On This Day — 3 May

2023

Nine students and a security guard are killed in the Belgrade school shooting, the first attack of its kind in Serbia.

Belgrade school shooting

2023

Ethnic violence breaks out between the Meitei and the Kuki Zo people in the state of Manipur.

2023–2026 Manipur conflict

2021

Twenty-six people are killed and ninety-eight are injured after an elevated section of the Mexico City Metro collapses.

Mexico City Metro

2016

Eighty-eight thousand people are evacuated from their homes in Fort McMurray, Alberta, Canada as a wildfire rips through the community, destroying approximately 2,400 homes and buildings.

Fort McMurray

2015

Two gunmen launch an attempted attack on an anti-Islam event in Garland, Texas, which was held in response to the Charlie Hebdo shooting.

2015 Curtis Culwell Center attack

2007

The three-year-old British girl Madeleine McCann disappears in Praia da Luz, Portugal, starting "the most heavily reported missing-person case in modern history".

Disappearance of Madeleine McCann

2006

Armavia Flight 967 crashes into the Black Sea near Sochi International Airport in Sochi, Russia, killing 113 people.

Armavia Flight 967

2001

The United States loses its seat on the U.N. Human Rights Commission for the first time since the commission was formed in 1947.

United Nations Commission on Human Rights

2000

The sport of geocaching begins, with the first cache placed and the coordinates from a GPS posted on Usenet.

Geocaching

1999

The southwestern portion of Oklahoma City is devastated by an F5 tornado, killing forty-five people, injuring 665, and causing $1 billion in damage. The tornado is one of 66 from the 1999 Oklahoma tornado outbreak. This tornado also produces the highest wind speed ever recorded, measured at 484 ± 32 kilometres per hour (301 ± 20 mph). In meteorology, the term "May 3" is synonymous with the F5 tornado.

Oklahoma City

1999

Infiltration of Pakistani soldiers on Indian side results in the Kargil War.

Kargil War

1987

A crash by Bobby Allison at the Talladega Superspeedway, Alabama fencing at the start-finish line would lead NASCAR to develop the restrictor plate for the following season both at Daytona International Speedway and Talladega.

Bobby Allison

1986

Twenty-one people are killed and forty-one are injured after a bomb explodes on Air Lanka Flight 512 at Colombo airport in Sri Lanka.

Air Lanka Flight 512

1979

The Conservative Party wins the United Kingdom general election. The following day, Margaret Thatcher becomes the first female British Prime Minister.

Conservative Party (UK)

1978

The first unsolicited bulk commercial email (which would later become known as "spam") is sent by a Digital Equipment Corporation marketing representative to every ARPANET address on the west coast of the United States.

Email

1971

Erich Honecker becomes First Secretary of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany, remaining in power until 1989.

Erich Honecker

1968

Eighty-five people are killed when Braniff International Airways Flight 352 crashes near Dawson, Texas.

Braniff International Airways Flight 352

1963

The police force in Birmingham, Alabama switches tactics and responds with violent force to stop the "Birmingham campaign" protesters. Images of the violent suppression are transmitted worldwide, bringing new-found attention to the civil rights movement.

Birmingham, Alabama

1957

Walter O'Malley, the owner of the Brooklyn Dodgers, agrees to move the team from Brooklyn to Los Angeles.

Walter O'Malley

1953

Two men are rescued from a semitrailer that crashed over the side of the Pit River Bridge before it fell into the Sacramento River. Amateur photographer Virginia Schau photographs "Rescue on Pit River Bridge", the first and only winning submission for the Pulitzer Prize for Photography to have been taken by a woman.

Semi-trailer

1952

Lieutenant Colonels Joseph O. Fletcher and William P. Benedict of the United States land a plane at the North Pole.

Lieutenant colonel

1952

The Kentucky Derby is televised nationally for the first time, on the CBS network.

Kentucky Derby

1951

London's Royal Festival Hall opens with the Festival of Britain.

Royal Festival Hall

1951

The United States Senate Committee on Armed Services and United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations begin their closed door hearings into the relief of Douglas MacArthur by U.S. President Harry Truman.

