January 5: Today in History – Historical Events
Early Centuries – January 5 Historic Events – Before the 1700s
1. 5th Jan 1349: William V is named Earl of Holland/Zealand by his mother Margareta Bavaria.
2. 5th Jan 1463: Francois Villon, the French poet was banished from Paris.
3. 5th Jan 1477: More than 7000 people were killed including Charles Duke of Burgundy in the” Battle of Nancy” fought between Burgundy and Switzerland.
4. 5th Jan 1500: Milan was re-conquered by the troops of Duke of Milan, Duke Ludovico Sforza.
5. 5th Jan 1593: Nassau’s William Louis becomes governor/viceroy of Drenthe.
6. 5th Jan 1638: Two synagogues were closed in Recife Brazil because of a petition.
7. 5th Jan 1649: Venice premiers Francisco Cavalli’s opera “Giasone”.
8. 5th Jan 1675: The French army beats Brandenburg in the battle of Turkheim (Colmar).
18th Century – What Happened on January 5 – The 1700s
9. 5th Jan 1709: Sudden drop in temperature leading to extreme cold leaves thousands dead in Europe.
10. 5th Jan 1719: Anti-Prussian/Russian pact was signed between Briton, Hannover, Saxony-Poland and Austria.
11. 5th Jan 1757: Damien’s attempt unsuccessfully to assassinate French King Louis XV.
12. 5th Jan 1776: The first state Constitution was adopted by the Assembly of New Hampshire.
19th Century – January 5 This Day That Year – The 1800s
13. 5th Jan 1804: The first laws restricting the movement of blacks were passed by the Ohio legislature.
14. 5th Jan 1809: Britain and France conclude the treaty of Dardanelles between them.
15. 5th Jan 1822: The annexation of the Mexican Empire proclaimed by Central America.
16. 5th Jan 1846: The House of Representatives of the United States voted to stop sharing Oregon Territory with the United Kingdom.
17. 5th Jan 1850: Marks the opening of the California Exchange.
18. 5th Jan 1845: Three hundred people die in a shipwreck when Steamship San Francisco wrecked.
19. 5th Jan 1861: Fort Morgan and Fort Gaines at Mobil Bay were seized by Alabama troops.
20. 5th Jan 1887: At Columbia University the first school of librarianship opened.
21. 5th Jan 1885: The Long Island Railroad Company offers piggyback rail service for transportation of farm wagons on the train, the first to come out with it.
22. 5th Jan 1895: Captain Alfred Dreyfus of France was convicted of treason and was stripped of his rank publicly. He was exonerated later.
23. 5th Jan 1896: The discovery of X-Ray by William Rontgen and its potential use in medical diagnosis was published in the German newspaper “Die Presse”.
20th Century – Important Events On This Day January 5th – The 1900s
24. 5th Jan 1900: A revolt against British Rule was called by Irish leader John Edward Redmond.
25. 5th Jan 1903: The Pacific cable could be used by the general public for the first time.
26. 5th Jan 1905: A nonprofit environmental organization dedicated to the conservation of the environment “The National Association of Audubon Society” was incorporated.
27. 5th Jan 1905: Discovery of Elara, the 7th satellite of Jupiter was announced by Charles Perrine.
28. 5th Jan 1909: Panama’s Independence was recognized by Columbia.
29. 5th Jan 1911: Jesuits were expelled by the Portuguese.
30. 5th Jan 1911: San Francisco’s first air meet was held on this day.
31. 5th Jan 1912: The Prague Party conference takes place on this day.
32. 5th Jan 1912: The first National Hockey Association game was held in Victoria.
33. 5th Jan 1914: The Ford Motor Company announced the hike in the daily minimum wage from $2.4 to $5.0 and reduced the working hours per day from 9 hours to 8 hours.
34. 5th Jan 1916: Austria together with Hungry launched an offensive against Montenegro.
35. 5th Jan 1918: Marks the demand for unified peace by British Prime Minister Lloyd George.
36. 5th Jan 1919: Revolt instigated in Germany by the left-wing Spartacus organization. The uprising was brutally suppressed by the German troops.
