| 15 May 1174 | Zangid Emirate, Ayyubid Sultanate, Egypt [administration] | Nur-ad-Din, the Zengid ruler of Syria, dies. His empire disintegrates as his heir, Ismail, is young; Saladin, Nur-ad-Din's vizier in Egypt, declares his independence, founding the Ayyubid dynasty. |
| 15–27 May 1525 | Holy Roman Empire, Saxony, Hesse, Germany [political events] | The Thuringian and Saxon peasant armies, the most radical of the Bauernkrieg (‘Peasants' War’), led by Thomas Münzer, are routed and massacred by a coalition of nobles under Philip, Margrave of Hesse, Duke George, and John, Elector of Saxony, at Frankenhausen, Thuringia; Münzer is executed, after Mülhausen falls, on 27 May. |
| 15 May 1548 | Holy Roman Empire [political events] | The Holy Roman Emperor Charles V proclaims the Augsburg Interim, an attempt at compromise between Protestants and Catholics in Germany. Although clerical marriage and lay communion in both kinds are permitted, and the doctrine of justification by faith modified, it follows Catholic dogma in other matters. |
| 15 May 1591 | Russia [political events] | Dmitri, son of the late Russian tsar Ivan IV (‘the Terrible’), brother and heir of Fyodor I, dies in mysterious circumstances. His throat is cut by a group of mercenaries, and there are rumours that the deed was carried out on behalf of Boris Gudonov, a powerful aristocrat, but no arrests are made. False Dmitris will plague Russia for 20 years. |
| 15 May 1614 | France [political events] | The French rebel princes, led by Henri II de Bourbon, Prince of Condé, win many of their demands from the administration in the Peace of St Menehould; the young king Louis XIII undertakes to summon the Estates General (parliament). |
| 15 May 1796 | France, Sardinia, Savoy [French Revolutionary Wars (1792–1801)] | The Italian kingdom of Sardinia signs the Peace of Cherasco with France, ceding Savoy and Nice to France. |
| 15 May 1849 | Naples [political events] | The capital of Sicily, Palermo, is entered by Neapolitan forces to end the revolt in Sicily, which is forced to resubmit to monarchical rule from the Italian kingdom of Naples. |
| 15 May 1911 | United Kingdom [legislation] | The elected British House of Commons passes the Parliament Bill, under which the hereditary House of Lords will lose the right to veto legislation. The bill now passes to the House of Lords, which makes many amendments. |
| 15 May 1914 | [births and deaths] | Tenzing Norgay, Nepalese sherpa who, with Edmund Hillary, was the first person to reach the summit of Mount Everest, born in Solo Khumbu, Nepal (–1986). |
| 15 May 1917 | France [law and government] | Following the mutinies in response to the costly ‘Chemin des Dames’ offensive, General Robert Nivelle is dismissed as commander in chief of the French army and is replaced by Henri Pétain, who is renowned for using his troops sparingly. Ferdinand Foch replaces Pétain as chief of the general staff. |
| 15 May 1932 | Japan, China [political events] | Inukai Tsuyoshi, Prime Minister of Japan, is assassinated by young naval officers following his attempt to halt military activities against China. |
| 15 May 1948 | Palestine, Israel, UK, Egypt, Transjordan, Iraq, Syria [decolonization] | The British mandate in Palestine ends, and the Jewish authorities proclaim the new state of Israel, with David Ben-Gurion as prime minister. Egypt, Transjordan, Iraq, and Syria invade Israel and occupy areas in the south and east. |
| 15 May 1970 | South Africa [human rights] | The International Olympic Committee expels South Africa because of its apartheid policies. |
| 15 May 1990 | UK [plagues and epidemics] | Home-produced beef is banned in UK schools and hospitals as a result of concern about bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE or ‘mad cow disease’). |
| 15 May 1991 | France [political events] | The socialist politician Edith Cresson becomes the first woman prime minister of France, following the resignation of Michel Rocard. |
| 15 May 1998 | USA [music] | US singer and Academy Award-winning actor Frank (Francis Albert) Sinatra, considered by many critics to be the preeminent singer of this century, dies in Beverly Hills, California (82). He made some 1,800 recordings, gathered nine Grammy Awards, and appeared in at least 60 films. |
