On this day: December 5

Events on December 5

• 63 BC Cicero gives the fourth and final of the Catiline Orations. Wikipedia
• 1033 The Jordan Rift Valley earthquake destroys multiple cities across the Levant, triggers a tsunami and kills many. Wikipedia
• 1578 Sir Francis Drake, after sailing through Strait of Magellan, raids Valparaíso. Wikipedia
• 1649 The town of Raahe (Swedish: Brahestad) is founded by Count Per Brahe the Younger. Wikipedia
• 1831 Former U.S. President John Quincy Adams takes his seat in the House of Representatives. Wikipedia
• 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. Wikipedia
• 1865 Chincha Islands War: Peru allies with Chile against Spain. Wikipedia
• 1914 The Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition began in an attempt to make the first land crossing of Antarctica. Wikipedia
• 1914 The Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition begins in an attempt to make the first land crossing of Antarctica. Wikipedia
• 1934 Abyssinia Crisis: Italian troops attack Wal Wal in Abyssinia, taking four days to capture the city. Wikipedia
• 1936 The Soviet Union adopts a new constitution and the Kirghiz Soviet Socialist Republic is established as a full Union Republic of the USSR. Wikipedia
• 1936 The 1936 Soviet constitution, also known as the "Stalin constitution", was adopted. Wikipedia
• 1941 World War II: Great Britain declares war on Finland, Hungary and Romania. Wikipedia
• 1941 World War II: In the Battle of Moscow, Georgy Zhukov launches a massive Soviet counter-attack against the German army. Wikipedia
• 1958 Subscriber Trunk Dialling (STD) is inaugurated in the United Kingdom by Queen Elizabeth II when she speaks to the Lord Provost in a call from Bristol to Edinburgh. Wikipedia
• 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. Wikipedia
• 1971 Battle of Gazipur: Pakistani forces are defeated as India cedes Gazipur to Bangladesh. Wikipedia
• 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. Wikipedia
• 1983 Dissolution of the Military Junta in Argentina. Wikipedia
• 1994 The Budapest Memorandum is signed at the OSCE conference in Budapest, Hungary. Wikipedia
• 1995 Sri Lankan Civil War: Sri Lanka's government announces the conquest of the Tamil stronghold of Jaffna. Wikipedia
• 2001 Space Shuttle Endeavour launches on STS-108, carrying the Expedition 4 crew to the International Space Station. Wikipedia
• 2005 The 6.8 Mw Lake Tanganyika earthquake shakes the eastern provinces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo with a maximum Mercalli intensity of X (Extreme), killing six people. Wikipedia
• 2006 Commodore Frank Bainimarama overthrows the government in Fiji. Wikipedia
• 2013 Militants attack a Defense Ministry compound in Sanaa, Yemen, killing at least 56 people and injuring 200 others. Wikipedia
• 2017 The International Olympic Committee bans Russia from competing at the 2018 Winter Olympics for doping at the 2014 Winter Olympics. Wikipedia

