| 88321 | August 5 | Event | 1860 – Charles XV of Sweden of Sweden-Norway is crowned king of Norway in Trondheim. |
| 88322 | August 5 | Event | 1861 – American Civil War: In order to help pay for the war effort, the United States government levies the first income tax as part of the Revenue Act of 1861 (3% of all incomes over US $800 rescinded in 1872). |
| 88323 | August 5 | Event | 1861 – The United States Army abolishes flogging. |
| 88324 | August 5 | Event | 1862 – American Civil War: Battle of Baton Rouge: Along the Mississippi River near Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Confederate troops attempt to take the city, but are driven back by fire from Union gunboats. |
| 88325 | August 5 | Event | 1864 – American Civil War: The Battle of Mobile Bay begins at Mobile Bay near Mobile, Alabama, Admiral David Farragut leads a Union flotilla through Confederate defenses and seals one of the last major Southern ports. |
| 88326 | August 5 | Event | 1874 – Japan launches its postal savings system, modeled after a similar system in the United Kingdom. |
| 88327 | August 5 | Event | 1882 – The Standard Oil of New Jersey is established. |
| 88328 | August 5 | Event | 1884 – The cornerstone for the Statue of Liberty is laid on Bedloe's Island (now Liberty Island) in New York Harbor. |
| 88329 | August 5 | Event | 1888 – Bertha Benz drives from Mannheim to Pforzheim and back in the first long distance automobile trip, commemorated as the Bertha Benz Memorial Route since 2008. |
| 88330 | August 5 | Event | 1901 – Peter O'Connor sets the first IAAF recognised long jump world record of 24 ft 11.75 in (7.6137 m). The record will stand for 20 years. |
| 88331 | August 5 | Event | 1906 – Persian Constitutional Revolution: Mozaffar ad-Din Shah Qajar, King of Iran, agrees to convert the government to a constitutional monarchy. |
| 88332 | August 5 | Event | 1914 – World War I: The German minelayer SS Königin Luise lays a minefield about 40 miles (64 km) off the Thames Estuary (Lowestoft). She is intercepted and sunk by the British light-cruiser HMS Amphion. |
| 88333 | August 5 | Event | 1914 – World War I: The guns of Point Nepean fort at Port Phillip Heads in Victoria (Australia) fire across the bows of the Norddeutscher Lloyd steamer SS Pfalz which is attempting to leave the Port of Melbourne in ignorance of the declaration of war and |
| 88334 | August 5 | Event | 1914 – In Cleveland, Ohio, the first electric traffic light is installed. |
| 88335 | August 5 | Event | 1916 – World War I: Battle of Romani: Allied forces, under the command of Archibald Murray, defeat an attacking Ottoman army under the command of Friedrich Freiherr Kress von Kressenstein, securing the Suez Canal and beginning the Ottoman retreat from the |
| 88336 | August 5 | Event | 1925 – Plaid Cymru is formed with the aim of disseminating knowledge of the Welsh language that is at the time in danger of dying out. |
| 88337 | August 5 | Event | 1926 – Harry Houdini performs his greatest feat, spending 91 minutes underwater in a sealed tank before escaping. |
| 88338 | August 5 | Event | 1940 – World War II: The Soviet Union formally annexes Latvia. |
| 88339 | August 5 | Event | 1941 – World War II: The Battle of Smolensk concludes with Germany capturing about 300,000 Soviet Red Army prisoners. |
| 88340 | August 5 | Event | 1944 – World War II: Possibly the biggest prison breakout in history occurs as 545 Japanese POWs attempt to escape outside the town of Cowra, New South Wales, Australia. |
| 88341 | August 5 | Event | 1944 – World War II: Polish insurgents liberate a German labor camp in Warsaw, freeing 348 Jewish prisoners. |
| 88342 | August 5 | Event | 1944 – World War II: The Nazis begin a week-long massacre of anywhere between 40,000 and 100,000 civilians and prisoners of war in Wola, Poland. |
| 88343 | August 5 | Event | 1949 – In Ecuador, an earthquake destroys 50 towns and kills more than 6,000. |
| 88344 | August 5 | Event | 1949 – The Mann Gulch fire kills 13 firefighters in Montana. |
| 88345 | August 5 | Event | 1957 – American Bandstand, a show dedicated to the teenage "baby-boomers" by playing the songs and showing popular dances of the time, debuts on the ABC television network. |
| 88346 | August 5 | Event | 1958 – Herbert Hoover eclipses John Adams as having the longest retirement of any former U.S President until that time. Hoover would live another six years, his record 31 years 7 months 16 days retirement has since been eclipsed by Jimmy Carter. |
| 88347 | August 5 | Event | 1960 – Burkina Faso, then known as Upper Volta, becomes independent from France. |
| 88348 | August 5 | Event | 1962 – Apartheid in South Africa: Nelson Mandela is jailed. He would not be released until 1990. |
| 88349 | August 5 | Event | 1963 – The United States, the United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union sign a nuclear test ban treaty. |
| 88350 | August 5 | Event | 1964 – Vietnam War: Operation Pierce Arrow: American aircraft from carriers USS Ticonderoga and USS Constellation bomb North Vietnam in retaliation for strikes against U.S. destroyers in the Gulf of Tonkin. |