August 6

Historic Events

2015

A suicide bomb attack kills at least 15 people at a mosque in the Saudi city of Abha. ›

2012

NASA's Curiosity rover lands on the surface of Mars. ›

2011

War in Afghanistan: A United States military helicopter is shot down, killing 30 American special forces members and a working dog, seven Afghan soldiers, and one Afghan civilian. It was the deadliest single event for the United States in the War in Afghanistan. ›

2010

Flash floods across a large part of Jammu and Kashmir, India, damages 71 towns and kills at least 255 people. ›

2008

A military junta led by Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz stages a coup d'état in Mauritania, overthrowing president Sidi Ould Cheikh Abdallahi. ›

2001

Erwadi fire incident: Twenty-eight mentally ill persons tied to a chain are burnt to death at a faith based institution at Erwadi, Tamil Nadu. ›

1997

Korean Air Flight 801 crashed at Nimitz Hill, Guam, killing 229 of the 254 people on board. ›

1996

NASA announces that the ALH 84001 meteorite, thought to originate from Mars, contains evidence of primitive life-forms. ›

1991

Tim Berners-Lee releases files describing his idea for the World Wide Web. WWW makes its first appearance as a publicly available service on the Internet. ›

1991

Takako Doi, chair of the Social Democratic Party, becomes Japan's first female speaker of the House of Representatives. ›

1990

Gulf War: The United Nations Security Council orders a global trade embargo against Iraq in response to Iraq's invasion of Kuwait. ›

1986

A low-pressure system that redeveloped off the New South Wales coast dumps a record 328 millimeters (13 inches) of rain in a day on Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. ›

1965

US President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Voting Rights Act of 1965 into law. ›

1962

Jamaica becomes independent from the United Kingdom. ›

1960

Cuban Revolution: Cuba nationalizes American and foreign-owned property in the nation. ›

1958

Law of Permanent Defense of Democracy, outlawing the Communist Party of Chile and banning 26,650 persons from the electoral lists, is repealed in Chile. ›

1956

After going bankrupt in 1955, the American broadcaster DuMont Television Network makes its final broadcast, a boxing match from St. Nicholas Arena in New York in the Boxing from St. Nicholas Arena series. ›

1942

Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands becomes the first reigning queen to address a joint session of the United States Congress. ›

1940

Estonia is annexed by the Soviet Union. ›

1926

Gertrude Ederle becomes the first woman to swim across the English Channel. ›

1926

First public screening using the Vitaphone process ›

1917

World War I: Battle of Mărășești between the Romanian and German armies begins. ›

1915

World War I: Battle of Sari Bair: The Allies mount a diversionary attack timed to coincide with a major Allied landing of reinforcements at Suvla Bay. ›

1914

World War I: U-boat campaign: Two days after the United Kingdom had declared war on Germany over the German invasion of Belgium, ten German U-boats leave their base in Heligoland to attack Royal Navy warships in the North Sea. ›

1914

World War I: Serbia declares war on Germany; Austria declares war on Russia. ›

1901

Kiowa land in Oklahoma is opened for white settlement, effectively dissolving the contiguous reservation. ›

1890

At Auburn Prison in New York, murderer William Kemmler becomes the first person to be executed by electric chair. ›

1870

Franco-Prussian War: The Battle of Spicheren is fought, resulting in a German victory. ›

1870

Franco-Prussian War: The Battle of Wörth results in a decisive German victory. ›

1862

American Civil War: The Confederate ironclad CSS Arkansas is scuttled on the Mississippi River after suffering catastrophic engine failure near Baton Rouge, Louisiana. ›

1861

Britain imposes the Lagos Treaty of Cession to suppress slavery in what is now Nigeria. ›

1825

The Bolivian Declaration of Independence is proclaimed. ›

1824

Peruvian War of Independence: Patriot forces led by Simón Bolívar defeat the Spanish Royalist army in the Battle of Junín. ›

1819

Norwich University is founded in Vermont as the first private military school in the United States. ›

1806

Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor, declares the moribund empire to be dissolved, although he retains power in the Austrian Empire. ›

1787

Sixty proof sheets of the Constitution of the United States are delivered to the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. ›

1777

American Revolutionary War: The bloody Battle of Oriskany prevents American relief of the Siege of Fort Stanwix. ›

1661

The Treaty of The Hague is signed by Portugal and the Dutch Republic. ›

1585

Toyotomi Hideyoshi is officially appointed kampaku (Imperial Regent). ›

1538

Bogotá, Colombia, is founded by Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada. ›

1284

The Republic of Pisa is defeated in the Battle of Meloria by the Republic of Genoa, thus losing its naval dominance in the Mediterranean. ›

768

Antipope Constantine II is deposed and blinded by the Lombard troops of primicerius Christopher. ›

686

The Umayyad forces suffer a decisive defeat against the pro-Alid forces under Ibrahim ibn al-Ashtar in the battle of Khazir. ›

258

Pope Sixtus II is arrested while celebrating mass and then beheaded with several of his deacons. ›