6 July

371 BC – The Battle of Leuctra, where Epaminondas defeats Cleombrotus I, takes place.
1044 – The Battle of Ménfő between troops led by Emperor Henry III and Magyar forces led by King Samuel takes place.
1189 – Richard I "the Lionheart" is crowned King of England.
1253 – Mindaugas is crowned King of Lithuania.
1348 – Papal bull of Pope Clement VI protecting the Jews accused to have caused the Black Death.
1415 – Jan Hus is burned at the stake.
1483 – Richard III is crowned King of England.
1484 – Portuguese sea captain Diogo Cão finds the mouth of the Congo River.
1495 – First Italian War: Battle of Fornovo – Charles VIII defeats the Holy League, but ultimately ends his attempted conquest of Italy.
1535 – Sir Thomas More is executed for treason against King Henry VIII of England.
1557 – King Philip II of Spain, consort of Queen Mary I of England, sets out from Dover to war with France, which eventually results in the loss of the City of Calais, the last English possession on the continent, and Mary I never seeing her husband again.
1560 – The Treaty of Edinburgh is signed by Scotland and England.
1573 – Córdoba, Argentina, is founded by Jerónimo Luis de Cabrera.
1609 – Bohemia is granted freedom of religion.
1630 – Thirty-Years War: 4,000 Swedish troops under Gustavus Adolphus land in Pomerania, Germany.
1751 – Pope Benedict XIV suppresses the Patriarchate of Aquileia and establishes from its territory the Archdiocese of Udine and Gorizia.
1777 – American Revolutionary War: Siege of Fort Ticonderoga – After a bombardment by British artillery under General John Burgoyne, American forces retreat from Fort Ticonderoga, New York.
1779 – Battle of Grenada: French victory over British naval forces during the American Revolutionary War.
1785 – The dollar is unanimously chosen as the monetary unit for the United States.
1801 – Battle of Algeciras: the French navy are defeated by the Royal Navy.
1809 – The second day of the Battle of Wagram sees a French victory over the Austrian army in the largest battle yet of the Napoleonic Wars.
1854 – In Jackson, Michigan, the first convention of the United States Republican Party is held.
1885 – Louis Pasteur successfully tests his vaccine against rabies. The patient is Joseph Meister, a boy who was bitten by a rabid dog.
1887 – David Kalakaua, monarch of the Kingdom of Hawaii, is forced at gunpoint, at the hands of the Americans, to sign the Bayonet Constitution giving Americans more power in Hawaii while stripping Hawaiian citizens of their rights.
1892 – Dadabhai Naoroji is elected as the first Indian Member of Parliament in Britain.
1892 – 3,800 striking steelworkers engage in a day-long battle with Pinkerton agents during the Homestead Strike, leaving 10 dead and dozens wounded.
1893 – The small town of Pomeroy, Iowa, is nearly destroyed by a tornado that kills 71 people and injures 200.
1905 – Alfred Deakin becomes Prime Minister of Australia for the second time.
1917 – World War I: Arabian troops led by T. E. Lawrence ("Lawrence of Arabia") and Auda ibu Tayi capture Aqaba from the Ottoman Empire during the Arab Revolt.
1919 – The British dirigible R34 lands in New York, completing the first crossing of the Atlantic Ocean by an airship.
1933 – The first Major League Baseball All-Star Game is played in Chicago's Comiskey Park. The American League defeats the National League 4–2.
1936 – A major breach of the Manchester, Bolton and Bury Canal in England sends millions of gallons of water cascading 200 feet (61 m) into the River Irwell.
1939 – Holocaust: the last remaining Jewish enterprises in Germany are closed.
1942 – Anne Frank and her family go into hiding in the "Secret Annexe" above her father's office in an Amsterdam warehouse.
1944 – Jackie Robinson refuses to move to the back of a bus, leading to a court martial.
1944 – The Hartford Circus Fire, one of America's worst fire disasters, kills approximately 168 people and injures over 700 in Hartford, Connecticut.
1947 – The AK-47 goes into production in the Soviet Union.
1957 – Althea Gibson wins the Wimbledon championships, becoming the first black athlete to do so.
1957 – John Lennon and Paul McCartney of the Beatles are introduced to each other when Lennon's band the Quarrymen performs at the St. Peter's Church Hall fête in Woolton.
1962 – As a part of Operation Plowshare, the Sedan nuclear test takes place.
1964 – Malawi declares its independence from the United Kingdom.
1966 – Malawi becomes a republic, with Hastings Banda as its first President.
1967 – Nigerian Civil War: Nigerian forces invade Biafra, beginning the war.
1975 – The Comoros declare independence from France.
1978 – The Taunton sleeping car fire occurs in Taunton, Somerset killing twelve people.
1986 – Davis Phinney became the first American cyclist to win a road stage of the Tour de France.
1988 – The Piper Alpha drilling platform in the North Sea is destroyed by explosions and fires. 167 oil workers are killed, making it the world's worst offshore oil disaster in terms of direct loss of life.
1989 – The Israeli 405 Bus slaughter in which 14 bus passengers are killed when an Arab assaulted the bus driver as the bus is driving by the edge of a cliff.
1994 – Storm King Mountain, Glenwood Springs, Colorado: South Canyon Fire: 14 firefighters died in the fire.
1997 – The Troubles: Five days of fierce riots and clashes in Irish nationalist districts of Northern Ireland begin.
1998 – Hong Kong's Kai Tak Airport is closed and the new Hong Kong International Airport at Chek Lap Kok becomes operational.
1999 – U.S. Army private Barry Winchell dies from baseball-bat injuries inflicted in his sleep the previous day by a fellow soldier, Calvin Glover, for his relationship with transgender showgirl and former Navy Corpsman Calpernia Addams.
2003 – The 70-metre Eupatoria Planetary Radar sends a METI message (Cosmic Call 2) to 5 stars: Hip 4872, HD 245409, 55 Cancri (HD 75732), HD 10307 and 47 Ursae Majoris (HD 95128). The messages will arrive to these stars in 2036, 2040, 2044 and 2049 respectively.
2006 – The Nathula Pass between India and China, sealed during the Sino-Indian War, re-opens for trade after 44 years.

Holidays and observances

Birthday of the 14th Dalai Lama (Tibetan diaspora)
Christian Feast Day:
Maria Goretti
Romulus of Fiesole
July 6 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
Constitution Day (Cayman Islands)
Day of the Capital, established in 2008. (Kazakhstan)
Independence Day, celebrates the independence of the Comoros from France in 1975.
Independence Day/Republic Day, celebrates the independence of Malawi from United Kingdom in 1964.
Jan Hus Day (Czech Republic)
Statehood Day (Lithuania)
The earliest date for summer solstice in Julian calendar system, which corresponds to June 23:
The first night of Ivan Kupala Day (Poland, Russia, Belarus and Ukraine)
The first day of Ludi Apollinares, games in honor of Apollo. (Roman Empire)
The first day of San Fermín, which lasts until July 14. (Pamplona)
World Zoonoses Day