On this day: June 6

Events on June 6

• 913 Constantine VII, the eight-year-old illegitimate son of Leo VI the Wise, becomes nominal ruler of the Byzantine Empire under the regency of a seven-man council headed by Patriarch Nicholas Mystikos, appointed by Constantine's uncle Alexander on his deathbed. Wikipedia
• 1505 The M8.2–8.8 Lo Mustang earthquake affects Tibet and Nepal, causing severe damage in Kathmandu and parts of the Indo-Gangetic plain. Wikipedia
• 1513 War of the League of Cambrai: In the Battle of Novara, Swiss troops defeat the French under Louis II de la Trémoille, forcing them to abandon Milan; Duke Massimiliano Sforza is restored. Wikipedia
• 1654 Swedish Queen Christina abdicates her throne in favour of her cousin Charles Gustav and converts to Catholicism. Wikipedia
• 1674 Shivaji, who led a resistance to free the Maratha from the Bijapur Sultanate and the Mughal Empire, was crowned the first chhatrapati of the Maratha Empire. Wikipedia
• 1822 Alexis St. Martin, a Canadian voyageur, was accidentally shot in the stomach; medical investigations of his injury led to a greater understanding of the processes of digestion. Wikipedia
• 1859 Queensland is established as a separate colony from New South Wales. The date is still celebrated as Queensland Day. Wikipedia
• 1862 American Civil War: The First Battle of Memphis, a naval engagement fought on the Mississippi River, results in the capture of Memphis, Tennessee by Union forces from the Confederates. Wikipedia
• 1894 Governor Davis H. Waite orders the Colorado state militia to protect and support the miners engaged in the Cripple Creek miners' strike. Wikipedia
• 1912 The eruption of Novarupta in Alaska begins. It is the largest volcanic eruption of the 20th century. Wikipedia
• 1918 World War I: U.S. Marine Corps suffers its worst single day's casualties during the Battle of Belleau Wood while attempting to recapture the wood at Château-Thierry (the losses are exceeded at the Battle of Tarawa in November 1943). Wikipedia
• 1934 New Deal: U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 into law, establishing the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Wikipedia
• 1942 World War II: The United States Navy's victory over the Imperial Japanese Navy at the Battle of Midway is a major turning point in the Pacific Theater. All four Japanese fleet carriers taking part—Akagi, Kaga, Sōryū and Hiryū—are sunk, as is the heavy cruiser Mikuma. The American carrier Yorktown and the destroyer Hammann are also sunk. Wikipedia
• 1944 World War II: Operation Overlord, the largest amphibious military operation in history, began with Allied troops landing on the beaches of Normandy in France. Wikipedia
• 1944 World War II: Commencement of Operation Overlord: The Allied invasion of Normandy begins with the execution of Operation Neptune—commonly referred to as D-Day—the largest seaborne invasion in history. Nearly 160,000 Allied troops cross the English Channel with about 5,000 landing and assault craft, 289 escort vessels, and 277 minesweepers participating. By the end of the day, the Allies have landed on five invasion beaches and are pushing inland. Wikipedia
• 1966 March Against Fear: African-American civil rights activist James Meredith is wounded in an ambush by white sniper James Aubrey Norvell. Meredith and Norvell are photographed by Jack R. Thornell, whose photo will receive the 1967 Pulitzer Prize in Photography, the last one to be awarded in the category. Wikipedia
• 1971 Vietnam War: Australian forces attacked a heavily fortified North Vietnamese base camp at the Battle of Long Khánh. Wikipedia
• 1975 British referendum results in continued membership of the European Economic Community, with 67% of votes in favour. Wikipedia
• 1982 1982 Lebanon War: The war begins as forces under Israeli Defense Minister Ariel Sharon invade southern Lebanon during Operation Peace for the Galilee, eventually reaching as far north as the capital Beirut. Wikipedia
• 1985 The remains of Josef Mengele, a Nazi physician notorious for performing human experiments on Auschwitz inmates, were exhumed in Embu das Artes, Brazil. Wikipedia
• 1985 The grave of "Wolfgang Gerhard" is opened in Embu, Brazil; the exhumed remains are later proven to be those of Josef Mengele, Auschwitz's "Angel of Death"; Mengele is thought to have drowned while swimming in February 1979. Wikipedia
• 2002 Eastern Mediterranean event. A near-Earth asteroid estimated at ten meters in diameter explodes over the Mediterranean Sea between Greece and Libya. The explosion is estimated to have a force of 26 kilotons, slightly more powerful than the Nagasaki atomic bomb. Wikipedia
• 2017 Syrian civil war: The Syrian Democratic Forces opened the Second Battle of Raqqa, the final phase of the Raqqa campaign, capturing the de facto capital of the Islamic State four months later. Wikipedia
• 2017 Syrian civil war: The Battle of Raqqa begins with an offensive by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) to capture the city from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). Wikipedia
• 2021 A man rammed a pickup truck into Muslim Pakistani Canadian pedestrians in Ontario, Canada, killing four members of the same family. Wikipedia
• 2023 Russo-Ukrainian war: The Kakhovka Dam is destroyed. Wikipedia

