March 6

March 6 is the 65th day of the year (66th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 300 days remaining until the end of the year.

Events

Up to 1900

12 BC – The Roman Emperor Augustus Caesar is named "Pontifex Maximus", incorporating his position into that of Emperor.
1447 – Nicholas V becomes Pope.
1454 – Thirteen Years' War: Delegates of the Prussian Confederation pledged allegiance to Casimir IV of Poland, and the Polish king agreed to help in their struggle for independence from the Teutonic Knights.
1460 – Treaty of Alcaçovas – Portugal gives the Canary Islands to Castile in exchange for claims in West Africa.
1521 – Ferdinand Magellan discovers Guam.
1645 – Thirty Years' War: In the Battle of Jankau, the Swedish force under Lennart Torstensson wins, and takes field marshal Melchior von Hatzfeldt prisoner.
1714 – End of the War of Spanish Succession.
1788 – The first fleet arrives at Norfolk Island and founds a convict settlement.
1820 – The Missouri Compromise is signed into law by President James Monroe. The compromise allows Missouri to enter the Union as a slave state, but makes the rest of the northern part of the Louisiana Purchase territory slavery–free.
1834 – York, Upper Canada is incorporated as Toronto.
1836 – Texas Revolution: Battle of the Alamo – After a 13–day siege by an army of 3,000 Mexican troops, the 189 Texas volunteers defending the Alamo are defeated and the fort taken.
1853 – The Giuseppe Verdi opera La Traviata premieres in Venice.
1856 – The University of Maryland, College Park is chartered as the Maryland Agricultural College.
1857 – The Supreme Court of the United States rules in the Dred Scott v. Sandford case.
1869 – Dmitri Mendeleev presents the first periodic table to the Russian Chemical Society.
1882 – The Serbian Kingdom is re–founded.
1899 – Bayer registers aspirin as a trademark.
1900 – A coal mine explosion in West Virginia traps 50 coal miners.

1901 – 2000

1901 – In Bremen an assassin attempts to kill Wilhelm II of Germany.
1902 – The football team Real Madrid is founded, though the word "Real", Spanish for "Royal", is only later added to the team's name.
1913 – First Balkan War: The Greek army captures the Bizani fortress near Ioannina from the Ottoman Empire.
1921 – The Portuguese Communist Party is founded.
1925 – Pionerskaya Pravda, one of the oldest children's newspapers in Europe, is founded
1940 – Winter War: An armistice is signed by Finland and the Soviet Union.
1945 – A communist–dominated government under Petru Groza assumes power in Romania.
1946 – Vietnam War: Ho Chi Minh signs an agreement with France which recognizes Vietnam as an autonomous state in the Indochinese Federation and the French Union.
1947 – USS Newport News, the first air–conditioned naval ship, is launched from Newport News, Virginia.
1951 – The trial of Ethel and Julius Rosenberg begins.
1953 – Georgy Maksimilianovich Malenkov succeeds Josef Stalin as Premier and First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.
1954 – Chancellor of West Germany Konrad Adenauer visits the United States.
1957 – United Kingdom colonies Gold Coast and British Togoland become the independent Republic of Ghana.
1957 – Israel withdraws its troops from the Sinai Peninsula.
1960 – Geneva gives women the right to vote, becoming the third canton of Switzerland to do so.
1962 – The Ash Wednesday storm of 1962 hits the Mid–Atlantic coast of the United States.
1964 – Prophet Elijah Muhammad officially gives Cassius Clay the name Muhammad Ali meaning "beloved of Allah"
1964 – Constantine II becomes King of Greece.
1964 – Tom O'Hara sets a new world record for the indoor mile run by completing it in 3 minutes, 56.4 seconds.
1967 – Svetlana Alliluyeva, daughter of Joseph Stalin, defects to the United States.
1970 – Cult leader and suspected murderer Charles Manson releases an album titled Lies to help finance his defense.
1975 – Algiers Accord: Iran and Iraq announce a settlement over their border dispute.
1980 – Komodo National Park is founded in Indonesia, with the aim of protecting the Komodo dragon.
1981 – After 19 years presenting the CBS Evening News, Walter Cronkite signs off for the last time.
1983 – The United States Football League begins its first year of competition.
1984 – Twelve–month–long strike in British coal industry begins.
1987 – The British ferry M/S Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes in about 90 seconds after leaving the harbour of Zeebrugge, Belgium en route to Dover, England across the English Channel, killing 193.
1992 – The Michelangelo computer virus begins to affect computers.
1994 – Referendum in Moldova results in the electorate voting against possible reunification with Romania.
1997 – Picasso's painting Tête de Femme is stolen from a London gallery, and is recovered a week later.

