On this day: March 5

Events on March 5

• 363 Roman–Persian Wars: Roman emperor Julian and his army set out from Antioch to attack the Sasanian Empire. Wikipedia
• 1279 The Livonian branch of the Teutonic Order suffered a great loss when 71 knights died in the Battle of Aizkraukle. Wikipedia
• 1496 King Henry VII of England issues letters patent to John Cabot and his sons, authorising them to explore unknown lands. Wikipedia
• 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
• 1766 Antonio de Ulloa, the first Spanish governor of Louisiana, arrives in New Orleans. Wikipedia
• 1770 American Revolution: British soldiers fired into a crowd in Boston, killing five people. Wikipedia
• 1811 Peninsular War: At the Battle of Barrosa, Anglo-Iberian forces trying to lift the Siege of Cádiz defeated a French attack but could not break the siege itself. Wikipedia
• 1824 The First Anglo-Burmese War began. Wikipedia
• 1825 Roberto Cofresí, one of the last Caribbean pirates, was apprehended after his flagship sloop Anne was captured by authorities. Wikipedia
• 1836 Samuel Colt establishes his first factory to produce the recently patented production-model revolver, the .34-caliber "Paterson". Wikipedia
• 1850 The Britannia Bridge across the Menai Strait between the island of Anglesey and the mainland of Wales is opened. Wikipedia
• 1912 Italo-Turkish War: Italian forces are the first to use airships for military purposes, employing them for reconnaissance behind Turkish lines. Wikipedia
• 1931 The British Raj: Gandhi–Irwin Pact is signed. Wikipedia
• 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
• 1936 The prototype of the Supermarine Spitfire flew for the first time. Wikipedia
• 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
• 1943 World War II: The Gloster Meteor, the Allies' only operational jet aircraft, made its maiden flight. Wikipedia
• 1946 Cold War: Winston Churchill delivers his famous "Iron Curtain" speech at Westminster College, Missouri. Wikipedia
• 1960 Cuban photographer Alberto Korda took his iconic photograph Guerrillero Heroico of Marxist revolutionary Che Guevara. Wikipedia
• 1963 American country-music performers Patsy Cline, Cowboy Copas, and Hawkshaw Hawkins were killed when their PA-24 crashed shortly after takeoff in Camden, Tennessee. Wikipedia
• 1966 BOAC Flight 911 disintegrated and crashed near Mount Fuji shortly after departure from Tokyo International Airport, killing all 113 passengers and 11 crew members on board. Wikipedia
• 1970 The Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons goes into effect after ratification by 43 nations. Wikipedia
• 1974 Yom Kippur War: Israeli forces withdraw from the west bank of the Suez Canal. Wikipedia
• 1981 The ZX81, a pioneering British home computer, was launched by Sinclair Research, and went on to sell more than 1.5 million units around the world. Wikipedia
• 1982 Soviet probe Venera 14 lands on Venus. Wikipedia
• 2023 The 2023 Estonian parliamentary election is held, with two centre-right liberal parties gaining an absolute majority for the first time. Wikipedia

