Historical Events on Monday, 6th October

06/10/2025

The 2025 Alberta teachers' strike begins, leaving approximately 51,000 teachers off-work, impacting about 730,000 Albertan students.

The 2025 Alberta teachers' strike was a public education teachers' strike and labour dispute that took place across Alberta, Canada, and affected the province's education system, resulting in a suspension of classes from October 6, 2025, to October 29, 2025. It was ended after the Notwithstanding Clause was invoked.

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06/10/2022

Annie Ernaux is awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature.

Annie Thérèse Blanche Ernaux is a French writer who was awarded the 2022 Nobel Prize in Literature "for the courage and clinical acuity with which she uncovers the roots, estrangements, and collective restraints of personal memory". Her literary work, mostly autobiographical, maintains close links with sociology.

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06/10/2018

The United States Senate confirms Brett Kavanaugh as a Supreme Court Associate Justice, ending a contentious confirmation process.

The United States Senate is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, and the U.S. House of Representatives is the lower house. Together, the Senate and House have the authority under Article One of the Constitution to make and pass or defeat federal legislation.

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06/10/2010

Instagram, a mainstream photo-sharing application, is founded.

Instagram is an American photo and short-form video sharing social networking service owned by Meta Platforms. It allows users to upload media that can be edited with filters, be organized by hashtags, and be associated with a location via geographical tagging. Posts can be shared publicly or with preapproved followers. Users can browse other users' content by tags and locations, view trending content, like photos, and follow other users to add their content to a personal feed. A Meta-operated image-centric social media platform, it is available on iOS, Android, Windows, and the Web. Users can take photos and edit them using built-in filters and other tools, then share them on other social media platforms like Facebook. It supports 33 languages including English, Hindi, Spanish, French, Japanese, and Korean.

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06/10/2007

Jason Lewis completes the first human-powered circumnavigation of the Earth.

Jason Lewis is an English author, explorer and sustainability campaigner credited with being the first person to circumnavigate the globe by human power. He is also the first person to cross North America on inline skates (1996), and the first to cross the Pacific Ocean by pedal power (2000). Together with Stevie Smith, Lewis completed the first crossing of the Atlantic Ocean from mainland Europe to North America by human power (1995).

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06/10/1995

The first planet orbiting another sun, 51 Pegasi b, is discovered.

51 Pegasi b, officially named Dimidium, is an extrasolar planet approximately 50 light-years away in the constellation of Pegasus. It was the first exoplanet to be discovered orbiting a main-sequence star, the Sun-like 51 Pegasi, and marked a breakthrough in astronomical research. It is the prototype for a class of planets called hot Jupiters.

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06/10/1990

Space Shuttle Discovery is launched on STS-41, and deploys the Ulysses space probe to study the Sun's polar regions.

Space Shuttle Discovery is a retired American Space Shuttle orbiter. The spaceplane was one of the orbiters from NASA's Space Shuttle program and the third of five fully operational orbiters to be built. Its first mission, STS-41-D, flew from August 30 to September 5, 1984. Over 27 years of service it launched and landed 39 times, aggregating more spaceflights than any other spacecraft as of December 2024. The Space Shuttle launch vehicle had three main components: the Space Shuttle orbiter, a single-use central fuel tank, and two reusable solid rocket boosters. Nearly 25,000 heat-resistant tiles cover the orbiter to protect it from high temperatures on re-entry.

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06/10/1987

Fiji becomes a republic.

Fiji, officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about 1,100 nautical miles north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists of an archipelago of more than 330 islands—of which about 110 are permanently inhabited—and more than 500 islets, amounting to a total land area of about 18,300 square kilometres (7,100 sq mi). The most outlying island group is Ono-i-Lau. About 87% of the total population live on the two major islands, Viti Levu and Vanua Levu. About three-quarters of Fijians live on Viti Levu's coasts, either in the capital city of Suva, or in smaller urban centres such as Nadi or Lautoka. The interior of Viti Levu is sparsely inhabited because of its terrain.

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06/10/1985

Police constable Keith Blakelock is murdered as riots erupt in the Broadwater Farm suburb of London.

Keith Henry Blakelock QGM was a British police officer who served as a London Metropolitan Police constable. He was murdered on 6 October 1985 during the Broadwater Farm riot in Tottenham. The riot broke out after Cynthia Jarrett died of heart failure during a police search of her home, and took place against a backdrop of unrest in several English cities and a breakdown of relations between the police and some people in the black community.

