August 6

### Up to 1900

- 1223 – Louis VIII of France and Blanche of Castile are crowned King and Queen of France.
- 1284 – The Republic of Pisa is defeated in the Battle of Meloria by the Republic of Genoa, therefore losing its naval dominance in the Mediterranean.
- 1506 – The Grand Duchy of Lithuania defeats the Crimean Khanate in the Battle of Kletsk.
- 1538 – Bogota, the present-day capital city of Colombia, is founded by Gonzalo Jimenez de Quesada.
- 1661 – The Treaty of The Hague is signed by Portugal and the Dutch Republic.
- 1777 – American Revolutionary War: The bloody Battle of Oriskany prevents American relief of the Siege of Fort Stanwix.
- 1787 – Sixty proof sheets of the United States Constitution are delivered to the Constitution Convention in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
- 1806 – Francis II, the last Holy Roman Emperor, abdicates, thus ending the Holy Roman Empire.
- 1813 – Simon Bolivar takes control of Caracas (present-day Venezuela) from the Spanish.
- 1825 – Bolivia gains independence from Peru.
- 1845 – The Russian Geographical Society is founded in Saint Petersburg.
- 1861 – British annexation of Lagos, Nigeria.
- 1862 – American Civil War: The Confederate ironclad CSS _Arkansas_ is scuttled on the Mississippi River after suffering damage in a battle with the USS _Essex_ near Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
- 1870 – Franco-Prussian War: The Battles of Spicheren and Woerth both end in Prussian victory.
- 1890 – At Auburn Prison in New York, the first execution by electric chair is performed, with murderer William Kemmler as the subject.
- 1893 – The Corinth Canal in Greece opens for shipping.
- 1896 – Madagascar officially becomes a French colony.

### 1901 – 2000

- 1914 – World War I: Serbia declares war on Germany.
- 1915 – World War I: Battle of Sari Bair begins – The Allies mount a diversionary attack timed to coincide with a major Allied landing of reinforcements at Suvla Bay.
- 1926 – Gertrude Ederle becomes first woman to swim across the English Channel.
- 1926 – In New York City, the Warner Brothers' Vitaphone system premieres with the movie _Don Juan_ starring John Barrymore.
- 1940 – The Soviet Union takes control of Estonia.
- 1942 – Wilhelmina of the Netherlands becomes the first reigning queen to address a joint session of the United States Congress.
- 1945 – World War II: An atomic bomb codenamed _Little Boy_ is dropped by the American B-29 _Enola Gay_ on the city of Hiroshima, Japan at 8:16 a.m.. It kills 80,000 outright with another 60,000 dead by the end of the year from fallout sickness. Ultimately, about 200,000 die due to the atomic bombing.
- 1958 – Gasherbrum IV in the Karakoram range of the Himalayas is first climbed, by Walter Bonatti and Carlo Mauri.
- 1960 – Cuban Revolution: In response to a United States embargo, Cuba nationalizes American and foreign-owned property in the nation.
- 1962 – Jamaica becomes independent from the United Kingdom.
- 1964 – Prometheus, a bristlecone pine and the world's oldest tree, is cut down.
- 1965 – US President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Voting Rights Act of 1965 into law.
- 1966 – Braniff Airlines Flight 250 crashes in Fall City, Nebraska, killing all 42 people.
- 1984 – Pop star Prince releases _Purple Rain_, the album which launched him to superstardom.
- 1985 – In Hiroshima, tens of thousands mark the 40th anniversary  of the atomic bombing of the city.
- 1988 – "Police riot" in New York City's Tompkins Square Park
- 1990 – Gulf War: The United Nations Security Council orders a global trade embargo against Iraq in response to Iraq's invasion of Kuwait
- 1991 – Tim Berners-Lee releases files describing his idea for the World Wide Web.
- 1991 – Takako Doi becomes the first female speaker of the Japanese House of Representatives.
- 1993 – Heavy rains kill 72 people in the Aira and Kagoshima areas of Kyushu, Japan.
- 1993 – Louis Freeh is confirmed by the United States Senate to be the director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation
- 1993 – _The Fugitive_ opens in theaters, starring Harrison Ford and Tommy Lee Jones.
- 1996 – NASA announces that the ALH 84001 meteorite, thought to originate from Mars, contains evidence of primitive life-forms.
- 1996 – Australian census conducted.
- 1997 – Microsoft buys $150 million worth of shares of financially troubled Apple Computer.
- 1997 – Korean Air Flight 801, a Boeing 747–300, crashes into the jungle on Guam on approach to airport, killing 228.

