/year

March 5 in history

209 sourced entries recorded on March 5, from 254 CE to 2025 CE. Every line is quoted from the revision it came from.

Events

  • 363Emperor Julian departs from Antioch with his army (90,000 men) and heads north towards the Euphrates. En route he creates a diversion and sends a force of 30,000 soldiers under his cousin Procopius to Armenia.source
  • 824Adelard becomes the new Duke of Spoleto upon the death of his father, Suppo I, who ruled much of Italy including Brescia, Parma, Piacenza, Modena, and Bergamo. Adelard reigns for only five months before dying in August.source
  • 996Korechika returns with his head shaven and attired as a monk.source
  • 1046Nasir Khusraw begins his 7-year Middle Eastern (19,000-kilometre) journey, which he later describes in the book Safarnāmé.source
  • 1132Rievaulx Abbey is founded by the Cistercian order, near Helmsley in Yorkshire.source
  • 1279Battle of Aizkraukle: Lithuanian forces led by Grand Duke Traidenis defeat an army of Teutonic Knights of the Livonian Order at Aizkraukle. During the battle, the order suffers a great defeat, some 70 knights are killed, including Grand Master Ernst von Ratzeburg (or Rassburg). The Semigallians, allies of the Livonian Order, revolt but later submit to Traidenis for protection.source
  • 1295Battle of Maes Moydog: English forces led by William de Beauchamp, 9th Earl of Warwick defeat the Welsh rebels (some 700 men), near the modern-day town of Llanfair Caereinion in Wales. In a night attack on the Welsh infantry, William uses cavalry to drive them into compact formations, which are then shot up by his archers. Madog ap Llywelyn, proclaimed "Prince of Wales", and the remnants of his army are routed and retreat across the Banwy River, in which many drown.source
  • 1310Baybars II, Sultan of the Mamluks in Egypt, is driven from office by an angry mob consisting of supporters of his predecessor, An-Nasir Muhammad. Baybars is located and turned over to Sultan Nasir.source
  • 1382King Charles VI arrives at the gates of the walled city of Paris and, with the Duke of Burgundy as his intermediary, attempts to negotiate peace to end the rebellion in Paris. While their demands are not met, the mob opens the cells of the city's prisons and frees the persons incarcerated.source
  • 1417Alexios IV becomes the new Emperor of Trebizond (located in what is now Turkey along the Black Sea) upon the death of his father, Manuel III.source
  • 1460King Christian I of Denmark, the various nobles of the Duchy of Schleswig and the County of Holstein agree to the Treaty of Ribe, electing King Christian as the new Duke of Schleswig and Count of Holstein, and placing both political entities under Denmark's control.source
  • 1461Wars of the Roses: King Henry VI of England is deposed by Edward, Duke of York.source
  • 1476Andrea Vendramin is elected as the new Doge of the Republic of Venice.source
  • 1496Henry VII of England issues letters patent to Italian-born adventurer John Cabot and his sons, authorizing them to discover unknown lands.source
  • 1508La Cassaria by Ludovico Ariosto, the first Italian language comedy, is premiered at Ferrara.source
  • 1518The Dutch priest Erasmus of Rotterdam sends the new Ninety-five Theses of Martin Luther to England, delivering the Protestant manifesto to Sir Thomas More.source
  • 1522In what is now the Karnataka state of India, Waliullah Shah is installed as the new ruler of Bahmani by the Sultan of Bidar, Amir Barid I.source
  • 1575Agnes Keith, Countess of Moray returns the Great H of Scotland to Regent Morton.source
  • 1584The city of Karlstad, Sweden gaines city status by Duke Charles.source
  • 1601The treason trial for five secondary participants in Essex's Rebellion – Gelli Meyrick, Henry Cuffe, Christopher Blount, Charles Danvers and Sir John Davies – is held in London. All five are found guilty. Meyrick and Cuffe are hanged at Tyburn on March 13, and Blount and Danvers are beheaded at Tower Hill on March 18. Davies is allowed to go free.source
  • 1608Sigismund Rákóczi, Prince of Transylvania, abdicates in favor of Gabriel Báthory in order to avoid a civil war.source
  • 1616De revolutionibus orbium coelestium, written by Nicolaus Copernicus in 1543 is placed on the Index of Forbidden Books, by the Congregation of the Index of the Roman Catholic Church "until corrected".source
