March 5 is the 64th day of the year (65th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar; 301 days remain until the end of the year.
1496 – King Henry VII of England issues letters patent to John Cabot and his sons, authorizing them to explore unknown lands.
1616 – Nicolaus Copernicus's book On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres is added to the Index of Forbidden Books 73 years after it was first published.
1766 – Antonio de Ulloa, the first Spanish governor of Louisiana, arrives in New Orleans.
1770 – Boston Massacre: Five Americans, including Crispus Attucks, are fatally shot by British troops in an event that would contribute to the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War (also known as the American War of Independence) five years later.
1824 – First Anglo-Burmese War: The British officially declare war on Burma.
1825 – Roberto Cofresí, one of the last successful Caribbean pirates, is defeated in combat and captured by authorities.[3]
1836 – Samuel Colt patents the first production- model revolver, the .34-caliber
1872 – George Westinghouse patents the air brake
1906 – Moro Rebellion: United States Army troops bring overwhelming force against the native Moros in the First Battle of Bud Dajo, leaving only six survivors.
1933 – Adolf Hitler's Nazi Party receives 43.9% at the Reichstag elections, which allows the Nazis to later pass the Enabling Act and establish a dictatorship.
1939 – Spanish Civil War: The National Defense Council seizes control of the republican government in a coup d'etat, with the intention of negotiating an end to the war.[6]
1940 – Six high-ranking members of the Soviet politburo, including Joseph Stalin, sign an order for the execution of 25,700 Polish intelligentsia, including 14,700 Polish POWs, in what will become known as the Katyn massacre.
1946 – Cold War: Winston Churchill coins the phrase 'Iron Curtain.'
1953 – Joseph Stalin, the leader of the Soviet Union, dies after suffering a cerebral hemorrhage four days earlier.