### From 2001

- 2001 – President George W. Bush receives President's Daily Briefing entitled _Bin Ladin Determined To Strike in US_.
- 2002 – Marquis de la Fayette is made Honorary Citizen of the United States.
- 2002 – Manindra Agrawal _et al._ prove the long-standing number theory conjecture in the article entitled "Primes in P".
- 2008 – In Mauritania, President Sidi Ould Sheikh Abdallahi is removed from office in a military coup, led by Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz.
- 2010 – In relation to the floods in Pakistan, flash floods also hit the disputed territory of Jammu and Kashmir, killing 255 people.
- 2011 – The 2011 England riots begin.
- 2012 – NASA's Mars Science Laboratory rover _Curiosity_ lands on the surface of the planet Mars, with the intention of finding evidence that life once existed there.
- 2017 – The UEFA Women's Championship is won by the Netherlands, with a 4–2 win in the final over Denmark, who had ended Germany's run of six titles in-a-row in the quarter finals.

### Up to 1800

- 1180 – Emperor Go-Toba of Japan (d. 1239)
- 1504 – Matthew Parker, Archbishop of Canterbury (d. 1575)
- 1619 – Barbara Strozzi, Italian singer and composer (d. 1677)
- 1638 – Nicolas Malebranche, French philosopher (d. 1715)
- 1644 – Louise de la Valliere, mistress to Louis XIV of France (d. 1710)
- 1666 – Maria Sofia of Neuburg, German-born consort of Peter II of Portugal (d. 1699)
- 1667 – Johann Bernoulli, Swiss mathematician and physician (d. 1748)
- 1682 – Louis, Dauphin of France, Duke of Burgundy (d. 1712)
- 1697 – Charles VII, Holy Roman Emperor (d. 1745)
- 1765 – Petros Mavromichalis, Greek independence leader (d. 1848)
- 1766 – William Hyde Wollaston, English chemist (d. 1828)
- 1775 – Daniel O'Connell, Irish politician (d. 1847)
- 1775 – Louis-Antoine, Duke of Angoulême, son of King Charles X of France (d. 1844)
- 1789 – Friedrich List, German economist, businessman and diplomat (d. 1846)

### 1801 – 1900

- 1809 – Alfred Tennyson, English poet (d. 1892)
- 1811 – Judah P. Benjamin, American politician (d. 1884)
- 1826 – Thomas Alexander Browne, Australian writer (d. 1915)
- 1827 – José Manuel Marroquin, 27th President of Colombia (d. 1908)
- 1835 – Jewett W. Adams, Governor of Nevada (d. 1920)
- 1844 – James Henry Greathead, engineer (d. 1896)
- 1844 – Alfred, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (d. 1900)
- 1857 – Christian Wilhelm Allers, German painter (d. 1915)
- 1859 – Arthur Berson, German meteorologist (d. 1942)
- 1861 – Edith Roosevelt, First Lady of the United States (d. 1948)
- 1866 – Matthew Henson, American Arctic explorer (d. 1955)
- 1868 – Paul Claudel, French poet (d. 1955)
- 1874 – Charles Fort, writer and researcher into anomalous phenomena (d. 1932)
- 1877 – Wallace H. White, Jr., United States Senator from Maine (d. 1952)
- 1880 – Hans Moser, Austrian actor (d. 1964)
- 1881 – Leo Carrillo, actor (d. 1961)
- 1881 – Alexander Fleming, Scottish scientist and physician (d. 1955)
- 1881 – Louella Parsons, American gossip columnist (d. 1972)
- 1889 – John Middleton Murry, English poet (d. 1957)
- 1891 – William Slim, 1st Viscount Slim, 13th Governor-General of Australia (d. 1970)
- 1892 – Hoot Gibson, American cowboy actor (d. 1962)
- 1893 – Wright Patman, American politician (d. 1976)
- 1895 – Ernesto Lecuona, Cuban musician and composer (d. 1963)
- 1900 – Cecil H. Green, Texas Instruments founder (d. 2003)

