August 6
Atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima
1945: On this day an atomic bomb carried from Tinian Island in the Marianas in a specially equipped U.S. B-29 was dropped on the Japanese city of Hiroshima, at the southern end of Honshu. The combined heat and blast pulverized everything in the explosion's immediate vicinity, generated spontaneous fires that devastated almost 11.4 square km (4.4 square miles), and killed between 70,000 and 80,000 people, as well as injuring more than 70,000 others. Deaths from radiation injury mounted in later years. The U.S. military chose to use this monstrous weapon to bring World War II to a quick end.
1990: The UN Security Council imposed economic sanctions on Iraq, ruled by Saddam Hussein, for its invasion of Kuwait four days earlier.
1962: After 300 years of British rule, Jamaica became an independent country within the Commonwealth of Nations.
1940: Estonia lost its independence when the Soviet Union annexed the country.
1926: Gertrude Ederle, age 19, from New York became the first woman to swim the English Channel, breaking the men's record by nearly two hours.
1911: American radio and motion-picture actress and television comedian Lucille Ball was born.
1806: After a thousand years the Holy Roman Empire came to its official end, with the secession of its confederated states, as Emperor Francis II of Austria put down the imperial crown.
1660: The most important Spanish painter of the 17th century, Diego Velázquez, died in Madrid.
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