May 11, 1812: Prime Minister Spencer Perceval is assassinated by John Bellingham in the lobby of the House of Commons, London.

May 12, 1821: The first big battle of the Greek War of Independence against the Turks occurs in Valtetsi.

May 13, 1787: Captain Arthur Phillip leaves Portsmouth, England with eleven ships full of convicts to establish a penal colony in Australia.

May 14, 1796: Edward Jenner administers the first smallpox vaccination.

May 15, 1800: George III survives an assassination attempt by James Hadfield, who is later acquitted by reason of insanity.

May 16, 1770: Fourteen-year-old Marie Antoinette marries fifteen-year-old Louis-Auguste, who later becomes Louis XVI of France.

May 17, 1809: Napoleon orders the annexation of the Papal States to the French Empire.