| 6 November 1632 | Sweden, Holy Roman Empire [Thirty Years War (1618–48)] | Bernhard, duke of Saxe-Weimar, succeeds King Gustavus II Adolphus of Sweden as general of the Swedish army when Gustavus is killed in action while defeating the army of the imperial commander Albrecht von Wallenstein at the Battle of Lützen, supported by the Saxon troops of military commander Hans Georg von Arnim. |
| 6 November 1632 | Sweden [political events] | Following the death of King Gustavus II Adolphus in battle, his daughter Christina, aged six, becomes queen of Sweden. She appoints Count Axel Oxenstjerna, chancellor since 1612, as regent. |
| 6 November 1650 | United Netherlands [political events] | The stadtholder (provincial governor) William II dies in the United Netherlands of smallpox, eight days before his heir, the future king William III of England, is born. By 1653, the Dutch statesman Johan de Witt assumes power in his role as Grand Pensionary. |
| 6 November 1657 | Denmark-Norway, Brandenburg, Holy Roman Empire, Germany, Poland, Russia, Sweden [treaties] | By the Treaty of Bromberg, Brandenburg allies with Poland against Sweden. Faced with the loss of his ally and a strengthened Austro-Polish alliance, King Charles X of Sweden withdraws from Poland, occupying Danish Jutland instead. |
| 6 November 1792 | France, Austrian Netherlands, Austria-HM, Belgium [French Revolutionary Wars (1792–1801)] | French forces under General Charles-François Dumouriez defeat an Austrian army at Jemappes, after which they take Brussels and overrun the Austrian Netherlands (Belgium). |
| 6 November 1813 | Mexico, Spain [decolonization] | Mexico declares itself independent of Spain. |
| 6 November 1860 | USA [elections] | In the US presidential election, Abraham Lincoln (Republican), opposing further extension of slavery, secures a majority of popular votes, but only 180 out of 303 electoral votes; John C Breckinridge (Southern Democrat) has 72 votes, John Bell (Constitutional Union), 39, and Stephen A Douglas (Northern Democrat), 12. |
| 6 November 1893 | Russia [births and deaths] | Peter Illyich Tchaikovsky, leading 19th-century Russian composer who, amongst a great variety of works, composed the music for the ballets Swan Lake, The Nutcracker, and Sleeping Beauty, dies in St Petersburg, Russia (53). |
| 6 November 1900 | USA [elections] | In the US presidential elections, the Republican candidate William McKinley is re-elected as president of the USA. In the Congressional elections, the Republicans retain majorities in the House (197–151) and Senate (55–31). |
| 6 November 1917 | Russia [Russian Revolution] | The ‘October Revolution’ takes place in Russia, Vladimir Ilyich Lenin and the Bolsheviks seizing the Winter Palace in Petrograd, Russia, on 7 and 8 November and overthrowing the provisional government. The revolution is named after the date on which it commences under the old Julian calendar (24 October). |
| 6 November 1932 | Germany [elections] | Further elections to the German Reichstag (parliament), after the inconclusive elections of 31 July, produce another deadlock, with some communist gains from Nazis. |
| 6 November 1937 | Italy, Germany, Japan [treaties] | Italy joins the German–Japanese Anti-Comintern Pact against international communism. |
| 6 November 1981 | UK [diplomacy] | The British prime minister Margaret Thatcher and the Irish Taoiseach (prime minister) Garret FitzGerald agree to establish an Anglo-Irish intergovernmental Council. Protest strikes break out in Northern Ireland on November 23. |
| 6–7 November 1989 | Southeast Asia [political events] | Members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) join Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, and South Korea in forming the Council for Asia–Pacific Economic Cooperation. |
| 6 November 2003 | UK [political parties] | Michael Howard is confirmed as the new leader of the opposition Conservative Party in the UK. |
