On This Day in History for February 6

Events 1 - 100 of 132

• 337 St Julius I begins his reign as Catholic Pope
• 1189 Riots in Lynn, Norfolk (England) spread to Norwich
• 1508 Maximilian I proclaimed Holy Roman Emperor, 1st Emperor in centuries not to be crowned by the Pope
• 1577 King Henri de Bourbon of Navarra becomes leader of the Huguenots
• 1626 Huguenot rebels & French sign Peace of La Rochelle
• 1651 -7] Cardinal Mazarin flees Paris
• 1685 Duke of York becomes King James II of England and VII of Scotland upon the death of his brother Charles II
• 1716 Britain & Netherlands renew alliance
• 1778 Britain declares war on France
• 1778 France recognizes USA, signs Treaty of Alliance in Paris, 1st US treaty
• 1788 Massachusetts becomes 6th state to ratify constitution
• 1815 New Jersey issues 1st US railroad charter (John Stevens)

• 1820 1st organized emigration of blacks back to Africa (NY to Sierra Leone)
• 1820 US population announced at 9,638,453, African Americans 1,771,656 (18.4%)
• 1820 First 86 African American immigrants sponsored by the American Colonization Society start a settlement in present-day Liberia


• 1832 1st appearance of cholera in Edinburgh, Scotland
• 1832 US ship destroys Sumatran village in retaliation for piracy

• 1843 The first minstrel show in the United States The Virginia Minstrels opens (Bowery Amphitheatre in New York City).

• 1861 1st meeting of Provisional Congress of Confederate States of America (US Civil War)
• 1861 British Vice-Admiral Robert Fitzroy issues first storm warnings for ships

• 1862 American Civil War: Naval engagement on Tennessee River, USS Conestago vs CSS Appleton Belle
• 1862 Ulysses S. Grant begins military campaign in Mississippi
• 1864 -7] Skirmish at Barnett's Ford Virginia
• 1865 2nd day of battle at Dabney's Mills (Hatcher's Run)
• 1867 Peabody Fund forms to promote Black education in southern USA
• 1869 Harper's Weekly publishes 1st picture of Uncle Sam with chin whiskers
• 1882 The society of the Knights of Columbus forms in New Haven, Connecticut
• 1891 1st great train robbery by Dalton Gang (Southern Pacific #17)
• 1894 Bottle opener patented by William Painter
• 1899 Spanish-American War ends, peace treaty ratified by Senate
• 1900 The Battle of Vaal Krantz, South Africa (Boers vs British army)
• 1902 Young Women's Hebrew Association organizes in NYC
• 1904 Japan notifies Russia that in view of Russia's delaying tactics and provocative military action, Japan is ending negotiations and recalling its members from Moscow
• 1911 1st old-age home opened in Prescott, Arizona
• 1911 Great fire destroys downtown Constantinople (Istanbul, Turkey)
• 1918 Great Britain grants women (30 & over) the vote


• 1919 1st day of 5-day Seattle general strike
• 1919 The first day of the Weimar Republic which, because of its support of the Treaty of Versailles, does not receive proper allegiance from the German nation
• 1920 Saarland administrated by League of Nations
• 1922 Cardinal Achille Ratti elected Pope Pius XI
• 1922 US, UK, France, Italy & Japan sign Washington naval arms limitation
• 1928 A woman dubbed Anna Anderson [possibly Franziska Schanzkowska] arrives in NYC, using the alias "Anastasia Tschaikovsky" claims to be Grand Duchess Anastasia, daughter of Tsar Nicholas II
• 1929 Rudy Vallee records single "Deep Night"
• 1932 Fascist coup in the Memel territory
• 1933 -90°F (-68°C), Oymyakon, USSR (Asian record)
• 1933 Highest recorded sea wave (not tsunami), 34 m, in North Pacific hurricane by USS Ramapo

• 1934 Reds purchase 43-year-old Dazzy Vance from the Cards for $7,500
• 1934 Far right leagues rally in front of the Palais Bourbon in an attempted coup against the French Third Republic, creating a political crisis in France
• 1935 "Monopoly" board game goes on sale for 1st time
• 1935 1st election to allow women to vote in Turkey
• 1937 K Elizabeth Ohi becomes 1st Japanese-US female lawyer
• 1939 Spanish government flees to France
• 1941 Auke Adema wins 6th official Dutch 11 Cities Skating Race (9:19)
• 1941 Battle of Beda Fomm: Italian 10th army destroyed
• 1941 British troops conquer Bengazi, Libya
• 1943 1st Spitfire in action above Darwin, Australia, Mu Ki-46 shot down
• 1945 US 8th Air Force bombs Magdeburg/Chemnitz
• 1945 Russian Red Army crosses the river Oder

