Events

  • 1940: Operation Dynamo begins at Dunkirk

    Operation Dynamo began on 26 May 1940 because the British Expeditionary Force and other Allied troops were running out of ground to hold. The German advance through France and Belgium had pushed Allied forces back towards the Channel. Dunkirk became one of the few remaining exits. The operation would later be remembered as a rescue,…

  • 1941: HMS Hood is sunk by Bismarck

    On 24 May 1941, HMS Hood was sunk during the Battle of the Denmark Strait. Hood was one of the Royal Navy’s best-known ships. It had been launched during the First World War and had spent years as a public symbol of British sea power. By 1941, it was more than a warship in service.…

  • 1941: Bismarck is lost after Royal Navy pursuit

    Bismarck was lost on 27 May 1941 after a Royal Navy pursuit across the Atlantic. Three days earlier, the German battleship had sunk HMS Hood during the Battle of the Denmark Strait. Only three men from Hood survived. That loss gave the pursuit public force, but the problem was also practical. Bismarck was still at…

  • 1941: The Allied evacuation from Crete is completed

    By 1 June 1941, the Allied evacuation from Crete was complete. The battle had begun with a German airborne invasion in May. British, Australian, New Zealand, and Greek troops fought on the island, but the Allied position collapsed. Once Crete could no longer be held, the aim changed. It was no longer possible to win…

  • 1942: RAF Bomber Command launches Operation Millennium

    On the night of 30–31 May 1942, RAF Bomber Command launched Operation Millennium against Cologne. The raid was planned as a mass attack. Air Chief Marshal Arthur Harris wanted to send more than 1,000 aircraft over Germany in a single night. To reach that number, Bomber Command used front-line bombers, training aircraft and crews drawn…

  • 1945: Heinrich Himmler dies in British custody

    Heinrich Himmler killed himself in British custody on 23 May 1945 after his identity had been confirmed. Germany had surrendered earlier that month, but the end of the war in Europe did not bring an orderly end to Nazi power. Allied forces were dealing with prisoners, fugitives, displaced people and the remains of a collapsed…

  • 1949: Britain becomes a founding member of NATO

    Britain became a founding member of NATO on 4 April 1949, when the North Atlantic Treaty was signed in Washington. On paper, it was a diplomatic agreement between twelve states. In practice, it marked something Britain had to accept. The country had won the war, but it could no longer expect to defend its interests…

  • 1953: Hillary and Tenzing reach Everest’s summit

    Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay reached the summit of Everest on 29 May 1953. They were part of a British expedition led by John Hunt. Hillary was from New Zealand. Tenzing Norgay was a Sherpa climber with long experience on Himalayan expeditions. Their final climb followed weeks of preparation. Camps had been set up, supplies…

  • 1953: Elizabeth II is crowned at Westminster Abbey

    Elizabeth II was crowned at Westminster Abbey on 2 June 1953. She had been queen since 6 February 1952, when George VI died. Still, the coronation gave the reign its formal public and religious shape. The coronation followed a ceremony that had developed over many centuries. It was held at the Abbey, where English and…

  • 1961: Amnesty International begins with ‘The Forgotten Prisoners’

    On 28 May 1961, Peter Benenson’s article ‘The Forgotten Prisoners’ appeared in *The Observer*. The appeal helped begin Amnesty International. Benenson was a British lawyer. His article focused on people jailed for their beliefs, politics or religion, provided they had not used or advocated violence. He called them ‘prisoners of conscience’, a phrase that gave…