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August 5 in History
Historical Events on August 5
AD 25
Guangwu claims the throne as emperor, restoring the Han dynasty after the collapse of the short-lived Xin dynasty.
135
Roman armies enter Betar, slaughtering thousands and ending the bar Kokhba revolt.
642
Battle of Maserfield: Penda of Mercia defeats and kills Oswald of Northumbria.
910
The last major Danish army to raid England is defeated at the Battle of Tettenhall by the allied forces of Mercia and Wessex, led by King Edward the Elder and Æthelred, Lord of the Mercians.
939
The Battle of Alhandic is fought between Ramiro II of León and Abd-ar-Rahman III at Zamora in the context of the Spanish Reconquista. The battle resulted in a victory for the Emirate of Córdoba.
1068
Byzantine-Norman wars: Italo-Normans begin a nearly-three-year siege of Bari.
1100
Henry I is crowned King of England in Westminster Abbey.
1278
Spanish Reconquista: the forces of the Kingdom of Castile initiate the ultimately futile Siege of Algeciras against the Emirate of Granada.
1305
William Wallace, who led the Scottish resistance against England, is captured by the English near Glasgow and transported to London where he is put on trial and executed.
1388
The Battle of Otterburn, a border skirmish between the Scottish and the English in Northern England, is fought near Otterburn.
1583
Sir Humphrey Gilbert establishes the first English colony in North America, at what is now St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador.
1600
The Gowrie Conspiracy against King James VI of Scotland (later to become King James I of England) takes place.
1620
The Mayflower departs from Southampton, England on its first attempt to reach North America.
1689
Beaver Wars: Fifteen hundred Iroquois attack Lachine in New France.
1716
The Battle of Petrovaradin takes place.
1735
Freedom of the press: New York Weekly Journal writer John Peter Zenger is acquitted of seditious libel against the royal governor of New York, on the basis that what he had published was true.
1763
Pontiac's War: Battle of Bushy Run: British forces led by Henry Bouquet defeat Chief Pontiac's Indians at Bushy Run.
1781
The Battle of Dogger Bank takes place.
1796
The Battle of Castiglione in Napoleon's first Italian campaigns of the French Revolutionary Wars.
1816
The British Admiralty dismisses Francis Ronalds's new invention of the first working electric telegraph as "wholly unnecessary", preferring to continue using the semaphore.
1824
Greek War of Independence: Constantine Kanaris leads a Greek fleet to victory against Ottoman and Egyptian naval forces in the Battle of Samos.
1858
Cyrus West Field and others complete the first transatlantic telegraph cable after several unsuccessful attempts. It will operate for less than a month.
1860
Charles XV of Sweden 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 levies the first income tax as part of the Revenue Act of 1861 (3% of all incomes over US $800; rescinded in 1872).
1861
The United States Army abolishes flogging.
1862
American Civil War: Battle of Baton Rouge: Along the Mississippi River near Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Confederate troops attempt to take the city, but are driven back by fire from Union gunboats.
1864
American Civil War: The 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.
1874
Japan launches its postal savings system, modeled after a similar system in the United Kingdom.
1882
The Standard Oil of New Jersey is established.
1884
The cornerstone for the Statue of Liberty is laid on Bedloe's Island (now Liberty Island) in New York Harbor.
1888
Bertha Benz drives from Mannheim to Pforzheim and back in the first long distance automobile trip, commemorated as the Bertha Benz Memorial Route since 2008.
1901
Peter O'Connor sets the first IAAF recognised long jump world record of 24 ft 11.75 in (7.6137 m). The record will stand for 20 years.
1906
Persian Constitutional Revolution: Mozaffar ad-Din Shah Qajar, King of Iran, agrees to convert the government to a constitutional monarchy.
1914
World War I: The German minelayer SS Königin Luise lays a minefield about 40 miles (64 km) off the Thames Estuary (Lowestoft). She is intercepted and sunk by the British light-cruiser HMS Amphion.
1914
World War I: The guns of Point Nepean fort at Port Phillip Heads in Victoria (Australia) fire across the bows of the Norddeutscher Lloyd steamer SS Pfalz which is attempting to leave the Port of Melbourne in ignorance of the declaration of war and she is detained; this is said to be the first Allied shot of the War.
1914
In Cleveland, Ohio, the first electric traffic light is installed.
1916
World War I: Battle of Romani: Allied forces, under the command of Archibald Murray, defeat an attacking Ottoman army under the command of Friedrich Freiherr Kress von Kressenstein, securing the Suez Canal and beginning the Ottoman retreat from the Sinai Peninsula.
1925
Plaid Cymru is formed with the aim of disseminating knowledge of the Welsh language that is at the time in danger of dying out.
1926
Harry Houdini performs his greatest feat, spending 91 minutes underwater in a sealed tank before escaping.
1940
World War II: The Soviet Union formally annexes Latvia.
1941
World War II: The Battle of Smolensk concludes with Germany capturing about 300,000 Soviet Red Army prisoners.
1944
World War II: At least 1,104 Japanese POWs in Australia attempt to escape from a camp at Cowra, New South Wales; 545 temporarily succeed but are later either killed, commit suicide, or are recaptured.
1944
World War II: Polish insurgents liberate a German labor camp (Gęsiówka) in Warsaw, freeing 348 Jewish prisoners.
1944
World War II: The Nazis begin a week-long massacre of between 40,000 and 50,000 civilians and prisoners of war in Wola, Poland.
1949
In Ecuador, an earthquake destroys 50 towns and kills more than 6,000.
1957
American Bandstand, a show dedicated to the teenage "baby-boomers" by playing the songs and showing popular dances of the time, debuts on the ABC television network.
1960
Burkina Faso, then known as Upper Volta, becomes independent from France.
1962
Apartheid in South Africa: Nelson Mandela is jailed. He would not be released until 1990.
1963
The United States, the United Kingdom, and the 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 against U.S. destroyers in the Gulf of Tonkin.
1965
The Indo-Pakistani War of 1965 begins as Pakistani soldiers cross the Line of Control dressed as locals.
1971
The first Pacific Islands Forum (then known as the "South Pacific Forum") is held in Wellington, New Zealand, with the aim of enhancing cooperation between the independent countries of the Pacific Ocean.
1973
Mars 6 is launched from the USSR.
1974
Vietnam War: The U.S. Congress places a $1 billion limit on military aid to South Vietnam.
1979
In Afghanistan, Maoists undertake an attempted military uprising.
1981
President Ronald Reagan fires 11,359 striking air-traffic controllers who ignored his order for them to return to work.
1989
General elections are held in Nicaragua with the Sandinista National Liberation Front winning a majority.
1995
Yugoslav Wars: The city of Knin, Croatia, a significant Serb stronghold, is captured by Croatian forces during Operation Storm. The date is celebrated in Croatia as Victory Day.
2003
A car bomb explodes in the Indonesian capital of Jakarta outside the Marriott Hotel killing 12 and injuring 150.
2010
The Copiapó mining accident occurs, trapping 33 Chilean miners approximately 2,300 ft (700 m) below the ground.
2010
Ten members of International Assistance Mission Nuristan Eye Camp team are killed by persons unknown in Kuran wa Munjan District of Badakhshan Province, Afghanistan.
2012
The Oak Creek shooting took place at a Sikh temple in Oak Creek, Wisconsin, killing six people; the perpetrator was shot dead by police.
2015
The Environmental Protection Agency at Gold King Mine waste water spill releases 3 million gallons of heavy metal toxin tailings and waste water into the Animas River in Colorado.
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