On this day: March 6

Events on March 6

• 12 BC The Roman emperor Augustus is named Pontifex Maximus, incorporating the position into that of the emperor. Wikipedia
• 845 The Abbasid Caliphate executed 42 Byzantine officials who had been captured in the sack of Amorium of 838 for refusing to convert to Islam. Wikipedia
• 1447 Tommaso Parentucelli was elected as Pope Nicholas V in Rome. Wikipedia
• 1788 The First Fleet arrives at Norfolk Island in order to found a convict settlement. Wikipedia
• 1820 The Missouri Compromise is signed into law by United States President James Monroe. The compromise allows Missouri to enter the Union as a slave state, brings Maine into the Union as a free state, and makes the rest of the northern part of the Louisiana Purchase territory slavery-free. Wikipedia
• 1836 Texas Revolution: Mexican troops captured the Alamo Mission in San Antonio from Texian forces after a 13-day siege. Wikipedia
• 1853 Giuseppe Verdi's La traviata premiered at La Fenice in Venice, but the performance was considered so bad that it caused him to revise portions of the opera. Wikipedia
• 1857 The Supreme Court of the United States rules 7–2 in the Dred Scott v. Sandford case that the Constitution does not confer citizenship on black people. Wikipedia
• 1901 An anarchist assassin tries to kill German Emperor Wilhelm II. Wikipedia
• 1904 Scottish National Antarctic Expedition: Led by William Speirs Bruce, the Antarctic region of Coats Land was discovered by the Scotia. Wikipedia
• 1913 First Balkan War: The Greek army captured Bizani Fortress, near Ioannina, from the Ottomans. Wikipedia
• 1930 Organized by the Communist International, hundreds of thousands of people in major cities around the world marched to protest mass unemployment associated with the Great Depression. Wikipedia
• 1943 World War II: National Liberation Front forces defeated Italian occupiers in the Battle of Fardykambos, a major sign of the Greek resistance's growth. Wikipedia
• 1943 World War II: Generalfeldmarschall Erwin Rommel launches the Battle of Medenine in an attempt to slow down the British Eighth Army. It fails, and he leaves Africa three days later. Wikipedia
• 1945 Petru Groza of the Ploughmen's Front became the first prime minister of the Communist Party-dominated government of Romania. Wikipedia
• 1945 World War II: Cologne is captured by American troops. On the same day, Operation Spring Awakening, the last major German offensive of the war, begins. Wikipedia
• 1953 Following Joseph Stalin's death, Georgy Malenkov succeeded him as Premier of the Soviet Union. Wikipedia
• 1957 the Ghana Independence Act 1957 is passed in the United Kingdom resulting in Ghana gaining independence from the British. Wikipedia
• 1964 In a radio broadcast, Nation of Islam leader Elijah Muhammad announced that American boxer Cassius Clay would change his name to Muhammad Ali. Wikipedia
• 1975 Algiers Accord: Iran and Iraq announce a settlement of their border dispute. Wikipedia
• 1987 The ferry Herald of Free Enterprise capsized while leaving the harbour of Zeebrugge, Belgium, killing 193 people on board. Wikipedia
• 1988 The Troubles: In Operation Flavius, the Special Air Service killed three volunteers of the Provisional Irish Republican Army conspiring to bomb a parade of British military bands in Gibraltar. Wikipedia
• 2000 The Marine Parade Community Building, the mural cladding of which is the largest installation art in Singapore, was opened. Wikipedia
• 2003 Air Algérie Flight 6289 crashes at the Aguenar – Hadj Bey Akhamok Airport in Tamanrasset, Algeria, killing 102 out of the 103 people on board. Wikipedia
• 2008 A gunman kills eight students in Jerusalem. Wikipedia
• 2009 As part of their investigation into an athletic scandal at Florida State University, the National Collegiate Athletic Association released a report alleging that 61 student athletes had engaged in academic fraud. Wikipedia

