So you want to have a drink but you aren't sure why? Here are some GREAT reasons to call your friends over and have a party.

May 15th


- Earliest date on which Armed Forces Day can fall, while May 21 is the latest; celebrated on the third Saturday of May. (United States)
- Earliest date on which Bike-to-Work Day can fall, while May 21 is the latest; celebrated on the third Friday of May. (United States)
- Independence Day, celebrates the independence of Paraguay from Spain in 1811. Celebrations for the anniversary of the independence begin on Flag Day, 14 May.
- Aoi Matsuri (Kyoto)
- Christian Feast Day
- Day of Slovenian Army (Slovenia)
- International Day of Families (International)
- Kanda Matsuri, held on Saturday and Sunday closest to May 15, every odd years. (Kanda Shrine)
- La Corsa dei Ceri begins on the eve of the feast day of Saint Ubaldo. (Gubbio)
- Mercuralia, in honor of Mercury. (Roman Empire)
- Nakba Day (Palestinian communities)
- Peace Officers Memorial Day (United States)
- Teacher's Day (Mexico and South Korea)

May 15th


- 2010 - Jessica Watson becomes the youngest person to sail, non-stop and unassisted around the world solo.
- 2008 - California becomes the second U.S. state after Massachusetts in to legalize same-sex marriage after the state's own Supreme Court rules a previous ban unconstitutional.
- 1997 - The United States government acknowledges the existence of the "Secret War" in Laos and dedicates the Laos Memorial in honor of Hmong and other "Secret War" veterans.
- 1991 - Edith Cresson becomes France's first female prime minister.
- 1990 - Portrait of Doctor Gachet by Vincent van Gogh is sold for a record $82.5 million, the most expensive painting at the time.
- 1988 - Soviet war in Afghanistan: After more than eight years of fighting, the Red Army begins its withdrawal from Afghanistan.
- 1987 - The Soviet Union launches the Polyus prototype orbital weapons platform. It fails to reach orbit.
- 1974 - Ma'alot massacre: In an Arab terrorist attack and hostage taking at an Israeli school, a total of 31 people are killed, including 22 schoolchildren.
- 1972 - The island of Okinawa, under U.S. military governance since its conquest in 1945, reverts to Japanese control.
- 1972 - In Laurel, Maryland, Arthur Bremer shoots and paralyzes Alabama Governor George Wallace while he is campaigning to be become President.
- 1970 - President Richard Nixon appoints Anna Mae Hays and Elizabeth P. Hoisington the first female United States Army Generals.
- 1970 - Philip Lafayette Gibbs and James Earl Green are killed at Jackson State University by police during student protests.
- 1969 - People's Park: California Governor Ronald Reagan has an impromptu student park owned by University of California at Berkeley fenced off from student anti-war protestors, sparking a riot called Bloody Thursday.
- 1966 - After a policy dispute, Prime Minister Nguyen Cao Ky of South Vietnam's ruling junta launches a military attack on the forces of General Ton That Dinh, forcing him to abandon his command.
- 1963 - Project Mercury: The launch of the final Mercury mission, Mercury-Atlas 9 with astronaut L. Gordon Cooper on board. He becomes the first American to spend more than a day in space.
- 1960 - The Soviet Union launches Sputnik 4.
- 1958 - The Soviet Union launches Sputnik 3.
- 1957 - At Malden Island in the Pacific, Britain tests its first hydrogen bomb in Operation Grapple. The device fails to detonate properly.
- 1951 - The Polish cultural attache in Paris, Czes?aw Mi?osz, asks the French government for political asylum.
- 1948 - Following the demise of the British Mandate of Palestine, Egypt, Transjordan, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Saudi Arabia invade the territory partitioned for the Arab state by the British Mandate of Palestine thus starting the 1948 Arab-Israeli War.
- 1945 - World War II: The final skirmish in Europe is fought near Prevalje, Slovenia.
- 1943 - Joseph Stalin dissolves the Comintern (or Third International).
- 1942 - World War II: in the United States, a bill creating the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC) is signed into law.
- 1940 - USS Sailfish (SS-192) recommissioned, originally the USS Squalus.
- 1940 - World War II: After fierce fighting, the poorly trained and equipped Dutch troops surrender to Germany, marking the beginning of five years of occupation.
- 1940 - McDonald's opens its first restaurant in San Bernardino, California.
- 1936 - Amy Johnson arrives back in England after a record-breaking return flight to Cape Town
- 1935 - The Moscow Metro is opened to public.
- 1934 - K?rlis Ulmanis establishes an authoritarian government in Latvia.
