September 5

Events 
 Up to 1900 
 917 – Liu Yan declares himself Emperor, establishing the southern Han state in China.
 1590 – Alexander Farnese's army forces Henry IV of France to raise the Siege of Paris.
 1666 – Great Fire of London ended: A large fire in London burns out after three days. 10,000 buildings including St. Paul's Cathedral were destroyed, but only 16 people are known to have died.
 1698 – In an effort to move his people away from Asiatic customs, Tsar Peter I of Russia imposes a tax on beards; All men except priests and peasants, are required to pay a tax of one hundred rubles a year and the commoners had to pay one kopek each.
 1725 – Louis XV of France and Maria Leszczynska marry in Fontainbleau.
 1774 – First Continental Congress assembles in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
 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.
 1793 – In France, the French National Convention votes to implement terror measures to enforce the principles of the French Revolution, initiating (starting) the Reign of Terror.
 1798 – Conscription (military service) is made mandatory (meaning young men had to do it) in France.
 1800 – Napoleon Bonaparte surrenders Malta to Great Britain.
 1812 – War of 1812: Siege of Fort Wayne begins with Chief Winamac's forces attacking two soldiers returning from the fort's outhouses.
 1836 – Sam Houston is elected as the first president of the Republic of Texas.
 1839 – The United Kingdom declares the First Opium War on the Qing Dynasty of China.
 1840 – First performance of Giuseppe Verdi's Un giorno di regno at La Scala in Milan.
 1862 – American Civil War: In the Confederacy's first invasion of the North, General Robert E. Lee leads 55,000 men of the Army of Northern Virginia across the Potomac River at White's Ford near Leesburg, Virginia into Maryland.
 1877 – 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.
 1882 – Tottenham Hotspur Football Club is founded in London.
 1882 – The first United States Labor Day parade is held in New York City.
 1887 – Fire at the Theatre Royal in Exeter, England kills 186 people.

 1901 – 2000 
 1901 – The National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues (later renamed Minor League Baseball), is formed in Chicago.
 1905 – Russo-Japanese War: Treaty of Portsmouth signed – In New Hampshire a treaty mediated by US President Theodore Roosevelt, is signed by victor Japan and defeated party Russia.
 1906 – Brandbury Robinson throws the first legal forward pass in an American football game.
 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.
 1927 – The Oswald the Lucky Rabbit cartoon, Trolley Troubles, produced by Walt Disney, is released by Universal Pictures.
 1932 – French Upper Volta is broken up between French Sudan, Ivory Coast and Niger.
 1936 – Federico Borrell García, a Republican soldier in the Spanish Civil War, is photographed in the moment of his death by Robert Capa.
 1937 – Spanish Civil War: The fall of Llanes.
 1939 – World War II: The United States declares its neutrality in the war. It later enters on the side of the Allies.
 1941 – World War II : Siege of Leningrad begins.
 1941 – World War II: Estonia is occupied by Nazi Germany.
 1942 – World War II: The Battle of Milne Bay in the Pacific Ocean ends in a Japanese defeat against the Allies.
 1943 – World War II: The 503rd Parachute Regiment under American General Douglas MacArthur lands and occupies Nazdab in Papua New Guinea.
 1944 – World War II: The USSR declares war on Bulgaria.
 1944 – Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg form the Benelux.
 1945 – Iva Toguri D'Aquino, a Japanese-American suspected of being wartime radio propagandist Tokyo Rose, is arrested in Yokohama.
 1948 – Robert Schuman becomes Prime Minister of France
 1949 – A former sharpshooter in World War II, Howard Unruh kills 13 neighbors in Camden, New Jersey with a souvenir Luger to become America's first single–episode mass murderer.
 1957 – Cuba: Fulgencio Batista bombs a revolt in the city of Cienfuegos.
 1958 – The English language translation of the novel Dr. Zhivago by Boris Pasternak is published.
 1960 – Léopold Sédar Senghor is elected as the 1st President of Senegal.
 1960 – Cassius Clay wins the gold medal in boxing at the Rome Olympic Games.
 1961 – The first conference of countries of the Non Aligned Movement is held in Belgrade.
 1969 – My Lai Massacre: Lt. William Calley is charged with six specifications of premeditated murder for the death of 109 Vietnamese civilians in My Lai.
 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 Thua Thien Province.
 1972 – Munich Massacre: A Palestinian terrorist group called "Black September" attack Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympic Games.
 1973 – Palestinian terrorists attack Saudi Arabia's Embassy in Paris.
 1975 – In Sacramento, California, a follower of incarcerated cult leader Charles Manson named Lynette Fromme attempts to assassinate US President Gerald Ford, but is thwarted by a Secret Service agent.
 1977 – Voyager program: Voyager 1 is launched after a brief delay.
 1977 – In Cologne, Hanns Martin Schleyer is kidnapped by members of the Red Army Faction
 1978 – Camp David Accords: Menachem Begin and Anwar Sadat begin peace process at Camp David, Maryland.
 1980 – The St. Gotthard Tunnel opens in Switzerland as the world's longest highway tunnel at 10.14 miles (16.32 km) stretching from Goschenen to Airolo.
 1983 – The half–hour Robert MacNeil Report changes its name to the MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour, becoming the first hour–long network news show.
 1983 – Peter Jennings becomes lead anchor for ABC World News Tonight.
 1983 – Tom Brokaw becomes lead anchor for NBC Nightly News.
 1984 – Western Australia becomes the last Australian state to ban capital punishment.
 1984 – The Space Shuttle Discovery (mission STS-41-D) lands after its maiden voyage.
 1986 – Pan Am Flight 73 with 358 people on board is hijacked at Karachi International Airport.
 1988 – With US$2 billion in federal aid, the Robert M. Bass Group agrees to buy the United States's largest bankrupt thrift, American Savings and Loan Association.
 1990 – Sri Lankan Civil War: Sri Lankan army soldiers murder 158 civilians.
 1991 – The current international treaty defending indigenous peoples, the Indigenous and Tribal People's Convention, 1989, comes into force.
 1995 – France tests an atomic bomb on Mururoa Atoll in French Polynesia.
 1996 – Hurricane Fran makes landfall near Cape Fear, North Carolina, where 27 people are killed, and three billion dollars worth of damage are caused.
 1997 – At least 87 people killed in the Beni-Messous massacre in Algeria.
 2000 – Tuvalu joins the United Nations.

 From 2001 
 2001 – Peru's attorney general files homicide charges against ex–President Alberto Fujimori.
 2001 – Young Left formed in Toronto, Ontario.
 2002 – A car bomb kills 30 people in Kabul, Afghanistan, in an apparent assassination attempt on Afghan President Hamid Karzai.
 2002 – The Sour Biscuit Fire in Oregon and northern California, which burned 499,570 acres (2,020 km²), is finally contained.
 2002 – The Beltway sniper attacks begin with the murder of Paul LaRuffa.
 2004 – Future Hurricane Ivan becomes a Hurricane in the Atlantic Ocean.
 2005 – A Mandala Airlines plane crashes in a residential area in Sumatra, Indonesia, killing 104 on board and 39 on the ground.
 2005 – In Solden, Tyrol, Austria, an aerial lift accident kills nine German tourists, as a transport helicopter hits a cable car, which then plunges to the ground.
 2008 – Quentin Bryce becomes Governor–General of Australia.
 2012 – A magnitude 7.9 earthquake hits Costa Rica.
 2012 – A firecracker factory explodes near Sivakasi, Tamil Nadu, India, killing 40 people.
 2012 – An accidental explosion at a Turkish army ammunition store in Afyon, Western Turkey, kills 25 soldiers.
 2012 – The bodies of Saad al–Hilli, two members of his family, and a local cyclist are found near Annecy, in the alpine region of France, having all been shot, while al–Hilli's two daughters survived. The case remains unsolved, as no killer or motive has been determined.
 2014 – Ukraine and Russia agree to a ceasefire during the conflict in Eastern Ukraine.

