Historical events on May 5
MAY 5, 1980
The British Special Air Service recaptured the Iranian embassy in London following a six-day siege after Iranian Arab separatists had seized it.
The Special Air Service (SAS) is a special forces unit of the British Army. It was founded as a regiment in 1941
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MAY 5, 1991
Riots broke out in Washington, D.C., after a rookie police officer shot a Salvadoran man in the chest.
The 1991 Washington, D.C., riot, sometimes referred to as the Mount Pleasant riot or Mount Pleasant Disturbance, occurred in May 1991, when
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MAY 5, 1860
Led by Italian general Giuseppe Garibaldi, the volunteer Expedition of the Thousand set sail from Genoa on a campaign to conquer the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, a crucial event of the unification of Italy.
Giuseppe Maria Garibaldi was an Italian general, revolutionary and republican. He contributed to Italian unification (Risorgimento) and the creation of the Kingdom
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MAY 5, 2007
Kenya Airways Flight 507 crashed immediately after takeoff from Douala International Airport in Cameroon, resulting in the deaths of all 114 people aboard.
Kenya Airways Flight 507 was a scheduled international passenger service between Abidjan, Ivory Coast, and Nairobi, Kenya with a stopover in Douala,
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MAY 5, 1960
The Netherlands Carillon was inaugurated in Arlington, Virginia, on the 15th anniversary of Dutch Liberation Day.
The Netherlands Carillon is a 127-foot (39-m) tall campanile housing a 53-bell carillon located in Arlington County, Virginia. The instrument and tower
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MAY 5, 2019
Aeroflot Flight 1492 was struck by lightning after leaving Moscow's Sheremetyevo International Airport and caught fire during the subsequent emergency landing attempt, killing 41 people on board.
Aeroflot Flight 1492 was a scheduled domestic passenger flight operated by Aeroflot from Moscow–Sheremetyevo to Murmansk, Russia. On 5 May 2019, the
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MAY 5, 1940
World War II: A squad of 250 Norwegian volunteers defending Hegra Fortress surrendered to a superior Nazi force after a 25-day siege.
World War II or the Second World War was a global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies and the Axis powers. Nearly all
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MAY 5, 1654
Cromwell's Act of Grace, which pardoned the people of Scotland for any crimes committed during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, was proclaimed in Edinburgh.
Cromwell's Act of Grace, or more formally the Act of Pardon and Grace to the People of Scotland, was an Act of
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MAY 5, 1945
World War II: The citizens of Prague spontaneously rose up against the city's German occupiers.
World War II or the Second World War was a global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies and the Axis powers. Nearly all
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MAY 5, 1904
Pitching for the Boston Americans, Cy Young threw the first perfect game in modern professional baseball.
In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each
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MAY 5, 1981
After a 66-day hunger strike, Irish republican Bobby Sands died of starvation in HM Prison Maze.
The 1981 Irish hunger strike was the culmination of a five-year protest during the Troubles by Irish republican prisoners in Northern Ireland.
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MAY 5, 2020
Philippine broadcast network ABS-CBN was forced to go off-air by the National Telecommunications Commission after Congress failed to renew its franchise granted in 1995.
ABS-CBN is a leading Philippine media and content company. It serves as the flagship media brand of ABS-CBN Corporation, a subsidiary of
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MAY 5, 1891
Carnegie Hall (interior pictured) in New York City, built by the philanthropist Andrew Carnegie, officially opened with a concert conducted by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky.
Carnegie Hall is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. It is at 881 Seventh Avenue, occupying the east side
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MAY 5, 1992
The Twenty-seventh Amendment to the United States Constitution was ratified, 202 years after it was first proposed.
The Twenty-seventh Amendment to the United States Constitution states that any law that increases or decreases the salary of members of Congress
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MAY 5, 1961
Project Mercury: American astronaut Alan Shepard (pictured) made a sub-orbital spaceflight on board Freedom 7, becoming the second person to travel into outer space.
Project Mercury was the first human spaceflight program of the United States, running from 1958 through 1963. An early highlight of the
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MAY 5, 1945
World War II: American and German troops fought side-by-side at the Battle for Castle Itter, defending a prison against Waffen-SS forces.
World War II or the Second World War was a global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies and the Axis powers. Nearly all
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MAY 5, 1864
American Civil War: Union Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant's Overland Campaign in Virginia began with the inconclusive Battle of the Wilderness in Spotsylvania County.
The American Civil War was a civil war in the United States between the Union and the Confederacy, which was formed in
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MAY 5, 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.
In 1994, a court in Singapore sentenced an American teenager, Michael Fay, to be lashed six times with a cane for violating
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MAY 5, 1646
First English Civil War: Charles I surrendered himself to Scottish Covenanter leader David Leslie near Newark, England.
The First English Civil War took place in England and Wales from 1642 to 1646, and forms part of the 1639 to
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