December 5
Events
Pre-1600
- 63 BC - Cicero gives the fourth and final of the Catiline Orations.
- 633 - Fourth Council of Toledo opens, presided over by Isidore of Seville.
- 1033 - The Jordan Rift Valley earthquake destroys multiple cities across the Levant, triggers a tsunami and kills many.
- 1082 - Ramon Berenguer II, Count of Barcelona is assassinated, most likely by his brother, Berenguer Ramon II.
- 1408 - Seeking to resubjugate Muscovy, Emir Edigu of the Golden Horde reaches Moscow, burning areas around the city but failing to take the city itself.
- 1456 - The first of two earthquakes measuring 7.2 strikes Italy, causing extreme destruction and killing upwards of 70,000 people.
- 1484 - Pope Innocent VIII issues the Summis desiderantes affectibus, a papal bull that deputizes Heinrich Kramer and Jacob Sprenger as inquisitors to root out alleged witchcraft in Germany.
- 1496 - King Manuel I of Portugal issues a decree ordering the expulsion of Jews from the country.
- 1560 - Ten-year-old Charles IX becomes king of France, with Queen Mother Catherine de' Medici as regent.
- 1578 - Sir Francis Drake, after sailing through Strait of Magellan, raids Valparaiso.
1601–1900
- 1649 - The town of Raahe is founded by Count Per Brahe the Younger.
- 1757 - Seven Years' War: Battle of Leuthen: Frederick II of Prussia leads Prussian forces to a decisive victory over Austrian forces under Prince Charles Alexander of Lorraine.
- 1766 - In London, auctioneer James Christie holds his first sale.
- 1770 - 29th Regiment of Foot privates Hugh Montgomery and Matthew Kilroy are found guilty for the manslaughter of Crispus Attucks and Samuel Gray respectively in the Boston Massacre.
- 1775 - At Fort Ticonderoga, Henry Knox begins his historic transport of artillery to Cambridge, Massachusetts.
- 1776 - Phi Beta Kappa, the oldest academic honor society in the U.S., holds its first meeting at the College of William & Mary.
- 1831 - Former U.S. President John Quincy Adams takes his seat in the House of Representatives.
- 1847 - Jefferson Davis is elected to the U.S. Senate.
- 1848 - California Gold Rush: In a message to the United States Congress, U.S. President James K. Polk confirms that large amounts of gold had been discovered in California.
- 1865 - Chincha Islands War: Peru allies with Chile against Spain.
- 1895 - New Haven Symphony Orchestra of Connecticut performs its first concert.
1901–present
- 1914 - The Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition begins in an attempt to make the first land crossing of Antarctica.
- 1919 - Ukrainian War of Independence: The Polonsky conspiracy is suppressed and its participants are executed by the Kontrrazvedka.
- 1921 - The Football Association bans women's football in England from league grounds, a ban that stays in place for 50 years.
- 1933 - The Twenty-first Amendment to the United States Constitution is ratified, repealing Prohibition in the United States.
- 1934 - Abyssinia Crisis: Italian troops attack Wal Wal in Abyssinia, taking four days to capture the city.
- 1935 - Mary McLeod Bethune founds the National Council of Negro Women in New York City.
- 1936 - The Soviet Union adopts a new constitution and the Kirghiz Soviet Socialist Republic is established as a full Union Republic of the USSR.
- 1941 - World War II: In the Battle of Moscow, Georgy Zhukov launches a massive Soviet counter-attack against the German army.
- 1941 - World War II: Great Britain declares war on Finland, Hungary and Romania.
- 1943 - World War II: Allied air forces begin attacking Germany's secret weapons bases in Operation Crossbow.
- 1945 - Flight 19, a group of TBF Avengers, disappears in the Bermuda Triangle.
- 1952 - Beginning of the Great Smog in London. A cold fog combines with air pollution and brings the city to a standstill for four days. Later, a Ministry of Health report estimates 4,000 fatalities as a result of it.
- 1955 - The American Federation of Labor and the Congress of Industrial Organizations merge and form the AFL–CIO.
- 1955 - The Civil Rights Movement: the Montgomery bus boycott begins, led by E. D. Nixon and Rosa Parks.
- 1958 - Subscriber Trunk Dialling is inaugurated in the United Kingdom by Queen Elizabeth II when she speaks to the Lord Provost in a call from Bristol to Edinburgh.
- 1958 - The Preston By-pass, the UK's first stretch of motorway, opens to traffic for the first time.
- 1964 - Vietnam War: For his heroism in battle earlier in the year, Captain Roger Donlon is awarded the first Medal of Honor of the war.
- 1964 - Lloyd J. Old discovers the first linkage between the major histocompatibility complex and disease—mouse leukemia—opening the way for the recognition of the importance of the MHC in the immune response.
- 1971 - Battle of Gazipur: Pakistani forces are defeated as India cedes Gazipur to Bangladesh.
- 1977 - Egypt breaks diplomatic relations with Syria, Libya, Algeria, Iraq and South Yemen in retaliation to preventing President Anwar el-Sadat from pursuing negotiations with Israel at the Tripoli confer.
- 1983 - Dissolution of the Military Junta in Argentina.
- 1991 - Leonid Kravchuk is elected the first president of Ukraine.
- 1994 - The Budapest Memorandum is signed at the OSCE conference in Budapest, Hungary.
