May 8

Events 
 Up to 1900 
 413 – Emperor Honorius signs an edict providing tax relief for the provinces Tuscia, Campania, Picenum, Samnium, Apulia, Lucania and Calabria, which were plundered by the Visigoths.
 1541 – Hernando de Soto reaches the Mississippi River.
 1654 – The Peace of Westminster ends the First Anglo-Dutch War.
 1781 – Battle of Pensacola in Florida: Spanish troops reconquer Pensacola.
 1788 – The French parliament is suspended to be replaced by the creation of forty–seven new courts.
 1794 – French chemist Antoine Lavoisier is executed on the guillotine.
 1821 – Greek War of Independence: The Greeks defeat the Turks at the Battle of Gravia Inn.
 1842 – French explorer Jules Dumont D'Urville and his family, are among those killed in a major train crash.
 1842 – The Great Fire of Hamburg is brought under control. It had killed 51 people and made 20,000 homeless.
 1846 – Mexican-American War: Battle of Palo Alto – Zachary Taylor defeats a Mexican force north of the Rio Grande in the first major battle of the war.
 1861 – American Civil War: Richmond, Virginia is declared capital city of the Confederate States of America.
 1886 – John Pemberton creates the drink that is now known as Coca-Cola.
 1898 – The Italian football league is held for the first time; all in one day.

 1901 – 2000 
 1901 – The Australian Labor Party is founded.
 1902 – The Volcano Mt. Pelée erupts on the Caribbean Island of Martinique, killing 30,000 people.
 1912 – Paramount Pictures is founded.
 1919 – Edward George Honey proposes the idea of a Moment of Silence to commemorate the World War I Armistice on November 11.
 1927 – Attempting to make the first Transatlantic flight from Paris to New York City, Frenchmen Charles Nungesser and Francois Coli disappear after taking off aboard the White Bird airplane.
 1933 – Mahatma Gandhi begins a 21–day fast against British colonial oppression.
 1941 – World War II: The German Luftwaffe launches a bombing raid on Nottingham and Derby.
 1942 – World War II: In the Battle of the Coral Sea, a Japanese Navy aircraft attacks the ship USS Lexington.
 1945 – End of World War II in Europe; this day is known as VE Day for "Victory in Europe".
 1945 – Thousands of Algerian civilians are massacred by French colonial troops.
 1945 – End of Prague uprising.
 1963 – South Vietnamese soldiers of Catholic President Ngo Dinh Diem open fire on Buddhists who were defying a ban on the Buddhist flag, killing 9.
 1967 – The Philippines province of Davao is spilt into three, Davao del Norte, Davao del Sur, and Davao Oriental.
 1969 – The movie Easy Rider, starring Dennis Hopper, has its premiere in Cannes, France.
 1970 – The last Beatles album, Let it Be, is released.
 1973 – Members of the American Indian Movement leave the Pine Ridge Reservation at Wounded Knee, after a 71–day protest.
 1976 – The rollercoaster "Revolution", the first steel coaster with a vertical loop, opens at Six Flags Magic Mountain.
 1978 – Reinhold Messner and Peter Habeler reach the top of Mt. Everest without Oxygen supplies, becoming the first people to do so.
 1980 – The WHO announces the eradication of Smallpox.
 1984 – The Soviet Union decides to boycott the Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.
 1984 – The Thames Barrier officially opens.
 1988 – Francois Mitterrand is elected to a second term as President of France.
 1993 – Lennox Lewis wins his Heavyweight Boxing fight against Tony Tucker in Las Vegas.
 1995 – The 50th anniversary of VE Day is marked.
 1997 – A China Southeast Airlines Boeing 737 crashes at Shenzhen Bao'an Airport, killing 35 people.

