Wikipedia:Selected anniversaries/May 8
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This is a list of selected May 8 anniversaries that appears on the "On this day" section of the Main Page. To suggest a new item, in most cases you can be bold and edit this page. Please read the selected anniversaries guidelines before making your edit. However, if your addition may be controversial, or on a day that is or soon will be on the Main Page, please post your suggestion on the talk page instead.
To report an error when this appears on the Main Page, see Main Page errors.May 8: Yom Ha'atzmaut in Israel (2008); Victory in Europe Day; World Red Cross and Red Crescent Day
- 1429 – Siege of Orléans: French troops led by Joan of Arc lifted the English siege and turned the tide of the Hundred Years' War.
- 1541 – The expedition led by Spanish conquistador Hernando de Soto reached the Mississippi River.
- 1794 – French chemist and economist Antoine Lavoisier, a former royal tax collector with the Ferme Générale, was tried, convicted, and guillotined on the same day during the Reign of Terror.
- 1886 – In Atlanta, Georgia, American pharmacist John Pemberton first sold his carbonated beverage Coca-Cola as a patent medicine, claiming that it cured a number of diseases.
- 1945 – Most armed forces under German control ceased active operations by 23:01 hours CET at the end of World War II in Europe, in accordance with the capitulation documents signed by General Alfred Jodl (pictured) on behalf of Reichspräsident Karl Dönitz the day before.