- 1995 - Sri Lankan Civil War: Sri Lanka's government announces the conquest of the Tamil stronghold of Jaffna.
- 1995 - Azerbaijan Airlines Flight A-56 crashes near Nakhchivan International Airport in Nakhchivan, Azerbaijan, killing 52 people.
- 2001 - Space Shuttle Endeavour launches on STS-108, carrying the Expedition 4 crew to the International Space Station.
- 2005 - The Civil Partnership Act comes into effect in the United Kingdom, and the first civil partnership is registered there.
- 2005 - The 6.8 Lake Tanganyika earthquake shakes the eastern provinces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo with a maximum Mercalli intensity of X, killing six people.
- 2006 - Commodore Frank Bainimarama overthrows the government in Fiji.
- 2007 - Westroads Mall shooting: Nineteen-year-old Robert A. Hawkins kills nine people, including himself, with a WASR-10 at a Von Maur department store in Omaha, Nebraska.
- 2013 - Militants attack a Defense Ministry compound in Sanaa, Yemen, killing at least 56 people and injuring 200 others.
- 2014 - Exploration Flight Test-1, the first flight test of Orion, is launched.
- 2017 - The International Olympic Committee bans Russia from competing at the 2018 Winter Olympics for doping at the 2014 Winter Olympics.
Births
Pre-1600
- 852 - Zhu Wen, Chinese emperor
- 1377 - Jianwen Emperor of China
- 1389 - Zbigniew Oleśnicki, Polish cardinal and statesman
- 1443 - Pope Julius II
- 1470 - Willibald Pirckheimer, German lawyer and author
- 1495 - Nicolas Cleynaerts, Flemish philologist and lexicographer
- 1537 - Ashikaga Yoshiaki, Japanese shōgun
- 1539 - Fausto Sozzini, Italian theologian and author
- 1547 - Ubbo Emmius, Dutch historian and geographer
- 1556 - Anne Cecil, Countess of Oxford, English countess
- 1596 - Henry Lawes, English composer
1601–1900
- 1661 - Robert Harley, 1st Earl of Oxford and Earl Mortimer, English lawyer and politician, Secretary of State for the Northern Department
- 1666 - Francesco Scarlatti, Italian violinist and composer
- 1687 - Francesco Geminiani, Italian violinist and composer
- 1697 - Giuseppe de Majo, Italian organist and composer
- 1782 - Martin Van Buren, American lawyer and politician, 8th President of the United States
- 1784 - George Shepherd, English illustrator and painter
- 1803 - Fyodor Tyutchev, Russian poet and diplomat
- 1820 - Afanasy Fet, Russian poet and author
- 1822 - Elizabeth Cabot Agassiz, American philosopher and academic, co-founded Radcliffe College
- 1829 - Henri-Gustave Joly de Lotbinière, French-Canadian lawyer and politician, 4th Premier of Quebec
- 1830 - Christina Rossetti, English poet and author
- 1839 - George Armstrong Custer, American general
- 1841 - Marcus Daly, Irish-American businessman
- 1849 - Eduard Seler, German anthropologist, ethnohistorian, linguist, and academic
- 1855 - Clinton Hart Merriam, American zoologist, ornithologist, entomologist, and ethnographer
- 1859 - John Jellicoe, 1st Earl Jellicoe, English admiral and politician, 2nd Governor-General of New Zealand
- 1861 - Konstantin Korovin, Russian-French painter and set designer
- 1862 - John Henry Leech, English entomologist
- 1863 - Paul Painlevé, French mathematician and politician, 84th Prime Minister of France
- 1866 - John Beresford, Irish polo player
- 1866 - Traian Demetrescu, Romanian poet and author
- 1867 - Antti Aarne, Finnish author and academic
- 1867 - Józef Piłsudski, Polish field marshal and politician, 15th Prime Minister of Poland
- 1868 - Arnold Sommerfeld, German physicist and academic
- 1869 - Ellis Parker Butler, American author and poet
- 1870 - Vítězslav Novák, Czech composer and educator
- 1872 - Harry Nelson Pillsbury, American chess player
- 1875 - Arthur Currie, Canadian general
- 1879 - Clyde Vernon Cessna, American pilot and businessman, founded the Cessna Aircraft Corporation
- 1881 - René Cresté, French actor and director
- 1886 - Rose Wilder Lane, American journalist and author
- 1886 - Pieter Oud, Dutch historian, academic, and politician, Minister of Finance of the Netherlands
- 1886 - Nikolai Uglanov, Soviet politician
- 1888 - Sabás Reyes Salazar, Mexican Catholic priest
- 1890 - David Bomberg, English painter, illustrator, and academic
- 1890 - Fritz Lang, Austrian-American director, producer, and screenwriter
- 1891 - Paul Kogerman, Estonian chemist and academic
- 1894 - Charles Robberts Swart, South African lawyer and politician, 1st State President of South Africa
- 1895 - Elbert Frank Cox, American mathematician and academic
- 1896 - Ann Nolan Clark, American historian, author, and educator
- 1896 - Carl Ferdinand Cori, Czech-American biochemist and pharmacologist, Nobel Prize laureate
- 1897 - Nunnally Johnson, American director, producer, and screenwriter
- 1897 - Gershom Scholem, German-Israeli philosopher and historian
- 1898 - Josh Malihabadi, Indian-Pakistani poet and translator
- 1898 - Grace Moore, American soprano and actress
- 1900 - Jimmy Dimmock, English footballer