April 4

Historic Events

2025

The impeachment of President Yoon Suk Yeol of South Korea in response to his declaration of martial law is unanimously upheld by the country's Constitutional Court, ending his presidency. ›

2024

Russo-Ukrainian war: The Battle of Chasiv Yar begins. ›

2023

Finland becomes a member of NATO after Turkey accepts its membership request. ›

2020

China holds a national day of mourning for martyrs who died in the fight against the novel coronavirus disease outbreak. ›

2017

Syria conducts an air strike on Khan Shaykhun using chemical weapons, killing 89 civilians. ›

2013

Seventy-four people are killed in a building collapse in Thane, India. ›

2011

Georgian Airways Flight 834 crashes at N'djili Airport in Kinshasa, killing 32. ›

2010

A magnitude 7.2 earthquake hits south of the Mexico-USA border, killing at least two and damaging buildings across the two countries. ›

2009

France announces its return to full participation of its military forces within NATO. ›

2002

The MPLA government of Angola and UNITA rebels sign a peace treaty ending the Angolan Civil War. ›

1997

Space Shuttle program: Space Shuttle Columbia is launched on STS-83. However, the mission is later cut short due to a fuel cell problem. ›

1996

Comet Hyakutake is imaged by the USA Asteroid Orbiter Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous. ›

1994

Three people are killed when KLM Cityhopper Flight 433 crashes at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol. ›

1991

Senator John Heinz of Pennsylvania and six others are killed when a helicopter collides with their airplane over an elementary school in Merion, Pennsylvania. ›

1991

Forty-one people are taken hostage inside a Good Guys! Electronics store in Sacramento, California. Three of the hostage takers and three hostages are killed. ›

1990

The current flag of Hong Kong is adopted for post-colonial Hong Kong during the Third Session of the Seventh National People's Congress. ›

1988

Governor Evan Mecham of Arizona is convicted in his impeachment trial and removed from office. ›

1987

Garuda Indonesia Flight 032 crashes at Medan Airport, killing 23. ›

1984

President Ronald Reagan calls for an international ban on chemical weapons. ›

1983

Space Shuttle program: Space Shuttle Challenger makes its maiden voyage into space on STS-6. ›

1981

Iran–Iraq War: The Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force mounts an attack on H-3 Airbase and destroys about 50 Iraqi aircraft. ›

1979

Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto of Pakistan is executed. ›

1977

Southern Airways Flight 242 crashes in New Hope, Paulding County, Georgia, killing 72. ›

1975

Microsoft is founded as a partnership between Bill Gates and Paul Allen in Albuquerque, New Mexico. ›

1973

The Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York City are officially dedicated. ›

1973

A Lockheed C-141 Starlifter, dubbed the Hanoi Taxi, makes the last flight of Operation Homecoming. ›

1969

Dr. Denton Cooley implants the first temporary artificial heart. ›

1968

Martin Luther King Jr. is assassinated by James Earl Ray at a motel in Memphis, Tennessee. ›

1968

Apollo program: NASA launches Apollo 6. ›

1967

Martin Luther King Jr. delivers his "Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence" speech in New York City's Riverside Church. ›

1964

The Beatles occupy the top five positions on the Billboard Hot 100 pop chart. ›

1963

Bye Bye Birdie, a musical romantic comedy film directed by George Sidney, was released. ›

1960

France agrees to grant independence to the Mali Federation, a union of Senegal and French Sudan. ›

1958

The CND peace symbol is displayed in public for the first time in London. ›

1949

Cold War: Twelve nations sign the North Atlantic Treaty creating the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. ›

1946

Greek judge and archeologist Panagiotis Poulitsas is appointed Prime Minister of Greece in the midst of the Greek Civil War. ›

1945

World War II: United States Army troops liberate Ohrdruf forced labor camp in Germany. ›

1945

World War II: United States Army troops capture Kassel. ›

1945

World War II: Soviet Red Army troops liberate Hungary from German occupation. ›

1944

World War II: First bombardment of oil refineries in Bucharest by Anglo-American forces kills 3,000 civilians. ›

1933

U.S. Navy airship USS Akron is wrecked off the New Jersey coast due to severe weather. ›

1925

The Schutzstaffel (SS) is founded under Adolf Hitler's Nazi Party in Germany. ›

1920

The four-day Nebi Musa riots commence. ›

1913

First Balkan War: Greek aviator Emmanouil Argyropoulos becomes the first pilot to die in the Hellenic Air Force when his plane crashes. ›

1905

In India, an earthquake hits the Kangra Valley, killing 20,000, and destroying most buildings in Kangra, McLeod Ganj and Dharamshala. ›

1904

Two Ms ~7.1 earthquakes, among the largest in Europe, strike Bulgaria, killing over 200 people and causing destruction. ›

1894

Foyot bombing by the Russian or French state during the Ère des attentats. ›

1887

Argonia, Kansas elects Susanna M. Salter as the first female mayor in the United States. ›

1866

Alexander II of Russia narrowly escapes an assassination attempt by Dmitry Karakozov in the city of Saint Petersburg. ›

1865

American Civil War: A day after Union forces capture Richmond, Virginia, U.S. President Abraham Lincoln visits the Confederate capital. ›

1860

The declaration on the introduction of the Finnish markka as an official currency is read in different parts of the Grand Duchy of Finland. ›

1841

William Henry Harrison dies of pneumonia, becoming the first President of the United States to die in office, and setting the record for the briefest administration. Vice President John Tyler succeeds Harrison as President. ›

1818

The United States Congress, affirming the Second Continental Congress, adopts the flag of the United States with 13 red and white stripes and one star for each state (20 at that time). ›

1814

Napoleon abdicates (conditionally) for the first time and names his son Napoleon II as Emperor of the French, followed by unconditional abdication two days later. ›

1796

Georges Cuvier delivers the first paleontological lecture. ›

1660

Declaration of Breda by King Charles II of Great Britain promises, among other things, a general pardon to all royalists and opponents of the monarchy for crimes committed during the English Civil War and the Interregnum. ›

1609

Moriscos are expelled from the Kingdom of Valencia. ›

1581

Francis Drake is knighted by Queen Elizabeth I for completing a circumnavigation of the world. ›

1423

Death of the Venetian Doge Tommaso Mocenigo, under whose rule victories were achieved against the Kingdom of Hungary and against the Ottoman Empire at the Battle of Gallipoli (1416). ›

1268

A five-year Byzantine–Venetian peace treaty is concluded between Venetian envoys and Emperor Michael VIII Palaiologos. ›

801

King Louis the Pious captures Barcelona from the Moors after a siege of several months. ›

619

The Bijapur-Mumbai inscription is issued by Pulakeshin II, describing the Battle of Narmada.: 207 ›

611

Maya king Uneh Chan of Calakmul sacks rival city-state Palenque in southern Mexico. ›

190

Dong Zhuo has his troops evacuate the capital Luoyang and burn it to the ground. ›

503 BC

Roman consul Agrippa Menenius Lanatus celebrates a triumph for a military victory over the Sabines. ›