- 1932 - The May 15 Incident: in an attempted Coup d'état, the Prime Minister of Japan Inukai Tsuyoshi is killed.
- 1929 - A fire at the Cleveland Clinic in Cleveland, Ohio kills 123.
- 1928 - Mickey Mouse premiered in his first cartoon, Plane Crazy
- 1919 - Greek invasion of ?zmir. During the invasion, the Greek army kills or wounds 350 Turks. Those responsible are punished by the Greek Commander Aristides Stergiades.
- 1919 - The Winnipeg General Strike begins. By 11:00 a.m., almost the whole working population of Winnipeg, Manitoba had walked off the job.
- 1911 - The United States Supreme Court declares Standard Oil to be an "unreasonable" monopoly under the Sherman Antitrust Act and orders the company to be broken up.
- 1905 - The Russian minelayer Amur laid a minefield about 15 miles off Port Arthur and sank Japan's battleship Hatsuse, 15,000 tons, with 496 crew.
- 1905 - Las Vegas, Nevada, is founded when 110 acres (0.4 km²), in what later would become downtown, are auctioned off.
- 1869 - Woman's suffrage: in New York, Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton form the National Woman's Suffrage Association.
- 1864 - American Civil War: Battle of Resaca, Georgia ends.
- 1864 - American Civil War: Battle of New Market, Virginia – students from the Virginia Military Institute fight alongside the Confederate Army to force Union General Franz Sigel out of the Shenandoah Valley.
- 1862 - President Abraham Lincoln signs a bill into law creating the United States Bureau of Agriculture. It is later renamed the United States Department of Agriculture.
- 1858 - Opening of the present Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, London.
- 1851 - Rama IV is crowned King of Thailand.
- 1850 - The Bloody Island Massacre takes place in Lake County, CA, in which a large number of Pomo Indians in Lake County were slaughtered by a regiment of the United States Cavalry, led by Nathaniel Lyon.
- 1849 - Troops of the Two Sicilies take Palermo and crush the republican government of Sicily
- 1836 - Francis Baily observes "Baily's beads" during an annular eclipse.
- 1817 - Opening of the first private mental health hospital in the United States, the Asylum for the Relief of Persons Deprived of the Use of Their Reason (now Friends Hospital) in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
- 1811 - Paraguay declares independence from Spain.
- 1800 - George III survives two assassination attempts in one day.
- 1796 - First Coalition: Napoleon enters Milan in triumph.
- 1793 - Diego Marín Aguilera flies a glider for "about 360 meters", at a height of 5-6 meters, during one of the first attempted flights.
- 1792 - War of the First Coalition: France declares war on Kingdom of Sardinia.
- 1791 - Maximilien Robespierre proposes the Self-denying Ordinance.
- 1776 - American Revolution: the Virginia Convention instructs its Continental Congress delegation to propose a resolution of independence from Great Britain, paving the way for the United States Declaration of Independence.
- 1755 - Laredo, Texas is established by the Spaniards.
- 1718 - James Puckle, a London lawyer, patents the world's first machine gun.
- 1701 - The War of the Spanish Succession begins.
- 1648 - The Treaty of Westphalia signed.
- 1618 - Johannes Kepler confirms his previously rejected discovery of the third law of planetary motion (he first discovered it on March 8 but soon rejected the idea after some initial calculations were made).
- 1602 - Bartholomew Gosnold becomes the first European to see Cape Cod.
- 1567 - Mary, Queen of Scots, marries James Hepburn, 4th Earl of Bothwell, her third husband.
- 1536 - Anne Boleyn, Queen of England, stands trial in London on charges of treason, adultery and incest. She is condemned to death by a specially-selected jury.
- 1525 - The battle of Frankenhausen ends the German Peasants' War.
- 1252 - Pope Innocent IV issues the papal bull ad exstirpanda, which authorizes, but also limits, the torture of heretics in the Medieval Inquisition.

