Today in History: Civil war erupted in Nigeria over Biafran independence

The following are some of the major events to have occurred on July 6:

1919 – The first airship to cross the Atlantic, the British R-34, arrived in New York.

1942 – Diarist Anne Frank and her family took refuge from the Nazis in Amsterdam.

1962 – William Faulkner, U.S. novelist and Nobel Prize winner, died. 

1967 – Civil war erupted in Nigeria over Biafran independence.

The Nigerian Civil War (also known as the Biafran War) officially erupted on July 6, 1967, when federal troops advanced into the secessionist Republic of Biafra. This devastating 30-month conflict was triggered by ethnic violence, political instability, and Biafra's declaration of independence in May 1967.

The conflict began on July 6, 1967, and officially concluded on January 15, 1970. It was marked by extreme humanitarian crises and mass blockades, resulting in the loss of up to 3 million lives, many of whom died from starvation. 

1971 – Louis Armstrong, jazz musician, died. His groups, the Hot Five and the Hot Seven, from 1925 to 1927, had a revolutionary impact on jazz.

1994 – Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin pleaded for time and PLO chairman Yasser Arafat pleaded for money when they jointly received a United Nations peace prize in Paris.

1998 – Roy Rogers, U.S. film actor known as “the singing cowboy”, died.

1999 – Labour Party leader Ehud Barak was sworn in as Israel’s new prime minister after defeating rightist Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu by a landslide in the May election.

2005 – U.S. President George Bush celebrates his 59th birthday with the Queen of Denmark.

2008 – Rafael Nadal beat Roger Federer to become the first Spaniard in over four decades to win the Wimbledon men’s singles crown.

2013 – Train derailment in Lac Megantic, Quebec includes explosion of tank cars carrying petroleum products.

(Reuters)