What happened today in history
What happened on May 8
On May 8 history recorded 53 notable events. 160 people who left a mark were born on this day, and 128 died. Here is the full almanac.
- 53events
- 160births
- 128deaths
- 25observances
Highlights
Highlights
Julian of Norwich experienced religious visions, later recorded in Revelations of Divine Love, the earliest surviving English-language work attributed to a woman.
Julian of Norwich, also known as Juliana of Norwich, the Lady Julian, Dame Julian or Mother Julian, was a medieval English Catholic anchoress. Her writings, now known as Revelations of Divine Love, are the earliest surviving English-language works attributed t
First English Civil War: The first siege of Wardour Castle ended after six days with the surrender of the Royalist garrison under Lady Blanche Arundell
The First English Civil War took place in England and Wales from 1642 to 1646, and forms part of the 1639 to 1653 Wars of the Three Kingdoms. An estimated 15% to 20% of adult males in England and Wales served in the military at some point between 1639 and 1653
Greek War of Independence: At the Battle of Gravia Inn, a 120-man Greek force led by Odysseas Androutsos repulsed an Ottoman army of 8,000 soldiers.
The Greek War of Independence, also known as the Greek Revolution or the Greek Revolution of 1821, was a successful war of independence fought by Greek revolutionaries against the Ottoman Empire from 1821 to 1829. In 1826, the Greeks were assisted by the Briti
May 8
On this day
V century BC
- 453 BC
453 BCSpring and Autumn period: The house of Zhao defeats the house of Zhi, ending the Battle of Jinyang, a military conflict between the elite families of the State of Jin.
V century
VI century
XIV century
XV century
XVI century
- 1516
1516A group of imperial guards, led by Trịnh Duy Sản, murder Emperor Lê Tương Dực and flee, leaving the capital Thăng Long undefended. - 1541
1541Hernando de Soto stops near present-day Walls, Mississippi, and sees the Mississippi River (then known by the Spanish as Río de Espíritu Santo, the name given to it by Alonso Álvarez de Pineda in 1519).
XVII century
XVIII century
- 1721
1721In the Papal States, Cardinal Michelangelo dei Conti is elected Pope, and takes the name Innocent XIII. - 1788
1788King Louis XVI of France attempts to impose the reforms of Étienne Charles de Loménie de Brienne by abolishing the parlements. - 1794
1794Branded a traitor during the Reign of Terror, French chemist Antoine Lavoisier, who was also a tax collector with the Ferme générale, is tried, convicted and guillotined in one day in Paris.
XIX century
- 1821
1821Greek War of Independence: The Greeks defeat the Turks at the Battle of Gravia Inn. - 1842
1842A train derails and catches fire in Paris, killing between 52 and 200 people. - 1846
1846Mexican–American War: American forces led by Zachary Taylor defeat a Mexican force north of the Rio Grande in the first major battle of the war. - 1877
1877At Gilmore's Gardens in New York City, the first Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show opens. - 1886
1886Pharmacist John Pemberton first sells a carbonated beverage named "Coca-Cola" as a patent medicine. - 1898
1898The first games of the Italian football league system are played.
XX century
- 1902
1902In Martinique, Mount Pelée erupts, destroying the town of Saint-Pierre and killing over 30,000 people. Only a handful of residents survive the blast. - 1919
1919Edward George Honey proposes the idea of a moment of silence to commemorate the Armistice of 11 November 1918 which ended World War I. - 1921
1921The creation of the Communist Party of Romania. - 1924
1924The Klaipėda Convention is signed formally incorporating Klaipėda Region (Memel Territory) into Lithuania. It would come back to Germany in 1939. - 1927
1927Attempting to make the first non-stop transatlantic flight from Paris to New York, French war heroes Charles Nungesser and François Coli disappear after taking off aboard The White Bird biplane. - 1933
1933Mohandas Gandhi begins a 21-day fast of self-purification and launched a one-year campaign to help the Harijan movement. - 1941
1941World War II: The German Luftwaffe launches a bombing raid on Nottingham and Derby. - 1942
1942World War II: The German 11th Army begins Operation Trappenjagd (Bustard Hunt) and destroys the bridgehead of the three Soviet armies defending the Kerch Peninsula. - 1942
1942World War II: The Battle of the Coral Sea comes to an end with Imperial Japanese Navy aircraft carrier aircraft attacking and sinking the United States Navy aircraft carrier USS Lexington. - 1942
1942World War II: Gunners of the Ceylon Garrison Artillery on Horsburgh Island in the Cocos Islands rebel in the Cocos Islands Mutiny. Their mutiny is crushed and three of them are executed, the only British Commonwealth soldiers to be executed for mutiny during the Second World War. - 1945
1945World War II: The German Instrument of Surrender signed at Berlin-Karlshorst comes into effect. This is commemorated as Victory in Europe Day. - 1945
1945End of the Prague uprising, celebrated now as a national holiday in the Czech Republic. - 1945
1945Hundreds of Algerian civilians are killed by French Army soldiers in the Sétif massacre. - 1945
1945The Halifax riot starts when thousands of civilians and servicemen rampage through Halifax, Nova Scotia. - 1946
1946Estonian schoolgirls Aili Jõgi and Ageeda Paavel blow up the Soviet memorial which preceded the Bronze Soldier of Tallinn. - 1950
1950The Tollund Man is discovered in a peat bog near Silkeborg, Denmark. - 1957
1957South Vietnamese President Ngo Dinh Diem begins a state visit to the United States, his regime's main sponsor. - 1963
1963South Vietnamese soldiers under the Roman Catholic President Ngo Dinh Diem open fire on Buddhists defying a ban on the flying of the Buddhist flag on Vesak, killing nine and sparking the Buddhist crisis. - 1967
1967The Philippine province of Davao is split into three: Davao del Norte, Davao del Sur, and Davao Oriental. - 1970
1970The Beatles release their 12th and final studio album Let It Be. - 1972
