# What happened on March 5 in history?

**Date:** March 5  
**Events recorded:** 54  
**Years spanned:** 363 – 2023  
**Full page:** https://thisday.info/events/march/5/

---

## Featured Event

**2018** — Syrian civil war: The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) pause the Deir ez-Zor campaign due to the Turkish-led invasion of Afrin.

[Read more on Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syrian_civil_war)

---

## Events on this date

- **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. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_emperor))
- **1046** — Nasir Khusraw begins the seven-year Middle Eastern journey which he will later describe in his book Safarnama. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nasir_Khusraw))
- **1279** — The Livonian Order is defeated in the Battle of Aizkraukle by the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Livonian_Order))
- **1496** — King Henry VII of England issues letters patent to John Cabot and his sons, authorising them to explore unknown lands. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_VII_of_England))
- **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. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicolaus_Copernicus))
- **1766** — Antonio de Ulloa, the first Spanish governor of Louisiana, arrives in New Orleans. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antonio_de_Ulloa))
- **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. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston_Massacre))
- **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. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peninsular_War))
- **1824** — First Anglo-Burmese War: The British officially declare war on Burma. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Anglo-Burmese_War))
- **1825** — Roberto Cofresí, one of the last successful Caribbean pirates, is defeated in combat and captured by authorities. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roberto_Cofres%C3%AD))
- **1836** — Samuel Colt establishes his first factory to produce the recently patented production-model revolver, the .34-caliber "Paterson". ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Colt))
- **1850** — The Britannia Bridge across the Menai Strait between the island of Anglesey and the mainland of Wales is opened. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Britannia_Bridge))
- **1860** — Parma, Tuscany, Modena and Romagna vote in referendums to join the Kingdom of Sardinia. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parma))
- **1868** — Mefistofele, an opera by Arrigo Boito, receives its premiere performance at La Scala. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mefistofele))
- **1872** — George Westinghouse patents the air brake. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Westinghouse))
- **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. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moro_Rebellion))
- **1912** — Italo-Turkish War: Italian forces are the first to use airships for military purposes, employing them for reconnaissance behind Turkish lines. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italo-Turkish_War))
- **1931** — The British Raj: Gandhi–Irwin Pact is signed. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Raj))
- **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. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adolf_Hitler))
- **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. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_Civil_War))
- **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. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Politburo_of_the_Communist_Party_of_the_Soviet_Union))
- **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. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_II))
- **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. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1943_Greek_protests_against_labour_mobilization))
- **1944** — World War II: The Red Army begins the Uman–Botoșani offensive in the western Ukrainian SSR. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Army))
- **1946** — Cold War: Winston Churchill delivers his famous "Iron Curtain" speech at Westminster College, Missouri. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold_War))
- **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. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Stalin))
- **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. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sutton_Wick_air_crash))
- **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. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/President_of_Indonesia))
- **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. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patsy_Cline))
- **1963** — Aeroflot Flight 191 crashes while landing at Aşgabat International Airport, killing 12. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aeroflot_Flight_191))
- **1965** — March Intifada: A Leftist uprising erupts in Bahrain against the British colonial presence. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/March_Intifada))
- **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. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BOAC_Flight_911))
- **1967** — Lake Central Airlines Flight 527 crashes near Marseilles, Ohio, killing 38. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Central_Airlines_Flight_527))
- **1968** — Air France Flight 212 crashes into La Grande Soufrière, killing all 63 aboard. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_France_Flight_212_(1968)))
- **1970** — The Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons goes into effect after ratification by 43 nations. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_on_the_Non-Proliferation_of_Nuclear_Weapons))
- **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. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iberia_(airline)))
- **1974** — Yom Kippur War: Israeli forces withdraw from the west bank of the Suez Canal. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yom_Kippur_War))
- **1978** — The Landsat 3 is launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Landsat_3))
- **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. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venera_11))
- **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. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ZX81))
- **1982** — Soviet probe Venera 14 lands on Venus. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venera_14))
- **1991** — Aeropostal Alas de Venezuela Flight 109 crashes in Venezuela, killing 45. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aeropostal_Alas_de_Venezuela_Flight_109))
- **1993** — Palair Macedonian Airlines Flight 301 crashes at Skopje International Airport in Petrovec, North Macedonia, killing 83. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palair_Macedonian_Airlines_Flight_301))
- **2001** — In Mina, Saudi Arabia, 35 pilgrims are killed in a stampede on the Jamaraat Bridge during the Hajj. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mina%2C_Saudi_Arabia))
- **2002** — An earthquake in Mindanao, Philippines, kills 15 people and injures more than 100. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2002_Mindanao_earthquake))
- **2003** — In Haifa, 17 Israeli civilians are killed in the Haifa bus 37 suicide bombing. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haifa))
- **2011** — An Antonov An-148 crashes in Russia's Alexeyevsky District, Belgorod Oblast during a test flight, killing all seven aboard. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antonov_An-148))
- **2012** — Tropical Storm Irina kills over 75 as it passes through Madagascar. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tropical_Storm_Irina))
- **2012** — Two people are killed and six more are injured in a shooting at a hair salon in Bucharest, Romania. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012_Bucharest_hair_salon_shooting))
- **2018** — Syrian civil war: The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) pause the Deir ez-Zor campaign due to the Turkish-led invasion of Afrin. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syrian_civil_war))
- **2021** — Pope Francis begins a historic visit to Iraq amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Francis))
- **2021** — Twenty people are killed and 30 injured in a suicide car bombing in Mogadishu, Somalia. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/March_2021_Mogadishu_bombing))
- **2023** — The 2023 Estonian parliamentary election is held, with two centre-right liberal parties gaining an absolute majority for the first time. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2023_Estonian_parliamentary_election))
- **2023** — A group of four prisoners escape from the Nouakchott Civil Prison, before being caught the next day. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2023_Nouakchott_prison_break))