May 15th


- 1995 - Ksenia Sitnik, Belarusian singer
- 1990 - Joe Mattock, English footballer
- 1989 - Sunny, Korean singer
- 1987 - Ersan ?lyasova, Turkish basketball player
- 1987 - Jennylyn Mercado, Filipina actress and singer
- 1987 - Andy Murray, Scottish tennis player
- 1986 - Thomas Brown, American football player
- 1986 - Matías Fernández, Chilean footballer
- 1986 - Adam Moffat, British football player
- 1985 - Tania Cagnotto, Italian diver
- 1985 - Cristiane, Brazilian footballer
- 1984 - Sérgio Jimenez, Brazilian racing driver
- 1982 - Alex Breckenridge, American actress
- 1982 - Veronica Campbell-Brown, Jamaican athlete
- 1982 - Segundo Castillo, Ecuadorian footballer
- 1982 - Tatsuya Fujiwara, Japanese actor
- 1982 - Jessica Sutta, American dancer, singer and actress (Pussycat Dolls)
- 1981 - Patrice Evra, French footballer
- 1981 - Justin Morneau, Canadian baseball player
- 1981 - Zara Phillips, British royal and eventer
- 1981 - Jamie-Lynn Sigler, American actress
- 1980 - Josh Beckett, American baseball player
- 1980 - Rocky Marquette, American actor
- 1979 - Chris Masoe, New Zealander rugby player
- 1978 - Amy Chow, American gymnast
- 1978 - Dwayne DeRosario, Canadian footballer
- 1978 - Caroline Dhavernas, Canadian actress
- 1978 - Edu, Brazilian footballer
- 1978 - David Krumholtz, American actor
- 1978 - Robert Royal, American football player
- 1978 - Krissy Taylor, American model (d. 1995)
- 1976 - Torraye Braggs, American basketball player
- 1976 - Jacek Krzynówek, Polish footballer
- 1976 - Ryan Leaf, American football player
- 1976 - Tyler Walker, American baseball player
- 1976 - Adolfo Bautista, Mexican footballer
- 1975 - Peter Iwers, Swedish Musician
- 1975 - Ray Lewis, American football player
- 1974 - Shiney Ahuja, Indian actor
- 1974 - Vassilis Kikilias, Greek basketball player
- 1974 - Ahmet Zappa, American musician
- 1973 - Emilia Tsoulfa, Greek sailing champion
- 1972 - David Charvet, French actor
- 1971 - Phil Pfister, American strength athlete
- 1970 - Frank de Boer, Dutch football player
- 1970 - Ronald de Boer, Dutch football player
- 1970 - Desmond Howard, American football player
- 1970 - Martin Rossiter, British Musician
- 1970 - Rod Smith, American football player
- 1969 - Hideki Irabu, Japanese baseball player
- 1969 - Asalah Nasri, Syrian singer
- 1969 - Emmitt Smith, American football player
- 1968 - Cecilia Malmström, Swedish politician
- 1968 - Seth Putnam, American musician
- 1967 - Madhuri Dixit, Indian actress
- 1967 - Laura Hillenbrand, American author
- 1967 - John Smoltz, baseball player
- 1966 - Pete Wiggs, British musician (Saint Etienne)
- 1965 - André Abujamra, Brazilian film score composer
- 1965 - Raí, Brazilian footballer
- 1964 - Digna Ochoa, Mexican politician
- 1964 - Lars Løkke Rasmussen, Prime Minister of Denmark
- 1962 - Lisa Curry-Kenny, Australian Ironwoman
- 1961 - Katrin Cartlidge, British actress (d. 2002)
- 1961 - Melle Mel, American musician
- 1960 - Rob Bowman, American film director
- 1960 - Rhonda Burchmore, Australian Entertainer
- 1959 - Andrew Eldritch, British singer and songwriter
- 1959 - Kaokor Galaxy, Thai boxer
- 1959 - Luis Perez-Sala, Spanish racing driver
- 1958 - Ron Simmons, American professional wrestler
- 1957 - Juan José Ibarretxe, Basque statesman
- 1957 - Kevin Von Erich, American professional wrestler
- 1956 - Andreas Loverdos, Greek lawyer and politician
- 1956 - Dan Patrick, American sportscaster
- 1955 - Lee Horsley, American actor
- 1954 - Robert P. Harrison, American thinker
- 1953 - George Brett, American baseball player
- 1953 - Mike Oldfield, British composer
- 1952 - Chazz Palminteri, American actor, writer and director
- 1951 - Frank Wilczek, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
- 1950 - Nicholas Hammond, American actor
- 1948 - Yutaka Enatsu, Japanese professional baseball pitcher
- 1948 - Brian Eno, British musician and record producer
- 1948 - Kathleen Sebelius, American politician and Obama Administration figure
- 1947 - Graeham Goble, Australian musician and record producer (Little River Band)
- 1945 - Lasse Berghagen, Swedish singer
- 1945 - Duarte Pio, Duke of Braganza, Portuguese noble
