Historical Events on August 6

Events 1 - 200 of 209

• 258 Pope St Sixtus II beheaded in Rome under persecutions by Roman Emperor Valerian
• 523 Pope Hormisdas reign as Catholic Pope ends with his death
• 695 Maya King Jasaw Chan K'awill I of Tikal defeats Yich'aak K'ahk' (‘Claw of Fire'), his long-standing rival and king of Calakmul [1]

• 768 Antipope Constantine II deposed
• 939 Battle at Simancas - Spain beats Moors

• 1538 Bogotá, Colombia, is founded by Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada

• 1601 Spanish garrison of Meurs surrender to earl Mauritius
• 1623 Maffeo Barberini elected Pope Urban VIII
• 1625 Earl Earnest Casimir appointed as viceroy of Groningen
• 1661 The Treaty of The Hague is signed whereby the Dutch Republic sells New Holland (Brazil) for 63 tonnes of gold to Portugal
• 1675 Russian Tsar Alexis bans foreign hair styles to those below the nobility

• 1726 Treaty of Alliance between the Holy Roman Emperor Charles VI and the Russian Empire signed at Vienna

• 1787 Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia begins debate on the first draft of the Constitution
• 1806 Holy Roman Empire ends; it was neither holy, Roman, nor an empire. Francis II renounces the title, becoming Emperor of Austria.
• 1815 US flotilla ends piracy by Algiers, Tunis and Tripoli
• 1819 Norwich University is founded in Vermont as the first private military school in the United States
• 1821 1st edition of "Courrier of Pays-Bas" newspaper published in Brussels

• 1825 Bolivia gains independence from Peru (National Day)
• 1845 The Russian Geographical Society is founded in Saint Petersburg
• 1856 The Great Bell is cast for the Great Clock of Westminster, London (Big Ben)
• 1861 Lexington, Kentucky - Union military camp forms in neutral state
• 1861 The British annex Lagos, Nigeria
• 1861 US Congress passes First Confiscation Act
• 1862 Confederate ironclad "Arkansas" is badly damaged in Union attack
• 1864 Confederate forces evacuate Fort Powell in Mobile Bay, Alabama
• 1870 Battle at Spicheren: Prussia beats France
• 1890 At Auburn Prison in New York, murderer William Kemmler becomes the 1st person to be executed by electric chair

• 1896 France annexes Madagascar
• 1901 Kiowa land in Oklahoma is opened for white settlement, effectively dissolving the contiguous reservation
• 1905 26.7 cm rainfall at Princeton, Indiana (state record)
• 1908 St Louis Cardinals Johnny Lush pitches 2nd career no-hitter in 2-0 win over Brooklyn Superbas; change of MLB rules makes this unofficial, as game was shortened by rain
• 1909 Alice Ramsey and three friends become the first women to complete a transcontinental auto trip
• 1910 NYC Mayor Wm J Gaynor seriously wounded during assassination attempt
• 1914 Denis Patrick Dowd Jr. enlists in the French Foreign Legion, becoming the first American to fight in World War I
• 1914 WWI: Austria-Hungary declares war on Russia
• 1914 WWI: French cavalry enters Belgium
• 1914 WWI: German Zeppelin bombs Liege, 9 killed
• 1914 WWI: Serbia declares war against Germany
• 1915 The British land more troops at Suvla Bay on the northern shore of Gallipoli in an effort to break the stalemate on the peninsula during WWI
• 1917 World War I: Battle of Mărăşeşti between the Romanian and German armies begins
• 1918 Ferdinand Foch becomes Marshal of France during WWI
• 1918 World War I: Second Battle of the Marne ends
• 1919 1st air flight over a major body of water in Australia (Harry Butler)
• 1919 Romanian forces bring down Hungarian Soviet Republic in Budapest
• 1921 Clason Point, Bronx to College Point, Queens muni ferry system begins

• 1923 Henry Sullivan becomes 3rd person and first American to swim English Channel (27 hours 25 minutes Dover-Calais)