 Births 
 Up to 1800 
 699 – Abu Hanifa, Iraqi scholar (d. 767)
 1187 – King Louis VIII of France (d. 1226)
 1201 – Alix, Duchess of Brittany (d. 1221)
 1319 – Peter IV of Aragon (d. 1387)
 1533 – Jacopo Zaparella, Italian philosopher (d. 1589)
 1540 – Magnus, Duke of Holstein (d. 1583)
 1567 – Date Masamuno, Japanese daimyo (d. 1636)
 1568 – Tommaso Campanella, Italian theologian, philosopher, and poet (d. 1639)
 1638 – King Louis XIV of France (d. 1715)
 1651 – William Dampier, English explorer (d. 1715)
 1666 – Gottfried Arnold, German historian and theologian (d. 1714)
 1667 – Giovanni Girolamo Saccheri, Italian Jesuit and mathematician (d. 1733)
 1695 – Carl Gustaf Tessin, Swedish politician (d. 1770)
 1722 – Frederick Christian, Elector of Saxony (d. 1763)
 1733 – Christoph Martin Wieland, German poet, translator and publisher (d. 1813)
 1735 – Johann Christian Bach, German composer (d. 1782)
 1750 – Robert Fergusson, Scottish poet (d. 1774)
 1751 – John Shore, 1st Baron Teignmouth, British politician (d. 1834)
 1764 – Henriette Herz, German writer (d. 1847)
 1771 – Archduke Charles, Duke of Teschen, Austrian general (d. 1847)
 1772 – Fat 'h-Ali Shah Qajar, Persian King (d. 1834)
 1774 – Caspar David Friedrich, German artist (d. 1840)
 1775 – Juan Martínez Díez, Spanish captain (d. 1825)
 1781 – Anton Diabelli, Austrian music publisher, editor and composer (d. 1858)
 1786 – Sergey Uvarov, Russian politician and literary scholar (d. 1855)
 1791 – Giacomo Meyerbeer, German composer (d. 1864)

 1801 – 1900 
 1806 – Christophe Léon Louis Juchault de Lamoricière, French general and statesman (d. 1865)
 1807 – Richard Chenevix Trench, clergyman and philologist (d. 1886)
 1809 – Manuel Montt, 6th President of Chile (d. 1880)
 1817 – Aleksey Konstantinovich Tolstoy, Russian writer (d. 1875)
 1818 – Edmund Kennedy, Australian explorer (d. 1848)
 1826 – John Wisden, English cricketer (d. 1884)
 1827 – Goffredo Mameli, Italian patriot, poet and writer (d. 1849)
 1829 – Lester Allan Pelton, American inventor (d. 1908)
 1836 – Justiniano Borgono, President of Peru (d. 1921)
 1846 – Jack Daniel, American businessman (d. 1911)
 1847 – Jesse James, American outlaw (d. 1882)
 1867 – Amy Beach, American composer and pianist (d. 1944)
 1869 – Archduchess Karoline Marie of Austria (d. 1945)
 1871 – Friedrich Akel, Estonian politician (d. 1941)
 1873 – Cornelius Vanderbilt III, American military officer and engineer (d. 1942)
 1874 – Nap Lajoie, baseball player (d. 1959)
 1881 – Otto Bauer, Austrian politician (d. 1938)
 1883 – Mel Sheppard, AMerican athlete (d. 1942)
 1888 – Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, second President of India (d. 1975)
 1892 – Joseph Szigeti, Hungarian violinist (d. 1973)
 1897 – Ella Schuler, American supercentenarian (d. 2011)

