On This Day — 6 February

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.

2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes

2021

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken suspends agreements with Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras to send asylum seekers back to their home countries.

Antony Blinken

2018

SpaceX's Falcon Heavy, a super heavy launch vehicle, makes its maiden flight.

SpaceX

2016

An earthquake of magnitude 6.6 strikes southern Taiwan, killing 117 people.

2016 southern Taiwan earthquake

2012

A magnitude 6.7 earthquake hits the central Philippine island of Negros, leaving 112 people dead.

2012 Negros earthquake

2006

Stephen Harper becomes Prime Minister of Canada.

Stephen Harper

2000

Second Chechen War: Russia captures Grozny, Chechnya, forcing the separatist Chechen Republic of Ichkeria government into exile.

Second Chechen War

1998

Washington National Airport is renamed Ronald Reagan National Airport.

Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport

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.

Willamette Valley flood of 1996

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.

Birgenair Flight 301

1989

The Round Table Talks start in Poland, thus marking the beginning of the overthrow of communism in Eastern Europe.

Polish Round Table Agreement

1987

Justice Mary Gaudron becomes the first woman to be appointed to the High Court of Australia.

Mary Gaudron

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.

National Resistance Army

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.

Northeastern United States blizzard of 1978

1976

In testimony before a United States Senate subcommittee, Lockheed Corporation president Carl Kotchian admits that the company had paid out approximately $3 million in bribes to the office of Japanese Prime Minister Kakuei Tanaka.

United States Senate

1973

The Ms  7.6 Luhuo earthquake strikes Sichuan Province, causing widespread destruction and killing at least 2,199 people.

1973 Luhuo earthquake

1959

Jack Kilby of Texas Instruments files the first patent for an integrated circuit.

Jack Kilby

1959

At Cape Canaveral, Florida, the first successful test firing of a Titan intercontinental ballistic missile is accomplished.

Cape Canaveral

1958

Eight Manchester United F.C. players and 15 other passengers are killed in the Munich air disaster.

Manchester United F.C.

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.

Elizabeth II

1951

The Canadian Army enters combat in the Korean War.

Canadian Army

1951

The Broker, a Pennsylvania Railroad passenger train derails near Woodbridge Township, New Jersey. The accident kills 85 people and injures over 500 more. The wreck is one of the worst rail disasters in American history.

Pennsylvania Railroad

1944

World War II: The Great Raids Against Helsinki begins.

World War II

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.

Far-right leagues

1922

The Washington Naval Treaty is signed in Washington, D.C., limiting the naval armaments of United States, Britain, Japan, France, and Italy.

Washington Naval Treaty

1919

The five-day Seattle General Strike begins, as more than 65,000 workers in the city of Seattle, Washington, walk off the job.

Seattle General Strike

1918

British women over the age of 30 who meet minimum property qualifications, get the right to vote when Representation of the People Act 1918 is passed by Parliament.

Property qualification

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.

Permanent Court of Arbitration

1899

Spanish–American War: The Treaty of Paris, a peace treaty between the United States and Spain, is ratified by the United States Senate.

Spanish–American War

1865

The municipal administration of Finland is established.

Municipalities of Finland

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.

American Civil War

1851

The largest Australian bushfires in a populous region in recorded history take place in the state of Victoria.

Bushfires in Australia

1843

The first minstrel show in the United States, The Virginia Minstrels, opens (Bowery Amphitheatre in New York City).

Minstrel show

1840

Signing of the Treaty of Waitangi, establishing New Zealand as a British colony.

Treaty of Waitangi

1833

Otto becomes the first modern King of Greece.

Otto of Greece

1820

The first 86 African American immigrants sponsored by the American Colonization Society depart New York to start a settlement in present-day Liberia.

African Americans

1819

The Treaty of Singapore was signed by Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles, Hussein Shah of Johor, and Temenggong Abdul Rahman, and it is now recognised as the founding of modern Singapore.

1819 Singapore Treaty

1806

Battle of San Domingo: British naval victory against the French in the Caribbean.

Battle of San Domingo

1788

Massachusetts becomes the sixth state to ratify the United States Constitution.

Massachusetts

1778

American Revolutionary War: In Paris the Treaty of Alliance and the Treaty of Amity and Commerce are signed by the United States and France signaling official recognition of the new republic.

American Revolutionary War

1778

New York became the third state to ratify the Articles of Confederation.

New York (state)

1694

Dandara, leader of the runaway slaves in Quilombo dos Palmares, Brazil, is captured and commits suicide rather than be returned to a life of slavery.

Dandara dos Palmares

1685

James II of England and VII of Scotland is proclaimed King upon the death of his brother Charles II.

James II of England

1579

The Diocese of Manila is erected by papal bull, with Domingo de Salazar appointed its first bishop.

Archdiocese of Manila

590

Hormizd IV, king of the Sasanian Empire, is overthrown and blinded by his brothers-in-law Vistahm and Vinduyih.

Hormizd IV

337

Election of pope Julius I.

Pope Julius I