37. 5th Jan 1919: Nazi, the National Socialist Party forms as German Farmer’s Party.
38. 5th Jan 1925: Mrs. Nellie Taylor Ross became the first female governor after she was sworn in as governor of Wyoming.
39. 5th Jan 1927: Movietone exhibited by Fox Studios.
40. 5th Jan 1929 marked the Coup by King Alexander in South Salvia.
41. 5th Jan 1930: Marks the meeting of American outlaw Bonnie Parker and Bank Robber Clyde Barrow for the first time at the house of Clarence Clay.
42. 5th Jan 1931: Lucille Thomas purchases the Topeka Franchise on the Western League and becomes the first woman to purchase a baseball team.
43. 5th Jan 1933: The construction of the Golden Gate Bridge began in California.
44. 5th Jan 1934: The National Base Ball League and the American Base Ball League decided to use uniform ball size for the first time in 33 years.
45. 5th Jan 1935: CBS Radio featured the first all-girls orchestra by Phil Spitalny on the program “Hour of Charm”.
46. 5th Jan 1940: The Federal Communication Commission listened to the FM radio for the first time.
47. 5th Jan 1940: Finland launches offensive at Suomossalmi against Russia.
48. 5th Jan 1941: British/Australian troops capture Bardia, Libya.
49. 5th Jan 1942: Marked the arrival of 55 German tanks in North Africa.
50. 5th Jan 1943: Elizabeth Taylor made her appearance in MGM’s “Lassie Come Home”.
51. 5th Jan 1943: Protesting segregation in the armed forces the civilian aid to Secretary of War, William H Hastie resignes.
52. 5th Jan 1944: Marked the publication of the first transoceanic newspaper, The London “Daily Mail”.
53. 5th Jan 1945: Japan sends Kamikaze Pilots or suicide bombers to war, after losing most of its trained pilots in war. These pilots had little training and were used for crashing planes filled with explosives into enemy ships creating great damage. They sank about 30 ships and killed 5000 Americans.
54. 5th Jan 1948: The first color new reel was shown by Warner Brothers. It was the footage of the football classic between Rose Bowel and Roses Parade.
55. 5th Jan 1949: President Truman delivers the “Fair Deal Speech”, expressing his thoughts on how every American citizen should expect a fair deal from the U.S. government.
56. 5th Jan 1949: Ceasefire was ordered in Sumatra by General Spoor.
57. 5th Jan 1952: Winston Churchill arrives in the U.S. for his first official visit after getting re-elected.
58. 5th Jan 1953: There was a collision between two passenger ships in the Red Sea. The ships were “Willem Ruys” and “Orange.
59. 5th Jan 1957: President Eisenhower asks Congress to dispatch troops to the Middle East.
60. 5th Jan 1956: Snoopy walked on two legs for the first time in the Peanut comic strip.
61. 5th Jan 1959: The Middle East was established as the Cold War battle zone by President Eisenhower to control communism.
62. 5th Jan 1960: New York Senator Kenneth Keating assures congressional support for the Continental League, a proposed third major league.
63. 5th Jan 1962: Marks the production of “My Bonnie” and “The Saints” by Beatles and singer, songwriter, and guitarist Tony Sheridan.
64. 5th Jan 1964: Marks the visit of Pope Paul VI to Israel and Jordan.
65. 5th Jan 1968: The communist party leader of Czechoslovakia Antonin Novotny was succeeded by Alexander Dubcek.
66. 5th Jan 1968: Renowned pediatrician Dr. Benjamin Spock was indicted for conspiring to violate draft law.
67. 5th Jan 1969: John Berryman and Karl Shapiro were presented the Bollingen Prize for poetry.
68. 5th Jan 1969: Russia launches Venera 5, for the first successful planet landing on Venus.
69. 5th Jan 1970: About 23,000 mine workers in Belgium go on strike.
70. 5th Jan 1971: The first one-day International cricket match between Australia and England was played at the MCG.
71. 5th Jan 1971: The body of the US heavyweight boxer Sonny Liston was found after an estimated 6 days after his death.
72. 5th Jan 1971: Globe Trotters end their 2,495 game-winning streaks when they lost to NJ Reds 99-100.