Born on June 6

• 1599 Diego Velázquez (date of baptism), Spanish painter and educator (died 1660) Wikipedia
• 1606 Pierre Corneille, French playwright and producer (died 1684) Wikipedia
• 1714 Joseph I of Portugal, King of Portugal from 31 July 1750 until his death (died 1777) Wikipedia
• 1799 Alexander Pushkin, Russian author and poet (died 1837) Wikipedia
• 1850 Karl Ferdinand Braun, German-American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate in 1909 for physics (died 1918) Wikipedia
• 1875 Thomas Mann, German author and critic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1955) Wikipedia
• 1891 Erich Marcks, German general in WWII who planned Operation Barbarossa (died 1944) Wikipedia
• 1896 Henry Allingham, English World War I soldier and supercentenarian (died 2009) Wikipedia
• 1901 Sukarno, Indonesian engineer and politician, 1st President of Indonesia (died 1970) Wikipedia
• 1903 Aram Khachaturian, Armenian composer and conductor (died 1978) Wikipedia
• 1916 Hamani Diori, Nigerien academic and politician, 1st President of Niger (died 1989) Wikipedia
• 1918 Edwin G. Krebs, American biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 2009) Wikipedia
• 1933 Heinrich Rohrer, Swiss physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 2013) Wikipedia
• 1934 Albert II, King of the Belgians from 9 August 1993 to 21 July 2013 (abdicated) Wikipedia
• 1935 Jon Henricks, Australian swimmer; winner of two Olympic gold medals in 1956 Wikipedia
• 1943 Richard Smalley, American chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate in 1996 for chemistry (died 2005) Wikipedia
• 1944 Phillip Allen Sharp, American molecular biologist; 1993 Nobel Prize laureate (Physiology or Medicine) Wikipedia
• 1947 Ada Kok, Dutch butterfly stroke swimmer; winner of three Olympic medals including gold in 1968 Wikipedia
• 1947 David Blunkett, British Labour politician; Home Secretary 2001–2004 Wikipedia
• 1955 Sam Simon, American director, producer and screenwriter; co-developer of The Simpsons (died 2015) Wikipedia
• 1956 Björn Borg, Swedish tennis player; winner of eleven Grand Slam singles titles including five consecutive Wimbledons Wikipedia
• 1985 Becky Sauerbrunn, American footballer; twice a winner of the FIFA Women's World Cup, also an Olympic gold medallist Wikipedia

Died on June 6

• 184 Qiao Xuan, Chinese official (born c. 110) Wikipedia
• 863 Abu Musa Utamish, vizier to the Abbasid Caliphate Wikipedia
• 1832 Jeremy Bentham, English jurist and philosopher (born 1748) Wikipedia
• 1861 Camillo Benso, Count of Cavour, Italian politician, 1st Prime Minister of Italy (born 1810) Wikipedia
• 1941 Louis Chevrolet, American race car driver and businessman, founded Chevrolet and Frontenac Motor Corporation (born 1878) Wikipedia
• 1946 Gerhart Hauptmann, German novelist, poet, and playwright, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1862) Wikipedia
• 1961 Carl Gustav Jung, Swiss psychiatrist and psychotherapist (born 1875) Wikipedia
• 1968 Robert F. Kennedy, American soldier, lawyer, and politician, 64th United States Attorney General (born 1925) Wikipedia
• 1996 George Davis Snell, American geneticist and immunologist; awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1980 for his studies of histocompatibility (born 1903) Wikipedia
• 2005 Anne Bancroft, American film actress; winner of the 1963 Academy Award for Best Actress for The Miracle Worker (born 1931) Wikipedia
• 2009 Jean Dausset, French-Spanish immunologist and academic; awarded the 1980 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his studies of the genetic basis of immunological reaction (born 1916) Wikipedia
• 2013 Jerome Karle, American crystallographer and academic; awarded the 1985 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for research into the molecular structure of chemical compounds (born 1918) Wikipedia
• 2014 Lorna Wing, English psychiatrist and physician; pioneered studies of autism (born 1928) Wikipedia
• 2015 Ludvík Vaculík, Czech journalist and author; noted for The Two Thousand Words which inspired the Prague Spring (born 1926) Wikipedia

Holidays and observances

• Christian feast day: Bessarion of Egypt Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Claudius of Besançon Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Iarlaithe mac Loga Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Ini Kopuria (Anglican Church of Melanesia, Church of England, Episcopal Church) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Blessed Innocent Guz Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Marcellin Champagnat Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Blessed Maria Laura Mainetti Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Norbert Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: June 6 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics) Wikipedia
• D-Day Invasion Anniversary Wikipedia
• Engineer's Day in Taiwan Wikipedia
• Korean Children's Union Foundation Day in North Korea Wikipedia
• Memorial Day in South Korea Wikipedia
• National Day of Sweden, marking the end of the Kalmar Union and the coronation of King Gustav Vasa Wikipedia
• National Huntington's Disease Awareness Day in the United States Wikipedia
• Queensland Day Wikipedia
• UN Russian Language Day Wikipedia

The events, births, deaths and observances above are from the English Wikipedia article “June 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.