May 22 moves from a Mexican government chamber to the battlefield of St Albans, from Constantine’s deathbed to an aviation workshop, and finally to the broken coast of southern Chile.
It is a date about transformation under pressure: nations pushed into war, dynasties pushed into violence, empires left to inheritance, inventions turned into protected technology, and coastlines shattered by the most powerful earthquake ever recorded.
- In 1942, Mexico declared war on the Axis powers after German U-boats attacked Mexican oil tankers.
- In 1455, the First Battle of St Albans opened the Wars of the Roses.
- In 337, Constantine the Great died, leaving behind an empire permanently changed by Christianity and Constantinople.
For anyone asking what happened on May 22, this date offers war, monarchy, empire, aviation, disaster, and global consequence. Today in History May 22 shows how history often changes when pressure becomes too great to contain.
Major Events on May 22
1942 | Mexico Declares War on the Axis Powers
Mexico entered World War II after the war reached its tankers.
On May 22, 1942, Mexico declared war on Germany, Italy, and Japan after German U-boats attacked Mexican oil tankers in the Gulf of Mexico. Until then, the war may have seemed distant to many in the Americas. But attacks on Mexican shipping made the conflict immediate, direct, and impossible to ignore.
The declaration was not just a diplomatic gesture.
Mexico’s decision strengthened cooperation with the United States and placed the country formally on the Allied side. It also showed how Axis submarine warfare expanded the war beyond Europe and the North Atlantic, reaching into the Gulf of Mexico and threatening fuel routes, trade, and national sovereignty.
Mexico’s wartime role later included the Mexican Expeditionary Air Force, known as Squadron 201, which served in the Pacific theater. May 22 therefore marks a major moment in World War II history, when the conflict pulled another nation into its global reach.
Read the full Mexico in World War II article to see how U-boat attacks in the Gulf of Mexico brought the war closer to home.
This event also connects closely with our wider World War II history archive.
337 | Constantine the Great Dies
Constantine died as an emperor who had already moved the center of Roman history eastward.
On May 22, 337, Constantine the Great died after one of the most transformative reigns in Roman history. Few emperors left the empire so visibly changed. He founded Constantinople as a new imperial capital, strengthened the eastern direction of Roman power, and brought Christianity closer to the center of imperial life.
His reign had shaped more than politics.
Constantine’s support for Christianity altered the relationship between religion and empire, while the Council of Nicaea showed how theological disputes could become matters of imperial concern. His military and administrative reforms also helped reshape the structure of Roman rule.
His death left behind an empire in transition. Rome was no longer defined only by its old capital in Italy, and Christianity was no longer a marginal faith in imperial politics. Constantinople would become one of the most important cities in world history, and Constantine’s legacy would echo through both Roman and Christian history for centuries.
Explore the full Constantine the Great article and how one emperor reshaped Rome, Christianity, and Constantinople.
This story also fits into our broader Ancient History and Roman imperial history coverage.
1455 | First Battle of St Albans Begins the Wars of the Roses
At St Albans, England’s dynastic crisis stopped being political and became bloody.
On May 22, 1455, Richard, Duke of York, defeated forces loyal to King Henry VI at the First Battle of St Albans. The battle was brief, but its consequences reached far beyond the streets where it was fought. It is widely treated as the opening clash of the Wars of the Roses, the long dynastic conflict between the houses of Lancaster and York.
Henry VI’s rule had already been weakened by political instability, questions of royal authority, and rival noble factions competing for influence. At St Albans, those tensions broke into open violence. The king was captured, leading Lancastrian figures were killed, and the Duke of York emerged with greater power.
The battle mattered because it showed that England’s political crisis could no longer be contained by court maneuvering. The struggle for influence around the crown had become a struggle that would be decided by armies.
Continue with the full First Battle of St Albans story and how one clash opened the Wars of the Roses.
You can also explore more War Conflicts and medieval English history.
1906 | Wright Brothers Receive Patent for Their Flying Machine
The Wright brothers’ patent was not simply about getting into the air. It was about controlling what happened once there.