• 1948 1st radio-controlled airplane flown
• 1951 "Broker Special" train crashes in Woodbridge NJ, killing 84

• 1951 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site Argonne Atomic Lab (Ill), to demonstrate lax in security

• 1953 US controls on wages & some consumer goods lifted
• 1956 Chicago's Daily Defender, begins publishing
• 1956 French Prime Minister Guy Mollet pelted with tomatoes in Algiers
• 1956 University of Alabama suspends African-American student Autherine Lucy claiming that it can no longer provide for her safety
• 1959 1st successful test-fire of Titan ICBM

• 1961 "Jail, No Bail" Jail-in movement starts in Rock Hill, South Carolina
• 1962 Schoolman Athletic Field in the Bronx named
• 1964 France & Great-Britain sign accord over building channel tunnel
• 1965 "Kelly" opens & closes at Broadhurst Theater NYC
• 1967 Cultural Revolution in Albania
• 1968 Dutch 2nd Chamber condemns US bombing of North Vietnam

• 1970 Graeme Pollock completes 274 v Australia at Durban
• 1971 The Irish Republican Army shoots and kills Gunner Robert Curtis, the first British soldier to die during the 'Troubles'
• 1971 Bernard Watt (28), a Catholic civilian, is shot and killed by the British Army (BA) during street disturbances in Ardoyne, Belfast
• 1971 James Saunders (22), a member of the IRA, is shot and killed by the British Army during a gun battle near the Oldpark Road, Belfast
• 1972 A Civil Rights march held in Newry, County Down; very large turn-out with many people attending to protest at the killings in Derry the previous Sunday
• 1973 40,000 civil servants demonstrate against higher pension contribution
• 1973 6th ABA All-Star Game: West 123 beats East 111 at Utah
• 1973 Bernice Fekete skips her curling rink to 2nd straight 8-ender, Edm
• 1974 Dutch speed limit set at 100km due to oil crisis

• 1975 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
• 1977 Alain Prieur jumps his motorcycle 65 m over 16 buses, near Paris
• 1977 Harley Race beats Terry Funk in Toronto, to become NWA wrestling champ
• 1978 Muriel, wife of late Hubert Humphrey (Sen-D-Minn) takes his office
• 1978 Snowstorm hits New England, parts of Rhode Island (54" / 137cm)
• 1979 Supreme court of Lahore affirms death sentence against Premier Bhutto

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• 1461 Džore Držić, Croatian poet and playwright who is considered one of the fathers of Croatian literature, born in Dubrovnik, Croatia (d. 1501)
• 1577 Beatrice Cenci, Italian noblewoman executed for fratricide, born in Rome, Italy (d. 1599)
• 1608 Antonio Vieira, Portuguese diplomat & preacher, born in Lisbon, Portugal (d. 1697)

• 1612 Antoine Arnauld, French Roman Catholic theologian & philosopher & mathematician, born in Paris, France (d. 1694)
• 1639 Daniel Georg Morhof, German writer & scholar, born in Wismar, Germany (d. 1691)

• 1695 Nicolaus II Bernoulli, Swiss mathematician, born in Groningen, Netherlands (d. 1726)
• 1732 Charles Lee, General in the American Revolution, born in Darnhall, United Kingdom (d. 1782)
• 1744 Pierre-Joseph Desault, French anatomist & surgeon, born in Vouhenans, France (d. 1795)
• 1748 Adam Weishaupt, German philosopher & founder of the Order of the Illuminati, born in Ingolstadt, Germany (d. 1811)
• 1753 Évariste de Parny, French poet, born in Saint-Paul, France (d. 1814)

• 1757 Julian Ursyn Niemcewicz, Polish scholar & statesman, born in Skoki, Poland (d. 1841)
• 1778 Ugo Foscolo, Italian poet (Last Letters of Jacopo Ortis), born in Zakynthos Island, Greece (d. 1827)
• 1797 Joseph Maria von Radowitz, German diplomat, born in Frankfurt, Germany (d. 1912)
• 1804 Regnerus Livius van Andringa de Kempenaer, Dutch politician, born in 's-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands (d. 1813)
• 1811 Henry George Liddell, English lexicographer & father of the Alice in Alice in Wonderland, born in Bishop Auckland, United Kingdom (d. 1898)
• 1818 William Maxwell Evarts, American lawyer & statesman (Union), born in Charlestown, Massachusetts (d. 1901)

