On this day: 8 May
Events, births and deaths on 8 May. Every date is checked against Wikidata.
Years ago today
1 year ago2025
- Deaths · David Souter
- Deaths · Simon Mann
10 years ago2016
- Deaths · William Schallert
- Deaths · Tom M. Apostol
100 years ago1926
- Births · David Attenborough
- Births · Don Rickles
- Births · David Hurst
1000 years ago1026
Within 100 years of that
- 997 · Deaths · Emperor Taizong of Song
Events · 19
- 1360Treaty of Brétigny — treaty
- 1821Battle of Gravia Inn — 1821 battle during the Greek War of Independence
- 1842Versailles rail accident — train wreck
- 1846Battle of Palo Alto — 1846 battle of the Mexican-American War
- 1886Coca-Cola — carbonated brown-colored soft drink
- 1912Paramount Pictures — American film studio, subsidiary of Paramount Global
- 1921Romanian Communist Party — communist party in Romania (1921–1989)
- 1924Klaipėda Convention — 1924 territorial settlement between Lithuania and the Conference of Ambassadors
- 1927L'Oiseau Blanc — French biplane that disappeared on non-stop transatlantic flight attempt from Paris to New York
- 1942Cocos Islands Mutiny — conflict
- 1945German Instrument of Surrender — 1945 historical document
- 1963Huế Phật Đản shootings — 1963 shootings of Buddhist civilians in South Vietnam
- 1967Davao del Norte — Province of the Philippines
- 1970Hard Hat Riot — 1970 protest
- 1972Sabena Flight 571 — aircraft hijacking
- 1973Wounded Knee incident — protest which began on February 27, 1973, when ~200 Oglala Lakota and followers of the American Indian Movement seized and occupied the town of Wounded Knee, South Dakota and controlled it for 71 days
- 1987Loughgall Ambush — British attack on the IRA, 8 May 1987
- 1997China Southern Airlines Flight 3456 — aviation accident
- 2021May 2021 Kabul bombing — terrorist attack
Births · 60
- 1521(Julian date)Peter Canisius — Dutch, Jesuit priest, Doctor of the Church, Roman Catholic saint
- 1587Victor Amadeus I of Savoy — Duke of Savoy (1587–1637)
- 1653Claude Louis Hector de Villars — Marshal General of France
- 1720William Cavendish, 4th Duke of Devonshire — former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
- 1737Edward Gibbon — English historian and politician (1737–1794)
- 1753Miguel Hidalgo Y Costilla — Catholic priest, leader of the Mexican War of Independence
- 1779Grand Duke Konstantin Pavlovich of Russia — Russian grand duke (1779–1831)
- 1786Jean-Marie Vianney — French priest and saint (1786–1859)
- 1824William Walker — American filibuster, physician, lawyer, journalist and mercenary (1824-1860)
- 1828Henry Dunant — Swiss businessman and co-founder of the Red Cross (1828-1910)
- 1828Charbel Makhluf — Lebanese Maronite monk and saint (1828–1898)
- 1856Pedro Lascuráin — President of Mexico for 45 minutes in 1913
- 1884Harry S. Truman — president of the United States from 1945 to 1953; politician (1884–1972)
- 1895Fulton J. Sheen — American roman catholic bishop and television presenter (1895–1979)
- 1898Aloysius Stepinac — Croatian Roman Catholic cardinal, archbishop of Zagreb (1898-1960) and blessed
- 1899Friedrich Hayek — Austrian and British economist (1899–1992)
- 1902André Lwoff — French microbiologist
- 1903Fernandel — French actor and singer (1903-1971)
- 1906Roberto Rossellini — Italian film director (1906–1977)
- 1911Robert Johnson — American blues singer and guitarist
- 1916João Havelange — Brazilian businessman and athlete (1916–2016)
- 1919Lex Barker — American actor (1919–1973)
- 1920Saul Bass — American graphic designer and filmmaker (1920–1996)
- 1920
- 1925Ali Hassan Mwinyi — Tanzanian statesman (1925–2024)
Deaths · 60
- 535(Julian date)John II — pope
- 615(Julian date)Boniface IV — pope
- 685(Julian date)Benedict II — pope
- 997(Julian date)Emperor Taizong of Song — 2nd emperor of the Song Dynasty
- 1157(Julian date)Ahmad Sanjar — Seljuk sultan (1097–1157)
- 1220(Julian date)Richeza of Denmark — Queen consort of Sweden
- 1278(Julian date)Emperor Duanzong of Song — emperor of the Song Dynasty
- 1319Haakon V of Norway — King of Norway from 1299 until 1319
- 1551Barbara Radziwiłł — (1520-1551) queen-consort of Poland, Grand Duchess of Lithuania
- 1773Bulutkapan Ali Bey — Mamluk of Egypt (1728-1773)
- 1782Sebastião José de Carvalho e Melo, 1st Marquis of Pombal — Portuguese noble and diplomat (1699–1782)
- 1785Pietro Longhi — Italian painter (1701-1785)
- 1785Étienne François, duc de Choiseul — French general, diplomat and statesman (1719–1785)
- 1788Giovanni Antonio Scopoli — Tyrolean physician and naturalist (1723-1788)
- 1794Antoine Lavoisier — French nobleman and chemist (1743–1794)
- 1829Mauro Giuliani — Italian guitarist, cellist, singer, and composer
- 1842Jules Dumont d'Urville — French Navy officer and explorer (1790–1842)
- 1873John Stuart Mill — British philosopher and political economist (1806–1873)
- 1876Truganini — last full-blooded Palawa person
- 1880Gustave Flaubert — French novelist (1821–1880)
- 1891Helena Blavatsky — Russian occult writer (1831-1891)
- 1903Paul Gauguin — French painter and printmaker (1848–1903)
- 1936Oswald Spengler — German historian and philosopher (1880-1936)
- 1943Mordechai Anielewicz — leader of the anti-Nazi Jewish Combat Organization (1919–1943)
- 1945Josef Terboven — German politician (1898–1945)
Dates verified against Wikidata (CC0). Titles and descriptions come from Wikidata.