WEDNESDAY, Aug.5, 2026

910-The last major Viking army to raid England, led by King Edward and Earl Æthelred, is defeated at the Battle of Tettenhall by the allied forces of Mercia and Wessex

1305-Scottish resistance leader William Wallace is captured by the English near Glasgow and transported to London for trial and execution

1583-Humphrey Gilbert claims Newfoundland for the English crown, establishing the first English colony in North America and the beginning of the British Empire

1716-Battle of Petrovaradin [Peterwardein]: Habsburgs under Eugene of Savoy defeat the Ottomans in a decisive victory

1864 Battle of Mobile Bay won by the Union Navy, led by Rear Admiral David Farragut with the cry "Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead!"

1905-First meeting of the Russian and Japanese peace commissioners takes place at U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt's home in Oyster Bay, New York

1992 — Four officers of the Los Angeles Police Department, previously acquitted on charges of beating Rodney King, are indicted on federal civil rights charges

1993 — Republican Guard kills 64 civilians at Gninguilim marketplace in Chad