What happened on 21 May?

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

1. 1527 Born: Philip II of Spain Habsburg king of Spain; Counter-Reformation champion; lost Armada vs England.
2. 1998 Fall of Suharto Financial collapse and mass protests force Suharto to resign after 32 years, ending the New Order and opening Indonesia's Reformasi era of democratisation.
3. 1991 Assassination of Rajiv Gandhi Former PM Rajiv Gandhi killed by an LTTE suicide bomber.
4. 1420 Treaty of Troyes Henry V marries Catherine of Valois and is recognised as heir to Charles VI of France; the dual monarchy collapses on his early death.
5. 1471 Henry VI dies in the Tower The night Edward IV returns to London in triumph from Tewkesbury, the twice-crowned, twice-deposed Henry VI dies in the Tower — of 'pure displeasure and melancholy', the official l
6. 1981 Presidency of François Mitterrand Fourteen years, the longest presidency: nationalisations then the U-turn to austerity, abolition of the guillotine, Maastricht.
7. 1871 Bloody Week (Semaine sanglante) French government troops crush the Paris Commune, killing some 20,000 Parisians.
8. 1655 England takes Jamaica from Spain English invasion force seizes Jamaica during Cromwell's 'Western Design'; Spain formally cedes the island at the Treaty of Madrid (1670).