On this day: May 22

Events on May 22

• 853 A Byzantine fleet sacks and destroys undefended Damietta in Egypt. Wikipedia
• 1766 A large earthquake causes heavy damage and loss of life in Istanbul and the Marmara region. Wikipedia
• 1809 On the second and last day of the Battle of Aspern-Essling (near Vienna, Austria), Napoleon I is defeated in a major battle for the first time in his career, and repelled by an enemy army for the first time in a decade. Wikipedia
• 1846 The Associated Press is formed in New York City as a non-profit news cooperative. Wikipedia
• 1849 Abraham Lincoln was issued a patent for an invention to lift boats over obstacles in a river, making him the only U.S. president ever to hold a patent. Wikipedia
• 1849 Future U.S. President Abraham Lincoln is issued a patent for an invention to lift boats, making him the only U.S. president to ever hold a patent. Wikipedia
• 1856 Congressman Preston Brooks of South Carolina severely beats Senator Charles Sumner of Massachusetts with a cane in the hall of the United States Senate for a speech Sumner had made regarding Southerners and slavery. Wikipedia
• 1905 The Sultan of the Ottoman Empire Abdul Hamid II establishes the Ullah millet for the Aromanians of the empire. For this reason, the Aromanian National Day is sometimes celebrated on this day, although most do so on May 23 instead, which is when this event was publicly announced. Wikipedia
• 1905 Sultan Abdul Hamid II established the Ullah millet, a separate millet for the Aromanians within the Ottoman Empire. Wikipedia
• 1939 World War II: Germany and Italy sign the Pact of Steel. Wikipedia
• 1943 Joseph Stalin disbands the Comintern. Wikipedia
• 1947 Cold War: The Truman Doctrine goes into effect, aiding Turkey and Greece. Wikipedia
• 1948 Finnish President J. K. Paasikivi releases Yrjö Leino from his duties as interior minister after the Finnish parliament adopted a motion of censure of Leino with connection to his illegal handing over of nineteen people to the Soviet Union in 1945. Wikipedia
• 1960 The Great Chilean earthquake, measuring 9.5 on the moment magnitude scale, hits southern Chile, becoming the most powerful earthquake ever recorded. Wikipedia
• 1969 Apollo 10's Lunar Module flies within 8.4 nautical miles (16 km) of the Moon's surface. Wikipedia
• 1972 The Dominion of Ceylon changed its name to Sri Lanka, adopted a new constitution, and officially became a republic within the Commonwealth. Wikipedia
• 1972 Ceylon adopts a new constitution, becoming a republic and changing its name to Sri Lanka. Wikipedia
• 1990 North and South Yemen are unified to create the Republic of Yemen. Wikipedia
• 1992 Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and Slovenia join the United Nations. Wikipedia
• 1994 A worldwide trade embargo against Haiti goes into effect to punish its military rulers for not reinstating the country's ousted elected leader, Jean-Bertrand Aristide. Wikipedia
• 1998 A U.S. federal judge rules that U.S. Secret Service agents can be compelled to testify before a grand jury concerning the Lewinsky scandal involving President Bill Clinton. Wikipedia
• 2000 In Sri Lanka, over 150 Tamil rebels are killed over two days of fighting for control in Jaffna. Wikipedia
• 2002 Civil rights movement: A jury in Birmingham, Alabama, convicts former Ku Klux Klan member Bobby Frank Cherry of the 1963 murder of four girls in the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing. Wikipedia
• 2010 Inter Milan beat Bayern Munich 2–0 in the UEFA Champions League final in Madrid, Spain to become the first, and so far only, Italian team to win the historic treble (Serie A, Coppa Italia, Champions League). Wikipedia
• 2015 The Republic of Ireland becomes the first nation in the world to utilise a public referendum to legalise gay marriage. Wikipedia
• 2017 United States President Donald Trump visits the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem and becomes the first sitting U.S. president to visit the Western Wall. Wikipedia

