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“If we begin with certainties, we shall end in doubts; if we begin with doubts, and are patient, we shall end in certainties.”
~ Marcus Aurelius
Wikiquote (Marcus Aurelius (Latin: Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Augustus; April 26, 121 AD – March 17, 180 AD), Roman Emperor from 161 to 180. He ruled with Lucius Verus as co-emperor from 161 until Verus' death in 169. He was the last of the Five Good Emperors, and is also considered one of the most important Stoic philosophers.)
May 16th, 218
Roman Empire:
218 - Julia Maesa, aunt of the assassinated Caracalla, is banished to her home in Syria by the self-proclaimed emperor Macrinus and declares her 14-year old grandson Elagabalus, emperor of Rome.
Wikipedia Image: ● Ancient roman statue ● Detail of Head from Roman Statue of Antinous, credit Corbis ● Statue of Neptune, Trevi Fountain, Rome ● International Sand Sculpture Festival, FIESA 7 ancient Rome.
Relief from a 3rd-century sarcophagus depicting a battle between Romans and Germanic warriors; the central figure is perhaps the emperor Hostilian / Depiction of the Menorah on the Arch of Titus in Rome.
May 16th, 1204
Baldwin IX, Count of Flanders is crowned as the first Emperor of the Latin Empire.
Wikipedia Image: Baldwin IX, Count of Flanders (Baldwin I of Constantinople) ● Baldwin, Kingdom of Heaven (2005).
May 16th, 1527
The Florentines drive out the Medici for a second time and Florence re-establishes itself as a republic.
Wikipedia Image: The House of Medici; Giovanni di Bicci de' Medici, founder of the Medici bank; The Confirmation of the Rule by Domenico Ghirlandaio; Cosimo I the Great, founder of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany; The Grand Duchess Maria Maddalena, The Grand Duke Cosimo II, and their elder son, the future Ferdinando II; Anna Maria Luisa de' Medici, the last of the Grand Ducal line, in Minerva, Merkur und Plutus huldigen der Kurfürstin Anna Maria Luisa de’ Medici (English: Minerva, Mercury and Pluto pay homage to the Electress Anna Maria Luisa de' Medici) after Antonio Bellucci, 1706; The Dome of Florence Cathedral by Brunelleschi; Biblical Magi Medici family members placed allegorically in the entourage of a king from the Three Wise Men in the Tuscan countryside in a Benozzo Gozzoli fresco, 1459.
May 16th, 1532
Sir Thomas More resigns as Lord Chancellor of England.
Wikipedia Painting: Sir Thomas More Lord Chancellor
May 16th, 1568
Mary, Queen of Scots, flees to England.
Wikipedia Painting: Mary, Queen of Scots (8 December 1542 – 8 February 1587), also known as Mary Stuart or Mary I of Scotland, was queen regnant of Scotland from 14 December 1542 to 24 July 1567 and queen consort of France from 10 July 1559 to 5 December 1560.
May 16th, 1770
14-year old Marie Antoinette marries 15-year-old Louis-Auguste who later becomes king of France.
Wikipedia Painting: Marie Antoinette, credit Marie-antoinette.org.
Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette Visiting Medellin Colombia by Fernando Botero.
May 16th, 1771
American Revolutionary War:
1771 - Battle of Alamance; a pre-American Revolutionary War battle between local militia and a group of rebels called The "Regulators", occurs in present-day Alamance County, North Carolina.
Wikipedia Paintings: Washington Crossing the Delaware, by Emanuel Leutz; Battle of the Chesapeake, French (left) and British (right) lines; Battle of Bunker Hill, The Death of General Warren at the Battle of Bunker Hill by John Trumbull; The Defeat of the Floating Batteries at Gibraltar, September 13, 1782, by John Singleton Copley; Washington and the Comte de Rochambeau at Yorktown, 1781; "The surrender at Saratoga" shows General Daniel Morgan in front of a French de Vallière 4-pounder; Surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown by (John Trumbull, 1797).
Signing of the Constitution of the United States.
May 16th, 1811
French Revolutionary Wars / Napoleonic Wars:
1811 - Peninsular War; The allies Spain, Portugal and United Kingdom, defeat the French.
Wikipedia Painting: Battle of Trafalgar: The British HMS Sandwich fires to the French flagship Bucentaure (completely dismasted) in the battle of Trafalgar;
Napoleon in Berlin (Meynier). After defeating Prussian forces at Jena, the French Army entered Berlin on 27 October 1806;
Battle of the Bridge of Arcole Napoleon Bonaparte leading his troops over the bridge of Arcole, by Horace Vernet;
Napoleon as King of Italy (Appiani);
Napoleon Crossing the Alps (David). In 1800 Bonaparte took the French Army across the Alps, eventually defeating the Austrians at Marengo;
Charge of the Russian Imperial Guard cavalry against French cuirassiers at the Battle of Friedland, 14 June 1807;
Battle of Borodino as depicted by Louis Lejeune. The battle was the largest and bloodiest single-day action of the Napoleonic Wars;
Napoleon's withdrawal from Russia, a painting by Adolph Northen;
Wellington at Waterloo by Robert Alexander Hillingford;
Napoleon is often represented in his green colonel uniform of the Chasseur à Cheval, with a large bicorne and a hand-in-waistcoat gesture.
