February 5 in History

Historical Events on February 5

AD 62

Earthquake in Pompeii, Italy.
756

An Lushan, leader of a revolt against the Tang Dynasty, declares himself emperor and establishes the state of Yan.
1576

Henry of Navarre abjures Catholicism at Tours and rejoins the Protestant forces in the French Wars of Religion.
1597

A group of early Japanese Christians are killed by the new government of Japan for being seen as a threat to Japanese society.
1778

South Carolina becomes the second state to ratify the Articles of Confederation.
1782

Spanish defeat British forces and capture Menorca.
1783

In Calabria, a sequence of strong earthquakes begins.
1807

HMS Blenheim (1761) and HMS Java disappear off the coast of Rodrigues.
1810

Peninsular War: Siege of Cádiz begins.
1818

Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte ascends to the thrones of Sweden and Norway.
1849

University of Wisconsin-Madison's first class meets at Madison Female Academy.
1852

The New Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg, Russia, one of the largest and oldest museums in the world, opens to the public.
1859

Wallachia and Moldavia are united under Alexandru Ioan Cuza as the United Principalities, an autonomous region within the Ottoman Empire, which ushered the birth of the modern Romanian state.
1869

The largest alluvial gold nugget in history, called the "Welcome Stranger", is found in Moliagul, Victoria, Australia.
1885

King Leopold II of Belgium establishes the Congo as a personal possession.
1905

In Mexico, the General Hospital of Mexico is inaugurated, started with four basic specialties.
1909

Belgian chemist Leo Baekeland announces the creation of Bakelite, the world's first synthetic plastic.
1913

Greek military aviators, Michael Moutoussis and Aristeidis Moraitinis perform the first naval air mission in history, with a Farman MF.7 hydroplane.
1917

The current constitution of Mexico is adopted, establishing a federal republic with powers separated into independent executive, legislative, and judicial branches.
1917

The Congress of the United States passes the Immigration Act of 1917 over President Woodrow Wilson's veto.
1918

Stephen W. Thompson shoots down a German airplane; this is the first aerial victory by the U.S. military.
1918

SS Tuscania is torpedoed off the coast of Ireland; it is the first ship carrying American troops to Europe to be torpedoed and sunk.
1919

Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks, and D. W. Griffith launch United Artists.
1924

The Royal Greenwich Observatory begins broadcasting the hourly time signals known as the Greenwich Time Signal.
1933

Mutiny on Royal Netherlands Navy warship HNLMS De Zeven Provinciën off the coast of Sumatra, Dutch East Indies.
1939

Generalísimo Francisco Franco becomes the 68th "Caudillo de España", or Leader of Spain.
1941

World War II: Allied forces begin the Battle of Keren to capture Keren, Eritrea.
1945

World War II: General Douglas MacArthur returns to Manila.
1958

Gamal Abdel Nasser is nominated to be the first president of the United Arab Republic.
1958

A hydrogen bomb known as the Tybee Bomb is lost by the US Air Force off the coast of Savannah, Georgia, never to be recovered.
1962

French President Charles de Gaulle calls for Algeria to be granted independence.
1963

The European Court of Justice's ruling in Van Gend en Loos v Nederlandse Administratie der Belastingen establishes the principle of direct effect, one of the most important, if not the most important, decisions in the development of European Union law.
1971

Astronauts land on the moon in the Apollo 14 mission.
1975

Riots break in Lima, Peru after the police forces go on strike the day before. The uprising (locally known as the Limazo) is bloodily suppressed by the military dictatorship.
1985

Ugo Vetere, then the mayor of Rome, and Chedli Klibi, then the mayor of Carthage meet in Tunis to sign a treaty of friendship officially ending the Third Punic War which lasted 2,131 years.
1988

Manuel Noriega is indicted on drug smuggling and money laundering charges.
1994

Byron De La Beckwith is convicted of the 1963 murder of civil rights leader Medgar Evers.
1994

Markale massacres, more than 60 people are killed and some 200 wounded as a mortar shell explodes in a downtown marketplace in Sarajevo.
1997

The so-called Big Three banks in Switzerland announce the creation of a $71 million fund to aid Holocaust survivors and their families.
2000

Russian forces massacre at least 60 civilians in the Novye Aldi suburb of Grozny, Chechnya.
2004

Rebels from the Revolutionary Artibonite Resistance Front capture the city of Gonaïves, starting the 2004 Haiti rebellion.
2008

A major tornado outbreak across the Southern United States kills 57.
2017

The New England Patriots win Superbowl LI after coming back down 25 to win 34-28 in overtime. It is the first such overtime game in Superbowl history. Tom Brady wins 4th Super Bowl MVP award.

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