 - The mayor of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, orders police to storm the radical group's MOVE headquarters to end a stand-off. The police drop an explosive device into the headquarters, killing 11 MOVE members and destroying the homes of 250 city residents in the resulting fire.
- 1995 - In Dublin, Ireland, Secret Garden win the fortieth Eurovision Song Contest for Norway performing "Nocturne".
- 1996 - Severe thunderstorms and a tornado in Bangladesh kill 600 people.
- 1998 - Following India's second round of nuclear tests the United States and Japan impose economic sanctions.
- 2000 - In Stockholm, Sweden, the Olsen Brothers win the forty-fifth Eurovision Song Contest for Denmark singing "Fly On The Wings of Love".
- 2000 - In Enschede, the Netherlands, a fireworks factory explodes, killing 22 people, wounding 950, and resulting in approximately f 1,000,000,000 (€450,000,000) damage.
- 2005 - The final episode of Star Trek: Enterprise airs in the United States, bringing to a close an 18-year uninterrupted television franchise.
