August 5

135 – The besieged town of Betar, in Judea falls to Roman forces on Tisha bAv , ending the 3rd Jewish revolt led by Simon bar Kokhba

910 – Danish Vikings on the last major raid on England for nearly a century are defeated at Tettenhall, by the allied forces of King Edward of Wessex and Æthelred, Lord of Mercia.

939 – During the Reconquista, the forces of Ramiro II of León are defeated by forces of Abd ar Rahman III, emir of Córdoba at Zamora, Spain.

1278 – During the Reconquista, the forces of Alphonso X of Castile take the port city of Algeciras, held by the Emir of Granada, under siege for the first time.

1583 – Sir Humphrey Gilbert establishes the first English colony in North America, at St. John’s, Newfoundland.

1620 – The Mayflower departs from Southampton but is forced to dock in Dartmouth when its companion ship, Speedwell, springs a leak.

1763 – During the Pontiac War, British forces led by Henry Bouquet defeat Chief Pontiac’s Indians at Bushy Run.

1816 – The British Admiralty dismisses Francis Ronalds’ new invention of the first working electric telegraph as “wholly unnecessary”

1858 – The Atlantic Telegraph Company led by Cyrus West Field, completes the first transatlantic telegraph cable, which turns out to be barely functional and is accidentally destroyed 3 weeks later in an attempt to increase transmission speed

1861 – The United States levies the first income tax as part of the Revenue Act of 1861 to help pay for the War Between the States.

1862 – Along the Mississippi River near Baton Rouge, Confederate troops attempt to take the city, but are driven back by fire from Union gunboats.

1864 – Admiral David Farragut leads a Union flotilla through Confederate defenses and seals one of the last major Southern ports of Mobile.

1884 – The cornerstone for the Statue of Liberty is laid on Bedloe’s Island

1914 – The first electric traffic light is installed in Cleveland, Ohio. Legend has it that the first traffic ticket for running a red light was written the same day.

1916 – Allied forces, under Archibald Murray, defeat an attacking Ottoman army under Friedrich von Kressenstein, and secure the Suez Canal

1930 – Neil Armstrong is born in Wapakoneta, Ohio,

1944 – Polish insurgents liberate the Gęsiówka labor camp in Warsaw. Nazis begin to massacre civilians and prisoners of war in Wola, Poland.

1957 – American Bandstand debuts on the ABC television network

1962 – American actress Marilyn Monroe is found dead at her home from a drug overdose.

1963 – The United States, the United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union sign the Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty.

1964 – Aircraft from carriers USS Ticonderoga and USS Constellation bomb North Vietnam in retaliation for strikes against U.S. destroyers in the Gulf of Tonkin.

1974 – Congress places a $1 billion limit on military aid to South Vietnam.

1981 – President Reagan fires 11,359 striking air traffic controllers who ignored his order for them to return to work.

2012 – Wade Page enters a Sikh temple in Oak Creek, Wisconsin, killing 6 people before committing suicide after being wounded by police.

2015 – Contractors and personnel of the Environmental Protection Agency damage a dam retaining the Gold King Mine waste water containment pool, releasing three million gallons of heavy metal toxin tailings and waste water into the Animas River in Colorado.