On This Day — 5 September

2022

Liz Truss is declared the winner of the UK Conservative Party leadership election, beating Rishi Sunak.

Liz Truss

2022

At least 93 people die and 25 are missing after a magnitude 6.8 earthquake strikes Sichuan, China.

2022 Luding earthquake

2021

The President of Guinea, Alpha Condé is captured by armed forces during a coup d'état.

Alpha Condé

2012

An accidental explosion at a Turkish Army ammunition store in Afyon, western Turkey kills 25 soldiers and wounds four others.

2012 Afyonkarahisar arsenal explosion

2005

Mandala Airlines Flight 091 crashes after takeoff from Polonia International Airport in Medan, Indonesia, killing 149.

Mandala Airlines Flight 091

1996

Hurricane Fran makes landfall near Cape Fear, North Carolina as a Category 3 storm with 115 mph sustained winds. Fran caused over $3 billion in damage and killed 27 people.

Hurricane Fran

1991

The current international treaty defending indigenous peoples, Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention, 1989, comes into force.

Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention, 1989

1990

Sri Lankan Civil War: Sri Lankan Army soldiers slaughter 158 civilians.

Sri Lankan civil war

1986

Pan Am Flight 73 from Mumbai, India with 358 people on board is hijacked at Karachi International Airport.

Pan Am Flight 73

1984

STS-41-D: The Space Shuttle Discovery lands after its maiden voyage.

STS-41-D

1984

Western Australia becomes the last Australian state to abolish capital punishment.

Western Australia

1981

The first women arrive at what becomes Greenham Common Women's Peace Camp in the UK.

Greenham Common Women's Peace Camp

1980

The Gotthard Road Tunnel opens in Switzerland as the world's longest highway tunnel at 16.9 kilometres (10.5 mi) stretching from Göschenen to Airolo.

Gotthard Road Tunnel

1978

Camp David Accords: Menachem Begin and Anwar Sadat begin peace discussions at Camp David, Maryland.

Camp David Accords

1977

Voyager Program: NASA launches the Voyager 1 spacecraft.

Voyager program

1975

Sacramento, California: Lynette Fromme attempts to assassinate U.S. President Gerald Ford.

Sacramento, California

1972

Munich massacre: A Palestinian terrorist group called "Black September" attacks and takes hostage 11 Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympic Games. Two die in the attack and nine are murdered the following day.

Munich massacre

1970

Vietnam War: Operation Jefferson Glenn begins: The United States 101st Airborne Division and the South Vietnamese 1st Infantry Division initiate a new operation in Thừa Thiên–Huế Province.

Vietnam War

1969

Mỹ Lai Massacre: U.S. Army Lieutenant William Calley is charged with six specifications of premeditated murder for the death of 109 Vietnamese civilians in My Lai.

My Lai massacre

1968

End of the Congress of Carrara, one of the major 20th century anarchist congresses.

Congress of Carrara

1960

Poet Léopold Sédar Senghor is the first elected President of Senegal.

Léopold Sédar Senghor

1960

Muhammad Ali (then known as Cassius Clay) wins the gold medal in the light heavyweight boxing competition at the Olympic Games in Rome.

Muhammad Ali

1957

Cuban Revolution: Fulgencio Batista bombs the revolt in Cienfuegos.

Cuban Revolution

1954

KLM Flight 633 crashes into the River Shannon in Shannon, County Clare, Ireland, killing 28.

KLM Flight 633

1948

In France, Robert Schuman becomes President of the Council while being Foreign minister; as such, he is the French negotiator of the major treaties of the end of World War II.

Robert Schuman

1945

Cold War: Igor Gouzenko, a Soviet Union embassy clerk, defects to Canada, exposing Soviet espionage in North America, signalling the beginning of the Cold War.

Cold War

1945

Iva Toguri D'Aquino, a Japanese American who broadcast under the name Orphan Annie during World War II, is arrested in Yokohama by U.S. military authorities amid widespread speculation of her being wartime radio propagandist Tokyo Rose.

Iva Toguri D'Aquino

1944

Belgium, Netherlands and Luxembourg constitute Benelux.

Luxembourg

1943

World War II: In the Pacific Theater, the 503rd Parachute Infantry Regiment lands and occupies Lae Nadzab Airport, near Lae during the Salamaua–Lae campaign.

Pacific War

1942

World War II: Japanese high command orders withdrawal at Milne Bay, the first major Japanese defeat in land warfare during the Pacific War.

World War II

1941

Whole territory of Estonia is occupied by Nazi Germany.

German occupation of the Baltic states during World War II

1938

Chile: A group of youths affiliated with the fascist National Socialist Movement of Chile are executed after surrendering during a failed coup.

Chile

1937

Spanish Civil War: Llanes falls to the Nationalists following a one-day siege.

Spanish Civil War

1932

The French Upper Volta is broken apart between Ivory Coast, French Sudan, and Niger.

French Upper Volta

1915

The pacifist Zimmerwald Conference begins.

Zimmerwald Conference

1914

World War I: First Battle of the Marne begins. Northeast of Paris, the French attack and defeat German forces who are advancing on the capital.

World War I

1905

Russo-Japanese War: In New Hampshire, United States, the Treaty of Portsmouth, mediated by U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt, ends the war.

Russo-Japanese War

1887

A fire at the Theatre Royal, Exeter kills 186, making it the UK's deadliest ever building fire.

Exeter Theatre Royal fire

1882

The first United States Labor Day parade is held in New York City.

Labor Day

1877

American Indian Wars: Oglala Sioux chief Crazy Horse is bayoneted by a United States soldier after resisting confinement in a guardhouse at Fort Robinson in Nebraska.

American Indian Wars

1862

American Civil War: The Army of Northern Virginia crosses the Potomac River at White's Ford in the Maryland Campaign.

American Civil War

1839

The United Kingdom declares war on the Qing dynasty of China.

First Opium War

1836

Sam Houston is elected as the first president of the Republic of Texas.

Sam Houston

1816

Louis XVIII of France has to dissolve the Chambre introuvable ("Unobtainable Chamber").

Louis XVIII

1798

Conscription is made mandatory in France by the Jourdan law.

Conscription

1793

French Revolution: The French National Convention initiates the Reign of Terror.

French Revolution

1791

Olympe de Gouges writes the Declaration of the Rights of Woman and of the Female Citizen.

Olympe de Gouges

1781

Battle of the Chesapeake in the American Revolutionary War: The British Navy is repelled by the French Navy, contributing to the British surrender at Yorktown.

Battle of the Chesapeake

1774

First Continental Congress assembles in Philadelphia.

First Continental Congress

1725

Wedding of Louis XV and Maria Leszczyńska.

Louis XV

1698

In an effort to Westernize his nobility, Tsar Peter I of Russia imposes a tax on beards for all men except the clergy and peasantry.

Tsar

1697

War of the Grand Alliance : A French warship commanded by Captain Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville defeated an English squadron at the Battle of Hudson's Bay.

Nine Years' War

1661

Fall of Nicolas Fouquet: Louis XIV's Superintendent of Finances is arrested in Nantes by D'Artagnan, captain of the king's musketeers.

Nicolas Fouquet

1590

An army led by Alexander Farnese, Duke of Parma forces Henry IV of France to lift the siege of Paris.

Alexander Farnese, Duke of Parma

1367

Swa Saw Ke becomes king of Ava

Swa Saw Ke

917

Liu Yan declares himself emperor, establishing the Southern Han state in southern China, at his capital of Panyu.

Liu Yan (emperor)