July 6

Events

Pre-1600

• 371 BC - The Battle of Leuctra shatters Sparta's reputation of military invincibility.
• 640 - Battle of Heliopolis: The Muslim Arab army under 'Amr ibn al-'As defeat the Byzantine forces near Heliopolis.
• 1253 - Mindaugas is crowned King of Lithuania.
• 1348 - Pope Clement VI issues a papal bull protecting the Jews accused of having caused the Black Death.
• 1411 - Ming China's Admiral Zheng He returns to Nanjing after the third treasure voyage and presents the Sinhalese king, captured during the Ming–Kotte War, to the Yongle Emperor.
• 1415 - Jan Hus is condemned by the assembly of the council in the Konstanz Cathedral as a heretic and sentenced to be burned at the stake.
• 1438 - A temporary compromise between the rebellious Transylvanian peasants and the noblemen is signed in Kolozsmonostor Abbey.
• 1483 - Richard III and Anne Neville are crowned King and Queen 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.
• 1536 - The explorer Jacques Cartier lands at St. Malo at the end of his second expedition to North America. He returns with none of the gold he expected to find.
• 1557 - King Philip II of Spain, consort of Queen Mary I of England, sets out from Dover to war with France, which eventually resulted 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.
• 1573 - French Wars of Religion: Siege of La Rochelle ends.

  1601–1900

• 1614 - Raid on Żejtun: The south east of Malta, and the town of Żejtun, suffer a raid from Ottoman forces. This was the last unsuccessful attempt by the Ottomans to conquer the island of Malta.
• 1630 - Thirty Years' War: Four thousand Swedish troops under Gustavus Adolphus land in Pomerania, Germany.
• 1685 - Battle of Sedgemoor: Last battle of the Monmouth Rebellion. Troops of King James II defeat troops of James Scott, 1st Duke of Monmouth.
• 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: The French defeat British naval forces in the Caribbean during the American Revolutionary War.
• 1791 - At Padua, the Emperor Leopold II calls on the monarchs of Europe to join him in demanding the king of France Louis XVI's freedom.
• 1801 - First Battle of Algeciras: Outnumbered French Navy ships defeat the Royal Navy in the fortified Spanish port of Algeciras.
• 1809 - The second day of the Battle of Wagram; France defeats the Austrian army in the largest battle to date of the Napoleonic Wars.
• 1854 - The Republican Party of the United States held its first convention in Jackson, Michigan.
• 1885 - Louis Pasteur successfully tests his vaccine against rabies on Joseph Meister, a boy who was bitten by a rabid dog.
• 1887 - David Kalākaua, monarch of the Kingdom of Hawaii, is forced to sign the Bayonet Constitution, which transfers much of the king's authority to the Legislature of the Kingdom of Hawaii.
• 1892 - Three thousand eight hundred striking steelworkers engage in a day-long battle with Pinkerton agents during the Homestead Strike, leaving ten dead and dozens wounded.

  1901–present

• 1917 - World War I: Arabian troops led by T. E. Lawrence and Auda ibu Tayi capture Aqaba from the Ottoman Empire during the Arab Revolt.
• 1918 - The Left SR uprising in Russia starts with the assassination of German ambassador Wilhelm von Mirbach by Cheka members.
• 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 defeated the National League 4–2.
• 1936 - A major breach of the Manchester Bolton & Bury Canal in England sends millions of gallons of water cascading into the River Irwell.
• 1937 - Spanish Civil War: Battle of Brunete: The battle begins with Spanish Republican troops going on the offensive against the Nationalists to relieve pressure on Madrid.
• 1939 - Anti-Jewish legislation in prewar Nazi Germany closes the last remaining Jewish enterprises.
• 1940 - Story Bridge, a major landmark in Brisbane, as well as Australia's longest cantilever bridge is formally opened.
• 1941 - World War II: The German army launches its offensive to encircle several Soviet armies near Smolensk.
• 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 his 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 - Referendum held in Sylhet to decide its fate in the Partition of India.
• 1947 - The AK-47 goes into production in the Soviet Union.
• 1957 - Althea Gibson wins at the Wimbledon Championships, becoming the first black athlete to do so.
• 1957 - John Lennon and Paul McCartney meet for the first time, as teenagers at Woolton Fete, three years before forming the Beatles.
• 1962 - As a part of Operation Plowshare, the Sedan nuclear test takes place.
• 1962 - The Late Late Show, the world's longest-running chat show by the same broadcaster, airs on RTÉ One for the first time.
• 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 declares independence from France.
• 1982 - While attempting to return to Sheremetyevo International Airport, Aeroflot Flight 411, an Ilyushin Il-62, crashes near Mendeleyevo, Moscow Oblast, killing all 90 people on board.
• 1988 - The Piper Alpha drilling platform in the North Sea is destroyed by explosions and fires. One hundred sixty-seven oil workers are killed, making it the world's worst offshore oil disaster in terms of direct loss of life.
• 1989 - The Tel Aviv–Jerusalem bus 405 suicide attack: Sixteen bus passengers are killed when a member of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad took control of the bus and drove it over a cliff.
• 1995 - In the Bosnian War, under the command of General Ratko Mladić, Serbia begins its attack on the Bosnian town of Srebrenica.
• 1996 - A McDonnell Douglas MD-88 operating as Delta Air Lines Flight 1288 experiences a turbine engine failure during takeoff from Pensacola International Airport, killing two and injuring five of the 147 people on board.
• 1997 - The Troubles: In response to the Drumcree dispute, five days of mass protests, riots and gun battles begin in Irish nationalist districts of Northern Ireland.
• 1998 - Hong Kong International Airport opens in Chek Lap Kok, Hong Kong, replacing Kai Tak Airport as the city's international airport.
• 2003 - The 70-metre Yevpatoria Planetary Radar sends a METI message to five stars: Hip 4872, HD 245409, 55 Cancri, HD 10307 and 47 Ursae Majoris. The messages will arrive to these stars in 2036, 2040, 2044, and 2049, respectively.
• 2006 - The Nathu La pass between India and China, sealed during the Sino-Indian War, re-opens for trade after 44 years.
• 2013 - At least 42 people are killed in a shooting at a school in Yobe State, Nigeria.
• 2013 - A Boeing 777 operating as Asiana Airlines Flight 214 crashes at San Francisco International Airport, killing three and injuring 181 of the 307 people on board.
• 2013 - A 73-car oil train derails in the town of Lac-Mégantic, Quebec and explodes into flames, killing at least 47 people and destroying more than 30 buildings in the town's central area.
• 2021 - An Antonov An-26 operating as Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky Air Flight 251 crashes on approach to Palana Airport, killing all 28 aboard.
• 2022 - The Georgia Guidestones, a monument in the United States, are heavily damaged in a bombing, and are dismantled later the same day.

