August 5: Independence Day in Burkina Faso ( 1960), Victory and Homeland Thanksgiving Day in Croatia.
- 642 - Penda of Mercia defeated and killed Oswald of Northumbria in the Battle of Maserfield, becoming the most powerful of the Anglo-Saxon rulers of the time.
- 1100 - Henry I was crowned King of England in Westminster Abbey.
- 1858 - Cyrus West Field (pictured) and colleagues completed the first transatlantic telegraph cable.
- 1861 - The U.S. government issued its first income tax: 3% of all incomes over 800 dollars (later rescinded in 1872).
- 1995 - Operation Storm: Croatian forces recovered the town of Knin from the Republic of Serbian Krajina.