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06/10/1981

Egyptian President Anwar Sadat is murdered by Islamic extremists.

Muhammad Anwar el-Sadat was an Egyptian politician and military officer who served as the 3rd president of Egypt, from 15 October 1970 until his assassination in 1981. Sadat was a senior member of the Free Officers who overthrew King Farouk I in the Egyptian Revolution of 1952, and a close confidant of President Gamal Abdel Nasser, under whom he served as the vice president twice and whom he succeeded as president in 1970. He led Egypt in the October war of 1973. In 1978, Sadat and Menachem Begin, Prime Minister of Israel, signed a peace treaty in cooperation with United States President Jimmy Carter, for which they were recognized with the Nobel Peace Prize.

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NLM CityHopper Flight 431 crashes in Moerdijk after taking off from Rotterdam The Hague Airport in the Netherlands, killing all 17 people on board.

NLM CityHopper Flight 431 refers to a Fokker F-28-4000, registration PH-CHI, that was due to operate an international scheduled Rotterdam–Eindhoven–Hamburg passenger service. On 6 October 1981, the aircraft encountered a tornado on the first leg, minutes after taking off from Rotterdam Airport, and crashed 15 miles (24 km) south-southeast of Rotterdam. All 17 occupants of the aircraft – 13 passengers and 4 crew members– died in the accident.

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06/10/1979

Pope John Paul II becomes the first pontiff to visit the White House.

Pope John Paul II was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of Vatican City from 16 October 1978 until his death in 2005. He was the first non-Italian pope since Adrian VI in the 16th century, as well as the third-longest-serving pope in history, after St. Peter and Pius IX.

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06/10/1977

The first prototype of the Mikoyan MiG-29, designated 9-01, makes its maiden flight.

The Mikoyan MiG-29 is a twin-engine fighter aircraft designed in the Soviet Union. Developed by the Mikoyan design bureau as an air superiority fighter during the 1970s, the MiG-29, along with the larger Sukhoi Su-27, was developed to counter U.S. fighters such as the McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle and the General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon. The MiG-29 entered service with the Soviet Air Forces in 1983.

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06/10/1976

Cubana de Aviación Flight 455 is destroyed by two bombs, placed on board by an anti-Castro militant group.

Cubana de Aviación Flight 455 was a domestic Cuban flight from Barbados to Jamaica that was brought down on 6 October 1976 by a terrorist bomb attack. All 73 people on board the Douglas DC-8 aircraft were killed after two time bombs went off and the plane crashed into the sea. The crash killed every member of the Cuban national fencing team.

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Premier Hua Guofeng arrests the Gang of Four, ending the Cultural Revolution in China.

Hua Guofeng was a Chinese politician who served as chairman of the Chinese Communist Party and the 2nd premier of China. As the successor of Mao Zedong, Hua held the top offices of the government, party, and the military after the deaths of Mao and Premier Zhou Enlai, but was gradually forced out of power between December 1978 and June 1981, and subsequently retreated from the political limelight, though still remaining a member of the Central Committee until 2002.

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Dozens are killed by Thai police and right-wing paramilitaries in the Thammasat University massacre; afterwards, the Seni Pramoj government is toppled in a military coup led by Sangad Chaloryu.

The 6 October 1976 massacre, also known as the 6 October event in Thailand, was a violent crackdown by Thai police and lynching by right-wing paramilitaries and bystanders against leftist protesters who had occupied Bangkok's Thammasat University and the adjacent Sanam Luang, on 6 October 1976. Prior to the massacre, thousands of leftists, including students, workers and others, had been holding ongoing demonstrations against the return of exiled former Prime Minister Thanom Kittikachorn to Thailand since mid-September. Official reports state that 46 were killed and 167 were wounded, while unofficial reports state that more than 100 demonstrators were killed. In the "Documentation of Oct 6" project, historian Thongchai Winichakul argued that the official death toll should be 45, since one demonstrator died in jail after the incident.

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06/10/1973

Egypt and Syria launch coordinated attacks against Israel, beginning the Yom Kippur War.

Operation Badr, also known as Plan Badr, was an Egyptian military offensive and operation across the Suez Canal that destroyed the Bar-Lev Line, a chain of Israeli fortifications along the frontline of the Israeli-occupied Sinai Peninsula, on 6 October 1973. It was launched in conjunction with a Syrian military offensive against the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, triggering the Yom Kippur War. During the War of Attrition, which preceded Operation Badr, both Egypt and Syria had been seeking to recover the territories that Israel had captured from them during the 1967 Arab–Israeli War.

