Something to think about.Something to discover.Something to remember.Every day.
⌕ My Time Capsule
HISTORY & TIMELINE
22 May

A journey through
22 May in history

The story of 22 May runs from a street battle at St Albans in 1455 that opened the Wars of the Roses to Inter Milan completing a historic treble in Madrid in 2010. In between come Napoleon’s first defeat on the battlefield, a patent for the Wright brothers’ flying machine, the Pact of Steel, the greatest earthquake ever measured, a lunar module skimming the Moon, a new republic in Sri Lanka, a hungry yellow video-game hero and a united Yemen.

Begin the Timeline ↓ ← Back to Explore This Day
JUMP THROUGH TIME
II
THE MIDDLE AGES

Medieval History

Kingdoms, conflict, faith, power and the changing medieval world.

1455
A plan of the town and the fighting at the First Battle of St Albans, 22 May 1455, from a Victorian historyA plan of the town and the fighting at the First Battle of St Albans, 22 May 1455, from a Victorian historyImage: James Henry Ramsay (1859–1925)[1] · Public domain
world · Europe

The Wars of the Roses begin in the streets of St Albans

By the spring of 1455 England’s court was split between Richard, Duke of York, and the circle around Henry VI, his queen Margaret of Anjou and Edmund Beaufort, Duke of Somerset. Fearing he would be charged with treason, York gathered an armed force and on 22 May caught the royal party at St Albans, a market town north of London, as it travelled towards Leicester. The fighting spilled through the town’s streets and was over in less than an hour. Somerset was killed, the king was wounded in the neck by an arrow and fell into York’s hands, and York soon took charge of government again as Protector. It was a small battle with enormous consequences: the rivalry between York and Lancaster it unleashed would last for thirty years.

Source: Britannica: Battles of Saint Albans ↗
IV
THE NINETEENTH CENTURY

The 1800s

Industry, empire, invention, reform and a century of enormous transformation.

1809
Archduke Charles of Austria, who led the Austrian army at Aspern-Essling, painted by Anton EinsleArchduke Charles of Austria, who led the Austrian army at Aspern-Essling, painted by Anton EinsleImage: Anton Einsle · Public domain
world · Europe

Napoleon is beaten on the battlefield for the first time

After taking Vienna in May 1809, Napoleon tried to cross the swollen Danube and strike at the Austrian army of Archduke Charles. His troops fought their way into the villages of Aspern and Essling on 21 May, but the bridges behind them kept breaking, and reinforcements and ammunition struggled to get across. On 22 May the Austrians renewed the attack with overwhelming artillery fire. By the end of the day Napoleon had to pull his army back to the island of Lobau in the river. One of his most trusted commanders, Marshal Jean Lannes, was mortally wounded. It was the first time an army led by Napoleon in person had been driven from the field, and it dented his aura across Europe, although he recovered to beat Charles at Wagram six weeks later.

Source: Britannica: Napoleonic Wars, Aspern-Essling ↗
V
THE TWENTIETH CENTURY

The 1900s

War and peace, technological leaps, social change, politics, sport and popular culture.

1906
A drawing from the Wright brothers' flying-machine patentA drawing from the Wright brothers’ flying-machine patentImage: Unknown author · Public domain
world · Americas

The Wright brothers win their patent for a flying machine

Orville and Wilbur Wright filed their application for a “Flying-Machine” on 23 March 1903, months before their first powered flight at Kitty Hawk. It was granted on 22 May 1906 as US patent number 821,393. The key idea was not the engine but control: a way of twisting, or warping, the wings to keep the machine balanced and steer it. That system of control in three directions laid the basis for how fixed-wing aircraft are still flown today, and the brothers spent years defending the patent in court against rival aviators. The original patent file later went missing from the US National Archives and was found in 2016, misfiled among millions of pages of patent records.