 From 2001 
 2003 – A train is sliced in two in a collision with a tourist bus in Siofok, Hungary, killing 30 German bus passengers and the driver.
 2007 – A new power–sharing deal takes effect in Northern Ireland. Ian Paisley becomes First Minister and Martin McGuinness becomes his Deputy.
 2007 – Archaeologists in Israel announce that they have discovered the grave of Herod the Great.
 2008 – Silvio Berlusconi becomes Prime Minister of Italy for a third time.
 2010 – Laura Chinchilla becomes President of Costa Rica.
 2013 – Manchester United football manager Alex Ferguson announces his upcoming retirement, which takes effect on May 19. He had been in charge of the team for over  years, making him one of the game's longest–serving managers. David Moyes replaces him, but is already sacked on April 22, 2014.
 2014 – The African National Congress wins elections in South Africa, allowing Jacob Zuma to serve a second full term as President.
 2015 – 2015 Pakistan Army Mil Mi-17 crash: A helicopter carrying foreign diplomats crashes near Gilgit in the far north of Pakistan. The Norwegian and Filipino Ambassadors are among those killed in the accident.
 2015 – United Kingdom general election, 2015: As David Cameron starts his second term as Prime Minister, and the Scottish National Party adds 50 more MPs, three party leaders resign – Ed Miliband (Labour Party), Nick Clegg (Liberal Democrats) and Nigel Farage (UKIP). Farage later decides to stay on as UKIP leader.
 2018 – President Donald Trump decides to withdraw the United States from the Iran nuclear agreement.
 2019 – The African National Congress wins the most votes in the elections held in South Africa, but with a reduced number of votes.
 2025 – Leo XIV is elected Pope through 2025 papal conclave.

 Births 
 Up to 1900 
 1326 – Joanna I of Auvergne, Queen of France (d. 1360)
 1460 – Frederick I, Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach (d. 1536)
 1521 – Petrus Canisius, Dutch Jesuit (d. 1597)
 1587 – Victor Amadeus I, Duke of Savoy (d. 1637)
 1629 – Niels Juel, Danish admiral (d. 1697)
 1639 – Giovanni Battista Gaulli, Italian painter (d. 1709)
 1653 – Claude Louis Hector de Villars, French general (d. 1734)
 1668 – Alain-René Lesage, French writer and playwright (d. 1747)
 1720 – William Cavendish, 4th Duke of Devonshire, Prime Minister of Great Britain (d. 1764)
 1735 – Nathaniel Dance-Holland, English painter (d. 1811)
 1737 – Edward Gibbon, British historian (d. 1794)
 1738 – Mikhail Kamensky, Russian general (d. 1809)
 1744 – Nikolay Novikov, Russian writer (d. 1818)
 1753 – Miguel Hidalgo, Mexican revolutionary (d. 1811)
 1781 – Pedro de Sousa Holstein, 1st Duke of Palmela, Portuguese politician (d. 1850)
 1786 – John Vianney, French priest and saint (d. 1859)
 1818 – Samuel Leonard Tilley, Canadian politician, 3rd Premier of New Brunswick (d. 1896)
 1821 – William Henry Vanderbilt, American businessman (d. 1885)
 1824 – William Walker, American physician, lawyer, journalist and mercenary (d. 1860)
 1828 – Henry Dunant, Swiss co–founder of the Red Cross, co–winner of first Nobel Peace Prize (d. 1910)
 1828 – Charbel Makhluf, Lebanese monk and saint (d. 1898)
 1847 – Oscar Hammerstein I, American theatre producer and impresario (d. 1919)
 1856 – Pedro Lascuráin, Mexican politician, shortest–serving President (d. 1952)
 1859 – Johan Jensen, Danish mathematician (d. 1925)
 1867 – Albert, 8th Prince of Thurn and Taxis (d. 1952)
 1874 – E. W. Marland, Governor of Oklahoma (d. 1941)
 1884 – Harry S. Truman, 33rd President of the United States (d. 1972)
 1889 – Song Jin-woo, Korean politician, educationist and journalist (d. 1945)
 1889 – Louis Van Hege, Belgian footballer (d. 1975)
 1895 – James H. Kindelberger, American aviation executive (d. 1962)
 1895 – Fulton J. Sheen, American bishop (d. 1979)
 1895 – Edmund Wilson, American writer (d. 1972)
 1895 – Joselito, Spanish bullfighter (d. 1920)
 1898 – Aloysius Stepinac, Croatian cardinal (d. 1960)
 1899 – Friedrich Hayek, Austrian economist (d. 1992)

