This is a list of selected May 3 anniversaries that appear in the "On this day" section of the Main Page. To suggest a new item, in most cases, you can be bold and edit this page. Before doing so, please review the selected anniversaries guidelines. If your suggestion is potentially controversial or relates to a day currently or soon to appear on the Main Page, post it on the talk page instead.
Please note:
- Events listed on the Main Page are selected based on article quality and to provide a diverse range of topics, rather than solely on the importance or significance of the events.
- Only four or five events are featured each day; therefore, not all important or significant events can be included.
- An event is generally excluded if it is already the subject of the scheduled featured article, featured list or picture of the day.
To report an error in content currently on the Main Page, see Wikipedia:Main Page/Errors. If a listed event is inaccurate, please first seek consensus and update the corresponding article before making changes here.
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Images
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The original of the Constitution of the State of Japan
Suomenlinna in 2005
Subhas Chandra Bose
Battle of Tolentino
Frederick Bianchi, Duke of Casalanza
Aerial view of RAF Northolt
João I of Kongo
Erich Honecker
Cap Arcona shortly after being attacked
Scene from Raja Harishchandra
.jpg)
Ineligible
| Blurb | Reason |
|---|---|
| Mother's Day in Hungary, Lithuania, Mozambique, Portugal, Romania and Spain (2015) | refimprove section |
| 1808 – Finnish War: Sweden lost the fortress of Suomenlinna to Russia. | needs more footnotes |
| 1815 – Austrian troops led by Frederick Bianchi, Duke of Casalanza defeated the forces under King Joachim Murat of Naples at the Battle of Tolentino, the decisive battle of the Neapolitan War. | no footnotes |
| 1837 – The National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, the oldest university in Southeast Europe, was founded. | refimprove section |
| 1951 – The Royal Festival Hall, the first post-war building to become listed Grade I, opened as the venue for the Festival of Britain. | refimprove section |
| 2000 – The sport of geocaching was born when the coordinates of a cache outside Portland, Oregon, US, were posted to a Usenet group. | globalize |
| 2007 – Three-year-old Madeleine McCann disappeared while on holiday with her family in Portugal, sparking "the most heavily reported missing-person case in modern history". | too detailed |
| Élisabeth of France |b|1764 | missing page numbers |
| * 1915 – Canadian physician and lieutenant colonel John McCrae wrote "In Flanders Fields", considered one of the most notable poems written during the First World War. | Article states 2 May and several alternatives |
| * 2021 – Being appointed by the Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw as the Union Minister of Human Rights for the National Unity Government of Myanmar, Aung Myo Min became the country's first openly LGBT minister. | Half of career section uncited |
Eligible
- 1491 – Nkuwu Nzinga, the ruler of the Kingdom of Kongo, was baptised as João I by Portuguese missionaries.
- 1616 – The Treaty of Loudun was signed, ending a war that originally began as a power struggle for the French throne.
- 1791 – The Great Sejm of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth ratified the first codified national constitution in Europe.
- 1845 – A long-running feud between two towns in Wisconsin came to a head when a schooner crashed into a bridge; they later merged to form the city of Milwaukee.
- 1855 – A group of American mercenaries led by William Walker set sail from San Francisco to conquer Nicaragua.
- 1913 – Raja Harishchandra, the first Indian feature-length film, was released.
- 1915 – The oldest Royal Air Force station in continuous operation, RAF Northolt, opened as home to No. 4 Reserve Aeroplane Squadron.
- 1920 – Russian Civil War: Relying on Red Army troops in neighboring Azerbaijan, the Bolsheviks attempted to stage a coup d'etat in Georgia.
- 1921 – Under the British Government of Ireland Act, Ireland was partitioned into two self-governing territories, Northern and Southern Ireland.
- 1942 – Second World War: Japanese forces began an invasion of Tulagi and nearby islands in the British Solomon Islands, enabling them to threaten and intercept supply and communication routes between the United States and Australasia.
- 1945 – Second World War: The German ocean liner Cap Arcona, afloat in the Bay of Lübeck with thousands of concentration camp survivors on board, was attacked and sunk by the Royal Air Force.
- 1947 – A new Constitution of Japan went into effect, providing for a parliamentary system of government, guaranteeing certain fundamental rights, and relegating the Japanese monarchy to a purely ceremonial role.
- 1960 – The Off-Broadway show The Fantasticks premiered, eventually becoming the world's longest-running musical, with 17,162 performances across 42 years.
- 1963 – Police in Birmingham, Alabama, used high-pressure water hoses and dogs against civil-rights protesters, bringing scrutiny on racial segregation in the southern United States.
- 1971 – Erich Honecker became First Secretary of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany, the governing party of East Germany.
- 2007 – Three-year-old British girl Madeleine McCann disappeared from a holiday apartment in Praia da Luz, Portugal; she has never been found.
- 2021 – Twenty-six people are killed and ninety-eight are injured after an elevated section of the Mexico City Metro collapses.
- Born/died: | Béla IV of Hungary |d|1270| Alexios II of Trebizond |d|1330| Henry Garnet |d|1606| William Shakespeare |d|1616| Catherine of St. Augustine |b|1632| Richard D'Oyly Carte |b|1844| Eppa Rixey |b|1891| Red Ruffing |b|1905| Sugar Ray Robinson |b|1921| Len Shackleton |b|1922| Dhananjay Ramchandra Gadgil |d|1971|John O'Connor |d|2000
Notes
- 1979 United Kingdom general election is saved for May 4, the date of Margaret Thatcher officially becoming Prime Minister
May 3: World Press Freedom Day; Constitution Memorial Day in Japan (1947); Constitution Day in Poland (1791)
Benty Grange helmet
- 1481 – The largest of a series of earthquakes struck the island of Rhodes, causing an estimated 30,000 casualties.
- 1848 – The Benty Grange helmet (pictured), a boar-crested Anglo-Saxon helmet similar to those mentioned in the contemporary epic poem Beowulf, was discovered in Derbyshire, England.
- 1939 – Subhas Chandra Bose formed the All India Forward Bloc, a faction within the Indian National Congress, in opposition to Gandhi's tactics of nonviolence.
- 1999 – A Doppler on Wheels team measured the fastest winds recorded on Earth, at 301 ± 20 mph (484 ± 32 km/h), in a tornado near Bridge Creek, Oklahoma.
- Elizabeth Bacon (d. 1621)
- Jacob Riis (b. 1849)
- Bob McCallister (b. 1934)
- Ron Hextall (b. 1964)