| | 1260 - Kublai Khan becomes ruler of the Mongol Empire. |
| | 1640 - King Charles I of England disbands the Short Parliament. |
| | 1646 - King Charles I of England and Scotland surrenders to the Scottish Presbyterian Army at Newark. |
| | 1762 - Russia and Prussia sign the Treaty of St. Petersburg. |
| | 1789 - In France, the Estates-General convenes for the first time in 150 years. |
| | 1809 - Mary Kies becomes the first woman awarded a U.S. patent, for a technique of weaving straw with silk and thread. |
| | 1809 - The Swiss canton of Aargau denies citizenship to Jews. |
| | 1835 - In Belgium, the first railway in continental Europe opens between Brussels and Mechelen. |
| | 1862 - Cinco de Mayo in Mexico: Troops led by Ignacio Zaragoza halt a French invasion in the Battle of Puebla. |
| | 1864 - American Civil War: The Battle of the Wilderness begins in Spotsylvania County, Virginia. |
| | 1865 - In North Bend, Ohio (a suburb of Cincinnati), the first train robbery in the United States takes place. |
| | 1877 - Indian Wars: Sitting Bull leads his band of Lakota into Canada to avoid harassment by the United States Army under Colonel Nelson Miles. |
| | 1891 - The Music Hall in New York (now known as Carnegie Hall) has its grand opening and first public performance, with Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky as the guest conductor. |
| | 1893 - Panic of 1893: Crash on the New York Stock Exchange starts a depression. |
| | 1902 - Commonwealth Public Service Act creates Australian Public Service. |
| | 1904 - Pitching against the Philadelphia Athletics at the Huntington Avenue Grounds, Cy Young of the Boston Americans threw the first perfect game in the modern era of baseball. |
| | 1916 - American marines invade the Dominican Republic. |
| | 1925 - Scopes Trial: John T. Scopes is served an arrest warrant for teaching evolution in violation of the Butler Act. |
| | 1925 - Afrikaans established as an official language in South Africa. |
| | 1936 - Italian troops occupy Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. |
| | 1940 - World War II: In London, a Norwegian government-in-exile is formed. |
| | 1941 - Emperor Haile Selassie returns to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia; this date has been since commemorated as Liberation Day. |
| | 1944 - Mohandas Gandhi is freed from prison. |
| | 1945 - World War II: |
| | German troops in the Netherlands and Denmark capitulate to Canadian and British forces, liberating these countries from Nazi occupation. |
| | Prague uprising against the Nazis. |
| | Mauthausen concentration camp is liberated. |
| | Admiral Karl Dönitz orders all U-boats to cease offensive operations and return to their bases. |
| | A Japanese bomb, launched by balloon and called a fire balloon, explodes near Lakeview, Oregon, United States, killing a woman and five children who were examining it during a church picnic. |
| | 1949 - The Council of Europe is formed. |
| | 1950 - Bhumibol Adulyadej is crowned as King Rama IX of Thailand. |
| | 1954 - A coup d'état carries General Alfredo Stroessner to power in Paraguay. |
| | 1955 - West Germany gains full sovereignty. |
| | 1961 - Mercury program: Mercury-Redstone 3 – Alan Shepard becomes the first American to travel into space, making a sub-orbital flight of 15 minutes. |
| | 1980 - Operation Nimrod: The Special Air Service storm the Iranian embassy in London after a six day siege. |
| | 1987 - Iran-Contra affair: Start of Congressional televised hearings. |
| | 1991 - A riot breaks out in the Mt. Pleasant section of Washington, DC after a Salvadoran man is shot by police. |
| | 1992 - Wolfenstein 3D is released, the first-ever first-person shooter computer game. |
| | 2002 - The World Wrestling Federation changes it's name to World Wrestling Entertainment due to a sue from the World Wildlife Fund. |
| | 2005 - The United Kingdom general election takes place, in which Tony Blair's Labour Party is re-elected for a third, consecutive term. |
| | 2006 - The government of Sudan signed an accord with the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA). |