### 1901 - 1950

- 1902 – Dutch Schultz, American bootlegger, gangster (d. 1935)
- 1904 – Jean Desses, French couturier (d. 1970)
- 1904 – Henry Iba, American basketball player and coach (d. 1993)
- 1908 – Helen Jacobs, American tennis player (d. 1997)
- 1908 – Rufino Santos, Filipino cardinal (d. 1973)
- 1908 – Louis Vaida, Hungarian painter (d. 1941)
- 1911 – Norman Gordon, South African cricketer (d. 2014)
- 1911 – Lucille Ball, American actress and comedienne (d. 1989)
- 1914 – Gordon Freeth, Australian politician (d. 2001)
- 1916 – Richard Hofstadter, historian (d. 1970)
- 1916 – Dom Mintoff, Prime Minister of Malta (d. 2012)
- 1917 – Robert Mitchum, American actor (_Night of the Hunter_, _Cape Fear_ 1961 version) (d. 1997)
- 1919 – Pauline Betz, American tennis player (d. 2011)
- 1922 – Sir Freddie Laker, American entrepreneur (d. 2006)
- 1922 – Daniel Walker, American politician, Governor of Illinois (d. 2015)
- 1924 – Hélène Martini, French night club owner (d. 2017)
- 1924 – Philippe Washer, Belgian tennis player (d. 2015)
- 1925 – Barbara Bates, American actress (d. 1969)
- 1926 – Janet Asimov, American science fiction writer and psychoanalyst (d. 2019)
- 1926 – Elisabeth Beresford, British author (d. 2010)
- 1926 – Frank Finlay, English actor (d. 2016)
- 1928 – Andy Warhol, American artist (d. 1987)
- 1929 – Mike Elliott, Jamaican saxophonist
- 1929 – Kateb Yacine, Algerian writer (d. 1989)
- 1930 – Abbey Lincoln, American jazz singer (d. 2010)
- 1932 – Howard Hodgkin, English painter and print-maker (d. 2017)
- 1933 – Suchinda Kraprayoon, former Prime Minister of Thailand
- 1933 – Ulrich Biesinger, German footballer (d. 2011)
- 1934 – Chris Bonington, English mountaineer
- 1934 – Piers Anthony, English author
- 1934 – Diane di Prima, American poet
- 1935 – Fortunato Baldelli, Italian cardinal (d. 2012)
- 1935 – Mario Coluna, Mozambican–Portuguese footballer (d. 2014)
- 1937 – Charlie Haden, American musician (d. 2014)
- 1937 – Barbara Windsor, British actress
- 1937 – Baden Powell de Aquino, Brazilian musician (d. 2000)
- 1938 – Peter Bonerz, American actor and director
- 1940 – Louise Sorel, American actress
- 1940 – Mukhu Aliyev, Russian politician, 2nd President of Dagestan
- 1940 – Egil Kapstad, Norwegian pianist
- 1942 – Evelyn Hamann, German actress (d. 2007)
- 1943 – Jon Postel, American creator of the Domain Name System (DNS) (d. 1998)
- 1946 – Roh Moo-hyun, President of South Korea (d. 2009), possibly born on September 1
- 1946 – Masaaki Sakai, Japanese comedian
- 1946 – Ron Davies, Welsh politician
- 1948 – Alan Howarth, American composer
- 1949 – Clarence Richard Silva, Roman Catholic bishop of Honolulu

### 1951 – 1975

- 1951 – Daryl Somers, Australian television personality
- 1951 – Catherine Hicks, American actress
- 1951 – Christophe de Margerie, French businessman (d. 2014)
- 1952 – David McLetchie, Scottish politician (d. 2013)
- 1955 – Rusty Magee, American actor and composer (d. 2003)
- 1955 – Tom Sandberg, Norwegian skier
- 1957 – Renato Soru, Italian politician and businessman, founder of Tiscali
- 1957 – Jim McGreevey, American politician, former Governor of New Jersey
- 1959 – Joyce Sims, American singer-songwriter
- 1962 – Michelle Yeoh, Chinese-Malaysian actress
- 1962 – Marc Lavoine, French singer and actor
- 1963 – Charles Ingram, British game show contestant
- 1963 – Kevin Mitnick, American computer hacker and author
- 1964 – Gary Valenciano, Filipino singer-songwriter, producer and actor
- 1965 – Juliane Köhler, German actress
- 1965 – David Robinson, American basketball player
- 1965 – Mark Speight, English television presenter (d. 2008)
- 1968 – Lisa Boyle, American actress and model
- 1969 – Elliott Smith, American musician (d. 2003)
- 1970 – M. Night Shyamalan, Indian-American movie director, writer, producer, actor
- 1971 – Merrin Dungey, actress
- 1971 – Federico Giunti, Italian footballer
- 1972 – Geri Halliwell, English singer (Spice Girls)
- 1973 – Donna Lewis, Welsh singer and composer
- 1975 – Jason Crump, Australian speedway rider
- 1975 – Renate Götschl, Austrian skier