Born on May 22

• 1772 Ram Mohan Roy, Indian philosopher and reformer (died 1833) Wikipedia
• 1783 William Sturgeon, English physicist and inventor, invented the electromagnet and electric motor (died 1850) Wikipedia
• 1808 Gérard de Nerval, French poet and translator (died 1855) Wikipedia
• 1813 Richard Wagner, German composer (died 1883) Wikipedia
• 1844 Mary Cassatt, American painter and educator (died 1926) Wikipedia
• 1859 Arthur Conan Doyle, British writer (died 1930) Wikipedia
• 1879 Symon Petliura, Ukrainian statesman and independence leader (died 1926) Wikipedia
• 1905 Bodo von Borries, German physicist and academic, co-invented the electron microscope (died 1956) Wikipedia
• 1907 Laurence Olivier, English actor, director, and producer (died 1989) Wikipedia
• 1907 Hergé, Belgian author and illustrator (died 1983) Wikipedia
• 1912 Herbert C. Brown, English-American chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 2004) Wikipedia
• 1924 Charles Aznavour, French-Armenian singer-songwriter and actor (died 2018) Wikipedia
• 1927 George Andrew Olah, Hungarian-American chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 2017) Wikipedia
• 1930 Harvey Milk, American lieutenant and politician (died 1978) Wikipedia
• 1942 Ted Kaczynski, American academic and mathematician turned anarchist and serial murderer (Unabomber) (died 2023) Wikipedia
• 1943 Betty Williams, Northern Irish peace activist, Nobel Prize laureate (died 2020) Wikipedia
• 1946 George Best, Northern Irish footballer (died 2005) Wikipedia
• 1954 Shuji Nakamura, Japanese-American physicist and engineer, Nobel Prize laureate Wikipedia
• 1970 Naomi Campbell, English model Wikipedia
• 1984 Dustin Moskovitz, American entrepreneur, co-founder of Facebook Wikipedia
• 1987 Novak Djokovic, Serbian tennis player Wikipedia
• 1987 Arturo Vidal, Chilean footballer Wikipedia

Died on May 22

• 192 Dong Zhuo, Chinese warlord and politician (born 138) Wikipedia
• 337 Constantine the Great, Roman emperor (born 272) Wikipedia
• 1540 Francesco Guicciardini, Italian historian and politician (born 1483) Wikipedia
• 1667 Pope Alexander VII (born 1599) Wikipedia
• 1802 Martha Washington, First, First Lady of the United States (born 1731) Wikipedia
• 1885 Victor Hugo, French novelist, poet, and playwright (born 1802) Wikipedia
• 1901 Gaetano Bresci, Italian-American anarchist, assassin of Umberto I of Italy (born 1869) Wikipedia
• 1910 Jules Renard, French author and playwright (born 1864) Wikipedia
• 1967 Langston Hughes, American poet, social activist, novelist, and playwright (born 1902) Wikipedia
• 1982 Cevdet Sunay, Turkish general and politician, 5th President of Turkey (born 1899) Wikipedia
• 1983 Albert Claude, Belgian biologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1899) Wikipedia
• 1997 Alfred Hershey, American biochemist and geneticist, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1908) Wikipedia
• 2010 Martin Gardner, American mathematician, cryptographer, and author (born 1914) Wikipedia
• 2015 Vladimir Katriuk, Ukrainian-Canadian SS officer (born 1921) Wikipedia

Holidays and observances

• Abolition Day (Martinique) Wikipedia
• Aromanian National Day (marginal, celebration on May 23 is more common) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Castus and Emilius Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Fulk Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Humilita Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Blessed John Forest Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Blessed Maria Domenica Brun Barbantini Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Michael Hồ Đình Hy (one of Vietnamese Martyrs) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Quiteria Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Rita of Cascia Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Romanus of Subiaco Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: May 22 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics) Wikipedia
• Harvey Milk Day (California) Wikipedia
• International Day for Biological Diversity (International) Wikipedia
• United States National Maritime Day Wikipedia
• National Sovereignty Day (Haiti) Wikipedia
• Republic Day (Sri Lanka) Wikipedia
• Translation of the Relics of Saint Nicholas from Myra to Bari (Ukraine) Wikipedia
• Unity Day (Yemen), celebrates the unification of North and South Yemen into the Republic of Yemen in 1990. Wikipedia
• World Goth Day Wikipedia

The events, births, deaths and observances above are from the English Wikipedia article “May 22” 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.