Events on December 5 37
Year 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.
Year 1492
Christopher Columbus becomes the first European to set foot on the island of Hispaniola (now Haiti and the Dominican Republic).
Year 1496
King Manuel I of Portugal issues a decree ordering the expulsion of "heretics" from the country.
Year 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.
Year 1775
At Fort Ticonderoga, Henry Knox begins his historic transport of artillery to Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Year 1831
Former U.S. President John Quincy Adams takes his seat in the House of Representatives.
Year 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.
Year 1931
Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow was destroyed on orders from Joseph Stalin.
Year 1934
Abyssinia Crisis: Italian troops attack Wal Wal in Abyssinia, taking four days to capture the city.
Year 1936
The Soviet Union adopts a new constitution and the Kirghiz Soviet Socialist Republic is established as a full Union Republic of the USSR.
Year 1941
World War II: In the Battle of Moscow, Georgy Zhukov launches a massive Soviet counter-attack against the German army.
Year 1943
World War II: Allied air forces begin attacking Germany's secret weapons bases in Operation Crossbow.
Year 1952
Great Smog: A cold fog descends upon London, combining with air pollution and killing at least 12,000 in the weeks and months that follow.
Year 1955
The American Federation of Labor and the Congress of Industrial Organizations merge and form the AFL-CIO.
Year 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.
Year 1958
The Preston By-pass, the UK's first stretch of motorway, opens to traffic for the first time. (It is now part of the M6 and M55 motorways.)
Year 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.
Year 1964
Lloyd J. Old discovered the first linkage between the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) and disease—mouse leukemia—opening the way for the recognition of the importance of the MHC in the immune response.
Year 1977
Egypt breaks diplomatic relations with Syria, Libya, Algeria, Iraq and South Yemen. The move is in retaliation for the Declaration of Tripoli against Egypt.
Year 1995
Sri Lankan Civil War: Sri Lanka's government announces the conquest of the Tamil stronghold of Jaffna.
Year 2004
The Civil Partnership Act comes into effect in the United Kingdom, and the first civil partnership is registered there.
Year 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.
Year 2013
Militants attack a Defense Ministry compound in Sana'a, Yemen, killing at least 56 people and injuring 200 others.