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06/10/1944

World War II: Units of the 1st Czechoslovak Army Corps enter Czechoslovakia during the Battle of the Dukla Pass.

The 1st Czechoslovak Army Corps, also known as Svoboda's Army, was a military formation of the Czechoslovak Army in exile fighting on the Eastern Front alongside the Soviet Red Army in World War II.

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06/10/1943

World War II: Thirteen civilians are burnt alive by a paramilitary group in Crete during the Nazi occupation of Greece.

The Burnings of Kali Sykia is one of many atrocities perpetrated in Greece by Fritz Schubert and his people during the Nazi occupation of Greece in World War II. On October 6, 1943, 13 individuals were killed by being burned alive in the mountainous village of Kali Sykia, in Rethymno, Crete.

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06/10/1942

World War II: American troops force the Japanese from their positions east of the Matanikau River during the Battle of Guadalcanal.

The Actions along the Matanikau—sometimes referred to as the Second and Third Battles of the Matanikau—were two separate but related engagements between the United States and Imperial Japanese naval and ground forces in the Pacific theater of World War II. The actions occurred around the Matanikau River on Guadalcanal Island in the southwestern Pacific during the Guadalcanal campaign. These particular engagements—the first taking place between 23 and 27 September, and the second between 6 and 9 October—were two of the largest and most significant of the Matanikau actions.

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06/10/1939

World War II: The Battle of Kock is the final combat of the September Campaign in Poland.

World War II, or the Second World War, was a global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies and the Axis powers. Nearly all of the world's countries participated. Tanks and aircraft played major roles, the latter enabling the strategic bombing of cities and delivery of the only nuclear weapons used in war. World War II was the deadliest conflict in history, causing the death of 60 to 75 million people. Millions died as a result of massacres, starvation, disease, and genocides, including the Holocaust. After the Allied victory, Germany, Austria, Japan, and Korea were occupied, and German and Japanese leaders were tried for war crimes.

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06/10/1934

Revolution of 1934: The President of the autonomous government of Catalonia, Lluís Companys, proclaims the Catalan State with the support of the Worker's Alliance.

The events of 6 October were a general strike, armed insurgency and declaration of a Catalan State in Catalonia during the Revolution of 1934 on 6 October 1934.

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06/10/1927

Opening of The Jazz Singer, the first prominent "talkie" movie.

The Jazz Singer is a 1927 American part-talkie musical drama film directed by Alan Crosland and produced by Warner Bros. Pictures. It is the first feature-length motion picture with both synchronized recorded music and lip-synchronous singing and speech. Its release heralded the commercial ascendance of sound films and effectively marked the end of the silent film era with the Vitaphone sound-on-disc system, featuring six songs performed by Al Jolson. Based on the 1925 play of the same title by Samson Raphaelson, the plot was adapted from his short story "The Day of Atonement".

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06/10/1923

The Turkish National Movement enters Constantinople.

The Turkish National Movement, also known as the Anatolian Movement, the Nationalist Movement, and the Kemalists, included political and military activities of the Turkish revolutionaries that resulted in the creation and shaping of the modern Republic of Turkey, as a consequence of the defeat of the Ottoman Empire in World War I and the subsequent occupation of Constantinople and partitioning of the Ottoman Empire by the Allies under the terms of the Armistice of Mudros. The Turkish revolutionaries rebelled against this partitioning and against the Treaty of Sèvres, signed in 1920 by the Ottoman government. Most revolutionaries were former members of the Committee of Union and Progress.

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06/10/1920

Ukrainian War of Independence: The Starobilsk agreement is signed by representatives of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic and the Makhnovshchina.

The Ukrainian War of Independence, also referred to as the Ukrainian–Soviet War in Ukraine, lasted from March 1917 to November 1921 and was part of the wider Russian Civil War. It saw the establishment and development of an independent Ukrainian republic, most of which was absorbed into the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic between 1919 and 1920. The Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic was one of the constituent republics of the Soviet Union between 1922 and 1991.

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06/10/1915

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, or the First World War, also known as the Great War, was a global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies and the Central Powers. Major areas of conflict included Europe and the Middle East, as well as parts of Africa and the Asia-Pacific. The war saw important developments in weaponry including tanks, aircraft, artillery, machine guns, and chemical weapons. One of the deadliest conflicts in history, it resulted in an estimated 15 to 22 million military and civilian casualties and genocide. The movement of large numbers of people was a major factor in the deadly Spanish flu pandemic.

