5 January

Events

Pre-1600

*1477 – Battle of Nancy: Charles the Bold is defeated and killed in a conflict with René II, Duke of Lorraine; Burgundy subsequently becomes part of France.

1601–1900

*1675 – Battle of Colmar: The French army beats Brandenburg.
*1757 – Louis XV of France survives an assassination attempt by Robert-François Damiens, who becomes the last person to be executed in France by drawing and quartering (the traditional form of capital punishment used for regicides).
*1781 – American Revolutionary War: Richmond, Virginia, is burned by British naval forces led by Benedict Arnold.
*1822 – The government of Central America votes for total annexation to the First Mexican Empire.
*1875 – The Palais Garnier, one of the most famous opera houses in the world, is inaugurated in Paris.
*1895 – Dreyfus affair: French army officer Alfred Dreyfus is stripped of his rank and sentenced to life imprisonment on Devil's Island.
*1900 – Irish nationalist leader John Edward Redmond calls for revolt against British rule.

1901–present

*1911 – Kappa Alpha Psi, the world's third oldest and largest black fraternity, is founded at Indiana University.
*1912 – The sixth All-Russian Conference of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (Prague Party Conference) opens. In the course of the conference, Vladimir Lenin and his supporters break from the rest of the party to form the Bolshevik movement.
*1913 – First Balkan War: The Battle of Lemnos begins; Greek admiral Pavlos Kountouriotis forces the Turkish fleet to retreat to its base within the Dardanelles, from which it did not venture for the rest of the war.
*1914 – The Ford Motor Company announces an eight-hour workday and minimum daily wage of $5 in salary plus bonuses.
*1919 – The German Workers' Party, which would become the Nazi Party, is founded in Munich.
*1925 – Nellie Tayloe Ross of Wyoming becomes the first female governor in the United States.
*1933 – Construction of the Golden Gate Bridge begins in San Francisco Bay.
*1941 – Amy Johnson, a 37-year-old pilot and the first woman to fly solo from London to Australia, disappears after bailing out of her plane over the River Thames, and is presumed dead.
*1944 – The ''Daily Mail'' becomes the first major London newspaper to be published on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean.
*1945 – The Soviet Union recognizes the new pro-Soviet Provisional Government of the Republic of Poland.
*1949 – In his "State of the Union" address, United States President Harry S. Truman unveils his Fair Deal program.
*1950 – In the Sverdlovsk air disaster, all 19 of those on board are killed, including almost the entire national ice hockey team ( VVS Moscow) of the Soviet Air Force – 11 players, as well as a team doctor and a masseur.
*1953 – The play '' Waiting for Godot'' by Samuel Beckett receives its première in Paris.
*1957 – In a speech given to the United States Congress, United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower announces the establishment of what will later be called the Eisenhower Doctrine.
*1967 – Cultural Revolution: The Shanghai People's Commune is established following the seizure of power from local city officials by revolutionaries.
*1968 – Alexander Dubček comes to power in Czechoslovakia, effectively beginning the "Prague Spring".
*1969 – The Venera 5 space probe is launched at 06:28:08 UTC from Baikonur.
* 1969 – Ariana Afghan Airlines Flight 701 crashes in Fernhill, West Sussex, while on approach to Gatwick Airport, killing 50 people.
*1970 – The 7.1 Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity of X (''Extreme''). Between 10,000 and 15,000 people are known to have been killed and about another 26,000 are injured.
*1972 – US President Richard Nixon announces the Space Shuttle program.
*1975 – The Tasman Bridge in Tasmania, Australia, is struck by the bulk ore carrier ''Lake Illawarra'', killing twelve people.
*1976 – The Khmer Rouge proclaim the Constitution of Democratic Kampuchea.
* 1976 – The Troubles: Gunmen shoot dead ten Protestant civilians after stopping their minibus at Kingsmill in County Armagh, Northern Ireland, UK, allegedly as retaliation for a string of attacks on Catholic civilians in the area by Loyalists, particularly the killing of six Catholics the night before.
*1991 – Georgian forces enter Tskhinvali, the capital of South Ossetia, Georgia, opening the 1991–92 South Ossetia War.
* 1991 – Somali Civil War: The United States Embassy to Somalia in Mogadishu is evacuated by helicopter airlift days after the outbreak of violence in Mogadishu.
*1993 – The oil tanker MV ''Braer'' runs aground on the coast of the Shetland Islands, spilling 84,700 tons of crude oil.
*2005 – The dwarf planet Eris is discovered by Palomar Observatory-based astronomers, later motivating the International Astronomical Union (IAU) to define the term ''planet'' for the first time.
*2014 – A launch of the communication satellite GSAT-14 aboard the GSLV MK.II D5 marks the first successful flight of an Indian cryogenic engine.

