| 51661 | May.05 | Event | 1945 – World War II: The Prague uprising begins as an attempt by the Czech resistance to free the city from German occupation. |
| 51662 | May.05 | Event | 1946 – The International Military Tribunal for the Far East begins in Tokyo with twenty-eight Japanese military and government officials accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity. |
| 51663 | May.05 | Event | 1949 – The Treaty of London establishes the Council of Europe in Strasbourg as the first European institution working for European integration. |
| 51664 | May.05 | Event | 1950 – Bhumibol Adulyadej is crowned King Rama IX of Thailand. |
| 51665 | May.05 | Event | 1955 – West Germany gains full sovereignty. |
| 51666 | May.05 | Event | 1961 – The Mercury program: Mercury-Redstone 3: Alan Shepard becomes the first American to travel into outer space, on a sub-orbital flight. |
| 51667 | May.05 | Event | 1964 – The Council of Europe declares May 5 as Europe Day. |
| 51668 | May.05 | Event | 1965 – The Warlocks, later known as The Grateful Dead, make their first public appearance in Menlo Park, California. |
| 51669 | May.05 | Event | 1972 – Alitalia Flight 112 crashes into Mount Longa near Palermo, Sicily, killing all 115 aboard, making it the deadliest single-aircraft disaster in Italy. |
| 51670 | May.05 | Event | 1973 – Secretariat wins the 1973 Kentucky Derby in 1:59 2/5, an as-yet unbeaten record. |
| 51671 | May.05 | Event | 1977 – The first of The Nixon Interviews between David Frost and Richard Nixon are broadcast. |
| 51672 | May.05 | Event | 1980 – Operation Nimrod: The British Special Air Service storms the Iranian embassy in London after a six-day siege. |
| 51673 | May.05 | Event | 1981 – Bobby Sands dies in the Long Kesh prison hospital after 66 days of hunger-striking, aged 27. |
| 51674 | May.05 | Event | 1985 – Bitburg and Bergen-Belsen: Ronald Reagan visits the military cemetery at Bitburg, Germany, and the site of the Nazi concentration camp, Bergen-Belsen, where he makes a speech. |
| 51675 | May.05 | Event | 1987 – Iran–Contra affair: Start of Congressional televised hearings in the United States of America |
| 51676 | May.05 | Event | 1991 – A riot breaks out in the Mt. Pleasant section of Washington, D.C. after police shoot a Salvadoran man. |
| 51677 | May.05 | Event | 1994 – The signing of the Bishkek Protocol between Armenia and Azerbaijan effectively freezes the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. |
| 51678 | May.05 | Event | 1994 – American teenager Michael P. Fay is caned in Singapore for theft and vandalism. |
| 51679 | May.05 | Event | 2006 – The government of Sudan signs an accord with the Sudan Liberation Army. |
| 51680 | May.05 | Event | 2010 – Mass protests in Greece erupt in response to austerity measures imposed by the government as a result of the Greek government-debt crisis. |
| 51681 | May.05 | Event | 2014 – 11 people are missing after a Chinese cargo ship collides with a Marshall Islands registered container ship off the coast of Hong Kong. |
| 51682 | May.05 | Event | 2014 – 22 people die after two boats carrying illegal immigrants collide in the Aegean Sea off the coast of Greece. |
| 51683 | May.05 | Birth | 867 – Emperor Uda of Japan (d. 931) |
| 51684 | May.05 | Birth | 1210 – Afonso III of Portugal (d. 1279) |
| 51685 | May.05 | Birth | 1479 – Guru Amar Das, Indian 3rd Sikh Guru (d. 1574) |
| 51686 | May.05 | Birth | 1542 – Thomas Cecil, 1st Earl of Exeter, English soldier and politician, Lord Lieutenant of Northamptonshire (d. 1623) |
| 51687 | May.05 | Birth | 1684 – Françoise Charlotte d'Aubigné, French wife of Adrien Maurice de Noailles (d. 1739) |
| 51688 | May.05 | Birth | 1747 – Leopold II, Holy Roman Emperor (d. 1792) |
| 51689 | May.05 | Birth | 1749 – Jean-Frédéric Edelmann, French pianist and composer (d. 1794) |
| 51690 | May.05 | Birth | 1764 – Robert Craufurd, Scottish general and politician (d. 1812) |