What happened on 19 May?

16 events from the Ever-When timeline, ranked by how much they mattered.

1. 1942 Camus's The Stranger L'Étranger — defining novel of absurdist philosophy.
2. 1890 Born: Ho Chi Minh Vietnamese revolutionary who led the struggle against France and the United States.
3. 1919 Mustafa Kemal lands at Samsun Sent by the occupied Ottoman government to demobilise the Anatolian armies, the hero of Gallipoli steps ashore at Samsun and does the opposite: he begins organising the national re
4. 1536 Execution of Anne Boleyn Henry VIII's second wife beheaded at the Tower on charges of treason and adultery; cleared the way for Jane Seymour.
5. 1635 France enters the Thirty Years' War Richelieu declares war on Spain, swinging the Thirty Years War decisively against the Habsburgs.
6. 1974 Giscard d'Estaing elected president of France A narrow win over Mitterrand brings a liberalising centrist to the Élysée; the voting age drops to eighteen and divorce law is loosened.
7. 1941 Viet Minh founded Returning to Vietnam after thirty years abroad, Ho founds the League for the Independence of Vietnam in a cave near the Chinese border.
8. 1643 Battle of Rocroi Young Duc d'Enghien crushes the supposedly invincible Spanish tercios; symbolic end of Spanish military supremacy.
9. 1925 Born: Malcolm X African-American minister and human-rights leader; assassinated in 1965.
10. 1886 Saint-Saëns's Organ Symphony Written for the Royal Philharmonic Society in London, Saint-Saëns's Third Symphony ends in a blaze of organ — 'I gave everything to it I was able to give'.
11. 1802 Legion of Honour founded First Consul Bonaparte creates a national order of merit open to soldiers and civilians alike — still France's highest decoration.
12. 1662 Act of Uniformity 1662 Parliament mandates use of the new Book of Common Prayer; 2,000 dissenting ministers ejected from the Church of England.
13. 1968 Godard and Truffaut shut down Cannes In solidarity with the May 1968 strikes, Godard, Truffaut and other directors hang from the curtains to stop screenings; the festival is cancelled.
14. 1962 'Happy Birthday, Mr. President' Sewn into a flesh-coloured crystal-studded gown, Monroe breathily sings to John F. Kennedy at Madison Square Garden, eleven weeks before her death.
15. 2018 Wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle Prince Harry marries the American actress Meghan Markle at St George's Chapel, Windsor — a gospel choir and an American bishop's sermon bring a new note to a royal wedding.
16. 1935 Thomas More canonised Four centuries after their executions, Pope Pius XI declares Thomas More and John Fisher saints, martyrs for refusing Henry VIII's supremacy over the Church.