Battle of the Nile (Battle of Aboukir Bay).
May 16th, 1812
Russo-Turkish War: Russian Field Marshal Mikhail Kutuzov signs the Treaty of Bucharest, ending the Russo-Turkish War, 1806-1812.
Wikipedia Painting: Russo-Turkish War; Action of May 26, 1829, by Nikolay Krasovsky
May 16th, 1822
Greek War of Independence:
1822 - Battle of Gravia Inn; The Turks capture the Greek town of Souli.
Wikipedia Image: Greece satellite image, credit NASA; Acrocorinth, looking north towards the Gulf of Corinth; The Acrocorinth in the background, behind the Temple of Apollo; Temple of Apollo Ancient Corinth; Early morning lightning illuminates the sky over the 2,500-year-old Ancient Parthenon temple, at the Acropolis hill during a heavy rainfall in Athens.
May 16th, 1843
The first major wagon train heading for the Pacific Northwest sets out on the Oregon Trail with one thousand pioneers from Elm Grove, Missouri.
Wikipedia Painting: Wagon train; Pioneers crossing the plains of Nebraska, by C.C. A. Christensen
May 16th, 1866
The United States Congress eliminates the half dime coin and replaces it with the five cent piece, or nickel.
Wikipedia Image: The 1936 Buffalo Nickel.
May 16th, 1868
President Andrew Johnson is acquitted in his impeachment trial by one vote in the United States Senate.
Wikipedia Image: Andrew Johnson (December 29, 1808 – July 31, 1875), 17th President of the United States (1865–1869) (As Vice President of the United States in 1865, he succeeded Abraham Lincoln following his assassination).
May 16th, 1891
The International Electro-Technical Exhibition opens in Frankfurt, Germany, and will feature the world's first long distance transmission of high-power, three-phase electrical current (the most common form today).
Wikipedia Photo: Three-phase electric power transmission.
May 16th, 1918
World War I:
1918 - The Sedition Act of 1918 is passed by the United States Congress, making criticism of the government during wartime an imprisonable offense. It will be repealed less than two years later.
Wikipedia Photo: Trenches on the Western Front; a British Mark IV Tank crossing a trench; Royal Navy battleship HMS Irresistible sinking after striking a mine at the Battle of the Dardanelles; a Vickers machine gun crew with gas masks, and German Albatros D.III biplanes. National Archives and Records Administration.
May 16th, 1919
Transatlantic flight:
1919 - A naval Curtiss aircraft NC-4 commanded by Albert Cushing Read leaves Trepassey, Newfoundland for Lisbon via the Azores.
1951 - The first regularly scheduled transatlantic flights begin between Idlewild Airport (now John F Kennedy International Airport) in New York City and Heathrow Airport in London, operated by El Al Israel Airlines.
Wikipedia Image: Transatlantic flights; Map of our flight across the North-Atlantic, from Zürich (Switzerland) to Spruce Creek (Florida) Transatlantic flights ● The Spirit of St. Louis © Shutterstock, 2012 ● Concorde lands in Paris after its last transatlantic flight for Air France in 2003 (File photo) ● Battery-pack UAV hard-docked to aircraft (Graphics: FOTC).
May 16th, 1920
Hundred Years' War, Joan of Arc:
1920 - In Rome, Pope Benedict XV canonizes Joan of Arc.
Wikipedia Painting: Joan of Arc: An artist's interpretation, since the only known direct portrait has not survived. (Centre Historique des Archives Nationales, Paris, AE II 2490) (1485); Joan of Arc's Death at the Stake, by Hermann Stilke (1843); Jeanne d' Arc, by Eugene Thirion (1876); Joan at the coronation of Charles VII, by Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres in (1854); Joan of Arc and Prophet-French Pilgrimage; Joan interrogated in her prison cell by Cardinal Winchester, by Hippolyte Delaroche, (1824); Saint Joan of Arc, Vatican City; Joan of Arc in Battle, by Hermann Anton Stilke.
May 16th, 1929
In Hollywood, California, the first Academy Award are handed out.
Wikipedia Photo: An Academy Award is an award bestowed by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors and writers.
May 16th, 1943
World War II: Holocaust;
1943 - The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising ends.
Wikipedia Photo: World War II, The Holocaust. Sources: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum USHMM, History 1900s, Internet Masters of Education Technology IMET, Techno Friends, Veterans Today, Concern.
May 16th, 1948
Chaim Weizmann is elected the first President of Israel.
Wikipedia Photo: Chaim Weizmann ● President Harry S. Truman and Israeli President Dr. Chaim Weizmann. Truman is holding a blue velvet mantle embellished with the Star of David. The mantle was a gift symbolizing Israel's gratitude for American recognition of and support for the new nation.
