December 5 in history — What Happened Today in History

Dissolution of the Military Junta in Argentina.

Egypt breaks diplomatic relations with Syria, Libya, Algeria, Iraq and South Yemen in retaliation to preventing President Anwar el-Sadat from pursuing negotiations with Israel at the Tripoli confer.

Battle of Gazipur: Pakistani forces are defeated as India cedes Gazipur to Bangladesh.

Vietnam War: For his heroism in battle earlier in the year, Captain Roger Donlon is awarded the first Medal of Honor of the war.

Lloyd J. Old discovers 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.

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.

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.)

The American Federation of Labor and the Congress of Industrial Organizations merge and form the AFL–CIO.

The Civil Rights Movement: the Montgomery bus boycott begins, led by E. D. Nixon and Rosa Parks.

Beginning of the Great Smog in London. A cold fog combines with air pollution and brings the city to a standstill for four days. Later, a Ministry of Health report estimates 4,000 fatalities as a result of it.

Flight 19, a group of TBF Avengers, disappears in the Bermuda Triangle.

World War II: Allied air forces begin attacking Germany's secret weapons bases in Operation Crossbow.

World War II: In the Battle of Moscow, Georgy Zhukov launches a massive Soviet counter-attack against the German army.

World War II: Great Britain declares war on Finland, Hungary and Romania.

The Soviet Union adopts a new constitution and the Kirghiz Soviet Socialist Republic is established as a full Union Republic of the USSR.

Mary McLeod Bethune founds the National Council of Negro Women in New York City.

Abyssinia Crisis: Italian troops attack Wal Wal in Abyssinia, taking four days to capture the city.

The Twenty-first Amendment to the United States Constitution is ratified, repealing Prohibition in the United States.

The Football Association bans women's football in England from league grounds, a ban that stays in place for 50 years.

Ukrainian War of Independence: The Polonsky conspiracy is suppressed and its participants are executed by the Kontrrazvedka.

The Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition begins in an attempt to make the first land crossing of Antarctica.

New Haven Symphony Orchestra of Connecticut performs its first concert.

Chincha Islands War: Peru allies with Chile against Spain.

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.

Jefferson Davis is elected to the U.S. Senate.

Former U.S. President John Quincy Adams takes his seat in the House of Representatives.

Phi Beta Kappa, the oldest academic honor society in the U.S., holds its first meeting at the College of William & Mary.

At Fort Ticonderoga, Henry Knox begins his historic transport of artillery to Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Ondrej Duda, Slovak footballer

Semi Ojeleye, American basketball player

Ross Barkley, English footballer

Luciano Vietto, Argentine footballer

Natalie Sourisseau, Canadian field hockey player

Cam Fowler, Canadian-American ice hockey player

Christian Yelich, American baseball player

Montee Ball, American football player

Jurrell Casey, American football player

Kwon Yu-ri, South Korean singer-songwriter and actress

Ross Bagley, American actor

Tina Charles, American basketball player

Kyle Long, American football player

Vic Eliason, American clergyman and radio host, founded VCY America (born 1936)

Tibor Rubin, Hungarian-American soldier, Medal of Honor recipient (born 1929)

Chuck Williams, American businessman and author, founded Williams Sonoma (born 1915)

Ernest C. Brace, American captain and pilot (born 1931)

Fabiola, Queen of Belgium (born 1928)

Talât Sait Halman, Turkish poet, translator, and historian (born 1931)

Jackie Healy-Rae, Irish hurdler and politician (born 1931)

Silvio Zavala, Mexican historian and author (born 1909)

Fred Bassetti, American architect and academic, founded Bassetti Architects (born 1917)

William B. Edmondson, American lawyer and diplomat, United States Ambassador to South Africa (born 1927)

Nelson Mandela, South African lawyer and politician, 1st President of South Africa, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1918)

Dave Brubeck, American pianist and composer (born 1920)

Elisabeth Murdoch, Australian philanthropist (born 1909)