• 1830 Marcellus Monroe Crocker, American Brigadier General (Union Army), born in Franklin, Indiana (d. 1865)
• 1832 John Brown Gordon, Major General (Confederate Army), born in Upson County, Georgia (d. 1904)

• 1833 José María de Pereda, Spanish novelist, born in Polanco, Spain (d. 1906)
• 1834 William Dorsey Pender, Major General (Confederate Army), born in Edgecombe County, North Carolina (d. 1863)
• 1834 Edwin Klebs, German physician & bacteriologist (bacterial theory of infection, diphtheria bacillus), born in Königsberg, Kingdom of Prussia (d. 1913)
• 1838 Yisrael Meir Kagan [Chofetz Chayim], Belarusian rabbi, born in Dzyatlava, Belarus (d. 1933)
• 1853 Ignacij Klemenčič, Slovenian physicist, born in Trebnje, Slovenia (d. 1901)
• 1860 Eliza Johannes Meester, Dutch journalist & writer (Geertje), born in Harderwijk, Netherlands (d. 1931)
• 1864 John Henry Mackay, Scottish-born German writer (Anarchists), born in Greenock, United Kingdom (d. 1933)
• 1866 Karl Sapper, German traveller & natural historian (d. 1945)
• 1874 Milton Bennett Medary, American architect (Washington Chapel), born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (d. 1929)
• 1875 Leonid Gobyato, Russian general & inventor (man-portable mortar), born in Taganrog, Russia (d. 1915)
• 1876 Wilhelm August Schmidtbonn, German writer (Der Sprechende Eros), born in Bonn, Germany (d. 1952)
• 1879 Carl Ramsauer, German physicist (Ramsauer-Townsend effect), born in Oldenburg, Germany (d. 1879)
• 1887 Josef Frings, German Archbishop of Cologne, born in Neuss, Germany (d. 1978)
• 1888 Ljudmil Stojanow, Bulgarian poet (Metsh i Slowo, Cholera), born in Kovachevitsa, Bulgaria (d. 1973)
• 1889 Karel Wellens, Flemish painter, born in Lummen, Belgium (d. 1958)
• 1889 Siegfried Kracauer, German writer, born in Frankfurt, Germany (d. 1966)
• 1892 William Parry Murphy, American physician & Nobel laureate, born in Wisconsin (d. 1987)
• 1893 Muhammad Zafrulla Khan, President of UN General Assembly (1962-63), born in Sialkot, Pakistan (d. 1985)
• 1894 Eric Partridge, New Zealand lexicographer, born in Waimata Valley, New Zealand (d. 1979)
• 1897 Alberto [de Almeida] Cavalcanti, Brazilian director (Nicholas Nickleby), born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (d. 1982)

• 1902 Louis Nizer, Jewish-American lawyer (defended blacklisted stars in '50s, Catspaw), born in London, United Kingdom (d. 1994)
• 1903 Pieter G Buckinx, Flemish writer (Temptation of Poverty), born in Kortessem, Belgium (d. 1987)
• 1905 Władysław Gomułka, Polish communist politician, born in Krosno, Poland (d. 1982)
• 1908 Amintore Fanfani, Italian politician (Prime Minister), born in Pieve Santo Stefano, Italy (d. 1999)
• 1908 Edward Lansdale, United States Air Force Officer, born in Detroit, Michigan (d. 1987)
• 1910 Irmgard Keun, German author, born in Berlin, Germany (d. 1982)
• 1910 Carlos Marcello, Tunisian-born gangster, born in Tunis, Tunisia (d. 1993)
• 1912 Eva Braun, German mistress and wife of Adolf Hitler, born in Munich, Germany (d. 1945)