 1901 – 1950 
 1901 – Florence Eldridge, American actress (d. 1988)
 1901 – Mario Scelba, Prime Minister of Italy (d. 1991)
 1902 – Darryl F. Zanuck, movie producer and executive (d. 1979)
 1905 – Arthur Koestler, Austrian writer (d. 1983)
 1906 – Sunnyland Slim, American blues singer and pianist (d. 1995)
 1910 – Phiroze Palia, Indian cricketer (d. 1981)
 1912 – John Cage, American composer (d. 1992)
 1912 – Kristina Söderbaum, German actress and photographer (d. 2001)
 1913 – Frank Thomas, American animator (d. 2004)
 1914 – Nicanor Parra, Chilean poet (d. 2018)
 1914 – Stuart Freeborn, British make–up artist (d. 2013)
 1915 – Horst Sindermann, German politician (d. 1990)
 1916 – Frank Yerby, novelist (d. 1991)
 1918 – Luis Alcoriza, Mexican actor, screenwriter and director (d. 1992)
 1918 – Buddy Williams, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1986)
 1920 – Fons Rademakers, Dutch–Swiss actor, director, producer and screenwriter (d. 2007)
 1921 – Farida of Egypt, Queen Consort of Egypt (d. 1988)
 1921 – Jack Valenti, American political advisor and movie executive (d. 2007)
 1927 – Paul Volcker, American economist
 1928 – Albert Mangelsdorff, German trombonist (d. 2005)
 1929 – Bob Newhart, American actor and comedian
 1929 – Andriyan Nikolayev, Soviet cosmonaut (d. 2004)
 1930 – Ken Naganuma, Japanese footballer (d. 2008)
 1932 – Simon Achidi Achu, former Prime Minister of Cameroon
 1934 – Carol Lawrence, American actress and singer
 1934 – Kevin McNamara, English politician
 1934 – Paul Josef Cordes, German cardinal
 1935 – Dieter Hallervorden, German comedian, actor and singer
 1935 – Doreen Massey, Baroness Massey of Darwen, English politician
 1936 – Bill Mazeroski, American baseball player
 1936 – John Danforth, American politician and diplomat
 1937 – Antonio Valentín Angelillo, Argentine footballer
 1939 – George Lazenby, Australian actor
 1939 – William Devane, actor
 1939 – Clay Regazzoni, Swiss racing driver (d. 2006)
 1939 – Susumu Tonegawa, Japanese Nobel Prize–winning molecular biologist
 1940 – Raquel Welch, American actress
 1942 – Werner Herzog, German movie director
 1944 – Dario Bellezza, Italian poet, author and playwright
 1944 – Gareth Evans, Australian lawyer and politician
 1945 – Gérard d'Aboville, French politician and navigator
 1945 – Eva Bergman, Swedish movie, theatre and television director
 1945 – Al Stewart, British musician
 1945 – Khaleda Zia, Bangladeshi politician 
 1946 – Freddie Mercury, British singer (Queen) (d. 1991)
 1946 – Loudon Wainwright III, American singer and composer
 1946 – Buddy Miles, American musician
 1948 – Benita Ferrero-Waldner, Austrian diplomat and politician
 1949 – Pat McQuaid, Irish cyclist and official
 1950 – Cathy Guisewite, American cartoonist
 1950 – Rosie Cooper, English politician

 1951 – 1975 
 1951 – Paul Breitner, German footballer
 1951 – Michael Keaton, American actor
 1956 – Roine Stolt, Swedish singer-songwriter, guitarist and producer
 1958 – Lars Danielsson, Swedish jazz bassist and cellist
 1959 – Frank Schirrmacher, German journalist (d. 2014)
 1960 – Abdullah Abdullah, Afghan politician
 1960 – Candy Maldonado, Puerto Rican baseball player, manager and sportscaster
 1962 – Brian A. Joyce, American politician (d. 2018)
 1962 – Peter Wingfield, British actor
 1963 – Juan Alderete, American bass player and songwriter
 1963 – Kristian Alfonso, American actress, figure skater and model
 1964 – Frank Farina, Australian footballer
 1964 – Ken Norman, American basketball player
 1964 – Sergei Loznitsa, Belarussian–Ukrainian director and screenwriter
 1965 – David Brabham, Australian racing driver
 1965 – Murdo Fraser, Scottish politician
 1965 – Osamu Maeda, Japanese footballer
 1965 – Chris Morris, British writer
 1965 – César Rincon, Colombian bullfighter
 1967 – Matthias Sammer, German footballer
 1967 – Jane Sixsmith, English field hockey player
 1969 – Dweezil Zappa, American musician and son of Frank Zappa
 1969 – Leonardo Araújo, Brazilian footballer
 1969 – Sebastian Edathy, German politician
 1969 – Mark Ramprakash, English cricketer
 1970 – Liam Lynch, American singer-songwriter, guitarist and director
 1971 – Adam Hollioake, English cricketer
 1973 – Paddy Considine, English actor, director and producer
 1973 – Rose McGowan, American actress
 1974 – Ivo Ulich, Czech footballer
 1975 – George Boateng, Dutch footballer

