July 27

• July 27, 1214
  Philip II of France decisively defeats Emperor Otto IV at battle of Bouvines confirming French conquest of Normandy and other English territories
• July 27, 1245
  Pope Innocent IV pronounces the deposition of Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II at First Council of Lyons
• July 27, 1299
  The Ottoman Empire is founded by leader Turkic tribe Osman I, who announces the independence of small principality from the Seljuk Sultanate
• July 27, 1586
  Sir Walter Raleigh returns to England from colony of Virginia with the samples of tobacco
• July 27, 1663
  British Parliament passes a second Navigation Act, requiring all goods bound for the colonies be sent in British ships from British ports
• July 27, 1689
  Jacobite Scottish Highlanders defeat royal force at Killiecrankie during Jacobite Rising
• July 27, 1694
  The Bank of England, one of the oldest central banks in the world, receives a royal charter as a commercial institution to provide war finance to the government
• July 27, 1789
  President Washington signs a measure establishing the Department of Foreign Affairs, forerunner of the Department of State and the first established executive department
• July 27, 1794
  French revolutionary leader Maximilien Robespierre was overthrown and placed under arrest
• July 27, 1866
  Successful transatlantic telegraph cable, laid by Massachusetts merchant and financier Cyrus West Field, follows an earlier attempt in 1858, allowing transatlantic telegraph communication
• July 27, 1880
  In the Battle of Maiwand, which ends with British defeat, an Afghan woman named Malalai carries the Afghan flag forward after the soldiers carrying the flag were killed by the British, becoming a heroine for her show of courage
• July 27, 1890
  Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh fatally shoots himself in Auvers-sur-Oise, France
• July 27, 1921
  Researchers at the University of Toronto led by biochemist Frederick Banting announce the discovery of the hormone insulin, which enables an effective treatment for diabetes
• July 27, 1944
  United States regains possession of Guam from Japanese
• July 27, 1953
  The United Nations Command, the North Korean People's Army, and the Chinese People's Volunteers, signed the Armistice Agreement to end the Korean War and established the Korean Demilitarized Zone, de facto a new border between the two nations
• July 27, 1954
  The world's first nuclear power plant generates electricity by nuclear power, at Obninsk, Soviet Union
• July 27, 1976
  In Tangshan, China, a magnitude 7.5 earthquake occurs and becomes, the second greatest earthquake in recorded history, with official casualty figure 255,000 deaths
• July 27, 1990
  Belarus declares itself sovereign by issuing the Declaration of State Sovereignty of the Belarusian Soviet Socialist Republic
• July 27, 1993
  Cuban athlete Javier Sotomayor makes jump of 2.45 meters and sets new world record in the high jump
• July 27, 2002
  A Ukrainian Air Force Sukhoi Su-27 fighter crashes at an air show in Ukraine, killing 77 spectators and injuring more than 100 others and becomes the largest air show disaster in history