73. 5th Jan 1972: Sheik Mujib ur-Rehman was set free.
74. 5th Jan 1972: The deployment of the space shuttle was ordered by President Nixon.
75. 5th Jan 1973: Mali and Niger sever diplomatic relations with Israel.
76. 5th Jan 1974: Earthquake strikes Lima, Peru damaging hundreds of houses and killing six people.
77. 5th Jan 1975: British freighter “Lake Illawarra” rams Pylon Bridge between Derwent and Hobart, Tasmania. The ship sank killing 14.
78. 5th Jan 1976: In retaliation for the killing of Reavey and O’Dowd, the South Armagh Republican Action Force stopped a minibus in County Armagh and shot down 10 protestant civilians.
79. 5th Jan 1976: Cambodia gets a new name. It is renamed “Democratic Kampuchea”.
80. 5th Jan 1981: A truck driver, Peter Sutcliff was arrested by the British Police. He was convicted for the murder of 13 women as “Yorkshire Ripper”.
81. 5th Jan 1984: In his last test innings Greg Chapel scores 182 not out.
82. 5th Jan 1987: U.S. President Ronald Regan undergoes prostate surgery.
83. 5th Jan 1991: The 1-meter springboard diving title is won by Edwin Jongejans of the Netherlands.
84. 5th Jan 1992: Shane Warn scalps Ravi Shastri at the SCG to get his first test wicket. Ravi Shastri had scored 206 runs before being out.
85. 5th Jan 1993: The state of Washington hanged the sex child killer Westley Allen Dodd, which was the first legal hanging since 1965.
86. 5th Jan 1985: Space shuttle Discovery was moved to the launch pad for its mission STS 51-C.
87. 5th Jan 1989: Two French TV newsmen who were trying to plant fake bombs in 3 aircraft at John F Kennedy airport were arrested.
88. 5th Jan 1993: Brian Lara completes 277 runs against Australia at the SCG.
89. 5th Jan 1993: Liberian tanker MV Brer with its load of 85,000 tons of crude oil ran aground in hurricane-force winds off the Shetland Islands causing a large amount of oil spill.
90. 5th Jan 1995: 18 people were killed in an air crash when Lockheed C-140 Jetstar crashed in Isfahan, Persia.
91. 5th Jan 1996: Israeli-planted booby-trap cell phone kills Yahya Ayyash, a Hamas operative.
92. 5th Jan 1998: Copenhagen’s Little Mermaid was decapitated by vandals.
93. 5th Jan 1998: Ice storm causes disruption in supply of Electricity in Quebec and Ontario.
21st Century – January 5 This Day In History – The 2000s
94. 5th Jan 2001: Marks the conclusion of the public inquiry chaired by Dame Janet Smith against Harold Shipman in the U.K. It concludes that General Practitioner Harold Shipman may have killed more than 300 of his patients making him the worst serial killer in the history of Great Britain.
95. 5th Jan 2002: Charles Bishop, a 15-year-old, who was about to begin in flying training, took off in a small plane without the instructor and permission. He crashed the plane into a building in Tampa.
96. 5th Jan 2005: A team comprising Michel E Brown, Chad Trujillo, and David L Rabinowitz discovered Eris, the largest known dwarf planet in the solar system. They used images originally taken on 21st Oct 2003 at the Palomar Observatory.
97. 5th Jan 2010: President Barack Obama announced that the plot linked to Yemen to bomb an airline over Detroit will not prevent the closure of the prison at Guantanamo Bay. The suspension of repatriation of Yemeni prisoners by the U.S. will affect the deadline of Jan 22nd; the earlier set for the closure of the camp is not likely to be met.
98. 5th Jan 2010: U.K. is hit a severe weather and coldest snap in decades with snowfalls up to 12 inches. Schools and Airports were closed disrupting transportation.
99. 5th Jan 2011: Republicans take over the House of Representatives in the United States formally when they secured a majority after the 2010 midterm poll.
100. 5th Jan 2016: Pranav Dhanawade scored 1009 not out to become the first batsman to score 1000 runs in an innings.
See Also: