March 5

Historic Events

2023

The 2023 Estonian parliamentary election is held, with two centre-right liberal parties gaining an absolute majority for the first time. ›

2023

A group of four prisoners escape from the Nouakchott Civil Prison, before being caught the next day. ›

2021

Pope Francis begins a historic visit to Iraq amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. ›

2021

Twenty people are killed and 30 injured in a suicide car bombing in Mogadishu, Somalia. ›

2018

Syrian civil war: The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) pause the Deir ez-Zor campaign due to the Turkish-led invasion of Afrin. ›

2012

Tropical Storm Irina kills over 75 as it passes through Madagascar. ›

2012

Two people are killed and six more are injured in a shooting at a hair salon in Bucharest, Romania. ›

2011

An Antonov An-148 crashes in Russia's Alexeyevsky District, Belgorod Oblast during a test flight, killing all seven aboard. ›

2003

In Haifa, 17 Israeli civilians are killed in the Haifa bus 37 suicide bombing. ›

2002

An earthquake in Mindanao, Philippines, kills 15 people and injures more than 100. ›

2001

In Mina, Saudi Arabia, 35 pilgrims are killed in a stampede on the Jamaraat Bridge during the Hajj. ›

1993

Palair Macedonian Airlines Flight 301 crashes at Skopje International Airport in Petrovec, North Macedonia, killing 83. ›

1991

Aeropostal Alas de Venezuela Flight 109 crashes in Venezuela, killing 45. ›

1982

Soviet probe Venera 14 lands on Venus. ›

1981

The ZX81, a pioneering British home computer, is launched by Sinclair Research and would go on to sell over 11⁄2 million units around the world. ›

1979

Soviet probes Venera 11, Venera 12 and the German-American solar satellite Helios II all are hit by "off the scale" gamma rays leading to the discovery of soft gamma repeaters. ›

1978

The Landsat 3 is launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. ›

1974

Yom Kippur War: Israeli forces withdraw from the west bank of the Suez Canal. ›

1973

An Iberia McDonnell Douglas DC-9 collides in mid-air with a Spantax Convair 990 Coronado over Nantes, France, killing all 68 people aboard the DC-9, including music manager Michael Jeffery. ›

1970

The Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons goes into effect after ratification by 43 nations. ›

1968

Air France Flight 212 crashes into La Grande Soufrière, killing all 63 aboard. ›

1967

Lake Central Airlines Flight 527 crashes near Marseilles, Ohio, killing 38. ›

1966

BOAC Flight 911, a Boeing 707 aircraft, breaks apart in mid-air due to clear-air turbulence and crashes into Mount Fuji, Japan, killing all 124 people on board. ›

1965

March Intifada: A Leftist uprising erupts in Bahrain against the British colonial presence. ›

1963

American country music stars Patsy Cline, Hawkshaw Hawkins, Cowboy Copas and their pilot Randy Hughes are killed in a plane crash in Camden, Tennessee. ›

1963

Aeroflot Flight 191 crashes while landing at Aşgabat International Airport, killing 12. ›

1960

Indonesian President Sukarno dismisses the Dewan Perwakilan Rakyat (DPR), 1955 democratically elected parliament, and replaces it with DPR-GR, the parliament of his own selected members. ›

1957

Sutton Wick air crash: A Blackburn Beverley of 53 Squadron, Royal Air Forces, crashes into the village of Sutton Wick, Berkshire (now Oxfordshire), killing most of the crew and passengers and two local residents. ›

1953

Joseph Stalin, the longest serving leader of the Soviet Union, dies at his Volynskoe dacha in Moscow after suffering a cerebral hemorrhage four days earlier. ›

1946

Cold War: Winston Churchill delivers his famous "Iron Curtain" speech at Westminster College, Missouri. ›

1944

World War II: The Red Army begins the Uman–Botoșani offensive in the western Ukrainian SSR. ›

1943

World War II: General strike and protest march in Athens against rumours of forced mobilization of Greek workers for work in Germany, resulting in clashes with the Axis occupation forces and collaborationist police. The decree is withdrawn on the next day. ›

1942

World War II: Japanese forces capture Batavia, capital of Dutch East Indies, which is left undefended after the withdrawal of the KNIL garrison and Australian Blackforce battalion to Buitenzorg and Bandung. ›

1940

Six high-ranking members of the Soviet politburo, including Joseph Stalin, sign an order for the execution of 25,700 Polish intelligentsia, including 14,700 Polish POWs, in what will become known as the Katyn massacre. ›

1939

Spanish Civil War: The National Defence Council seizes control of the republican government in a coup d'etat, with the intention of negotiating an end to the war. ›

1933

Adolf Hitler's Nazi Party receives 43.9% at the Reichstag elections, which allows the Nazis to later pass the Enabling Act and establish a dictatorship. ›

1931

The British Raj: Gandhi–Irwin Pact is signed. ›

1912

Italo-Turkish War: Italian forces are the first to use airships for military purposes, employing them for reconnaissance behind Turkish lines. ›

1906

Moro Rebellion: United States Army troops bring overwhelming force against the native Moros in the First Battle of Bud Dajo, leaving only six survivors. ›

1872

George Westinghouse patents the air brake. ›

1868

Mefistofele, an opera by Arrigo Boito, receives its premiere performance at La Scala. ›

1860

Parma, Tuscany, Modena and Romagna vote in referendums to join the Kingdom of Sardinia. ›

1850

The Britannia Bridge across the Menai Strait between the island of Anglesey and the mainland of Wales is opened. ›

1836

Samuel Colt establishes his first factory to produce the recently patented production-model revolver, the .34-caliber "Paterson". ›

1825

Roberto Cofresí, one of the last successful Caribbean pirates, is defeated in combat and captured by authorities. ›

1824

First Anglo-Burmese War: The British officially declare war on Burma. ›

1811

Peninsular War: A French force under the command of Marshal Victor is routed while trying to prevent an Anglo-Spanish-Portuguese army from lifting the Siege of Cádiz in the Battle of Barrosa. ›

1770

Boston Massacre: Five Americans, including Crispus Attucks, are fatally shot by British troops in an event that would contribute to the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War (also known as the American War of Independence) five years later. ›

1766

Antonio de Ulloa, the first Spanish governor of Louisiana, arrives in New Orleans. ›

1616

Nicolaus Copernicus's book On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres is added to the Index of Forbidden Books 73 years after it was first published. ›

1496

King Henry VII of England issues letters patent to John Cabot and his sons, authorising them to explore unknown lands. ›

1279

The Livonian Order is defeated in the Battle of Aizkraukle by the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. ›

1046

Nasir Khusraw begins the seven-year Middle Eastern journey which he will later describe in his book Safarnama. ›

363

Roman emperor Julian leaves Antioch with an army of 90,000 to attack the Sasanian Empire, in a campaign which would bring about his own death. ›