1972Vietnam War: U.S. President Richard Nixon announces his order to place naval mines in major North Vietnamese ports in order to stem the flow of weapons and other goods to that nation. - 1973
1973A 71-day standoff between federal authorities and the American Indian Movement members occupying the Pine Ridge Reservation at Wounded Knee, South Dakota ends with the surrender of the militants. - 1976
1976The rollercoaster The New Revolution, the first steel coaster with a vertical loop, opens at Six Flags Magic Mountain. - 1978
1978The first ascent of Mount Everest without supplemental oxygen, by Reinhold Messner and Peter Habeler. - 1980
1980The World Health Organization confirms the eradication of smallpox. - 1984
1984Corporal Denis Lortie enters the Quebec National Assembly and opens fire, killing three people and wounding 13. René Jalbert, Sergeant-at-Arms of the Assembly, succeeds in calming him, for which he will later receive the Cross of Valour. - 1984
1984The Soviet Union announces a boycott upon the Summer Olympics at Los Angeles, later joined by 14 other countries. - 1984
1984The Thames Barrier is officially opened, preventing the floodplain of most of Greater London from being flooded except under extreme circumstances. - 1987
1987The SAS kills eight Provisional Irish Republican Army volunteers and a civilian during an ambush in Loughgall, Northern Ireland. - 1988
1988A fire at Illinois Bell's Hinsdale Central Office triggers an extended 1AESS network outage once considered to be the "worst telecommunications disaster in US telephone industry history". - 1997
1997China Southern Airlines Flight 3456 crashes on approach into Bao'an International Airport, killing 35 people.
XXI century
- 2019
2019British 17-year-old Isabelle Holdaway is reported to be the first patient ever to receive a genetically modified phage therapy to treat a drug-resistant infection. - 2021
2021A car bomb explodes in front of a school in Kabul, capital city of Afghanistan killing at least 55 people and wounding over 150. - 2025
2025The 2025 papal conclave elects Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost, taking the name Leo XIV as the 267th Pope of the Catholic Church.
Best known
Born on May 8
Angelo Italia
Italian Jesuit and Baroque architect
Niels Juel
Danish naval officer
Heino Heinrich Graf von Flemming
Saxon-Brandenburger army leader, field marshal and Governor of Berlin
Giovanni Battista Gaulli
Italian painter
Nicolaes Witsen
Dutch statesman
Claude Louis Hector de Villars, 1st Duke of Villars
Marshal General of France
Best known
Died on May 8
Pope Boniface IV
Head of the Catholic Church from 608 to 615
Emperor Taizong of Song
Emperor of China from 976 to 997
Ahmad Sanjar
Sultan of the Seljuk Empire from 1118 to 1157
Ottokar IV, Duke of Styria
Margrave (later Duke) of Styria from 1164 to 1192
Emperor Duanzong
Emperor of Song China from 1276 to 1278
Haakon V
King of Norway from 1299 to 1319
Holidays and observances
- Christian feast day: Amato Ronconi
- Christian feast day: Pope Boniface IV
- Christian feast day: Apparition of Saint Michael
- Christian feast day: Arsenius the Great
- Christian feast day: Desideratus
- Christian feast day: Blessed Catherine of St. Augustine
- Christian feast day: Julian of Norwich (Anglican, Lutheran)
- Christian feast day: Magdalene of Canossa
- Christian feast day: Our Lady of Luján
- Christian feast day: Peter II of Tarentaise
- Christian feast day: Blessed Teresa Demjanovich (Ruthenian Catholic Church)
- Christian feast day: Blessed Ulrika Nisch
- Christian feast day: 19 Martyrs of Algeria
- Christian feast day: May 8 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
Frequently asked questions
What happened on May 8?
53 documented historical events happened on May 8, from antiquity to the present day. The best known is this: Julian of Norwich experienced religious visions, later recorded in Revelations of Divine Love, the earliest surviving English-language work attributed to a woman. On the same day, in another year: First English Civil War: The first siege of Wardour Castle ended after six days with the surrender of the Royalist garrison under Lady Blanche Arundell On Almanaccolo every event is listed in chronological order, grouped by century, and links to the Wikipedia article it comes from, so you can always read further or check the source. Alongside the events you find who was born and who died on this date, and which observances are celebrated around the world.
Who was born on May 8?
160 people with a Wikipedia article were born on May 8, including Angelo Italia, Niels Juel, Heino Heinrich Graf von Flemming. The list spans every era and every field — art, science, politics, sport, entertainment — ordered by year of birth, from the earliest to the most recent. The six featured people are those most has been written about: the ordering uses the length of their Wikipedia article as an indicator of prominence. For each one you find their occupation, year of birth and a link to the full biography.
Who died on May 8?
128 people with a Wikipedia article died on May 8, including Pope Boniface IV, Emperor Taizong of Song, Ahmad Sanjar. The list is in chronological order by year of death and spans all of documented history, from antiquity to the present day. For each person you find their occupation, the year and a link to the Wikipedia biography, where the full story and its sources can be read.
What is celebrated on May 8?
25 observances are celebrated on May 8 around the world: Christian feast day: Amato Ronconi, Christian feast day: Pope Boniface IV, Christian feast day: Apparition of Saint Michael, Christian feast day: Arsenius the Great, Christian feast day: Desideratus, Christian feast day: Blessed Catherine of St. Augustine. The list gathers national holidays, international days and religious or civil observances falling on this date in different countries, as recorded on Wikipedia. Some are fixed and recur on the same day every year; others depend on the local calendar. Each links to the article explaining its origin and meaning.
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Source: Wikipedia · Calendar