  • 1623The first American temperance law is enacted, in Virginia.source
  • 1626The Treaty of Monzón is signed between France and Spain to end the Valtellina War and the First Genoese-Savoyard War.source
  • 1636March 5 (February 24 Old Style) – King Christian IV of Denmark and Norway gives an order, that all beggars that are able to work must be sent to Brinholmen, to build ships or to work as galley rowers.source
  • 1638Thirty Years' War: The Treaty of Hamburg is signed by France and Sweden, providing the latter with funds.source
  • 1638Thirty Years' War: The Treaty of Hamburg is signed between France and Sweden by Cardinal Richelieu of France and representatives of Queen Christina of Sweden.source
  • 1638Thirty Years' War – The Treaty of Hamburg is signed by France and Sweden.source
  • 1645Thirty Years' War – Battle of Jankau: The armies of Sweden decisively defeat the forces of the Holy Roman Empire, in one of the bloodiest battles of the war, in southern Bohemia, some 50 kilometres (31 mi) southeast of Prague.source
  • 1645Battle of Jankau: The armies of Sweden decisively defeat the forces of the Holy Roman Empire, in one of the bloodiest battles of the war, in southern Bohemia, some 50 kilometres (31 mi) southeast of Prague].source
  • 1656Zurnazen Mustafa Pasha is appointed as the Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire after persuading Mehmet IV to rescind the February 28 selection of Gazi Hüseyin Pasha. Zurnazen Mustafa's rule lasts only four hours and he is sent into exile the same day.source
  • 1663Emperor Go-Sai's reign ends, and Emperor Reigen ascends to the throne of Japan.source
  • 1684Pope Innocent XI forms a Holy League with the Habsburg Empire, Venice and Poland, to end Ottoman Turkish rule in Europe.source
  • 1691Nine Years' War: French troops under Marshal Louis-Francois de Boufflers besiege the Spanish-held town of Mons.source
  • 1695The funeral of Queen Mary II of England takes place, accompanied by music written for the occasion by Henry Purcell.source
  • 1717February 26–March 6 – What becomes the northeastern United States is paralyzed by a series of blizzards that bury the region.source
  • 1729Abdallah of Morocco becomes the new Sultan of Morocco upon the death of his half-brother, Abu'l Abbas Ahmad. Sultan Abdallah reigns for five years before being deposed for the first time, then returns to the throne five more times between 1736 and 1757.source
  • 1730The 1730 papal conclave to elect a new Pope for the Roman Catholic church begins with 30 Cardinals, 12 days after the death of Pope Benedict XIII. By the time his successor is elected on July 12, there are 56 Cardinals.source
  • 1750The Murray-Kean Company, a troupe of actors from Philadelphia, gives the first performance of a play announced in advance in a newspaper, presenting Richard III at New York City's Nassau Street Theatre.source
  • 1759Denis Diderot's Encyclopédie is proscribed by the Vatican and (on March 8) temporarily suppressed by the French government; the ban is lifted in September to allow publication of a revised versionsource
  • 1762A Royal Navy fleet with 16,000 men departs Britain from Spithead and sets sail toward Cuba in order to seize strategic Spanish Empire possessions in the Americas.source
  • 1766Antonio de Ulloa, the first Spanish governor of Louisiana, arrives in New Orleans.source
  • 1770Boston Massacre: Eleven American men are shot (five fatally) by British troops, in an event that helps start the American Revolutionary War five years later.source
  • 1770Boston Massacre: five Americans killed by British troops in an event that helps start the American Revolutionary War five years later.source
  • 1783The last celebration of Massacre Day is held in Boston, Massachusetts.source
  • 1783Last celebration of Massacre Day in Boston, Massachusetts.source
  • 1783the Count de Belgioioso, bound from Liverpool to China, founders on the Kish Bank in Dublin Bay in a storm. On 2 June, Scottish diver Charles Spalding and his nephew Ebenezer Watson die in attempting to salvage the £150,000-worth of cargo from the ship using a diving bell of Spalding's design.source
  • 1793French troops are defeated by Austrian forces, and Liège is recaptured.source
  • 1797Protestant missionaries from the London Missionary Society land in Tahiti, from the Duff (celebrated as Missionary Day in French Polynesia).source
