Browse Historical Events by Day: What Happened on October 5th?

King Charles VIII of France invades Italy, initiating the Italian Wars.

The Battle of Kircholm occurs between the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and Sweden.

The Battle of the Thames in present-day Ontario, Canada, sees British and Native American forces defeated by American forces.

President Harry Truman delivers the first-ever televised presidential address, asking Americans to cut back on their use of grain in order to help Europe, which was still recovering from World War II. More

The Iran-Contra scandal comes to light after a plane carrying weapons is shot down over Nicaragua by the Sandinista regime. Eugene Hasenfus and ex US Marine and sole survivor of the plane crash, confessed that he was shipping military supplies into Nicaragua for use by the Contras, an anti-Sandinista force, allegedly run by the CIA. President Ronald Reagan and other officials denied the CIA's involvement in the flight, but further investigations confirmed that the U.S. had been secretly selling weapons to Iran and using some of the proceeds to covertly fund the Contra war in Nicaragua. More

Former NSA contractor Edward Snowden is revealed as the source of leaked classified documents, exposing mass surveillance programs.