March 5


 * This article is about the day. For the 1994 novel, see The Fifth of March.

Events

 * 363 - Roman Emperor Julian moves from Antioch with an army of 90,000 to attack the Sassanid Empire, in a campaign which would bring about his own death.
 * 1046 - Naser Khosrow begins the seven-year Middle Eastern journey which he will later describe in his book Safarnama.
 * 1496 - England King Henry VII issues letters patent to John Cabot and his sons, authorizing them to explore unknown lands.
 * 1689 - Daniel Finch, 2nd Earl of Nottingham is named Secretary of State for the Northern Department.
 * 1766 - Antonio de Ulloa, the first Spanish governor of Louisiana, arrives in New Orleans.
 * 1770 - Boston Massacre: Five Americans, including a black man named Crispus Attucks, and a boy are killed by British troops in an event that would contribute to the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War five years later.
 * 1784 - Thomas Townshend, 1st Viscount Sydney is named President of the Board of Trade.
 * 1793 - French troops are defeated by Austrian forces and Liège is recaptured.
 * 1824 - First Burmese War: The British officially declare war on Burma.
 * 1836 - Samuel Colt makes the first production-model revolver, the .34-caliber.
 * 1842 - Over 500 Mexican troops led by Rafael Vasquez invade Texas, briefly occupy San Antonio and then head back to the Rio Grande.
 * 1848 - Louis Antoine Garnier-Pages is named French minister of Finance.
 * 1850 - The Britannia Bridge across the Menai Strait between the Isle of Anglesey and the mainland of Wales is opened.
 * 1860 - Parma, Tuscany, Modena and Romagna vote in referendums to join the Kingdom of Sardinia.
 * 1861 - The "Stars and Bars" is adopted as the flag of the Confederate States of America.
 * 1868 - A court of impeachment is organized in the United States Senate to hear charges against President Andrew Johnson.
 * 1868  - Mefistofele, an opera by Arrigo Boito premieres at La Scala.
 * 1872 - George Westinghouse patents the air brake.
 * 1894 - Archibald Philip Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery becomes First Lord of the Treasury.
 * 1904 - Nikola Tesla, in Electrical World and Engineer, describes the process of the ball lightning formation.
 * 1905 - Russian troops begin to retreat from Mukden, Manchuria after losing 100,000 troops in three days.
 * 1907 - The second Duma opens in St. Petersburg, Russia and 40,000 demonstrators have to be dispersed by Russian troops.
 * 1912 - Italian forces are the first to use airships for military purposes, using them for reconnaissance behind Turkish lines.
 * 1915 - World War I: The LZ 33, a zeppelin, is damaged by enemy fire and stranded south of Ostend.
