HistoryPod | The Daily 'On This Day' History Podcast

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28th May 585 BCE: Eclipse of Thales ends the Battle of Halys between Media and Lydia

A solar eclipse during the Battle of Halys led to a truce between the kingdoms of Media and Lydia, making it the earliest historical event that can be precisely dated.Read more

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27th May 1199: King John of England crowned at Westminster Abbey in London

John ruled for seventeen years before contracting dysentery while in Kings Lynn, an illness from which he later died.Read more

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26th May 1940: Start of the Dunkirk evacuation

Operation Dynamo, better known as the evacuation of Dunkirk, began.Read more

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25th May 1961: US President John F. Kennedy announces his plans for a manned moon landing before the end of the decade

Kennedy's $24 billion of investment did work, and Apollo 11 achieved Kennedy's goal by landing on the moon on 20 July 1969.Read more

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24th May 1956: First Eurovision Song Contest takes place in Lugano, Switzerland

The first Eurovision Song Contest featured only seven countries, and was broadcast across Europe using a terrestrial microwave relay network that linked the countries of Europe together like an invisible spider’s web.Read more

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23rd May 1618: Officials thrown from a window in the Second Defenestration of Prague

Two Catholic imperial officials and their secretary were thrown out of the window of the Bohemian Chancellery in the Second Defenestration of Prague.Read more

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22nd May 1455: Wars of the Roses begin at the First Battle of St Albans between Richard, Duke of York, and King Henry VI

The Wars of the Roses were fought between the Houses of Lancaster and York, both of whom had claims to the English throneRead more

30th May 1381: Outbreak of the Peasants’ Revolt in England