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World War I: Entente forces land in Thessaloniki, to open the Macedonian front against the Central Powers.

The Allies or the Entente was an international military coalition of countries led by the French Republic, the United Kingdom, the Russian Empire, the United States, the Kingdom of Italy, and the Empire of Japan against the Central Powers of the German Empire, Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire, and the Tsardom of Bulgaria in World War I (1914–1918).

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06/10/1910

Eleftherios Venizelos is elected Prime Minister of Greece for the first of seven times.

Eleftherios Kyriakou Venizelos was a Cretan Greek statesman and prominent leader of the Greek national liberation movement. As the leader of the Liberal Party, Venizelos served as prime minister of Greece for over 12 years, spanning eight terms from 1910 to 1933.

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06/10/1908

The Bosnian crisis erupts when Austria-Hungary formally annexes Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The Bosnian Crisis, also known as the Annexation Crisis or the First Balkan Crisis, erupted on 5 October 1908 when Austria-Hungary announced the annexation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, territories formerly within the sovereignty of the Ottoman Empire but under Austro-Hungarian administration since 1878.

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06/10/1903

The High Court of Australia sits for the first time.

The High Court of Australia is the apex court of the Australian legal system. It exercises original and appellate jurisdiction on matters specified in the Constitution of Australia and supplementary legislation.

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06/10/1898

Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia, the largest American music fraternity, is founded at the New England Conservatory of Music.

Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia Fraternity of America (ΦΜΑ) is an American collegiate social fraternity for men with a special interest in music. The fraternity is open to men "who, through a love for music, can assist in the fulfillment of [its] object and ideals either by adopting music as a profession or by working to advance the cause of music in America." Phi Mu Alpha has initiated more than 260,000 members, known as Sinfonians, and the fraternity currently has over 7,000 active collegiate members in 249 collegiate chapters throughout the United States.

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06/10/1884

The Naval War College of the United States is founded in Rhode Island.

The Naval War College is the staff college and "Home of Thought" for the United States Navy at Naval Station Newport in Newport, Rhode Island. The NWC educates and develops leaders, supports defining the future Navy and associated roles and missions, supports combat readiness, and strengthens global maritime partnerships.

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06/10/1854

In England the Great fire of Newcastle and Gateshead leads to 53 deaths and hundreds injured.

The great fire of Gateshead and Newcastle was a tragic and spectacular series of events starting on Friday 6 October 1854, in which a substantial amount of property in two North East England towns was destroyed in a series of fires and an explosion which killed 53 and injured hundreds. There is only one building still extant on the Newcastle Quayside which predated the fire.

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06/10/1849

The execution of the 13 Martyrs of Arad after the Hungarian war of independence.

The Thirteen Martyrs of Arad were the thirteen Hungarian rebel generals who were executed by the Austrian Empire on 6 October 1849 in the city of Arad, then part of the Kingdom of Hungary, after the Hungarian Revolution (1848–1849). The execution was ordered by the Austrian general Julius Jacob von Haynau.

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06/10/1810

A large fire destroys a third of all the buildings in the town of Raahe in the Grand Duchy of Finland.

Raahe is a town in Finland, located on the western coast of the country. Raahe is situated in the North Ostrobothnia region, along the Gulf of Bothnia. The population of Raahe is approximately 23,000, while the sub-region has a population of approximately 31,000. It is the 43rd most populous municipality in Finland.

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06/10/1789

French Revolution: King Louis XVI is forced to change his residence from Versailles to the Tuileries Palace.

The French Revolution was a period of political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the Coup of 18 Brumaire on 9 November 1799. Many of the revolution's ideas are considered fundamental principles of liberal democracy, and its values remain central to modern French political discourse. It was caused by a combination of social, political, and economic factors which the existing regime proved unable to manage.

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06/10/1777

American Revolutionary War: British forces capture Forts Clinton and Montgomery on the Hudson River.

The American Revolutionary War, also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was the armed conflict that comprised the final eight years of the broader American Revolution, in which American Patriot forces organized as the Continental Army and commanded by George Washington defeated the British Army. The conflict was fought in North America, the Caribbean, and the Atlantic Ocean. The war's outcome seemed uncertain for most of the war, but Washington and the Continental Army's decisive victory in the Siege of Yorktown in 1781 led King George III and the Kingdom of Great Britain to negotiate an end to the war. In 1783, in the Treaty of Paris, the British monarchy acknowledged the independence of the Thirteen Colonies, leading to the establishment of the United States as an independent and sovereign nation.

