On this day: February 6

Events on February 6

• 1778 New York became the third state to ratify the Articles of Confederation. Wikipedia
• 1788 Massachusetts became the sixth state to ratify the constitution of the United States. Wikipedia
• 1788 Massachusetts becomes the sixth state to ratify the United States Constitution. Wikipedia
• 1806 Napoleonic Wars: A British naval squadron captured or destroyed five French ships of the line at the Battle of San Domingo in the Caribbean Sea. Wikipedia
• 1820 The first 86 African American immigrants sponsored by the American Colonization Society depart New York to start a settlement in present-day Liberia. Wikipedia
• 1851 The largest Australian bushfires in a populous region in recorded history take place in the state of Victoria. Wikipedia
• 1862 Union forces earned one of their first important victories in the American Civil War at the Battle of Fort Henry in western Tennessee. Wikipedia
• 1862 American Civil War: Forces under the command of Ulysses S. Grant and Andrew H. Foote give the Union its first victory of the war, capturing Fort Henry, Tennessee in the Battle of Fort Henry. Wikipedia
• 1900 The Permanent Court of Arbitration, an international arbitration court at The Hague, is created when the Senate of the Netherlands ratifies an 1899 peace conference decree. Wikipedia
• 1919 World War I: More than 65,000 workers in Seattle began a five-day general strike to gain higher wages after two years of wage controls in the United States. Wikipedia
• 1919 The five-day Seattle General Strike begins, as more than 65,000 workers in the city of Seattle, Washington, walk off the job. Wikipedia
• 1922 The Washington Naval Treaty is signed in Washington, D.C., limiting the naval armaments of United States, Britain, Japan, France, and Italy. Wikipedia
• 1934 Far-right leagues rally in front of the Palais Bourbon in an attempted coup against the French Third Republic, creating a political crisis in France. Wikipedia
• 1944 World War II: The Great Raids Against Helsinki begins. Wikipedia
• 1952 Elizabeth II becomes Queen of the United Kingdom and her other Realms and Territories and Head of the Commonwealth upon the death of her father, George VI. At the exact moment of succession, she was in a tree house at the Treetops Hotel in Kenya. Wikipedia
• 1958 The aircraft carrying the Manchester United football team crashed while attempting to take off from Munich-Riem Airport in West Germany, killing 8 players and 23 people in total (news reel featured). Wikipedia
• 1958 Eight Manchester United F.C. players and 15 other passengers are killed in the Munich air disaster. Wikipedia
• 1959 At Cape Canaveral, Florida, the first successful test firing of a Titan intercontinental ballistic missile is accomplished. Wikipedia
• 1978 The Blizzard of 1978, one of the worst Nor'easters in New England history, hit the region, with sustained winds of 65 mph and snowfall of four inches an hour. Wikipedia
• 1981 The National Resistance Army of Uganda launches an attack on a Ugandan Army installation in the central Mubende District to begin the Ugandan Bush War. Wikipedia
• 1989 The Round Table Talks start in Poland, thus marking the beginning of the overthrow of communism in Eastern Europe. Wikipedia
• 1996 Birgenair Flight 301 crashed off the coast of the Dominican Republic, killing all 189 people on board. This is the deadliest aviation accident involving a Boeing 757. Wikipedia
• 1996 Willamette Valley Flood: Floods in the Willamette Valley of Oregon, United States, causes over US$500 million in property damage throughout the Pacific Northwest. Wikipedia
• 2000 Second Chechen War: Russia captures Grozny, Chechnya, forcing the separatist Chechen Republic of Ichkeria government into exile. Wikipedia
• 2018 SpaceX's Falcon Heavy, a super heavy launch vehicle, makes its maiden flight. Wikipedia
• 2023 Two earthquakes measuring Mww 7.8 and 7.5 struck near the border between Turkey and Syria with a maximum Mercalli intensity of XII (Extreme). The earthquakes resulted in numerous aftershocks and a death toll of 57,658 people. Wikipedia

