On this day in History - May 6

• 0680 - Muawiyah I, dies (b. 0602). Umayyad caliph.
• 1501 - Pope Marcellus II was born (d. 1555) .
• 1502 - James Tyrrell, who was supposed to have confessed to murdering the Princes in the Tower, was executed (b. c. 1450).
• 1527 - Spanish and German troops sack Rome; some consider this the end of the Renaissance.
• 1555 - Pope Marcellus II dies (b. 1501) .
• 1574 - Pope Innocent X was born (d. 1655) .
• 1682 - Louis XIV of France moves his court to Versailles.
• 1758 - Maximilien Robespierre, was born (d. 1794) .
• 1758 - André Masséna, was born (d. 1794). French soldier.
• 1769 - Ferdinand III, Grand Duke of Tuscany was born (d. 1824) .
• 1816 - The American Bible Society is founded in New York City.
• 1828 - Nasceu o arqueólogo português Estácio da Veiga .
• 1835 - James Gordon Bennett, Sr. publishes the first issue of the New York Herald.
• 1851 - A U.S. patent was issued to John Gorrie for his invention of an "Ice-making machine" (No. 8080). This was the first U.S. patent issued for a mechanical refrigerator.
• 1856 - Sigmund Freud, was born (d. 1939). Austrian psychiatrist, founder of psychoanalysis, best known for such works as Interpretation of Dreams (1900) and the New Introductory Lectures on Psychoanalysis (1933).
• 1856 - Robert Peary, was born (d. 1920). Explorer.
• 1859 - Alexander von Humboldt, dies (b. 1769). German naturalist and explorer.
• 1861 - American Civil War: Arkansas secedes from the Union.
• 1861 - Rabindranath Tagore, was born (d. 1941). Author. Nobel Prize in Literature 1913 .
• 1862 - Henry David Thoreau, dies (b. 1817) . Author and philosopher .
• 1863 - American Civil War: The Battle of Chancellorsville ends, with a defeat of the Army of the Potomac under General Joseph Hooker by Confederate troops under Stonewall Jackson.
• 1868 - Tsar Nicholas II of Russia was born (d. 1918) .
• 1868 - Gaston Leroux, was born (d. 1927). Writer.
• 1871 - Christian Morgenstern, was born (d. 1914). Author.
• 1871 - (François-Auguste) Victor Grignard was born (d. 13 Dec 1935). French chemist and corecipient (with Paul Sabatier) of the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1912, for his development of the Grignard reaction.
• 1877- Realizing that his people were weakened by cold and hunger, Chief Crazy Horse of the Oglala Sioux surrenders to United States troops in Nebraska.
• 1879 - Bedřich Hrozný, was born (d. 1952). Czech orientalist and linguist.
• 1880 - Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, was born (d. 1938). Painter.
• 1882 - Crown Prince Wilhelm of Germany,was born (d.1951). heir of Kaiser Wilhelm II.
• 1889 - The Eiffel Tower is officially opened to the public at the Universal Exposition in Paris.
• 1895 - Rudolph Valentino, was born (d. 1926). Actor.
• 1900 - Nascimento de Auto de Carvalho . Pintor e escritor brasileiro.
• 1902 - Max Ophüls, was born (d. 1957). Director.
• 1902 - Harry Golden, was born (d. 1981). U.S. journalist.
• 1902 - Bret Harte, dies (b. 1839). American author.
• 1904 - Moshe Feldenkrais, was born (d. 1984). Founder of the Feldenkrais method .
• 1908 - Em Portugal, D. Manuel II subiu ao trono.
• 1910 - King Edward VII of the United Kingdom dies (b. 1841) .
• 1910 - George V becomes King of the United Kingdom upon the death of his father, Edward VII.
• 1911 - George Maledon, dies. Hangman of 60 men.
• 1915 - Orson Welles, was born (d. 1985). Director.
• 1915 - Theodore H. White, was born (d. 1986). Writer.
• 1919 - L. Frank Baum, dies (b. 1856) . Writer.
• 1920 - Ross Hunter, was born (d. 1996). Producer.
