This Day That Year

September 6

in History

Battle of the Frigidus — The last pagan emperor falls at the river's edge
Janez_Vajkard_Valvasor_-_Bitka_med_Teodozijem_in_Evgenijem.jpg - Wikimedia Commons
Vipava Valley, SloveniaClassical
394

Battle of the Frigidus

The last pagan emperor falls at the river's edge

On the banks of the Frigidus River in the Julian Alps, Emperor Theodosius I defeated the usurper Eugenius in a battle that would determine the religious future of the Roman Empire. Eugenius, supported by Rome's last pagan aristocrats, was killed. Arbogast committed suicide two days later. Christianity's dominance over the empire was now irreversible.

394 AD
W.A.C. Bennett Was Born — British Columbia's longest-serving premier
WAC_Bennett_-_1942.jpg - Wikimedia Commons
British Columbia, CanadaEarly 20th Century
1900

W.A.C. Bennett Was Born

British Columbia's longest-serving premier

William Andrew Cecil Bennett was born in Hastings, New Brunswick, before moving to British Columbia, where he would dominate provincial politics for two decades. As the twenty-fifth premier from 1952 to 1972, Bennett oversaw massive infrastructure development that transformed the province. His twenty-year tenure remains the longest of any premier in BC history.

1900 AD