On This Day - What happened 31 May

The last of the Boers surrendered in May 1902 and the war ended with the Treaty of Vereeniging signed on 31 May 1902.

31 May 1902, with 54 of the 60 delegates from the Transvaal and Orange Free State voting to accept the terms of the peace treaty.

On 31 May 1904, Churchill crossed the floor, defecting from the Conservatives to sit as a member of the Liberal Party in the House of Commons.

On 31 May 1910, she died at her home in Hastings, Sussex, after suffering a stroke that paralyzed half her body. Her ashes were buried in the graveyard of St Munn's Parish Church, Kilmun, and obituaries honouring her appeared in publications such as The Lancet and The British Medical Journal.

The name Titanic derives from the Titan of Greek mythology. Built in Belfast, Ireland, in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (as it was then known), the RMS Titanic was the second of the three Olympic-class ocean liners—the first was the RMS Olympic and the third was the HMHS Britannic.

The Battle of Jutland (German: Skagerrakschlacht, or "Battle of the Skagerrak") in May/June 1916 developed into the largest naval battle of the war. It was the only full-scale clash of battleships during the war, and one of the largest in history.

The two nations then fought several battles, in Shanghai, Rehe and Hebei, until the Tanggu Truce was signed in 1933.

The 1935 Quetta earthquake occurred on 31 May between 2:33 am and 3:40 am at Quetta, Balochistan, British India (now part of Pakistan). The earthquake had a magnitude of 7.7 Mw  and anywhere between 30,000 and 60,000 people died from the impact.

Bormann was invariably the advocate of extremely harsh, radical measures when it came to the treatment of Jews, the conquered eastern peoples, and prisoners of war. He signed the decree of 31 May 1941 extending the 1935 Nuremberg Laws to the annexed territories of the East.

On 31 May, Churchill told de Gaulle "immediately to order French troops to cease fire and withdraw to their barracks". British forces moved in and forced the French to withdraw from the city; they were then escorted and confined to barracks.

The 1970 Ancash earthquake (also known as the Great Peruvian earthquake) occurred on 31 May off the coast of Peru in the Pacific Ocean at 15:23:29 local time. Combined with a resultant landslide, it is the most catastrophic natural disaster in the history of Peru. Due to the large amounts of snow and ice included in the landslide that caused an estimate of 66,794 to 70,000 casualties, it is also considered to be the world's deadliest avalanche.

The undersea earthquake struck on a Sunday afternoon and lasted about 45 seconds. The shock affected the Peruvian regions of Ancash and La Libertad. The epicenter was located 35 km (22 mi) off the coast of Casma and Chimbote in the Pacific Ocean, where the Nazca Plate is being subducted beneath the South American Plate. It had a moment magnitude of 7.9 and maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe). The focal mechanism and hypocentral depth of the earthquake show that the earthquake was a result of normal faulting within the subducting slab. The northern wall of Mount Huascarán was destabilized, causing a rock, ice, and snow avalanche and burying the towns of Yungay and Ranrahirca. The avalanche started as a sliding mass of glacial ice and rock about 910 meters (2,990 ft) wide and 1.6 km (1 mile) long. It advanced about 18 kilometers (11 mi) to the village of Yungay at an average speed of 280 to 335 km per hour. The fast-moving mass picked up glacial deposits and by the time it reached Yungay, it is estimated to have consisted of about 80 million m³ of water, mud, rocks, and snow.

In 1972, Ajax won a second European Cup, beating Inter Milan 2–0 in the final, with Cruyff scoring both goals.

Diplomacy by Kissinger produces a disengagement agreement on the Syrian front.

On 31 May, the M&AWC (The Mountain and Arctic Warfare Cadre) defeated Argentine Special Forces at the skirmish at Top Malo House.

After several futile negotiations, Indira Gandhi ordered the Indian army in June 1984 to enter the Golden Temple in order to remove Bhindranwale and his supporters from the complex. The army used heavy artillery, including tanks, in the action code-named Operation Blue Star. The operation badly damaged or destroyed parts of the Temple complex, including the Akal Takht shrine and the Sikh library. It also led to the deaths of a large number of Sikh fighters and innocent pilgrims. The number of casualties remains disputed with estimates ranging from many hundreds to many thousands.

On May 31, 1998, the Yugoslav army and the Serb Ministry of the Interior police began an operation to clear the border of the KLA. NATO's response to this offensive was mid-June's Operation Determined Falcon, a NATO show of force over the Yugoslav borders.

Johnson successfully defended the Intercontinental title against Faarooq at Over the Edge: In Your House on May 31. The stable would then refer to themselves as simply "The Nation".

On May 31, 2001, Xerox Corporation announced that its auditors, KPMG LLP, had certified Xerox's financial statements for the three years ended December 31, 2000. And the financials included some restatements.

The 2002 World Cup was the first to be held in Asia, and was hosted jointly by South Korea and Japan.

On May 31, Singapore was removed from WHO's list of 'Infected Areas'.

Blatter was re-elected unopposed for another four years on 31 May 2007, even though only 66 of 207 FIFA members nominated him.

Rescue efforts also came from Jet Li's One Foundation which saw the martial arts actor Wu Jing assisting in the efforts.

By beating Lleyton Hewitt in the third round of French Open, Nadal set a record of 31 consecutive wins at the French Open, beating the previous record of 28 by Björn Borg. This run came to an end on 31 May 2009, when Nadal lost to eventual runner-up, Robin Söderling in the 4th round. This was Nadal's first and, until 2015, only loss at the French Open.

On May 31, 2012, Guinness World Records certified the world record for the most expensive hot dog at USD$145.49. The "California Capitol City Dawg", served at Capitol Dawg in Sacramento, California, features a grilled 460 mm (18 in) all-beef, natural-casing frank from Chicago, served on a fresh-baked herb-and-oil focaccia roll, spread with white truffle butter, then grilled. It is topped with whole-grain mustard from France, garlic and herb mayonnaise, sauteed chopped shallots, organic mixed baby greens, maple syrup-marinated and fruitwood-smoked uncured bacon from New Hampshire, chopped tomato, moose cheese from Sweden, sweetened dried cranberries, basil olive oil and pear-cranberry-coconut balsamic vinaigrette, and ground peppercorn. Proceeds from the sale of each 1.4 kg (3 lb) super dog were donated to the Shriners Hospitals for Children.

On 31 May, in the final match-day of the 2014–15 season, he scored his 299th goal for Roma in a 2–1 home defeat to Palermo. Totti finished the season as Roma's leading scorer with ten goals in all competitions, the seventh time in which he had been the team's top scorer.

On 31 May, five days after the Champions League Final, Zidane announced his resignation as Real Madrid manager, citing the club's "need for change" as his rationale for departing.

The Virginia Beach shooting occurred on the afternoon of May 31, 2019, when a disgruntled city employee fatally shot twelve people and wounded four others in a mass shooting at a municipal building in the Princess Anne area of Virginia Beach, Virginia, United States. He was shot dead by responding police officers.

On 31 May 52 BC Cleopatra was made a regent of Ptolemy XII as indicated by an inscription in the Temple of Hathor at Dendera.

The Emperors, Pope Alexander VI, Milan, King Ferdinand, and Venice all signed against the French Saint League.

The mother of Edward IV of England and Richard III of England passed away at the age of 80.

The Anglo-Irish inventor and educationalist Richard Edgeworth was born in Bath.