 1901 – 1925 
 1902 – André Michel Lwoff, French microbiologist (d. 1994)
 1903 – Fernandel, French comedy actor and singer (d. 1971)
 1904 – John Snagge, British radio personality (d. 1996)
 1905 – Red Nichols, American musician (d. 1965)
 1906 – Roberto Rossellini, Italian movie director (d. 1977)
 1909 – Count Lennart Bernadotte, Swedish royal (d. 2004)
 1910 – Mary Lou Williams, American singer (d. 1981)
 1911 – Robert Johnson, American blues musician (d. 1938)
 1913 – Bob Clampett, American animator, producer and director (d. 1984)
 1913 – Sid James, English actor (d. 1976)
 1914 – Romain Gary, Polish writer (d. 1980)
 1916 – Chinmayananda Saraswati, Indian spiritualist (d. 1993)
 1916 – Joao Havelange, Brazilian sports official (d. 2016)
 1917 – John Anderson, Jr., American politician, 36th Governor of Kansas (d. 2014)
 1919 – Lex Barker, American actor (d. 1973)
 1920 – Saul Bass, American graphic designer and movie maker (d. 1996)
 1920 – Tom of Finland, Finnish fetish artist (d. 1991)
 1923 – Cheikha Rimitti, Algerian singer (d. 2006)
 1924 – Tapan Raychaudhuri, Indian historian (d. 2014)
 1925 – Ali Hassan Mwinyi, former President of Tanzania

 1926 – 1950 
 1926 – David Attenborough, British naturalist, TV presenter and writer
 1926 – Don Rickles, American actor (d. 2017)
 1927 – Laszlo Paskai, Hungarian cardinal (d. 2015)
 1928 – Manfred Gerlach, East German politician (d. 2011)
 1928 – Ted Sorensen, American lawyer and 8th White House counsel (d. 2010)
 1929 – Girija Devi, Indian singer (d. 2017)
 1929 – Miyoshi Umeki, Japanese actress (d. 2007)
 1930 – Doug Atkins, American baseball player (d. 2015)
 1930 – Heather Harper, Irish–English soprano (d. 2019)
 1930 – Gary Snyder, American poet
 1932 – Phyllida Law, Scottish actress
 1932 – Sonny Liston, American boxer (d. 1970)
 1935 – Jack Charlton, English footballer
 1935 – Princess Elisabeth of Denmark (d. 2018)
 1936 – Kazuo Koike, Japanese manga artist
 1937 – Thomas Pynchon, American writer
 1938 – Jean Giraud, French comic book artist and production designer (d. 2012)
 1939 – Paul Drayton, American sprinter (d. 2010)
 1940 – Peter Benchley, American writer (d. 2006)
 1940 – Ricky Nelson, American singer and actor (d. 1985)
 1940 – Irwin Cotler, Canadian politician
 1940 – Toni Tennille, American singer (Captain & Tennille)
 1941 – James Traficant, American politician (d. 2014)
 1942 – Norman Lamont, British politician
 1943 – Pat Barker, British writer
 1944 – Bill Legend, British musician
 1944 – Gary Glitter, British musician
 1945 – Keith Jarrett, American musician
 1945 – Mike German, Baron German, Welsh politician
 1946 – Jonathan Dancy, British philosopher
 1947 – John Reid, Baron Reid of Cardowan, British politician
 1947 – H. Robert Horvitz, American biologist
 1947 – Felicity Lott, British singer
 1947 – Aram I, Armenian church leader
 1948 – Norbert Nigbur, German footballer
 1949 – Mohammed bin Hammam, Qatari FIFA official

