What Happened on March 5th in History
30 historical events on this date
Cold War: Winston Churchill delivers his famous "Iron Curtain" speech at Westminster College, Missouri.
The Cold War was a period of international geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist...
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.
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin was a Soviet revolutionary and politician who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held office as the General Secretary of the Communist Party from...
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.
The Sutton Wick air crash occurred on 5 March 1957 when a Blackburn Beverley C Mk 1 heavy transport aircraft, serial number XH117, of No. 53 Squadron RAF crashed at Sutton Wick, Drayton, Berkshire,...
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.
The president of the Republic of Indonesia is the head of state and head of government of the Republic of Indonesia. The president is the leader of the executive branch of the Indonesian government...
American country music stars Patsy Cline, Hawkshaw Hawkins, Cowboy Copas and their pilot Randy Hughes are killed in a plane crash in Camden, Tennessee.
Patsy Cline was an American singer. One of the most influential vocalists of the 20th century, she was known as one of the first country music artists to successfully cross over into pop music....
Aeroflot Flight 191 crashes while landing at AĆgabat International Airport, killing 12.
Aeroflot Flight 191 was a Soviet domestic passenger flight from Vnukovo International Airport to Ashkhabad International Airport, with a stopover in Krasnovodsk Airport. On 5 March 1963, the...
March Intifada: A Leftist uprising erupts in Bahrain against the British colonial presence.
The March Intifada was an uprising that broke out in Bahrain in March 1965. The uprising was led by Leftist groups, the National Liberation Front â Bahrain calling for the end of the British...
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.
BOAC Flight 911 was a round-the-world flight operated by the British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) that crashed near Mount Fuji in Japan on 5 March 1966, with the loss of all 113 passengers...
Lake Central Airlines Flight 527 crashes near Marseilles, Ohio, killing 38.
Lake Central Airlines Flight 527 was a regularly scheduled Convair 580 flight on March 5, 1967, from Chicago, Illinois to Detroit, Michigan with stops at Lafayette, Indiana, Cincinnati, Ohio,...
Air France Flight 212 crashes into La Grande SoufriĂšre, killing all 63 aboard.
Air France Flight 212 was a scheduled passenger flight from Santiago, Chile to Paris with scheduled stops at Lima, Quito, BogotĂĄ, Caracas, Pointe-Ă -Pitre, Vila do Porto, and Lisbon. On March 6,...
The Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons goes into effect after ratification by 43 nations.
The Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, commonly known as the Non-Proliferation Treaty or NPT, is an international treaty, the objective of which is to prevent the spread of nuclear...
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.
Iberia, legally incorporated as Iberia LĂneas AĂ©reas de España, S.A. Operadora, Sociedad Unipersonal, is the flag carrier of Spain. Founded in 1927 and based in Madrid, it operates an international...
Yom Kippur War: Israeli forces withdraw from the west bank of the Suez Canal.
The Yom Kippur War, also known as the 1973 ArabâIsraeli War, the fourth ArabâIsraeli War, the October War, or the Ramadan War, was fought between Israel and a coalition of Arab states led by Egypt...
The Landsat 3 is launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.
Landsat 3 is the third satellite of the Landsat program. It was launched on March 5, 1978, with the primary goal of providing a global archive of satellite imagery. Unlike later Landsat satellites,...
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.
The Venera 11 was a Soviet uncrewed space mission which was part of the Venera program to explore the planet Venus. Venera 11 was launched on 9 September 1978 at 03:25:39 UTC.
The ZX81, a pioneering British home computer, is launched by Sinclair Research and would go on to sell over 11â2 million units around the world.
The ZX81 is a home computer developed by Sinclair Research and manufactured in Dundee, Scotland, by Timex Corporation. It was launched in the United Kingdom in March 1981 as the successor to...
Soviet probe Venera 14 lands on Venus.
Venera 14 was a probe in the Soviet Venera program for the exploration of Venus.
Aeropostal Alas de Venezuela Flight 109 crashes in Venezuela, killing 45.
Aeropostal Alas de Venezuela Flight 109 was a short-haul flight from La Chinita International Airport in Maracaibo, Venezuela to Santa Barbara Ed-L Delicias Airport that crashed on March 5, 1991.
Palair Macedonian Airlines Flight 301 crashes at Skopje International Airport in Petrovec, North Macedonia, killing 83.
Palair Macedonian Airlines Flight 301 was a scheduled international passenger flight from Skopje to Zurich, operated by Palair Macedonian, the then-flag carrier of Macedonia. On 5 March 1993, the...
In Mina, Saudi Arabia, 35 pilgrims are killed in a stampede on the Jamaraat Bridge during the Hajj.
Mina, nicknamed the "City of the Tents", is a valley located 8 kilometres southeast of the city of Mecca, in the district of Masha'er, Province of Makkah in the Hejazi region of Saudi Arabia....
An earthquake in Mindanao, Philippines, kills 15 people and injures more than 100.
The 2002 Mindanao earthquake struck the Philippines at 05:16:09 Philippine Standard Time on March 6. The world's sixth most powerful earthquake of the year, it registered a magnitude of 7.5 and was...
In Haifa, 17 Israeli civilians are killed in the Haifa bus 37 suicide bombing.
Haifa is the third-largest city in Israelâafter Jerusalem and Tel Avivâwith a population of 297,082 in 2024. The city of Haifa forms part of the Haifa metropolitan area, the third-most populous...
An Antonov An-148 crashes in Russia's Alexeyevsky District, Belgorod Oblast during a test flight, killing all seven aboard.
The Antonov An-148 is a regional jet designed and primarily built by the Ukrainian aerospace manufacturer Antonov of Ukraine. Between 2009 and 2018, the An-148 was also being produced on a second...
Tropical Storm Irina kills over 75 as it passes through Madagascar.
Severe Tropical Storm Irina was a large tropical cyclone that brought gusty winds and torrential rain across Madagascar, Mozambique, and South Africa. Irina is considered one of the most devastating...
Two people are killed and six more are injured in a shooting at a hair salon in Bucharest, Romania.
On 5 March 2012, a man opened fire at a hair salon in Bucharest, Romania, killing two people and wounding six more.
Syrian civil war: The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) pause the Deir ez-Zor campaign due to the Turkish-led invasion of Afrin.
The Syrian civil war was an armed conflict that began with the Syrian revolution in March 2011, when popular discontent with the Ba'athist regime ruled by Bashar al-Assad triggered large-scale...
Pope Francis begins a historic visit to Iraq amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.
Pope Francis was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of Vatican City from 13 March 2013 until his death in 2025. He was the first Jesuit pope, the first Latin American, and the first pope born...
Twenty people are killed and 30 injured in a suicide car bombing in Mogadishu, Somalia.
On 5 March 2021, a suicide car bombing occurred outside Luul Yemeni restaurant in Mogadishu, Somalia. The attack killed at least 20 people and injured another 30. Later the same day, jihadist group...
The 2023 Estonian parliamentary election is held, with two centre-right liberal parties gaining an absolute majority for the first time.
Parliamentary elections were held in Estonia on 5 March 2023 to elect all 101 members of the Riigikogu. The officially published election data indicate the victory of the Reform Party, which won 37...
A group of four prisoners escape from the Nouakchott Civil Prison, before being caught the next day.
The 2023 Nouakchott prison break was the result of a prison riot in the Nouakchott Civil Prison, the central prison of Mauritania. Four AQMI members managed to escape from the Nouakchott civil...