April 5 in history — What Happened Today in History

The People's Armed Police is officially founded.

The US Supreme Court rules that congressional legislation that diminished the size of the Sioux people's reservation thereby destroyed the tribe's jurisdictional authority over the area in Rosebud Sioux Tribe v. Kneip.

In China, the April Fifth Movement leads to the Tiananmen Incident.

Carrie, the first novel by American author Stephen King, is published for the first time with a print run of 30,000 copies.

In Sri Lanka, Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna launches a revolt against the United Front government of Sirimavo Bandaranaike.

During the Buddhist Uprising, South Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyễn Cao Kỳ personally attempts to lead the capture of the restive city of Đà Nẵng before backing down.

My Fair Lady wins Best Picture at the 37th Academy Awards.

Ripple Rock, an underwater threat to navigation in the Seymour Narrows in Canada, is destroyed in one of the largest non-nuclear controlled explosions of the time.

Cuban Revolution: Fidel Castro declares himself at war with Cuban President Fulgencio Batista.

Cold War: Ethel and Julius Rosenberg are sentenced to death for spying for the Soviet Union.

A fire in a hospital in Effingham, Illinois, kills 77 people and leads to nationwide fire code improvements in the United States.

Soviet troops end their year-long occupation of the Danish island of Bornholm.

A Fleet Air Arm Vickers Wellington crashes into a residential area in Rabat, Malta during a training exercise, killing all four crew members and 16 civilians on the ground.

Cold War: Yugoslav leader Josip Broz Tito signs an agreement with the Soviet Union to allow "temporary entry of Soviet troops into Yugoslav territory".

World War II: United States Army Air Forces bomber aircraft accidentally cause more than 900 civilian deaths, including 209 children, and 1,300 wounded among the civilian population of the Belgian town of Mortsel. Their target was the Erla factory 1 kilometre (0.62 mi) from the residential area hit.

World War II: Adolf Hitler issues Fuhrer Directive No. 41 summarizing Case Blue, including the German Sixth Army's planned assault on Stalingrad.

World War II: The Imperial Japanese Navy launches a carrier-based air attack on Colombo, Ceylon during the Indian Ocean raid. Port and civilian facilities are damaged and the Royal Navy cruisers HMS Cornwall and HMS Dorsetshire are sunk southwest of the island.

Spanish Civil War: Two days after the Nationalist army occupied the Catalan city of Lleida, dictator Francisco Franco decrees the abolition of the Generalitat (the autonomous government of Catalonia), the self-government granted by the Republic, and the official status of the Catalan language.

Tupelo–Gainesville tornado outbreak: An F5 tornado kills 233 in Tupelo, Mississippi.

U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs two executive orders: 6101 to establish the Civilian Conservation Corps, and 6102 "forbidding the Hoarding of Gold Coin, Gold Bullion, and Gold Certificates" by U.S. citizens.

Andorran Revolution: The Young Andorrans occupy the Casa de la Vall and force the government to hold democratic elections with universal male suffrage.

Dominion of Newfoundland: Ten thousand rioters seize the Colonial Building leading to the end of self-government.

The American Birth Control League, forerunner of Planned Parenthood, is incorporated.

The Transandine Railway connecting Chile and Argentina is inaugurated.

A stand box collapses at Ibrox Park (now Ibrox Stadium) in Glasgow, Scotland, which led to the deaths of 25 and injuries to more than 500 supporters during an international association football match between Scotland and England.

Bolivia declares war on Chile, and Chile declares war on Peru, starting the War of the Pacific.

American Civil War: The Battle of Yorktown begins.

In the Battle of Maipú, Chile's independence movement, led by Bernardo O'Higgins and José de San Martín, win a decisive victory over Spain, leaving 2,000 Spaniards and 1,000 Chilean patriots dead.

Gleb Rassadkin, Belarusian footballer

Sebastian Starke Hedlund, Swedish footballer

Mateusz Bieniek, Polish volleyball player

Edem Rjaïbi, Tunisian footballer

Richard Sánchez, Mexican footballer

Andreas Bouchalakis, Greek footballer

Maya DiRado, American swimmer

Laura Feiersinger, Austrian footballer

Benjamin Garcia, French rugby league player

Scottie Wilbekin, American-Turkish basketball player

Emmalyn Estrada, Canadian singer-songwriter and dancer

Shintaro Kurumaya, Japanese footballer

Kaveh Rezaei, Iranian footballer

Tim Parnell, British race car driver (born 1932)

Memè Perlini, Italian actor and director (born 1947)

Atanase Sciotnic, Romanian sprint canoeist (born 1942)

Ilkka Sinisalo, Finnish ice hockey player (born 1958)

Koço Kasapoğlu, Turkish footballer (born 1936)

Fredric Brandt, American dermatologist and author (born 1949)

Juan Carlos Cáceres, Argentinian singer and pianist (born 1936)

Alan Davie, Scottish saxophonist and painter (born 1920)

Mariano Díaz, Spanish cyclist (born 1939)

Peter Matthiessen, American novelist, short story writer, editor, co-founded The Paris Review (born 1927)

John Pinette, American comedian (born 1964)

José Wilker, Brazilian actor, director, and producer (born 1947)

Regina Bianchi, Italian actress (born 1921)