 * 1933 - Great Depression: President Franklin D. Roosevelt declares a "bank holiday", closing all U.S. banks and freezing all financial transactions.
 * 1933  - In Germany, the Nazis win 44 percent of the vote in parliamentary elections.
 * 1936 - First flight of the Supermarine Spitfire fighter aircraft.
 * 1940 - Members of Soviet politburo sign an order for the execution of 25,700 Polish intelligentsia, including 14,700 Polish POWs, known also as the Katyn massacre.
 * 1943 - First flight of Gloster Meteor jet aircraft in the United Kingdom.
 * 1945 - World War II: The "Battle of the Ruhr" begins.
 * 1946 - Winston Churchill uses the phrase "Iron Curtain" in his speech at Westminster College, Missouri.
 * 1946  - Hungarian Communists and Social Democrats co-found the Left Bloc.
 * 1949 - The Jharkhand Party is founded in India.
 * 1958 - The Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region is established.
 * 1958  - Explorer 2 spacecraft launches and fails to reach Earth orbit.
 * 1960 - The Aquatic Ape Hypothesis originates when Alister Hardy publicly announces his idea that ape-human divergence may have been due to a coastal phase.
 * 1964 - Ceylon declares emergency crisis due to unrest.
 * 1965 - March Intifada: A Leftist uprising erupts in Bahrain against British colonial presence.
 * 1966 - BOAC Flight 911 crashes on Mount Fuji, Japan, killing 124.
 * 1970 - The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty goes into effect after ratification by 43 nations.
 * 1970  - Dubnium atoms are first detected conclusively.
 * 1973 - Donald DeFreeze, the future Symbionese Liberation Army leader, escapes from Vacaville Prison.
 * 1974 - Yom Kippur War: Israeli forces withdraw from the west bank of the Suez Canal.
 * 1976 - The British pound falls below $2 USD for the first time.
 * 1978 - The Landsat 3 is launched from Vandenberg AFB in California.
 * 1979 - Detection equipment picks up a gamma ray burst originating from the Large Magellanic Cloud, leading to the discovery of soft gamma repeaters.
 * 1979  - Voyager 1's closest approach to Jupiter, 172,000 miles.
 * 1982 - Venera 14, a Soviet satellite arrives at the planet Venus.
 * 1988 - Constitution of Turks and Caicos Islands is restored and revised.
 * 1991 - Iraq releases all Gulf War prisoners.
 * 1998 - NASA announces that the Clementine probe orbiting the Moon has found enough water to support a human colony.
 * 1999 - Paul Okalik is elected first Premier of Nunavut.
 * 2001 - In Mecca, 35 Muslim pilgrims are crushed to death during the annual Hajj pilgrimage.
 * 2003 - In Haifa, 17 Israeli civilians are killed by a Hamas suicide bomb in the Haifa bus 37 massacre.
 * 2005 - The Burkinabé Party for Democracy and Socialism holds its first National Convention.

