May 5
Subject to Britannica's Privacy Policy and Terms of Use
Featured Event
© Zoom Historical/Alamy; Photo Illustration Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
A largely untrained volunteer militia—mostly Indigenous Mexican farmers and laborers, led by General Ignacio Zaragoza—defeated the well-armed French forces of Napoleon III at the Battle of Puebla on this day in 1862. The victory, which became a symbol of resistance to foreign domination, is now celebrated as Cinco de Mayo. [Read today’s edition of Today in History > >]
Featured Biography
Featured Biography
From "Karl Marx's Oekonomische Lehren", by Karl Kautsky, 1887
Revolutionary, historian, and economist Karl Marx, born in Prussia this day in 1818, wrote (with Friedrich Engels) The Communist Manifesto (1848), the most-celebrated pamphlet in the history of the socialist movement.
Famous Birthdays
More on May 5
Courtesy, NIAID/RML
2023
The World Health Organization declared that COVID-19, while still a significant threat, was no longer “a global health emergency.” [What was the impact of COVID-19?]
Image: Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
2001
American publisher Clifton Keith Hillegass, the creator of the popular series of literary study guides known as Cliff Notes, died in Nebraska. [Sort fact from fiction in our quiz about literary classics.]
© Paul Smith—Featureflash/Shutterstock.com
1988
English pop singer and songwriter Adele—whose soulful emotive voice and traditionally crafted songs made her one of the most broadly popular performers of her generation—was born. [Test your knowledge of pop music.]
Robert Dear—AP/Shutterstock.com
1981
Bobby Sands, an officer of the Irish Republican Army (IRA), died during a hunger strike while in prison.
© Bettmann/Getty Images
1973
American racehorse Secretariat won the Kentucky Derby en route to capturing the U.S. Triple Crown, which also includes the Preakness Stakes and the Belmont Stakes. [Can you identify these well-known horses?]
NASA
1961
Alan Shepard, Jr., made a 15-minute suborbital flight in the Freedom 7 spacecraft, becoming the first U.S. astronaut to travel in space. [Take our famous astronauts and cosmonauts quiz.]
© Keystone/Getty Images
1960
Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev told the Supreme Soviet of the U.S.S.R. that a U.S. spy plane piloted by Francis Gary Powers had been shot down on May 1 over the Soviet Union; Khrushchev referred to the flight as an “aggressive act” by the United States. [Read about 10 famous players in the espionage game.]
Image: Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
1945
While on a picnic on Gearhart Mountain, Oregon, six people were killed after a Japanese balloon bomb exploded; they were the only deaths by enemy action to occur in the continental United States during World War II. [Sort fact from fiction in our quiz about World War II.]
Image: Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
1945
U.S. soldiers and renegade German troops turned back a Waffen-SS assault on a stronghold in Tirol, Austria, where French prisoners were being held by the Nazis. Known as the Battle for Castle Itter, it is thought to be the only time that Americans and Germans fought as allies during World War II.
© George Rinhart—Corbis Historical/Getty Images
1931
Gunfire broke out during a strike by coal miners in Harlan county, Kentucky, leaving four dead in what came to be known as the Battle of Evarts. Conflict between workers and mining companies continued throughout the 1930s, resulting in the area becoming known as Bloody Harlan.
New York World-Telegram & Sun Collection/Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. (neg. no. LC-USZ62-111438)
1927
English author Virginia Woolf published To the Lighthouse, one of her most successful and accessible experiments in the stream-of-consciousness style. [Test your knowledge of English authors.]
Image: Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
1904
American baseball pitcher Cy Young registered the first perfect game (no player reaching first base) of the modern era, for the Boston Americans (later Red Sox) against the Philadelphia Athletics. [See if Cy Young made our list of the 10 greatest baseball players of all time.]
Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. (neg. no. LC-USZC4-4582)
1864
Forces commanded by the generals Ulysses S. Grant of the Union and Robert E. Lee of the Confederacy engaged in the Battle of the Wilderness near Fredericksburg, Virginia, during the Civil War. [How much do you know about the American Civil War?]
The Royal Library, Copenhagen, National Collections Department, Prints and Photographs (ke007091)
1813
Danish religious philosopher Søren Kierkegaard, regarded as the founder of existentialist philosophy, was born in Copenhagen. [Take our quiz about odd facts concerning philosophers.]
Image: Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
1809
For her technique of weaving straw with silk, Mary Kries became the first woman to receive a U.S. patent; the process was largely used in the creation of hats and other headware. [Test your knowledge of famous firsts for women.]
© Photos.com/Jupiterimages
1789
At the beginning of the French Revolution, the Estates-General met for the first time since 1614 at Versailles and debated the role of the Third Estate. [Take our quiz about French history.]
Giraudon/Art Resource, New York
1640
King Charles I of England dissolved the Short Parliament, the first parliament to be summoned in 11 years. [Test your knowledge of English kings.]