May 9 in Military History

Columbus departed Cadiz on his fourth voyage with four armed ships. The expedition mapped the Central American coast and resulted in violent encounters with indigenous peoples, laying groundwork for Spain's subsequent military conquests in the Western Hemisphere.

Colonel Thomas Blood, an Irish officer and former parliamentary soldier, attempted to steal the Crown Jewels from the Tower of London. His capture led to his improbable pardon by Charles II and an informant career that drew on his military intelligence experience.

Colonel Emory Upton attacked the Confederate salient at Spotsylvania with a concentrated column of 12 regiments, temporarily breaking through the defenses. Though forced to withdraw, Upton's tactical innovation impressed Grant, who ordered a larger version for May 12, the "Bloody Angle," among the most savage hand-to-hand fighting in American history.

U.S. Navy Commander Richard E. Byrd and pilot Floyd Bennett took off from Spitsbergen in a Fokker F.VIIa/3m trimotor named Josephine Ford and reported reaching the North Pole and returning, a feat that drove U.S. naval and Army air-cold-weather research for decades.

Fascist Italy annexed Ethiopia after a campaign using poison gas against civilians. Mussolini proclaimed Victor Emmanuel III "Emperor of Ethiopia." The conquest proved the League of Nations' impotence and emboldened the Axis powers. Emperor Haile Selassie's warning, "It is us today. It will be you tomorrow", proved prophetic.

Germany's surrender took effect on May 9 Moscow time, making this date Russia's Victory Day, commemorating the loss of 27 million Soviet citizens.

British forces completed the disarmament of the approximately 27,000 German troops on the Channel Islands, the only part of the British Isles that had been occupied during the Second World War, wrapping up garrison operations that had been isolated since D-Day.

French Foreign Minister Robert Schuman proposed pooling French and German coal and steel production, laying the foundation for what became the European Union. Explicitly designed to make war between France and Germany "materially impossible," it was the most revolutionary approach to European security since 1648.

The New York Times reported that the U.S. had been secretly bombing Cambodia since March 1969 under Operation Menu. The revelation intensified anti-war opposition and raised constitutional questions about presidential war powers that continue to resonate in debates over military authorization.

Nelson Mandela was inaugurated as South Africa's first democratically elected president, formally ending the apartheid security state and reshaping the South African Defence Force into an integrated national military under civilian control.