Births

 * 1133 - King Henry II of England (d. 1189)
 * 1324 - King David II of Scotland (d. 1371)
 * 1512 - Gerardus Mercator, Flemish cartographer (d. 1594)
 * 1563 - John Coke, English politician (d. 1644)
 * 1575 - William Oughtred, English mathematician (d. 1660)
 * 1585 - John George I, Elector of Saxony (d. 1656)
 * 1658 - Antoine Laumet de La Mothe, sieur de Cadillac, French explorer (d. 1730)
 * 1693 - Johann Jakob Wettstein, Swiss theologian (d. 1754)
 * 1696 - Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, Italian painter (d. 1770)
 * 1703 (N.S.) - Vasily Kirillovich Trediakovsky, Russian poet (d. 1768)
 * 1723 - Princess Mary of Great Britain (d. 1773)
 * 1739 - Benjamin Ruggles Woodbridge, doctor, Massachusetts militia officer, member of the Massachusetts legislature (d. 1819)
 * 1748 - Jonas C. Dryander, Swedish botanist (d. 1810)
 * 1748  - William Shield, English musician (d. 1829)
 * 1750 - Jean-Baptiste Gaspard d'Ansse de Villoison, French classical scholar (d. 1805)
 * 1794 - Jacques Babinet, French physicist (d. 1872)
 * 1794  - Robert Cooper Grier, Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court (d. 1870)
 * 1814 - Wilhelm von Giesebrecht, German historian (d. 1889)
 * 1815 - John Wentworth, American politician (d. 1888)
 * 1817 - Austen Henry Layard, English archaeologist (d. 1894)
 * 1836 - Charles Goodnight, American cattle rancher (d. 1929)
 * 1853 - Howard Pyle, American author and illustrator (d. 1911)
 * 1867 - Louis-Alexandre Taschereau, Premier of Quebec (d. 1952)
 * 1869 - Michael von Faulhaber, German cardinal and archbishop (d. 1952)
 * 1870 - Frank Norris, American writer (d. 1902)
 * 1871 - Rosa Luxemburg, Socialist revolutionary (d. 1919)
 * 1873 - Olav Bjaaland, Norwegian explorer and cross-country skier (d. 1961)
 * 1874 - Henry Travers, British actor (d. 1965)
 * 1879 - Sir William Beveridge, British economist (d. 1963)
 * 1883 - Marius Barbeau, French Canadian ethnographer and folklorist (b. 1969)
 * 1886 - Dong Biwu, High-ranking member of the Communist Party of China (d. 1975)
 * 1887 - Heitor Villa-Lobos, Brazilian composer (d. 1959)
 * 1897 - Set Persson, Swedish communist politician (d. 1960)
 * 1898 - Zhou Enlai, Premier of the People's Republic of China (d. 1976)
 * 1898  - Soong May-ling, Chinese wife of Chiang Kai-Shek (d. 2003)
 * 1904 - Karl Rahner, German theologian (d. 1984)
 * 1908 - Irving Fiske, American writer, playwright, (d. 1990)
 * 1908  - Sir Rex Harrison, English actor (d. 1990)
 * 1914 - Philip Farkas, American horn player and teacher (d. 1992)
 * 1915 - Laurent Schwartz, French mathematician (d. 2002)
 * 1918 - Milt Schmidt, Canadian ice hockey player, coach and manager
 * 1918  - Red Storey, Canadian football player and ice hockey referee (d. 2006)
 * 1918  - James Tobin, American economist, Nobel laureate (d. 2002)
 * 1920 - José Aboulker, Jewish Communist
 * 1920  - Virginia Christine, American actress (d. 1996)
 * 1921 - Elmer Valo, American baseball player (d. 1998)
 * 1922 - James Noble, American actor
 * 1922  - Pier Paolo Pasolini, Italian writer and film director (d. 1975)
 * 1923  - Laurence Tisch, American investor
 * 1927 - Jack Cassidy, American actor (d. 1976)
 * 1929 - Erik Carlsson, Swedish rally driver
 * 1930 - Del Crandall, American baseball player
 * 1931 - Fred Othon Aristidès, French comics artist
 * 1931  - Barry Tuckwell, Australian horn virtuoso
 * 1933 - Tommy Tucker, American blues singer and pianist (d. 1982)
 * 1934 - Daniel Kahneman, Israeli economist, Nobel laureate
 * 1934  - James B. Sikking, American actor
 * 1936 - Canaan Banana, first President of Zimbabwe (d. 2003)
 * 1936  - Dean Stockwell, American actor
 * 1937 - Olusẹgun Ọbasanjọ, President of Nigeria
 * 1938 - Paul Evans, American singer and songwriter
 * 1938  - Fred Williamson, American football player and actor
 * 1939 - Samantha Eggar, English actress
