Wikipedia:Main Page history/2012 March 5

the free encyclopedia that anyone can edit.

Today's featured article
The Battle of Barrosa (5 March 1811) was an unsuccessful French attack on a larger Anglo-Portuguese-Spanish force attempting to lift the siege of Cádiz in Spain during the Peninsular War. Cádiz had been invested by the French in early 1810, but in March of the following year a reduction in the besieging army gave its garrison of Anglo-Spanish troops an opportunity to lift the siege. A large Allied strike-force was shipped south from Cádiz to Tarifa, and moved to engage the siege lines from the rear. The French, under the command of Marshal Victor, were aware of the Allied movement and redeployed to prepare a trap. Victor placed one division on the road to Cádiz, blocking the Allied line of march, while his two remaining divisions fell on the single Anglo-Portuguese rearguard division under the command of Sir Thomas Graham. Following a fierce battle on two fronts, the British succeeded in routing the attacking French forces. A lack of support from the larger Spanish contingent prevented an absolute victory, and the French were able to regroup and reoccupy their siege lines. Graham's tactical victory proved to have little strategic effect on the continuing war, to the extent that Victor was able to claim the battle as a French victory since the siege remained in force until finally being lifted on 24 August 1812. (more...) Recently featured: Rutherford B. Hayes – Kevin O'Halloran – Murder of Julia Martha Thomas Archive – By email – More featured articles...
Did you know...
From Wikipedia's newest content: ... that the island of Ictis, reported by Diodorus as a centre of the ancient tin trade, has uncertainly been identified with St Michael's Mount (pictured) in Cornwall? ... that Glasser v. United States was the first U.S. Supreme Court case to hold that juries must be drawn from a "cross-section of the community"? ... that literary agent Carmen Balcells represents six Nobel Prize winners? ... that the Siah Bishe Power Plant is to be both the first pumped-storage power plant and the site of the first concrete-face rock-fill dam in Iran? ... that Ventongimps Moor was the first nature reserve to be owned by the Cornwall Wildlife Trust? ... that while one reviewer called the recent Fringe episode "The End of All Things" the best of the season, another remarked that it "failed to make my dinger hum"? Archive – Start a new article – Nominate an article

In the news
Vladimir Putin Vladimir Putin (pictured) is elected President of Russia for his third term. Blasts at an armory in Brazzaville, Republic of the Congo, kill at least 200 people and injure hundreds more. BP agrees to pay US$7.8 billion to plaintiffs affected by the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. A tornado outbreak in the Midwestern and Southeastern United States causes at least 39 fatalities. English musician Davy Jones, a member of The Monkees, dies at the age of 66. North Korea agrees to suspend uranium enrichment in exchange for humanitarian aid. Conflict in Syria – Wikinews – Recent deaths – More current events...
On this day...
March 5: St Piran's Day in Cornwall (United Kingdom); Casimir Pulaski Day in Illinois (2012); Lei Feng Day in the People's Republic of China 1616 – Nicolaus Copernicus's De revolutionibus orbium coelestium, describing his heliocentric theory of the solar system, was banned by the Roman Catholic Church. 1770 – British soldiers fired into a crowd in Boston, Massachusetts, killing five civilians (engraving pictured). 1824 – The First Anglo-Burmese War, the longest and most expensive war in British Indian history, began. 1936 – The prototype of the Supermarine Spitfire, a British single-seat fighter that was later used by the Royal Air Force and many other Allied countries during the Second World War, flew for the first time. 1975 – Computer hackers in Silicon Valley held the first meeting of the Homebrew Computer Club, whose members would go on to have great influence on the development of the personal computer. More anniversaries: March 4 – March 5 – March 6 Archive – By email – List of historical anniversaries It is now March 5, 2012 (UTC) – Refresh this page

Today's featured list

There are 58 national parks of the United States operated by the National Park Service, an agency of the Department of the Interior. National parks must be established by an act of the United States Congress. The first of these protected areas, Yellowstone National Park, was signed into law by President Ulysses S. Grant in 1872, followed by Sequoia and Yosemite in 1890. The Organic Act of 1916 created the National Park Service "to conserve the scenery and the natural and historic objects and wildlife therein, and to provide for the enjoyment of the same in such manner and by such means as will leave them unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations." These parks combined protect more than 51,900,000 acres (210,000 km²) in twenty-seven states and two territories, and they preserve a variety of resources including canyons, mountains, glaciers, deserts, lakes, caves, forests, and valleys. The newest national park is Great Sand Dunes, established in 2004, which like many other national parks was previously a national monument. (more...)

Recently featured: 1st Academy Awards – The Apprentice (U.S.) candidates – Best in Show winners of the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show

Archive – More featured lists...

Today's featured picture

Tungsten rods with evaporated crystals, partially oxidized with colorful tarnish, as well as a 1 cm³ tungsten cube for comparison. Tungsten is a hard, rare metal under standard conditions when uncombined, but is found naturally on Earth only in chemical compounds. Its chemical symbol is W, which represents its alternative name, "wolfram".

Photo: Alchemist-hp

Recently featured: Chicago skyline – Mount Rushmore – Diatomaceous earth

Archive – More featured pictures...

Other areas of Wikipedia

Community portal – Bulletin board, projects, resources and activities covering a wide range of Wikipedia areas.
Help desk – Ask questions about using Wikipedia.
Local embassy – For Wikipedia-related communication in languages other than English.
Reference desk – Serving as virtual librarians, Wikipedia volunteers tackle your questions on a wide range of subjects.
Site news – Announcements, updates, articles and press releases on Wikipedia and the Wikimedia Foundation.
Village pump – For discussions about Wikipedia itself, including areas for technical issues and policies.