Calendar date · April

What happened on April 6

On April 6, -46: Julius Caesar defeats Caecilius Metellus Scipio and Marcus Porcius Cato (Cato the Younger) at the Battle of Thapsus.

Events

61

across history

Notable births

50

Notable deaths

50

Zodiac

Aries

Featured moment · -46

Julius Caesar defeats Caecilius Metellus Scipio and Marcus Porcius Cato (Cato the Younger) at the Battle of Thapsus.

Gaius Julius Caesar was a Roman general, statesman, and author who was the dictator of the Roman Republic almost continuously from 49 BC until his assassination in 44 BC. A member of the First Triumvirate, he led the Roman armies through the Gallic Wars and defeated his political rival Pompey in Caesar's civil war. He consolidated power and proclaimed himself dictator for life in 44 BC, helping create the political conditions that led to the collapse of the Roman Republic and the emergence of the Roman Empire.

People

Born on April 6

Shaylee Mansfield 2009– American actress (born 2009)
Valentina Tronel 2009– French singer (born 2009)
Andrea Botez 2002– American-Canadian chess player (born 2002)
Leyre Romero Gormaz 2002– Spanish tennis player (born 2002)
Oscar Piastri 2001– Australian racing driver (born 2001)
Moritz Seider 2001– German ice hockey player (born 2001)
Shaheen Afridi 2000– Pakistani cricketer (born 2000)
Maxence Lacroix 2000– French footballer (born 2000)
Nicolás González 1998– Argentine footballer (born 1998)
Show 9 more — notable births on April 6
Peyton List 1998– American actress (born 1998)
Spencer List 1998– American actor (born 1998)
Nahuel Molina 1998– Argentine footballer (born 1998)
Mingyu 1997– South Korean singer and rapper (born 1997)
Al-Musrati 1996– Libyan footballer (born 1996)
Darya Lebesheva 1995– Belarusian tennis player
Adrián Alonso 1994– Mexican actor
Ken 1992– South Korean singer
Julie Ertz 1992– American soccer player (born 1992)

People

Died on April 6

Nick Pope British UFO writer (1965–2026)
Clem Burke American drummer (1954–2025)
Jay North American actor (1951–2025)
Joseph E. Brennan American lawyer and politician (1934–2024)
Vladimir Zhirinovsky Russian politician (1946–2022)
Jill Knight British politician (1923–2022)
Hans Küng Swiss Catholic priest, theologian, and author (1928–2021)
Alcee Hastings American politician and judge (1936–2021)
Al Kaline American baseball player (1934–2020)
Show 9 more — notable deaths on April 6
Michael O'Donnell British physician, journalist, author, and broadcaster (1928–2019)
Don Rickles American comedian and actor (1926–2017)
Merle Haggard American singer-songwriter (1937–2016)
Giovanni Berlinguer Italian politician, humanist, and professor of social medicine (1924–2015)
James Best American actor, musician, artist (1926–2015)
Ray Charles American musician, conductor and arranger (1918–2015)
Dollard St. Laurent Canadian ice hockey player
Mary Anderson American actress (1918–2014)
Jacques Castérède French composer and pianist (1926–2014)

Timeline

Every April 6 on record

  1. -46 Julius Caesar defeats Caecilius Metellus Scipio and Marcus Porcius Cato (Cato the Younger) at the Battle of Thapsus.

    Roman general and dictator (100–44 BC)

    Gaius Julius Caesar was a Roman general, statesman, and author who was the dictator of the Roman Republic almost continuously from 49 BC until his assassination in 44 BC. A member of the First Triumvirate, he led the Roman armies through the Gallic Wars and defeated his political rival Pompey in Caesar's civil war. He consolidated power and proclaimed himself dictator for life in 44 BC, helping create the political conditions that led to the collapse of the Roman Republic and the emergence of the Roman Empire.

  2. 402 Stilicho defeats the Visigoths under Alaric in the Battle of Pollentia.

    Roman army general (c. 359 – 408)

    Stilicho was a military commander in the Roman army who, for a time, became the most powerful man in the Western Roman Empire. He was partly of Vandal origins and married to Serena, the niece of emperor Theodosius I. He became guardian for the underage Honorius.

  3. 945 Byzantine Emperor Constantine VII crowns his son Romanos II as co-emperor.

    The foundation of Constantinople in 330 AD marks the conventional start of the Byzantine Empire, which fell to the Ottoman Empire in 1453 AD. Only the emperors who were recognized as legitimate rulers and exercised sovereign authority are included, to the exclusion of junior co-emperors who never attained the status of sole or senior ruler, as well as of the various usurpers or rebels who claimed the imperial title.