• 1926 American Gertrude Ederle (20) becomes 1st woman to swim English Channel in 14 hours, 39 minutes, a record for male or female
• 1929 Young Plan, which sought to settle German reparations debts after World War I, is agreed
• 1930 Remains of balloon expedition of Solamon August Andrées to North Pole in 1897, found at Kvit oya Spitsbergen
• 1930 Supreme Court Justice John Force Crater disappears in NYC
• 1934 US troops leave Haiti, which had been occupied since 1915
• 1936 American athlete Forrest Towns runs world record 14.1 in 110m hurdles semi finals at the Berlin Olympics; later can't match the time but wins the gold medal in the final
• 1936 Jack Lovelock of New Zealand runs a world record (3:47.8) to win the gold medal in the 1,500m at the Berlin Olympics
• 1936 Japanese athletes quinella the triple jump at the Berlin Olympics; Naoto Tajima wins gold and Masao Harada silver

• 1937 MLB overturns New York Yankees' 7-6 win over Cleveland Indians because of umpire error
• 1937 US and USSR sign trade treaty

• 1940 Estonia is annexed into Soviet empire
• 1940 German occupiers in Belgium impose censorship rules on film making and exhibition
• 1941 Detroit Tigers pitcher Al Benton collects 2 sacrifices in an inning, a MLB record; wins 11-2 vs Cleveland Indians
• 1942 Canadian destroyer HMCS Assiniboine sinks U-210
• 1942 Churchill fires Gen Auchinlek as Middle-East commander

• 1943 US 1st Infantry division occupies node Troina Sicily
• 1944 All 1,200 Jewish death marchers from Lipcani Moldavia have died
• 1944 Anti-German attack at Avranches fails

• 1944 US 20th Army corp under general Walker occupies Nantes

• 1946 US officially submits to jurisdiction of World Court
• 1947 1st performance of Hector Villa-Lobos' "Bachianas Brasilieras No 8"
• 1948 17-year-old American Bob Mathias scores 7,139 points to edge out Ignace Heinrich of France by just 165 in the decathlon at the London Olympics
• 1948 A Swedish 1-2 in the men's 1,500m at the London Olympics with Henry Eriksson (3:49.8) beating teammate Lennart Strand by 0.6 seconds
• 1948 Dutch super athlete Fanny Blankers-Koen wins London Olympics 200m in 24.4s to become the first women to claim 3 individual track & field gold at a Games, having already won the 100m and 80m hurdles
• 1948 Vicki Draves wins her second diving gold medal at the London Olympics beating American teammate Patsy Elsener in the 10m platform
• 1948 Willem Drees forms Socialist government (KVP/Social Democratics/CHU/Liberal) in the Netherlands
• 1949 Future Hall of Famer Luke Appling appears in a MLB record 2,154th (en route to 2,218) game at shortstop for the Chicago White Sox
• 1951 The National Museum of Racing opens in Congress Park at Saratoga Springs, N.Y
• 1951 Typhoon floods kill 4,800 in Manchuria

• 1954 WLAC (now WTVF) TV channel 5 in Nashville (CBS) begins broadcasting
• 1956 After going bankrupt in 1955, the American national broadcaster DuMont Television Network makes its final broadcast, a boxing match from St. Nicholas Arena
• 1958 American athlete Glenn Davis breaks his own world record by 0.3 (49.2) in 400m hurdles in Budapest, Hungary
• 1958 US performs atmospheric nuclear test at Johnston Island

• 1960 The UN Security Council lay down rules which would allow UN forces to enter Congo
• 1961 1st case of motion sickness in space reported
• 1961 British auto racer Sterling Moss scores his 16th and final Formula 1 victory in the German Grand Prix at the Nürburgring
• 1961 Gherman S. Titov is the 2nd Russian in space aboard Vostok 2 (17 orbits)
• 1962 Jamaica becomes independent after 300 years of British rule
• 1963 Philadelphia NBA franchise changes name from 'Nationals' to the '76ers', based on US Declaration of Independence in Philadelphia in 1776

