5th May-
Battle of Puebla commemorated as Cinco de Mayo
Children in traditional Mexican costumes dance at a Cinco de Mayo celebration.
1862: On this day, the Mexican army of the government of Benito Juárez, led by General Ignacio Zaragoza, repelled the invading French forces of Napoleon III at the Battle of Puebla. Napoleon was attempting to establish a French satellite in Mexico. In honour of its defender, the city of Puebla was officially renamed Puebla de Zaragoza. The event came to be celebrated as Cinco de Mayo (5th of May), a national holiday in Mexico.
1960: Soviet Premier Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev told the Supreme Soviet of the U.S.S.R. that a U.S. spy plane piloted by Francis Gary Powers had been shot down on May 1 over the Soviet Union, referring to the flight as an “aggressive act” by the United States.
1864: Forces commanded by the generals Ulysses S. Grant of the Union and Robert E. Lee of the Confederacy engaged in the Battle of the Wilderness, near Fredericksburg, Virginia, during the American Civil War.
1789: The Estates-General met for the first time since 1614 at Versailles, France, and debated the role of the Third Estate; the meeting was a precursor to the French Revolution.
1640: King Charles I of England dissolved the Short Parliament, the first parliament to be summoned in 11 years.
Søren Kierkegaard, drawing by Christian Kierkegaard, 1840; in a private collection.
Danish religious philosopher Søren Kierkegaard, born this day in 1813, was regarded as the founder of existentialist philosophy. He is famous for his critique of systematic rational philosophy, particularly Hegelianism, on the grounds that actual life cannot be contained within an abstract conceptual system. With this stance, he intended to clear the ground for an adequate consideration of faith.
"Life can only be understood backwards, but it must be lived forwards."
Søren Kierkegaard |
