This is a list of selected May 5 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 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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Ignacio Zaragoza
Ulysses S. Grant
Cy Young, 1911 baseball card
Astronaut Alan Shepard
Palace of Europe
Kublai Khan
Ineligible
| Blurb | Reason |
|---|---|
| 553 – The Second Council of Constantinople, considered by many Christian churches to have been the fifth Christian Ecumenical Council, began to discuss the topics of Nestorianism and Origenism, among others. | refimprove section |
| 1260 – Kublai Khan (pictured) claimed the title of Khagan of the Mongol Empire after the death of his older brother Möngke in the previous year. | unreferenced section, refimprove section |
| 1789 – The Estates-General convened in Versailles to discuss a financial crisis in France, triggering a series of events that led to the French Revolution. | refimprove |
| 1862 – Mexican troops led by Ignacio Zaragoza halted a French invasion at the Battle of Puebla. | refimprove section |
| 1949 – Ten European countries signed the Treaty of London, creating the Council of Europe (Palace of Europe pictured), today one of the oldest international organisations working for European integration. | conflict of interest |
| 1961 – Project Mercury: Aboard the American spacecraft Freedom 7, Alan Shepard made a sub-orbital flight, becoming the second person to travel into outer space after Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin. | unreferenced section |
| 1994 – American teenager Michael P. Fay was caned in Singapore for theft and vandalism, a punishment that the United States deemed to be excessive for a teenager committing a non-violent crime. | unreferenced section |
Eligible
- 1864 – American Civil War: Union Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant's Overland Campaign in Virginia began with the Battle of the Wilderness in Spotsylvania County.
- 1904 – Pitcher Cy Young of the Boston Americans threw the first perfect game in the modern era of professional baseball.
- 1940 – World War II: A squad of 250 Norwegian volunteers in Hegra Fortress finally surrendered to a vastly superior Nazi force after a 25-day siege.
- 1992 – The 27th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified 202 years after it was proposed.
Other
- 1980 – Iranian Embassy siege saved for April 30, the beginning of the siege
- 1994 – Nagorno-Karabakh War saved for February 20, the start of the war
May 5: Cinco de Mayo; Liberation Day in Denmark, Ethiopia, and the Netherlands; Children's Day in Japan and South Korea
- 1860 – Led by Italian general Giuseppe Garibaldi (pictured), the volunteer Expedition of the Thousand set sail from Genoa on a campaign to conquer the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies.
- 1891 – New York City's Carnegie Hall, built by philanthropist Andrew Carnegie, officially opened with a concert conducted by Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky.
- 1936 – Second Italo-Abyssinian War: Italian troops captured Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, unopposed.
- 1981 – After sixty-six days without food, Irish republican Bobby Sands died of starvation in HM Prison Maze.
- 1991 – Rioting broke out in Washington, D.C., after a rookie police officer shot a Salvadorean man in the chest.
- 2007 – Kenya Airways Flight 507 crashed immediately after takeoff from Douala International Airport in Cameroon, resulting in the deaths of all 114 people aboard.