August 5
From the Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia that anyone can change
August 5 is the 217th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (218th in leap years). There are 148 days left in the year.
[change] Births
[change] Deaths
- 1895 - Friedrich Engels, German thinker who wrote about Communism with Karl Marx
- 1962 - Marilyn Monroe
[change] Events
- 642 - Battle of Maserfeld - Penda of Mercia defeats and kills Oswald of Bernicia
- 1100 - Henry I crowned King of England in Westminster Abbey
- 1305 - William Wallace, who led Scottish resistance to England, was captured by the English near Glasgow and transported to London for trial and execution.
- 1583 - Sir Humphrey Gilbert establishes first English colony in North America, at what is now St John's, Newfoundland.
- 1689 - 1,500 Iroquois attack village of Lachine, in New France.
- 1763 - Pontiac's War - Battle of Bushy Run - British forces led by Henry Bouquet defeat Chief Pontiac's Native Americans at Bushy Run.
- 1772 - First Partition of Poland begins.
- 1812 - War of 1812: Tecumseh's Native American force ambushes Thomas Van Horne's 200 Americans at Brownstone Creek, causing them to flee and retreat.
- 1858 - Cyrus West Field and others complete the first transatlantic telegraph cable after several unsuccessful attempts. It operated for less than a month.
- 1860 - Carl IV of Sweden-Norway is crowned king of Norway, in Trondheim.
- 1861 - American Civil War: In order to help pay for the war effort, the United States government issues the first income tax as part of the Revenue Act of 1861 (3% of all incomes over US $800; rescinded in 1872).
- 1862 - American Civil War: Battle of Baton Rouge - Along the Mississippi River near Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Confederate troops drive Union forces back into the city.
- 1864 - American Civil War: Battle of Mobile Bay begins - At Mobile Bay near Mobile, Alabama, Admiral David Farragut leads a Union flotilla through Confederate defenses and seals one of the last major Southern ports.
- 1882 - Standard Oil of New Jersey is established.
- 1884 - The cornerstone for the Statue of Liberty is laid on Bedloe's Island in New York Harbor.
- 1914 - In Cleveland, Ohio, the first electric traffic light is installed.
- 1944 - Holocaust: Polish insurgents liberate a German labor camp in Warsaw, freeing 348 Jewish prisoners.
- 1949 - In Ecuador an earthquake destroys 50 towns and kills more than 6000.
- 1960 - Burkina Faso, then known as "Upper Volta", became independent from France
- 1962 - Film actress and sex icon, Marilyn Monroe is found dead in her Los Angeles, California home after apparently overdosing on sleeping pills.
- 1963 - United States, United Kingdom, and Soviet Union sign a nuclear test ban treaty.
- 1964 - Vietnam War: Operation Pierce Arrow - American aircraft from carriers USS Ticonderoga and USS Constellation bomb North Vietnam in retaliation for strikes attacked US destroyers in the Gulf of Tonkin.
- 1969 - Mariner program: Mariner 7 makes its closest fly-by of Mars (3,524 kilometers).
- Vietnam War: The U.S. Congress places a $1 billion dollar limit on 1974 military aid to South Vietnam.
- 1981 - Ronald Reagan fires 11,359 striking air-traffic controllers who ignored his order for them to return to work.
