August 4Birthdays & History

On this day: August 4 in history

Oldest first. Tap a year to see it on the World Chronicle timeline.

1. 70 BCThe trial against Gaius Verres for corruption is opened, with Marcus Tullius Cicero as prosecutor and renowned orator Quintus Hortensius as defending lawyer.Europe
2. 598Goguryeo-Sui War: In response to a Goguryeo (Korean) incursion into Liaoxi, Emperor Wéndi of Sui orders his youngest son, Yang Liang (assisted by the co-prime minister Gao Jiong), to conquer Goguryeo during the Manchurian rainy season, with a Chinese army and navy.Asia
3. 1265Second Barons' War: Battle of Evesham: The army of Prince Edward (the future king Edward I of England) defeats the forces of rebellious barons led by Simon de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester, killing de Montfort and many of his allies.Europe
4. 1320The so-called Black Parliament at Scone tries William II de Soules and other nobles who had plotted against Robert I of Scotland and intended to place William on the Scottish throne.Europe
5. 1327First War of Scottish Independence: James Douglas leads a raid into Weardale and almost kills Edward III of England.Europe
6. 1578Battle of Al Kasr al Kebir: The Moroccans defeat the Portuguese but both the Moroccan king Abd al-Malik and the Portuguese king Sebastian die. Ahmad al-Mansur follows Abd al-Malik as sultan of Morocco while the death of Sebastian leads to a succession crisis in Portugal.EuropeAfrica
7. 1693Date traditionally ascribed to Dom Perignon's invention of champagne; it is not clear whether he actually invented champagne, however he has been credited as an innovator who developed the techniques used to perfect sparkling wine.Europe
8. 1701Great Peace of Montreal between New France and First Nations is signed.North AmericaEurope
9. 1704War of the Spanish Succession: Gibraltar is captured by an English and Dutch fleet, commanded by Admiral Sir George Rooke and allied with Archduke Charles.Europe
10. 1781Fourth Anglo-Dutch War, a fleet of six East India Company ships sets sail from Fort Marlborough to raid the Dutch VOC factories on the West coast of Sumatra including the major port of Padang.EuropeAsia
11. 1783Mount Asama erupts in Japan, killing about 1,400 people (Tenmei eruption). The eruption causes a famine, which results in an additional 20,000 deaths.Asia
12. 1789France: abolition of feudalism by the National Constituent Assembly.Europe
13. 1790A newly passed tariff act creates the Revenue Cutter Service (the forerunner of the United States Coast Guard).North America
14. 1791The Treaty of Sistova is signed, ending the Ottoman–Habsburg wars.Middle EastEurope
15. 1796French Revolutionary Wars: Napoleon leads the French Army of Italy to victory in the Battle of Lonato.Europe
16. 1814War of 1812: The ultimately unsuccessful Siege of Fort Erie begins as British forces attempt to recapture the fort and drive American forces out of Canada.EuropeNorth America
17. 1821The Saturday Evening Post is published for the first time as a weekly newspaper.North America
18. 1854The Hinomaru is established as the official flag to be flown from Japanese ships.Asia
19. 1863Matica slovenská, Slovakia's public-law cultural and scientific institution focusing on topics around the Slovak nation, is established in Martin.Europe
20. 1873American Indian Wars: While protecting a railroad survey party in Montana, the United States 7th Cavalry, under Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer clashes for the first time with the Cheyenne and Lakota people near the Tongue River; only one man on each side is killed.North America
21. 1887Granny, a sea anemone, died in Edinburgh after nearly 60 years in captivity. Her death was reported in The Scotsman and The New York Times.EuropeNorth America
22. 1889The Great Fire of Spokane, Washington destroys some 32 blocks of the city, prompting a mass rebuilding project.North America
23. 1892The father and stepmother of Lizzie Borden are found murdered in their Fall River, Massachusetts home. She will be tried and acquitted for the crimes a year later.North America
24. 1914World War I: In response to the German invasion of Belgium, Belgium and the British Empire declare war on Germany. The United States declares its neutrality.EuropeNorth America
25. 1915World War I: The German 12th Army occupies Warsaw during the Gorlice–Tarnów Offensive and the Great Retreat of 1915.Europe
