On this day: December 5

Events on December 5

• 1456 The first of two major earthquakes struck the Kingdom of Naples, killing up to 70,000 people. Wikipedia
• 1484 Pope Innocent VIII issued the papal bull Summis desiderantes affectibus, which gave the Dominican inquisitor Heinrich Kramer the explicit authority to prosecute witchcraft in Germany. Wikipedia
• 1496 King Manuel I of Portugal issues a decree ordering the expulsion of Jews from the country. Wikipedia
• 1560 Ten-year-old Charles IX becomes king of France, with Queen Mother Catherine de' Medici as regent. Wikipedia
• 1578 Sir Francis Drake, after sailing through Strait of Magellan, raids Valparaíso. Wikipedia
• 1757 Seven Years' War: Prussian troops under Frederick the Great defeated Austrian forces at the Battle of Leuthen. Wikipedia
• 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. Wikipedia
• 1775 American Revolutionary War: Continental Army colonel Henry Knox arrived at Fort Ticonderoga in New York to arrange the transport of 60 tons of artillery to support the siege of Boston. Wikipedia
• 1807 Napoleonic Wars: British ships began a raid on Griessie after the Dutch captain refused a British demand for surrender. Wikipedia
• 1831 Former U.S. President John Quincy Adams takes his seat in the House of Representatives. Wikipedia
• 1847 Jefferson Davis is elected to the U.S. Senate. Wikipedia
• 1914 The Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition began in an attempt to make the first land crossing of Antarctica. Wikipedia
• 1918 National Guards and Sokol volunteers protested in Zagreb, leading to an armed clash with regiments of the Home Guard and former Common Army. Wikipedia
• 1936 The 1936 Soviet constitution, also known as the "Stalin constitution", was adopted. Wikipedia
• 1941 World War II: In the Battle of Moscow, Georgy Zhukov launches a massive Soviet counter-attack against the German army. Wikipedia
• 1941 World War II: Great Britain declares war on Finland, Hungary and Romania. Wikipedia
• 1945 Flight 19, a group of TBF Avengers, disappears in the Bermuda Triangle. Wikipedia
• 1952 The "Great Smog of London" began and lasted for five days, causing 12,000 deaths and leading to the Clean Air Act 1956. Wikipedia
• 1958 Britain's first motorway, the Preston Bypass, opened to the public. Wikipedia
• 1965 The "glasnost meeting" took place in Moscow, becoming the first demonstration in the Soviet Union after World War II and marking the beginning of the civil rights movement in the country. Wikipedia
• 1972 Gough Whitlam took office as the 21st Prime Minister of Australia and formed a duumvirate with his deputy Lance Barnard, ending 23 years of Liberal–Country Party government. Wikipedia
• 1991 Leonid Kravchuk is elected the first president of Ukraine. Wikipedia
• 1994 The Budapest Memorandum is signed at the OSCE conference in Budapest, Hungary. Wikipedia
• 2001 Space Shuttle Endeavour launches on STS-108, carrying the Expedition 4 crew to the International Space Station. Wikipedia
• 2007 A gunman killed nine people at a shopping mall in Omaha, Nebraska. 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
• 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
• 1993 Ross Barkley, English footballer Wikipedia
• 1995 Anthony Martial, French footballer Wikipedia

Died on December 5

• 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
• 1941 Amrita Sher-Gil, Hungarian-Pakistani painter (born 1913) Wikipedia
• 2007 Karlheinz Stockhausen, German composer and academic (born 1928) 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
• 2017 Michael I of Romania, fifth and last king of Romania (born 1921) Wikipedia
• 2021 Bob Dole, American politician (born 1923) Wikipedia
• 2022 Kirstie Alley, American actress and producer (born 1951) 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

Sources

• Wikipedia — “December 5” — events, births, deaths and observances (text under CC BY-SA 4.0) (checked 2026-10-15)
• Wikipedia — “Selected anniversaries/December 5” — the anniversaries editors chose for the date and the article each one is about (checked 2026-10-15)
• Wikidata — in how many language editions each entry's own article exists, used to fill the lists (CC0) (checked 2026-10-15)
• vacanza/holidays (open-source holiday rules, MIT licence) — holiday rules used to build the lists (checked 2026-10-15)

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 2026-10-15 through the Wikimedia “On this day” feed. They are licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0; this selection is shared under the same licence. Every anniversary that Wikipedia's editors selected for December 5 stays on the list; the remaining places, up to 26 events, 22 births and 14 deaths, go to the entries whose own article — about the event itself, or else the person or thing it is about — appears in the most language editions (counted from Wikidata); an article about a person or thing, which covers far more than one day, counts half. An entry with no article of its own counts, also at half, by the least covered article it links, and one that links only places counts for nothing. Each list runs by year, and the wording is unchanged apart from removing references to pictures, audio and video.