WEDNESDAY, May 27, 2026

1679-Habeas Corpus Act passes in England, strengthening a person's right to challenge unlawful arrest and imprisonment

1703-Saint Petersburg (Leningrad) is founded by Russian Tsar Peter the Great

1873-Heinrich Schliemann discovers "Priam's Treasure" a cache of gold and other objects in Hisarlik (Troy) in Anatolia

1905-Japanese fleet destroys the Russian East Sea fleet in the Battle of Tsushima, the only decisive clash between modern steel battleships in history

1940-British and Allied forces begin the evacuation of Dunkirk (Operation Dynamo) during World War II

1963-Jomo Kenyatta is elected as the first Prime Minister of Kenya

1999-International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia indicts Slobodan Milošević and four others for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Kosovo

2006-An earthquake strikes Java, Indonesia, at 5:53:58 AM local time, devastating Bantul and the city of Yogyakarta and killing over 6,600 people