June 5

Historic Events

2025

The Nintendo Switch 2 video game console is released worldwide. ›

2024

The Boeing Starliner is launched on its first crewed flight, carrying astronauts Barry Wilmore and Sunita Williams to the International Space Station. ›

2022

A constitutional referendum is held in Kazakhstan following violent protests and civil unrest against the government. ›

2017

Montenegro becomes the 29th member of NATO. ›

2017

Six Arab countries—Bahrain, Egypt, Libya, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, and the United Arab Emirates—cut diplomatic ties with Qatar, accusing it of destabilising the region. ›

2016

Two shootings in Aktobe, Kazakhstan, kill six people. ›

2015

An earthquake with a moment magnitude of 6.0 strikes Ranau, Sabah, Malaysia, killing 18 people, including hikers and mountain guides on Mount Kinabalu, after mass landslides that occurred during the earthquake. This is the strongest earthquake to strike Malaysia since 1975. ›

2012

Last transit of Venus until the year 2117. ›

2009

After 65 straight days of civil disobedience, at least 31 people are killed in clashes between security forces and indigenous people near Bagua, Peru. ›

2009

A fire at a day-care center kills 49 people in Hermosillo, Mexico. ›

2004

Noël Mamère, Mayor of Bègles, celebrates marriage for two men for the first time in France. ›

2003

A severe heat wave across Pakistan and India reaches its peak, as temperatures exceed 50 °C (122 °F) in the region. ›

2002

Space Shuttle Endeavour launches on STS-111, carrying the Expedition 5 crew to the International Space Station to replace the Expedition 4 crew. Astronaut Franklin Chang-Díaz becomes the second person to have flown on seven spaceflights. ›

2001

Tropical Storm Allison makes landfall on the upper-Texas coastline as a strong tropical storm and dumps large amounts of rain over Houston. The storm causes $5.5 billion in damages, making Allison the second costliest tropical storm in U.S. history. ›

2000

The Six-Day War in Kisangani begins in Kisangani, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, between Ugandan and Rwandan forces. A large part of the city is destroyed. ›

1998

A strike begins at the General Motors parts factory in Flint, Michigan, that quickly spreads to five other assembly plants. The strike lasts seven weeks. ›

1997

The Second Republic of the Congo Civil War begins. ›

1995

The Bose–Einstein condensate is first created. ›

1993

Portions of the Holbeck Hall Hotel in Scarborough, North Yorkshire, UK, fall into the sea following a landslide. ›

1991

Space Shuttle Columbia is launched on STS-40, the fifth spacelab mission. ›

1989

The Tank Man halts the progress of a column of advancing tanks for over half an hour after the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989. ›

1984

Operation Blue Star: Under orders from India's prime minister, Indira Gandhi, the Indian Army begins an invasion of the Golden Temple, the holiest site of the Sikh religion. ›

1983

More than 100 people are killed when the Russian river cruise ship Aleksandr Suvorov collides with a girder of the Ulyanovsk Railway Bridge. The collision caused a freight train to derail, further damaging the vessel, yet the ship remained afloat and was eventually restored and returned to service. ›

1981

The Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that five people in Los Angeles, California, have a rare form of pneumonia seen only in patients with weakened immune systems, in what turns out to be the first recognized cases of AIDS. ›

1976

The Teton Dam in Idaho, United States, collapses. Eleven people are killed as a result of flooding. ›

1975

The Suez Canal opens for the first time since the Six-Day War. ›

1975

The United Kingdom holds its first country-wide referendum on membership of the European Economic Community (EEC). ›

1968

Presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy is assassinated by Sirhan Sirhan. ›

1967

The Six-Day War begins: Israel launches surprise strikes against Egyptian air-fields in response to the mobilisation of Egyptian forces on the Israeli border. ›

1964

DSV Alvin is commissioned. ›

1963

The British Secretary of State for War, John Profumo, resigns in a sex scandal known as the "Profumo affair". ›

1963

Movement of 15 Khordad: Protests against the arrest of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini by the Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. In several cities, masses of angry demonstrators are confronted by tanks and paratroopers. ›

1960

The Lake Bodom murders occur in Finland. ›

1959

The first government of Singapore is sworn in. ›

1956

Elvis Presley introduces his new single, "Hound Dog", on The Milton Berle Show, scandalizing the audience with his suggestive hip movements. ›

