133 things happened on 6 October, from 105 BC to 2025. UK stories come first, then the rest of the world.
1908 · 118 years ago
Austria-Hungary announced that it was annexing – officially taking over – Bosnia and Herzegovina. The empire had already been running the area since 1878. The move caused a crisis that badly and permanently damaged Austria-Hungary's relations with Russia and …
UK history first: stories from England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
UK story
British forces won the Battle of Manila, which had begun on 24 September. Manila, the capital of the Philippines, was then a Spanish colony. The battle was part of the Seven Years' War, a global war fought between many of the great powers of the time. After their victory, the British occupied Manila for many months.
UK story
English explorer Jason Lewis became the first person to travel around the world using only human power – no engines and no sails. He already held other firsts. In 1996 he became the first person to cross North America on inline skates. In 2000 he was the first to cross the Pacific Ocean by pedal power.
UK story
American Revolutionary War: Fort Clinton and Fort Montgomery were captured by British forces under Sir Henry Clinton, dismantling the Hudson River Chains.
Euridice, an opera by Jacopo Peri, was performed for the first time. It is the oldest opera whose music still survives, because Peri's earlier opera, Dafne, has been lost. Its story comes from a famous poem by the Roman writer Ovid about the musician Orpheus and his wife Euridice. The first performance is said to mark the beginning of the Baroque period in music.
The day after the Women's March on Versailles, King Louis XVI was forced to leave his palace at Versailles. He had to move to the Tuileries Palace in Paris instead. Louis was the last king of France before the monarchy was abolished in 1792, during the French Revolution.
Austria-Hungary announced that it was annexing – officially taking over – Bosnia and Herzegovina. The empire had already been running the area since 1878. The move caused a crisis that badly and permanently damaged Austria-Hungary's relations with Russia and Serbia.
The Jazz Singer, an American film made by Warner Bros., was released. It was the first full-length film to have recorded music as well as singing and speech that matched the actors' lips. It featured six songs performed by Al Jolson. Its success helped to bring the age of silent films to an end.
Space Shuttle Discovery blasted off on a mission called STS-41. Its main job was to launch the Ulysses space probe. Ulysses was sent to study the regions around the Sun's north and south poles. Discovery went on to fly more missions than any other spacecraft, launching and landing 39 times over 27 years.
Swiss astronomers Michel Mayor and Didier Queloz announced that they had found a planet circling 51 Pegasi, a star like our Sun. It was the first planet ever found orbiting a Sun-like star outside our Solar System. Planets like this are called exoplanets. The discovery of 51 Pegasi b later won them a share of the 2019 Nobel Prize in Physics.
NASA's MESSENGER space probe discovered a huge crater on the planet Mercury during its second flyby. The crater, named Rembrandt, is 716 km wide, making it the second-largest on Mercury. The crater is about 3.9 billion years old and formed at a time when many space rocks were crashing into the planets. MESSENGER later orbited Mercury from 2011 to 2015.
Cimbrian War: Defeat at the Battle of Arausio of the Roman army of the mid-Republic
Third Mithridatic War: The military of the Roman Republic subdues Armenia.
Transition from Sui to Tang: Wang Shichong's army defeated Li Mi's forces at the Battle of Yanshi, allowing Wang to consolidate power and soon depose China's Sui dynasty.
Spain's DeSoto expedition takes over the Apalachee capital of Anhaica for their winter quarters.
Immigrant families found Germantown, Pennsylvania in the first major immigration of German people to America.
A large fire destroys a third of all the buildings in the town of Raahe in the Grand Duchy of Finland.
The Naval War College of the United States is founded in Rhode Island.
Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia, the largest American music fraternity, is founded at the New England Conservatory of Music.
The High Court of Australia sits for the first time.
Eleftherios Venizelos is elected Prime Minister of Greece for the first of seven times.
World War I: Combined Austro-Hungarian and German Central Powers, reinforced by the recently joined Bulgaria launched a new offensive against Serbia under command of August von Mackensen.
World War I: Entente forces land in Thessaloniki, to open the Macedonian front against the Central Powers.
Ukrainian War of Independence: The Starobilsk agreement is signed by representatives of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic and the Makhnovshchina.
The Turkish National Movement enters Constantinople.
World War II: American troops force the Japanese from their positions east of the Matanikau River during the Battle of Guadalcanal.
World War II: Units of the 1st Czechoslovak Army Corps enter Czechoslovakia during the Battle of the Dukla Pass.
The Egyptian Armed Forces crossed the Suez Canal (pictured) to attack occupying Israeli forces at the Bar Lev Line in the Sinai Peninsula, beginning the Yom Kippur War.
The first prototype of the Mikoyan MiG-29, designated 9-01, makes its maiden flight.
Pope John Paul II becomes the first pontiff to visit the White House.
Fiji becomes a republic.
Instagram, a mainstream photo-sharing application, is founded.
The United States Senate confirms Brett Kavanaugh as a Supreme Court Associate Justice, ending a contentious confirmation process.
Annie Ernaux is awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature.
The 2025 Alberta teachers' strike begins, leaving approximately 51,000 teachers off-work, impacting about 730,000 Albertan students.
Every answer is somewhere on this page. Have a go, then check!
In which year did this happen: “Britain wins the Battle of Manila against Spain”?
A: 1762. 1762 — that’s 264 years ago. Find it on the page
In which year did this happen: “Jason Lewis completes the first human-powered trip around the world”?
A: 2007. 2007 — that’s 19 years ago. Find it on the page
Which of these happened first?
C: Britain wins the Battle of Manila against Spain. 1908: Austria-Hungary takes over Bosnia and Herzegovina · 2007: Jason Lewis completes the first human-powered trip around the world · 1762: Britain wins the Battle of Manila against Spain Find it on the page
“Barbara Castle” happened in 1910. How many years ago was that?
C: 116 years. 2026 − 1910 = 116. Find it on the page
Famous people whose birthday is 6 October.
Ernest Walton was an Irish physicist who shared the 1951 Nobel Prize in Physics with John Cockcroft. Together they used a machine to speed up tiny particles and fire them at atoms. This changed the nucleus, or centre, of one kind of atom into another. It was the first time this had been done in a way fully controlled by people.
UK story
Barbara Castle was a Labour politician who served as a Member of Parliament from 1945 to 1979. That makes her one of the longest-serving women MPs in British history. She worked closely with Prime Minister Harold Wilson and held several important jobs in his Cabinet. She was also the first woman to be First Secretary of State, a role usually given to the Prime Minister's deputy.
Well-known people who died on 6 October.
Festivals, holidays and saints’ days celebrated on 6 October somewhere in the world.
World Space Week runs every year from 4 to 10 October and is celebrated in more than 95 countries. It is an international celebration of science and technology, and of how they help to make people's lives better. The week is organised with the help of the United Nations.
Content note: these entries mention things like war, violence, deaths, disasters or crime. They are part of history, but they can be upsetting. Grown-ups and teachers: you may want to read them first. They come straight from Wikipedia and have not been rewritten for children.
Stories with a heading have been written for young readers by A Day in the Past, using the linked articles as sources. Other entries show text from Wikipedia’s “October 6” page and its “On this day” feed, written by Wikipedia contributors and shared under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 licence. Each “Read more” link goes to the article an entry is based on. Photos are credited under each picture. Spotted a mistake? Please tell us.