Template:History calendar/08/05

1620

• The Mayflower departs from Southampton, England.

1882

• Standard Oil, later known as Exxon Mobile, is founded in New Jersey, United States.

1895

• Philosopher, historian and revolutionary socialist Friedrich Engels dies at the age of 74.

1940

• The USSR liberates Latvia from Nazism.

1960

• Upper Volta, now known as Burkina Faso, declares independence from France.

1962

• Socialist and anti-apartheid activist Nelson Mandela is jailed until 1990.

1973

• The USSR launches the spacecraft Mars 6.

1974

• Release of the "Smoking-gun Tape", marking the culmination of Nixon's Watergate scandal.