Did you know
In 1788, King Louis XVI of France attempts to impose the reforms of Étienne Charles de Loménie de Brienne by abolishing the parlements. This featured entry focuses on the immediate decision and its direct historical impact.
May 8 in History
1788 — King Louis XVI of France attempts to impose the reforms of Étienne Charles de Loménie de Brienne by abolishing the parlements
May 8 spans 53 recorded events across recorded history, from 453 BC to 2025. Below is a curated digest of the most significant moments tied to this date.
By thisDay.info Editorial Team · — Wikipedia
Historical Events
53 events
453 BC – 2025
Today in history
More major events on May 8
The featured story and these ranked highlights form a quick summary. Every recorded event remains available in the chronology below.
- 1360 The Hundred Years War: the Treaty of Brétigny is drafted between King Edward III of England and King John II of France (the Good). Source
- 1846 Mexican–American War: American forces led by Zachary Taylor defeat a Mexican force north of the Rio Grande in the first major battle of the war. Source
- 1976 The rollercoaster The New Revolution, the first steel coaster with a vertical loop, opens at Six Flags Magic Mountain. Source
Did you know
Étienne Charles de Loménie de Brienne was a French clergyman, bishop, cardinal, politician and finance minister of King Louis XVI. This helps explain why the event mattered beyond the initial announcement.
Did you know
He was widely believed by his contemporaries — though not universally — to have been an atheist. This clarifies the institutional and public response around the event.
Did you know
In 1788, King Louis XVI of France attempts to impose the reforms of Étienne Charles de Loménie de Brienne by abolishing the parlements had consequences that extended beyond the first headline. The key context is the institutions involved, the policy shift, and how the public response evolved afterward.
Did you know
In 1788, King Louis XVI of France attempts to impose the reforms of Étienne Charles de Loménie de Brienne by abolishing the parlements had consequences that extended beyond the first headline. The key context is the institutions involved, the policy shift, and how the public response evolved afterward.
-453
Spring and Autumn period: The house of Zhao defeats the house of Zhi, ending the Battle of Jinyang, a military conflict between the elite families of the State of Jin.
Period in Chinese history (c. 770 – c. 481 BCE)
413
Emperor Honorius signs an edict providing tax relief for the Italian provinces Tuscia, Campania, Picenum, Samnium, Apulia, Lucania and Calabria, which were plundered by the Visigoths.
Western Roman emperor from 393 to 423
589
Reccared I opens the Third Council of Toledo, marking the entry of Visigothic Spain into the Catholic Church.
Visigothic King
1360
The Hundred Years War: the Treaty of Brétigny is drafted between King Edward III of England and King John II of France (the Good).
Medieval Anglo-French conflicts, 1337–1453
1373
Julian of Norwich, a Christian mystic and anchoress, experiences the deathbed visions described in her Revelations of Divine Love.
English anchoress (c. 1343 – after 1416)
1429
The Hundred Years War: Joan of Arc lifts the Siege of Orléans, turning the tide of the war
French folk heroine and saint (1412–1431)
1516
A group of imperial guards, led by Trịnh Duy Sản, murder Emperor Lê Tương Dực and flee, leaving the capital Thăng Long undefended.
1516–21 uprising against the Lê dynasty of Vietnam
1541
Hernando de Soto stops near present-day Walls, Mississippi, and sees the Mississippi River (then known by the Spanish as Río de Espíritu Santo, the name given to it by Alonso Álvarez de Pineda in 1519).
Spanish explorer and conquistador (c.1479–1542)
1608
A newly nationalized silver mine in Scotland at Hilderston, West Lothian is re-opened by Bevis Bulmer.
Transfer of privately owned assets to the national government
1639
William Coddington founds Newport, Rhode Island.
Magistrate of the Massachusetts Bay Colony
1721
In the Papal States, Cardinal Michelangelo dei Conti is elected Pope, and takes the name Innocent XIII.
Italian state ruled by the pope (756–1870)
1794
Branded a traitor during the Reign of Terror, French chemist Antoine Lavoisier, who was also a tax collector with the Ferme générale, is tried, convicted and guillotined in one day in Paris.
1793–1794 political violence in France
1821
Greek War of Independence: The Greeks defeat the Turks at the Battle of Gravia Inn.
Greek rebellion against the Ottoman Empire (1821–1829)
1842
A train derails and catches fire in Paris, killing between 52 and 200 people.
1842 train wreck in France
1846
Mexican–American War: American forces led by Zachary Taylor defeat a Mexican force north of the Rio Grande in the first major battle of the war.
1846–1848 conflict between Mexico and the United States
1877
At Gilmore's Gardens in New York City, the first Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show opens.
Annual conformation show in New York City
1886
Pharmacist John Pemberton first sells a carbonated beverage named "Coca-Cola" as a patent medicine.
American pharmacist, inventor of Coca-Cola (1831–1888)
1898
The first games of the Italian football league system are played.
League system for association football in Italy
1902
In Martinique, Mount Pelée erupts, destroying the town of Saint-Pierre and killing over 30,000 people.
Only a handful of residents survive the blast.
1919
Edward George Honey proposes the idea of a moment of silence to commemorate the Armistice of 11 November 1918 which ended World War I.
Australian journalist
1921
The creation of the Communist Party of Romania.
