Today In History [15th May, 2015]

A chronological timetable of historical events that occurred on this day in history. Historical facts of the day in the areas of military, politics, science, music, sports, arts, entertainment and more. Discover what happened today in history.

Today in History
May 15

756           Abd-al-Rahman is proclaimed emir of Cordoba, Spain.
1213           King John submits to the Pope, offering to make England and Ireland papal fiefs. Pope Innocent III lifts the interdict of 1208.
1602           English navigator Bartholomew Gosnold discovers Cape Cod.
1614           An aristocratic uprising in France ends with treaty of St. Menehould.
1618           Johannes Kepler discovers his harmonics law.
1702           The War of Spanish Succession begins.
1730           Following the resignation of Lord Townshend, Robert Walpole becomes the sole minister in the English cabinet.
1768           By the Treaty of Versailles, France purchases Corsica from Genoa.
1795           Napoleon enters the Lombardian capital of Milan in triumph.
1820           The U.S. Congress designates the slave trade a form of piracy.
1849           Neapolitan troops enter Palermo, Sicily.
1862           The Union ironclad Monitor and the gunboat Galena fire on Confederate troops at the Battle of Drewry's Bluff, Virginia.
1864           At the Battle of New Market, Virginia Military Institute cadets repel a Union attack.
1886           Emily Dickinson dies in Amherst, Mass., where she had lived in seclusion for the previous 24 years.
1916           U.S. Marines land in Santo Domingo to quell civil disorder.
1918           Pfc. Henry Johnson and Pfc. Needham Roberts receive the Croix de Guerre for their services in World War I. They are the first Americans to win France's highest military medal.
1930           Ellen Church becomes the first airline stewardess.
1942           The United States begins rationing gasoline.
1958           Sputnik III is launched by the Soviet Union.
1963           The last Project Mercury space flight, carrying Gordon Cooper, is launched.
1968           U.S. Marines relieve army troops in Nhi Ha, South Vietnam after a fourteen-day battle.
1972           George Wallace is shot by Arthur Bremer in Laurel, Maryland.
1975           The merchant ship Mayaguez is recaptured from Cambodia's Khmer Rouge.
1988           Soviets forces begin their withdrawal from Afghanistan.

Born on May 15
1773           Prince Clemens Von Metternich, Chancellor of Austria.
1856           Lyman Frank Baum, author (The Wonderful Wizard of Oz).
1858           Emily Folger, Shakespeare scholar.
1859           Pierre Curie, physicist.
1860           Ellen Louise Axson Wilson, first wife of President Woodrow Wilson.
1890           Katherine Anne Porter, novelist (Ship of Fools).
1891           Mikhail Bulgakov, Russian novelist (Notes of a Dead Man, Heart of a Dog).
1902           Richard Daley, mayor of Chicago through the 1960s and early 1970's.
1923           Richard Avedon, photographer.
1926           Anthony Shaffer, English playwright (Sleuth), twin brother of Peter Shaffer.
1926           Peter Shaffer, English playwright (Equus, Amadeus), twin brother of Anthony Shaffer.
1930           Jasper Johns, Jr., painter, leader of the Pop Art movement.