  • 1803George Howe publishes the first issue of the weekly The Sydney Gazette and The New South Wales Advertiser, Australia's first newspaper.source
  • 1804March 4–March 5 – The Castle Hill convict rebellion breaks out in New South Wales, led by Irish convicts in Australia.source
  • 1805The New Brunswick Legislature passes a bill to advance literacy in the province, which eventually leads to the creation of public education in Canada.source
  • 1811Peninsular War – Battle of Barrosa: A French attack fails, on a larger Anglo-Portuguese-Spanish force attempting to lift the Siege of Cádiz in Spain.source
  • 1814War of the Sixth Coalition – Battle of Berry-au-Bac: French cavalrymen led by Napoleon defeat Cossacks under Ferdinand von Wintzingerode.source
  • 1818Johan Andreas Cornelius Ohme, army officer (born 1746)source
  • 1824The First Anglo-Burmese War begins in much of what is now Bangladesh, and lasts for almost two years until the surrender of territories by the Kingdom of Burma on February 24, 1826.source
  • 1824First Anglo-Burmese War begins.source
  • 1825Capture of the sloop Anne: Roberto Cofresí, one of the last successful pirates in the Caribbean, is defeated by an international naval force.source
  • 1836George Brodie appointed Historiographer Royalsource
  • 1836The Music Society is founded in Copenhagen, on Christoph Ernst Friedrich Weyse's birthday, and for almost a century it remains the most important music venue in Denmarksource
  • 1839Longwood University is founded in Farmville, Virginia.source
  • 1842Mexican troops led by Ráfael Vásquez invade the Republic of Texas, briefly occupy San Antonio, and then head back to the Rio Grande. This is the first such invasion since the Texas Revolution.source
  • 1842Mexican troops led by Rafael Vasquez invade Texas, briefly occupy San Antonio, and then head back to the Rio Grande. This is the first such invasion since the Texas Revolution.source
  • 1844The Toronto Globe is founded by George Brownsource
  • 1847An explosion at The Oaks in the Barnsley seam in Yorkshire kills 73 men and boys.source
  • 1850The Britannia Bridge opens over the Menai Strait in Wales.source
  • 1853Steinway & Sons, a piano maker, is founded in Manhattan by the German immigrant Henry E. Steinway (Heinrich E. Steinweg) and his family.source
  • 1853Saint Paul Fire and Marine, as predecessor of The Travelers Companies, a worldwide insurance service, founded in Minnesota, United States.source
  • 1856Fire destroys the Covent Garden Theatre in London.source
  • 1856A fire destroys Covent Garden Theatre in London.source
  • 1857In London, barrister James Townsend Saward receives a sentence of penal transportation for forgery of cheques.source
  • 1867The Fenian Rising breaks out in Ireland.source
  • 1867Fenian Rising in Ireland.source
  • 1869The New South Wales government declares that Saint Patrick's Day, St. Andrew's Day and St George's Day are no longer public holidays.source
  • 1870The first ever international Association football match, England v Scotland, takes place under the auspices of the Football Association at The Oval, London.source
  • 1872George Westinghouse receives a United States patent for the "failsafe" automatic railway air brake.source
  • 1872The Tichborne case is decided in London against claimant Arthur Orton (who, as a result, is convicted of perjury in 1874).source
  • 18911st Prime Minister of Canada Sir John A. Macdonald wins a 4th consecutive parliamentary victory over the Liberal Party.source
  • 18925 March Ireland 0–2 England (in Belfast)source
  • 1892St Michael's & All Angels (Anglican) Theological College is founded at Aberdare.source
  • 1893Spanish general election, 1893source
  • 1894The Local Government Act (coming into effect December 1894–January 1895) reforms local government in Britain, creating a system of urban and rural districts with elected councils, with elected civil parish councils in rural areas, and gives women, irrespective of marital status, the right to vote and stand in local (but not national) elections.source
  • 1900Two U.S. Navy cruisers are sent to Central America to protect American interests in a dispute between Nicaragua and Costa Rica.source
  • 1901Irish nationalist demonstrators are ejected by police from the House of Commons of the United Kingdom in London.source
  • 1903The Ottoman Empire and the German Empire sign an agreement to build the Constantinople–Baghdad Railway.source
