October 4

Historic Events

2017

Joint Nigerien-American Special Forces are ambushed by Islamic State militants outside the village of Tongo Tongo. ›

2010

The Ajka plant accident in Hungary releases a million cubic metres of liquid alumina sludge, killing nine, injuring 122, and severely contaminating two major rivers. ›

2006

WikiLeaks is launched. ›

2004

SpaceShipOne wins the Ansari X Prize for private spaceflight. ›

2003

The Maxim restaurant suicide bombing in Israel kills twenty-one Israelis, both Jews and Arabs. ›

2001

Siberia Airlines Flight 1812 crashes after being struck by an errant Ukrainian missile. Seventy-eight people are killed. ›

1997

The second largest cash robbery in U.S. history occurs in North Carolina. ›

1993

Battle of Mogadishu occurs killing 18 U.S. Special Forces, two UN Peacekeepers and at least 600 Somalian militia men and civilians. ›

1993

Tanks bombard the Russian parliament, while demonstrators against President Yeltsin rally outside. ›

1992

The Rome General Peace Accords end a 16-year civil war in Mozambique. ›

1992

El Al Flight 1862 crashes into two apartment buildings in Amsterdam, killing 43 including 39 on the ground. ›

1991

The Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty is opened for signature. ›

1985

The Free Software Foundation is founded. ›

1983

Richard Noble sets a new land speed record of 633.468 miles per hour (1,019.468 km/h) at the Black Rock Desert in Nevada. ›

1967

Omar Ali Saifuddien III of Brunei abdicates in favour of his son. ›

1966

Basutoland becomes independent from the United Kingdom and is renamed Lesotho. ›

1965

Pope Paul VI begins the first papal visit to the Americas. ›

1963

Hurricane Flora kills 6,000 in Cuba and Haiti. ›

1960

Eastern Airlines flight 375 crashes on takeoff from Boston's Logan International Airport, killing 62 people of the 72 aboard. ›

1958

The current constitution of France is adopted. ›

1957

Sputnik 1 becomes the first artificial satellite to orbit the Earth. ›

1941

Norman Rockwell's Willie Gillis character debuts on the cover of The Saturday Evening Post. ›

1936

The Metropolitan Police and various anti-fascist organizations violently clash in the Battle of Cable Street. ›

1927

Gutzon Borglum begins sculpting Mount Rushmore. ›

1925

Great Syrian Revolt: Rebels led by Fawzi al-Qawuqji capture Hama from the French Mandate of Syria. ›

1925

S2, a Finnish Sokol class torpedo boat, sinks during a fierce storm near the coast of Pori in the Gulf of Bothnia, taking with it the whole crew of 53. ›

1920

The Mannerheim League for Child Welfare, a Finnish non-governmental organization, is founded on the initiative of Sophie Mannerheim. ›

1918

World War I: An explosion kills more than 100 people and destroys a Shell Loading Plant in New Jersey. ›

1917

World War I: The Battle of Broodseinde is fought between the British and German armies in Flanders. ›

1895

Horace Rawlins wins the first U.S. Open Men's Golf Championship. ›

1883

First run of the Orient Express. ›

1883

First meeting of the Boys' Brigade in Glasgow, Scotland. ›

1876

The Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas (now known as Texas A&M) opens as the first public college in Texas. ›

1862

American Civil War: The two-day Second Battle of Corinth ends in a Union victory, with General William Rosecrans protecting the critical rail junction of Corinth, Mississippi from Confederate forces under General Earl Van Dorn. ›

1853

The Crimean War begins when the Ottoman Empire declares war on the Russian Empire. ›

1830

The Belgian Revolution takes legal form when the provisional government secedes from the Netherlands. ›

1824

Mexico adopts a new constitution and becomes a federal republic. ›

1795

Napoleon first rises to prominence by suppressing counter-revolutionary rioters threatening the National Convention. ›

1777

American Revolutionary War: Troops under George Washington are repelled by British troops under William Howe. ›

1693

Nine Years' War: Piedmontese troops are defeated by the French. ›

1636

Thirty Years' War: The Swedish Army defeats the armies of Saxony and the Holy Roman Empire at the Battle of Wittstock. ›

1602

Eighty Years' War and the Anglo-Spanish War: A fleet of Spanish galleys are defeated by English and Dutch galleons in the English Channel. ›

1597

Governor Gonzalo Méndez de Canço begins to suppress a native uprising against his rule in what is now the US state of Georgia. ›

1582

The Gregorian Calendar is introduced by Pope Gregory XIII. ›

1535

The Coverdale Bible is printed, with translations into English by William Tyndale and Myles Coverdale. ›

1511

Formation of the Holy League of Aragon, the Papal States and Venice against France. ›

1363

Battle of Lake Poyang: In one of the largest naval battles in history, Zhu Yuanzhang's rebels defeat rival Chen Youliang. ›

1302

The Byzantine–Venetian War comes to an end. ›

1209

Otto IV is crowned Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire by Pope Innocent III. ›

23

Rebels sack the Chinese capital Chang'an during a peasant rebellion. ›