TODAY’S HISTORY LESSON: MAY 14
1264 King Henry III is captured by his brother-in-law, Simon de Montfort, at the Battle of Lewes.
1610 French King Henri IV (Henri de Navarre) is assassinated by François Ravaillac, a fanatical monk.
1643 Louis XIV becomes King of France aged 4
1787 Delegates gather in Philadelphia to draw up US constitution
1796 English country doctor Edward Jenner administers the first inoculation against smallpox, using cowpox pus, in Berkeley, Gloucestershire
1804 The Lewis and Clark Expedition officially begins as the Corps of Discovery departs from St. Charles, Missouri.
1853 Gail Borden applies for a patent for condensed milk.
1878 Vaseline is 1st sold (registered trademark for petroleum jelly)
1884 Anti-Monopoly party forms in the US
1897 “”Stars and Stripes Forever” by John Phillip Sousa is performed for the first time in Philadelphia.
1932 “We Want Beer!” parade in New York
1942 US Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC) is founded
1944 General Rommel, Speidel & von Stulpnagel attempt to assassinate Hitler
1948 British rule in Palestine came to an end as The Jewish National Council proclaimed the State of Israel. Within hours, Israel was under attack from Arab forces.
1955 The Warsaw Pact was signed by the Soviet Union and seven other Communist bloc countries. It finally dissolved in 1991.
1961 A bus carrying black and white civil rights activists is bombed and burned in Alabama
1970 The Red Army Faction (RAF) begins operations
1973 The U.S. space station Skylab is launched.
1973 US Supreme court approves equal rights to females in military
1980 Department of Health & Human Services begins operation
1991 Winnie Mandela sentenced to 6 years for complicity in kidnapping & beating of four youths, one of whom died, She is freed pending appeal
2005 Former USS America (CV-66), a decommissioned supercarrier of the US Navy, deliberately sunk in the Atlantic Ocean after four weeks of live-fire exercises. Largest ship ever to be disposed of as a target in a military exercise
REFERENCE: HISTORY.NET, ONTHISDAY.COM, TIMEANDDATE.COM, INFOPLEASE.COM, FACTMONSTER.COM, SCOPESYS.COM, ON-THIS-DAY.COM, THEPEOPLEHISTORY.COM