### From 1976

- 1976 – Soleil Moon Frye, American actress
- 1976 – Melissa George, actress
- 1977 – Jennifer Lyons, American actress
- 1977 – Leandro Amaral, Brazilian footballer
- 1978 – Marisa Miller, American actress
- 1978 – Billy Klippert, singer
- 1979 – Francesco Bellotti, Italian cyclist
- 1979 – Jaime Correa, Mexican footballer
- 1979 – Megumi Okina, Japanese actress and singer
- 1980 – Roman Weidenfeller, German footballer
- 1981 – Travie McCoy, American rapper and songwriter
- 1981 – Abdul Kader Keïta, footballer from Ivory Coast
- 1982 – Romola Garai, British actress
- 1983 – Robin van Persie, Dutch footballer
- 1984 – Vedad Ibisevic, footballer from Bosnia and Herzegovina
- 1984 – Sofia Essaidi, French-Moroccan singer, dancer and actress
- 1985 – Jesse Ryder, New Zealand cricketer
- 1985 – Bafétimbi Gomis, French footballer
- 1987 – Aditya Narayan, Indian actor and singer
- 1987 – Charley Chase, American pornographic actress
- 1987 – Joran van der Sloot, Dutch murderer
- 1988 – Chelsee Healey, English actress
- 1988 – Aleska Diamond, Hungarian pornographic actress
- 1990 – JonBenét Ramsey, young beauty queen and victim of crime (d. 1996)
- 1991 – Jiao Liuyang, Chinese swimmer
- 1993 – Kaori Ishihara, Japanese voice actress
- 1998 – Jack Scanlon, British actor
- 2001 – Ty Simpkins, American actor

### Up to 1900

- 258 – Pope Sixtus II
- 523 – Pope Hormisdas (b. 450)
- 1162 – Ramon Berenguer IV, Count of Barcelona (b. 1113)
- 1195 – Henry the Lion, son of Henry X, Duke of Bavaria (b. 1129)
- 1221 – Saint Dominic, Spanish monk and founder of the Dominican Order (b. 1170)
- 1272 – King Stephen V of Hungary (b. 1239)
- 1328 – Galeazzo I Visconti, ruler of Milan (b. 1277)
- 1414 – Ladislaus of Naples (b. 1377)
- 1458 – Pope Callixtus III (b. 1378)
- 1623 – Anne Hathaway, wife of William Shakespeare (b. 1555)
- 1660 – Diego Velazquez, Spanish painter (b. 1599)
- 1694 – Antoine Arnauld, French philosopher and mathematician (b. 1612)
- 1746 – King Christian VI of Denmark (b. 1699)
- 1753 – Georg Wilhelm Richmann, Russian physicist (b. 1711)
- 1794 – Henry Bathurst, 2nd Earl Bathurst, Lord Chancellor of Great Britain (b. 1714)
- 1828 – Konstantin von Benckendorff, Russian general and statesman (b. 1785)
- 1875 – Gabriel Garcia Moreno, President of Ecuador (b. 1821)
- 1881 – James Springer White, American preacher and author (b. 1821)
- 1890 – William Kemmler, American murderer, executed on the electric chair (b. 1860)
- 1891 – Henry Litolff, English pianist and composer (b. 1818)
- 1893 – Jean-Jacques Challet-Venel, Swiss politician (b. 1811)

