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46 BC - Julius Caesar defeats the combined army of Pompeian followers and Numidians under Metellus Scipio and Juba at Thapsus.

337 - Julius I is elected pope.

1685 - James II of England and VII of Scotland becomes King upon the death of his brother Charles II.

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.

1788 - Massachusetts becomes the sixth state to ratify the United States Constitution.

1806 - Royal Navy victory off Santo Domingo - Action of 6 February 1806.

1815 - New Jersey grants the first American railroad charter to a John Stevens.

1817 - The Argentinian San Martín crosses the Andes with an army in order to liberate Chile from Spanish rule.

1819 - Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles founds Singapore.

1820 - The first 86 African American immigrants sponsored by the American Colonization Society started a settlement in present-day Liberia.

1840 - Signing of the Treaty of Waitangi, founding document of New Zealand.

1843 - The first minstrel show in the United States The Virginia Minstrels opens (Bowery Amphitheatre in New York City).

1862 - American Civil War: Ulysses S. Grant gives the United States its first victory of the war, by capturing Fort Henry, Tennessee, known as the Battle of Fort Henry.

1899 - Spanish-American War: The Treaty of Paris (1898), a peace treaty between the United States and Spain is ratified by the United States Senate.

1900 - The international arbitration court at The Hague is created when the Netherlands' Senate ratifies an 1899 peace conference decree.

1922 - Achille Ratti becomes Pope Pius XI.

1922 - The Washington Naval Treaty was signed in Washington, DC, limiting the naval armaments of United States, Britain, Japan, France, and Italy.

1933 - The 20th Amendment to the United States Constitution goes into effect.

1934 - February 6, 1934 political crisis in France. The far right leagues rally in front of the Palais Bourbon, an attempted coup against the Third Republic.

1936 - Olympic Games: Winter Olympic Games - IV Olympic Winter Games open in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany.

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.

1952 - Elizabeth II becomes Queen upon the death of her father George VI. At the exact moment of succession, she was in a treehouse at the Treetops Hotel in Kenya.

1958 - Bobby Charlton survived the Munich air disaster in Germany, which killed eight of his teammates with Manchester United F.C..

1959 - Jack Kilby of Texas Instruments filed the first patent for an integrated circuit.

1959 - At Cape Canaveral, Florida, the first successful test firing of a Titan intercontinental ballistic missile is accomplished.

1968 - Olympic Games: Winter Olympic Games - X Olympic Winter Games open in Grenoble, France.

1970 - Penny Cooper (nee Smith) born in Nantwich

1971 - Project Apollo: Apollo 14 Mission - Alan Shepherd becomes the first person to hit a golf ball on the Moon.

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 4" an hour.

1985 - Steve Wozniak leaves Apple Computer.

1992 - The Saami people of Scandinavia had an official day celebrating their existence on February 6.

1996 - A Turkish Airlines Boeing 757 crashes into the Atlantic Ocean, off the coast of Dominican Republic killing 189.

1998 - Washington National Airport is renamed Ronald Reagan National Airport.

2001 - Don Felder is fired from the Eagles

2004 - In Russia, a suicide-attack in a Moscow metro kills 40 commuters, and injures a hundred and twenty-nine. The blast is blamed on Chechen separatist groups.

2005 - Jerrick De Leon, born 13 weeks premature, becomes the world's smallest infant to survive an open-heart procedure called an arterial switch.

2006 - The Conservative Party of Canada becomes a minority government in Canada's Parliament, replacing the Liberals after 13 years in power.

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1564 - Christopher Marlowe, English playwright (d. 1593)

1577 - Beatrice Cenci, Italian noblewoman (d. 1599)

1608 - Antonio Vieira, Portuguese writer (d. 1697)

1611 - Chongzhen, Emperor of China (d. 1644)

1639 - Daniel Georg Morhof, German writer and scholar (d. 1691)

1664 - Mustafa II, Ottoman Sultan (d, 1703)

1665 - Queen Anne of England (d. 1714)

1695 - Nicolaus II Bernoulli, Swiss mathematician (d. 1726)

1732 - Charles Lee, General in the American Revolution (d. 1782)