 * 1939  - Peter Woodcock, Canadian serial killer
 * 1939  - Pierre Wynants, Belgian chef
 * 1940 - Malcolm Hebden, English actor
 * 1942 - Felipe González, Prime Minister of Spain
 * 1942  - Mike Resnick, American science fiction author
 * 1943 - Billy Backus, American boxer
 * 1944 - Lucio Battisti, Italian singer (d. 1998)
 * 1944  - Roy Gutman, American journalist, Pulitzer Prize winner
 * 1946 - Murray Head, British actor and singer
 * 1946  - Richard Bell, Canadian musician (The Band)
 * 1947 - Eddie Hodges, American actor and singer
 * 1947  - Clodagh Rodgers, Irish singer
 * 1947  - Kent Tekulve, American baseball player
 * 1948 - Eddy Grant, Guyana-born singer
 * 1948  - Richard Hickox, English musical conductor
 * 1948  - Elaine Paige, English singer and actress
 * 1948  - Paquirri, Spanish bullfighter  (d. 1984)
 * 1949 - Franz Josef Jung, Commander-in-chief of the German Bundeswehr
 * 1951 - Giorgos Ninios, Greek actor
 * 1952 - Alan Clark, English keyboardist (Dire Straits)
 * 1954 - Marsha Warfield, American actress, comedienne
 * 1955 - Penn Jillette, American magician and comedian
 * 1956 - Adriana Barraza, Mexican actress
 * 1956  - Teena Marie, American singer
 * 1957 - Mark E. Smith, English singer (The Fall)
 * 1958 - Andy Gibb, English-born Australian singer and teen idol (d. 1988)
 * 1959 - Vazgen Sargsyan, Armenian politician (d. 1999)
 * 1959  - David Fury, American television writer and producer
 * 1960 - David Tibet, English musician (Current 93)
 * 1962 - Jonathan Penner, American reality show contestant
 * 1962  - Charlie and Craig Reid, Scottish musicians (The Proclaimers)
 * 1966 - Michael Irvin, American football player
 * 1966  - Bob Halkidis, Canadian hockey player
 * 1966  - Aasif Mandvi, Indian-born American actor and comedian
 * 1969 - Paul Blackthorne, British actor
 * 1969  - Moussa Saïb, former Algerian footballer
 * 1969  - MC Solaar, French rapper
 * 1970 - John Frusciante, American musician (Red Hot Chili Peppers)
 * 1970  - Lisa Robin Kelly, American actress
 * 1971 - Jeffrey Hammonds, American baseball player
 * 1971  - Evil Jared Hasselhoff, American musician (Bloodhound Gang)
 * 1971  - Yuri Lowenthal, American actor/author/painter
 * 1971  - Filip Meirhaeghe, Belgian mountainbiker
 * 1972 - Luca Turilli, Italian musician (Rhapsody)
 * 1973 - Yannis Anastasiou, Greek footballer
 * 1973  - Ryan Franklin, American baseball player
 * 1974 - Kevin Connolly, American television actor and comedian
 * 1974  - Jens Jeremies, German footballer
 * 1974  - Matt Lucas, English comedian
 * 1974  - Eva Mendes, American actress
 * 1975 - Jolene Blalock, American actress
 * 1975  - Sasho Petrovski, Australian soccer player
 * 1975  - Niki Taylor, American model
 * 1975  - Luciano Burti, Brazilian racing driver
 * 1976 - Šarūnas Jasikevičius, Lithuanian basketball player
 * 1976  - Paul Konerko, American baseball player
 * 1976  - Katerina Matziou, Greek actress
 * 1976  - Tim Sylvia, American mixed martial artist
 * 1977 - Bryan Berard, American ice hockey player
 * 1977  - Mike MacDougal, American baseball player
 * 1977  - Wally Szczerbiak, American basketball player
 * 1978 - Mike Hessman, American baseball player
 * 1978  - Kimberly McCullough, American actress
 * 1978 - Papoose, American rapper
 * 1979 - Tang Gonghong, Chinese weightlifter
 * 1981 - Andreas Wiig, Norwegian snowboarder
 * 1981  - Paul Martin, American ice hockey player
 * 1981  - Shugo Oshinari, Japanese actor
 * 1982 - Daniel Carter, New Zealand Rugby player
 * 1982   - Giorgia Palmas, Italian television personality and model
 * 1985 - Ken'ichi Matsuyama, Japanese actor
 * 1985  - Whitney Port, Cast member of The Hills TV series
 * 1986 - Matty Fryatt, English footballer
 * 1987 - Anna Chakvetadze, Russian tennis player
 * 1988 - Trevor Carson, Northern Irish footballer
 * 1988  - Bjarni Viðarsson, Icelandic footballer
 * 1989 - Jake Lloyd, American actor

