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On this day in history - August 5

What Happened On This Day – August 5

  • 2009 General Abdel Aziz sworn in as President of Mauritania

    General Abdel Aziz, who came to power in a coup in 2008, was sworn in as the President of Mauritania after elections in 2009.

  • 1963 Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty is Signed

    Also known as the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, the document was signed by the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, and the United States in Moscow. The treaty, which came as a response to the heightening tensions due to the frequent testing of nuclear weapons by the these 3 countries during the Cold War, banned the testing of nuclear weapons anywhere on land, over water or in space. Underground testing was still allowed under the treaty, until it was also banned in 1996 after the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty came into force.

  • 1962 Nelson Mandela is Arrested

    The South African anti-apartheid activist and adherent of nonviolence was arrested by the government at Rivonia, a suburb of Johannesburg. After a year-long trial, Mandela was imprisoned at the infamous Robben Island prison where we spent the next 18 years. He was released from prison in 1990 after spending 28 years as a political prisoner. In the early 1990s, after intense international and domestic pressure, in part from the efforts of Mandela, the South African government started taking steps to end apartheid – a government policy of racial segregation and discrimination. As a result, Mandela was elected the country’s first black president in 1994.

  • 1960 Burkina Faso gains its Independence

    The landlocked West African country, known as Upper Vota until 1984, became a French protectorate in the late 19th century. In 1958, the Republic of Upper Volta was created as a self-governing French colony. After independence, Maurice Yaméogo became the first president of the country, whose name was changed to Burkina Faso in 1984.

  • 1940 Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic is established

    The Soviet Union added Latvia to the union as the Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic.

Illustration of stork, signifying birth

Births On This Day,
August 5

  • 1979 David Healy

    Irish footballer

  • 1968 Marine Le Pen

    French politician

  • 1930 Neil Armstrong

    American pilot, engineer, astronaut, first person to walk on the moon

  • 1906 John Huston

    American director

  • 1850 Guy de Maupassant

    French writer

Illustration of tombstone, signifying death

Deaths On This Day,
August 5

  • 1991 Paul Brown

    American football coach, executive

  • 1984 Richard Burton

    Welsh actor

  • 1964 Art Ross

    Canadian ice hockey player

  • 1962 Marilyn Monroe

    American model, actress, singer

  • 1895 Friedrich Engels

    German philosopher