September 4

Historic Events

2024

A 14-year-old gunman kills four people and injures seven in a mass shooting at Apalachee High School near Winder, Georgia. ›

2022

Ten people are killed and 15 are injured in a stabbing spree in 13 locations on the James Smith Cree Nation and in Weldon, Saskatchewan. ›

2020

Pope Benedict XVI becomes the longest-lived pope, 93 years, four months, 16 days, surpassing Pope Leo XIII, who died in 1903. ›

2007

Three terrorists suspected to be a part of Al-Qaeda are arrested in Germany after allegedly planning attacks on both the Frankfurt International airport and US military installations. ›

2002

The Oakland Athletics win their 20th consecutive game, an American League record, until the Cleveland Indians surpassed it in 2017. ›

2001

Tokyo DisneySea opens to the public as part of the Tokyo Disney Resort in Urayasu, Chiba, Japan. ›

1998

Google is founded by Larry Page and Sergey Brin, two PhD students at Stanford University. ›

1995

The 1995 Okinawa rape occurs when 3 US servicemen abduct and rape a schoolchild. This would cause widespread protest against the US military presence on the prefecture. ›

1989

In Leipzig, East Germany, the first of weekly demonstration for the legalisation of opposition groups and democratic reforms takes place. ›

1985

The discovery of Buckminsterfullerene, the first fullerene molecule of carbon. ›

1977

The Golden Dragon massacre takes place in San Francisco. ›

1975

The Sinai Interim Agreement relating to the Arab–Israeli conflict is signed. ›

1972

Mark Spitz becomes the first competitor to win seven medals at a single Olympic Games. ›

1972

The Price Is Right premieres on CBS. It currently is the longest running game show on American television. ›

1971

Alaska Airlines Flight 1866 crashes near Juneau, Alaska, killing all 111 people on board. ›

1970

Salvador Allende is elected President of Chile. ›

1967

Vietnam War: Operation Swift begins when U.S. Marines engage the North Vietnamese in battle in the Que Son Valley. ›

1964

Scotland's Forth Road Bridge near Edinburgh officially opens. ›

1963

Swissair Flight 306 crashes near Dürrenäsch, Switzerland, killing all 80 people on board. ›

1957

American Civil Rights Movement: Little Rock Crisis: The governor of Arkansas calls out the National Guard to prevent African American students from enrolling in Little Rock Central High School, resulting in the lawsuit Cooper v. Aaron the following year. ›

1951

The first live transcontinental television broadcast takes place in San Francisco, United States, from the Japanese Peace Treaty Conference. ›

1950

Darlington Raceway is the site of the inaugural Southern 500, the first 500-mile NASCAR race. ›

1949

Paul Robeson performs a second concert in Peekskill, New York eight days after the Peekskill riots. ›

1948

Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands abdicates for health reasons. ›

1944

World War II: The British 11th Armoured Division liberates the Belgian city of Antwerp. ›

1944

World War II: Finland exits from the war with Soviet Union. ›

1941

World War II: A German submarine makes the first attack of the war against a United States warship, the USS Greer. ›

1939

World War II: William J. Murphy commands the first Royal Air Force attack on Germany. ›

1936

Spanish Civil War: Largo Caballero forms a war cabinet to direct the republican war effort. ›

1923

Maiden flight of the first U.S. airship, the USS Shenandoah. ›

1919

Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, who founded the Republic of Turkey, gathers a congress in Sivas to make decisions as to the future of Anatolia and Thrace. ›

1912

Albanian rebels succeed in their revolt when the Ottoman Empire agrees to fulfill their demands ›

1888

George Eastman registers the trademark Kodak and receives a patent for his camera that uses roll film. ›

1886

American Indian Wars: After almost 30 years of fighting, Apache leader Geronimo, with his remaining warriors, surrenders to General Nelson Miles in Arizona. ›

1882

The Pearl Street Station in New York City becomes the first power plant to supply electricity to paying customers. ›

1870

Emperor Napoleon III of France is deposed and the Third Republic is declared. ›

1862

American Civil War Maryland Campaign: General Robert E. Lee takes the Army of Northern Virginia, and the war, into the North. ›

1839

Battle of Kowloon: British vessels open fire on Chinese war junks enforcing a food sales embargo on the British community in China in the first armed conflict of the First Opium War. ›

1827

The Great Fire of Turku almost completely destroys Finland's former capital city. ›

1813

Future U.S. president Andrew Jackson is shot in a tavern brawl with future U.S. Senator Thomas Hart Benton and others. ›

1812

War of 1812: The Siege of Fort Harrison begins when the fort is set on fire. ›

1800

The French garrison in Valletta surrenders to British troops who had been called at the invitation of the Maltese. The islands of Malta and Gozo become the Malta Protectorate. ›

1797

Coup of 18 Fructidor in France. ›

1781

Los Angeles is founded as El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora La Reina de los Ángeles (The Village of Our Lady, the Queen of the Angels) by 44 Spanish settlers. ›

1774

New Caledonia is first sighted by Europeans, during the second voyage of Captain James Cook. ›

1746

The Treaty of Kerden concludes the Ottoman–Persian War (1743–1746). ›

1666

In London, England, the most destructive damage from the Great Fire occurs. ›

1607

The Flight of the Earls takes place in Ireland (14 September N.S.). ›

1479

The Treaty of Alcáçovas is signed by the Catholic Monarchs of Castile and Aragon on one side and Afonso V and his son, Prince John of Portugal. ›

1282

Peter III of Aragon is proclaimed King of Sicily in Palermo. ›

1260

The Sienese Ghibellines, supported by the forces of Manfred, King of Sicily, defeat the Florentine Guelphs at Montaperti. ›

929

Battle of Lenzen: Slavic forces (the Redarii and the Obotrites) are defeated by a Saxon army near the fortified stronghold of Lenzen in Brandenburg. ›

626

Li Shimin, posthumously known as Emperor Taizong of Tang, assumes the throne over the Tang dynasty of China. ›

476

Romulus Augustulus is deposed when Odoacer proclaims himself "King of Italy", thus ending the Western Roman Empire. ›