On This Day — 27 May

2018

Maryland Flood Event: A flood occurs throughout the Patapsco Valley, causing one death, destroying the entire first floors of buildings on Main Street in Ellicott City, and causing cars to overturn.

2018 Central Maryland Flood

2017

Andrew Scheer takes over after Rona Ambrose as the leader of the Conservative Party of Canada.

Andrew Scheer

2016

Barack Obama is the first president of the United States to visit Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park and meet Hibakusha.

Barack Obama

2014

The football club Kerala Blasters FC and its first supporters' group Manjappada are formed.

Kerala Blasters FC

2006

The 6.4 Mw  Yogyakarta earthquake shakes central Java with an MSK intensity of VIII (Damaging), leaving more than 5,700 dead and 37,000 injured.

2006 Yogyakarta earthquake

2001

Members of Abu Sayyaf, an Islamist separatist group, seize twenty hostages from an affluent island resort on Palawan in the Philippines; the hostage crisis would not be resolved until June 2002.

Abu Sayyaf

1999

Space Shuttle Discovery is launched on STS-96, the first shuttle mission to dock with the International Space Station.

Space Shuttle Discovery

1998

Oklahoma City bombing: Michael Fortier is sentenced to 12 years in prison and fined $200,000 for failing to warn authorities about the terrorist plot.

Oklahoma City bombing

1997

The 1997 Central Texas tornado outbreak occurs, spawning multiple tornadoes in Central Texas, including the F5 that killed 27 in Jarrell.

1997 Central Texas tornado outbreak

1996

First Chechen War: Russian president Boris Yeltsin meets with Chechen rebels for the first time and negotiates a cease-fire.

First Chechen War

1988

Somaliland War of Independence: The Somali National Movement launches a major offensive against Somali government forces in Hargeisa and Burao, then the second- and third-largest cities of Somalia.

Somaliland War of Independence

1984

The Danube–Black Sea Canal is opened, in a ceremony attended by the Ceaușescus. It had been under construction since the 1950s.

Danube–Black Sea Canal

1980

The Gwangju Massacre: Airborne and army troops of South Korea retake the city of Gwangju from civil militias, killing at least 207 and possibly many more.

Gwangju Uprising

1977

A plane crash at José Martí International Airport in Havana, Cuba, kills 67.

Aeroflot Flight 331

1975

Dibbles Bridge coach crash near Grassington, in North Yorkshire, England, kills 33 – the highest ever death toll in a road accident in the United Kingdom.

1975 Dibbles Bridge coach crash

1971

The Dahlerau train disaster, the worst railway accident in West Germany, kills 46 people and injures 25 near Wuppertal.

Dahlerau train disaster

1971

Pakistani forces massacre over 200 civilians, mostly Bengali Hindus, in the Bagbati massacre.

Bengali Hindus

1967

Australians vote in favor of a constitutional referendum granting the Australian government the power to make laws to benefit Indigenous Australians and to count them in the national census.

1967 Australian referendum (Aboriginals)

1967

The U.S. Navy aircraft carrier USS John F. Kennedy is launched by Jacqueline Kennedy and her daughter Caroline.

USS John F. Kennedy (CV-67)

1965

Vietnam War: American warships begin the first bombardment of National Liberation Front targets within South Vietnam.

Vietnam War

1962

The Centralia mine fire is ignited in the town's landfill above a coal mine.

Centralia mine fire

1960

In Turkey, a military coup removes President Celâl Bayar and the rest of the democratic government from office.

Turkey

1958

First flight of the McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II.

McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II

1950

The Linnanmäki amusement park is opened for the first time in Helsinki.

Linnanmäki

1942

World War II: In Operation Anthropoid, Reinhard Heydrich is fatally wounded in Prague; he dies of his injuries eight days later.

Assassination of Reinhard Heydrich

1941

World War II: U.S. president Franklin D. Roosevelt proclaims an "unlimited national emergency".

