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This day in history

This day in history: 1 May

Events, births and deaths on this date, ordered by how many people look them up.

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Events45

Born on this day · Died on this day179 · 79

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Key facts

303 historical events, births and deaths are listed for 1 May.
Entries come from Wikipedia’s day pages and are ordered by page views.
2026: After a ransomware attack by the group ShinyHunters, the education platform Canvas operated by private company Instructure, goes offline, affecting thousands of educational institutions.

Holidays and observances

Armed Forces Day (Mauritania)

Christian feast day: Aldebrandus

Christian feast day: Amator

Christian feast day: Andeolus

Christian feast day: Aredius of Gap

Christian feast day: Asaph

Christian feast day: Augustin Schoeffler, Jean-Louis Bonnard (part of Vietnamese Martyrs)

Christian feast day: Benedict of Szkalka

Christian feast day: Bertha of Val d'Or

Christian feast day: Blessed Klymentiy Sheptytsky (Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church)

Christian feast day: Brioc

Christian feast day: James the Less (Anglican Communion)

Events

2026After a ransomware attack by the group ShinyHunters, the education platform Canvas operated by private company Instructure, goes offline, affecting thousands of educational institutions.

2024The 2024 Loblaw boycott, a Canadian boycott against retail corporation and grocer Loblaw Companies, begins.

2019Naruhito ascends to the throne of Japan succeeding his father Akihito, beginning the Reiwa period.

2019Naxalite attack in Gadchiroli district of India: Sixteen army soldiers, including a driver, killed in an IED blast. Naxals targeted an anti-Naxal operations team.

2018Syrian civil war: The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) resumes the Deir ez-Zor campaign in order to clear the remnants of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) from the Iraq–Syria border.

2011Pope John Paul II is beatified by his successor, Pope Benedict XVI.

2010Faisal Shahzad attempts to detonate a car bomb in Times Square, but the bomb fails to go off.

2009Same-sex marriage in Sweden is legalized.

2004Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia join the European Union, celebrated at the residence of the Irish President in Dublin.

2003Invasion of Iraq: In what becomes known as the "Mission Accomplished" speech, on board the USS Abraham Lincoln (off the coast of California), U.S. President George W. Bush declares that "major combat operations in Iraq have ended".

1997The Labour Party wins the 1997 General Election and Tony Blair is elected as Prime Minister.

1994Three-time Formula One champion Ayrton Senna is killed in an accident during the San Marino Grand Prix.

1993Sri Lankan President Ranasinghe Premadasa is assassinated in Colombo in a suicide bombing carried out by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.

1991Angolan Civil War: The MPLA and UNITA agree to the Bicesse Accords, which are formally signed on May 31 in Lisbon.

1982Operation Black Buck: The Royal Air Force attacks the Argentine Air Force during the Falklands War.

1970Vietnam War: A student anti-war strike erupts in response to U.S. and South Vietnamese forces attacking Vietnamese communists in a Cambodian Campaign.

1960Cold War: U-2 incident: Francis Gary Powers, in a Lockheed U-2 spyplane, is shot down over the Sverdlovsk Oblast, Soviet Union, sparking a diplomatic crisis.

1957A Vickers VC.1 Viking crashes while attempting to return to Blackbushe Airport in Yateley, killing 34.

1947Portella della Ginestra massacre against May Day celebrations in Sicily by the bandit and separatist leader Salvatore Giuliano where 11 persons are killed and 33 wounded.

1946Start of three-year Pilbara strike of Indigenous Australians.

1945World War II: German radio broadcasts news of Adolf Hitler's death, falsely stating that he has "fallen at his command post in the Reich Chancellery fighting to the last breath against Bolshevism and for Germany". The Soviet flag is raised

1929The 7.2 Mw Kopet Dag earthquake shakes the Iran–Turkmenistan border region with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent), killing up to 3,800 and injuring 1,121.

1921The Jaffa riots begin.

1900The Scofield Mine disaster kills over 200 men in Scofield, Utah in what is to date the fifth-worst mining accident in United States history.

1898Spanish–American War: Battle of Manila Bay: The Asiatic Squadron of the United States Navy destroys the Pacific Squadron of the Spanish Navy after a seven-hour battle. Spain loses all seven of its ships, and 381 Spanish sailors die. There a

1896While on a pilgrimage of Shah Abdol-Azim Shrine in Ray, Tehran, Naser al-Din Shah of Qajar Persia, was assassinated by Mirza Reza Kermani.

1894Coxey's Army, the first significant American protest march, arrives in Washington, D.C.

1891On Labor Day in Catania, Sicily, workers establish the first successful Fascio Siciliano, launching a movement of peasants and laborers protesting poverty, landlordism, taxation, and economic hardship across Sicily.

1891The 1891 New Orleans Lynchings: 11 Italian immigrants are lynched by a mob in Louisiana, USA after the acquittal of several defendants in a murder case, the largest mass lynching in U.S. history.

1886Rallies are held throughout the United States demanding the eight-hour work day, culminating in the Haymarket affair in Chicago, in commemoration of which May 1 is celebrated as International Workers' Day in many countries.

1866The Memphis Race Riots begin. Over three days, 46 blacks and two whites were killed. Reports of the atrocities influenced passage of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution.

1865The Empire of Brazil, Argentina, and Uruguay sign the Treaty of the Triple Alliance.