1949

Thailand elects Orapin Chaiyakan, the first female member of Thailand's Parliament. ›

1947

Cold War: Marshall Plan: In a speech at Harvard University, the United States Secretary of State George Marshall calls for economic aid to war-torn Europe. ›

1946

A fire in the La Salle Hotel in Chicago, Illinois, kills 61 people. ›

1945

The Allied Control Council, the military occupation governing body of Germany, formally takes power. ›

1944

World War II: More than 1,000 British bombers drop 5,000 tons of bombs on German gun batteries on the Normandy coast in preparation for D-Day. ›

1942

World War II: The United States declares war on Bulgaria, Hungary, and Romania. ›

1941

World War II: Four thousand Chongqing residents are asphyxiated in a bomb shelter during the Bombing of Chongqing. ›

1940

World War II: After a brief lull in the Battle of France, the Germans renew the offensive against the remaining French divisions south of the River Somme in Operation Fall Rot ("Case Red"). ›

1917

World War I: Conscription begins in the United States as "Army registration day". ›

1916

Louis Brandeis is sworn in as a Justice of the United States Supreme Court; he is the first American Jew to hold such a position. ›

1916

World War I: The Arab Revolt against the Ottoman Empire breaks out. ›

1915

Denmark amends its constitution to allow women's suffrage. ›

1900

Second Boer War: British soldiers take Pretoria. ›

1893

The trial of Lizzie Borden for the murder of her father and step-mother begins in New Bedford, Massachusetts. ›

1888

The Rio de la Plata earthquake takes place. ›

1883

The first regularly scheduled Orient Express departs Paris. ›

1879

The Zungeni Mountain skirmish takes place between British and Zulu forces during the second invasion of the Zulu Kingdom. ›

1873

Sultan Barghash bin Said of Zanzibar closes the great slave market under the terms of a treaty with Great Britain. ›

1864

American Civil War: Battle of Piedmont: Union forces under General David Hunter defeat a Confederate army at Piedmont, Virginia, taking nearly 1,000 prisoners. ›

1862

As the Treaty of Saigon is signed, ceding parts of southern Vietnam to France, the guerrilla leader Trương Định decides to defy Emperor Tự Đức of Vietnam and fight on against the Europeans. ›

1851

Harriet Beecher Stowe's anti-slavery serial, Uncle Tom's Cabin, or Life Among the Lowly, starts a ten-month run in the National Era abolitionist newspaper. ›

1849

Denmark becomes a constitutional monarchy by the signing of a new constitution. ›

1837

Houston is incorporated by the Republic of Texas. ›

1832

The June Rebellion breaks out in Paris in an attempt to overthrow the monarchy of Louis Philippe. ›

1829

HMS Pickle captures the armed slave ship Voladora off the coast of Cuba. ›

1817

The first Great Lakes steamer, the Frontenac, is launched. ›

1798

Battle of New Ross: The attempt to spread the United Irish Rebellion into Munster is defeated. ›

1794

Haitian Revolution: Battle of Port-Républicain: British troops capture the capital of Saint-Domingue. ›

1644

The Qing dynasty's Manchu forces led by the Shunzhi Emperor take Beijing during the collapse of the Ming dynasty. ›

1610

The masque Tethys' Festival is performed at Whitehall Palace to celebrate the investiture of Henry Frederick, Prince of Wales. ›

1305

Election of Pope Clement V following the death of Pope Benedict XI in the previous year. ›

1288

The Battle of Worringen ends the War of the Limburg Succession, with John I, Duke of Brabant, being one of the more important victors. ›

1284

Battle of the Gulf of Naples: Roger of Lauria, admiral to King Peter III of Aragon, destroys the Neapolitan fleet and captures Charles of Salerno. ›

1257

Kraków, in Poland, receives city rights. ›

1086

Tutush, brother of Seljuk sultan Malik Shah, defeats Suleiman ibn Qutalmish, the Turkish ruler of Anatolia in the battle of Ain Salm. ›

830

Theodora is crowned Byzantine empress and marries then emperor Theophilos in the Hagia Sophia. She is credited with restoring Christian orthodoxy and icons. ›