Major Events
- 910 The last major Viking army to raid England is defeated at the Battle of Tettenhall by the allied forces of Mercia and Wessex, led by King Edward and Earl Aethelred
- 1305 William Wallace, who led Scottish resistance to England, is captured by the English near Glasgow and transported to London for trial and execution.
- 1583 Humphrey Gilbert claims Newfoundland for the British crown, the first English colony in North America and the beginning of the British Empire
- 1716 Battle of Petrovaradin [Peterwardein]: Habsburgs under Eugene of Savoy defeat the Turks in a decisive victory
- 1864 Battle of Mobile Bay, won by the Union Army led by Rear Admiral David Farragut with the cry "Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead!" (US Civil War)
- More August 5 Events
Aug 5 in Film & TV
- 1957 "American Bandstand" premieres on network TV (ABC)
Aug 5 in Music
- 1966 The Beatles release single "Yellow Submarine" with "Eleanor Rigby" in the UK
Aug 5 in Sport
- 1936 American athlete Jesse Owens wins 200m in world record time (20.7s), his 3rd gold medal of the Berlin Olympics
Did You Know?
1st electric traffic light installed in the USA on the corner of East 105th Street and Euclid Avenue in Cleveland, Ohio
William Allen
Guy de Maupassant
Hugh S. Johnson
Neil Armstrong
Reid Hoffman
Marine Le Pen
Maureen McCormick
Adam Yauch
Herb Brooks
Patrick Ewing
Fun Fact About August 5
Harry Houdini stays in a coffin under water for 1½ hrs before escaping
Famous Weddings
- 1764 Holy Roman Emperor Leopold II (17) weds queen Maria Luisa of Spain (18) in Innsbruck, Austria
- 1885 Author Arthur Conan Doyle (26) weds Louisa Hawkins
- 1920 Actor John Barrymore (38) marries second wife author and actress Blanche Oelrichs (29) (divorced 1928)
Famous Divorces
- 1925 Turkish President Mustafa Kemal Ataturk (44) divorces wife Latife Hanim after 2 years of marriage
More August 5 Weddings
Friedrich Engels
Arthur Meighen
Richard Burton
Robert Muldoon
Alec Guinness
Toni MorrisonArticles, Photos and Quiz
Battle of Petrovaradin
The Battle of Petrovaradin or Peterwardein which saw a decisive victory for the Imperial Army
August 5, 1716
The Balloon Expedition to the North Pole
The discovery of Swedish engineer S. A. Andrée's tragic, long-lost polar expedition in 1930 led to more questions than answers.
August 5, 1930
