March 5Birthdays & History

On this day: March 5 in history

Oldest first. Tap a year to see it on the World Chronicle timeline.

1. 363Roman 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.EuropeMiddle East
2. 1046Nasir Khusraw begins the seven-year Middle Eastern journey which he will later describe in his book Safarnama.Middle East
3. 1279The Livonian Order is defeated in the Battle of Aizkraukle by the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.Europe
4. 1496King Henry VII of England issues letters patent to John Cabot and his sons, authorising them to explore unknown lands.Europe
5. 1616Nicolaus 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.Europe
6. 1766Antonio de Ulloa, the first Spanish governor of Louisiana, arrives in New Orleans.EuropeNorth America
7. 1770Boston 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.North AmericaEurope
8. 1811Peninsular 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.Europe
9. 1824First Anglo-Burmese War: The British officially declare war on Burma.AsiaEurope
10. 1825Roberto Cofresí, one of the last successful Caribbean pirates, is defeated in combat and captured by authorities.Latin America
11. 1836Samuel Colt establishes his first factory to produce the recently patented production-model revolver, the .34-caliber "Paterson".North America
12. 1850The Britannia Bridge across the Menai Strait between the island of Anglesey and the mainland of Wales is opened.Europe
13. 1860Parma, Tuscany, Modena and Romagna vote in referendums to join the Kingdom of Sardinia.Europe
14. 1868Mefistofele, an opera by Arrigo Boito, receives its premiere performance at La Scala.Europe
15. 1872George Westinghouse patents the air brake.North America
16. 1906Moro Rebellion: United States Army troops bring overwhelming force against the native Moros in the First Battle of Bud Dajo, leaving only six survivors.North America
17. 1912Italo-Turkish War: Italian forces are the first to use airships for military purposes, employing them for reconnaissance behind Turkish lines.Middle EastEurope
18. 1931The British Raj: Gandhi–Irwin Pact is signed.Europe
19. 1933Adolf 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.Europe
20. 1939Spanish 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.Europe
21. 1940Six 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.Europe
22. 1942World 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.AsiaAsiaEurope
23. 1943World 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.Europe
24. 1944World War II: The Red Army begins the Uman–Botoșani offensive in the western Ukrainian SSR.Europe
25. 1946Cold War: Winston Churchill delivers his famous "Iron Curtain" speech at Westminster College, Missouri.North America
26. 1953Joseph Stalin, the longest serving leader of the Soviet Union, dies at his Volynskoe dacha in Moscow after suffering a cerebral hemorrhage four days earlier.Europe
27. 1957Sutton 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.Europe
28. 1960Indonesian 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.Asia
29. 1963Aeroflot Flight 191 crashes while landing at Aşgabat International Airport, killing 12.Asia
30. 1963American country music stars Patsy Cline, Hawkshaw Hawkins, Cowboy Copas and their pilot Randy Hughes are killed in a plane crash in Camden, Tennessee.North America
31. 1965March Intifada: A Leftist uprising erupts in Bahrain against the British colonial presence.Middle EastEurope
32. 1966BOAC 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.Asia
33. 1967Lake Central Airlines Flight 527 crashes near Marseilles, Ohio, killing 38.North America
34. 1968Air France Flight 212 crashes into La Grande Soufrière, killing all 63 aboard.Europe
35. 1970The Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons goes into effect after ratification by 43 nations.World
36. 1973An 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.Europe
37. 1974Yom Kippur War: Israeli forces withdraw from the west bank of the Suez Canal.Middle East
38. 1978The Landsat 3 is launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.North America
39. 1979Soviet 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.EuropeNorth America
40. 1981The 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.Europe
41. 1982Soviet probe Venera 14 lands on Venus.Europe
42. 1991Aeropostal Alas de Venezuela Flight 109 crashes in Venezuela, killing 45.Latin America
43. 1993Palair Macedonian Airlines Flight 301 crashes at Skopje International Airport in Petrovec, North Macedonia, killing 83.Europe
44. 2001In Mina, Saudi Arabia, 35 pilgrims are killed in a stampede on the Jamaraat Bridge during the Hajj.Middle East
45. 2002An earthquake in Mindanao, Philippines, kills 15 people and injures more than 100.Asia
46. 2003In Haifa, 17 Israeli civilians are killed in the Haifa bus 37 suicide bombing.Middle East
47. 2011An Antonov An-148 crashes in Russia's Alexeyevsky District, Belgorod Oblast during a test flight, killing all seven aboard.Europe
48. 2012Two people are killed and six more are injured in a shooting at a hair salon in Bucharest, Romania.Europe
49. 2012Tropical Storm Irina kills over 75 as it passes through Madagascar.Africa
50. 2018Syrian civil war: The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) pause the Deir ez-Zor campaign due to the Turkish-led invasion of Afrin.Middle East
51. 2021Twenty people are killed and 30 injured in a suicide car bombing in Mogadishu, Somalia.Africa
52. 2021Pope Francis begins a historic visit to Iraq amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.EuropeMiddle East
53. 2023A group of four prisoners escape from the Nouakchott Civil Prison, before being caught the next day.Africa
54. 2023The 2023 Estonian parliamentary election is held, with two centre-right liberal parties gaining an absolute majority for the first time.Europe

Source: Wikipedia "March 5" / CC BY-SA 4.0