Franklin D. Roosevelt

1941

World War II: The German battleship Bismarck is sunk in the North Atlantic, killing almost 2,100 men.

German battleship Bismarck

1940

World War II: In the Le Paradis massacre, 99 soldiers from a Royal Norfolk Regiment unit are shot after surrendering to German troops; two survive.

World War II

1937

In California, the Golden Gate Bridge opens to pedestrian traffic, creating a vital link between San Francisco and Marin County, California.

California

1935

New Deal: The Supreme Court of the United States declares the National Industrial Recovery Act to be unconstitutional in A.L.A. Schechter Poultry Corp. v. United States, (295 U.S. 495).

Supreme Court of the United States

1933

New Deal: The U.S. Federal Securities Act is signed into law requiring the registration of securities with the Federal Trade Commission.

New Deal

1930

The 1,046 feet (319 m) Chrysler Building in New York City, the tallest man-made structure at the time, opens to the public.

Chrysler Building

1927

The Ford Motor Company ceases manufacture of the Ford Model T and begins to retool plants to make the Ford Model A.

Ford Motor Company

1919

The NC-4 aircraft arrives in Lisbon after completing the first transatlantic flight.

Curtiss NC-4

1917

Pope Benedict XV promulgates the 1917 Code of Canon Law, the first comprehensive codification of Catholic canon law in the legal history of the Catholic Church.

Pope Benedict XV

1915

HMS Princess Irene explodes and sinks off Sheerness, Kent, with the loss of 352 lives.

HMS Princess Irene

1905

Russo-Japanese War: The Battle of Tsushima begins.

Russo-Japanese War

1896

The F4-strength St. Louis–East St. Louis tornado hits in St. Louis, Missouri, and East St. Louis, Illinois, killing at least 255 people and causing over $10 million in damage.

Fujita scale

1883

Alexander III is crowned Tsar of Russia.

Alexander III of Russia

1874

The first group of Dorsland trekkers under the leadership of Gert Alberts leaves Pretoria.

Dorsland Trek

1863

American Civil War: The first Union infantry assault of the Siege of Port Hudson occurs.

American Civil War

1860

Giuseppe Garibaldi begins the Siege of Palermo, part of the wars of Italian unification.

Giuseppe Garibaldi

1832

An Egyptian army under Ibrahim Pasha captures Acre from the Ottomans after a five-months siege.

Ibrahim Pasha of Egypt

1799

War of the Second Coalition: Austrian forces defeat the French at Winterthur, Switzerland.

War of the Second Coalition

1798

The Pitt–Tierney duel takes place on Putney Heath outside London. A bloodless duel between the prime minister of Great Britain William Pitt the Younger and his political opponent George Tierney.

Pitt–Tierney duel

1798

The Battle of Oulart Hill takes place in Wexford, Ireland; Irish rebel leaders defeat and kill a detachment of militia.

Battle of Oulart Hill

1703

Tsar Peter the Great founds the city of Saint Petersburg.

Peter the Great

1644

Manchu regent Dorgon defeats rebel leader Li Zicheng of the Shun dynasty at the Battle of Shanhai Pass, allowing the Manchus to enter and conquer the capital city of Beijing.

Manchu people

1595

A Gaelic Irish army successfully ambushes an English force in the battle of Clontibret during the Nine Years' War.

Battle of Clontibret

1257

Richard of Cornwall, and his wife, Sanchia of Provence, are crowned King and Queen of the Germans at Aachen Cathedral.

Richard of Cornwall

1199

John is crowned King of England.

John, King of England

1153

Malcolm IV becomes King of Scotland.

Malcolm IV of Scotland

1120

Richard III of Capua is anointed as Prince two weeks before his untimely death.

Richard III of Capua

1096

Count Emicho enters Mainz, where his followers massacre Jewish citizens. At least 600 Jews are killed.

Emicho