Born on December 5

• 1443 Pope Julius II (died 1513) Wikipedia
• 1782 Martin Van Buren, American lawyer and politician, 8th President of the United States (died 1862) Wikipedia
• 1803 Fyodor Tyutchev, Russian poet and diplomat (died 1873) Wikipedia
• 1830 Christina Rossetti, English poet and author (died 1894) Wikipedia
• 1839 George Armstrong Custer, American general (died 1876) Wikipedia
• 1863 Paul Painlevé, French mathematician and politician, 84th Prime Minister of France (died 1933) Wikipedia
• 1867 Józef Piłsudski, Polish field marshal and politician, 15th Prime Minister of Poland (died 1935) Wikipedia
• 1868 Arnold Sommerfeld, German physicist and academic (died 1951) Wikipedia
• 1890 Fritz Lang, Austrian-American director, producer, and screenwriter (died 1976) Wikipedia
• 1896 Carl Ferdinand Cori, Czech-American biochemist and pharmacologist, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1984) Wikipedia
• 1901 Walt Disney, American animator, director, producer, and screenwriter, co-founded The Walt Disney Company (died 1966) Wikipedia
• 1901 Werner Heisenberg, German physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1976) Wikipedia
• 1903 C. F. Powell, English-Italian physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1969) Wikipedia
• 1907 Lin Biao, Chinese general and politician, 2nd Vice Premier of the People's Republic of China (died 1971) Wikipedia
• 1927 Bhumibol Adulyadej, King of Thailand (died 2016) Wikipedia
• 1932 Sheldon Glashow, American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate Wikipedia
• 1932 Little Richard, American singer-songwriter, pianist, and actor (died 2020) Wikipedia
• 1934 Joan Didion, American novelist and screenwriter (died 2021) Wikipedia
• 1945 Moshe Katsav, Iranian-Israeli educator and politician, 8th President of Israel Wikipedia
• 1946 José Carreras, Spanish tenor and actor Wikipedia
• 1975 Ronnie O'Sullivan, English snooker player and radio host Wikipedia
• 1995 Anthony Martial, French footballer Wikipedia

Died on December 5

• 902 Ealhswith, queen consort and wife of Alfred the Great, King of Wessex Wikipedia
• 1560 Francis II of France (born 1544) Wikipedia
• 1791 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Austrian composer and musician (born 1756) Wikipedia
• 1870 Alexandre Dumas, French novelist and playwright (born 1802) Wikipedia
• 1891 Pedro II of Brazil (born 1825) Wikipedia
• 1925 Władysław Reymont, Polish novelist, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1867) Wikipedia
• 1926 Claude Monet, French painter (born 1840) Wikipedia
• 1965 Joseph Erlanger, American physiologist, neuroscientist, and academic Nobel Prize laureate (born 1874) Wikipedia
• 1969 Princess Alice of Battenberg, mother of Prince Philip of the United Kingdom (born 1885) Wikipedia
• 1973 Robert Watson-Watt, Scottish engineer, invented the radar (born 1892) Wikipedia
• 2012 Oscar Niemeyer, Brazilian architect, designed the United Nations Headquarters and Cathedral of Brasília (born 1907) Wikipedia
• 2013 Nelson Mandela, South African lawyer and politician, 1st President of South Africa, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1918) Wikipedia
• 2016 J. Jayalalithaa, Indian actress and Former Chief Minister of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu (born 1948) Wikipedia
• 2025 Frank Gehry, Canadian-American architect and designer (b. 1929) Wikipedia

Holidays and observances

• Christian feast day: Clement of Alexandria (Episcopal Church) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Crispina of Numidia Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Dalmatius of Pavia Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: John Almond Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Justinian of Ramsey Island Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Nicetius (Nizier) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Pelinus of Brindisi Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Sabbas the Sanctified Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: December 5 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics) Wikipedia
• Children's Day (Suriname) Wikipedia
• Day of Military Honour - Battle of Moscow (Russia) Wikipedia
• Discovery Day (Haiti and Dominican Republic) Wikipedia
• International Volunteer Day for Economic and Social Development Wikipedia
• Klozum (Schiermonnikoog, Netherlands) Wikipedia
• Saint Nicholas' Eve (Belgium, Czech Republic, Slovakia, the Netherlands, Hungary, Romania, Germany, Poland and the UK) Krampusnacht (Austria) Wikipedia
• The King Bhumibol Adulyadej Memorial Birthday (Thailand) Wikipedia
• World Soil Day Wikipedia

The events, births, deaths and observances above are from the English Wikipedia article “December 5” and the articles it links to (authors and history), retrieved 2026-10-09 through the Wikimedia “On this day” feed. They are licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0; this selection is shared under the same licence. We picked the 26 events, 22 births and 14 deaths with the widest coverage across Wikipedia's language editions (counted from Wikidata) and sorted them by year; the wording is unchanged apart from removing references to pictures.