• 1915 Derk Roemers, Dutch politician (Soc-Dem), born in Haarlem, Netherlands (d. 1983)
• 1916 John Crank, British mathematician, born in Hindley, United Kingdom (d. 2006)
• 1918 Lothar-Günther Buchheim, German author, born in Weimar, Germany (d. 2007)
• 1919 Louis Heren, English foreign correspondent & writer (China's Three Thousand Years), born in London, United Kingdom (d. 1995)
• 1920 James H. Scheuer, American politician (Rep-D-NY, 1965-73, 75- 93), born in Manhattan, New York (d. 2005)
• 1924 Paolo Volponi, Italian communist & author (Road to Rome), born in Urbino, Italy (d. 1994)
• 1924 Jin Yong, Chinese novelist, born in Haining, China (d. 2018)
• 1929 Oscar Sambrano Urdaneta, Venezuelan writer, born in Boconó, Venezuela (d. 2011)
• 1932 Francois Truffaut, French director (Jules & Jim, Fahrenheit 451), born in Paris, France (d. 1984)
• 1932 Camilo Cienfuegos, Cuban revolutionary, born in Havana, Cuba (d. 1959)
• 1933 Walter E Fauntroy, American pastor & politician (Rep-D-DC, 1971- ), born in Washington, D.C.
• 1934 Vernon "Vern" Ehlers, American politician (Michigan House of Representatives), born in Pipestone, Minnesota (d. 2017)
• 1936 J. Howard Marshall III, American businessman, born in San Francisco, California
• 1942 Sarah Brady, American gun-control activist, born in Kirksville, Missouri
• 1942 James Loewen, American sociologist & historian, born in Decatur, Illinois
• 1944 Christine Boutin, French politician, born in Levroux, France
• 1946 Jim Turner, American politician, born in Fort Lewis, Washington
• 1951 Maria Christina, Belgian princess & daughter of Leopold III, born in Brussels, Belgium
• 1952 Ricardo Lavolpe, Argentine football coach, born in Buenos Aires, Argentina
• 1960 Akinwumi Adesina, Nigerian politician (African Development Bank President 2015-), born in Ogun State, Nigeria
• 1961 Yuri Ivanovich Onufriyenko, Russian cosmonaut (Mir, Soyuz TM-23), born in Ryasne, Ukraine
• 1963 Kevin Trudeau, American entrepreneur, born in Lynn, Massachusetts
• 1975 Svend-Allan Sørensen, Danish artist, born in Kjellerup, Denmark
• 1980 Luke Ravenstahl, American politician, born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
• 1983 Myron Wolf Child, Canadian politician, born in Cardston, Alberta (d. 2007)
• 2004 Princess Louise of Belgium, born in Woluwe-Saint-Lambert, Belgium

• 743 Hisham ibn 'Abd al-Malik, 10th Muslim caliph, dies at about 52
• 891 Photius, Byzantine theologist/patriarch of Constantinople/saint, dies
• 1140 Thurstan, archbishop of York, dies
• 1378 Jeanne de Bourbon, wife of Charles V of France (b. 1338)
• 1515 Aldus Manutius, Italian printer
• 1585 Edmund Plowden, English legal scholar (b. 1518)
• 1593 Emperor Ōgimachi, 106th Emperor of Japan, dies at 75
• 1612 Christopher Clavius, calendar reformer, dies (birth date unknown)
• 1617 Prosper Alpinus/Prospero Alpini, Italian physician/botanist, dies at 63

• 1695 Ahmed II, 21st Sultan of Turkey (1691-95), dies at 51
• 1699 Jozef Ferdinand of Bavaria, heir of Spanish king Carlos II, dies
• 1740 Clement XII [Lorenzo Corsini], Italian Pope (1730-40) who despite ill health and total blindness (1732) unsuccessfully stemmed decline of papal influence, dies at 87
• 1775 William Dowdeswell, English politician (b. 1721)
• 1783 Lancelot "Capability" Brown, English landscape architect who designed over 170 parks, dies at about 67
• 1785 Iman Willem Falck, Dutch governor of Ceylon (1765-83), dies at 48
• 1793 Carlo Goldoni, Italian playwright and librettist (Belisario, Servant of Two Masters), dies at 85
• 1804 Joseph Priestley, English American theologist, philosopher and chemist who discovered oxygen, dies at 70
• 1816 Maria Ludwika Rzewuska, Polish szlachcianka (b. 1744)
• 1825 William Eustis, 12th Governor of Massachusetts (1823-25), dies at 71
• 1833 Pierre André Latreille, French entomologist (b. 1762)
• 1834 Richard Lemon Lander, British explorer, dies from his injuries sustained by a musket ball at 29
• 1855 Josef Munzinger, Swiss Federal Councilor (b. 1791)
• 1865 John Pegram, American Brigadier General (Confederate Army), dies in battle at 33
• 1881 Pieter Mijer, Gov-Gen of Neth Indies (1866-72), dies at 68
• 1896 Abraham Czn van Stolk, Dutch art collector, dies at 82
• 1897 Ebenezer C Brewer, British writer (Dictionary of Phrase & Fable), dies
• 1899 Georg Leo earl von Caprivi, German chancellor, dies at 67
• 1899 Prince Alfred of Edinburgh, dies at 24 in mysterious circumstances
• 1910 Alfonso Maria Fusco. Beatified Italian Roman Catholic priest and founder (b.1839)
• 1914 Albert Neuhuys, Dutch painter of peasant families (Laren School), dies at 69
• 1916 Anne C A I van Diest, Belgian physician/feminist, dies at 73
• 1916 Rubén Darío, Nicaraguan writer (b. 1867)
• 1917 Édouard Drumont, French anti-semite journalist, dies at 72
• 1918 Gustav Klimt, Austrian painter/cartoonist, dies at 55
• 1919 Friedrich Wulhelm Mengelberg, German sculptor, dies at 81
• 1923 E. E. [Edward Emerson] Barnard, American astronomer (5th moon Jupiter), dies at 65
• 1930 Eva Strittmatter, writer, dies at 17
• 1938 Marianne Von Werefkin, Russian-German-Swiss Expressionist painter, dies at 77
• 1941 Maximilien Luce, French painter, dies at 82
• 1942 Wobbe de Vries, Dutch linguist, dies at 78
• 1943 HA Seyffardt, Dutch lt-gen/NSB "minister", dies at 71
• 1945 Jan Bos, Dutch resistance fighter, executed
• 1945 Paul Bos, Dutch resistance fighter, executed
• 1948 Robert Brasillach, French author/nazi collaborator, dies at 38
• 1950 Georges Imbert, Alsatian chemist (b. 1884)
• 1950 Frank Speck, American Anthropologist (Algonquin Tribes and Eastern Woodland Native Americans) dies at 68