---

## Notable births on March 5

- **2007** — **Roman Griffin Davis** — English actor ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Griffin_Davis))
- **2000** — **Doug Edert** — American basketball player ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doug_Edert))
- **1999** — **Madison Beer** — American singer-songwriter ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madison_Beer))
- **1999** — **Justin Fields** — American football player ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Justin_Fields))
- **1999** — **Yeri** — South Korean singer and actress ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yeri_(singer)))
- **1998** — **Bo Bichette** — American baseball player ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bo_Bichette))
- **1997** — **Milena Venega** — Cuban rower ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milena_Venega))
- **1996** — **Taylor Hill** — American model ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taylor_Hill_(model)))
- **1996** — **Emmanuel Mudiay** — Congolese-American basketball player ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emmanuel_Mudiay))
- **1994** — **Daria Saville** — Russian-Australian tennis player ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daria_Saville))

---

## Notable deaths on March 5

- **2017** — **Kurt Moll** — German opera singer (born 1938) ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurt_Moll))
- **2016** — **Hassan Al-Turabi** — Sudanese activist and politician (born 1932) ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hassan_al-Turabi))
- **2016** — **Ray Tomlinson** — American computer programmer and engineer (born 1941) ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_Tomlinson))
- **2016** — **Al Wistert** — American football player and coach (born 1920) ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al_Wistert))
- **2015** — **Vlada Divljan** — Serbian singer-songwriter and guitarist (born 1958) ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vlada_Divljan))
- **2015** — **Edward Egan** — American cardinal and former Archbishop of New York (born 1932) ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Egan))
- **2014** — **Geoff Edwards** — American actor and game show host (born 1931) ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geoff_Edwards))
- **2014** — **Ailsa McKay** — Scottish economist and academic (born 1963) ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ailsa_McKay))
- **2014** — **Leopoldo María Panero** — Spanish poet and translator (born 1948) ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leopoldo_Mar%C3%ADa_Panero))
- **2014** — **Ola L. Mize** — American colonel, Medal of Honor recipient (born 1931) ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ola_L._Mize))

---

## About this page

This is a machine-readable Markdown summary of [thisday.info/events/march/5/](https://thisday.info/events/march/5/).  
Historical data is sourced from [Wikipedia/Wikimedia](https://www.wikipedia.org) under [CC BY-SA](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/).  
Editorial framing and site content © thisday.info.