Born on March 5

• 1133 Henry II of England (died 1189) Wikipedia
• 1324 David II of Scotland (died 1371) Wikipedia
• 1326 Louis I of Hungary (died 1382) Wikipedia
• 1512 Gerardus Mercator, Flemish mathematician, cartographer, and philosopher (died 1594) Wikipedia
• 1696 Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, Italian painter (died 1770) Wikipedia
• 1862 Siegbert Tarrasch, German chess player and theoretician (died 1934) Wikipedia
• 1871 Rosa Luxemburg, Polish-Russian economist and philosopher (died 1919) Wikipedia
• 1898 Zhou Enlai, Chinese politician, 1st Premier of the People's Republic of China (died 1976) Wikipedia
• 1908 Rex Harrison, English actor (died 1990) Wikipedia
• 1918 James Tobin, American economist and academic (died 2002) Wikipedia
• 1922 Pier Paolo Pasolini, Italian actor, director, and screenwriter (died 1975) Wikipedia
• 1934 Daniel Kahneman, Israeli-American economist and psychologist, Nobel Prize laureate (died 2024) Wikipedia
• 1937 Olusegun Obasanjo, Nigerian general and politician, 5th President of Nigeria Wikipedia
• 1938 Lynn Margulis, American biologist and academic (died 2011) Wikipedia
• 1942 Felipe González, Spanish lawyer and politician, Prime Minister of Spain Wikipedia
• 1949 Bernard Arnault, French businessman, philanthropist, and art collector Wikipedia
• 1954 João Lourenço, Angolan politician, 3rd President of Angola Wikipedia
• 1964 Gerald Vanenburg, Dutch footballer and manager Wikipedia
• 1970 Aleksandar Vučić, Serbian president Wikipedia
• 1974 Eva Mendes, American model and actress Wikipedia
• 1993 Harry Maguire, English footballer Wikipedia
• 1999 Madison Beer, American singer-songwriter Wikipedia

Died on March 5

• 254 Pope Lucius I Wikipedia
• 1534 Antonio da Correggio, Italian painter and educator (born 1489) Wikipedia
• 1827 Pierre-Simon Laplace, French mathematician and astronomer (born 1749) Wikipedia
• 1827 Alessandro Volta, Italian physicist and academic (born 1745) Wikipedia
• 1893 Hippolyte Taine, French historian and critic (born 1828) Wikipedia
• 1895 Nikolai Leskov, Russian author, playwright, and journalist (born 1831) Wikipedia
• 1944 Max Jacob, French poet and author (born 1876) Wikipedia
• 1953 Joseph Stalin, Soviet dictator and politician of Georgian descent, 2nd leader of the Soviet Union (born 1878) Wikipedia
• 1953 Sergei Prokofiev, Russian pianist, composer, and conductor (born 1891) Wikipedia
• 1963 Patsy Cline, American singer-songwriter (born 1932) Wikipedia
• 1966 Anna Akhmatova, Ukrainian-Russian poet, author, and translator (born 1889) Wikipedia
• 1967 Mohammad Mosaddegh, Iranian political scientist and politician, 60th Prime Minister of Iran (born 1882) Wikipedia
• 1982 John Belushi, American actor (born 1949) Wikipedia
• 2013 Hugo Chávez, Venezuelan colonel and politician, President of Venezuela (born 1954) Wikipedia

Holidays and observances

• Christian feast day: Ciarán of Saigir Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: John Joseph of the Cross Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Piran Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Theophilus, bishop of Caesarea Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Thietmar of Minden Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: March 5 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics) Wikipedia
• Learn from Lei Feng Day (China) Wikipedia
• St Piran's Day (Cornwall) Wikipedia

Sources

• Wikipedia — “March 5” — events, births, deaths and observances (text under CC BY-SA 4.0) (checked 2026-10-15)
• Wikipedia — “Selected anniversaries/March 5” — the anniversaries editors chose for the date and the article each one is about (checked 2026-10-15)
• Wikidata — in how many language editions each entry's own article exists, used to fill the lists (CC0) (checked 2026-10-15)
• vacanza/holidays (open-source holiday rules, MIT licence) — holiday rules used to build the lists (checked 2026-10-15)

The events, births, deaths and observances above are from the English Wikipedia article “March 5” and the articles it links to (authors and history), retrieved 2026-10-15 through the Wikimedia “On this day” feed. They are licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0; this selection is shared under the same licence. Every anniversary that Wikipedia's editors selected for March 5 stays on the list; the remaining places, up to 26 events, 22 births and 14 deaths, go to the entries whose own article — about the event itself, or else the person or thing it is about — appears in the most language editions (counted from Wikidata); an article about a person or thing, which covers far more than one day, counts half. An entry with no article of its own counts, also at half, by the least covered article it links, and one that links only places counts for nothing. Each list runs by year, and the wording is unchanged apart from removing references to pictures, audio and video.