May 22

• May 22, 337
  Emperor of Rome Constantine dies in villa Achyron near Nicomedia, so three his sons Constantine II, Constantius II and Constans, succeed
• May 22, 1200
  Philip II of France recognizes John's possession of the continental Angevin lands at the peace treaty of Le Goulet
• May 22, 1246
  Henry Raspe, promoted by Archbishop of Cologne Konrad von Hochstaden, is elected antiking in opposition to Conrad IV of Germany by the Rhenish prelates in France
• May 22, 1370
  Jews are massacred and expelled from Brussels, Belgium
• May 22, 1455
  King Henry VI is taken prisoner by the Yorkists, a cadet branch of the English royal House of Plantagenet, at the Battle of St. Albans, the first battle in the 30-year War of the Roses
• May 22, 1526
  Pope Clement VII, France, Genoa, Venice, Florence and Milan form League of Cognac against Emperor Charles V
• May 22, 1712
  Emperor Charles VI is crowned king of Hungary
• May 22, 1762
  Trevi Fountain, one of the most famous fountains in the world, completed by Italian sculptor Pietro Bracci, is officially inaugurated by Pope Clement XIII
• May 22, 1843
  The first wagon train with over 1,000 settlers and 1,000 head of cattle sets out from Missouri down the Oregon Trail, an east-west wheeled wagon route and emigrant trail connected the Missouri River to valleys in Oregon
• May 22, 1860
  In Lebanon a small group of Maronites fire on a group of Druzes at the entrance to Beirut, killing one and wounding two, which sparks off a torrent of violence which swept through Lebanon
• May 22, 1888
  Leroy Buffington, an architect from Minnesota, patents a system to build skyscrapers using load-bearing iron frames
• May 22, 1939
  At the Reich Chancellory in Berlin, Italian Foreign Minister Count Ciano and German Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop sign a ten-year political and military alliance, dubbed the Pact of Steel
• May 22, 1943
  Stalin disbands Communist International
• May 22, 1957
  South Africa Government approves race separation in universities
• May 22, 1960
  A 9.5-magnitude earthquake occurs off the coast of Chile, killing about 1700 and leaving 2 million homeless and becomes the largest earthquake recorded to date
• May 22, 1973
  At Xerox PARC, Bob Metcalfe invents the Ethernet computer connectivity system, taking the name "Ethernet" based on a discredited physical theory of an existing "ether" in space allowing transmission of light rays from the sun to the Earth
• May 22, 2001
  The Terraces of the Baha'i Faith, garden terraces around the Shrine of the Báb on Mount Carmel in Haifa, Israel officially open
• May 22, 2012
  Tokyo Skytree, the tallest self-supporting tower in the world at 634 metres high, is opened to the public
• May 22, 2014
  The Royal Thai Army overthrows the caretaker government of Niwatthamrong Boonsongpaisan after a failure to resolve the political unrest in Thailand

April 28

• April 28, 357
  Roman Emperor Constantius II visits Rome for the first time and only time in his life
• April 28, 1202
  King Philip II of France throws out King of England John, which resulted in the collapse of most of the Angevin Empire and contributed to the subsequent growth in power of the Capetian dynasty during the 13th century
• April 28, 1253
  Nichiren, a Buddhist monk, establishes a new sect of Buddhism, Nichiren Buddhism
• March 30, 1282
  Inhabitants in Palermo massacres French occupation forces in Sicily after a Frenchman harassed a woman, beginning the War of the Sicilian Vespers
• April 28, 1376
  Good Parliament, the longest Parliament up until that time, begin to work
• April 28, 1503
  Spain defeats France at the Battle of Cerignola, which considered to be the first battle in history won by gunpowder small arms (arquebus) and mark end of period of knighthood in Europe
• April 28, 1628
  King Kristian IV of Denmark signs a three year alliance with Sweden. Both powers agree to come to the defense of Stralsund if attacked
• April 28, 1738
  Pope Clement XII issues the Eminenti Apostolatus Specula prohibiting Catholics from becoming Freemasons, the first papal decree against the Freemasons
• April 28, 1760
  French forces besieging Quebec defeat the British in the Battle of Sainte-Foy
• April 28, 1789
  Fletcher Christian, master's mate on board HMS Bounty, leads a mutiny on the ship as the crew of the British ship set Captain William Bligh and 18 sailors adrift in a launch in the South Pacific
• April 28, 1818
  President Monroe proclaims naval disarmament on Great Lakes and Lake Champlain
• April 28, 1819
  In India a British hunting party discovers the painted caves at Ajanta
• April 28, 1914
  American engineer Willis Carrier patents air conditioner
• April 28, 1925
  Netherlands and Great Britain return to gold standard
• April 28, 1935
  Moscow Metro, the first underground railway system in the Soviet Union, opens
• April 28, 1945
  Benito Mussolini is executed near Lake Como by Italian partisans while attempt to escape north
• April 28, 1967
  Expo 67, the most attendees World Fair, opens in Montreal, Quebec, Canada
• April 28, 1969
  Charles de Gaulle resigns as President of France after losing a referendum in which he proposed more decentralization
• April 28, 1992
  The two remaining countries of the former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia - the Republic of Serbia and the Republic of Montenegro - form a new state, named the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
• April 28, 2004
  30 St Mary Axe, commercial skyscraper, also known as The Gherkin, opens in London and becomes one of the most recognised examples of contemporary architecture