 1951 – 1975 
 1951 – Philip Bailey, American musician (Earth, Wind & Fire)
 1951 – Chris Frantz, rock musician
 1952 – Charles Camarda, American astronaut
 1953 – Alex Van Halen, Dutch–American musician
 1953 – Billy Burnette, American singer-songwriter
 1954 – Pam Arciero, American voice actress
 1954 – John Michael Talbot, American monk, singer and musician
 1954 – Clive Wood, English actor
 1955 – Meles Zenawi, Prime Minister and President of Ethiopia (d. 2012)
 1955 – Asgeir Sigurvinsson, Icelandic footballer
 1956 – David Provan, Scottish footballer
 1957 – Marie Myriam, French singer
 1958 – Roddy Doyle, Irish writer
 1958 – Kevin McCloud, English writer, designer and television presenter
 1958 – Lovie Smith, American football coach
 1958 – Simone Kleinsma, Dutch musical theatre actress
 1958 – Brooks Newmark, American–English politician
 1959 – Ronnie Lott, American football player
 1959 – David Pearce, British professional boxer (d. 2000)
 1960 – Franco Baresi, Italian footballer
 1961 – Akira Taue, Japanese professional wrestler
 1961 – Bill de Blasio, Mayor of New York City
 1961 – Andrea Pollack, German swimmer (d. 2019)
 1962 – David Sole, Scottish rugby player
 1962 – Natalia Molchanova, Russian diver (d. 2015)
 1963 – Michel Gondry, French director and screenwriter
 1963 – Aleksandr Kovalenko, Soviet triple jumper
 1963 – Anthony Field, Australian musician (The Wiggles)
 1964 – Dave Rowntree, British musician (Blur)
 1964 – Melissa Gilbert, American actress
 1965 – Mario Frick, Liechtenstein politician
 1967 – Viviana Durante, Italian ballet dancer
 1968 – Chris Lighty, American music executive and talent agent (d. 2012)
 1968 – Nathalie Normandeau, Canadian politician
 1969 – Akebono Taro, American sumo wrestler
 1970 – Luis Enrique Martínez García, Spanish footballer
 1970 – Naomi Klein, Canadian writer and activist
 1971 – Shaolin, Brazilian cartoonist, comedian and presenter (d. 2016)
 1972 – Darren Hayes, Australian singer
 1973 – Hiromu Arakawa, Japanese manga artist
 1973 – Jesús Arellano, Mexican footballer
 1973 – Marcus Brigstocke, English comedian
 1974 – Korey Stringer, American football player (d. 2001)
 1975 – Enrique Iglesias, Spanish singer

 From 1976 
 1976 – Martha Wainwright, Canadian singer-songwriter
 1976 – Ian "H" Watkins, Welsh singer and actor
 1977 – Joe Bonamassa, American musician
 1977 – Bad News Brown, Canadian rapper (d. 2011)
 1978 – Matthew Davis, American actor
 1978 – Lúcio, Brazilian footballer
 1979 – Gennaro Sardo, Italian footballer
 1980 – Evgeny Lebedev, Russian businessman and newspaper owner
 1980 – Michelle McManus, Scottish singer
 1981 – Stephen Amell, Canadian actor
 1981 – Andrea Barzagli, Italian footballer
 1982 – Buakaw Banchamek, Thai Muay–Thai boxer
 1982 – Adrian Gonzalez, American baseball player
 1983 – Elyes Gabel, English actor
 1983 – Vicky McClure, English actress
 1983 – Matt Willis, English singer (Busted)
 1984 – Julia Whelan, American actress
 1985 – Sarah Vaillancourt, Canadian ice hockey player
 1986 – Galen Rupp, American long–distance runner
 1987 – Aneurin Barnard, Welsh actor
 1987 – Isabel Lestapier Winqvist, Miss Sweden winner
 1987 – Mark Noble, English footballer
 1987 – Felix Jones, American football player
 1988 – Maicon Pereira de Oliveira, Brazilian footballer (d. 2014)
 1989 – Liam Bridcutt, English–Scottish footballer
 1989 – Nora Arnezeder, French actress
 1989 – Benoit Paire, French tennis player
 1990 – Kemba Walker, American basketball player
 1992 – Ana Mulvoy-Ten, English–Spanish actress
 1995 – Park Jung-hwa, South Korean singer and actress
 2003 – Moulay Hassan, Crown Prince of Morocco