1744 - Pierre-Joseph Desault, French anatomist and surgeon (d. 1795)

1748 - Adam Weishaupt, founder of the Bavarian Illuminati (d. 1811)

1756 - Aaron Burr, 3rd Vice President of the United States (d. 1836)

1757 - Julian Ursyn Niemcewicz, Polish scholar and statesman. (d. 1841)

1833 - James Ewell Brown Stuart, American Confederate general (d. 1864)

1834 - Ema Puksec, Croatian singer (d. 1889)

1838 - Sir Henry Irving, British actor, inspiration for Dracula (d. 1905)

1838 - Yisrael Meir Kagan, Chofetz Chayim (d. 1933)

1853 - Ignacij Klemenčič, Slovenian physicist (d. 1901)

1887 - Josef Frings, German Archbishop of Cologne (d. 1978)

1875 - Leonid Gobyato, Russian general (d. 1915)

1892 - William Parry Murphy, American physician, Nobel Prize Laureate (d. 1987)

1894 - Eric Partridge, New Zealand lexicographer (d. 1979)

1895 - Babe Ruth, baseball player (d. 1948)

1897 - Louis Buchalter, Jewish American mobster (d. 1944)

1899 - Ramón Novarro, Mexican actor (d. 1968)

1901 - Ben Lyon, American actor (d. 1979)

1902 - George Brunies, American musician (d. 1974)

1903 - Claudio Arrau, Chilean-born pianist (d. 1991)

1905 - Władysław Gomułka, Polish leader (d. 1982)

1910 - Irmgard Keun, German author (d. 1982)

1910 - Carlos Marcello, Tunisian-born gangster (d. 1993)

1911 - Ronald Reagan, 40th President of the United States (d. 2004)

1912 - Eva Braun, German mistress of Adolf Hitler (d. 1945)

1913 - Mary Leakey, British anthropologist (d. 1996)

1914 - Thurl Ravenscroft, American voice actor (d. 2005)

1917 - Zsa Zsa Gabor, Hungarian actress

1918 - Lothar-Günther Buchheim, German author

1922 - Bill Johnston, Australian cricketer

1922 - Patrick Macnee, British actor

1922 - Denis Norden, British television personality

1926 - Haskell Wexler, American cinematographer

1929 - Pierre Brice, French actor

1931 - Rip Torn, American actor and director

1931 - Mamie Van Doren, American actress

1932 - Camilo Cienfuegos, Cuban revolutionary (d. 1959)

1932 - François Truffaut, French film director (d. 1984)

1933 - Leslie Crowther, British comedian and quiz host (d. 1996)

1939 - Mike Farrell, American actor

1939 - Orlando Parga, Vice President of the Puerto Rico Senate

1940 - Tom Brokaw, American news anchorman

1940 - Jimmy Tarbuck, British comedian

1942 - Sarah Brady, American gun-control activist

1943 - Fabian, American singer

1943 - Gayle Hunnicutt, American actress

1944 - Michael Tucker, American actor

1945 - Bob Marley, Jamaican singer and musician (d. 1981)

1946 - Jim Turner, American politician

1949 - Jim Sheridan, Irish film director

1950 - Natalie Cole, American singer

1951 - Marco Antônio, Brazilian footballer

1955 - Michael Pollan, American journalist

1957 - Kathy Najimy, American actress and comedian

1957 - Robert Townsend, American actor

1958 - Barry Miller, American actor

1960 - Megan Gallagher, American actress

1961 - Bill Lester, African-American NASCAR Driver

1962 - Axl Rose, American singer (Guns N' Roses)

1963 - Kevin Trudeau, American entrepreneur

1966 - Rick Astley, British singer

1968 - Akira Yamaoka, Japanese composer (Silent Hill series)

