August 6 in Russian history

1723: (July 26 Old style) The army of Peter I occupied Baku in Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan, like Armenia and Georgia, was at the time under the rule of Persia. The Georgian king Vakhtang VI and the head of the Armenian church Yesai asked Russia for protection against Persia and the Ottoman empire, who fought for the control over Caucasus. This suited Peter I and in 1722 he started a campaign against Persia in Caucasus. Russians left Astrakhan and descented near Derbent (in modern Dagestan, Russia). The sultan of Derbent asked the Persian shakh for assistance but after receiving nothing he surrendered. In the autumn, when the storms interrupted the supply, a large part of the Russian army returned to Astrakhan. The remaining soldiers under the command of the general-major Matyushkin took Resht. In the next year, Russian ships came to Baku. Matyushkin offered the city to surrender, promising them life and mercy of the Russian emperor. On the next day, the city surrendered. In September 1723, the Persian ambassador signed a treaty with Russia, giving up the eastern and southern shores of the Caspian Sea. The shakh, however, did not ratify the treaty. In 1724, Peter I sent to the Armenian patriarch Yesai the permission for the Armenians to settle in Gilan, Mazandaran, Baku and near the Caspian Sea. After the death of Peter I, the local inhabitants started rebellions against Russians. They were severely punished, which made the situation even worse. These rebellions and the threat of the attacks of the Ottoman empire made Russians to sign a new treaty with Persia and to concede Azerbaijan to Persia.

1851: (July 25 Old style) Russia and China sign the Treaty of Kulja, which regulated the trade between the countries and defined the status of the merchants. The first trade contacts between Russia and China are dated by the XIII century. The first treaties were the Treaty of Nerchinsk (1689) and the Treaty of Kyakhta (1727). The Treaty of Kulja was the first document which regulated the relations between Russia and China in the Middle Asian region. The countries defined the terms of the solving of conflicts, punishment for robbers, the security measures, etc. Russian merchants got access to Kulja and Chuguchak on the prerequisite that they obtain a permission. Otherwise, they had to pay fines and taxes imposed by the Chinese officials. Russia also asked for the permission to trade in Kashgar, but this city was not opened for the trade. Russian consulates were established in Kulja and Chuguchak.

1961: Spaceship Vostok-2, piloted by German Titov, is launched to the space. Titov became the first cosmonaut who proved that a man can survive in the space for more than one day. He was 25 years and 11 months old then and he remains the youngest man who was in space. He was often contrasted to Yuri Gagarin as a typical representative of "intelligentsia". Not that Gagarin was less educated or anything like that, but Titov knew music and literature, he read Pushkin, Lermontov and Mayakovsky by heart. He was born in the family of a teacher in a small village. Gagarin. on the other hand, was a son of a factory worker. Actually, this made Gagarin the first man in space. Khruschev decided that the first cosmonaut must have an irreproachable proletarian family. And yet, if something happened to Gagarin, Titov was ready to replace him in Vostok-1. After the flight, Titov graduated from the military engineering academy and became a test pilot. In 1962-1970 he was a deputy of the Supreme Council of the USSR. In 1993 and 1995 he participated in the Duma elections as a candidate of the Communist Party, but failed. Titov died on September 20, 2000. A crater on the dark side of the Moon was named after German Titov.