United States Senate Committee on Armed Services

1948

The U.S. Supreme Court rules in Shelley v. Kraemer that covenants prohibiting the sale of real estate to blacks and other minorities are legally unenforceable.

Supreme Court of the United States

1947

New post-war Japanese constitution goes into effect.

Constitution of Japan

1945

World War II: Sinking of the prison ships Cap Arcona, Thielbek and Deutschland by the Royal Air Force in Lübeck Bay, resulting in more than 7,000 deaths.

Prison ship

1942

World War II: Japanese naval troops invade Tulagi Island in the Solomon Islands during the first part of Operation Mo that results in the Battle of the Coral Sea between Japanese forces and forces from the United States and Australia.

World War II

1939

The All India Forward Bloc is formed by Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose.

All India Forward Bloc

1928

The Jinan incident begins with the deaths of twelve Japanese civilians by Chinese forces in Jinan, China, which leads to Japanese retaliation and the deaths of over 2,000 Chinese civilians in the following days.

Jinan incident

1921

Ireland is partitioned under British law by the Government of Ireland Act 1920, creating Northern Ireland and Southern Ireland.

Partition of Ireland

1921

West Virginia becomes the first state to legislate a broad sales tax, but does not implement it until a number of years later due to enforcement issues.

West Virginia

1920

A Bolshevik coup fails in the Democratic Republic of Georgia.

1920 Georgian coup attempt

1913

Raja Harishchandra, the first full-length Indian feature film, is released, marking the beginning of the Indian film industry.

Raja Harishchandra

1901

The Great Fire of 1901 begins in Jacksonville, Florida.

Great Fire of 1901

1855

American adventurer William Walker departs from San Francisco with about 60 men to conquer Nicaragua.

William Walker (filibuster)

1849

The May Uprising in Dresden begins: The last of the German revolutions of 1848–49.

May Uprising in Dresden

1848

The boar-crested Anglo-Saxon Benty Grange helmet is discovered in a barrow on the Benty Grange farm in Derbyshire.

Anglo-Saxons

1837

The University of Athens is founded in Athens, Greece.

National and Kapodistrian University of Athens

1830

The Canterbury and Whitstable Railway is opened; it is the first steam-hauled passenger railway to issue season tickets and include a tunnel.

Canterbury and Whitstable Railway

1815

Neapolitan War: Joachim Murat, King of Naples, is defeated by the Austrians at the Battle of Tolentino, the decisive engagement of the war.

Neapolitan War

1811

The Anglo-Portuguese army under Lord Wellington tries to halt a larger French army under Marshal Masséna marching to relieve Almeida in the Battle of Fuentes de Onoro. After intense fighting, the French are repulsed.

Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington

1808

Finnish War: Sweden loses the fortress of Sveaborg to Russia.

Finnish War

1808

Peninsular War: The Madrid rebels who rose up on May 2 are executed near Príncipe Pío hill.

Peninsular War

1802

Washington, D.C. is incorporated as a city after Congress abolishes the Board of Commissioners, the District's founding government. The "City of Washington" is given a mayor-council form of government.

Washington, D.C.

1791

The Constitution of May 3 (the first modern constitution in Europe) is proclaimed by the Sejm of Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth.

Constitution of 3 May 1791

1715

A total solar eclipse is visible across northern Europe and northern Asia, as predicted by Edmond Halley to within four minutes accuracy.

Solar eclipse of May 3, 1715

1616

Treaty of Loudun ends a French civil war.

Treaty of Loudun

1568

Angered by the brutal onslaught of Spanish troops at Fort Caroline, a French force burns the San Mateo fort and massacres hundreds of Spaniards.

Fort Caroline

1491

Kongo monarch Nkuwu Nzinga is baptised by Portuguese missionaries, adopting the baptismal name of João I.

Kingdom of Kongo

1481

The largest of three earthquakes strikes the island of Rhodes and causes an estimated 30,000 casualties.

1481 Rhodes earthquake

996

German king Otto III chooses his cousin Bruno of Carinthia as pope following the death of Pope John XV. Bruno becomes pope under the name Gregory V.

Otto III, Holy Roman Emperor

752

Mayan king Bird Jaguar IV of Yaxchilan in modern-day Chiapas, Mexico, assumes the throne.

Yaxun Bʼalam IV