• 1963 Abd el-Krim, Moroccan political and military leader (Republic of the Rif), dies at 85
• 1964 Sophocles Venizelos, premier of Greece (1944, 50-51), dies at 69

• 1972 Julian H Steward, US anthropologist (South American), dies at 70
• 1973 Ira S Bowen, US physicist/astronomer (Mt Wilson/Palomar), dies at 74
• 1979 Alain Teister, Dutch sculptor/writer, dies at 47
• 1979 Arthur van Schendel, Dutch art historian, dies at 68
• 1981 Frederica of Hanover, Queen Consort of Greece, dies at 63
• 1982 Ben Nicholson, English painter and sculptor (Circle), dies at 87
• 1985 James Hadley Chase, English writer (b. 1906)
• 1986 Frederick Coutts, Scottish 8th Salvation Army General, dies at 86
• 1986 Minoru Yamasaki, American architect (b. 1912)
• 1988 Marghanita Laski, English journalist and author (Victorian chaise-lounge), dies at 72
• 1988 Nuno Oliveira, Bass Player (b. 1925)
• 1989 Barbara Tuchman, historian (Guns of August-Pulitzer), dies at 77
• 1989 Chris Gueffroy, East German attempted defector (b. 1968)
• 1991 Marten Levendig, Dutch TV correspondent to Moscow, dies
• 1991 Salvador Luria, Italian-American microbiologist (Nobel Prize 1969), dies at 78

• 1995 James Ingram Merrill, American poet (Braving the elements), dies at 68
• 1996 Rosemary Tsay, drama critic/SOE operator, dies at 76
• 1998 Nazim al-Kudsi, Syrian PM (1949, 1950-51)/pres (1961-63), dies
• 1998 Haroun Tazieff, French vulcanologist and geologist (b. 1914)
• 2001 Filemon Lagman, Filipino Communist revolutionary (b. 1953)
• 2001 Fulgence Charpentier, French-Canadian journalist, dies at 103
• 2001 Jack Hyles, Independent Baptist pastor (First Baptist Church of Hammond 1959-2001), dies at 74
• 2002 Max Perutz, Austrian molecular biologist, Nobel laureate (b. 1914)
• 2005 Karl Haas, American radio presenter (b. 1913)
• 2007 Lee Hoffman, American author (b. 1932)
• 2007 Len Hopkins, Canadian politician (b. 1930)
• 2008 John McWethy, American journalist (b. 1947)
• 2008 Dieter Noll, German writer (Die Abenteuer des Werner Holt), dies at 80
• 2012 Janice Voss, American astronaut (shuttle radar topography mission), dies from breast cancer at 55
• 2012 Antoni Tapies, Spanish painter, sculptor and theorist (Dau al Set) dies at 88
• 2012 Norma Merrick Sklarek, 1st African-American woman architect in NY & California, dies at 85
• 2015 André Brink, South African writer (Kennis van die aand - 1st Afrikaans book banned), dies at 79
• 2019 Rosamunde Pilcher, English novelist (The Shell Seekers), dies at 94

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