Deaths

 * 1534 - Antonio da Correggio, Italian painter (b. 1489)
 * 1539 - Nuno da Cunha, Portuguese governor in India (b. 1487)
 * 1592 - Michael Coxcie, Flemish painter (b. 1499)
 * 1611 - Shimazu Yoshihisa, Japanese warlord and samurai (b. 1533)
 * 1622 - Ranuccio I Farnese, Duke of Parma (b. 1569)
 * 1695 - Henry Wharton, English writer (b. 1664)
 * 1726 - Evelyn Pierrepont, 1st Duke of Kingston-upon-Hull, English politician
 * 1770 - Crispus Attucks a free black American
 * 1776 - Yeongjo of Joseon, ruler of Korea (b. 1694)
 * 1778 - Thomas Arne, English composer (b. 1710)
 * 1815 - Franz Mesmer, Austrian developer of hypnotism (b. 1734)
 * 1827 - Pierre-Simon Laplace, French mathematician (b. 1749)
 * 1827  - Alessandro Volta, Italian physicist (b. 1745)
 * 1829 - John Adams, last surviving HMS Bounty mutineer (b. 1766)
 * 1849 - David Scott, Scottish painter (b. 1806)
 * 1876 - Marie d'Agoult, German-born writer (b. 1805)
 * 1893 - Hippolyte Taine, French historian (b. 1828
 * 1895 - Nikolai Leskov, Russian writer (b. 1831)
 * 1895  - Henry Rawlinson, British soldier and scholar (b. 1810)
 * 1903 - George Francis Robert Henderson, British soldier (b. 1854)
 * 1907 - Friedrich Blass, German classical scholar (b. 1843)
 * 1925 - Johan Jensen, Danish mathematician (b. 1859)
 * 1926 - Clément Ader, French aviation pioneer (b. 1841)
 * 1927 - Franz Mertens, German mathematician (b. 1840)
 * 1929 - David Dunbar Buick, Scottish-born American automobile pioneer (b. 1854)
 * 1931 - Fr. Arthur Tooth SSC, Anglican Clergyman prosecuted and imprisoned for ritualist activities (b. 1839)
 * 1940 - Cai Yuanpei, Chinese educator (b. 1868)
 * 1944 - Max Jacob, French poet and writer (b. 1876)
 * 1945 - Lena Baker, American murderer (b. 1901)
 * 1947 - Alfredo Casella, Italian composer (b. 1883)
 * 1953 - Sergei Prokofiev, Russian composer, (b. 1891)
 * 1953  - Joseph Stalin, Georgian leader of the Soviet Union (b. 1879)
 * 1953  - Herman J. Mankiewicz, American screenwriter (b. 1897)
 * 1955 - Antanas Merkys, President of Lithuania (b. 1888)
 * 1963 - Patsy Cline, American singer (b. 1932)
 * 1963  - Cowboy Copas, American singer (b. 1913)
 * 1963  - Hawkshaw Hawkins, American singer (b. 1921)
 * 1965 - Chen Cheng, Chinese politician (b. 1897)
 * 1965  - Pepper Martin, American baseball player (b. 1904)
 * 1966 - Anna Akhmatova, Russian poet (b. 1889)
 * 1967 - Georges Vanier, Governor General of Canada (b. 1888)
 * 1973 - Michael Jeffery, British music manager (b. 1933)
 * 1974 - Billy De Wolfe, American actor (b. 1907)
 * 1974  - Sol Hurok, Russian-born impresario (b. 1888)
 * 1977 - Tom Pryce, Welsh Formula One driver (b. 1949)
 * 1977  - Jansen Van Vuuren, Dutch volunteer safety marshall at the 1977 South African Grand Prix
 * 1980 - Jay Silverheels, Canadian actor (b. 1912)
 * 1980  - Winifred Wagner, German opera producer (b. 1897)
 * 1981 - Yip Harburg, American lyricist (b. 1896)
 * 1982 - John Belushi, American actor (b. 1949)
 * 1984 - Tito Gobbi, Italian baritone (b. 1915)
 * 1984  - William Powell, American actor (b. 1892)
 * 1988 - Alberto Olmedo, Argentine comedian (b. 1933)
 * 1990 - Gary Merrill, American film actor (b. 1915)
 * 1993 - Cyril Collard, French author and filmmaker (b. 1957)
 * 1995 - Vivian Stanshall, English musician (Bonzo Dog Band) (b. 1943)
 * 1995  - Gregg Hansford, Australian motorcycle and touring car racer (b. 1952)
 * 1996 - Whit Bissell, American actor (b. 1909)
 * 1997 - Samm Sinclair Baker, American diet author (b. 1909)
 * 1999 - Richard Kiley, American actor (b. 1922)
 * 2000 - Lolo Ferrari, French pornographic actress (b. 1962)
 * 2004 - Walt Gorney, American actor (b. 1912)
 * 2006 - Richard Kuklinski, American Mafia hit man (b. 1935)
 * 2008 - Joseph Weizenbaum, German-American professor of computer science (b.1923)

Holidays and observances

 * Learn from Lei Feng Day in China.
 * Approximate beginning of month of jīngzhé in Chinese calendar.
 * St Piran's Day - Cornwall's national day.
 * Feast of St. Ciarán Saighir, patron of the Diocese of Ossory, in Irish calendar.
 * Saint Theophile (d. 195)
 * Saint Olivia (d. 308)
 * March 5 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)