From 2001

2003 – An Air Algerie Boeing 737 crashes in Tamanrasset, Algeria, killing 102 out of the 103 people on board.
2005 – In Moss, Norway, three Edvard Munch paintings are stolen. The thieves are arrested the next day.
2008 – A suicide bomber kills 68 people in Baghdad, including first responders.
2008 – A gunman kills eight students in Jerusalem.
2009 – Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of Zimbabwe's opposition party, Movement for Democratic Change, is injured in a car crash in which his wife Susan Tsvangirai is killed.
2014 – Euromaidan and Crimea Crisis: The regional parliament of Crimea votes by a majority to become part of Russia (instead of Ukraine) and decides to hold a referendum on this, on March 16. Ukraine, the EU and United States declare this move illegal.
2015 – NASA's Dawn probe enters orbit around the dwarf planet Ceres.
2019 – Venezuelan political crisis: German ambassador Daniel Kriener is expelled from the country.

Births

Up to 1900

1340 – John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster (d. 1399)
1405 – King John II of Castile (d. 1454)
1459 – Jakob Fugger, German banker (d. 1525)
1475 – Michelangelo, Italian artist (d. 1564)
1483 – Francesco Guicciardini, Italian statesman and historian (d. 1540)
1492 – Juan Luis Vives, Spanish humanist, philosopher and educator (d. 1540)
1495 – Luigi Alamanni, Italian poet (d. 1556)
1508 – Humayun, Mogul Emperor (d. 1556)
1619 – Cyrano de Bergerac, French soldier and poet (d. 1655)
1663 – Francis Atterbury, British man of letters (d. 1732)
1706 – George Pocock, British admiral (d. 1792)
1716 – Pehr Kalm, Swedish explorer and naturalist (d. 1775)
1724 – Henry Laurens, American merchant, slave trader and political leader (d. 1792)
1761 – Antoine-François Andréossy, French–Italian nobleman (d. 1828)
1785 – Karol Kurpinski, Polish composer (d. 1857)
1787 – Joseph von Fraunhofer, German optician (d. 1826)
1806 – Elizabeth Barrett Browning, English poet (d. 1861)
1812 – Arthur Lufkin Dennison, American watch manufacturer (d. 1895)
1817 – Princess Clementine of Orleans (d. 1907)
1818 – William Claflin, 27th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1905)
1823 – Charles I of Württemberg (d. 1891)
1831 – Philip Sheridan, American Civil War Union cavalry officer (d. 1888)
1834 – George du Maurier, British illustrator and writer (d. 1896)
1838 – Szymon Winawer, Polish chess player (d. 1919)
1849 – Georg Luger, Austrian inventor (d. 1923)
1870 – Oscar Straus, Austrian composer (d. 1954)
1871 – Afonso Costa, Portuguese politician (d. 1937)
1882 – John January, American soccer player (d. 1917)
1884 – Molla Mallory, Norwegian–born American tennis player (d. 1959)
1885 – Ring Lardner, American writer (d. 1933)
1886 – Henry Jamison Handy, American swimmer, water polo player and movie maker (d. 1983)
1893 – Furry Lewis, American blues guitarist (d. 1981)
1900 – Lefty Grove, American baseball player (d. 1975)

