1429 The siege of Orleans is broken by Joan of Arc, boosting French morale and paving the way for victory in the Hundred Years’ War.
1652 The ships Walvis and Oliphant, which were too heavily loaded to sail from the Netherlands with Jan van Riebeeck’s other three ships, arrive in Table Bay.
1765 The HMS Victory, the world’s oldest naval ship still in commission, is launched.
1867 Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel – in whose memory the awards that bear his name would be given out each year – patents dynamite in England, the first of three patents he would receive for the explosive material.
1915 The liner RMS Lusitania is torpedoed, turning public sentiment against Germany and heralding the US entry into World War I.
1934 The world’s largest pearl (6.4 kg) is found at Palawan, Philippines.
1942 The Battle of Coral Sea ends, stopping Japanese expansion. It is Japan’s first defeat of World War II. The battle also marked the first time that two forces fought using only aircraft, without the ships ever sighting each other.
1945 World War II: unconditional German surrender to the Allies signed by General Alfred Jodl at Rheims.
1952 The concept of the integrated circuit, the basis for all modern computers, is first published by Geoffrey Dummer.
1954 The Battle of Dien Bien Phu ends in French defeat in Vietnam.
1986 Canadian Patrick Morrow becomes the first person to conquer the Seven Summits (the highest peak on each continent).
1994 Expressionist Edvard Munch’s iconic painting, The Scream, is recovered undamaged after being stolen earlier in the year.
1999 Three Chinese are killed, and 20 are injured, when a Nato plane accidentally bombs China’s Belgrade embassy.
2004 American businessman Nick Berg is beheaded by Islamic militants. The act is filmed and released on the internet.
2007 Israeli archaeologists find the tomb of Herod the Great.
2015 Underwater explorers discover a silver ingot from pirate captain William Kidd’s fabled treasure near Madagascar. - The Historian
The Independent on Saturday