A few of the great historical events that happened today in history, February 5th!

1556	Henry II of France and Philip of Spain sign the truce of Vaucelles.
1631	A ship from Bristol, the Lyon, arrives with provisions for the Massachusetts Bay Colony.
1762	Martinique, a major French base in the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies, surrenders to the British.
1783	Sweden recognizes U.S. independence.
1846	The first Pacific Coast newspaper, Oregon Spectator, is published.
1864	Federal forces occupy Jackson, Miss.
1865	The three-day Battle of Hatcher’s Run, Va., begins.
1881	Phoenix, Ariz., was incorporated.
1900	The United States and Great Britain sign the Hay-Pauncefote Treaty, giving the United States the right to build a canal in Nicaragua but not to fortify it.
1917	Congress passed, over President Woodrow Wilson’s veto, a law severely curtailing the immigration of Asians.
1918	The Soviets proclaim separation of church and state.
1922	The Reader’s Digest begins publication in New York.
1922	William Larned’s steel-framed tennis racquet gets its first test.
1937	President Franklin D. Roosevelt proposed increasing the number of Supreme Court justices. Critics charged that he was attempting to “pack” the court.
1945	American and French troops destroy German forces in the Colmar Pocket in France.
1947	The Soviet Union and Great Britain reject terms for an American trusteeship over Japanese Pacific Isles.
1952	New York adopts three-colored traffic lights.
1958	Gamel Abdel Nasser was nominated to become the first president of the new United Arab Republic, a short-lived union of Syria and Egypt. Gamal Abdel Nasser
1961	The Soviets launch Sputnik V, the heaviest satellite to date at 7.1 tons.
1968	U.S. troops divide Viet Cong at Hue while the Saigon government claims they will arm loyal citizens.
1971	Two Apollo 14 astronauts walk on the moon.
1972	It is reported that the United States has agreed to sell 42 F-4 Phantom jets to Israel.
1974	Patty Hearst is kidnapped at gunpoint.
1985	U.S. halts a loan to Chile in protest over human rights abuses.
1988	The Arizona House of Representatives impeached Gov. Evan Mecham, who was later convicted in the state Senate and removed from office.
1988	Panamanian military leader Gen. Manuel Noriega was indicted on bribery and drug trafficking charges in Florida.
1994	White separatist Byron De La Beckwith was convicted in Jackson, Miss., of murdering civil rights leader Medgar Evers in 1963. He was sentenced to life in prison.
1997	Investment bank Morgan Stanley announced a $10 billion merger with Dean Witter.
2001	Four disciples of Osama bin Laden went on trial in New York in the 1998 bombings of two U.S. embassies in Africa.
2002	A federal grand jury indicted John Walker Lindh, the so-called “American Taliban,” alleging that he was trained by Osama bin Laden’s network and that he conspired with the Taliban to kill Americans.

Today in History facts are from various sites including, but not limited too: the History Channel, The New York Times, WHG Historynet.com, and HistoryOrb.com.