August 6 in History

Historical Events on August 6

135

The Roman Empire lays siege to Betar, effectively ending the Bar Kokhba revolt.
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.
1506

The Grand Duchy of Lithuania defeated the Crimean Khanate in the Battle of Kletsk
1538

Bogotá, Colombia, is founded by Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada.
1661

The Treaty of The Hague is signed by Portugal and the Dutch Republic.
1777

American Revolutionary War: The bloody Battle of Oriskany prevents American relief of the Siege of Fort Stanwix.
1787

Sixty proof sheets of the Constitution of the United States are delivered to the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
1806

Francis II, the last Holy Roman Emperor, abdicates, ending the Holy Roman Empire.
1819

Norwich University is founded in Vermont as the first private military school in the United States.
1824

Battle of Junín Peru.
1825

Bolivia gains independence from Spain.
1861

The United Kingdom annexes Lagos, Nigeria.
1862

American Civil War: The Confederate ironclad CSS Arkansas is scuttled on the Mississippi River after suffering catastrophic engine failure near Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
1870

Franco-Prussian War: The Battle of Spicheren is fought, resulting in a Prussian victory.
1870

Franco-Prussian War: The Battle of Wörth results in a decisive Prussian victory.
1890

At Auburn Prison in New York, murderer William Kemmler becomes the first person to be executed by electric chair.
1901

Kiowa land in Oklahoma is opened for white settlement, effectively dissolving the contiguous reservation.
1912

The Bull Moose Party meets at the Chicago Coliseum.
1914

World War I: First Battle of the Atlantic: 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.
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.
1917

World War I: Battle of Mărășești between the Romanian and German armies begins.
1926

Gertrude Ederle becomes the first woman to swim across the English Channel.
1926

In New York City, the Warner Bros.' Vitaphone system premieres with the movie Don Juan starring John Barrymore.
1930

Judge Joseph Force Crater steps into a taxi in New York and disappears never to be seen again.
1940

Estonia was illegally annexed by the Soviet Union.
1942

Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands becomes the first reigning queen to address a joint session of the United States Congress.
1944

The Warsaw Uprising occurs on August 1. It is brutally suppressed and all able-bodied men in Kraków are detained afterwards to prevent a similar uprising, the Kraków Uprising, that was planned but never carried out.
1945

World War II: Hiroshima, Japan is devastated when the atomic bomb "Little Boy" is dropped by the United States B-29 Enola Gay. Around 70,000 people are killed instantly, and some tens of thousands die in subsequent years from burns and radiation poisoning.
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.
1960

Cuban Revolution: Cuba nationalizes American and foreign-owned property in the nation.
1962

Jamaica becomes independent from the United Kingdom.
1965

US President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Voting Rights Act of 1965 into law.
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.
1990

Gulf War: The United Nations Security Council orders a global trade embargo against Iraq in response to Iraq's invasion of Kuwait.
1991

Tim Berners-Lee releases files describing his idea for the World Wide Web. WWW debuts 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.
1996

The Ramones played their farewell concert at The Palace, Los Angeles, CA.
1996

NASA announces that the ALH 84001 meteorite, thought to originate from Mars, contains evidence of primitive life-forms.
1997

Korean Air Flight 801 crashed at Nimitz Hill, Guam killing 228 of 254 people on board.
2001

Erwadi fire incident, 28 mentally ill persons tied to a chain were burnt to death at a faith based institution at Erwadi, Tamil Nadu.
2008

A military junta led by Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz stages a coup d'état in Mauritania, overthrowing president Sidi Ould Cheikh Abdallahi.
2010

Flash floods across a large part of Jammu and Kashmir, India, damages 71 towns and kills at least 255 people.
2011

War in Afghanistan: A United States military helicopter is shot down, killing 30 American special forces members and a working dog, 7 Afghan soldiers, and 1 Afghan civilian. It was the deadliest single event for the United States in the War in Afghanistan.
2012

NASA's Curiosity rover lands on the surface of Mars.
2015

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

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