Wikipedia:Selected anniversaries/December 5
This is a list of selected December 5 anniversaries that appear in the "On this day" section of the Main Page. To suggest a new item, in most cases, you can be bold and edit this page. Please read the selected anniversaries guidelines before making your edit. However, if your addition might be controversial or on a day that is or will soon be on the Main Page, please post your suggestion on the talk page instead.
Please note that the events listed on the Main Page are chosen based more on relative article quality and to maintain a mix of topics, not based solely on how important or significant their subjects are. Only four to five events are posted at a time and thus not everything that is "most important and significant" can be listed. In addition, an event is generally not posted this year if it is also the subject of the scheduled featured article or picture of the day.
To report an error when this appears on the Main Page, see Main Page errors. Please remember that this list defers to the supporting articles, so it is best to achieve consensus and make any necessary changes there first.
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Images
Use only ONE image at a time
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Pope Innocent VIII -
Pope Gregory XIV -
Gough Whitlam
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Damage from the Brooklyn Theater Fire
Ineligible
| Blurb | Reason |
|---|---|
| 1492 – Christopher Columbus became the first European to set foot on the island of Hispaniola, now Haiti and the Dominican Republic. | article says Dec 25, but not cited |
| 1590 – Niccolò Sfondrati became Pope Gregory XIV, succeeding Pope Urban VII who died two months earlier. | needs more footnotes |
| 1757 – Seven Years' War: Prussian forces under Frederick the Great defeated Austrian forces under Prince Charles Alexander of Lorraine at the Battle of Leuthen in Leuthen, present-day Poland. | refimprove |
| 1766 – In London, James Christie founded what is today the world's leading art business and fine arts auction house. | refimprove section |
| 1776 – The Phi Beta Kappa Society, the oldest academic honor society in the United States, and the first collegiate organization to adopt a Greek-letter name, was founded at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia. | multiple issues |
| 1791 – Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart died without completing his Requiem. | needs more footnotes, also should find a better date for this, as this sneaks in Mozart's death around the rule of featuring natural deaths only on centennials |
| 1958 – Subscriber trunk dialling was inaugurated in the United Kingdom by Queen Elizabeth II when she dialled a phone call from Bristol to Edinburgh. | refimprove |
Eligible
- 1876 – Fire engulfed the Brooklyn Theater in Brooklyn, New York, killing at least 278 people, mostly due to smoke inhalation.
- 1916 – British Prime Minister H. H. Asquith resigned after criticism of his leadership during World War I.
- 1933 – Prohibition of alcoholic beverages in the United States officially ended when the Twenty-first Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified, repealing the Eighteenth Amendment.
- 1936 – The 1936 Soviet Constitution, also known as the "Stalin" constitution, was adopted.
- 1939 – The remains of Pedro II of Brazil, who was ousted and exiled in a republican coup, were buried after being repatriated.
- 1952 – The "Great Smog" began in London and lasted for five days, causing 12,000 deaths and leading to the Clean Air Act 1956.
- 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.
- 1974 – The Birmingham Americans won the only World Bowl in World Football League history.
- 2005 – The Civil Partnership Act came into force, granting civil partnerships in the United Kingdom with rights and responsibilities identical to civil marriage.
- 2007 – A nineteen-year-old gunman went on a shooting spree at a shopping mall in Omaha, Nebraska, US, killing nine people, including himself.
Notes
- Decline and fall of Pedro II of Brazil appears on November 15 and Pedro I of Brazil appears on December 1, so Pedro II should not be used in the same year.
December 5: International Volunteer Day; St Nicholas's Eve in various European countries; The King's birthday, National Day and Father's Day in Thailand (1927)
- 1484 – Pope Innocent VIII issued the papal bull Summis desiderantes affectibus, giving Dominican Inquisitor Heinrich Kramer explicit authority to prosecute witchcraft in Germany.
- 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 (pictured) that would be used to strengthen the Siege of Boston.
- 1945 – Flight 19, a squadron of five U.S. naval TBF Avenger torpedo bombers, disappeared in the area now known as the Bermuda Triangle.
- 1965 – The "Glasnost Meeting" became the first demonstration in the Soviet Union after the Second World War and marked the beginning of a civil rights movement in the country.
- 1995 – Azerbaijan Airlines Flight 56 crashed shortly after takeoff from Nakhchivan Airport, killing 52 people on board.