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06/10/1762

Seven Years' War: The British capture Manila from Spain and occupy it.

The Seven Years' War, 1756 to 1763, was a global war fought by numerous great powers, primarily in Europe, with significant subsidiary campaigns in North America and the Indian subcontinent. The warring states were Great Britain and Prussia fighting against France and Austria, with other countries joining these coalitions: Portugal, Spain, Saxony, Sweden, and Russia. Related conflicts include the Third Silesian War, French and Indian War, Third Carnatic War, Anglo-Spanish War (1762–1763), and Spanish–Portuguese War. Winston Churchill later famously referred to the conflict as the "First World War" due to its truly global scale, with major campaigns spanning four continents.

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06/10/1683

Immigrant families found Germantown, Pennsylvania in the first major immigration of German people to America.

Germantown is an area in Northwest Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Founded by Palatine, Quaker, and Mennonite families in 1683 as an independent borough, it was absorbed into Philadelphia in 1854. The area, which is about six miles northwest from the city center, now consists of two neighborhoods: Germantown and East Germantown.

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06/10/1600

Euridice, the earliest surviving opera, receives its première performance, beginning the Baroque period.

Euridice is an opera by Jacopo Peri, with additional music by Giulio Caccini. It is the earliest surviving opera, Peri's earlier Dafne being lost. The libretto by Ottavio Rinuccini is based on books X and XI of Ovid's Metamorphoses which recount the story of the legendary musician Orpheus and his wife Euridice.

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06/10/1539

Spain's DeSoto expedition takes over the Apalachee capital of Anhaica for their winter quarters.

Hernando de Soto was a Spanish explorer and conquistador, who was involved in expeditions in Nicaragua and the Yucatan Peninsula. He played an important role in Francisco Pizarro's conquest of the Inca Empire in Peru, but is best known for leading the first European expedition deep into the territory of the modern-day United States. He is the first European documented as having crossed the Mississippi River.

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06/10/0618

Transition from Sui to Tang: Wang Shichong decisively defeats Li Mi at the Battle of Yanshi.

The transition from Sui to Tang (613–628), or simply the Sui-Tang transition, was the period of Chinese history between the end of the Sui dynasty and the start of the Tang dynasty. The Sui dynasty's territories were carved into a handful of short-lived states by its officials, generals, and agrarian rebel leaders. A process of elimination and annexation followed that ultimately culminated in the consolidation of the Tang dynasty by the former Sui general Li Yuan. Near the end of the Sui, Li Yuan installed the puppet child emperor Yang You. Li later executed Yang and proclaimed himself emperor of the new Tang dynasty.

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06/10/0404

Byzantine Empress Eudoxia dies from the miscarriage of her seventh pregnancy.

Year 404 (CDIV) was a leap year starting on Friday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Honorius and Aristaenetus. The denomination 404 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years.

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06/10/0023

Rebels decapitate Wang Mang , only Emperor of the Xin Dynasty, after his capital was sacked during a peasant rebellion.

AD 23 (XXIII) was a common year starting on Friday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Pollio and Vetus. The denomination AD 23 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years.

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01/01/1970

Third Mithridatic War: The military of the Roman Republic subdues Armenia.

The Third Mithridatic War, the last and longest of the three Mithridatic Wars, was fought between Mithridates VI of Pontus and the Roman Republic. Both sides were joined by a great number of allies, dragging the entire east of the Mediterranean and large parts of Asia into the war. The conflict ended in defeat for Mithridates; it ended the Pontic Kingdom and the Seleucid Empire, and also resulted in the Kingdom of Armenia becoming an allied client state of Rome.

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01/01/1970

Cimbrian War: Defeat at the Battle of Arausio of the Roman army of the mid-Republic

The Cimbrian or Cimbric War was fought between the Roman Republic and the Germanic and Celtic tribes of the Cimbri and the Teutons, Ambrones and Tigurini, who migrated from the Jutland peninsula into Roman-controlled territory, and clashed with Rome and her allies. The Cimbrian War was the first time since the Second Punic War that Italia and Rome itself had been seriously threatened. It was the first of many confrontations with Germanic tribes in Roman history that would last for centuries.

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