May 8

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This date in recent years

May 8, 2005

May 8, 2004

May 8, 2003

May 8 is the 128th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (129th in leap years). There are 237 days remaining.

1 Events
2 Births
3 Deaths
4 Holidays and observances
5 Recorded this day
6 External links

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Events

1450 - Jack Cade's Rebellion: Kentishmen revolt against King Henry VI.
1541 - Hernando de Soto reaches the Mississippi River and names it Río de Espíritu Santo.
1794 - Branded a traitor during the Reign of Terror by revolutionists, French chemist Antoine Lavoisier, who was also a tax collector with the Ferme Générale, was tried, convicted, and guillotined all on one day in Paris.
1846 - Mexican-American War: The Battle of Palo Alto – Zachary Taylor defeats a Mexican force north of the Rio Grande in the first major battle of the war.
1861 - American Civil War: Richmond, Virginia, is named the capital of the Confederate States of America.
1877 - At Gilmore's Gardens in New York City, the first Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show opens (ends May 11).
1886 - Pharmacist Dr. John Styth Pemberton invents a carbonated beverage that would later be named "Coca-Cola".
1896 - Against Warwickshire, Yorkshire sets a still-standing County Championship record when they accumulate an innings total of 887.
1898 - The first games of the Italian Football League are played.
1899 - The Irish Literary Theatre in Dublin opens.
1902 - In Martinique, Mount Pelée erupts, destroying the town of St. Pierre and killing over 30,000 people. Only a handful of residents survive the blast.
1914 - Paramount Pictures is formed.
1919 - Edward George Honey first proposed the idea of a moment of silence to commemorate The Armistice of World War I, which later resulted in the creation of Remembrance Day.
1933 - Mohandas Gandhi begins a 21-day fast in protest of British oppression in India.
1942 - World War II: The Battle of the Coral Sea comes to an end. This is the first time in the naval history where two enemy fleets fight without visual contact between warring ships.
1942 - Second World War: On the night of 8/9 May 1942, gunners of the Ceylon Garrison Artillery on Horsburgh Island in the Cocos Islands rebelled. Their mutiny was crushed and three of them were executed, the only British Commonwealth soldiers to be executed for mutiny during the Second World War.
1945 - World War II: VE Day. German forces agree to an unconditional surrender.
1945 - Thousands of Algerian civilians are killed by French Army soldiers in the Setif massacre.
1967 - The Philippine province of Davao is split into three: Davao del Norte, Davao del Sur, and Davao Oriental.
1972 - Vietnam War – U.S. President Richard M. Nixon announces his order to place mines in major North Vietnamese ports in order to stem the flow of weapons and other goods to that nation.
1973 - A 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.
1974 - The Canadian Government of Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau is defeated in the House of Commons.
1984 - The Soviet Union announces that it will boycott the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, California.
1984 - Cpl. Denis Lortie enters the Quebec National Assembly and opens fire, killing three 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.
1987 - The SAS ambushes and kills the Loughall Martyrs.
1997 - A China Southern Airlines Boeing 737 crashes on approach into Shenzhen's Huangtian Airport, killing 35
1999 - Nancy Mace becomes the first female cadet to graduate from The Citadel military college.
2002 - Feyenoord win the UEFA Cup
2004 - The Texas Rangers defeat the Detroit Tigers, 16-15, in a 10-inning game featuring a wild hour-long 4th inning and Texas's 10-run catch-up in the bottom half of the 9th inning.
2005 - The new Canadian War Museum opens, in commemoration of the 60th anniversary of V-E Day.