Did you know
In 1961, Project Mercury: Alan Shepard becomes the first American to travel into outer space, on a sub-orbital flight. This featured entry focuses on the immediate decision and its direct historical impact.
May 5 in History
1961 — Project Mercury: Alan Shepard becomes the first American to travel into outer space, on a sub-orbital flight
May 5 spans 51 recorded events across recorded history, from 553 to 2023. Below is a curated digest of the most significant moments tied to this date.
By thisDay.info Editorial Team · — Wikipedia
Historical Events
51 events
553 – 2023
Today in history
More major events on May 5
The featured story and these ranked highlights form a quick summary. Every recorded event remains available in the chronology below.
- 1912 The first issue of the Bolshevik newspaper Pravda is published. Source
- 1821 The first edition of The Manchester Guardian, now The Guardian, is published. Source
- 1930 The 1930 Bago earthquake, the first of two major earthquakes in southern Burma, kills as many as 7,000 in Yangon and Bago. Source
Did you know
Project Mercury was the first human spaceflight program of the United States, running from 1958 through 1963. This helps explain why the event mattered beyond the initial announcement.
Did you know
An early highlight of the Space Race, its goal was to put a man into Earth orbit and return him safely, ideally before the Soviet Union. This clarifies the institutional and public response around the event.
Did you know
Taken over from the US Air Force by the newly created civilian space agency NASA, it conducted 20 uncrewed developmental flights, and six successful flights by astronauts. This shows how the event shaped policy and public communication in the same period.
Did you know
The program, which took its name from Roman mythology, cost $2.83 billion. This helps explain why the event mattered beyond the initial announcement.
553
The Second Council of Constantinople begins.
Ecumenical council held in 553 in response to the Three Chapters controversy
1192
Queen Isabella I of Jerusalem marries Henry II, Count of Champagne.
Queen of Jerusalem (r. 1190/1192–1205)
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.
King of England from 1199 to 1216
1260
Kublai Khan becomes ruler of the Mongol Empire.
Emperor of Yuan China from 1271 to 1294
1292
Election of Count Adolf of Nassau as King of the Romans in the Dominican monastery of Frankfurt.
King of Germany from 1292 to 1298
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.
Italian navigator and explorer (1451–1506)
1609
Daimyō (Lord) Shimazu Tadatsune of the Satsuma Domain in southern Kyūshū, Japan, completes his successful invasion of the Ryūkyū Kingdom in Okinawa.
16/17th-century Japanese warlord; leader of Satsuma Domain
1640
King Charles I of England dissolves the Short Parliament.
King of England, Scotland and Ireland from 1625 to 1649
1654
Cromwell's Act of Grace, aimed at reconciliation with the Scots, proclaimed in Edinburgh.
1654 act of the Parliament of England
1789
In France, the Estates-General convenes for the first time since 1614.
Country primarily in Western Europe
1809
Mary Kies becomes the first woman awarded a U.S.
patent, for a technique of weaving straw with silk and thread.
1821
Emperor Napoleon dies in exile on the island of Saint Helena in the South Atlantic Ocean.
French general and emperor (1769–1821)
1821
The first edition of The Manchester Guardian, now The Guardian, is published.
British national daily newspaper
1862
Cinco de Mayo: Troops led by Ignacio Zaragoza halt a French invasion in the Battle of Puebla in Mexico.
Annual celebration held on May 5
1864
American Civil War: The Battle of the Wilderness begins in Spotsylvania County.
1861–1865 conflict in the United States
1865
American Civil War: The Confederate government is declared dissolved at Washington, Georgia.
1866
Memorial Day first celebrated in United States at Waterloo, New York.
Federal holiday in the United States
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.
Frontier conflicts in North America, 1609–1890s
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.
Social movement to regulate the length of the working day
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.
Concert venue in Manhattan, New York
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.
Player who pitches the ball in baseball
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.
1905 British murder case; first to use fingerprints as conclusive evidence
1912
The first issue of the Bolshevik newspaper Pravda is published.
Faction of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party
1920
US authorities arrest Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti for alleged robbery and murder.
Italian American anarchist duo executed by Massachusetts
1930
The 1930 Bago earthquake, the first of two major earthquakes in southern Burma, kills as many as 7,000 in Yangon and Bago.
Earthquake in Myanmar
1936
March of the Iron Will: Italian troops occupy Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
1936 Italian advance on Addis Ababa
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.
Global conflict (1939–1945)
1941
Emperor Haile Selassie returns to Addis Ababa; the country commemorates the date as Liberation Day or Patriots' Victory Day.
Emperor of Ethiopia from 1930 to 1974
1945
World War II: The Prague uprising begins as an attempt by the Czech resistance to free the city from German occupation.
Partially successful 1945 rebellion in German-occupied Czechoslovakia
1945
World War II: A Fu-Go balloon bomb launched by the Japanese Army kills six people near Bly, Oregon.
WWII Japanese incendiary weapon
1945
World War II: Battle of Castle Itter, one of only two battles in that war in which American and German troops fought cooperatively.
1945 battle of World War II
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.
Post–World War II war crimes trials
1955
The General Treaty, by which France, Britain and the United States recognize the sovereignty of West Germany, comes into effect.
1952 treaty giving limited sovereignty to West Germany
1964
1972
Alitalia Flight 112 crashes into Mount Longa near Palermo, Sicily, killing all 115 aboard, making it the deadliest single-aircraft disaster in Italy.
1972 passenger plane crash near Palermo, Italy
1973
Secretariat wins the 1973 Kentucky Derby in 1:59.4, an as-yet-unbeaten record.
American Thoroughbred racehorse (1970–1989)
1980
Operation Nimrod: The British Special Air Service storms the Iranian embassy in London after a six-day siege.
1980 hostage situation in London
1981
Bobby Sands dies in the Long Kesh prison hospital (Northern Ireland) after 66 days of hunger-striking, aged 27.
Irish Provisional IRA member (1954–1981)
1985
Ronald Reagan visits the military cemetery at Bitburg and the site of the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, where he makes a speech.
President of the United States from 1981 to 1989
1987
Iran–Contra affair: Start of Congressional televised hearings in the United States.
1985–1987 political scandal in the U.S.
1991
A riot breaks out in the Mt.
Pleasant section of Washington, D.C. after police shoot a Salvadoran man.
1994
The signing of the Bishkek Protocol between Armenia and Azerbaijan effectively freezes the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
1994 ceasefire ending the First Nagorno-Karabakh war
1994
2006
The government of Sudan signs an accord with the Sudan Liberation Army.
Country in Northeast Africa
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.
2007 aviation accident in Cameroon
2010
Mass protests in Greece erupt in response to austerity measures imposed by the government as a result of the Greek government-debt crisis.
2010–12 civil unrest over the government debt crisis and resulting policies
2023
The World Health Organization declares the end of the COVID-19 pandemic as a global health emergency.
Specialized agency of the United Nations