May 16th, 1960
American physicist Theodore Maiman operates the first optical laser (a ruby laser), at Hughes Research Laboratories in Malibu, California
Wikipedia Photo: Lasers.
May 16th, 1966
China - Cultural Revolution:
1966 - The Communist Party of China issues the "May 16 Notice", marking the beginning of the Cultural Revolution.
Wikipedia Photo: China from NASA Wordwind Satellite; © Great Wall of China, credit National Geographic; LongJi Terrace, credit National Geographic; Great Bear Rainforest, credit Paul Nicklen, National Geographic; Platoons of clay soldiers were buried with China's first emperor, Qin Shi Huang Di, (required a labor force of 700,000 to build), credit O. Louis Mazzatenta, National Geographic.
May 16th, 1969
Venera Program: Venera 5; a Soviet spaceprobe, successfully lands on Venus.
Wikipedia Photo: Venus, Global radar view of the surface from Magellan radar imaging between 1990-1994 / Impact craters on the surface of Venus.
May 16th, 1975
Junko Tabei becomes the first woman to reach the summit of Mount Everest.
Wikipedia Image: Mount Everest: the Earth's highest mountain, with a peak at 8,848 metres (29,029 ft) above sea level. (Located in the Mahalangur section of the Himalayas)
May 16th, 2003
Modern conflicts in the Middle East, social unrest and terrorist attacks:
2003 - Casablanca terrorist attacks; In Casablanca, Morocco 33 civilians are killed and more than 100 people are injured.
Wikipedia Photo: Middle East satellite image, NASA. ● Camels are seen early morning on a beach in the Marina area of Dubai October 16, 2008. (Steve Crisp, Reuters) ● A portrait of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad burns during clashes between rebels and Syrian troops in Selehattin, near Aleppo, on July 23, 2012. (Bulent Kilic, AFP / GettyImages) ● Egyptians gather in their thousands in Tahrir Square to mark the one year anniversary of the revolution on Jan. 25, 2012 in Cairo Egypt. Tens of thousands have gathered in the square on the first anniversary of the Arab uprising which toppled President Hosni Mubarak. (Jeff J Mitchell, Getty Images) ● Black smoke rises above the Tehran skyline as supporters of Mir Hossein Mousavi burn tires and other material in the streets as they fight running battles with police to protest the declared results of the Iranian presidential election in Tehran, Iran, Saturday, June 13, 2009. (Ben Curtis, AP) ● The Iron Dome defense system fires to interecpt incoming missiles from Gaza in the port town of Ashdod, Thursday, Nov. 15, 2012. (Tsafrir Abayov, AP)
May 16th, 2005
Kuwait permits women's suffrage in a 35-23 National Assembly vote.
Wikipedia Photo: At polls in Jahra City, women waited Thursday to vote for the first time in Kuwait. Women made up more than half of those eligible to vote. credit Yasser al-Zayyat, Agence France - Presse - Getty Images.
May 16th, 2011
Space Shuttle program, STS-134 (ISS assembly flight ULF6) Mission: Space Shuttle Endeavour is launched from the Kennedy Space Center on the 25th and final flight.
Wikipedia Photo: Space Shuttle program; STS-28 August 8-13, 1989, Space Shuttle Columbia arrives at Launch Pad 39B after the rollout from the Vehicle Assembly Building the night before ● An electrical storm and driving rain preceded the first night launch of a shuttle mission on August 30, 1983 ● Columbia’s second mission launched on November 12, 1981. (Commanded by Joe H. Engle and piloted by Richard H. Truly, it was also the last time NASA flew a rookie crew and the external fuel tank was painted white.) credit NASA.
May 15th, 2014
Modern conflicts in the Middle East, social unrest and terrorist attacks:
2014 - Gikomba bombings; Twelve people are killed in two explosions in the Gikomba market area of Nairobi, Kenya.
Wikipedia Photo: Middle East satellite image, NASA. ● Camels are seen early morning on a beach in the Marina area of Dubai October 16, 2008. (Steve Crisp, Reuters) ● A portrait of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad burns during clashes between rebels and Syrian troops in Selehattin, near Aleppo, on July 23, 2012. (Bulent Kilic, AFP / GettyImages) ● Egyptians gather in their thousands in Tahrir Square to mark the one year anniversary of the revolution on Jan. 25, 2012 in Cairo Egypt. Tens of thousands have gathered in the square on the first anniversary of the Arab uprising which toppled President Hosni Mubarak. (Jeff J Mitchell, Getty Images) ● Black smoke rises above the Tehran skyline as supporters of Mir Hossein Mousavi burn tires and other material in the streets as they fight running battles with police to protest the declared results of the Iranian presidential election in Tehran, Iran, Saturday, June 13, 2009. (Ben Curtis, AP) ● The Iron Dome defense system fires to interecpt incoming missiles from Gaza in the port town of Ashdod, Thursday, Nov. 15, 2012. (Tsafrir Abayov, AP)