By the final day of May 1864, the American Civil War had entered a new and increasingly brutal phase. For nearly four weeks, Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant had driven the Union Army of the Potomac southward through Virginia, refusing to retreat after battles…
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On May 30, 1431, in the Norman city of Rouen, the English-dominated tribunal that had spent months trying to destroy Joan of Arc finally delivered her to the fire. She was nineteen years old, a peasant girl from Domrémy who had become, in the…
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On May 31, 1859, the iconic clock tower now known as Big Ben began to keep time for the first time. Located at the north end of the Palace of Westminster in London, the tower has since become one of the most recognizable symbols…
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On May 31, 1879, a modest but consequential shift in New York City’s cultural topography took place: Gilmore’s Garden, a frequently repurposed arena at 26th Street and Madison Avenue, was renamed Madison Square Garden by railroad heir William Henry Vanderbilt. The name change was…
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On May 29, 363, Roman Emperor Julian the Apostate achieved one of the most impressive battlefield victories of late antiquity when his army defeated the forces of the Sasanian Empire outside the walls of Ctesiphon, the Persian capital. Yet the triumph would quickly turn…
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The dedication of the Lincoln Memorial on May 30, 1922, marked the commemoration of one of the nation’s most revered presidents, Abraham Lincoln. Located on the western end of the National Mall in Washington, D.C., the massive marble monument stands as a tribute to…
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It began not with a battle cry, but with a refusal. On May 30, 1381, villagers in Brentwood, Essex, stood their ground against royal tax collectors—and in so doing, ignited one of the most explosive popular uprisings in English history. The Peasants’ Revolt, also…
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After more than two millennia, the Roman Empire—transfigured, fragmented, renamed, and reimagined—finally collapsed on May 29, 1453, as Ottoman forces under Sultan Mehmed II breached the gates of Constantinople following a 53-day siege. With the city’s fall came the extinguishing of the last imperial…
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On May 29, 1913, the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris witnessed one of the most legendary and tumultuous premieres in the history of classical music: the debut of Igor Stravinsky’s ballet “The Rite of Spring” (Le Sacre du Printemps). The event has since become…
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On May 28, 1830, President Andrew Jackson signed the Indian Removal Act, one of the most consequential and destructive laws in American history. The measure authorized the president to negotiate treaties that would exchange Native lands east of the Mississippi River for territory farther…
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