Born on March 6

• 1340 John of Gaunt (probable; d. 1399) Wikipedia
• 1475 Michelangelo, Italian painter and sculptor (died 1564) Wikipedia
• 1483 Francesco Guicciardini, Italian historian and politician (died 1540) Wikipedia
• 1619 Cyrano de Bergerac, French author and playwright (died 1655) Wikipedia
• 1787 Joseph von Fraunhofer, German physicist and astronomer (died 1826) Wikipedia
• 1806 Elizabeth Barrett Browning, English-Italian poet and translator (died 1861) Wikipedia
• 1909 Stanisław Jerzy Lec, Polish poet and author (died 1966) Wikipedia
• 1926 Andrzej Wajda, Polish director, producer, and screenwriter (died 2016) Wikipedia
• 1926 Alan Greenspan, American economist and politician (died 2026) Wikipedia
• 1927 Gabriel García Márquez, Colombian journalist and author, Nobel Prize laureate (died 2014) Wikipedia
• 1936 Choummaly Sayasone, Laotian politician, 5th President of Laos Wikipedia
• 1937 Valentina Tereshkova, Russian general, pilot, and astronaut Wikipedia
• 1946 David Gilmour, English guitarist and singer-songwriter Wikipedia
• 1947 Rob Reiner, American actor, director, producer, and activist (died 2025) Wikipedia
• 1972 Shaquille O'Neal, American basketball player Wikipedia
• 1977 Giorgos Karagounis, Greek footballer Wikipedia
• 1979 Tim Howard, American soccer player Wikipedia
• 1987 Kevin-Prince Boateng, Ghanaian-German footballer Wikipedia
• 1988 Simon Mignolet, Belgian footballer Wikipedia
• 1989 Agnieszka Radwańska, Polish tennis player Wikipedia
• 1991 Tyler, the Creator, American rapper Wikipedia
• 1996 Timo Werner, German footballer Wikipedia

Died on March 6

• 1754 Henry Pelham, English politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (born 1694) Wikipedia
• 1888 Louisa May Alcott, American novelist and poet (born 1832) Wikipedia
• 1900 Gottlieb Daimler, German engineer and businessman, co-founded Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft (born 1834) Wikipedia
• 1950 Albert François Lebrun, French engineer and politician, 15th President of France (born 1871) Wikipedia
• 1964 Paul of Greece (born 1901) Wikipedia
• 1973 Pearl S. Buck, American novelist, essayist, short story writer, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1892) Wikipedia
• 1982 Ayn Rand, Russian-American philosopher, author, and playwright (born 1905) Wikipedia
• 1984 Martin Niemöller, German pastor and theologian (born 1892) Wikipedia
• 1986 Georgia O'Keeffe, American painter (born 1887) Wikipedia
• 1994 Melina Mercouri, Greek actress and politician, 9th Greek Minister of Culture (born 1920) Wikipedia
• 2005 Hans Bethe, German-American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1906) Wikipedia
• 2005 Teresa Wright, American actress (born 1918) Wikipedia
• 2007 Jean Baudrillard, French photographer and theorist (born 1929) Wikipedia
• 2016 Nancy Reagan, American actress, 42nd First Lady of the United States (born 1921) Wikipedia

Holidays and observances

• Christian feast day: Chrodegang Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Colette of Corbie Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Fridolin of Säckingen Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Kyneburga, Kyneswide and Tibba Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Marcian of Tortona Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: March 6 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics) Wikipedia
• European Day of the Righteous, commemorates those who have stood up against crimes against humanity and totalitarianism with their own moral responsibility. (Europe) Wikipedia
• Norfolk Island Foundation Day, the founding of Norfolk Island in 1788. Wikipedia
• Independence Day (Ghana), celebrates the independence of Ghana from the UK in 1957. Wikipedia

Sources

• Wikipedia — “March 6” — events, births, deaths and observances (text under CC BY-SA 4.0) (checked 2026-10-15)
• Wikipedia — “Selected anniversaries/March 6” — the anniversaries editors chose for the date and the article each one is about (checked 2026-10-15)
• Wikidata — in how many language editions each entry's own article exists, used to fill the lists (CC0) (checked 2026-10-15)
• vacanza/holidays (open-source holiday rules, MIT licence) — holiday rules used to build the lists (checked 2026-10-15)

The events, births, deaths and observances above are from the English Wikipedia article “March 6” and the articles it links to (authors and history), retrieved 2026-10-15 through the Wikimedia “On this day” feed. They are licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0; this selection is shared under the same licence. Every anniversary that Wikipedia's editors selected for March 6 stays on the list; the remaining places, up to 26 events, 22 births and 14 deaths, go to the entries whose own article — about the event itself, or else the person or thing it is about — appears in the most language editions (counted from Wikidata); an article about a person or thing, which covers far more than one day, counts half. An entry with no article of its own counts, also at half, by the least covered article it links, and one that links only places counts for nothing. Each list runs by year, and the wording is unchanged apart from removing references to pictures, audio and video.