  • 1908Edgeworth David leads the party attempting the ascent of Mount Erebus in the Antarctic.source
  • 1913March 4–6 – First Balkan War: Battle of Bizani – Forces of the Kingdom of Greece capture the forts of Bizani (covering the approaches to Ioannina) from the Ottoman Empire.source
  • 1916The liner Príncipe de Asturias runs aground in fog on the shoals out of Ponta do Boi, in the island of Sao Sebastião, while trying to approach the port of Santos. At least 445 people out of the 588 aboard are killed.source
  • 1917Natal – Izingolweni to Harding (narrow gauge), 39 mi 56 ch.source
  • 1919A. Mitchell Palmer becomes United States Attorney General, through recess appointment.source
  • 1921Irish War of Independence: Clonbanin ambush: A force of about 100 Irish Republican Army members attacks a British Army convoy of 40 soldiers, killing several, including Brigadier General Cumming.source
  • 1925Nippon Air Brake (Nabco) was founded in Kobe, as predecessor of Nabtesco.source
  • 1926The British High Commissioner grants an exclusive 70-year concession to Pinhas Rutenberg of the Palestine Electric Corporation for production and distribution of electric power utilize the water of the Jordan River and the Yarmouk River (see First Jordan Hydro-Electric Power House)source
  • 1929Yi Peiji was appointed as the president of the National Palace Museum and the curator of the antiquities museum by Nationalist Government.source
  • 1931The British viceroy of India and Mohandas Gandhi sign the Gandhi–Irwin Pact.source
  • 1933March 1933 German federal election: The Nazi Party gains 43.9% of the votes.source
  • 1933The Great Depression: President Franklin D. Roosevelt declares a "Bank holiday", closing all United States banks and freezing all financial transactions (the 'holiday' ends on March 13).source
  • 1933German federal election, March 1933: National Socialists gain 43.9% of the votes.source
  • 1934A magnitude 7.6 earthquake strikes Pahiatua, Manawatu-Wanganui, at 11.46pm.source
  • 1936March 2–8. Strike action at Polish-Swiss Chocolate Factory Philippe Suchard in Kraków,source
  • 1940Katyn massacre: Members of the Soviet Politburo (Joseph Stalin, Vyacheslav Molotov, Lazar Kaganovich, Mikhail Kalinin, Kliment Voroshilov and Lavrentiy Beria) sign an order, prepared by Beria, for the execution of 25,700 Polish intelligentsia, including 14,700 Polish POWs.source
  • 1941March 1941 Romanian policy referendumsource
  • 1943The Gloster Meteor, the first Allied jet fighter, makes its first flight, in England.source
  • 1943A strike wave takes place throughout northern Italy, reaching Milan and other cities of Lombardy in late March and continuing into April. Around 100,000 workers take part in Turin alone.source
  • 1946In a speech at Westminster College, in Fulton, Missouri, Winston Churchill talks about the Iron Curtain.source
  • 1956Enactment of Decree Law 4161/56source
  • 1960Alberto Korda takes his iconic photograph of Che Guevara, Guerrillero Heroico, in Havana.source
  • 1966BOAC Flight 911 crashes in severe clear-air turbulence over Mount Fuji soon after taking off from Tokyo International Airport in Japan, killing all 124 people on board.source
  • 1966BOAC Flight 911 crashes while encountering severe Clear-air turbulence over Mount Fuji shortly after taking off from Tokyo International Airport, killing all 124 on board.source
  • 1966Merci, Chérie by Udo Jürgens (music by Udo Jürgens, lyrics by Jürgens and Thomas Hörbiger) wins the Eurovision Song Contest 1966 (staged in Luxembourg) for Austria.source
  • 1966Luxembourg City hosts the Eurovision Song Contest 1966 after France Gall's victory the previous year. Representing Luxembourg, Michèle Torr finishes tenth with the song Ce soir je t'attendais.source
  • 1970The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty goes into effect, after ratification by 56 nations.source
  • 1971In Belfast, a Led Zeppelin show includes the first public performance of "Stairway to Heaven," a song from the band's fourth album.source
  • 1974Israel completes its pullback from the west side of the Suez Canal to the east side of the canal, as agreed upon in the Agreement on Disengagement.source
  • 1979Voyager 1 makes its closest approach to Jupiter at 277,000 km.source
  • 19811981 North Korean local electionssource
