On this day: May 1

Events on May 1

• 305 Diocletian and Maximian retired as co-rulers of the Roman Empire, being succeeded by Galerius and Constantius Chlorus. Wikipedia
• 1753 Publication of Species Plantarum by Linnaeus, and the formal start date of plant taxonomy adopted by the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature. Wikipedia
• 1786 The Marriage of Figaro (audio featured), an opera buffa by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, premiered at the Burgtheater in Vienna. Wikipedia
• 1851 Queen Victoria opens The Great Exhibition at The Crystal Palace in London. Wikipedia
• 1863 American Civil War: During the Vicksburg campaign, Union forces under Ulysses S. Grant win the Battle of Port Gibson and establish a firm presence on the east side of the Mississippi River. Wikipedia
• 1863 American Civil War: The Battle of Chancellorsville between Robert E. Lee's Confederate Army of Northern Virginia and the Union Army of the Potomac under Joseph Hooker begins. Wikipedia
• 1865 The Empire of Brazil, Argentina, and Uruguay sign the Treaty of the Triple Alliance. Wikipedia
• 1886 Rallies are held throughout the United States demanding the eight-hour work day, culminating in the Haymarket affair in Chicago, in commemoration of which May 1 is celebrated as International Workers' Day in many countries. Wikipedia
• 1891 The 1891 New Orleans Lynchings: 11 Italian immigrants are lynched by a mob in Louisiana, USA after the acquittal of several defendants in a murder case, the largest mass lynching in U.S. history. Wikipedia
• 1894 Coxey's Army, the first significant American protest march, arrives in Washington, D.C. Wikipedia
• 1897 The Ramakrishna Mission was founded by Swami Vivekananda to serve as the humanitarian counterpart to the Hindu monastic order Ramakrishna Math. Wikipedia
• 1945 World War II: German radio broadcasts news of Adolf Hitler's death, falsely stating that he has "fallen at his command post in the Reich Chancellery fighting to the last breath against Bolshevism and for Germany". The Soviet flag is raised over the Reich Chancellery, by order of Stalin. Up to 2,500 people die in a mass suicide in Demmin following the advance of the Red Army. Wikipedia
• 1945 Second World War: British and Indian forces conducted a successful airborne assault on a Japanese artillery battery during the advance to liberate Rangoon, Burma. Wikipedia
• 1947 Sicilian separatist Salvatore Giuliano and his gang fired into a crowd of May Day marchers near Piana degli Albanesi, Sicily, killing 11 and wounding 33. Wikipedia
• 1947 Portella della Ginestra massacre against May Day celebrations in Sicily by the bandit and separatist leader Salvatore Giuliano where 11 persons are killed and 33 wounded. Wikipedia
• 1960 Cold War: U-2 incident: Francis Gary Powers, in a Lockheed U-2 spyplane, is shot down over the Sverdlovsk Oblast, Soviet Union, sparking a diplomatic crisis. Wikipedia
• 1970 Vietnam War: A student anti-war strike erupts in response to U.S. and South Vietnamese forces attacking Vietnamese communists in a Cambodian Campaign. Wikipedia
• 1991 Angolan Civil War: The MPLA and UNITA agree to the Bicesse Accords, which are formally signed on May 31 in Lisbon. Wikipedia
• 1993 Sri Lankan President Ranasinghe Premadasa is assassinated in Colombo in a suicide bombing carried out by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. Wikipedia
• 1994 Three-time Formula One champion Ayrton Senna is killed in an accident during the San Marino Grand Prix. Wikipedia
• 1997 The Labour Party wins the 1997 General Election and Tony Blair is elected as Prime Minister. Wikipedia
• 2003 Invasion of Iraq: In what becomes known as the "Mission Accomplished" speech, on board the USS Abraham Lincoln (off the coast of California), U.S. President George W. Bush declares that "major combat operations in Iraq have ended". Wikipedia
• 2004 Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia join the European Union, celebrated at the residence of the Irish President in Dublin. Wikipedia
• 2011 Pope John Paul II is beatified by his successor, Pope Benedict XVI. Wikipedia
• 2018 Syrian civil war: The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) resumes the Deir ez-Zor campaign in order to clear the remnants of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) from the Iraq–Syria border. Wikipedia
• 2019 Naruhito ascends to the throne of Japan succeeding his father Akihito, beginning the Reiwa period. Wikipedia

