1912, 5 March
First use of dirigibles for military purposes in reconnaissance behind enemy lines by Italy against Turkish forces near Tripoli.
1978, 5 March
Algerian freedom fighter, Ahmed Kaid, dies in Rabat, Morocco.
1980, 5 March
Joshua Mqabuko Nyangolo Nkomo forms a coalition government with Robert Gabriel Mugabe in Zimbabwe. Nkomo's party, the Zimbabwe African People's Union or ZAPU, won twenty seats in the new Assembly - all in his tribal homeland of Matabeleland. Mugabe originally offered Nkomo a ceremonial Presidency, but this was rejected and the post of Minister of Home Affairs was accepted instead.
1983, 5 March
Six hundred members of the opposition party, ZAPU, are arrested by Robert Mugabe's ZANU government.