  • 1983Australian federal election: The Labor Party led by Bob Hawke defeats the Liberal/National Coalition government led by Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser. Hawke is to be sworn in on March 11. As soon as the results become clear, Fraser resigns from the Liberal leadership; he is replaced by outgoing Minister for Industry and Commerce Andrew Peacock.source
  • 1984Iran accuses Iraq of using chemical weapons; the United Nations condemns their use on March 30.source
  • 1986President Aquino frees four suspected communist leaders, including Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) founder Jose Maria Sison and alleged NPA founder Bernabe Buscayno, eventually releasing all political prisoners of the Marcos administration.source
  • 1993Macedonian Palair Flight 301, an F-100 on a flight to Zürich, crashes shortly after take-off from Skopje, killing 83 of the 97 on board.source
  • 1996The Singapore Gamma Knife Centre is officially opened. The centre, a privately owned facility, uses gamma knife for brain surgeries, resulting in less pain than conventional brain surgery, as well as a much safer alternative.source
  • 1998NASA announces that the Clementine probe orbiting the Moon has found enough water in polar craters to support a human colony and rocket fueling station.source
  • 2000February 23–March 7 – Mayon volcano in Albay erupts, with the most violent occurred, February 28 – March 1; its status is raised to the highest, Alert Level 5, on February 24 due to its hazardous explosions with pyroclastic and lahar flows that affected parts of the province, with several thousands evacuated even outside identified danger zones.source
  • 2002March 2–10 – Afghan and coalition troops carry out Operation Anaconda in the Shah-i-Kot Valley, the largest combat operation against Al-Qaeda and the Taliban to that point.source
  • 2006In the 2006 Beninese presidential election, Thomas Boni Yayi is elected for a first term.source
  • 2009Somali pirates release Egypt's MV Blue Star.source
  • 2009Michael Jackson announces his This Is It concert residency in London, England. However, a fortnight before the concerts were supposed to begin, Jackson died at the age of 50 from acute propofol intoxication.source
  • 2011Egyptian protestors storm the State Security headquarters in the Nasr City district of Cairo.source
  • 2011Two government ministers are replaced in response to protests.source
  • 2012Air date of Kony 2012 (viral documentary film) on YouTube.source
  • 2014Nicolás Maduro, the President of Venezuela, severs diplomatic and political ties with Panama, accusing Panama of being involved in a conspiracy against the Venezuelan government.source
  • 2015March 5–8 – The ancient city sites of Nimrud, Hatra and Dur-Sharrukin in Iraq are demolished by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.source
  • 2015Flooding kills 42 people near Lake Victoria in the Kahama District.source
  • 2019A second case of sustained remission from HIV is reported, ten years after the Berlin Patient.source
  • 2020The International Criminal Court authorizes the Afghanistan War Crimes inquiry to proceed, reportedly allowing for the first time for U.S. citizens to be investigated.source
  • 2022Researchers in the Antarctic find Endurance, one of the greatest ever undiscovered shipwrecks, which sank in 1915 during Ernest Shackleton's exploration.source
  • 2022March 4 – March 13 – The 2022 Winter Paralympics are held in Beijing, China, making it the first city to host both Summer Paralympics and Winter Paralympics.source
  • 2023A group of four prisoners escape from the Nouakchott Civil Prison.source
  • 2025The US begins direct negotiations with Hamas over the release of the remaining Israeli hostages. Trump later threatens on Truth Social and X that the people of Gaza "are dead" unless they return the hostages "immediately".source

Births

  • 999Bao Zheng, Chinese politician of the Song dynasty (died 1062)source
  • 1133Henry II (Curtmantle), king of England (died 1189)source
  • 1162Ogasawara Nagakiyo, Japanese warrior (died 1242)source
  • 1224Kinga of Poland, high duchess of Poland (died 1292)source
  • 1310Przecław of Pogorzela, Polish bishop (died 1376)source
  • 1324David II, king of Scotland (Clan Bruce) (died 1371)source
  • 1324David II of Scotland (died 1371)source
  • 1326King Louis I of Hungary and Croatia (died 1382)source
  • 1340Cansignorio della Scala, Lord of Verona (died 1375)source