### 1901 – 2000

- 1904 – Eduard Hanslick, Austrian music writer and critic (b. 1825)
- 1914 – Ellen Louise Wilson, first wife of US President Woodrow Wilson (b. 1860)
- 1920 – Stefan Bastyr, Polish aviator (b. 1890)
- 1925 – Surendranath Banerjee, Indian politician (b. 1848)
- 1931 – Bix Beiderbecke, American jazz cornetist and pianist (b. 1903)
- 1945 – Richard Bong, American pilot (b. 1920)
- 1945 – Hiram Johnson, Governor of California (b. 1866)
- 1954 – Emilie Dionne, one of the Dionne Quintuplets (b. 1934)
- 1959 – Preston Sturges, American playwright, screenwriter and director (b. 1898)
- 1964 – Cedric Hardwicke, English actor (b. 1893)
- 1969 – Theodor Adorno, German philosopher (b. 1903)
- 1973 – Fulgencio Batista, President of Cuba (b. 1901)
- 1974 – Gene Ammons, American saxophonist (b. 1925)
- 1976 – Gregor Piatigorsky, Russian-American cellist (b. 1903)
- 1978 – Pope Paul VI (b. 1897)
- 1978 – Edward Durrell Stone, American architect (b. 1902)
- 1979 – Feodor Felix Konrad Lynen, German biochemist (b. 1911)
- 1983 – Klaus Nomi, German singer (b. 1944)
- 1985 – Forbes Burnham, leader of Guyana (b. 1923)
- 1986 – Emilio Fernandez, Mexican actor, screenwriter and director (b. 1904)
- 1991 – Roland Michener, Canadian lawyer, politician and diplomat (b. 1900)
- 1991 – Shapour Bakhtiar, Iranian politician (b. 1915)
- 1991 – Harry Reasoner, American journalist (b. 1923)
- 1993 – Bob Kiesel, American athlete (b. 1911)
- 1994 – Domenico Modugno, Italian singer-songwriter, actor and politician (b. 1928)
- 1994 – Giovanni Spadolini, Italian politician (b. 1925)
- 1998 – André Weil, French mathematician (b. 1906)

### From 2001

- 2001 – Jorge Amado, Brazilian writer (b. 1912)
- 2002 – Edsger Dijkstra, Dutch computer scientist (b. 1930)
- 2005 – Robin Cook, British politician (b. 1946)
- 2005 – Ibrahim Ferrer, Cuban singer (b. 1927)
- 2007 – Heinz Barth, German SS officer (b. 1920)
- 2009 – Riccardo Cassin, Italian mountaineer (b. 1909)
- 2009 – Willy DeVille, American singer-songwriter (b. 1950)
- 2009 – John Hughes, American movie director (b. 1950)
- 2010 – Fredrik Ericsson, Swedish mountaineer (b. 1975)
- 2010 – Catfish Collins, American musician (b. 1944)
- 2010 – Tony Judt, British historian (b. 1948)
- 2012 – Bernard Lovell, British physicist and radio astronomer (b. 1913)
- 2012 – Ruggiero Ricci, American violinist (b. 1918)
- 2012 – Marvin Hamlisch, American composer (b. 1944)
- 2013 – Selcuk Yula, Turkish footballer (b. 1959)
- 2014 – Pran Kumar Sharma, Indian cartoonist (b. 1938)
- 2014 – Smita Talwalkar, Indian actress (b. 1954)
- 2014 – John Woodland Hastings, American biochemist (b. 1927)
- 2014 – Julien Fourgeaud, French businessman and inventor (b. 1980)
- 2015 – Orna Porat, German-Israeli actress (b. 1924)
- 2015 – Louise Suggs, American tennis player (b. 1923)
- 2016 – Ivo Pitanguy, Brazilian plastic surgeon (b. 1926)
- 2017 – Nicole Bricq, French politician (b. 1947)
- 2017 – Betty Cuthbert, Australian athlete (b. 1938)
- 2017 – Darren Daulton, American baseball player (b. 1962)
- 2017 – Hinrich Lehmann-Grube, German politician (b. 1932)
- 2017 – Martin Roth, German museum director (b. 1955)
- 2017 – Dick Locher, American cartoonist (b. 1929)
- 2017 – Wolfgang H. Berger, German-American oceanographer and geologist (b. 1937)
- 2018 – Margaret Heckler, American politician (b. 1931)
- 2018 – Paul Laxalt, American politician, 22nd Governor of Nevada (b. 1922)
- 2018 – Joël Robuchon, French chef and cookbook writer (b. 1945)

## Observances

- Independence Day in Bolivia and Jamaica
- Hiroshima Peace Memorial Ceremony
- Start of Tanabata Festival (Sendai, Japan)
- Bogota Day