April 5

Historic Events

2018

Agents with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement raid a slaughterhouse in Tennessee, detaining nearly 100 undocumented Hispanic workers in one of the largest workplace raids in the history of the United States. ›

2010

Up to 50 people are killed and another 100 injured in two militant suicide bombings and attacks in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan: the first on an Awami National Party rally in Timergara; the second on the U.S. Consulate in Peshawar. ›

2010

Twenty-nine coal miners are killed in an explosion at the Upper Big Branch Mine in West Virginia. ›

2010

Space Shuttle Discovery is launched on STS-131 to resupply the International Space Station. ›

2009

North Korea launches its controversial Kwangmyŏngsŏng-2 satellite. The satellite passed over mainland Japan, which prompted an immediate reaction from the United Nations Security Council, as well as participating states of six-party talks. ›

2007

The cruise ship MS Sea Diamond strikes a volcanic reef near Nea Kameni and sinks the next day. Two passengers were never recovered and are presumed dead. ›

1999

Two Libyans suspected of bringing down Pan Am Flight 103 in 1988 are handed over for eventual trial in the Netherlands. ›

1998

In Japan, the Akashi Kaikyō Bridge opens to traffic, becoming the longest bridge span in the world. ›

1992

Alberto Fujimori, president of Peru, dissolves the Peruvian congress by military force. ›

1992

Peace protesters Suada Dilberovic and Olga Sučić are killed on the Vrbanja Bridge in Sarajevo, becoming the first casualties of the Bosnian War. ›

1991

An ASA EMB 120 crashes in Brunswick, Georgia, killing all 23 aboard, including Sen. John Tower and astronaut Sonny Carter. ›

1991

The Space Shuttle Atlantis launches on STS-37 to deploy the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory. ›

1983

The People's Armed Police is officially founded. ›

1977

The US Supreme Court rules that congressional legislation that diminished the size of the Sioux people's reservation thereby destroyed the tribe's jurisdictional authority over the area in Rosebud Sioux Tribe v. Kneip. ›

1976

In China, the April Fifth Movement leads to the Tiananmen Incident. ›

1974

Carrie, the first novel by American author Stephen King, is published for the first time with a print run of 30,000 copies. ›

1971

In Sri Lanka, Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna launches a revolt against the United Front government of Sirimavo Bandaranaike. ›

1966

During the Buddhist Uprising, South Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyễn Cao Kỳ personally attempts to lead the capture of the restive city of Đà Nẵng before backing down. ›

1965

My Fair Lady wins Best Picture at the 37th Academy Awards. ›

1958

Ripple Rock, an underwater threat to navigation in the Seymour Narrows in Canada, is destroyed in one of the largest non-nuclear controlled explosions of the time. ›

1956

Cuban Revolution: Fidel Castro declares himself at war with Cuban President Fulgencio Batista. ›

1951

Cold War: Ethel and Julius Rosenberg are sentenced to death for spying for the Soviet Union. ›

1949

A fire in a hospital in Effingham, Illinois, kills 77 people and leads to nationwide fire code improvements in the United States. ›

1946

Soviet troops end their year-long occupation of the Danish island of Bornholm. ›

1946

A Fleet Air Arm Vickers Wellington crashes into a residential area in Rabat, Malta during a training exercise, killing all four crew members and 16 civilians on the ground. ›

1945

Cold War: Yugoslav leader Josip Broz Tito signs an agreement with the Soviet Union to allow "temporary entry of Soviet troops into Yugoslav territory". ›

1943

World War II: United States Army Air Forces bomber aircraft accidentally cause more than 900 civilian deaths, including 209 children, and 1,300 wounded among the civilian population of the Belgian town of Mortsel. Their target was the Erla factory 1 kilometre (0.62 mi) from the residential area hit. ›

1942

World War II: Adolf Hitler issues Fuhrer Directive No. 41 summarizing Case Blue, including the German Sixth Army's planned assault on Stalingrad. ›

1942

World War II: The Imperial Japanese Navy launches a carrier-based air attack on Colombo, Ceylon during the Indian Ocean raid. Port and civilian facilities are damaged and the Royal Navy cruisers HMS Cornwall and HMS Dorsetshire are sunk southwest of the island. ›

1938

Spanish Civil War: Two days after the Nationalist army occupied the Catalan city of Lleida, dictator Francisco Franco decrees the abolition of the Generalitat (the autonomous government of Catalonia), the self-government granted by the Republic, and the official status of the Catalan language. ›

1936

Tupelo–Gainesville tornado outbreak: An F5 tornado kills 233 in Tupelo, Mississippi. ›

1933

U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs two executive orders: 6101 to establish the Civilian Conservation Corps, and 6102 "forbidding the Hoarding of Gold Coin, Gold Bullion, and Gold Certificates" by U.S. citizens. ›

1933

Andorran Revolution: The Young Andorrans occupy the Casa de la Vall and force the government to hold democratic elections with universal male suffrage. ›

1932

Dominion of Newfoundland: Ten thousand rioters seize the Colonial Building leading to the end of self-government. ›

1922

The American Birth Control League, forerunner of Planned Parenthood, is incorporated. ›

1910

The Transandine Railway connecting Chile and Argentina is inaugurated. ›

1902

A stand box collapses at Ibrox Park (now Ibrox Stadium) in Glasgow, Scotland, which led to the deaths of 25 and injuries to more than 500 supporters during an international association football match between Scotland and England. ›

1879

Bolivia declares war on Chile, and Chile declares war on Peru, starting the War of the Pacific. ›

1862

American Civil War: The Battle of Yorktown begins. ›

1818

In the Battle of Maipú, Chile's independence movement, led by Bernardo O'Higgins and José de San Martín, win a decisive victory over Spain, leaving 2,000 Spaniards and 1,000 Chilean patriots dead. ›

1795

Peace of Basel between France and Prussia is made. ›

1792

United States President George Washington exercises his authority to veto a bill, the first time this power is used in the United States. ›

1621

The Mayflower sets sail from Plymouth, Massachusetts on a return trip to England. ›

1614

In Virginia, Native American Pocahontas marries English colonist John Rolfe. ›

1614

The second English Parliament of king James I, the so-called Addled Parliament, opens. ›

1566

Two hundred Dutch noblemen, led by Hendrick van Brederode, force themselves into the presence of Margaret of Parma and present the Petition of Compromise, denouncing the Spanish Inquisition in the Seventeen Provinces. ›

1536

Charles V makes a Royal Entry into Rome, demolishing a swath of the city to re-enact a Roman triumph. ›

1242

During the Battle on the Ice of Lake Peipus, Russian forces, led by Alexander Nevsky, rebuff an invasion attempt by the Teutonic Knights. ›

919

The second Fatimid invasion of Egypt begins, when the Fatimid heir-apparent, al-Qa'im bi-Amr Allah, sets out from Raqqada at the head of his army. ›

823

Lothair I is crowned King of Italy by Pope Paschal I. ›