April 6Birthdays & History

On this day: April 6 in history

Oldest first. Tap a year to see it on the World Chronicle timeline.

1. 46 BCJulius Caesar defeats Caecilius Metellus Scipio and Marcus Porcius Cato (Cato the Younger) at the Battle of Thapsus.Africa
2. 402Stilicho defeats the Visigoths under Alaric in the Battle of Pollentia.Europe
3. 945Byzantine Emperor Constantine VII crowns his son Romanos II as co-emperor.Europe
4. 1320The Scots reaffirm their independence by signing the Declaration of Arbroath.Europe
5. 1453Mehmed II begins his siege of Constantinople. The city falls on May 29 and is renamed Istanbul.Middle East
6. 1580One of the largest earthquakes recorded in the history of England, Flanders, or Northern France, takes place.Europe
7. 1652At the Cape of Good Hope, Dutch sailor Jan van Riebeeck establishes a resupply camp that eventually becomes Cape Town.EuropeAfrica
8. 1712The New York Slave Revolt of 1712 begins near Broadway.North America
9. 1776American Revolutionary War: Ships of the Continental Navy fail in their attempt to capture a Royal Navy dispatch boat.North America
10. 1782King Buddha Yodfa Chulaloke (Rama I) of Siam (modern day Thailand) establishes the Chakri dynasty.Asia
11. 1793During the French Revolution, the Committee of Public Safety becomes the executive organ of the republic.Europe
12. 1800The Treaty of Constantinople establishes the Septinsular Republic, the first autonomous Greek state since the Fall of the Byzantine Empire. (Under the Old Style calendar then still in use in the Ottoman Empire, the treaty was signed on 21 March.)Middle EastEurope
13. 1808John Jacob Astor incorporates the American Fur Company, that would eventually make him America's first millionaire.North America
14. 1812British forces under the command of the Duke of Wellington assault the fortress of Badajoz. This would be the turning point in the Peninsular War against Napoleon-led France.EuropeOceania
15. 1814Nominal beginning of the Bourbon Restoration; anniversary date that Napoleon abdicates and is exiled to Elba.Europe
16. 1830Church of Christ, the original church of the Latter Day Saint movement, is organized by Joseph Smith and others at either Fayette or Manchester, New York.North America
17. 1841U.S. President John Tyler is sworn in, two days after having become president upon William Henry Harrison's death.North America
18. 1860The Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, later renamed Community of Christ, is organized by Joseph Smith III and others at Amboy, Illinois.North America
19. 1862American Civil War: The Battle of Shiloh begins: In Tennessee, forces under Union General Ulysses S. Grant meet Confederate troops led by General Albert Sidney Johnston.North America
20. 1865American Civil War: The Battle of Sailor's Creek: Confederate General Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia fights and loses its last major battle while in retreat from Richmond, Virginia, during the Appomattox Campaign.North America
21. 1866The Grand Army of the Republic, an American patriotic organization composed of Union veterans of the American Civil War, is founded. It lasts until 1956.North America
22. 1896In Athens, the opening of the first modern Olympic Games is celebrated, 1,500 years after the original games are banned by Roman emperor Theodosius I.Europe
23. 1909Robert Peary and Matthew Henson become the first people to reach the North Pole; Peary's claim has been disputed because of failings in his navigational ability.World
24. 1911During the Battle of Deçiq, Dedë Gjon Luli Dedvukaj, leader of the Malësori Albanians, raises the Albanian flag in the town of Tuzi, Montenegro, for the first time after George Kastrioti (Skanderbeg).Europe
25. 1917World War I: The United States declares war on Germany.North AmericaEurope
26. 1918Finnish Civil War: The battle of Tampere ends.Europe
27. 1926Varney Airlines makes its first commercial flight (Varney is the root company of United Airlines).North America
28. 1929Huey P. Long, Governor of Louisiana, is impeached by the Louisiana House of Representatives.North America
29. 1930At the end of the Salt March, Gandhi raises a lump of mud and salt and declares, "With this, I am shaking the foundations of the British Empire."Europe
