6
August
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August 6 in History
2008
A military junta led by Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz stages a coup d'état in Mauritania, overthrowing president Sidi Ould Cheikh Abdallahi.
1997
Korean Air Flight 801, a Boeing 747-300, crashes into the jungle on Guam on approach to airport, killing 228.
1996
NASA announces that the ALH 84001 meteorite, thought to originate from Mars, contains evidence of primitive life-forms.
1993
Heavy rains and debris kill 72 in the Kagoshima and Aira areas of Kyūshū, Japan.
1991
Tim Berners-Lee releases files describing his idea for the World Wide Web. WWW debuts as a publicly available service on the Internet.
Doi Takako, chair of the Social Democratic Party, becomes Japan's first female speaker of the House of Representatives.
1990
Gulf War: the United Nations Security Council orders a global trade embargo against Iraq in response to Iraq's invasion of Kuwait.
1988
The Tompkins Square Park Police Riot in New York City spurs a reform of the NYPD, held responsible for the event.
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.
1976
Zulfikar Ali Bhutto lays the foundation stone of Port Qasim, Karachi.
1966
Braniff Airlines Flight 250 crashes in Falls City, NE killing all 42 on board.
1965
US President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Voting Rights Act of 1965 into law.
1964
Prometheus, a bristlecone pine and the world's oldest tree, is cut down.
1962
Jamaica becomes independent.
1960
Cuban Revolution: in response to a United States embargo, Cuba nationalizes American and foreign-owned property in the nation.
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.
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.
1942
Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands becomes the first reigning queen to address a joint session of the United States Congress.
1930
Judge Joseph Force Crater steps into a taxi in New York and disappears to be never seen again.
1926
Harry Houdini performs his greatest feat, spending 91 minutes underwater in a sealed tank before escaping.
Gertrude Ederle becomes the first woman to swim across the English Channel.
In New York City, the Warner Brothers' Vitaphone system premieres with the movie ''Don Juan'' starring John Barrymore.
1917
World War I: Battle of Mărăşeşti between the Romanian and German armies begins.
1915
World War I: Battle of Sari Bair
1914
World War I: Serbia declares war on Germany; Austria declares war on Russia.
World War I: First Battle of the Atlantic
1912
The Bull Moose Party meets at the Chicago Coliseum.
1909
Alice Huyler Ramsey and three friends become the first women to complete a transcontinental auto trip.
1901
Kiowa land in Oklahoma is opened for white settlement, effectively dissolving the contiguous reservation.
1890
At Auburn Prison in New York, murderer William Kemmler becomes the first person to be executed by electric chair.
1870
Franco-Prussian War: the Battle of Wörth results in a decisive Prussian victory.
1862
American Civil War: the Confederate ironclad {{Ship|CSS|Arkansas}} is scuttled on the Mississippi River after suffering damage in a battle with {{USS|Essex|1856|6}} near Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
1861
The United Kingdom annexes Lagos, Nigeria.
1845
The Russian Geographical Society is founded in Saint Petersburg.
1825
Bolivia gains independence from Spain.
1819
Norwich University is founded in Vermont as the first private military school in the United States.
1806
Francis II, the last Holy Roman Emperor, abdicates ending the Holy Roman Empire.
1787
Sixty proof sheets of the Constitution of the United States are delivered to the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia.
1661
The Treaty of The Hague is signed by Portugal and the Dutch Republic.
1538
Bogotá, Colombia, is founded by Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada.
1506
The Grand Duchy of Lithuania defeated the Crimean Khanate in the Battle of Kletsk
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.