Today in History: U.S. drops atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan, killing at least 117,000 in 1945

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

1914 – Austria-Hungary declared war on Russia, and Serbia declared war on Germany in World War One.

1926 – American Gertrude Ederle became the first woman to swim the English Channel, taking just over 14 hours.

1932 – The first annual film festival began in Venice. Italy, France, Germany, Britain, the United States and the Soviet Union took part.

1945 – The U.S. Air Force dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan. It was carried by the B-29 bomber “Enola Gay”. At least 117,000 people were killed.

1952 – Plane crash causes fatal fire on carrier USS Boxer.

1962 – Jamaica became independent after 300 years of British rule.

1978 – Pope Paul VI, who succeeded John XXIII in 1963, died. A conservative, he reaffirmed the Roman Catholic Church’s prohibition of artificial birth control in his encyclical “Humanae Vitae”. He was succeeded by John Paul I.

1996 – U.S. scientists said they had found evidence of ancient life on Mars in remnants of a meteorite discovered in Antarctica.

2005 – Former British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook, who quit government over the 2003 invasion of Iraq, died. He was 59.

2012 – NASA’s Curiosity rover lands on Mars.

2016 – Players take part in the world’s first “Pokemon Go” competition in Hong Kong.