1901 – 1950

1903 – Empress Kojun of Japan (d. 2000)
1904 – José Antonio Aguirre, 1st President of the Basque Country (d. 1960)
1905 – Bob Wills, American bandleader and songwriter (d. 1975)
1906 – Lou Costello, American actor and comedian (d. 1959)
1911 – George Webb, English actor (d. 1998)
1913 – Louise Latimer, American actress (d. 1973)
1915 – Mohammed Burhanuddin, Indian spiritual leader (d. 2014)
1917 – Frankie Howerd, English comedian (d. 1992)
1917 – Donald Davidson, American philosopher (d. 2003)
1917 – Will Eisner, American illustrator and cartoonist (d. 2005)
1917 – Samael Aun Weor, Colombian author, lecturer and teacher (d. 1977)
1919 – Harry Coover, American inventor of Super Glue (d. 2011)
1920 – Lewis Gilbert, English movie director, movie producer and screenwriter (d. 2018)
1921 – Leo Bretholz, Austrian–American Holocaust survivor (d. 2014)
1923 – Wes Montgomery, American musician (d. 1968)
1923 – Ed McMahon, American television personality (d. 2009)
1924 – Ottmar Walter, German footballer (d. 2013)
1924 – Sarah Caldwell, American conductor (d. 2006)
1924 – William H. Webster, 14th Director of the Central Intelligence Agency
1926 – Ray O'Connor, 22nd Premier of Western Australia (d. 2013)
1926 – Alan Greenspan, American economist
1926 – Andrzej Wajda, Polish movie director (d. 2016)
1927 – Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Colombian writer, Nobel Prize winner (d. 2014)
1927 – Gordon Cooper, American astronaut (d. 2004)
1928 – Glyn Owen, Welsh actor (d. 2004)
1930 – Lorin Maazel, French–American violinist, composer and conductor (d. 2014)
1931 – Hal Needham, American stuntman, director, actor and screenwriter (d. 2013)
1931 – Ed Whitlock, English–Canadian runner (d. 2017)
1932 – Bronislaw Geremek, Polish social historian and politician (d. 2008)
1932 – Marc Bazin, Haitian politician (d. 2010)
1932 – Jean Boht, English actress
1933 – Ted Abernathy, American baseball player (d. 2004)
1934 – Red Simpson, American country music singer–songwriter (d. 2016)
1934 – John Noakes, British television presenter (d. 2017)
1935 – Ron Delany, Irish middle–distance runner
1936 – Choummaly Sayasone, former President of Laos
1936 – Marion Barry, American politician (d. 2014)
1937 – Valentina Tereshkova, Soviet–Russian cosmonaut, first woman in space
1939 – Infanta Margarita of Spain
1939 – Kit Bond, American politician, 47th Governor of Missouri
1939 – Adam Osborne, writer and computer designer (d. 2003)
1941 – Peter Broetzmann, German jazz saxophonist
1944 – Kiri Te Kanawa, New Zealand opera singer
1944 – Mary Wilson, American singer (d. 2021)
1946 – David Gilmour, British musician (Pink Floyd)
1947 – Kiki Dee, British singer-songwriter
1947 – Rob Reiner, American director
1948 – Stephen Schwartz, American musical theatre lyricist and composer
1949 – Shaukat Aziz, Pakistani politician
1949 – Martin Buchan, Scottish footballer

1951 – 1975

1951 – Stedman Graham, American writer
1951 – Walter Trout, American composer, guitarist and singer
1953 – Carolyn Porco, American planetary scientist
1953 – Madhav Kumar Nepal, Nepalese politician
1954 – Harald Schumacher, German footballer
1955 – Cyprien Ntaryamira, President of Burundi (d. 1994)
1955 – Alberta Watson, Canadian actress (d. 2015)
1959 – Tom Arnold, American actor and comedian
1959 – Tommy Sheppard, Northern Irish–Scottish politician
1963 – Gary Stevens, American jockey
1963 – Suzanne Crough, American actress (d. 2015)
1964 – Sandro Rosell, Spanish football manager
1966 – Alan Davies, English actor and comedian
1967 – Connie Britton, American actress
1967 – Julio Bocca, Argentine ballet dancer and director
1967 – Shuler Hensley, American actor and singer
1968 – Moira Kelly, American actress
1969 – Amy Pietz, American actress
1970 – Chris Broderick, American musician
1971 – Karst Tates, Dutch attempted assassin (d. 2009)
1972 – Shaquille O'Neal, American basketball player
1973 – Michael Kelly, American basketball player