Source: US National Archives: Wright Brothers Patent for the Flying Machine ↗
1939
The signing of the Pact of Steel in Berlin, May 1939The signing of the Pact of Steel in Berlin, May 1939Image: Unknown author · Public domain
world · Europe

Germany and Italy sign the Pact of Steel

In the new Reich Chancellery in Berlin on 22 May 1939, the foreign ministers Joachim von Ribbentrop and Count Galeazzo Ciano signed a formal military alliance between Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy. Named the Pact of Steel by Mussolini, it turned the looser Rome-Berlin Axis of 1936 into a promise of full military support, just over three months before war broke out in Europe.

Source: Britannica: Pact of Steel ↗
1960
Wrecked houses in Valdivia after the 1960 earthquakeWrecked houses in Valdivia after the 1960 earthquakeImage: Pierre St. Amand · Public domain
world · Americas

The most powerful earthquake ever recorded strikes Chile

At about 3.11 in the afternoon on 22 May 1960, the ocean floor off southern Chile ruptured along a stretch of fault close to 1,000 kilometres long, where the Nazca Plate slides beneath South America. The earthquake, centred near the city of Valdivia, reached magnitude 9.5, the largest ever measured by instruments. Coastal towns were swamped by a tsunami up to 25 metres high, and the waves crossed the Pacific to cause deaths and damage in Hawaii, Japan and the Philippines. Estimates of the dead range from hundreds to several thousand, and around two million people in Chile lost their homes. The disaster became a key case study for scientists working on tsunami warnings.

Source: USGS: M 9.5 1960 Great Chilean Earthquake (Valdivia Earthquake) ↗
1969
Apollo 10's lunar module Snoopy above the Moon's surface, photographed from the command moduleApollo 10’s lunar module Snoopy above the Moon’s surface, photographed from the command moduleImage: Unknown · Public domain
world · Global

Apollo 10’s Snoopy swoops low over the Moon

Two months before the first Moon landing, astronauts Thomas Stafford and Eugene Cernan undocked the lunar module Snoopy from the command module Charlie Brown on 22 May 1969, leaving John Young in orbit. They dropped to about 47,000 feet above the surface, tested the landing radar and scouted the planned Apollo 11 landing site in the Sea of Tranquility before rejoining Young.

Source: NASA: Charlie Brown and Snoopy in Lunar Orbit ↗
1972
Sirimavo Bandaranaike, prime minister when Sri Lanka became a republicSirimavo Bandaranaike, prime minister when Sri Lanka became a republicImage: Indiragandhifan · CC0
politics · Asia

Ceylon becomes the Republic of Sri Lanka

Ceylon had won its independence from Britain in 1948, but the British monarch was still its head of state, represented by a governor-general. On 22 May 1972 a new constitution, drawn up by a constituent assembly under Prime Minister Sirimavo Bandaranaike’s government, came into force and declared the island a free, sovereign and independent republic. The constitution also gave the country a new name, Sri Lanka, replaced the governor-general with a president and swapped the two-chamber parliament for a single National State Assembly. It gave Buddhism the foremost place and kept Sinhala as the official language, choices that deepened tensions with the Tamil minority. Sri Lanka remained a member of the Commonwealth.

Source: Sri Lanka National Archives: Becoming a republic ↗
1972
Richard Nixon, the first US president to visit the Soviet UnionRichard Nixon, the first US president to visit the Soviet UnionImage: Department of Defense. Department of the Army. Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations. U.S. Army Audiovisual Center. (ca. 1974 - 05/15/1984) · Public domain
politics · Europe

Nixon becomes the first US president to visit Moscow

Richard Nixon landed in Moscow on 22 May 1972 for a summit with the Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev, the first time an American president had visited the Soviet capital. That evening he attended a state dinner in the Grand Kremlin Palace. Over the following week the two sides signed agreements on space, the environment and, on 26 May, the SALT I arms limitation accords, high points of the era of detente.

Source: Richard Nixon Presidential Library: May 22, 1972 ↗
1980
A Pac-Man arcade machineA Pac-Man arcade machineImage: YosemiteYamper · CC BY-SA 4.0
culture · Asia

Pac-Man starts munching in Japan

The Japanese company Namco put a new arcade game into public play on 22 May 1980. Its designer, Toru Iwatani, wanted something that did not revolve around shooting and would appeal to women and couples as well as to the young men who filled arcades. The result was a round yellow character who wanders a maze eating dots while dodging four colourful ghosts. Released in Japan as Puck Man and renamed Pac-Man for America, it became a worldwide craze and the most successful arcade game in history. The character spread to cartoons, songs and merchandise, and in 2012 the Museum of Modern Art in New York added the game to its design collection.

