THE DAY IN HISTORY · MAY 1
May 1 in history
What happened on May 1: 3 moments from the Maps of History atlases, in 1187, 1950 and 1960, each linked to the map that shows it.
— Battle of Cresson
1 May 1187 — a small force of Templars and Hospitallers charges a far larger Muslim army and is annihilated. The military orders’ recklessness bleeds the kingdom of its best knights weeks before the reckoning.
READ THIS MOMENT → · SEE IT ON THE CRUSADES MAP → · THE FULL STORY →
— Battle of Hainan Island
16 Apr–1 May 1950 — The Fourth Field Army crosses the Qiongzhou Strait in wooden sailing junks and, joined by Communist guerrillas who had held the island’s mountains since the late 1920s, takes Hainan in a fortnight. It is the last large Nationalist territory off the southern coast to fall.
READ THIS MOMENT → · SEE IT ON THE PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC UNDER MAO MAP → · THE FULL STORY →
— U-2 incident
1 May 1960 — A missile finally reaches the “untouchable” spy plane; pilot Francis Gary Powers is paraded before cameras. Two weeks later the Paris summit collapses on its opening morning, Khrushchev demanding an apology Eisenhower will not give.
READ THIS MOMENT → · SEE IT ON THE COLD WAR MAP → · THE FULL STORY →
THE FREE PRINTABLE STUDY GUIDE
Join the Dispatch — a short welcome series, then a letter when a new atlas opens — and a printable atlas study guide of your choice is yours now, free.
NO TRACKING · YOUR ADDRESS IS USED FOR THE DISPATCH AND NOTHING ELSE · UNSUBSCRIBE ANYTIME