February 5 in history — What Happened Today in History

Ugo Vetere, then the mayor of Rome, and Chedli Klibi, then the mayor of Carthage, meet in Tunis to sign a treaty of friendship officially ending the Third Punic War which lasted 2,131 years.

Operation Soap: The Metropolitan Toronto Police Force raids four gay bathhouses in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, arresting just under 300, triggering mass protest and rallies.

Riots break out in Lima, Peru after the police forces go on strike the day before. The uprising (locally known as the Limazo) is bloodily suppressed by the military dictatorship.

Astronauts land on the Moon in the Apollo 14 mission.

Cultural Revolution: The Shanghai People's Commune is formally proclaimed, with Yao Wenyuan and Zhang Chunqiao being appointed as its leaders.

The European Court of Justice's ruling in Van Gend en Loos v Nederlandse Administratie der Belastingen establishes the principle of direct effect, one of the most important, if not the most important, decisions in the development of European Union law.

French President Charles de Gaulle calls for Algeria to be granted independence.

Gamal Abdel Nasser is nominated to be the first president of the United Arab Republic.

A hydrogen bomb known as the Tybee Bomb is lost by the US Air Force off the coast of Savannah, Georgia, never to be recovered.

World War II: General Douglas MacArthur returns to Manila.

World War II: Allied forces begin the Battle of Keren to capture Keren, Eritrea.

Mutiny on Royal Netherlands Navy warship HNLMS De Zeven Provinciën off the coast of Sumatra, Dutch East Indies.

The Royal Greenwich Observatory begins broadcasting the hourly time signals known as the Greenwich Time Signal.

Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks, and D. W. Griffith launch United Artists.

Stephen W. Thompson shoots down a German airplane; this is the first aerial victory by the U.S. military.

SS Tuscania is torpedoed off the coast of Ireland; it is the first ship carrying American troops to Europe to be torpedoed and sunk.

The current constitution of Mexico is adopted, establishing a federal republic with powers separated into independent executive, legislative, and judicial branches.

The Congress of the United States passes the Immigration Act of 1917 over President Woodrow Wilson's veto.

Greek military aviators Michael Moutoussis and Aristeidis Moraitinis perform the first naval air mission in history, with a Farman MF.7 hydroplane.

Claudio Monteverdi's last opera L'incoronazione di Poppea was performed theatrically for the first time in more than 250 years.

Belgian chemist Leo Baekeland announces the creation of Bakelite, the world's first synthetic plastic.

In Mexico, the General Hospital of Mexico is inaugurated, initially with four basic specialties.

J. P. Morgan incorporates U.S. Steel in the state of New Jersey, although the company would not start doing business until February 25 and the assets of Andrew Carnegie's Carnegie Steel Company, Elbert H. Gary's Federal Steel Company, and William Henry Moore's National Steel Company were not acquired until April 1.

King Leopold II of Belgium establishes the Congo as a personal possession.

The largest alluvial gold nugget in history, called the "Welcome Stranger", is found in Moliagul, Victoria, Australia.

Alexandru Ioan Cuza, Prince of Moldavia, is also elected as prince of Wallachia, joining the two principalities as a personal union called the United Principalities, an autonomous region within the Ottoman Empire, which ushered in the birth of the modern Romanian state.

The New Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg, Russia, one of the largest and oldest museums in the world, opens to the public.

Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte ascends to the thrones of Sweden and Norway.

Gerald Tusha, Albanian footballer

Dmitry Andreikin, Russian chess player

Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Indian cricketer

Jordan Rhodes, Scottish footballer

Jeremy Sumpter, American actor

Alex Brightman, American actor, singer, and voice actor

Vedran Ćorluka, Croatian footballer

Kevin Gates, American rapper, singer, and entrepreneur

Lloyd Johansson, Australian rugby player

Laurence Maroney, American football player

Cristiano Ronaldo, Portuguese footballer

Carlos Tevez, Argentinian footballer

Anja Hammerseng-Edin, Norwegian handball player

Reinaldo Gargano, Uruguayan journalist and politician, Minister of Foreign Affairs for Uruguay (born 1934)

Egil Hovland, Norwegian composer and conductor (born 1924)

Tom McGuigan, New Zealand soldier and politician, 23rd New Zealand Minister of Health (born 1921)

Sam Coppola, American actor (born 1932)

Al De Lory, American keyboard player, conductor, and producer (born 1930)

John Turner Sargent Sr., American publisher (born 1924)

Jo Zwaan, Dutch sprinter (born 1922)

Brian Jacques, English author and radio host (born 1939)

Peggy Rea, American actress and casting director (born 1921)

Brendan Burke, Canadian ice hockey player and activist (born 1988)

Harry Schwarz, South African lawyer, anti-apartheid leader, and diplomat, 13th South Africa Ambassador to United States (born 1924)

Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, Indian guru, founded Transcendental Meditation (born 1918)

Leo T. McCarthy, New Zealand-American soldier, lawyer, and politician, 43rd Lieutenant Governor of California (born 1930)