THE DAY IN HISTORY · MAY 15
May 15 in history
What happened on May 15: 3 moments from the Maps of History atlases, in 1850, 1919 and 1940, each linked to the map that shows it.
— Bloody Island massacre
15 May 1850 — US Army soldiers led by Nathaniel Lyon and J. W. Davidson kill Pomo men, women and children at Clear Lake, after Pomo workers killed two settlers who had enslaved and starved them. Estimates run from at least 60 to several hundred. A 1942 plaque called it a battle; the 2005 plaque names it a massacre.
READ THIS MOMENT → · SEE IT ON THE AMERICAN CIVIL WAR MAP → · THE FULL STORY →
— Greek landing at Smyrna
15 May 1919 — Greek troops land under Allied warships to claim western Anatolia. The Ottoman partition ignites the Turkish War of Independence — proof, within months, that the peacemakers’ map would not draw itself.
READ THIS MOMENT → · SEE IT ON THE WWI MAP → · THE FULL STORY →
— Battle of Sedan
13–15 May 1940 — Panzers cross the Meuse out of the “impassable” Ardennes and race for the sea.
READ THIS MOMENT → · SEE IT ON THE WW2 MAP → · THE FULL STORY →
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