May 7

Historic Events

2025

The Indian Army and the Indian Air Force conduct surgical strikes code-named Operation SINDOOR on terrorist hideouts in Pakistan in response to the Pahalgam Attack that killed 26 people. ›

2023

Tanur boat disaster: At least 22 people are killed when a boat carrying tourists capsizes in Tanur, Malappuram, Kerala, India. ›

2004

American businessman Nick Berg is beheaded by Islamist militants. The act is recorded on videotape and released on the Internet. ›

2002

An EgyptAir Boeing 737-500 crashes on approach to Tunis–Carthage International Airport, killing 14 people. ›

2002

A China Northern Airlines MD-82 plunges into the Yellow Sea, killing 112 people. ›

2000

Vladimir Putin is inaugurated as president of Russia. ›

1999

Pope John Paul II travels to Romania, becoming the first pope to visit a predominantly Eastern Orthodox country since the Great Schism in 1054. ›

1999

Kosovo War: Three Chinese citizens are killed and 20 wounded when a NATO aircraft inadvertently bombs the Chinese embassy in Belgrade, Serbia. ›

1999

In Guinea-Bissau, President João Bernardo Vieira is ousted in a military coup. ›

1998

Mercedes-Benz buys Chrysler for US$40 billion and forms DaimlerChrysler in the largest industrial merger in history. ›

1994

Edvard Munch's painting The Scream is recovered undamaged after being stolen from the National Gallery of Norway in February. ›

1992

Michigan ratifies a 203-year-old proposed amendment to the United States Constitution making the 27th Amendment law. This amendment bars the U.S. Congress from giving itself a mid-term pay raise. ›

1992

Space Shuttle program: The Space Shuttle Endeavour is launched on its first mission, STS-49. ›

1992

Three employees at a McDonald's Restaurant in Sydney, Nova Scotia, Canada, are brutally murdered and a fourth permanently disabled after a botched robbery. It is the first "fast-food murder" in Canada. ›

1991

A fire and explosion occurs at a fireworks factory at Sungai Buloh, Malaysia, killing 26. ›

1986

Canadian Patrick Morrow becomes the first person to climb each of the Seven Summits. ›

1964

Pacific Airlines Flight 773 is hijacked by Francisco Gonzales and crashes in Contra Costa County, California, killing 44. ›

1960

Cold War: U-2 Crisis of 1960: Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev announces that his nation is holding American U-2 pilot Gary Powers. ›

1954

Indochina War: The Battle of Dien Bien Phu ends in a French defeat and a Viet Minh victory (the battle began on March 13). ›

1952

The concept of the integrated circuit, the basis for all modern computers, is first published by Geoffrey Dummer. ›

1948

The Council of Europe is founded during the Hague Congress. ›

1946

Tokyo Telecommunications Engineering (later renamed Sony) is founded. ›

1945

World War II: Last German U-boat attack of the war, two freighters are sunk off the Firth of Forth, Scotland. ›

1942

World War II: During the Battle of the Coral Sea, United States Navy aircraft carrier aircraft attack and sink the Imperial Japanese Navy light aircraft carrier Shōhō; the battle marks the first time in naval history that two enemy fleets fight without visual contact between warring ships. ›

1940

World War II: The Norway Debate in the British House of Commons begins, and leads to the replacement of Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain with Winston Churchill three days later. ›

1937

Spanish Civil War: The German Condor Legion, equipped with Heinkel He 51 biplanes, arrives in Spain to assist Francisco Franco's forces. ›

1931

The stand-off between criminal Francis Crowley and 300 members of the New York Police Department takes place in his fifth-floor apartment on West 91st Street, New York City. ›

1930

The 7.1 Mw Salmas earthquake shakes northwestern Iran and southeastern Turkey with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent). Up to three-thousand people were killed. ›

1920

Polish–Soviet War: Kyiv offensive: Polish troops led by Józef Piłsudski and Edward Rydz-Śmigły and assisted by a symbolic Ukrainian force capture Kyiv only to be driven out by the Red Army counter-offensive a month later. ›

1920

Treaty of Moscow: Soviet Russia recognizes the independence of the Democratic Republic of Georgia only to invade the country six months later. ›

1915

World War I: German submarine U-20 sinks RMS Lusitania, killing 1,199 people, including 128 Americans. Public reaction to the sinking turns many former pro-Germans in the United States against the German Empire. ›

1915

The Republic of China accedes to 13 of the 21 Demands, extending the Empire of Japan's control over Manchuria and the Chinese economy. ›

1895

In Saint Petersburg, Russian scientist Alexander Stepanovich Popov demonstrates to the Russian Physical and Chemical Society his invention, the Popov lightning detector—a primitive radio receiver. In some parts of the former Soviet Union the anniversary of this day is celebrated as Radio Day. ›

1864

American Civil War: The Army of the Potomac, under General Ulysses S. Grant, breaks off from the Battle of the Wilderness and moves southwards. ›

1864

The world's oldest surviving clipper ship, the City of Adelaide is launched by William Pile, Hay and Co. in Sunderland, England, for transporting passengers and goods between Britain and Australia. ›

1840

The Great Natchez Tornado strikes Natchez, Mississippi killing 317 people. It is the second deadliest tornado in United States history. ›

1832

Greece's independence is recognized by the Treaty of London. ›

1824

World premiere of Ludwig van Beethoven's Ninth Symphony in Vienna, Austria. The performance is conducted by Michael Umlauf under the composer's supervision. ›

1798

French Revolutionary Wars: A French force attempting to dislodge a small British garrison on the Îles Saint-Marcouf is repulsed with heavy losses. ›

1794

French Revolution: Robespierre introduces the Cult of the Supreme Being in the National Convention as the new state religion of the French First Republic. ›

1775

The Ottoman Empire cedes Bukovina to the Habsburg monarchy. ›

1765

HMS Victory is launched at Chatham Dockyard, Kent. She is not commissioned until 1778. ›

1763

Pontiac's War begins with Pontiac's attempt to seize Fort Detroit from the British. ›

1718

The city of New Orleans is founded by Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne, Sieur de Bienville. ›

1697

Stockholm's medieval castle Tre Kronor is destroyed by fire. It is replaced in the 18th century by the current Royal Palace. ›

1685

Battle of Vrtijeljka between rebels and Ottoman forces. ›

1664

Inaugural celebrations begin at Louis XIV's new Palace of Versailles. ›

1625

State funeral of James VI and I (1566–1625) is held at Westminster Abbey. ›

1544

The Burning of Edinburgh by an English army is the first action of the Rough Wooing. ›

1487

The Siege of Málaga commences during the Spanish Reconquista. ›

1342

In Avignon, France, Cardinal Pierre Roger is elected Pope and takes the name Clement VI. ›

1274

In France, the Second Council of Lyon opens; it ratified a decree to regulate the election of the Pope. ›

1190

The Crusader army of emperor Frederick Barbarossa defeats an army of the Rum Seljuks in the battle of Philomelion. ›

1104

The Seljuk emirs of Mosul and Mardin defeat the Crusader States of Antioch and Edessa. ›

558

In Constantinople, the dome of the Hagia Sophia collapses, twenty years after its construction. Justinian I immediately orders that the dome be rebuilt. ›

351

The Jewish revolt against Constantius Gallus breaks out after his arrival at Antioch. ›