May 15

Queen Anne Boleyn stands trial in London on charges of treason and adultery and is condemned to death.

Queen Anne Boleyn stood trial before a specially convened court of peers in London, presided over by her own uncle, on fabricated charges of treason and adultery, including an incest charge involving her own brother, and was swiftly and unanimously condemned to death despite the flimsy, largely uncorroborated evidence presented against her.

The Peace of Münster is ratified, with Spain formally recognizing the independence of the Dutch Republic.

Spain and the Dutch Republic ratified the Peace of Münster, a bilateral treaty forming part of the broader Peace of Westphalia, formally ending the grueling Eighty Years' War and granting the Netherlands full, unconditional international recognition as an independent sovereign nation after decades of rebellion against Spanish Habsburg rule.

Australia's first officially recognized gold rush is proclaimed, sparking a mass migration that transformed the colony's economy and population.

Colonial authorities in the Australian colony of Victoria officially proclaimed the region's first major gold rush after significant deposits were confirmed near Ballarat, sparking a massive wave of immigration and prospecting from around the world that rapidly and dramatically transformed the colony's population, wealth, and infrastructure over the following decade.

The U.S. Supreme Court rules that Standard Oil constitutes an illegal monopoly and orders its breakup into separate companies.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously that Standard Oil, controlled by John D. Rockefeller, constituted an illegal monopoly under the Sherman Antitrust Act and ordered the sprawling conglomerate broken up into more than thirty separate, independently operating corporations, several of which later evolved into today's major oil companies including ExxonMobil and Chevron.

The first McDonald's restaurant opens in San Bernardino, California, while Dutch forces surrender to invading German troops.

The first McDonald's restaurant, founded by brothers Richard and Maurice McDonald, opened in San Bernardino, California, pioneering a streamlined, assembly-line "Speedee Service System" approach to fast food preparation that later, under franchisee Ray Kroc's expansion, grew into the world's largest and most recognizable restaurant chain.

Armies from several Arab nations invade the newly declared state of Israel, formally beginning the 1948 Arab-Israeli War.

Armies from Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, and Iraq invaded the newly proclaimed state of Israel the day after its declaration of independence, formally beginning the first Arab-Israeli War, a conflict that ultimately resulted in Israeli victory and reshaped the political map and refugee crisis of the modern Middle East.

The final Mercury program mission, Mercury-Atlas 9, launches with astronaut Gordon Cooper completing 22 orbits of Earth.

Astronaut Gordon Cooper launched aboard Mercury-Atlas 9, the final and longest mission of NASA's Mercury program, completing 22 orbits of Earth over roughly 34 hours despite a serious electrical systems failure late in the flight that forced him to manually pilot the capsule's reentry using his own careful calculations.

The Ryukyu Islands, including Okinawa, revert to Japanese sovereignty after 27 years of U.S. military administration.

The Ryukyu Islands, including the main island of Okinawa, formally reverted to full Japanese sovereignty after 27 years under direct United States military administration following World War II, though a significant and controversial American military base presence on Okinawa has continued to generate local political tension ever since.

California's Supreme Court strikes down the state's ban on same-sex marriage as unconstitutional.

California's Supreme Court ruled in a narrow decision that the state's existing ban on same-sex marriage violated the state constitution's equal protection guarantees, briefly making California the second U.S. state to permit same-sex couples to legally marry before a subsequent statewide ballot measure, Proposition 8, temporarily reversed the ruling months later.

Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico is shot and critically wounded in an assassination attempt at a public event.

Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico was shot multiple times at close range by a lone gunman while greeting supporters at a public event in the town of Handlová, leaving him critically injured in an assassination attempt that shocked the country and raised significant concerns about escalating political polarization and violence in the region.