• 1964 Prometheus, the world's oldest tree aged at least 4,862 years old, is accidentally cut down in Nevada, USA
• 1965 32nd NFL Chicago College All-Star Game: Cleveland 24, All-Stars 16; 68,000 at Soldier Field
• 1965 Beatles release their 5th UK album - "Help!", from the film soundtrack
• 1965 Pakistani soldiers crossed the Line of Control into Kashmir

• 1966 Salazarbrug over Tag opens (longest suspension bridge in Europe)
• 1966 US citizens demonstrate against war in Vietnam

• 1967 Minnesota Twins pitcher Dean Chance throws a perfect no-hitter vs Boston Red Sox, 2-0 in 5 innings before game is called because of weather
• 1967 Pope Paul VI publishes constitution Pro comperto sane

• 1970 France performs nuclear test at Mururoa atoll
• 1970 Italian government of Mariano Rumor resigns

• 1974 Explosion and fire destroy Great Northern RR yard in Wenatchee, Washington
• 1976 Zulfikar Ali Bhutto lays the foundation stone of Port Qasim, Karachi
• 1979 Marcus Hooper, 12, becomes then youngest person to swim English Channel
• 1980 University adm declares 5 Pac-10 schools ineligible for conference titles and post-season play due to transcript and curriculum abuses
• 1981 Argentine ex-president Isabel Peron freed
• 1981 NASA launches US Navy communication system Fltsatcom-5 - fails after being damaged during flight
• 1982 Three ANC members are sentenced to death in South Africa
• 1982 WQXI (Atlanta) is 1st to use Harris Corp AM stereo system
• 1983 Bomb planted by Umkhonto we Sizwe, the armed wing of ANC, explodes at a synagogue in Johannesburg, South Africa
• 1983 First NFL exhibition game in Europe; Minnesota Vikings beat St Louis Cardinals 28-10 at London's Wembley Stadium
• 1983 Supertanker Castillo de Bellvar catches fire and sinks northwest of Capetown, South Africa
• 1984 After Americans Roger Kingdom & Greg Foster both equal the Olympic record in 110m hurdles semi's in Los Angeles, Kingdom beats Foster in the final in a new Games record 13.20 seconds

• 1985 19th NASA Space Shuttle Mission (51-G): Challenger 8 lands at Edwards AFB
• 1985 MLB Players' Association stages a midseason baseball strike (lasts 1 day)
• 1985 STS 51-I vehicle moves to launch pad
• 1986 Baltimore's Jim Dwyer & Larry Sheets, and Rangers Toby Harrah hit MLB record 3 grand slams in Texas' 13-11 win
• 1986 Phil Katz releases PKARC version 1.0, for IBM

• 1988 Rich Gossage becomes the second player in MLB history to record 300 career saves as Cubs beat Phillies, 7-4
• 1988 The Tompkins Square Park Police Riot in New York City spurs reform of the NYPD, who were responsible for the melee that transpired the night of August 6-7
• 1989 Boston Red Sox retire Baseball Hall of Fame left fielder, 1st baseman Carl Yastrezemski's #8
• 1989 Jaime Paz Zamora inaugurated as president of Bolivia
• 1989 Pilot Union tells pilots okay to cross Eastern picket lines
• 1989 Twenty former South African political prisoners, in defiance of the restriction orders, launch a campaign against apartheid laws

• 1990 UN Security Council votes 13-0 (2 abstensions Cuba and Yemen) to place economic sanctions against Iraq
• 1991 American softball pitcher Debbie Doom strikes out 17 in her 2nd consecutive perfect game at the Pan American Games in Havana, Cuba; beats Nicaragua, 8-0

• 1992 The US track team sweeps the medals in the long jump at the Barcelona Olympics as Carl Lewis wins gold (28 feet, 5 1/2 inches), Mike Powell silver and Joe Greene bronze
• 1992 Wrestler Bruce Baumgartner becomes the first American to win in three straight Olympics, capturing the gold in the 286-pound freestyle division in Barcelona
• 1993 Japan Hosokawa government begins