From 1976

1976 – Ken Anderson, American professional wrestler
1977 – Giorgos Karagounis, Greek footballer
1978 – Lara Cox, Australian actress
1978 – Teruaki Kurobe, Japanese footballer
1979 – Rufus Hound, English comedian
1979 – Garry Monk, English footballer and manager
1979 – Tim Howard, American soccer player
1981 – Tim Brown, New Zealand footballer
1981 – Zlatan Muslimovic, Bosnia and Herzegovina footballer
1981 – Ellen Muth, American actress
1983 – Andranik Teymourian, Iranian footballer
1985 – Bakaye Traoré, French–born Malian footballer
1985 – Yael Stone, Australian actress
1986 – Paul Aguilar, Mexican footballer
1986 – Danny Jones, Welsh rugby league player (d. 2015)
1986 – Charlie Mulgrew, Scottish footballer
1987 – Kevin-Prince Boateng, German–Ghanaian footballer
1987 – Hannah Taylor-Gordon, British actress
1987 – José Manuel Flores, Spanish footballer
1988 – Agnes Carlsson, Swedish singer
1988 – Simon Mignolet, Belgian footballer
1989 – Lee Seung-Yeoul, South Korean footballer
1989 – Agnieszka Radwanska, Polish tennis player
1990 – Clara Lago, Spanish actress
1991 – Lex Luger, American producer
1991 – Tyler, The Creator, American rapper and producer
1991 – Rodrigo, Brazilian–Spanish footballer
1992 – Momoko Tsugunaga, Japanese actress and singer
1992 – Sarah De Bono, Australian singer-songwriter and guitarist
1993 – Andres Renteria, Colombian footballer
1994 – Nathan Redmond, English footballer
1994 – Marcus Smart, American basketball player
1996 – Timo Werner, German footballer
2001 – Aryana Engineer, Canadian actress

Deaths

Up to 1900

1052 – Emma of Normandy (b. 985)
1252 – Saint Rose of Viterbo, Italian saint (b. 1235)
1282 – Agnes of Bohemia (b. 1211)
1466 – Francesco I Sforza, Italian ruler (b. 1401)
1490 – Ivan the Young, ruler of Tver (b. 1458)
1627 – Krzysztof Zbaraski, Polish statesman (b. 1580)
1754 – Henry Pelham, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1694)
1764 – Philip Yorke, 1st Earl of Hardwicke, Lord Chancellor of Great Britain (b. 1690)
1836 – Davy Crockett, American historical figure (b. 1786)
1836 – James Bowie, Texan pioneer (b. 1796)
1836 – William Travis, Texan soldier (b. 1809)
1842 – Constanze Mozart, wife of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (b. 1763)
1860 – Justus Johann Friedrich Dotzauer, German cellist and composer (b. 1783)
1881 – Horatia Nelson, daughter of Horatio Nelson and Emma Hamilton (b. 1801)
1888 – Louisa May Alcott, American writer (b. 1832)
1895 – Camilla Collett, Norwegian writer and feminist (b. 1813)
1899 – Victoria Kaiulani, Hawaiian princess (b. 1875)
1900 – Gottlieb Daimler, German engineer (b. 1834)