 From 1976 
 1976 – Tatyana Gutsu, Ukrainian gymnast
 1976 – Carice van Houten, Dutch actress
 1976 – Richard Marsland, Australian writer, actor and comedian (d. 2008)
 1977 – Teresa Marinova, Bulgarian athlete
 1978 – Chris Jack, New Zealand rugby player
 1978 – Laura Bertram, Canadian actress
 1978 – Zhang Zhong, Chinese chess player
 1979 – John Carew, Norwegian footballer
 1979 – Juan Fuenmayor, Venezuelan footballer
 1980 – Marianna Madia, Italian politician
 1980 – Stefán Logi Magnússon, Icelandic footballer
 1981 – Nina Eichinger, German actress
 1981 – Bruno Neves, Portuguese cyclist (d. 2008)
 1983 – Pablo Granoche, Uruguayan footballer
 1983 – Priscilla Meirelles, Brazilian model
 1987 – Pierre Casiraghi, Monegasque royalty
 1988 – Felipe Caicedo, Ecuadorean footballer
 1988 – Nuri Sahin, Turkish footballer
 1989 – Ben Youngs, English rugby player
 1989 – José Angel Valdés, Spanish footballer
 1989 – Katerina Graham, American actress
 1990 – Kim Yu-Na, South Korean figure skater
 1990 – Giovanni Pernice, Italian professional dancer
 1990 – Franco Zuculini, Italian footballer
 1991 – Skandar Keynes, English actor
 1991 – Stuart Donaldson, Scottish politician
 1993 – Gage Golightly, American actress
 1995 – Tehilla Blad, Swedish actress
 1995 – Caroline Sunshine, American actress
 1996 – Sigrid, Norwegian singer

 Deaths 
 Up to 1900 
 590 – Authari, King of Lombardy (b. 540)
 1165 – Emperor Nijo of Japan (b. 1143)
 1201 – Constance, Duchess of Brittany (b. 1161)
 1235 – Henry I, Duke of Brabant (b. 1165)
 1548 – Catherine Parr, sixth wife of Henry VIII of England (b. c. 1512)
 1629 – Domenico Allegri, Italian composer (b. 1585)
 1803 – Pierre Choderlos de Laclos, French general and writer (b. 1741)
 1836 – Ferdinand Raimund, Austrian playwright (b. 1790)
 1838 – Charles Percier, French architect (b. 1764)
 1855 – Thomas Mitchell, Scottish explorer of Australia (b. 1792)
 1857 – Auguste Comte, French sociologist (b. 1798)
 1876 – Manuel Blanco Encalada, first President of Chile (b. 1790)
 1877 – Crazy Horse, Oglala Sioux chief (b. 1849)
 1898 – Sarah Edmonds, Canadian nurse, soldier, and spy (b. 1841)

