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List of May 22 Historical Events and Facts

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  • 334 BC: The Macedonian army of Alexander the Great defeats Darius III of Persia in the Battle of the Granicus.
  • 1176: The Hashshashin attempt to murder Saladin near Aleppo.
  • 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.
  • 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 , Napoleon is repelled by an enemy army for the first time.
  • 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 transporting of British convicts to the New South Wales colony is abolished.
  • 1842: Farmers Lester Howe and Henry Wetsel discover Howe Caverns when they stumble upon a large hole in the ground.
  • 1843: Thousands of people and their cattle head west via wagon train from Independence, Missouri to what would later become the Oregon Territory.

    • It is part of the Great Migration.

    They follow what is now known as the Oregon Trail.

  • 1844: Persian Prophet The B·b announces his revelation, founding B·bism.

    • He announces to the world the coming of “He whom God shall make manifest”.

    He is considered the forerunner of Bah·’u'll·h, the founder of the Bah·’Ì 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 .
  • 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 continental 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.
  • 1936: Aer Lingus is founded by the Irish government as the national airline of the Republic of Ireland.
  • 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.
  • 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.

  • 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 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.
  • 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 S’renstam 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 that broke a width record at an astounding 2.5 miles wide, which kills one resident.
  • 2008: The Late-May 2008 tornado outbreak sequence unleashes 235 tornadoes, including an EF4 and an EF5 tornado, between 22 May and 31 May 2008.

    • The tornadoes struck 19 states and one Canadian province.

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