1901 – 2000

1925 – Georgy Lvov, Russian politician (b. 1861)
1930 – Alfred von Tirpitz, German admiral (b. 1849)
1932 – John Philip Sousa, American conductor and composer (b. 1854)
1933 – Anton Cermak, Mayor of Chicago (b. 1873)
1935 – Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., American politician (b. 1841)
1941 – Gutzon Borglum, Danish sculptor (b. 1867)
1950 – Albert Lebrun, President of France (b. 1871)
1951 – Ivor Novello, Welsh actor, musician and composer (b. 1893)
1951 – Volodymyr Vynnychenko, Ukrainian politician and statesman (b. 1880)
1952 – Jürgen Stroop, German SS officer (b. 1895)
1961 – George Formby, English comedian, singer and musician (b. 1904)
1964 – King Paul of Greece (b. 1901)
1965 – Margaret Dumont, American actress (b. 1889)
1967 – Zoltan Kodaly, Hungarian composer (b. 1882)
1967 – Nelson Eddy, American actor and singer (b. 1901)
1971 – Thurston Dart, English harpsichordist and conductor (b. 1921)
1973 – Pearl S. Buck, American writer, Nobel Prize winner (b. 1892)
1982 – Ayn Rand, Russian–American writer (b. 1905)
1984 – Martin Niemöller, German theologian (b. 1892)
1986 – Georgia O'Keeffe, American artist (b. 1887)
1990 – Taro Kagawa, Japanese footballer (b. 1922)
1994 – Ken Noritake, Japanese footballer (b. 1922)
1994 – Melina Mercouri, Greek actress and politician (b. 1920)
1997 – Cheddi Jagan, President of Guyana (b. 1918)
1997 – Michael Manley, Prime Minister of Jamaica (b. 1924)
1999 – Isa ibn Salman Al Khalifah, Emir of Bahrain (b. 1933)

From 2001

2002 – Bryan Fogarty, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1969)
2004 – Frances Dee, American actress (b. 1909)
2005 – Hans Bethe, German physicist (b. 1906)
2006 – King Floyd, American singer-songwriter (b. 1945)
2006 – Dana Reeve, American actress and activist (b. 1961)
2007 – Jean Baudrillard, French theorist and photographer (b. 1929)
2009 – Francis Magalona, Filipino media artist and photographer (b. 1964)
2009 – Susan Tsvangirai, wife of Morgan Tsvangirai (b. 1958)
2011 – Jan Popluhar, Slovakian footballer (b. 1935)
2012 – Francisco Xavier do Amaral, 1st President of East Timor (b. 1937)
2013 – Alvin Lee, British guitarist (b. 1944)
2013 – Stompin' Tom Connors, Canadian country musician (b. 1936)
2014 – Jojon, Indonesian comedian (b. 1947)
2014 – Manlio Sgalambro, Italian philosopher and writer (b. 1924)
2014 – Maurice Faure, French diplomat and politician (b. 1922)
2014 – Sérgio Guerra, Brazilian economist and politician (b. 1947)
2014 – Martin Nesbitt, American politician (b. 1946)
2014 – Frank Jobe, American surgeon (b. 1925)
2014 – Sheila MacRae, English–American actress (b. 1921)
2014 – Ron Murphy, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1933)
2014 – Alemayehu Atomsa, Ethiopian politician (b. 1969)
2015 – Ram Sundar Das, Indian politician, Chief Minister of Bihar (b. 1921)
2015 – Kishore Te, Indian movie editor (b. 1978)
2015 – Fred Craddock, American minister (b. 1928)
2015 – Vasilios Magginas, Greek politician (b. 1949)
2016 – Kalabhavan Mani, Indian actor (b. 1971)
2016 – Nancy Reagan, First Lady of the United States (b. 1921)
2016 – Elizabeth Garrett, American educator (b. 1963)
2016 – Sheila Varian, American horse breeder (b. 1937)
2017 – Bill Hougland, American basketball player and businessman (b. 1930)
2017 – Robert Osborne, American film historian and actor (b. 1932)
2017 – Alberto Zedda, Italian conductor and musicologist (b. 1928)
2017 – Eddy Pauwels, Belgian cyclist (b. 1935)
2017 – Geoffrey Wainwright, British archaeologist (b. 1937)
2018 – Indra Bahadur Rai, Indian writer (b. 1927)
2018 – John Sulston, English biologist, Nobel laureate (b. 1942)
2018 – Peter Nicholls, Australian writer (b. 1939)
2018 – Shammi, Indian actress (b. 1929)
2018 – Peter Freund, Romanian–American physicist (b. 1936)
2019 – John Habgood, English bishop, academic and life peer (b. 1927)
2019 – José Pedro Pérez-Llorca, Spanish lawyer, politician and diplomat (b. 1940)
2019 – Carolee Schneemann, American artist (b. 1939)

Observances

Independence Day (Ghana)
Alamo Day (Texas)
Foundation Day (Norfolk Island)