• 1920 - Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara, was born (d. 2004). First Prime Minister and later President of Fiji .
• 1921 - Erich Fried, was born (d. 1988). Author.
• 1925 - Hanns Dieter Hüsch, was born. Cabaretist .
• 1931 - Willie Mays, was born. Baseball Hall of Famer .
• 1932 - O presidente francês Paul Doumer é assassinado em Paris por um exilado russo .
• 1935 - New Deal: Executive Order 7034 creates the Works Progress Administration (WPA).
• 1937 - Hindenburg disaster: The German zeppelin Hindenburg catches fire and is destroyed within a minute while attempting to dock at Lakehurst, New Jersey. Thirty six people are killed.
• 1937 - Rubin 'Hurricane' Carter, was born. Boxer .
• 1940 - John Steinbeck is awarded the Pulitzer Prize for his novel The Grapes of Wrath.
• 1941- At California's March Field Bob Hope performs his first USO show.
• 1942 - World War II: On Corregidor, the last American forces in the Philippines surrender to the Japanese.
• 1945 - World War II: Axis Sally delivers her last propaganda broadcast to Allied troops (first was on December 11, 1941).
• 1945 - Bob Seger, was born. Rock music singer .
• 1945 - Jimmie Dale Gilmore, was born. Musician, country singer, songwriter.
• 1947 - Martha Nussbaum, was born. Philosopher.
• 1949 - Maurice Maeterlinck, dies (b. 1862). Poet, playwright, essayist ( Nobel Prize 1911).
• 1949 - Morte do arquiteto holandês Johannes Andreas Brinkman .
• 1952 - Maria Montessori, dies (b. 1870). Educator.
• 1953 - Tony Blair, was born. Prime Minister of the United Kingdom .
• 1954 - Roger Bannister becomes the first person to run the mile in under four minutes.
• 1955 - Tom Bergeron, was born. Game show host .
• 1960 - John Flansburgh, was born. Musician .
• 1961 - George Clooney, was born. Actor .
• 1961 - Lucian Blaga, dies (b. 1895). Romanian poet, playwright, philosopher.
• 1962 - Guillermo León Valencia é eleito presidente da Colômbia.
• 1964 - Dana Hill, was born. Actress .
• 1966 - Myra Hindley and Ian Brady are sentenced to life imprisonment for the Moors Murders in England.
• 1970 - George Rivas, was born. Texas 7 ringleader .
• 1972 - Martin Brodeur,was born. Hockey player .
• 1974 - Em Portugal, foi fundado o Partido Popular Democrático.
• 1976 - Morte do compositor português José Guerra Vicente.
• 1976 - Nascimento de Ivan De La Peña. Jogador espanhol de futebol.
• 1981 - A jury of architects and sculptors unanimously selects Maya Ying Lin's design for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial from 1,421 other entries.
• 1984 - León Febres Cordero ganha as eleições presidenciais no Equador.
• 1987 - William Casey, dies (b. 1913). Head of the Central Intelligence Agency
• 1989 - In Lausanne, Switzerland, Riva win the thirty-fourth Eurovision Song Contest for Yugoslavia singing "Rock me".
• 1992 - Marlene Dietrich, dies (b. 1901). Actress.
• 1994 - Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom and French President François Mitterrand inaugurate the opening of the Chunnel – a tunnel under the English Channel linking England and France for the first time since the end of the Great Ice Age.
• 1999 - In New York, a parole board votes to release Amy Fisher, in prison for the last 7 years for shooting her lover's wife.
• 2002 - Renúncia do primeiro-ministro francês Lionel Jospin.
• 2002 - Jean-Pierre Raffarin becomes Prime Minister of France.
• 2002 - The World Wrestling Federation changes their name to World Wrestling Entertainment after losing a court battle with the World Wildlife Fund.
• 2004 - President Bush apologizes for the humiliation suffered by Iraqi prisoners at the hands of U.S. troops.
• 2004 - The last episode of the popular television sitcom Friends airs.
• Holocaust Remembrance Day in Israel (2005) .
• No Pants Day in 2005