  • 1451William Herbert, 2nd Earl of Pembroke, English earl (died 1491)source
  • 1512Gerardus Mercator, Flemish cartographer (died 1594)source
  • 1527Ulrich, Duke of Mecklenburg (died 1603)source
  • 1539Christoph Pezel, German theologian (died 1604)source
  • 1563John Coke, English politician (died 1644)source
  • 1574William Oughtred, English mathematician and Anglican minister (died 1660)source
  • 1585John George I, Elector of Saxony (died 1656)source
  • 1637Jan van der Heyden, Dutch Baroque-era painter (died 1712)source
  • 1658Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac, French explorer (died 1730)source
  • 1696Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, Italian painter (died 1770)source
  • 1713Edward Cornwallis, British military officer, first Governor of Nova Scotia (died 1776)source
  • 1748William Shield, English violinist, composer (died 1829)source
  • 1794Robert Cooper Grier, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States (died 1870)source
  • 1822Ali Reza Khan Azod-ol-Molk, Iranian politician.source
  • 1858José Relvas, land owner and politician (died 1929)source
  • 1871Rosa Luxemburg, German politician (died 1919)source
  • 1898Zhou Enlai, Premier of China (died 1976)source
  • 1937Olusegun Obasanjo, President of Nigeriasource
  • 1959Vazgen Sargsyan, 8th Prime Minister of Armenia (died 1999)source
  • 1970Aleksandar Vučić, President of Serbiasource
  • 1991Daniil Trifonov, Concert Pianistsource
  • 1993Anna Orlik, tennis playersource
  • 1996Emmanuel Mudiay, basketball playersource

Deaths

  • 254Lucius I, bishop of Romesource
  • 824Suppo I, Frankish noblemansource
  • 1021Arnulf, French archbishop and illegitimate son of Lothair IIIsource
  • 1095Judith of Flanders, duchess of Bavariasource
  • 1175Frederick of Hallum, Frisian priest and abbotsource
  • 1206Thietmar of Minden (or Dietmar), German bishopsource
  • 1275Shi Tianze, Chinese general and politician (born 1202)source
  • 1291Sa'ad al-Dawla, Persian physician and vizier (born 1240)source
  • 1410Matthew of Kraków, Polish reformer (born 1335)source
  • 1417Manuel III Megas Komnenos, Emperor of Trebizond (born 1364)source
  • 1484Elisabeth of Bavaria, Electress of Saxony (born 1443)source
  • 1505Philip of Cleves, Bishop of Nevers, Amiens, Autun (born 1467)source
  • 1534Antonio da Correggio, Italian painter (born 1489)source
  • 1560Pedro Pacheco de Villena, Spanish Catholic cardinal (born 1488)source
  • 1588Henri I, Prince of Condé (b.1552)source
  • 1592Michiel Coxie, Flemish painter (born 1499)source
  • 1605Pope Clement VIII (born 1536)source
  • 1611Shimazu Yoshihisa, Japanese warlord and samurai (born 1533)source
  • 1620Giovanni Francesco Sagredo, Italian mathematician (born 1571)source
  • 16225 March (bur.) – Christopher Jones, ship's captain, master of the Mayflower (born c. 1570)source
  • 1703Gabrielle Suchon, French philosopher (born 1632)source
  • 1710John Holt, English politician (born 1642)source
  • 1726Evelyn Pierrepont, 1st Duke of Kingston-upon-Hull, English politician (born c. 1665)source
  • 1731Abd al-Ghani al-Nabulsi, Sufi academic (born 1641)source
  • 1739John Joseph of the Cross, Italian saint (born 1654)source
  • 1750Franz Anton Khaltprunner - He was a Roman Catholic priest of Lend, St. Gilgen, Taxenbach, and Piesendorf.source
  • 1770Crispus Attucks, African-American dockworker, first to die in the Boston Massacre (born 1723)source
  • 1815Franz Mesmer, German developer of animal magnetism (born 1734)source
  • 1827Pierre-Simon Laplace, French mathematician (born 1749)source
  • 1827Alessandro Volta, Italian physicist (born 1745)source
  • 1934Daniel Kahneman, Israeli-American economist, Nobel Prize laureate (died 2024).source
  • 1953Sergei Prokofiev, Soviet and Russian composer (born 1891)source
  • 1953Joseph Stalin, Soviet leader (born 1878)source
  • 1953Joseph Stalin dies, starting a power struggle among Soviet leadership.source
  • 1963Patsy Cline, American singer (born 1932)source
  • 1963Country music star Patsy Cline is killed in a plane crash along with country performers Cowboy Copas, Hawkshaw Hawkins, and manager Randy Hughes, during a flight from Kansas City, Missouri, back to Nashville.source
  • 1965Chen Cheng, 67, general and politician, Vice President (1954–1965).source
  • 2013Hugo Chávez, 58, Venezuelan politician and military officer, President (since 1999), heart attack.source