Ruling party of Romania (1921–1989)
1924
The Klaipėda Convention is signed formally incorporating Klaipėda Region (Memel Territory) into Lithuania.
It would come back to Germany in 1939.
1927
Attempting to make the first non-stop transatlantic flight from Paris to New York, French war heroes Charles Nungesser and François Coli disappear after taking off aboard The White Bird biplane.
Flight of an aircraft across the Atlantic Ocean
1933
Mohandas Gandhi begins a 21-day fast of self-purification and launched a one-year campaign to help the Harijan movement.
Indian independence activist (1869–1948)
1941
World War II: The German Luftwaffe launches a bombing raid on Nottingham and Derby.
Global conflict (1939–1945)
1942
World War II: The German 11th Army begins Operation Trappenjagd (Bustard Hunt) and destroys the bridgehead of the three Soviet armies defending the Kerch Peninsula.
Unit of the German Army in the Eastern Front of World War II
1942
World War II: The Battle of the Coral Sea comes to an end with Imperial Japanese Navy aircraft carrier aircraft attacking and sinking the United States Navy aircraft carrier USS Lexington.
Major naval battle in the Pacific Theater of World War II
1942
World War II: Gunners of the Ceylon Garrison Artillery on Horsburgh Island in the Cocos Islands rebel in the Cocos Islands Mutiny.
Their mutiny is crushed and three of them are executed, the only British Commonwealth soldiers to be executed for mutiny during the Second World War.
1945
World War II: The German Instrument of Surrender signed at Berlin-Karlshorst comes into effect.
This is commemorated as Victory in Europe Day.
1945
End of the Prague uprising, celebrated now as a national holiday in the Czech Republic.
Partially successful 1945 rebellion in German-occupied Czechoslovakia
1945
Hundreds of Algerian civilians are killed by French Army soldiers in the Sétif massacre.
1945 mass murder of Muslims in French Algeria
1945
The Halifax riot starts when thousands of civilians and servicemen rampage through Halifax, Nova Scotia.
1945 rioting and looting by civilians and servicemen in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
1946
Estonian schoolgirls Aili Jõgi and Ageeda Paavel blow up the Soviet memorial which preceded the Bronze Soldier of Tallinn.
Estonian schoolgirl known for her resistance to Soviet occupation following WWII
1950
The Tollund Man is discovered in a peat bog near Silkeborg, Denmark.
Iron Age bog body from Denmark
1957
South Vietnamese President Ngo Dinh Diem begins a state visit to the United States, his regime's main sponsor.
President of South Vietnam from 1955 to 1963
1963
South Vietnamese soldiers under the Roman Catholic President Ngo Dinh Diem open fire on Buddhists defying a ban on the flying of the Buddhist flag on Vesak, killing nine and sparking the Buddhist crisis.
1963 shootings in South Vietnam
1967
The Philippine province of Davao is split into three: Davao del Norte, Davao del Sur, and Davao Oriental.
Former province of the Philippines
1970
The Beatles release their 12th and final studio album Let It Be.
English rock band (1960–1970)
1972
Vietnam War: U.S.
President Richard Nixon announces his order to place naval mines in major North Vietnamese ports in order to stem the flow of weapons and other goods to that nation.
1973
A 71-day standoff between federal authorities and the American Indian Movement members occupying the Pine Ridge Reservation at Wounded Knee, South Dakota ends with the surrender of the militants.
1973 American Indian occupation protest
1976
The rollercoaster The New Revolution, the first steel coaster with a vertical loop, opens at Six Flags Magic Mountain.
Steel roller coaster in California, US
1978
The first ascent of Mount Everest without supplemental oxygen, by Reinhold Messner and Peter Habeler.
Earth's highest mountain
1980
The World Health Organization confirms the eradication of smallpox.
Specialized agency of the United Nations
1984
Corporal Denis Lortie enters the Quebec National Assembly and opens fire, killing three people and wounding 13.
René Jalbert, Sergeant-at-Arms of the Assembly, succeeds in calming him, for which he will later receive the Cross of Valour.
1984
The Soviet Union announces a boycott upon the Summer Olympics at Los Angeles, later joined by 14 other countries.
Country in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991
1984
The Thames Barrier is officially opened, preventing the floodplain of most of Greater London from being flooded except under extreme circumstances.
Flood defence system for London, England
1987
The SAS kills eight Provisional Irish Republican Army volunteers and a civilian during an ambush in Loughgall, Northern Ireland.
Special forces unit of the British Army
1988
A fire at Illinois Bell's Hinsdale Central Office triggers an extended 1AESS network outage once considered to be the "worst telecommunications disaster in US telephone industry history".
Telecommunications utility company in Illinois, USA
1997
China Southern Airlines Flight 3456 crashes on approach into Bao'an International Airport, killing 35 people.
1997 aviation accident in China
2019
British 17-year-old Isabelle Holdaway is reported to be the first patient ever to receive a genetically modified phage therapy to treat a drug-resistant infection.
Therapeutic use of bacteriophages to treat bacterial infections
2021
A car bomb explodes in front of a school in Kabul, capital city of Afghanistan killing at least 55 people and wounding over 150.
Bombing in Kabul, Afghanistan
2025
The 2025 papal conclave elects Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost, taking the name Leo XIV as the 267th Pope of the Catholic Church.