Births

Pre-1600

*1209 – Richard, 1st Earl of Cornwall, English prince, nominal King of Germany (d. 1272)
*1530 – Gaspar de Bono, monk of the Order of the Minims (d. 1571)
*1548 – Francisco Suárez, Spanish priest, philosopher, and theologian (d. 1617)
* 1587 – Xu Xiake, Chinese geographer and explorer (d. 1641)
*1592 – Shah Jahan, Mughal emperor (d. 1666)

1601–1900

*1620 – Miklós Zrínyi, Croatian military commander (d. 1664)
*1640 – Paolo Lorenzani, Italian composer (d. 1713)
*1735 – Claude Martin, French-English general and explorer (d. 1800)
*1767 – Jean-Baptiste Say, French economist and academic (d. 1832)
*1779 – Stephen Decatur, American commander (d. 1820)
* 1779 – Zebulon Pike, American general and explorer (d. 1813)
*1781 – Gaspar Flores de Abrego, three terms mayor of San Antonio, in Spanish Texas (d. 1836) Consulted in May 22–26, 2010.
*1793 – Harvey Putnam, American lawyer and politician (d. 1855)
*1808 – Anton Füster, Austrian priest and activist (d. 1881)
*1834 – William John Wills, English surgeon and explorer (d. 1861)
*1838 – Camille Jordan, French mathematician and academic (d. 1922)
*1846 – Rudolf Christoph Eucken, German philosopher and author, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1926)
* 1846 – Mariam Baouardy, Syrian Roman Catholic nun; later canonized (d. 1878)
*1855 – King Camp Gillette, American businessman, founded the Gillette Company (d. 1932)
*1864 – Bob Caruthers, American baseball player and manager (d. 1911)
*1867 – Dimitrios Gounaris, Greek lawyer and politician, 94th Prime Minister of Greece (d. 1922)
*1871 – Frederick Converse, American composer and academic (d. 1940)
*1874 – Joseph Erlanger, American physiologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1965)
*1876 – Konrad Adenauer, German lawyer and politician, Chancellor of West Germany (d. 1967)
*1879 – Hans Eppinger, Austrian physician and academic (d. 1946)
*1880 – Nikolai Medtner, Russian pianist and composer (d. 1951)
*1881 – Pablo Gargallo, Spanish sculptor and painter (d. 1934)
*1882 – Herbert Bayard Swope, American journalist (d. 1958)
*1882 – Edwin Barclay, 18th president of Liberia (d. 1955)
*1885 – Humbert Wolfe, Italian-English poet and civil servant (d. 1940)
*1886 – Markus Reiner, Israeli physicist and engineer (d. 1976)
*1892 – Agnes von Kurowsky, American nurse (d. 1984)
*1893 – Paramahansa Yogananda, Indian-American guru and philosopher (d. 1952)
*1897 – Kiyoshi Miki, Japanese philosopher and author (d. 1945)
*1900 – Yves Tanguy, French-American painter (d. 1955)

1901–present

*1902 – Hubert Beuve-Méry, French journalist (d. 1989)
* 1902 – Stella Gibbons, English journalist and author (d. 1989)
*1903 – Harold Gatty, Australian pilot and navigator (d. 1957)
*1904 – Jeane Dixon, American astrologer and psychic (d. 1997)
* 1904 – Erika Morini, Austrian violinist (d. 1995)
* 1904 – George Plant, Executed Irish Republican (d. 1942)
*1906 – Kathleen Kenyon, English archaeologist and academic (d. 1978)
*1907 – Volmari Iso-Hollo, Finnish athlete (d. 1969)
*1908 – George Dolenz, Italian-American actor (d. 1963)
*1909 – Lucienne Bloch, Swiss-American sculptor, painter, and photographer (d. 1995)
* 1909 – Stephen Cole Kleene, American mathematician and computer scientist (d. 1994)
*1910 – Jack Lovelock, New Zealand runner and journalist (d. 1949)
*1911 – Jean-Pierre Aumont, French actor and screenwriter (d. 2001)
* 1914 – Doug Deitz, Australian rugby league player (d. 1994)
* 1914 – George Reeves, American actor and director (d. 1959)
*1915 – Arthur H. Robinson, Canadian geographer and cartographer (d. 2004)
*1917 – Francis L. Kellogg, American businessman and diplomat (d. 2006)
* 1917 – Wieland Wagner, German director and producer (d. 1966)
* 1917 – Jane Wyman, American actress (d. 2007)
*1919 – Hector Abhayavardhana, Sri Lankan theorist and politician (d. 2012)
* 1919 – Severino Gazzelloni, Italian flute player (d. 1992)
*1920 – Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli, Italian pianist and educator (d. 1995)
*1921 – Friedrich Dürrenmatt, Swiss author and playwright (d. 1990)
* 1921 – Jean, Grand Duke of Luxembourg, Luxembourgish soldier and aristocrat (d. 2019)
* 1921 – John H. Reed, American politician and diplomat, 67th Governor of Maine (d. 2012)
*1922 – Anthony Synnot, Australian admiral (d. 2001)
*1923 – Sam Phillips, American radio host and producer, founded Sun Records (d. 2003)
*1926 – Veikko Karvonen, Finnish runner (d. 2007)
* 1926 – W. D. Snodgrass, American poet (d. 2009)
* 1926 – Hosea Williams, American businessman and activist (d. 2000)
*1927 – Sivaya Subramuniyaswami, American guru and author, founded Iraivan Temple (d. 2001)
*1928 – Imtiaz Ahmed, Pakistani cricketer (d. 2016)
* 1928 – Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, Pakistani lawyer and politician, 4th President of Pakistan

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