1863American Civil War: During the Vicksburg campaign, Union forces under Ulysses S. Grant win the Battle of Port Gibson and establish a firm presence on the east side of the Mississippi River.

1863American Civil War: The Battle of Chancellorsville between Robert E. Lee's Confederate Army of Northern Virginia and the Union Army of the Potomac under Joseph Hooker begins.

1851Queen Victoria opens The Great Exhibition at The Crystal Palace in London.

1820Execution of the Cato Street Conspirators, who plotted to kill the British Cabinet and Prime Minister Lord Liverpool.

1807The Slave Trade Act 1807 takes effect, abolishing the slave trade within the British Empire.

1753Publication of Species Plantarum by Linnaeus, and the formal start date of plant taxonomy adopted by the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature.

1707The Act of Union joining England and Scotland to form the Kingdom of Great Britain takes effect.

1669Henry Morgan's raid on Lake Maracaibo: the Spanish Armada de Barlovento is defeated by an English Privateer fleet led by Captain Henry Morgan.

Born on this day

2006Lewis Miley, English footballer

2005Linda Fruhvirtová, Czech tennis player

2004Charli D'Amelio, American social media influencer and dancer

2003Lizzy Greene, American actress

2002Chet Holmgren, American basketball player

2000Rema, Nigerian singer-songwriter and rapper

1999Tiffany Stratton, American wrestler

1999YNW Melly, American rapper

1997Miles Sanders, American football player

1996William Nylander, Canadian-Swedish ice hockey player

1992Bradley Roby, American football player

1992Hani, South Korean singer and actress

1992Madeline Brewer, American actress

1991Marcus Stroman, American baseball player

1990Caitlin Stasey, Australian actress

1990Scooter Gennett, American baseball player

1989Victoria Monét, American singer-songwriter

1988Anushka Sharma, Indian actress and film producer

1987Amir Johnson, American basketball player

1987Leonardo Bonucci, Italian footballer

1987Shahar Pe'er, Israeli tennis player

1986Christian Benítez, Ecuadorian footballer (died 2013)

1986Jesse Klaver, Dutch politician

1984David Backes, American ice hockey player

1983Alain Bernard, French swimmer

1983Craig Williams, American wrestler

1983Park Hae-jin, South Korean actor

1982Beto, Portuguese footballer

1982Darijo Srna, Croatian footballer

1982Jamie Dornan, Northern Irish model and actor

1982Katya Zamolodchikova, American drag queen

1982Tommy Robredo, Spanish tennis player

1981Alexander Hleb, Belarusian footballer

1981Wes Welker, American football player and coach

1980Jan Heylen, Belgian race car driver

1980Jay Reatard, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (died 2010)

1979Mauro Bergamasco, Italian rugby player

1978James Badge Dale, American actor

1978Michael Russell, American tennis player

1976James Murray, American comedian

Died on this day

2023Gordon Lightfoot, Canadian singer-songwriter and guitarist (born 1938)

2021Olympia Dukakis, American actress (born 1931)

2015Geoff Duke, English-Manx motorcycle racer (born 1923)

2015Grace Lee Whitney, American actress (born 1930)

2015María Elena Velasco, Mexican actress, singer, director, and screenwriter (born 1940)

2015Vafa Guluzade, Azerbaijani political scientist, academic, and diplomat (born 1940)

2014Adamu Atta, Nigerian lawyer and politician, 5th Governor of Kwara State (born 1927)

2014Assi Dayan, Israeli actor, director, and screenwriter (born 1945)

2014Juan de Dios Castillo, Mexican footballer and coach (born 1951)

2014Radhia Cousot, French computer scientist and academic (born 1947)

2013Chris Kelly, American rapper (born 1978)

2012James Kinley, Canadian engineer and politician, 29th Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia (born 1925)

2012Mordechai Virshubski, German-Israeli lawyer and politician (born 1930)

2011Henry Cooper, English boxer (born 1934)

2011Ted Lowe, English sportscaster (born 1920)

2010Helen Wagner, American actress (born 1918)

2008Anthony Mamo, Maltese judge and politician, 1st President of Malta (born 1909)

2008Philipp von Boeselager, German soldier and economist (born 1917)

2005Kenneth Clark, American psychologist and academic (born 1914)

2003Miss Elizabeth, American wrestler and manager (born 1960)

2003Wim van Est, Dutch cyclist (born 1923)

2000Steve Reeves, American bodybuilder and actor (born 1926)

1998Eldridge Cleaver, American author and activist (born 1935)

1997Fernand Dumont, Canadian sociologist, philosopher, and poet (born 1927)

1994Ayrton Senna, Brazilian race car driver (born 1960)

1993Pierre Bérégovoy, French metallurgist and politician, Prime Minister of France (born 1925)

1993Ranasinghe Premadasa, Sri Lankan politician, 3rd President of Sri Lanka (born 1924)

1991Richard Thorpe, American director and screenwriter (born 1896)

1990Sergio Franchi, Italian-American tenor and actor (born 1926)

1989Patrice Tardif, Canadian farmer and politician (born 1904)

Quote of the day

“Those who know do not speak. Those who speak do not know.”

Lao Tzu

Questions people ask

Where do the entries come from?

From Wikipedia’s on-this-day pages for this language, updated once a day and ordered by how often each article is read.

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