October 4Birthdays & History

On this day: October 4 in history

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

1. 23Rebels sack the Chinese capital Chang'an during a peasant rebellion.Asia
2. 1209Otto IV is crowned Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire by Pope Innocent III.Europe
3. 1302The Byzantine–Venetian War comes to an end.Europe
4. 1363Battle of Lake Poyang: In one of the largest naval battles in history, Zhu Yuanzhang's rebels defeat rival Chen Youliang.Asia
5. 1511Formation of the Holy League of Aragon, the Papal States and Venice against France.Europe
6. 1535The Coverdale Bible is printed, with translations into English by William Tyndale and Myles Coverdale.Europe
7. 1582The Gregorian Calendar is introduced by Pope Gregory XIII.Europe
8. 1597Governor Gonzalo Méndez de Canço begins to suppress a native uprising against his rule in what is now the US state of Georgia.North America
9. 1602Eighty Years' War and the Anglo-Spanish War: A fleet of Spanish galleys are defeated by English and Dutch galleons in the English Channel.Europe
10. 1636Thirty Years' War: The Swedish Army defeats the armies of Saxony and the Holy Roman Empire at the Battle of Wittstock.Europe
11. 1693Nine Years' War: Piedmontese troops are defeated by the French.Europe
12. 1777American Revolutionary War: Troops under George Washington are repelled by British troops under William Howe.North AmericaEurope
13. 1795Napoleon first rises to prominence by suppressing counter-revolutionary rioters threatening the National Convention.Europe
14. 1824Mexico adopts a new constitution and becomes a federal republic.Latin America
15. 1830The Belgian Revolution takes legal form when the provisional government secedes from the Netherlands.Europe
16. 1853The Crimean War begins when the Ottoman Empire declares war on the Russian Empire.EuropeMiddle East
17. 1862American 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.North America
18. 1876The Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas (now known as Texas A&M) opens as the first public college in Texas.North America
19. 1883First meeting of the Boys' Brigade in Glasgow, Scotland.Europe
20. 1883First run of the Orient Express.Europe
21. 1895Horace Rawlins wins the first U.S. Open Men's Golf Championship.North America
22. 1917World War I: The Battle of Broodseinde is fought between the British and German armies in Flanders.Europe
23. 1918World War I: An explosion kills more than 100 people and destroys a Shell Loading Plant in New Jersey.North America
24. 1920The Mannerheim League for Child Welfare, a Finnish non-governmental organization, is founded on the initiative of Sophie Mannerheim.Europe
25. 1925S2, 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.Europe
26. 1925Great Syrian Revolt: Rebels led by Fawzi al-Qawuqji capture Hama from the French Mandate of Syria.Middle EastEurope
27. 1927Gutzon Borglum begins sculpting Mount Rushmore.North America
28. 1936The Metropolitan Police and various anti-fascist organizations violently clash in the Battle of Cable Street.Europe
29. 1941Norman Rockwell's Willie Gillis character debuts on the cover of The Saturday Evening Post.North America
30. 1957Sputnik 1 becomes the first artificial satellite to orbit the Earth.Europe
31. 1958The current constitution of France is adopted.Europe
32. 1960Eastern Airlines flight 375 crashes on takeoff from Boston's Logan International Airport, killing 62 people of the 72 aboard.North America
33. 1963Hurricane Flora kills 6,000 in Cuba and Haiti.Latin America
34. 1965Pope Paul VI begins the first papal visit to the Americas.Europe
35. 1966Basutoland becomes independent from the United Kingdom and is renamed Lesotho.EuropeAfrica
36. 1967Omar Ali Saifuddien III of Brunei abdicates in favour of his son.Asia
37. 1983Richard 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.North America
38. 1985The Free Software Foundation is founded.North America
39. 1991The Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty is opened for signature.World
40. 1992The Rome General Peace Accords end a 16-year civil war in Mozambique.EuropeAfrica
41. 1992El Al Flight 1862 crashes into two apartment buildings in Amsterdam, killing 43 including 39 on the ground.Europe
42. 1993Battle of Mogadishu occurs killing 18 U.S. Special Forces, two UN Peacekeepers and at least 600 Somalian militia men and civilians.North America
43. 1993Tanks bombard the Russian parliament, while demonstrators against President Yeltsin rally outside.Europe
44. 1997The second largest cash robbery in U.S. history occurs in North Carolina.North America
45. 2001Siberia Airlines Flight 1812 crashes after being struck by an errant Ukrainian missile. Seventy-eight people are killed.Europe
46. 2003The Maxim restaurant suicide bombing in Israel kills twenty-one Israelis, both Jews and Arabs.Middle East
47. 2004SpaceShipOne wins the Ansari X Prize for private spaceflight.North America
48. 2006WikiLeaks is launched.World
49. 2010The Ajka plant accident in Hungary releases a million cubic metres of liquid alumina sludge, killing nine, injuring 122, and severely contaminating two major rivers.Europe
50. 2017Joint Nigerien-American Special Forces are ambushed by Islamic State militants outside the village of Tongo Tongo.North America

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