26. 1921Bolshevik–Makhnovist conflict: Mikhail Frunze declares victory over the Makhnovshchina.Europe
27. 1922Enver Pasha dies in a skirmish between the Bolshevik Red Army and Basmachi troops, to whom he had defected earlier.Asia
28. 1924Diplomatic relations between Mexico and the Soviet Union are established.Latin AmericaEurope
29. 1936Prime Minister of Greece Ioannis Metaxas suspends parliament and the Constitution and establishes the 4th of August Regime.Europe
30. 1944Under the state of emergency law, the Finnish Parliament elects Marshal C. G. E. Mannerheim as the President of Finland to replace the resigned Risto Ryti.Europe
31. 1944The Holocaust: A tip from a Dutch informer leads the Gestapo to a sealed-off area in an Amsterdam warehouse, where they find and arrest Jewish diarist Anne Frank, her family, and four others.Europe
32. 1946An earthquake of magnitude 8.0 hits northern Dominican Republic. One hundred are killed and 20,000 are left homeless.Latin America
33. 1947The Supreme Court of Japan is established.Asia
34. 1964Second Gulf of Tonkin Incident: U.S. destroyers USS Maddox and USS Turner Joy mistakenly report coming under attack in the Gulf of Tonkin.North America
35. 1964Civil rights movement: Civil rights workers Michael Schwerner, Andrew Goodman and James Chaney are found dead in Mississippi after disappearing on June 21.North America
36. 1965The Constitution of the Cook Islands comes into force, giving the Cook Islands self-governing status within New Zealand.Oceania
37. 1969Vietnam War: At the apartment of French intermediary Jean Sainteny in Paris, American representative Henry Kissinger and North Vietnamese representative Xuân Thuỷ begin secret peace negotiations. The negotiations will eventually fail.AsiaEuropeNorth America
38. 1972Ugandan President Idi Amin announces that Uganda is no longer responsible for the care of British subjects of Asian origin, beginning the expulsions of Ugandan Asians.AfricaEuropeAsia
39. 1974A bomb explodes in the Italicus Express train at San Benedetto Val di Sambro, Italy, killing 12 people and wounding 22.Europe
40. 1975The Japanese Red Army takes more than 50 hostages at the AIA Building housing several embassies in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The hostages include the U.S. consul and the Swedish Chargé d'affaires. The gunmen win the release of five imprisoned comrades and fly with them to Libya.AsiaAsiaNorth America
41. 1977U.S. President Jimmy Carter signs legislation creating the United States Department of Energy.North America
42. 1983Jean-Baptiste Ouédraogo, president of the military government of Upper Volta, is ousted from power in a coup d'état led by Captain Thomas Sankara.Africa
43. 1984The Ariane 3 rocket is launched for the first time, carrying the Eutelsat I F-2 and Télécom 1A satellites into geosynchronous transfer orbit.Latin America
44. 1984The Republic of Upper Volta changes its name to Burkina Faso.Africa
45. 1987The Federal Communications Commission rescinds the Fairness Doctrine which had required radio and television stations to give equal time to opposing views.North America
46. 1995Operation Storm, the last major battle of the Croatian War of Independence begins.Europe
47. 2006A massacre is carried out by Sri Lankan government forces, killing 17 employees of the French INGO Action Against Hunger (known internationally as Action Contre la Faim, or ACF).AsiaEurope
48. 2007NASA's Phoenix Mars lander is launched.North America
49. 2018Crisis in Venezuela: Seven people are injured when two drones detonate explosives on Avenida Bolívar, Caracas while president Nicolás Maduro is giving a speech to the Venezuelan National Guard.Latin America
50. 2018Syrian civil war: The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) expel the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) from the Iraq–Syria border, concluding the second phase of the Deir ez-Zor campaign.Middle East
51. 2019Nine people are killed and 26 injured in a shooting in Dayton, Ohio. This comes only 13 hours after another mass shooting in El Paso, Texas, where 23 people were killed.North America
52. 2020Beirut Port explosion: At least 220 people are killed and over 5,000 are wounded when 2,700 tons of ammonium nitrate explodes in Beirut, Lebanon.Middle East

Source: Wikipedia "August 4" / CC BY-SA 4.0