August 6
Subject to Britannica's Privacy Policy and Terms of Use
1806: Francis II dissolves the Holy Roman Empire
On this day in 1806, Emperor Francis II of Austria dissolved the Holy Roman Empire after more than a millennium of history. Weakened by the French Revolution and Napoleon’s military victories, the empire could no longer survive. Rather than allow Napoleon to claim the imperial title, Francis abdicated as Holy Roman emperor, ending one of Europe’s longest-lasting political institutions.
READ MORE
© Nastasic—DigitalVision Vectors/Getty Images; Photo Illustration Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
Featured Event
U.S. Department of Energy
The United States dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan—the blast killed more than 70,000 people and destroyed most of the city—in an effort to hasten the end of World War II. [Watch news footage of the atomic bomb being dropped on Hiroshima.]
Featured Biography
Featured Biography
brandstaetter images—Hulton Fine Art Collection/Getty Images
Diego Velázquez—the most important Spanish painter of the 1600s, whose brilliant diversity of brushstrokes and subtle harmonies of color made him a forerunner of 19th-century French Impressionism—died this day in 1660.
Famous Birthdays
More on August 6
Kevin Fitzsimons/Comedy Central
2015
American comedian Jon Stewart hosted his last episode of The Daily Show, a satiric news program that became a leading forum for current events, especially politics. [Sort fact from fiction in our quiz about pop culture.]
NASA/JPL-Caltech
2012
NASA’s robotic vehicle Curiosity (also called Mars Science Laboratory) landed on Mars and soon began transmitting images of the planet’s surface. [Test your knowledge of space exploration.]
Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
1996
At the Palace in Los Angeles, the hugely influential punk rock band the Ramones played their last concert. [Take our quiz about musical groups.]
© Jacques Pavlovsky—Sygma/Getty Images
1990
The UN Security Council imposed economic sanctions on Iraq, ruled by Saddam Hussein, for its invasion of Kuwait four days earlier. [Sort fact from fiction in our quiz about the Middle East.]
Lyndon B. Johnson Library and Museum; photograph, Robert Knudsen
1965
U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act, which sought to overcome legal barriers at the state and local levels that prevented African Americans from exercising their right to vote; the legislation was weakened through several lawsuits in the 21st century. [Read about 10 milestones in U.S. civil rights history.]
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
1940
Estonia lost its independence when the Soviet Union annexed the country. [Sort fact from fiction in our quiz about European history.]
Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. (neg. no. ggbain 37118)
1926
Gertrude Ederle, age 19, of New York became the first woman to swim the English Channel, breaking the men’s record by nearly two hours. [Sort fact from fiction in our quiz about swimming.]
Photos.com/Thinkstock
1890
Convicted murderer William Kemmler became the first person to be executed by electric chair; he was put to death in Auburn State Prison, New York.
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
1825
© Photos.com/Getty Images
1809
English poet Alfred, Lord Tennyson, often regarded as the chief representative of the Victorian Age in poetry, was born in Somersby, Lincolnshire. [Test your knowledge of authors and poets.]