May 1

Historic Events

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. ›

2024

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

2019

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

2019

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

2018

Syrian 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. ›

2011

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

2010

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

2009

Same-sex marriage in Sweden is legalized. ›

2004

Cyprus, 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. ›

2003

Invasion 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". ›

1997

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

1994

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

1993

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

1991

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

1982

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

1970

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

1960

Cold 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. ›

1957

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

1947

Portella 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. ›

1946

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

1929

The 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. ›

1921

The Jaffa riots begin. ›

1900

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

1898

Spanish–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 are no American vessel losses or combat deaths. ›

1896

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

1894

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

1891

The 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. ›

1891

On 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. ›

1886

Rallies 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. ›

1866

The 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. ›

1865

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

1863

American 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. ›

1863

American 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. ›

1851

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

1820

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

1807

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

1753

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

1707

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

1669

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

1492

The Edict of Expulsion is officially proclaimed in Castile, requiring all Jewish residents to leave within three months. ›

1455

Scottish Royal forces loyal to King James II defeat a rebel army of the Black Douglases in the battle of Arkinholm. ›

1328

Wars of Scottish Independence end: By the Treaty of Edinburgh–Northampton, England recognises Scotland as an independent state. ›

1169

Norman mercenaries land at Bannow Bay in Leinster, marking the beginning of the Norman invasion of Ireland. ›

418

A synod in Carthage condemns Pelagianism. ›