  4. 1320 The Scots reaffirm their independence by signing the Declaration of Arbroath.

    1320 letter to Pope John XXII affirming Scottish independence from England

    The Declaration of Arbroath is the name usually given to a letter, dated 6 April 1320 at Arbroath, written by Scottish barons and addressed to Pope John XXII. It constituted King Robert I's response to his excommunication for disobeying the pope's demand in 1317 for a truce in the First War of Scottish Independence. The letter asserted the antiquity of the independence of the Kingdom of Scotland, denouncing English attempts to subjugate it.

  5. 1453 Mehmed II begins his siege of Constantinople. The city falls on May 29 and is renamed Istanbul.

    Sultan of the Ottoman Empire (r. 1444–1446, 1451–1481)

    Mehmed II, commonly known as Mehmed the Conqueror, was the sultan of the Ottoman Empire twice, from August 1444 to September 1446 and then later from February 1451 to May 1481.

  6. 1580 One of the largest earthquakes recorded in the history of England, Flanders, or Northern France, takes place.
  7. 1652 At the Cape of Good Hope, Dutch sailor Jan van Riebeeck establishes a resupply camp that eventually becomes Cape Town.
  8. 1712 The New York Slave Revolt of 1712 begins near Broadway.
  9. 1776 American Revolutionary War: Ships of the Continental Navy fail in their attempt to capture a Royal Navy dispatch boat.
  10. 1782 King Buddha Yodfa Chulaloke (Rama I) of Siam (modern day Thailand) establishes the Chakri dynasty.
  11. 1793 During the French Revolution, the Committee of Public Safety becomes the executive organ of the republic.
  12. 1800 The Treaty of Constantinople establishes the Septinsular Republic, the first autonomous Greek state since the Fall of the Byzantine Empire. (Under the Old Style calendar then still in use in the Ottoman Empire, the treaty was signed on 21 March.)
  13. 1808 John Jacob Astor incorporates the American Fur Company, that would eventually make him America's first millionaire.
  14. 1812 British forces under the command of the Duke of Wellington assault the fortress of Badajoz. This would be the turning point in the Peninsular War against Napoleon-led France.
  15. 1814 Nominal beginning of the Bourbon Restoration; anniversary date that Napoleon abdicates and is exiled to Elba.
Show 15 earlier entries from April 6
  1. 1830 Church of Christ, the original church of the Latter Day Saint movement, is organized by Joseph Smith and others at either Fayette or Manchester, New York.
  2. 1841 U.S. President John Tyler is sworn in, two days after having become president upon William Henry Harrison's death.
  3. 1860 The Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, later renamed Community of Christ, is organized by Joseph Smith III and others at Amboy, Illinois.
  4. 1862 American Civil War: The Battle of Shiloh begins: In Tennessee, forces under Union General Ulysses S. Grant meet Confederate troops led by General Albert Sidney Johnston.
  5. 1865 American Civil War: The Battle of Sailor's Creek: Confederate General Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia fights and loses its last major battle while in retreat from Richmond, Virginia, during the Appomattox Campaign.
  6. 1866 The Grand Army of the Republic, an American patriotic organization composed of Union veterans of the American Civil War, is founded. It lasts until 1956.
  7. 1896 In Athens, the opening of the first modern Olympic Games is celebrated, 1,500 years after the original games are banned by Roman emperor Theodosius I.
  8. 1909 Robert Peary and Matthew Henson become the first people to reach the North Pole; Peary's claim has been disputed because of failings in his navigational ability.
  9. 1911 During the Battle of Deçiq, Dedë Gjon Luli Dedvukaj, leader of the Malësori Albanians, raises the Albanian flag in the town of Tuzi, Montenegro, for the first time after George Kastrioti (Skanderbeg).
  10. 1917 World War I: The United States declares war on Germany.
  11. 1918 Finnish Civil War: The battle of Tampere ends.
  12. 1926 Varney Airlines makes its first commercial flight (Varney is the root company of United Airlines).
  13. 1929 Huey P. Long, Governor of Louisiana, is impeached by the Louisiana House of Representatives.
  14. 1930 At the end of the Salt March, Gandhi raises a lump of mud and salt and declares, "With this, I am shaking the foundations of the British Empire."
  15. 1936 Tupelo–Gainesville tornado outbreak: Another tornado from the same storm system as the Tupelo tornado hits Gainesville, Georgia, killing 203.

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