Born on February 6

• 1664 Mustafa II, Ottoman sultan (died 1703) Wikipedia
• 1665 Anne, Queen of Great Britain, Queen of England, Scotland and Ireland (died 1714) Wikipedia
• 1748 Adam Weishaupt, German philosopher and academic, founded the Illuminati (died 1830) Wikipedia
• 1756 Aaron Burr, American colonel and politician, 3rd Vice President of the United States (died 1836) Wikipedia
• 1778 Ugo Foscolo, Italian author and poet (died 1827) Wikipedia
• 1818 William M. Evarts, American lawyer and politician, 27th United States Secretary of State (died 1901) Wikipedia
• 1842 Alexandre Ribot, French academic and politician, Prime Minister of France (died 1923) Wikipedia
• 1890 Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan, Pakistani activist and politician (died 1988) Wikipedia
• 1892 William P. Murphy, American physician and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1987) Wikipedia
• 1895 Babe Ruth, American baseball player and coach (died 1948) Wikipedia
• 1905 Władysław Gomułka, Polish politician (died 1982) Wikipedia
• 1908 Edward Lansdale, American general and CIA agent (died 1987) Wikipedia
• 1908 Amintore Fanfani, Italian journalist and politician, 32nd Prime Minister of Italy (died 1999) Wikipedia
• 1911 Ronald Reagan, American actor and politician, 40th President of the United States (died 2004) Wikipedia
• 1912 Eva Braun, German photographer, mistress and briefly wife of Adolf Hitler (died 1945) Wikipedia
• 1932 François Truffaut, French filmmaker and critic (died 1984) Wikipedia
• 1945 Bob Marley, Jamaican singer-songwriter and cultural icon (died 1981) Wikipedia
• 1950 Natalie Cole, American singer (died 2015) Wikipedia
• 1962 Axl Rose, American singer and songwriter Wikipedia
• 1964 Andrey Zvyagintsev, Russian actor and director Wikipedia
• 1966 Rick Astley, British pop singer Wikipedia
• 1995 Leon Goretzka, German footballer Wikipedia

Died on February 6

• 743 Hisham ibn Abd al-Malik, Umayyad caliph (born 691) Wikipedia
• 1685 Charles II of England (born 1630) Wikipedia
• 1740 Pope Clement XII (born 1652) Wikipedia
• 1793 Carlo Goldoni, Italian-French playwright (born 1707) Wikipedia
• 1804 Joseph Priestley, English chemist and theologian (born 1733) Wikipedia
• 1916 Rubén Darío, Nicaraguan poet, journalist, and diplomat (born 1867) Wikipedia
• 1918 Gustav Klimt, Austrian painter and illustrator (born 1862) Wikipedia
• 1952 George VI of the United Kingdom (born 1895) Wikipedia
• 1986 Minoru Yamasaki, American architect, designed the World Trade Center (born 1912) Wikipedia
• 1991 Salvador Luria, Italian biologist and physician, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1912) Wikipedia
• 2002 Max Perutz, Austrian-English biologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1914) Wikipedia
• 2021 George Shultz, American politician, Secretary of State, Secretary of the Treasury, Secretary of Labor (born 1920) Wikipedia
• 2022 Lata Mangeshkar, Indian singer and music composer (born 1929) Wikipedia
• 2024 Sebastian Piñera, former Chilean president (born 1949) Wikipedia

Holidays and observances

• Christian feast day: Amand Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Dorothea of Caesarea Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Hildegund, O.Praem. Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Jacut Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Mateo Correa Magallanes (one of Saints of the Cristero War) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Mél of Ardagh Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Paul Miki and Twenty-six Martyrs of Japan Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Relindis (Renule) of Maaseik Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Vedastus Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: February 6 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics) Wikipedia
• International Day of Zero Tolerance to Female Genital Mutilation (United Nations) Wikipedia
• Ronald Reagan Day (California, United States) Wikipedia
• Sami National Day (Russia, Finland, Norway and Sweden) Wikipedia
• Waitangi Day, celebrates the founding of New Zealand in 1840. Wikipedia

The events, births, deaths and observances above are from the English Wikipedia article “February 6” and the articles it links to (authors and history), retrieved 2026-10-09 through the Wikimedia “On this day” feed. They are licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0; this selection is shared under the same licence. We picked the 26 events, 22 births and 14 deaths with the widest coverage across Wikipedia's language editions (counted from Wikidata) and sorted them by year; the wording is unchanged apart from removing references to pictures.