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 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 of Soviet Union, 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 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 Independence
The lanlocked 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 established
The Soviet Union added Lativa to the union as Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic.
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
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
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