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On this day in History Archives

 
At PaulsQuiz.com we aim to provide you with as much information as we possibly can. That's why we have built our On This Day in History section, to do just that. Our database is forever growing, we're adding more and more events from history to help you write your quiz questions.

Simply enter a date using the drop-down boxes below and click the 'Go' button to display events from the past that ocurred on that day.
 

 
05 December, 2006
Commodore Frank Bainimarama overthrows the government in Fiji
05 December, 2005
The Lake Tanganyika earthquake causes significant damage, mostly in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
05 December, 2005
The Civil Partnership Act comes into effect in the United Kingdom, and the first civil partnership is registered there.
05 December, 2003
Suicide bombers kill at least 46 people in an attack on a train in southern Russia.
05 December, 1995
Sri Lanka government announces the conquest of Tamil stronghold of Jaffna.
05 December, 1993
The mayor of Wien Helmut Zilk is wounded by a letter bomb.
05 December, 1989
TGV Atlantique sets a new railways speed record with 482.4 km/h.
05 December, 1983
Dissolution of the Military Joint in Argentina.
05 December, 1979
Sonia Johnson is formally excommunicated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for her outspoken criticism of the church concerning the proposed Equal Rights Amendment to the Constitution of the United States.
05 December, 1978
The Soviet Union signs a friendship treaty with the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan.
05 December, 1977
Egypt breaks diplomatic relations with Syria, Libya, Algeria, Iraq and South Yemen. The move is in retaliation to the Declaration of Tripoli against Egypt.
05 December, 1976
United Nations General Assembly adopts Pakistan resolution on security of non-Nuclear States.
05 December, 1970
Premiere of Dario Fos Morte accidentale di un anarchico.
05 December, 1969
Life Magazine reports the My Lai Massacre .
05 December, 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.
05 December, 1958
Subscriber Trunk Dialling (STD) is inaugurated in the UK by Queen Elizabeth II when she speaks to the Lord Provost in a call from Bristol to Edinburgh.
05 December, 1958
The Preston bypass, the UKs first stretch of motorway opens to traffic for the first time, now part of the M6 and M55 motorways.
05 December, 1957
Sukarno expels all Dutch people from Indonesia.
05 December, 1955
The American Federation of Labor and the Congress of Industrial Organizations merge and form the AFL-CIO.
05 December, 1955
E.D. Nixon and Rosa Parks lead the Montgomery Bus Boycott.
05 December, 1945
Flight 19 is lost in the Bermuda Triangle.
05 December, 1944
World War II: Allied troops occupy Ravenna.
05 December, 1943
World War II: U.S. Air force begins Operation Crossbow attacking Germanys secret weapons bases.
05 December, 1941
World War II: In Battle of Moscow Zhukov launched a massive Soviet counter-attack against the German army, with the biggest offensive launched against Army Group Centre.
05 December, 1941
World War II: Great Britain declares war to Finland, Hungary and Romania.
05 December, 1936
The Soviet Union adopts a new constitution and the Kirghiz Soviet Socialist Republic is established as a full Union Republic of the USSR.
05 December, 1934
Abyssinia Crisis: Italian troops attack Wal Wal in Abyssinia, taking four days to capture the city.
05 December, 1933
Prohibition ends: Utah becomes the 36th U.S. state to ratify the Twenty-first Amendment to the United States Constitution, thus establishing the required 75% of states needed to enact the amendment (this overturned the 18th Amendment which had outlawed alcohol in the United States).
05 December, 1932
German-born Swiss physicist Albert Einstein is granted an American visa.
05 December, 1926
Sergei Eisensteins Battleship Potemkin premieres.
05 December, 1920
Dimitrios Rallis forms a government in Greece.
05 December, 1914
The Italian Parliament proclaims the neutrality of the country.
05 December, 1893
First appearance of an electric car.
05 December, 1892
Sir John Thompson becomes the fourth Prime Minister of Canada.
05 December, 1865
Chincha Islands War: Peru allies with Chile against Spain.
05 December, 1848
California Gold Rush: In a message before the U.S. Congress, US President James K. Polk confirms that large amounts of gold had been discovered in California.
05 December, 1847
Jefferson Davis gets elected to the US senate, his first political occupation.
05 December, 1831
Former US President John Quincy Adams takes his seat in the House of Representatives.
05 December, 1830
The premiere of Hector Berliozs Symphonie Fantastique in Paris.
05 December, 1815
Foundation of Maceió in Brazil.
05 December, 1776
In the Apollo Room of the Raleigh Tavern in Williamsburg, Virginia, students from the College of William and Mary met for the first time founding Phi Beta Kappa, the first scholastic fraternity in the United States.
05 December, 1775
At Fort Ticonderoga, Henry Knox begins his historic transport of artillery to Cambridge, Massachusetts.
05 December, 1766
In London, James Christie holds his first sale.
05 December, 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.
05 December, 1746
Revolt in Genoa against the Spanish rule.
05 December, 1715
Alexander Dalzeel, a Scottish privateer in French service, is executed in London, England.
05 December, 1590
Niccolò Sfondrati becomes Pope Gregory XIV.
05 December, 1496
King Manuel I of Portugal issues a decree of expulsion of "heretics" from the country.
05 December, 1492
Christopher Columbus becomes the first European to set foot on the island of Hispaniola.
05 December, 1484
Pope Innocent VIII issues the Summis desiderantes, a papal bull that deputizes Heinrich Kramer and James Sprenger as inquisitors to root out alleged witchcraft in Germany and leads to one of the severest witchhunts in European history.

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January

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February

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March

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April

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May

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July

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August

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September

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October

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November

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