HISTORY AT A GLANCE

TODAY is Monday, May 15, the 135th day of 2017. There are 230 days left in the year. Highlights in history on this date:

1940 – World War II: After fierce fighting, the poorly trained and equipped Dutch troops surrender to Germany, marking the beginning of five years of occupation. 1948 – Following the expiration of The British Mandate for Palestine, the Kingdom of Egypt, Transjordan, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Saudi Arabia invade Israel thus starting the 1948 Arab–Israeli War. 1951 – The Polish cultural attaché in Paris, Czeslaw Milosz, asks the French government for political asylum. 1953 – Cubmaster Don Murphy organized the first pinewood derby, in Manhattan Beach, California, by Pack 280c. 1957 – At Malden Island in the Pacific Ocean, Britain tests its first hydrogen bomb in Operation Grapple. 1958 – The Soviet Union launches Sputnik 3. 1960 – The Soviet Union launches Sputnik 4. 1963 – 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. 1966 – After a policy dispute, Prime Minister Nguyen Cao Ky of South Vietnam’s ruling junta launches a military attack on the forces of General Tôn That Ðính, forcing him to abandon his command. 1972 – Okinawa, under US military governance since its conquest in 1945, reverts to Japanese control. 1988 – Soviet war in Afghanistan: After more than eight years of fighting, the Soviet Army begins to withdrawal 115,000 troops from Afghanistan. 1991 – Édith Cresson becomes France’s first female premier. 1997 – The United States government acknowledges the existence of the “Secret War” in Laos and dedicates the Laos Memorial in honour of Hmong and other “Secret War” veterans. 2004 – Arsenal F.C. become the first team in English First Division history to go an entire league campaign unbeaten. 2008 – California becomes the second US state after Massachusetts in 2004 to legalize same-sex marriage after the state’s own Supreme Court rules a previous ban unconstitutional. 2010 – Jessica Watson becomes the youngest person to sail, non-stop and unassisted around the world solo. 2013 – An upsurge in violence in Iraq leaves more than 389 people dead over three days.