 1901 – 2000 
 1901 – Ignacij Klemenčič, Slovene physicist (b. 1853)
 1902 – Rudolf Virchow, German doctor, pathologist, biologist, and politician (b. 1821)
 1906 – Ludwig Boltzmann, Austrian phsyicist (b. 1844)
 1912 – Arthur MacArthur, Jr., American soldier (b. 1845)
 1917 – Marian Smoluchowski, Polish physicist (b. 1872)
 1926 – Karl Harrer, German journalist and politician (b. 1890)
 1930 – Robert Means Thompson, American naval officer (b. 1849)
 1931 – John Thomson, Scottish footballer (b. 1909)
 1932 – Francisco Acebal, Spanish novelist, playwright and journalist (b. 1866)
 1936 – Fernando Borrell García, Spanish Republican soldier, photographed in moment of his death (b. 1912)
 1946 – John I. Cox, American politician, 33rd Governor of Tennessee (b. 1855)
 1954 – Eugen Schiffer, German politician (b. 1860)
 1960 – Earl Long, Governor of Louisiana (b. 1895)
 1965 – Thomas Johnston, Scottish–born politician (b. 1882)
 1966 – Dezső Lauber, Hungarian sportsman (b. 1879)
 1970 – Jochen Rindt, Austrian racing driver, posthumous Formula 1 champion (b. 1942)
 1972 – Yossef Romano, Israeli weightlifter (b. 1940)
 1972 – Moshe Weinberg, Israeli wrestling coach (b. 1939)
 1973 – Jack Fourier, American baseball player (b. 1899)
 1979 – Alberto di Jorio, Italian cardinal (b. 1884)
 1982 – Douglas Bader, British fighter pilot (b. 1910)
 1984 – Adam Malik, 3rd Vice President of Indonesia (b. 1917)
 1988 – Gert Fröbe, actor (b. 1913)
 1990 – Ivan Mihailov, Bulgarian revolutionary and leader of the IMRO (b. 1896)
 1993 – Claude Renoir, French cinematographer (b. 1914)
 1997 – Georg Solti, conductor (b. 1912)
 1997 – Mother Teresa, Albanian nun and development worker (b. 1910)
 1998 – Leo Penn, American director (b. 1921)
 1999 – Alan Clark, English politician and historian (b. 1928)

 From 2001 
 2001 – Vladimir Zerjavic, Croat UN statistician (b. 1912)
 2003 – Gisele MacKenzie, singer (b. 1927)
 2010 – Shoya Tomizawa, Japanese motorcycle racer (b. 1990)
 2010 – Guillaume Cornelis van Beverloo, Belgian–born artist (b. 1922)
 2011 – Salvatore Licitra, Italian tenor (b. 1968)
 2011 – Vann Nath, Cambodian painter (b. 1946)
 2013 – Rochus Misch, German SS officer (b. 1917)
 2014 – Ron Mulock, Australian politician (b. 1930)
 2014 – Eoin Young, New Zealand journalist (b. 1939)
 2014 – Simone Battle, American actress, singer and dancer (b. 1989)
 2014 – Bruce Morton, American news correspondent (b. 1930)
 2014 – Karel Cerny, Czech art director and producer (b. 1922)
 2015 – Aadesh Shrivastava, Indian composer and singer (b. 1966)
 2015 – Alan Steel, Italian bodybuilder and actor (b. 1935)
 2015 – Setsuko Hara, Japanese actress (b. 1920)
 2016 – Hugh O'Brian, American actor (b. 1925)
 2016 – Phyllis Schlafly, American political commentator (b. 1924)
 2017 – Nicolaas Bloembergen, Dutch–American physicist (b. 1920)
 2017 – Gauri Lankesh, Indian journalist and political activist (b. 1962)
 2017 – Tom Wright, American baseball player (b. 1923)
 2017 – Holger Czukay, German musician (b. 1938)
 2017 – Christie Davies, British sociologist (b. 1941)
 2017 – Hansford Rowe, American actor (b. 1924)
 2018 – Rachael Bland, British journalist (b. 1978)
 2018 – François Flohic, French admiral (b. 1920)
 2018 – Mike Hogewood, American sportscaster (b. 1954)
 2018 – Beatriz Segall, Brazilian actress (b. 1926)
 2018 – Bhagwatikumar Sharma, Indian writer and journalist (b. 1934)
 2019 – Ji Guobiao, Chinese engineer (b. 1932)
 2019 – Kiran Nagarkar, Indian novelist (b. 1942)
 2019 – Francisco Toledo, Mexican artist (b. 1940)

 Observances 
 Teachers' Day (India)
 Architects' Day (Guatemala)
 International Day of Charity

September 05