• 1994 Algerian Muslim fundamentalists threaten school/Universities
• 1995 Cleveland's major league sports franchises, NFL Browns & MLB Indians, play in Cleveland for 1st time ever; both lose - White Sox 5, Indians 1; Giants 19, Browns 13 (exhibition)
• 1995 Miguel Rodríguez Orejuela, co-founder of the Cali Cartel, is arrested in Cali after being betrayed by his bodyguard Jorge Salcedo
• 1995 Thousands gather in Hiroshima for the 50th anniversary of the atomic bombing of the city

• 1996 Korean Air Flight 801 crashes in the United States territory of Guam, killing 228 people
• 1996 NASA announces that life may have existed on Mars after examining meteorite ALH84001, thought to be from Mars

• 1997 Microsoft announces it will invest $150 million in Apple Computer Inc
• 1997 Newly established NHL franchise Nashville Predators name Barry Trotz as inaugural coach; lasts 15 seasons and 1,196 regular season games

• 2002 32-year old reliever Robb Nen becomes 16th and youngest closer to record 300 career saves as he protects Giants 11-10 lead v Cubs
• 2006 American children's program "Blue's Clues" concludes its 10-year run on Nickelodeon cable channel
• 2006 For a MLB record 11th time in his career, Padres closer Trevor Hoffman records 30 or more saves in a season; beats mark set by Lee Smith, baseball's all-time saves leader

• 2008 A military junta led by Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz stages a coup d'etat in Mauritania, overthrowing president Sidi Ould Cheikh Abdallahi
• 2008 Access 31 TV stops broadcasting in Perth, Western Australia
• 2011 A helicopter containing members of Navy SEAL 6 is shot down in Afghanistan killing 38
• 2012 "Cruise" single released by Florida Georgia Line (Billboard Song of the Year 2013)
• 2012 A large fire erupts at the Chevron oil refinery in Richmond, Ohio, injuring six employees
• 2012 Mount Tongariro, New Zealand, erupts for the first time in a century
• 2013 1 person is killed and 4 are injured after a hot air balloon crash in Montbovon, Sweden
• 2013 18 people are killed and 55 are wounded by a car bomb explosion in Damascus, Syria
• 2013 25 people are killed and 60 are wounded by a series of car bombs in Baghdad, Iraq
• 2013 An alleged chemical weapons attack on Damascus, Syria, is claimed by Syrian rebels

• 2015 Eqyptian President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi inaugurates the Suez Canal Expansion at a ceremony in Ismaïlia
• 2015 Republican Presidential nomination race begins with debate between 7 lesser ranked candidates in Cleveland, Ohio
• 2015 World's largest ever Pinball tournament Pinburgh with 700 machines held in Pittsburgh

• 2016 Hoàng Xuân Vinh of Vietnam records 202.5 points to win the gold medal in the men's 10m air pistol at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics; Vietnam's first ever gold medal in any Olympic event
• 2016 Hungarian swimmer Katinka Hosszú sets world record 4:26.36 to win the gold medal in the women's 400m individual medley at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics
• 2016 Super Rugby Final, Westpac Stadium Wellington: Wellington Hurricanes win their first SR title with a 20-3 win over the Lions from Johannesburg
• 2017 UEFA Women's Euro Final: Dutch forward Vivianne Miedema scores 2 as the Netherlands beat Denmark 4-2 in Enschede, the Netherlands
• 2018 Boston appoints its first African American Police Commissioner William G. Gross
• 2018 Chicago police appeal for more help after 66 people shot in the city in one weekend

• 2018 PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi announces she will be stepping down
• 2018 Saudi Arabia's state airline suspends direct flights to Toronto and expels ambassador after Canada calls for release of detained activists for civil and women's rights
• 2018 South Sudan peace accord signed between South Sudanese President Salva Kiir and rebel leader Riek Machar in Sudan attempting to end 5 years of civil war
• 2019 A quarter of humanity is running out of water with 17 countries under extreme water stress including Cape Town, Los Angeles and Bangalore, according to report by the World Resources Institute
• 2019 Barneys New York files for bankruptcy, amid figures 7,567 US retails stores have closed so far in 2019 compared to 5,864 in 2018
• 2019 Lawyer representing 800 boy scouts identify 350 sex abusers within Boy Scouts of America saying "It's the largest paedophile ring on earth"

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