Born on May 1

• 1218 Rudolf I of Germany, King of Germany 1273–1291 (died 1291) Wikipedia
• 1579 Wolphert Gerretse, Dutch-American farmer, co-founded New Netherland (died 1662) Wikipedia
• 1672 Joseph Addison, English essayist, poet, playwright, and politician (died 1719) Wikipedia
• 1764 Benjamin Henry Latrobe, English-American architect, designed the United States Capitol (died 1820) Wikipedia
• 1769 Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, Irish-English field marshal and politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (died 1852) Wikipedia
• 1825 Johann Jakob Balmer, Swiss mathematician and physicist (died 1898) Wikipedia
• 1852 Santiago Ramón y Cajal, Spanish neuroscientist and pathologist, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1934) Wikipedia
• 1864 Anna Jarvis, American founder of Mother's Day (died 1948) Wikipedia
• 1881 Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, French priest, palaeontologist, and philosopher (died 1955) Wikipedia
• 1895 Nikolai Yezhov, Soviet secret police official, head of the NKVD (died 1940) Wikipedia
• 1916 Glenn Ford, Canadian-American actor and producer (died 2006) Wikipedia
• 1923 Joseph Heller, American novelist, short story writer, and playwright (died 1999) Wikipedia
• 1946 John Woo, Hong Kong director, producer, and screenwriter Wikipedia
• 1968 Oliver Bierhoff, German footballer Wikipedia
• 1969 Wes Anderson, American director, producer, and screenwriter Wikipedia
• 1972 Julie Benz, American actress Wikipedia
• 1981 Alexander Hleb, Belarusian footballer Wikipedia
• 1982 Darijo Srna, Croatian footballer Wikipedia
• 1982 Jamie Dornan, Northern Irish model and actor Wikipedia
• 1987 Leonardo Bonucci, Italian footballer Wikipedia
• 1988 Anushka Sharma, Indian actress and film producer Wikipedia
• 2004 Charli D'Amelio, American social media influencer and dancer Wikipedia

Died on May 1

• 408 Arcadius, Byzantine emperor from 383 to 408 (born 377) Wikipedia
• 1187 Roger de Moulins, Grand Master of the Knights Hospitaller Wikipedia
• 1308 Albert I of Germany (born 1255) Wikipedia
• 1539 Isabella of Portugal (born 1503) Wikipedia
• 1555 Pope Marcellus II (born 1501) Wikipedia
• 1572 Pope Pius V (born 1504) Wikipedia
• 1873 David Livingstone, Scottish-English missionary and explorer (born 1813) Wikipedia
• 1904 Antonín Dvořák, Czech composer (born 1841) Wikipedia
• 1945 Joseph Goebbels, German lawyer and politician, Chancellor of Germany (born 1897) Wikipedia
• 1945 Magda Goebbels, German wife of Joseph Goebbels (born 1901) Wikipedia
• 1978 Aram Khachaturian, Armenian composer and conductor (born 1903) Wikipedia
• 1993 Pierre Bérégovoy, French metallurgist and politician, Prime Minister of France (born 1925) Wikipedia
• 1994 Ayrton Senna, Brazilian race car driver (born 1960) Wikipedia
• 2021 Olympia Dukakis, American actress (born 1931) Wikipedia

Holidays and observances

• Christian feast day: Aldebrandus Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Amator Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Andeolus Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Aredius of Gap Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Asaph Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Augustin Schoeffler, Jean-Louis Bonnard (part of Vietnamese Martyrs) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Benedict of Szkalka Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Bertha of Val d'Or Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Brioc Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: James the Less (Anglican Communion) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Jeremiah Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Saint Joseph the Worker (Roman Catholic) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Julian of Bale Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Blessed Klymentiy Sheptytsky (Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Mafalda of Portugal Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Marcouf Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Orientius Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Peregrine Laziosi Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Philip the Apostle (Anglican Communion, Lutheran Church) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Richard Pampuri Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Seven Apostolic Men Caecilius of Elvira Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Seven Apostolic Men Ctesiphon of Vergium Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Seven Apostolic Men Euphrasius of Illiturgis Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Seven Apostolic Men Hesychius of Cazorla Wikipedia

The events, births, deaths and observances above are from the English Wikipedia article “May 1” and the articles it links to (authors and history), retrieved 2026-10-09 through the Wikimedia “On this day” feed. They are licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0; this selection is shared under the same licence. We picked the 26 events, 22 births and 14 deaths with the widest coverage across Wikipedia's language editions (counted from Wikidata) and sorted them by year; the wording is unchanged apart from removing references to pictures.