On this day: 5 August
Events, births and deaths on 5 August. Every date is checked against Wikidata.
Years ago today
1 year ago2025
- Deaths · Ion Iliescu
10 years ago2016
Nothing recorded for that year.
100 years ago1926
- Births · Betsy Jolas
- Births · Doming Lam
1000 years ago1026
Within 100 years of that
- 1063 · Deaths · Gruffudd ap Llywelyn
- 1068 · Events · Siege of Bari
- 939 · Events · Battle of Alhandic
Events · 32
- 642Battle of Maserfield — 642 battle
- 910(Julian date)Battle of Tettenhall — 910 battle
- 939(Julian date)Battle of Alhandic — battle of the Reconquista (939 AD)
- 1068(Julian date)Siege of Bari — 1068-71 battle of the Byzantine-Norman Wars
- 1388(Julian date)Battle of Otterburn — 1388 Medieval battle between England and Scotland
- 1506(Julian date)Battle of Kletsk — 1506 battle of the Muscovite-Lithuanian Wars
- 1583St. John's — capital and largest city of the province of Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada
- 1689Lachine massacre — 1689 killing of settlers by Mohawk warriors in Lachine, New France (now Montreal, Quebec)
- 1716Battle of Petrovaradin — 1716 battle
- 1763Battle of Bushy Run — 1763 battle between the British and Native Americans
- 1781Battle of Dogger Bank — naval battle that took place on 5 August 1781
- 1796Battle of Castiglione — 1796 battle during the War of the First Coalition
- 1862Battle of Baton Rouge — 1862 battle of the Trans-Mississippi Theater of the American Civil War
- 1882ExxonMobil — American multinational oil and gas corporation
- 1925Plaid Cymru — left-wing nationalist political party in Wales
- 1944Wola massacre — 1944 systematic mass-murder in Wola, Warsaw District in Masovian, Poland
- 1944Cowra breakout — escape attempt by Japanese prisoners of war in 1944
- 19491949 Pelileo earthquake — August 1949 earthquake in Ecuador
- 1949
- 1962death of Marilyn Monroe — death of American actress
- 1963Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty — 1963 limited test ban treaty
- 1964Operation Pierce Arrow — 1964 U.S. aerial bombing campaign during the Vietnam War
- 1966Bombard the Headquarters — suppressionary document by Mao Zedong
- 1979Bala Hissar uprising — 1979 insurrection attempt in Kabul, Afghanistan
- 19841984 Biman Bangladesh Airlines Fokker F27 crash — aviation accident
- 1993Magic: The Gathering — 1993 collectible card game
- 20032003 Marriott Hotel bombing — suicide attack
- 20102010 Copiapó mining accident — mine collapse in Chile in 2010
- 2012Wisconsin Sikh temple shooting — mass shooting
- 20152015 Gold King Mine waste water spill — toxic waste water spill in Colorado
- 2019
- 2024Resignation of Sheikh Hasina — 2024 resignation of the Prime Minister of Bangladesh
Births · 60
- 1262(Julian date)Ladislaus IV of Hungary — King of Hungary (1262-1290)
- 1460(Julian date)Alexander Jagiellon — King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania
- 1540(Julian date)Joseph Justus Scaliger — French historian (1540-1609)
- 1681Vitus Bering — Danish-born Russian explorer (1681-1741)
- 1758Go-Momozono — emperor of Japan (1758-1779)
- 1802Niels Henrik Abel — Norwegian mathematician (1802–1829)
- 1811Ambroise Thomas — French composer
- 1813Ivar Andreas Aasen — Norwegian linguist and poet, dubbed the father of Nynorsk (1813 – 1896)
- 1827Deodoro da Fonseca — President of Brazil (1827-1892)
- 1828Louise of the Netherlands — Queen Consort of Sweden and Queen Consort of Norway from 1859 to 1871
- 1850Guy de Maupassant — French writer (1850-1893)
- 1862Joseph Merrick — British man with severe deformities known as the Elephant Man
- 1889Conrad Aiken — American novelist and poet (1889–1973)
- 1890Naum Gabo — Russian-American sculptor (1890–1977)
- 1901Claude Autant-Lara — French film director (1901–2000)
- 1906John Huston — American film director, screenwriter, and actor (1906–1987)
- 1906Wassily Leontief — Russian economist (1906-1999)
- 1908Harold Holt — Australian politician, 17th Prime Minister of Australia (1908-1967)
- 1911Robert Taylor — American actor (1911-1969)
- 1912Abbé Pierre — French Catholic priest, founder of the Emmaus movement, subject of sexual abuse scandals
- 1923Devan Nair — Malaysian-Singaporean politician, 3rd President of Singapore (1923–2005)
- 1930Neil Armstrong — American astronaut and lunar explorer (1930–2012)
- 1934Wendell Berry — American writer, activist, and poet from Kentucky (1934-2026)
- 1936John Saxon — American actor (1936-2020)
- 1941Leonid Kizim — Soviet cosmonaut (1941-2010)
Deaths · 60
- 642(Julian date)Oswald of Northumbria — King of Northumbria
- 642Eowa of Mercia — Mercian king
- 824(Julian date)Emperor Heizei — Emperor of Japan
- 882(Julian date)Louis III of France — King of France
- 890(Julian date)Ranulf II of Aquitaine — Frankish noble
- 917(Julian date)Euthymius I of Constantinople — priest
- 1063(Julian date)Gruffudd ap Llywelyn — Welsh monarch
- 1364(Julian date)Kōgon — Emperor of Japan
- 1415(Julian date)Richard of Conisburgh, 3rd Earl of Cambridge — English nobleman and conspirator of the Southampton Plot
- 1579(Julian date)Stanislaus Hosius — Catholic cardinal (1504-1579)
- 1633George Abbot — Archbishop of Canterbury
- 1729Thomas Newcomen — English inventor, ironmonger and Baptist lay preacher (1664-1729)
- 1743John Hervey, 2nd Baron Hervey — English courtier, political writer and memoirist (1696-1743)
- 1778Thomas Linley — English singer, violinist and composer (1756-1788)
- 1792Frederick North, 2nd Earl of Guilford — British statesman and Prime Minister of Great Britain from 1770 to 1782 (1732-1792)
- 1799Richard Howe, 1st Earl Howe — Royal Navy Admiral of the Fleet
- 1868Jacques Boucher de Crèvecœur de Perthes — French archaeologist (1788-1868)
- 1880Ferdinand Ritter von Hebra — Austrian physician and dermatologist (1816-1880)
- 1881Spotted Tail — Brulé Sioux chief, Native American leader (1823–1881)
- 1895Friedrich Engels — German philosopher, sociologist and economist (1820–1895)
- 1901Victoria, Princess Royal — British princess (1840-1901), Empress of Germany and Queen consort of Prussia from March to June 1888
- 1916George Butterworth — English composer (1885–1916)
- 1921Dimitrios Rallis — Greek politician (1844-1921)
- 1929Millicent Garrett Fawcett — English politician, writer, and activist (1847–1929)
- 1946Wilhelm Marx — German politician (1863–1946)
Dates verified against Wikidata (CC0). Titles and descriptions come from Wikidata.