On this day: 15 May

Liu Bei, Chinese warlord, proclaims himself emperor of Shu Han, the successor of the Han dynasty.

King Authari marries Theodelinda, daughter of the Bavarian duke Garibald I. A Catholic, she has great influence among the Lombard nobility.

Abd al-Rahman I, the founder of the Arab dynasty that ruled the greater part of Iberia for nearly three centuries, becomes emir of Cordova, Spain.

Constantine VII is crowned Byzantine co-emperor.

Michael the Syrian reconsecrates the Mor Bar Sauma Monastery, which he reconstructed after its destruction by a fire. The monastery stays a center of the Syriac Orthodox Church until the end of the thirteenth century.

Venice, Spain, Naples, the Papal States, and other Italian states establish the Holy League to fight the Ottomans, resulting in the victory at Lepanto later that year.

The Peace of Münster is ratified, by which Spain acknowledges Dutch sovereignty.

Bach led the first performance of his cantata Ich bin ein guter Hirt, BWV 85, about Jesus as the Good Shepherd.

French Revolution: Maximilien Robespierre proposes the Self-denying Ordinance.

The Sicilian revolution of 1848 is finally extinguished.

The first Australian gold rush is proclaimed, although the discovery had been made three months earlier.

American Civil War: A small Confederate force, which included cadets from the Virginia Military Institute, forced the Union army out of the Shenandoah Valley.

Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton founded the National Woman Suffrage Association, breaking away from the American Equal Rights Association which they had also previously founded.

Pope Leo XIII issued the encyclical Rerum novarum, which addressed the condition of the working classes and is considered to be the foundation of modern Catholic social teaching.

In Standard Oil Co. of New Jersey v. United States, the United States Supreme Court declares Standard Oil to be an "unreasonable" monopoly under the Sherman Antitrust Act and orders the company to be broken up.

During a match, baseball star Ty Cobb enters the stands and assaults a fan who had heckled him, leading to his suspension.

The Finnish Civil War ends when the Whites take over Fort Ino, a Russian coastal artillery base on the Karelian Isthmus, from Russian troops.

The Winnipeg general strike begins. By 11:00, almost the whole working population of Winnipeg had walked off the job.

Mickey and Minnie Mouse made their film debuts in the animated cartoon Plane Crazy.

All military aviation organizations within or under the control of the RLM of Germany are officially merged in a covert manner to form its Wehrmacht military's air arm, the Luftwaffe.

A self coup by prime minister Kārlis Ulmanis succeeds in Latvia, suspending its constitution and dissolving its Saeima.

World War II: The Battle of the Netherlands: After fierce fighting, the poorly trained and equipped Dutch troops surrender to Germany, marking the beginning of five years of occupation.

Richard and Maurice McDonald open the first McDonald's restaurant.

USS Sailfish is recommissioned. It was originally the USS Squalus.

World War II: In the United States, a bill creating the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC) is signed into law.

Joseph Stalin dissolves the Comintern (or Third International).

World War II: The Battle of Poljana, the final skirmish in Europe, is fought near Prevalje, Slovenia.

Don Murphy organized the first pinewood derby, an event for Cub Scouts of the Boy Scouts of America where wooden cars built by the scouts are raced.

Project Mercury: The launch of the final Mercury mission, Mercury-Atlas 9 with astronaut Gordon Cooper on board. He becomes the first American to spend more than a day in space, and the last American to go into space alone.

Disapproving of General Tôn Thất Đính's handling of the Buddhist Uprising, South Vietnamese prime minister Nguyễn Cao Kỳ ordered an attack on his forces and ousted Đính from his post.

President Richard Nixon appoints Anna Mae Hays and Elizabeth P. Hoisington as the first female United States Army generals.

The Ryukyu Islands were returned to Japan by the United States, and the U.S. occupation government was abolished.

The Ryukyu Islands, under U.S. military governance since their conquest in 1945, revert to Japanese control.

Soviet–Afghan War: After more than eight years of fighting, the Soviet Army begins to withdraw 115,000 troops from Afghanistan.

Vincent van Gogh's Portrait of Dr. Gachet was sold at auction at Christie's in New York for US$82.5 million, making it the world's most expensive painting at the time.

Édith Cresson becomes France's first female Prime Minister.

The Space Shuttle Atlantis launches on STS-84 to dock with the Russian space station Mir.

The United States government acknowledges the existence of the "Secret War" in Laos and dedicates the Laos Memorial in honor of Hmong and other "Secret War" veterans.

A runaway train loaded with hazardous chemicals traveled driverless for 66 miles (106 km) through Ohio before being stopped near Kenton.

Three days before her seventeenth birthday, Jessica Watson arrived in Sydney after sailing non-stop and unassisted around the world.