- 1944 - Bill Alter, American politician
- 1944 - Ulrich Beck, German sociologist
- 1942 - Jusuf Kalla, Indonesian politician
- 1942 - Doug Lowe, Tasmanian politician
- 1941 - K.T. Oslin, American musician
- 1940 - Roger Ailes, American businessman
- 1940 - Lainie Kazan, American actress and singer
- 1940 - Don Nelson, American professional basketball coach
- 1939 - Dorothy Shirley, British athlete
- 1938 - Diane Nash, American Civil Rights Movement figure
- 1938 - Lenny Welch, American singer
- 1938 - Mireille Darc, French actress
- 1937 - Madeleine Albright, American Secretary of State
- 1937 - Trini López, American musician
- 1937 - Joe Tait, American broadcaster
- 1936 - Anna Maria Alberghetti, Italian-born actress
- 1936 - Wavy Gravy, American clown and activist
- 1936 - Ralph Steadman, British cartoonist
- 1936 - Paul Zindel, American writer (d. 2003)
- 1935 - Utah Phillips, American labor organizer and folk singer (d. 2008)
- 1931 - Ken Venturi, American golfer
- 1930 - Jasper Johns, American painter
- 1926 - Anthony Shaffer, British playwright (d. 2001)
- 1926 - Peter Shaffer, British playwright
- 1925 - Roy Stewart, Jamacian-born British actor and fitness industry figure (d. 2008)
- 1924 - Maria Koepcke, German ornithologist (d. 1971)
- 1923 - Richard Avedon, American photographer (d. 2004)
- 1923 - John Lanchbery, British composer (d. 2003)
- 1923 - Johnny Walker, Indian actor (d. 2003)
- 1922 - Jakucho Setouchi, Japanese writer and Buddhist nun
- 1920 - Nasrallah Sfeir, Lebanese cardinal
- 1918 - Eddy Arnold, American country music singer (d. 2008)
- 1918 - Joseph Wiseman, Canadian actor (d. 2009)
- 1916 - Vera Gebuhr, Danish actress
- 1915 - Hilda Bernstein, British-born South African author (d. 2006)
- 1915 - Mario Monicelli, Italian director and screenwriter
- 1915 - Paul Samuelson, American economist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2009)
- 1915 - Gus Viseur, French button accordionist (d. 1974)
- 1914 - Turk Broda, Canadian hockey goaltender (d. 1972)
- 1912 - Arthur Berger, American composer (d. 2003)
- 1911 - Max Frisch, Swiss author (d. 1991)
- 1911 - Herta Oberheuser, Nazi doctor (d. 1978)
- 1910 - Constance Cummings, British actress (d. 2005)
- 1909 - James Mason, British actor (d. 1984)
- 1909 - Clara Solovera, Chilean folk musician (d. 1992)
- 1907 - Sukhdev Thapar, Indian anti-government figure (d. 1931)
- 1905 - Joseph Cotten, American actor (d. 1994)
- 1905 - Abraham Zapruder, American businessman and John F. Kennedy assassination figure (d. 1970)
- 1903 - Maria Reiche, German mathematician and archaeologist (d. 1998)
- 1902 - Richard J. Daley, American politician (d. 1976)
- 1901 - Xavier Herbert, Australian author (d. 1984)
- 1901 - Luis Monti, Argentine-Italian footballer (d. 1983)
- 1899 - Jean-Etienne Valluy, French general (d. 1970)
- 1898 - Arletty, French model and actress (d. 1992)
- 1895 - William D. Byron, American politician (d. 1941)
- 1895 - Astrid Zachrison, Swedish supercentenarian (d. 2008)
- 1892 - Jimmy Wilde, Welsh boxer (d. 1969)
- 1891 - Mikhail Bulgakov, Russian writer (d. 1940)
- 1891 - Fritz Feigl, Austria-born chemist (d. 1971)
- 1890 - Katherine Anne Porter, American author (d. 1980)
- 1862 - Arthur Schnitzler, Austrian dramatist (d. 1931)
- 1859 - Pierre Curie, French physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1906)
- 1857 - Williamina Fleming, British-born astronomer (d. 1911)
- 1856 - L. Frank Baum, American author (d. 1919)
- 1856 - Matthias Zurbriggen, Swiss mountaineer and guide (d. 1917)
- 1848 - Viktor Vasnetsov, Russian painter (d. 1926)
- 1817 - Debendranath Tagore, Indian religious reformer (d. 1905)
- 1786 - General Dimitris Plapoutas, Greek War of Independence figure (d. 1864)
- 1773 - Prince Klemens Wenzel von Metternich, Austrian statesman (d. 1859)
- 1767 - Ezekiel Hart, Canadian entrepreneur and politician (d. 1843)
- 1749 - Levi Lincoln, Sr., American statesman (d. 1820)
- 1720 - Maximilian Hell, Slovakian astronomer (d. 1792)
- 1608 - René Goupil, French Catholic missionary (Canadian Martyrs) (d. 1642)
- 1567 - (baptism) Claudio Monteverdi, Italian composer (d. 1643)