May 5

Historic Events

2023

The World Health Organization declares the end of the COVID-19 pandemic as a global health emergency. ›

2010

Mass protests in Greece erupt in response to austerity measures imposed by the government as a result of the Greek government-debt crisis. ›

2007

Kenya Airways Flight 507 crashes after takeoff from Douala International Airport in Douala, Cameroon, killing all 114 aboard, making it the deadliest aircraft disaster in Cameroon. ›

2006

The government of Sudan signs an accord with the Sudan Liberation Army. ›

1994

The signing of the Bishkek Protocol between Armenia and Azerbaijan effectively freezes the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. ›

1994

American teenager Michael P. Fay is caned in Singapore for theft and vandalism. ›

1991

A riot breaks out in the Mt. Pleasant section of Washington, D.C. after police shoot a Salvadoran man. ›

1987

Iran–Contra affair: Start of Congressional televised hearings in the United States. ›

1985

Ronald Reagan visits the military cemetery at Bitburg and the site of the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, where he makes a speech. ›

1981

Bobby Sands dies in the Long Kesh prison hospital (Northern Ireland) after 66 days of hunger-striking, aged 27. ›

1980

Operation Nimrod: The British Special Air Service storms the Iranian embassy in London after a six-day siege. ›

1973

Secretariat wins the 1973 Kentucky Derby in 1:59.4, an as-yet-unbeaten record. ›

1972

Alitalia Flight 112 crashes into Mount Longa near Palermo, Sicily, killing all 115 aboard, making it the deadliest single-aircraft disaster in Italy. ›

1964

The Council of Europe declares May 5 as Europe Day. ›

1961

Project Mercury: Alan Shepard becomes the first American to travel into outer space, on a sub-orbital flight. ›

1955

The General Treaty, by which France, Britain and the United States recognize the sovereignty of West Germany, comes into effect. ›

1946

The International Military Tribunal for the Far East begins in Tokyo with twenty-eight Japanese military and government officials accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity. ›

1945

World War II: The Prague uprising begins as an attempt by the Czech resistance to free the city from German occupation. ›

1945

World War II: A Fu-Go balloon bomb launched by the Japanese Army kills six people near Bly, Oregon. ›

1945

World War II: Battle of Castle Itter, one of only two battles in that war in which American and German troops fought cooperatively. ›

1941

Emperor Haile Selassie returns to Addis Ababa; the country commemorates the date as Liberation Day or Patriots' Victory Day. ›

1940

World War II: Norwegian campaign: Norwegian squads in Hegra Fortress and Vinjesvingen capitulate to German forces after all other Norwegian forces in southern Norway had laid down their arms. ›

1936

March of the Iron Will: Italian troops occupy Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. ›

1930

The 1930 Bago earthquake, the first of two major earthquakes in southern Burma, kills as many as 7,000 in Yangon and Bago. ›

1920

US authorities arrest Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti for alleged robbery and murder. ›

1912

The first issue of the Bolshevik newspaper Pravda is published. ›

1905

The trial in the Stratton Brothers case begins in London, England; it marks the first time that fingerprint evidence is used to gain a conviction for murder. ›

1904

Pitching against the Philadelphia Athletics at the Huntington Avenue Grounds, Cy Young of the Boston Americans throws the first perfect game in the modern era of baseball. ›

1891

The Music Hall in New York City (later known as Carnegie Hall) has its grand opening and first public performance, with Tchaikovsky as the guest conductor. ›

1887

The Peruvian Academy of Language is founded. ›

1886

Workers marching for the eight-hour day in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, are shot at by Wisconsin National Guardsmen in what becomes known as the Bay View Massacre. ›

1877

American Indian Wars: Sitting Bull leads his band of Lakota into Canada to avoid harassment by the United States Army under Colonel Nelson Miles. ›

1866

Memorial Day first celebrated in United States at Waterloo, New York. ›

1865

American Civil War: The Confederate government is declared dissolved at Washington, Georgia. ›

1864

American Civil War: The Battle of the Wilderness begins in Spotsylvania County. ›

1862

Cinco de Mayo: Troops led by Ignacio Zaragoza halt a French invasion in the Battle of Puebla in Mexico. ›

1835

The first railway in continental Europe opens between Brussels and Mechelen. ›

1821

Emperor Napoleon dies in exile on the island of Saint Helena in the South Atlantic Ocean. ›

1821

The first edition of The Manchester Guardian, now The Guardian, is published. ›

1809

Mary Kies becomes the first woman awarded a U.S. patent, for a technique of weaving straw with silk and thread. ›

1789

In France, the Estates-General convenes for the first time since 1614. ›

1762

Russia and Prussia sign the Treaty of St. Petersburg. ›

1654

Cromwell's Act of Grace, aimed at reconciliation with the Scots, proclaimed in Edinburgh. ›

1640

King Charles I of England dissolves the Short Parliament. ›

1609

Daimyō (Lord) Shimazu Tadatsune of the Satsuma Domain in southern Kyūshū, Japan, completes his successful invasion of the Ryūkyū Kingdom in Okinawa. ›

1494

On his second voyage to the New World, Christopher Columbus sights Jamaica, landing at Discovery Bay and declares Jamaica the property of the Spanish crown. ›

1292

Election of Count Adolf of Nassau as King of the Romans in the Dominican monastery of Frankfurt. ›

1260

Kublai Khan becomes ruler of the Mongol Empire. ›

1215

Rebel barons renounce their allegiance to King John of England — part of a chain of events leading to the signing of the Magna Carta. ›

1192

Queen Isabella I of Jerusalem marries Henry II, Count of Champagne. ›

553

The Second Council of Constantinople begins. ›