30. 1936Tupelo–Gainesville tornado outbreak: Another tornado from the same storm system as the Tupelo tornado hits Gainesville, Georgia, killing 203.North America
31. 1941World War II: Nazi Germany launches Operation 25 (the invasion of Kingdom of Yugoslavia) and Operation Marita (the invasion of Greece).Europe
32. 1945World War II: Sarajevo is liberated from German and Croatian forces by the Yugoslav Partisans.Europe
33. 1945World War II: The Battle of Slater's Knoll on Bougainville comes to an end.Oceania
34. 1947The first Tony Awards are presented for theatrical achievement.North America
35. 1948The Finno-Soviet Treaty is signed in Moscow.Europe
36. 1957The flag carrier airline of Greece for decades, Olympic Airways, is founded by Aristotle Onassis following the acquisition of "TAE - Greek National Airlines".Europe
37. 1958Capital Airlines Flight 67 crashes in Tittabawassee Township, Michigan, near Freeland Tri-City Airport, killing 47.North America
38. 1965Launch of Early Bird, the first commercial communications satellite to be placed in geosynchronous orbit.North America
39. 1968Pierre Elliott Trudeau wins the Liberal Party leadership election, and becomes Prime Minister of Canada soon afterward.North America
40. 1968In the downtown district of Richmond, Indiana, a double explosion kills 41 and injures 150.North America
41. 1970Newhall massacre: Four California Highway Patrol officers are killed in a shootout.North America
42. 1972Vietnam War: Easter Offensive: American forces begin sustained air strikes and naval bombardments.AsiaNorth America
43. 1973The American League of Major League Baseball begins using the designated hitter.North America
44. 1973Launch of Pioneer 11 spacecraft.North America
45. 1974The first California Jam festival takes place at the Ontario Motor Speedway in Ontario, California. Co-headlined by Deep Purple and Emerson, Lake & Palmer. The festival set what were then records for the loudest amplification system ever installed, the highest paid attendance, and highest gross in history.North America
46. 1974In Brighton, United Kingdom, ABBA wins the 1974 edition of the Eurovision Song Contest with "Waterloo", the first of a joint-record seven Swedish wins.Europe
47. 1984Members of Cameroon's Republican Guard unsuccessfully attempt to overthrow the government headed by Paul Biya.Africa
48. 1985Sudanese President Gaafar Nimeiry is ousted from power in a coup d'état led by Field Marshal Abdel Rahman Swar al-Dahab.Africa
49. 1992The Bosnian War begins.Europe
50. 1994The Rwandan genocide begins when the aircraft carrying Rwandan president Juvénal Habyarimana and Burundian president Cyprien Ntaryamira is shot down.Africa
51. 1997In Greene County, Tennessee, the Lillelid murders occur.North America
52. 1998Nuclear weapons testing: Pakistan tests medium-range missiles capable of reaching India.Asia
53. 2004Rolandas Paksas becomes the first president of Lithuania to be peacefully removed from office by impeachment.Europe
54. 2005Kurdish leader Jalal Talabani becomes Iraqi president; Shiite Arab Ibrahim al-Jaafari is named premier the next day.Middle East
55. 2008The 2008 Egyptian general strike starts led by Egyptian workers later to be adopted by April 6 Youth Movement and Egyptian activists.Middle East
56. 2009A 6.3 magnitude earthquake strikes near L'Aquila, Italy, killing 307.Europe
57. 2010Maoist rebels kill 76 CRPF officers in Dantewada district, India.Asia
58. 2011In San Fernando, Tamaulipas, Mexico, over 193 victims of Los Zetas were exhumed from several mass graves.Latin America
59. 2012Azawad declares itself independent from the Republic of Mali.Africa
60. 2017U.S. military launches 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles at an air base in Syria. Russia describes the strikes as an "aggression", adding they significantly damage US-Russia ties.North AmericaMiddle EastEurope
61. 2018A bus carrying the Humboldt Broncos junior ice hockey team collides with a semi-truck in Saskatchewan, Canada, killing 16 people and injuring 13 others.North America
62. 2026The crew of Artemis II makes the first crewed circumlunar flight since Apollo 17 in 1972, returning humanity to the Moon's vicinity and breaking Apollo 13's record by ~4,000 miles as the furthest crewed spaceflight.North America

Source: Wikipedia "April 6" / CC BY-SA 4.0