1970 - Per Frandsen, Danish footballer

1970 - Kitty Yung, American porn star

1971 - Brian Stepanek, American actor

1972 - David Binn, American football player

1975 - Svend-Allan Sørensen, Danish artist

1975 - Tomoko Kawase, Japanese singer/songwriter

1976 - Kim Zmeskal, American gymnast

1980 - Mamiko Noto, Japanese seiyu

1980 - Ryan O'Reilly, American professional wrestler

1981 - Jens Lekman, Swedish Pop Musician

1981- Calum Best, Model

1983 - Brodie Croyle, American football player

1983 - Myron Wolf Child, Canadian politician

1984 - Darren Bent, English footballer

1984 - Daisy Marie, American pornographic actress

1986 - Brendan Taylor, Zimbabwean wicket-keeper

1986 - Alice Greczyn, American actress

1991 - Kara Borden, American crime victim

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891 - Photius, Patriarch of Constantinople

1378 - Jeanne de Bourbon, wife of Charles V of France (b. 1338)

1497 - Johannes Ockeghem, Flemish composer (b. c. 1410)

1515 - Aldus Manutius, Italian printer

1585 - Edmund Plowden, English legal scholar (b. 1518)

1593 - Jacques Amyot, French writer (b. 1513)

1593 - Emperor Ogimachi of Japan (b. 1517)

1617 - Prospero Alpini, Italian scientist (b. 1553)

1685 - King Charles II of England (b. 1630)

1740 - Pope Clement XII (b. 1652)

1775 - William Dowdeswell, English politician (b. 1721)

1783 - Capability Brown, English landscape gardener (b. 1716)

1793 - Carlo Goldoni, Italian playwright (b. 1707)

1816 - Maria Ludwika Rzewuska, Polish szlachcianka (b. 1744)

1833 - Pierre André Latreille, French entomologist (b. 1762)

1834 - Richard Lemon Lander, British explorer (d. 1804)

1855 - Josef Munzinger, Swiss Federal Councilor (b. 1791)

1899 - Leo von Caprivi, Chancellor of Germany (b. 1831)

1899 - Prince Alfred of Edinburgh and Saxe-Coburg-Gotha (b. 1874)

1916 - Rubén Darío, Nicaraguan writer (b. 1867)

1918 - Gustav Klimt, Austrian painter (b. 1862)

1938 - Marianne von Werefkin, Russian-Swiss painter (b. 1860)

1950 - Georges Imbert, Alsatian chemist (b. 1884)

1952 - George VI of the United Kingdom (b. 1895)

1963 - Abd el-Krim, Moroccan politician

1964 - Emilio Aguinaldo, First President of the 1st Philippines Republic (b. 1869)

1976 - Vince Guaraldi, American musician (b. 1928)

1985 - James Hadley Chase, English writer (b. 1906)

1986 - Frederick Coutts, Salvation Army general (b. 1899)

1986 - Minoru Yamasaki, American architect (b. 1912)

1989 - Chris Gueffroy, last person killed escaping over the Berlin wall (b. 1968)

1989 - Barbara Tuchman, American historian (b. 1912)

1991 - Salvador Luria, Italian-born biologist, Nobel Prize Laureate (b. 1912)

1991 - Danny Thomas, American singer, comedian, and actor (b. 1914)

1993 - Arthur Ashe, American tennis player (b. 1943)

1993 - Joseph Mankiewicz, American director, producer, and writer (b. 1909)

1994 - Joseph Cotten, American actor (b. 1905)

1994 - Jack Kirby, American comic book writer (b. 1917)

1995 - James Merrill, American poet (b. 1926)

1996 - Guy Madison, American actor (b. 1922)

1998 - Falco, Austrian singer (b. 1957)

1998 - Carl Wilson, American musician (The Beach Boys) (b. 1946)

2001 - Filemon Lagman, Filipino Communist revolutionary (b. 1953)

2002 - Max Perutz, Austrian-born molecular biologist, Nobel Prize Laureate (b. 1914)

2005 - Lazar Berman, Russian pianist (b. 1930)

2005 - Karl Haas, American radio presenter (b. 1913)

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Bob Marley Day in Rastafarianism (Jamaica and Ethiopia)

Waitangi Day (National Holiday) in New Zealand

Sami National Day (known as Lapps; in Finland and Scandinavia)

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liturgical feasts

Saint Amand, Apostle of the Franks
Saint Vedastus
Saint Dorothea, patron saint of florists
Saint Paul Miki