On May 22, 1906, Orville and Wilbur Wright received a U.S. patent for their “flying machine,” a major moment in early aviation history. Their achievement was not only that they had flown a powered aircraft, but that they had developed a practical system for controlling it in flight.
That was the essential breakthrough.
Early aviation was filled with inventors who dreamed of lift, engines, wings, and speed. The Wright brothers focused on the harder problem of balance, steering, and stability. Their work on wing-warping and coordinated control helped make powered flight more than a brief leap into the air. It made it something that could be guided.
The patent mattered because aviation was becoming a protected technology, a commercial possibility, and eventually a force that would reshape travel, warfare, communication, and the modern world. May 22 marks the moment when flight moved deeper into law, invention, and industry.
Read the full Wright brothers patent article and why controlling flight became the real breakthrough in aviation history.
This event also connects naturally with our wider Science & Space and aviation history coverage.
1960 | Great Chilean Earthquake Strikes
The Great Chilean Earthquake did not end at the broken streets of southern Chile.
On May 22, 1960, the most powerful earthquake ever recorded struck southern Chile, reaching a magnitude of 9.5. Towns, roads, coastlines, and communities were devastated by the force of the quake, but the disaster did not remain within Chile’s borders.
The earthquake triggered tsunamis that crossed the Pacific Ocean.
Waves reached distant coastlines, including Hawaii and Japan, proving that one seismic event could become an ocean-wide disaster. The scale of the earthquake made it one of the defining natural disasters of the twentieth century and a major turning point in the study of seismic risk.
The Great Chilean Earthquake mattered because it changed how scientists, governments, and coastal communities understood earthquakes, tsunamis, and preparedness. May 22 stands not only as a date of destruction, but as a date that reshaped modern seismology and disaster awareness.
Continue with the full Great Chilean Earthquake article and how the strongest earthquake ever recorded changed seismic science.
You can also explore more Major Historical Events and natural disaster history.
Famous Birthdays on May 22
- Richard Wagner — 1813
German composer whose operas and musical innovations transformed nineteenth-century classical music. - Mary Cassatt — 1844
American painter and printmaker associated with Impressionism, known for intimate portrayals of women, children, and domestic life. - Arthur Conan Doyle — 1859
Scottish writer and physician who created Sherlock Holmes, one of the most famous detectives in literary history. - Laurence Olivier — 1907
English actor and director widely regarded as one of the great stage and screen performers of the twentieth century. - Hergé — 1907
Belgian cartoonist best known as the creator of The Adventures of Tintin. - Thomas Gold — 1920
Austrian-American astrophysicist known for wide-ranging work in astronomy, cosmology, and geophysics. - George A. Olah — 1927
Hungarian-American chemist and Nobel Prize laureate known for his work on carbocations and superacids. - Harvey Milk — 1930
American politician and civil rights figure remembered as one of the first openly gay elected officials in the United States.
The famous birthdays on May 22 bring together music, art, literature, science, performance, and civil rights. Richard Wagner gives the date one of its most powerful and controversial cultural figures, a composer whose operas reshaped nineteenth-century music through scale, myth, drama, and recurring musical themes. Mary Cassatt adds a different artistic legacy, bringing Impressionist technique to intimate scenes of women, children, and modern domestic life.
Storytelling is another major thread. Arthur Conan Doyle created Sherlock Holmes, a character who became almost larger than the author himself and helped define detective fiction. Hergé built Tintin into one of Europe’s most recognizable comic traditions, while Laurence Olivier carried Shakespearean performance and screen acting to international audiences.
May 22 also has strong scientific and political weight. Thomas Gold worked across astronomy, cosmology, and geophysics, while George A. Olah’s Nobel Prize-winning chemistry deepened understanding of reactive carbon compounds. Harvey Milk brings the date into the history of civil rights, public visibility, and political representation in the United States.