  Births

Pre-1600

• 1387 - Queen Blanche I of Navarre
• 1423 - Antonio Manetti, Italian mathematician and architect
• 1580 - Johann Stobäus, German lute player and composer

  1601–1900

• 1623 - Jacopo Melani, Italian violinist and composer
• 1678 - Nicola Francesco Haym, Italian cellist and composer
• 1686 - Antoine de Jussieu, French biologist and academic
• 1701 - Mary, Countess of Harold, English aristocrat and philanthropist
• 1736 - Daniel Morgan, American general and politician
• 1747 - John Paul Jones, Scottish-American captain, early leader in the Continental Navy
• 1766 - Alexander Wilson, Scottish-American poet, ornithologist, and illustrator
• 1782 - Maria Luisa of Spain
• 1785 - William Hooker, English botanist and academic
• 1789 - María Isabella of Spain
• 1796 - Nicholas I of Russia
• 1797 - Henry Paget, 2nd Marquess of Anglesey
• 1799 - Louisa Caroline Huggins Tuthill, American author
• 1817 - Albert von Kölliker, Swiss anatomist and physiologist
• 1818 - Adolf Anderssen, German chess player
• 1823 - Sophie Adlersparre, Swedish publisher, writer, and women's rights activist
• 1829 - Frederick VIII, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein
• 1831 - Sylvester Pennoyer, American lawyer and politician, 8th Governor of Oregon
• 1832 - Maximilian I of Mexico
• 1837 - R. G. Bhandarkar, Indian orientalist and scholar
• 1838 - Vatroslav Jagić, Croatian philologist and scholar
• 1840 - José María Velasco Gómez, Mexican painter and academic
• 1843 - John Downer, Australian politician, 16th Premier of South Australia
• 1846 - Ángela Peralta, Mexican opera singer
• 1856 - George Howard Earle, Jr., American lawyer and businessman
• 1858 - William Irvine, Irish-Australian politician, 21st Premier of Victoria
• 1865 - Émile Jaques-Dalcroze, Swiss composer and educator
• 1868 - Princess Victoria of the United Kingdom
• 1873 - Dimitrios Maximos, Greek banker and politician, 140th Prime Minister of Greece
• 1877 - Arnaud Massy, French golfer
• 1878 - Eino Leino, Finnish poet and journalist
• 1883 - Godfrey Huggins, Prime Minister of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland
• 1884 - Harold Stirling Vanderbilt, American businessman and sailor
• 1885 - Ernst Busch, German field marshal
• 1886 - Marc Bloch, French historian and academic
• 1887 - Marc Chagall, Belarusian-French painter and poet
• 1887 - Annette Kellermann, Australian swimmer and actress
• 1890 - Dhan Gopal Mukerji, Indian-American author and scholar
• 1891 - Earle S. MacPherson, American engineer, created MacPherson strut
• 1892 - Will James, American author and illustrator
• 1897 - Richard Krautheimer, German-American historian and scholar
• 1898 - Hanns Eisler, German-Austrian soldier and composer
• 1899 - Susannah Mushatt Jones, American supercentarian
• 1900 - Frederica Sagor Maas, American author and screenwriter
• 1900 - Elfriede Wever, German Olympic runner