 Deaths 
 Up to 1900 
 535 – Pope John II
 685 – Pope Benedict II
 840 – Emperor Junna of Japan (b. 786)
 1192 – Duke Ottokar IV of Syria (b. 1163)
 1278 – Emperor Duanzongof China (b. 1268)
 1319 – Haakon V of Norway (b. 1270)
 1782 – Marques de Pombal, Portuguese politician (b. 1699)
 1785 – Pietro Longhi, Venetian painter (b. 1701)
 1785 – Etienne François duc de Choiseul, French general and politician (b. 1719)
 1788 – Giovanni Antonio Scopoli, Italian physician and naturalist (b. 1723)
 1794 – Antoine Lavoisier, French chemist (executed) (b. 1743)
 1819 – Kamehameha I, King of Hawai'i (b. c. 1758)
 1828 – Mauro Giuliani, Italian composer (b. 1781)
 1837 – Alexander Balashov, Russian general and statesman (b. 1770)
 1842 – Jules Dumont d'Urville, French explorer (b. 1790)
 1853 – Jan Roothaan, Dutch priest (b. 1785)
 1873 – John Stuart Mill, English philosopher (b. 1806)
 1880 – Gustave Flaubert, French novelist (b. 1821)
 1884 – Judah P. Benjamin, American politician (b. 1811)
 1887 – Lorenzo Batlle, President of Uruguay (b. 1810)
 1891 – Helena Blavatsky, Russian–born writer (b. 1831)

 1901 – 2000 
 1903 – Paul Gauguin, French painter (b. 1846)
 1904 – Eadweard Muybridge, British photographer (b. 1830)
 1907 – Edmund G. Ross, Territorial Governor of New Mexico (b. 1826)
 1936 – Oswald Spengler, German historian and philosopher (b. 1880)
 1941 – Natalie of Serbia (b. 1859)
 1941 – Tore Svennberg, Swedish actor and director (b. 1858)
 1943 – Mordechai Anielewicz, Polish Resistance activist (b. 1919)
 1944 – Ethel Smyth, English composer, conductor and writer (b. 1858)
 1945 – Bernhard Rust, Nazi education minister (b. 1883)
 1945 – Josef Terboven, Nazi Reichskommissar in Norway (b. 1898)
 1945 – Paul Giesler, German politician, Prime minister of Bavaria (b. 1895)
 1947 – Harry Gordon Selfridge, department store founder (b. 1858)
 1948 – U Saw, Burmese politician (b. 1900)
 1950 – Vital Brazil, Brazilian physician and immunologist (b. 1865)
 1952 – William Fox, Austro–Hungarian–born American movie producer (b. 1879)
 1960 – J. H. C. Whitehead, British mathematician (b. 1904)
 1965 – Wally Hardinge, English cricketer and footballer (b. 1886)
 1967 – LaVerne Andrews, American singer (The Andrews Sisters) (b. 1911)
 1971 – Lars Pettersson, Swedish ice hockey player (b. 1925)
 1975 – Avery Brundage, President of the International Olympic Committee (b. 1887)
 1982 – Gilles Villeneuve, Canadian race car driver (b. 1950)
 1985 – Theodore Sturgeon, American science fiction writer (b. 1918)
 1988 – Robert A. Heinlein, American science fiction writer (b. 1907)
 1990 – Luigi Nono, Italian composer (b. 1924)
 1991 – Jean Langlais, French composer and pianist (b. 1907)
 1991 – Rudolf Serkin, Austrian pianist (b. 1903)
 1993 – Avram Davidson, American science fiction writer (b. 1923)
 1994 – George Peppard, American actor (b. 1928)
 1996 – Dominguin, Spanish bullfighter (b. 1926)
 1998 – Jennings Randolph, American politician (b. 1902)
 1999 – Dirk Bogarde, British actor (b. 1921)
 1999 – Dana Plato, American actress (b. 1964)

