6 November is the 310th day of the year (311th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. 55 days remain until the end of the year. This Thursday in 2025 echoes with rebellions, elections and cries for freedom. While the world marks the International Day for Preventing the Exploitation of the Environment in War and Armed Conflict, Bihar is witnessing the first phase of its 243-seat electoral battle from Mangrol to Patna, people are turning the pages of history once again.
Abraham Lincoln elected 16th President of USA – 1860
On 6 November 1860, Republican Abraham Lincoln from Illinois was elected the 16th President of the United States. His victory against slavery pushed the southern states towards secession and four months later the American Civil War erupted. Lincoln’s win was not just America’s but the beginning of the end of slavery worldwide.
Gandhi launched the ‘Great March’ – 1913
In South Africa, on 6 November 1913, Mahatma Gandhi began the final 36-mile leg of the Great March from Charlestown to Volksrust with 2,037 Indian miners and workers, defying the £3 tax on ex-indentured labourers and racist immigration laws. Arrested the same day, re-arrested twice more, and finally jailed for nine months, Gandhi turned this mass satyagraha into a global thunderbolt that forced South Africa to scrap the tax in 1914.
Bolshevik Revolution began – 1917
6 November 1917 (24 October in the old Russian calendar) – the storming of the Winter Palace in Petrograd marked the start of the Bolshevik Revolution. Lenin’s forces overthrew the provisional government, giving birth to the world’s first communist state and changing 20th-century history forever.
Jefferson Davis elected President of the Confederacy – 1861
Exactly one year after Lincoln’s victory, on 6 November 1861, Jefferson Davis was elected to a six-year term as President of the Confederate States of America. This parallel election deepened the divide that would soon drown the nation in blood.
Herbert Hoover’s landslide victory – 1928
Republican Herbert Hoover crushed Democrat Al Smith on 6 November 1928 with the promise of “a chicken in every pot”. Weeks later the Wall Street Crash plunged America into the Great Depression, turning Hoover’s triumph into tragedy.
New York women get voting rights – 1917
On 6 November 1917, New York State granted women the right to vote in state elections – three years before the national 19th Amendment. This victory became a turning point in America’s suffrage movement.
Bihar Phase-1 Voting 2025 – Today
Right now, as history watches, 3.75 crore voters across 121 constituencies in 18 districts of Bihar are deciding the fate of Nitish Kumar’s 20-year rule. With 42.31% turnout recorded till 1 PM, Gopalganj leads at 46.73% while Patna lags at 37.72%. Tejashwi Yadav (Raghopur), Samrat Choudhary (Tarapur) and Prashant Kishor’s Jan Suraaj debut have turned this into a three-cornered war of generations.
From tobacco smoke frightening Spaniards in 1492 to the red flag rising over Petrograd, 6 November has always been the day when ordinary people flipped the roti of power. Today, Bihar is doing exactly that
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