August
6
Independence
Day
Bolivia : August 6 1825
Jamaica : August 6 1962
Events
August 6
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.
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.
1825 – Bolivia gains independence from Spain.
1845 – The Russian Geographical Society is founded
in Saint Petersburg.
1861 – The United Kingdom annexes Lagos, Nigeria.
1862 – American Civil War: the Confederate ironclad
CSS Arkansas is scuttled on the Mississippi River
after suffering damage in a battle with USS Essex
near Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
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 Helgoland
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 Mărăşeşti 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 Brothers' Vitaphone
system premieres with the movie Don Juan starring
John Barrymore.
1926 – Harry Houdini performs his greatest feat,
spending 91 minutes underwater in a sealed tank
before escaping.
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.
1945 – World War II: Hiroshima 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.
1953 – Venerable Pius XII establishes the Dioceses
of Norwich and Bridgeport and makes the Diocese
of Hartford an archdiocese.
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.
1964 – Prometheus, a bristlecone pine and the world's
oldest tree, is cut down.
1965 – US President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the
Voting Rights Act of 1965 into law.
1965 – The largest swimming pool in Europe was opened
in Fürstenfeld, Austria.
1966 – Braniff Airlines Flight 250 crashes in Falls
City, NE killing all 42 on board.
1976 – Zulfikar Ali Bhutto lays the foundation stone
of Port Qasim, Karachi.
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.
1988 – The Tompkins Square Park Police Riot in New
York City spurs a reform of the NYPD, held responsible
for the event.
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 – Doi Takako, chair of the Social Democratic
Party, becomes Japan's first female speaker of the
House of Representatives.
1993 – Heavy rains and debris kill 72 in the Kagoshima
and Aira areas of Kyūshū, Japan.
1996 – NASA announces that the ALH 84001 meteorite,
thought to originate from Mars, contains evidence
of primitive life-forms.
1997 – Korean Air Flight 801, a Boeing 747-300,
crashes into the jungle on Guam on approach to airport,
killing 228.
2001 – Erwadi fire incident, 28 mentally ill persons
tied to 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.
2011 – A helicopter containing members of Navy SEAL
6 is shot down in Afghanistan killing 38.
Holidays
and observances
Christian
Feast Day:
Feast of the Transfiguration of Christ
Justus and Pastor
August 6 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
H.H. Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan's Accession
Day. (United Arab Emirates)
Hiroshima Peace Memorial Ceremony (Hiroshima, Japan)
Independence Day, celebrates the independence of
Bolivia from Spain in 1825.
Independence Day, celebrates the independence of
Jamaica from the United Kingdom in 1962.
The beginning of Tanabata festival. (Sendai, Japan)
For details, contact Datacentre
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