Wikipedia:Selected anniversaries/May 15
This is a list of selected May 15 anniversaries that appear in the "On this day" section of the Main Page. To suggest a new item, in most cases, you can be bold and edit this page. Please read the selected anniversaries guidelines before making your edit. However, if your addition might be controversial or on a day that is or will soon be on the Main Page, please post your suggestion on the talk page instead.
Please note that the events listed on the Main Page are chosen based more on relative article quality and to maintain a mix of topics, not based solely on how important or significant their subjects are. Only four to five events are posted at a time and thus not everything that is "most important and significant" can be listed. In addition, an event is generally not posted this year if it is also the subject of the scheduled featured article or picture of the day.
To report an error when this appears on the Main Page, see Main Page errors. Please remember that this list defers to the supporting articles, so it is best to achieve consensus and make any necessary changes there first.
Images
Use only ONE image at a time
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Statue of Valentinian II -
Kārlis Ulmanis
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Inukai Tsuyoshi -
An example of Baily's beads during a solar eclipse in 1999 -
Vincent van Gogh's "Portrait of Dr. Gachet" -
USCAR Building
Ineligible
| Blurb | Reason |
|---|---|
| 1252 – Pope Innocent IV issued the papal bull Ad extirpanda, authorizing the use of torture on heretics during the Medieval Inquisition. | short |
| 1525 – Insurgent peasants led by Anabaptist pastor Thomas Müntzer were defeated at the Battle of Frankenhausen, ending the German Peasants' War in the Holy Roman Empire. | refimprove sections, empty sections |
| 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. | needs more footnotes, and Baily's beads is stubby |
| 1934 – Latvian Prime Minister Kārlis Ulmanis dissolved the Saeima and established an authoritarian rule. | needs expert attention |
| 1932 – Japanese Prime Minister Inukai Tsuyoshi was assassinated in an attempted coup d'état by radical elements of the Imperial Japanese Navy. | refimprove section |
| 1935 – The first line of the Moscow Metro opened to public, connecting Sokolniki to Park Kultury with a branch from Okhotny Ryad to Smolenskaya. | unreferenced section |
| 1948 – One day after the Israeli Declaration of Independence, Egypt, Transjordan, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Saudi Arabia invaded Israel to begin the 1948 Arab–Israeli War. | neutrality issues |
| 1955 – The Austrian State Treaty was signed in Vienna, re-establishing an independent Austria. | unreferenced |
| 1957 – The United Kingdom tested its first hydrogen bomb over Malden Island in Operation Grapple. | unreferenced section |
| 1972 - The Ryukyu Islands are returned to Japan by the United States, and the United States Civil Administration of the Ryukyu Islands is abolished. | refimprove |
| 1990 – Vincent van Gogh's Portrait of Dr. Gachet was sold at auction in Christie's New York office for a total of US$82.5 million, at the time the world's most expensive painting. | Starry Night is POTD for 2013 |
| 1991 – Édith Cresson became the first and to date, only female Prime Minister of France. | refimprove |
Eligible
- 392 – Roman emperor Valentinian II was found hanged in his residence in Vienne, Gaul.
- 1602 – English explorer Bartholomew Gosnold led the first recorded European expedition to visit Cape Cod in present-day Massachusetts.
- 1793 – Inventor Diego Marín Aguilera, the "father of aviation" in Spain, flew one of the first gliders for about 360 m (1,180 ft).
- 1850 – Members of the 1st Cavalry Regiment of the United States Cavalry massacred at least 135 Pomo Indians in Lake County, California.
- 1864 – American Civil War: A small Confederate Army force, which included cadets from the Virginia Military Institute, forced the Union Army out of 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.
- 1928 – Mickey and Minnie Mouse made their film debut in the animated cartoon Plane Crazy.
- 1970 – During a confrontation with a group of Jackson State College students protesting the Vietnam War, specifically the United States invasion of Cambodia, police opened fire, killing two students and injuring twelve.
- 1974 – A unit of the Golani Brigade assaulted an elementary school in Ma'alot, Israel, where three armed members of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine had taken 115 people hostage, resulting in 28 deaths.
- 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.
Notes
- Kent State shootings appears on May 4, so Jackson State killings should not appear in the same year
May 15: Teachers' Day in Mexico and South Korea; Independence Day in Paraguay (1814); Nakba Day in Palestinian communities; Constituent Assembly Day in Lithuania; Shavuot (Judaism, 2013)
- 1891 – Pope Leo XIII issued the encyclical Rerum Novarum, which addressed the condition of the working classes and is considered to be the foundation of modern Catholic social teaching.
- 1905 – Las Vegas (welcome sign pictured) was established as a railroad town, after 110 acres (0.45 km2) owned by the San Pedro, Los Angeles and Salt Lake Railroad was auctioned off.
- 1948 – The Australian cricket team, on tour in England set a first-class world record that still stands by scoring 721 runs in a day against Essex.
- 1953 – Don Murphy organized the first pinewood derby, an event for Cub Scouts of the Boy Scouts of America where wooden cars built by the scouts are raced.
- 1966 – Disapproving of his handling of the Buddhist Uprising, South Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Cao Ky ordered an attack on the forces of General Ton That Dinh and ousted him from the position.
- 2010 – Upon her return to Sydney three days before her 17th birthday, Jessica Watson became the youngest person to sail non-stop and unassisted around the world.