August 5

August 5 is the 217th day of the year (218th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar; 148 days remain until the end of the year.

Events

Pre-1600

• 1100 – Henry I is crowned King of England in Westminster Abbey.
• 1305 – Scottish leader William Wallace is captured by the English near Glasgow and transported to London for trial and execution.

1601–1900

• 1772 – The First Partition of Poland begins, resulting in the loss of about 30% of Poland's territory to the Russian Empire, the Kingdom of Prussia, and the Habsburg Monarchy.
• 1858 – Cyrus West Field and others complete the first transatlantic telegraph cable after several unsuccessful attempts.
• 1861 – The United States Army abolishes flogging as a form of military punishment.
• 1864 – American Civil War: The Battle of Mobile Bay begins, resulting in a significant Union victory.

1901–present

• 1914 – The first electric traffic light is installed in Cleveland, Ohio, United States.
• 1944 – World War II: The Warsaw Uprising continues as Polish resistance fighters battle German occupation forces.
• 1949 – An earthquake in Ecuador kills over 6,000 people and destroys dozens of towns.
• 1962 – Anti-apartheid leader Nelson Mandela is arrested by South African police; he would remain imprisoned for 27 years.
• 1963 – The United States, United Kingdom, and Soviet Union sign the Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, prohibiting nuclear weapons tests in the atmosphere, in outer space, and under water.
• 1974 – A bomb explodes on a train in Italy, killing 12 people and injuring 48, in an attack attributed to neo-fascist terrorists.
• 2010 – The Copiapó mining accident begins in Chile, trapping 33 miners approximately 700 meters underground. They would be successfully rescued 69 days later.

Births

Pre-1600

• 1540 – Joseph Justus Scaliger, French philologist and scholar (d. 1609).

1601–1900

• 1813 – Ivar Aasen, Norwegian philologist and lexicographer, creator of Nynorsk (d. 1896).
• 1850 – Guy de Maupassant, French journalist and author (d. 1893).
• 1890 – Naum Gabo, Russian sculptor and theorist (d. 1977).

1901–present

• 1930 – Neil Armstrong, American astronaut, engineer, and academic, the first person to walk on the Moon (d. 2012).
• 1940 – Roman Gabriel, American football player and coach (d. 2024).
• 1968 – Marine Le Pen, French lawyer and politician.
• 1985 – Salomon Kalou, Ivorian professional footballer.
• 1988 – Federica Pellegrini, Italian swimmer and Olympic gold medalist.

Deaths

Pre-1600

• 882 – Louis III of France (b. 863).
• 1391 – John I of Castile (b. 1358).

1601–1900

• 1895 – Friedrich Engels, German philosopher, social scientist, and author (b. 1820).

1901–present

• 1962 – Marilyn Monroe, American actress, model, and singer (b. 1926).
• 1984 – Richard Burton, Welsh actor (b. 1925).
• 2019 – Toni Morrison, American novelist, essayist, and Nobel laureate (b. 1931).
• 2023 – Hélène Carrère d'Encausse, French historian and politician (b. 1929).

Holidays and observances

• Christian feast day:

* Oswald of Northumbria
* Afra (Augsburg)
* Nonna of Nazianzus

• Independence Day (Burkina Faso), celebrates the independence of Upper Volta (now Burkina Faso) from France in 1960.
• Victory and Homeland Thanksgiving Day and the Day of Croatian Defenders (Croatia).
• National Traffic Light Day (United States), commemorating the installation of the first electric traffic signal in 1914.