 From 2001 
 2008 – Eddy Arnold, American singer (b. 1918)
 2008 – Luigi Malerba, Italian writer (b. 1927)
 2008 – François Sterchele, Belgian footballer (b. 1982)
 2009 – Dom DiMaggio, American baseball player (b. 1917)
 2010 – Andor Lilienthal, Hungarian chess player (b. 1911)
 2011 – Lionel Rose, Australian boxer (b. 1948)
 2011 – Cornell Dupree, American musician (b. 1942)
 2012 – Maurice Sendak, American writer (b. 1928)
 2012 – Roman Totenberg, Polish–American violinist (b. 1911)
 2012 – Nicholas Katzenbach, former United States Attorney General (b. 1922)
 2013 – Jeanne Cooper, American actress (b. 1928)
 2013 – Dallas Willard, American philosopher (b. 1935)
 2013 – Bryan Forbes, British movie director, screenwriter and producer (b. 1926)
 2013 – Taylor Mead, American actor (b. 1924)
 2014 – Yago Lamela, Spanish athlete (b. 1977)
 2014 – Joseph P. Teasdale, 48th Governor of Missouri (b. 1936)
 2014 – Jair Rodrigues, Brazilian musician and singer (b. 1939)
 2014 – Mercedes Salisachs, Spanish writer (b. 1917)
 2014 – Nancy Malone, American producer, director and actress (b. 1935)
 2015 – Deaths in the 2015 Pakistan Army Mil Mi-17 crash:
 Domingo Lucenario, Jr., Ambassador of the Philippines to Pakistan (b. 1960)
 Leif Holger Larsen, Ambassador of Norway to Pakistan (b. 1954)
 2015 – Phil Skoglund, New Zealand lawn bowls player (b. 1937)
 2015 – Zeki Alasya, Turkish actor and director (b. 1943)
 2015 – Atanas Semerdzhiev, Vice President of Bulgaria (b. 1924)
 2015 – Menashe Kadishman, Israeli artist (b. 1932)
 2015 – Martin Nag, Norwegian writer (b. 1926)
 2016 – Philippe Beaussant, French writer and musicologist (b. 1930)
 2016 – Tonita Castro, American actress (b. 1953)
 2016 – Ken Gorgal, American football player (b. 1929)
 2016 – Nick Lashaway, American actor (b. 1988)
 2016 – Elisa Mainardi, Italian actress (b. 1927)
 2016 – William Schallert, American actor (b. 1922)
 2016 – John Bradshaw, American self–help writer (b. 1933)
 2016 – John Young, American baseball player (b. 1949)
 2017 – Allan H. Meltzer, American economist (b. 1928)
 2017 – Lou Richards, Australian footballer (b. 1923)
 2017 – Cécile DeWitt-Morette, French mathematician and physicist (b. 1922)
 2017 – Curt Lowens, German–born American actor (b. 1925)
 2017 – Lawson Soulsby, Baron Soulsby of Swaffham Prior, British microbiologist and life peer (b. 1926)
 2017 – Juan Carlos Tedesco, Argentine politician (b. 1944)
 2017 – Mary Tsoni, Greek actress (b. 1987)
 2018 – Anne V. Coates, British film editor (b. 1925)
 2018 – George Deukmejian, American politician, former Governor of California (b. 1928)
 2018 – Lara Saint Paul, Italian–Eritrean singer (b. 1945)
 2018 – Big Bully Busick, American professional wrestler (b. 1954)
 2019 – Jens Beutel, German politician (b. 1946)
 2019 – Sprent Dabwido, President of Nauru (b. 1972)
 2019 – Yevgeny Krylatov, Russian composer (b. 1934)
 2019 – David Montgomery, American baseball player (b. 1946)
 2019 – Bob Zeman, American football player and coach (b. 1937)

 Observances 
 Victory in Europe Day, marking the end of World War II in Europe in 1945.
 International Red Cross and Red Crescent Day, birthday of Henry Dunant, co–founder of the International Red Cross.
 Parents' Day (South Korea).
 Truman Day (Missouri).
 Miguel Hidalgo's birthday (Mexico).

May 08