ON THIS DATE: MAY 8

Historical events from May 8 are brought to you by Encyclopaedia Britannica. Explore more at britannica.com.

2012: American artist Maurice Sendak, who was best known for his illustrated children’s books, died at age 83.

1999: Nancy Mace became the first woman to graduate from The Citadel, a military college in Charleston, South Carolina.

1980: Following a global vaccination program, the WHO officially declared that smallpox was eradicated; for centuries, the acute infectious disease was one of the world’s most-dreaded plagues.

1970: A month after Paul Mccartney announced that he had left the Beatles, the British rock group released Let It Be, their last original studio album to hit the record shops.

1950: Police in Silkeborg, Denmark, were alerted to the discovery of a corpse in a bog; it was revealed to be a remarkably preserved bog body and was given the name Tollund Man.

1945: Following Germany’s unconditional surrender, World War II in Europe officially ended at midnight on this day in 1945, although the war in the Pacific continued until the Japanese surrender in September.

1942: In the Battle of the Coral Sea, the USS Lexington became the first U.S. aircraft carrier to be sunk during World War II.

1902: Mount Pelée on Martinique erupted, destroying the port of Saint-pierre and killing approximately 30,000 people, 15 percent of the island’s population.

1886: American pharmacist John S. Pemberton developed Coca-cola, a drink he originally billed as a cure-all tonic.

1884: Harry S. Truman, the 33rd president of the United States (1945–53), was born in Lamar, Missouri.

1877: The first Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show (then known as the First Annual New York Bench Show of Dogs) began, attracting large crowds over four days; it is one of the oldest continuously running sporting events in the United States, second only to the Kentucky Derby.

1864: During the American Civil War, the Union forces of Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant engaged the Confederate troops of General Robert E. Lee at Spotsylvania Court House, Virginia.

1846: U.S. troops under Zachary Taylor defeated a Mexican force under General Mariano Arista in the Battle of Palo Alto, the first clash of the Mexican-american War (1846– 48).

1737: English historian Edward Gibbon, who was best known for the book The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1776–88), was born in Putney, Surrey.

1429: Largely due to the efforts of Joan of Arc, English troops ended their siege of the French city of Orléans, which was the military turning point of the Hundred Years’ War between France and England.