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Explore the historical events that shaped our world on February 5th. From major milestones to cultural achievements, see what happened on this day in history. Dates for earlier events may be approximate.
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The third and final Punic War, between Rome and Carthage, comes to an end on February 5, 176 BCE with a total Roman victory. The Punic Wars were a series of three wars between 264 and 146 BCE, fought between Rome and Carthage over more 100 years.
The fighting on land and sea across the western Mediterranean region had immense materiel and human losses on both sides. More
The Roman Senate and people honor Caesar Augustus with the title "Pater Patriae" (Father of the Country) at the dedication of the Forum of Augustus on February 5, BCE. The honor defined his legacy as the founder of the Empire and for restructuring Rome to what it was before having been torn by civil wars.
Doukas was proclaimed Emperor of the Byzantine Empire as Alexios V on February 5, 1204, following the overthrow and killing of Alexios IV and his co-emperor father Isaac II, who, had failed to produce the funds promised to the Fourth Crusade, Crusaders and their Venetian partners, who had placed a siege of the city.
As further negotiations proved unfruitful, on April 12, 1204, the Crusaders and Venetian partners went ahead with a full three -day assault and brutal sacking of the city; desecrating holy sites and destroying countless treasures. Alexios V fled the city that night and a Latin Empire was established with Baldwin of Flanders as the new emperor. The Fourth Crusade permanently weakened Byzantium, and the restored empire in 1261 was all but a shadow of its former self and ultimately fell to the Ottoman Turks in 1453.
Byzantine Emperor Michael VIII Palaiologos recaptures Constantinople, ending the Latin Empire.
Flemish painter Pieter Bruegel the Elder dies in Brussels, Belgium.
Apollo 14's Lunar module with astronauts, Alan B. Shepard Jr. (Commander) and Edgar D. Mitchell (Lunar Module Pilot) descends to the lunar surface on the third U.S. moon landing.
The 3rd Apollo 14 astronaut was Stuart A. Roosa, (Command Module Pilot). The astronauts returned to earth on Feb. 9, 1971 Landing on the Pacific Ocean. More
The World Health Organization (WHO) declares the measles virus eliminated in the United States on February 5, 2000.
Super Bowl LI on on February 5, 2017, sees the New England Patriots come back from a 28-3 third-quarter deficit to defeat the Atlanta Falcons 34-28 in the first-ever Super Bowl overtime game.
The U.S. Senate acquits President Donald Trump on February 5, 2020, of impeachment charges on both articles of impeachment – abuse of power and obstruction of Congress made by the House of Representatives in December 2019.
The International Criminal Court's jurisdiction is formally extended on February 5, 2021 to investigate cover war crimes in the occupied Palestinian territories. The decision allowed the prosecutor to investigate crimes committed from June 13, 2014, onwards, following Palestine's accession to the Rome Statute in 2015.
