On This Day - What happened 6 February

This magnitude 6.2 event occurred during the night following the first event and struck the area just to the southwest. Most of the damage and casualties appear to have been caused by a tsunami that was set off by a major collapse of Monte Pací into the sea near Scilla shortly after the earthquake. Many of Scilla's residents, frightened by the tremors of the previous day had moved onto the open beach for the night, where they were overwhelmed by the waves. The tsunami caused severe flooding in the town, reaching as far as 200 m inland, and there were more than 1500 deaths.

Ronald Wilson Reagan was born on February 6, 1911, in an apartment on the second floor of a commercial building in Tampico, Illinois.

On February 6, 1919, the National Assembly met in the town of Weimar and formed the Weimar Coalition. They also elected SDP leader Friedrich Ebert as President of the Weimar Republic.

On 6 February 1921, Dalí's mother died of uterus cancer.

Italian defeats prompted Germany to deploy an expeditionary force to North Africa. Operation Sonnenblaume (6 February - 25 May) was the name given to the dispatch of German troops to North Africa in February 1941, The Italian 10th Army had been destroyed by the British and Allied Western Desert Force attacks during Operation Compass (9 December 1940 – 9 February 1941). Sonnenblume succeeded because the ability of the Germans to mount an offensive was underestimated by General Archbald Wavell, the Commander in Chief Middle East, the War Office and by Winston Churchill.

Bob Marley was born on 6 February 1945 at the farm of his maternal grandfather in Nine Mile, Saint Ann Parish, Jamaica.

On 6 February 1952, they were in Kenya when Elizabeth's father died and she became queen. It was Philip who broke the news to Elizabeth at Sagana Lodge, and the royal party immediately returned to the United Kingdom.

Churchill was nearly 77 when he took office and was not in good health following several minor strokes. By December, George VI had become concerned about Churchill's decline and intended to ask him to stand down in favor of Eden, but the King had his own serious health issues and died on 6 February without making the request.

George VI died on 6 February 1952, and her sister became Queen.

In Kilby's patent application of 6 February 1959, Kilby described his new device as "a body of semiconductor material ... wherein all the components of the electronic circuit are completely integrated".

On February 6, 1964, King delivered the inaugural speech of a lecture series initiated at the New School called "The American Race Crisis".

The Prince proposed on 6 February 1981, and Lady Diana accepted, but their engagement was kept secret for the next few weeks.

In Operation Fajr al-Nasr (Before the Dawn/Dawn of Victory), launched 6 February 1983, the Iranians shifted focus from the southern to the central and northern sectors. Employing 200,000 "last reserve" Revolutionary Guard troops, Iran attacked along a 40 km (25 mi) stretch near al-Amarah, Iraq, about 200 km (120 mi) southeast of Baghdad, in an attempt to reach the highways connecting northern and southern Iraq. The attack was stalled by 60 km (37 mi) of hilly escarpments, forests, and river torrents blanketing the way to al-Amarah, but the Iraqis could not force the Iranians back. Iran directed artillery on Basra, Al Amarah, and Mandali.

On 7 February 1984, during the first war of the cities, Saddam ordered his air force to attack eleven Iranian cities.

On 6 February, UN Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali formally requested NATO to confirm that future requests for air strikes would be carried out immediately.

The Rambouillet talks began on 6 February 1999, with NATO Secretary-General Javier Solana negotiating with both sides. They were intended to conclude by 19 February.

The videos were played in the Senate on February 6, featuring 30 excerpts of Lewinsky discussing her affidavit in the Paula Jones case, the hiding of small gifts Clinton had given her, and his involvement in procurement of a job for Lewinsky.

O'Neal was also featured in Aaron Carter's 2001 hit single "That's How I Beat Shaq". Shaq also appears on the music video for the release.

On February 6, 2002, Sun Microsystems released J2SE 1.4.

Gaga performed as the headlining act during the Super Bowl LI halftime show in 2017. Her performance featured a group of hundreds of lighted drones forming various shapes in the sky above Houston's NRG Stadium. It attracted 117.5 million viewers in the United States, exceeding the game's total of 113.3 million viewers. The performance led to a surge of 410,000 song downloads in the U.S. for Gaga and earned her an Emmy nomination.

On 6 February 2017, Elizabeth became the first British monarch to commemorate a Sapphire Jubilee.

The 21st Sultan of Turkey, Ahmed II, passed away at the age of 51.

A French composer and organist, Cheron, born in Paris, France.

Charles II, King of England, Scotland, and Ireland, passed away at the age of 54.

The Swiss mathematician, born in the Netherlands, was named Nicolaus II Bernoulli.

The war on France was declared by Britain.

Antoine Arnauld was born in Paris, France.

The Last Letters of Jacopo Ortis was written by Ugo Foscolo, an Italian poet, who was born in Zakynthos Island, Greece.