Notable Deaths on May 22
- Constantine the Great — 337
Roman emperor whose reign transformed imperial politics, Christianity, and the future of Constantinople. - Martha Washington — 1802
First First Lady of the United States and a major public figure in the early American republic. - Jane Johnston Schoolcraft — 1842
Ojibwe-Irish writer and poet often recognized as one of the earliest Native American literary figures. - Victor Hugo — 1885
French novelist, poet, and playwright known for Les Misérables and The Hunchback of Notre-Dame. - Hideyo Noguchi — 1928
Japanese bacteriologist whose research focused on infectious disease and who died while studying yellow fever. - Langston Hughes — 1967
American poet, playwright, and central figure of the Harlem Renaissance, known for bringing Black life, jazz rhythms, and social critique into modern poetry. - Cecil Day-Lewis — 1972
Irish-born poet and writer who served as Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom. - Lee Jong-wook — 2006
South Korean physician and former Director-General of the World Health Organization, known for global public health leadership.
The notable deaths on May 22 move across empire, public life, literature, science, and global health. Constantine the Great stands at the center of the date’s imperial legacy. His death did not close a simple reign; it left behind a Roman world redirected toward Constantinople and a Christian future that would shape politics, belief, and power for centuries.
The date also carries remarkable literary weight. Jane Johnston Schoolcraft represents one of the earliest Native American literary voices, writing from a world where Indigenous, Irish, oral, and written traditions met. Victor Hugo gave nineteenth-century literature some of its most enduring moral landscapes, while Langston Hughes brought the rhythm, pain, humor, and dignity of Black American life into poetry with lasting force. Cecil Day-Lewis adds another poetic legacy, linking May 22 to twentieth-century literary culture.
Science and public health complete the date’s wider meaning. Hideyo Noguchi’s infectious disease research connects May 22 to medical risk and laboratory ambition, while Lee Jong-wook’s leadership at the World Health Organization reflects the global scale of modern public health responsibility.
Why This Day Matters in History
Today in History May 22 is a date about transformation under pressure.
- In 1942, Mexico’s declaration of war showed how World War II expanded through submarine attacks, oil routes, and national sovereignty.
- In 1455, the First Battle of St Albans turned political rivalry into dynastic violence, opening the Wars of the Roses.
- In 337, Constantine’s death marked the end of a reign that had already changed the Roman Empire, Christianity, and the future of Constantinople.
The same pattern appears in invention and disaster. The Wright brothers’ patent showed that flight was becoming more than an experiment; it was becoming protected technology with legal and commercial consequences. The Great Chilean Earthquake revealed the force of the earth itself, sending tsunamis across the Pacific and reshaping modern understanding of seismic risk.
Across centuries, historical events on May 22 show pressure becoming impossible to ignore, in war, dynasty, empire, invention, and nature.
Explore More History
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Did You Know?
Mexico declared war on the Axis powers after German U-boats attacked Mexican oil tankers in the Gulf of Mexico. The war had reached Mexican sovereignty directly, and its entry later included the service of Squadron 201 in the Pacific.
The First Battle of St Albans is widely treated as the opening clash of the Wars of the Roses. What began as a political crisis around Henry VI became a dynastic conflict that reshaped England.
Constantine died after founding Constantinople and bringing Christianity much closer to imperial power. His reign helped move the Roman world toward an eastern future.
The Wright brothers’ 1906 patent focused heavily on aircraft control. Their breakthrough was not simply powered flight, but the ability to guide and stabilize a flying machine.
The Great Chilean Earthquake of 1960 remains the strongest earthquake ever recorded. Its tsunamis crossed the Pacific, proving that seismic disasters could become ocean-wide events.
Today in History May 22 brings together World War II, dynastic conflict, Roman transformation, aviation innovation, and natural disaster. From Mexico declaring war on the Axis powers and the First Battle of St Albans to Constantine’s death, the Wright brothers’ patent, and the Great Chilean Earthquake, this date shows history shifting through pressure, ambition, invention, and catastrophe.
Some events on May 22 changed governments and empires. Others changed technology, science, literature, or the way societies understand risk. Together, they remind us that history often changes when pressure becomes too great to contain, whether that pressure comes from war, dynasty, belief, invention, or the earth itself.