Source: Britannica: Pac-Man ↗
1990
The tower houses of the old city of Sanaa, capital of the united YemenThe tower houses of the old city of Sanaa, capital of the united YemenImage: Dan from Brussels, Europe · CC BY-SA 2.0
politics · Middle East

North and South Yemen unite as one republic

For decades the south-west corner of Arabia was split between two states: the Yemen Arab Republic in the north, with its capital at Sanaa, and the Marxist People’s Democratic Republic of Yemen in the south, based in the port of Aden. As the Cold War wound down, their leaders agreed on a unity constitution first drafted in 1981. On 22 May 1990 the two parliaments adopted it and the Republic of Yemen was proclaimed. The northern leader Ali Abdullah Saleh became president and the southern leader Ali Salim al-Beidh vice-president, with Sanaa as the political capital and Aden the economic one. The union was tested by a short civil war in 1994, and 22 May is still marked in Yemen as Unity Day.

Source: US Office of the Historian: Yemen ↗
1990
Bill Gates, co-founder of Microsoft, which launched Windows 3.0Bill Gates, co-founder of Microsoft, which launched Windows 3.0Image: Bogdan Hoyaux / European Union · CC BY 4.0
world · Americas

Microsoft launches Windows 3.0

Microsoft unveiled Windows 3.0 at the City Center Theater in New York on 22 May 1990. Better use of computer memory let it run several large graphical programs at once and still handle older DOS software, and a refreshed look made PCs far friendlier to use. It was the first truly successful version of Windows, selling more than 10 million copies within two years.

Source: Microsoft: The History of Microsoft, 1990 ↗
1992
United Nations headquarters in New YorkUnited Nations headquarters in New YorkImage: Kidfly182 · CC BY-SA 4.0
politics · Europe

Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and Slovenia join the UN

As Yugoslavia broke apart, three of its former republics were admitted to the United Nations together on 22 May 1992 by separate resolutions of the General Assembly. Slovenia and Croatia had declared independence in 1991 and Bosnia and Herzegovina in early 1992, where war was already raging. Their seats in New York marked international recognition that the old federation had gone.

Source: United Nations: Yugoslavia and successor states ↗
VI
2000 TO TODAY

Modern Day

The events of recent decades that have already become part of the historical record.

2010
José Mourinho, the coach who led Inter to the treble in 2010José Mourinho, the coach who led Inter to the treble in 2010Image: Zafer · CC BY 4.0
sport · Europe

Inter Milan complete Italy’s first treble

On 22 May 2010 Inter met Bayern Munich in the Champions League final at the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium in Madrid. The Argentine striker Diego Milito settled it, scoring in the 35th minute and again in the 70th for a 2-0 win and Inter’s first European Cup since 1965. The victory, under the Portuguese coach José Mourinho, came just days after Inter had won the Coppa Italia and the Serie A title. No Italian club had ever won the league, the cup and the European crown in the same season, and the treble remains a proud landmark in the club’s history.

Source: UEFA: Bayern München 0-2 Inter, 2009/10 Champions League final ↗
RESEARCH

Sources & Further Reading

Selected authoritative references supporting the events on this page.

WHY THESE MOMENTS?

Significance before volume

This page is not the longest possible list of events. It is a chronological journey through 22 May, where each entry is chosen for historical significance, human interest and reliability.

Facts are checked against authoritative museums, archives, universities and reference works. Where sources disagree, the page says so.

EXPLORED THE DEEPER STORY?

Return to the highlights of 22 May

Discover the lighter side of the date with famous birthdays, culture, firsts and lives remembered.

Explore This Day →
← PREVIOUS DAY21 May
HISTORY & TIMELINE22 May
NEXT DAY →23 May