HistoryPod | The Daily 'On This Day' History Podcast

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29th May 1453: Sultan Mehmed II conquers Constantinople and defeats the Byzantine Empire

The troops of the Ottoman Empire under Sultan Mehmed II successfully took control of Constantinople, the capital of the Byzantine Empire.Read more

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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

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

31st May 1669: Samuel Pepys writes the final entry of his famous diary that records the period of the Restoration