This Week in History recalls memorable and decisive events and personalities of the past.
8th May 1846 – American forces led by Zachary Taylor defeat a Mexican force north of the Rio Grande
Although the United States would only officially declare war against Mexico on 13 May, this battle a week earlier was the first major engagement of the war.
The Mexican-American war would shape the history of North America and massively expand the territory of the United States. Originating in disputes over the American annexation of Texas and American attempts to purchase Mexico’s underdeveloped northern territories, the war would see Mexico cede the modern-day American states of New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado, Utah, Nevada and California to its northern neighbour and decisively shift the balance of power in North America to the United States.
9th May 1386 – England and Portugal sign the Treaty of Windsor
The treaty of Windsor, often called the oldest diplomatic treaty still in force today, was signed by King John I of Portugal and the government of King Richard II of England. Under the treaty, each promised to supply aid to the other whenever requested.
Since signing the treaty, England and Portugal have remained close allies and have never fought each other or been on opposite sides of a military conflict, except between 1580 and 1640, when Portugal was subsumed under the Spanish crown. Even then, Britain hosted a Portuguese government in exile, and continued to support the cause of Portuguese independence. To this day, the treaty remains the cornerstone of British-Portuguese relations.
10th May 1940 – Winston Churchill becomes prime minister of the UK.
Churchill, perceived at the time as a relic of the Victorian past, had languished in the political wilderness after his active support for the disastrous Gallipoli campaign in the First World War. At the outbreak of the Second World War, he was brought back into government as First Lord of the Admiralty, and went on to become prime minister on 10 May 1940, just as the German army launched its invasion of France.
Enduring nothing but military defeat after defeat for months after assuming the premiership, Churchill used his old-fashioned style and powerful rhetorical abilities to rally the British public and political elite in the face of what seemed certain destruction, keeping alive the UK’s will to remain in the war.
Churchill resisted all pressure to negotiate with Germany, even as the threat of a German invasion loomed.
While the actual capacity of the German army to invade the British Isles was vastly overestimated by contemporaries, this would only become fully apparent after the end of the war.
Churchill’s gamble to keep up the fight against fascism would ultimately prove to be right; by 1942, Germany was at war with both the Soviet Union and the United States of America in a conflict it couldn’t hope to win.
Churchill remains today one of the United Kingdom’s most popular historical figures.
12 May 907 – Zhu Wen forces Emperor Ai into abdicating, ending the Tang dynasty after nearly three hundred years of rule.
China’s Tang dynasty is remembered by historians as one of the high points of Chinese culture, during which China developed many important innovations, including woodblock printing. Also, during this period Buddhism became a major cultural force in China.
Beginning in 618, the Tang dynasty arose from the collapse of the Sui dynasty, when a general called Li Yuan proclaimed himself emperor of China after the failure of the Sui to conquer northern Korea.
The Tang dynasty saw a flowering of Chinese literature. Tens of thousands of poems from the period have survived.
After a series of natural disasters, and a massive rebellion, the Tang dynasty would collapse into what is called the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period of Chinese history, during which several kingdoms fought for control of China.
13th May 1998 – Race riots break out in Jakarta, Indonesia
After the Asian financial collapse of 1998 and a largely fraudulent election held the year before, Indonesia was in a state of crisis, with many people unable to afford food, and growing calls for political reform.
What began as an anti-government protest by students in northern Sumatra led to clashes with the police and a spread of violence to Indonesia’s capital city of Jakarta.
There, violence escalated, with protesters soon targeting minority-owned businesses, particularly shops owned by Chinese Indonesians. There was widespread killing, rape and looting, with an estimated final death toll of 11 888 people.
The Indonesian government would collapse as a result of the riots, and the country of East Timor, occupied by Indonesia since 1976, would break free of Indonesian control.
14th May 1870 – The first game of rugby in New Zealand is played in Nelson between Nelson College and the Nelson Rugby Football Club
Introduced to New Zealand by British colonists, rugby would become the unofficial national sport of the country.
Today the fearsome ‘All Blacks’ rugby team continue to make the small island’s presence felt on the world stage. New Zealand holds three World Cup wins, tied with South Africa as the nation with the most victories.
15th May 1648 – The Peace of Münster is ratified, by which Spain acknowledges Dutch sovereignty.
Starting in 1568, the Dutch revolt, also called the Eighty Years’ War, was sparked by misrule by the Spanish-centered Habsburg monarchy and by growing religious tensions in the Low Countries between Catholics and Protestants. The war would drag on for decades, with the Dutch exploiting their ability as seafarers – and the Netherlands’ dike system – to hold off the militarily superior Spanish armies.
After receiving support from England and France, the Dutch would eventually force the Catholic Habsburg monarchs to accept their independence in the Peace of Münster.
After the treaty, the Dutch would become a major trading and seafaring nation, settling colonies around the world, including, from 1652, the southern tip of what would become South Africa.
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