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This day in history

This day in history: 4 July

Events, births and deaths on this date, ordered by how many people look them up.

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Events91

Born on this day · Died on this day239 · 142

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Key facts

472 historical events, births and deaths are listed for 4 July.
Entries come from Wikipedia’s day pages and are ordered by page views.
2025: A devastating flood strikes the Texas Hill Country, killing at least 108 people.

Holidays and observances

Christian feast day: Andrew of Crete

Christian feast day: Antoine Daniel

Christian feast day: Bertha of Artois

Christian feast day: Blessed Catherine Jarrige

Christian feast day: Blessed Józef Kowalski

Christian feast day: Elizabeth of Aragon (or of Portugal)

Christian feast day: July 4 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)

Christian feast day: Oda of Canterbury

Christian feast day: Pier Giorgio Frassati

Christian feast day: Ulrich of Augsburg

Independence Day (United States)

Events

2025A devastating flood strikes the Texas Hill Country, killing at least 108 people.

2025The Oasis Live '25 tour begins in Principality Stadium, Cardiff, ending a 16-year hiatus.

2024The Labour Party, led by Keir Starmer, wins a landslide majority in the 2024 United Kingdom general election, ending 14 years of Conservative government.

2015Chile claims its first title in international football by defeating Argentina in the 2015 Copa América final.

2012The discovery of particles consistent with the Higgs boson at the Large Hadron Collider is announced at CERN.

2009The first of four days of bombings begins on the southern Philippine island group of Mindanao.

2009The Statue of Liberty's crown reopens to the public after eight years of closure due to security concerns following the September 11 attacks.

2008A bomb explodes at a concert in Minsk's Independence Square, injuring 50 people.

2006Space Shuttle program: Discovery launches STS-121 to the International Space Station. The event gained wide media attention as it was the only shuttle launch in the program's history to occur on the United States' Independence Day.

2005The Deep Impact collider hits the comet Tempel 1.

2004Greece beats Portugal in the UEFA Euro 2004 Final and becomes European Champion for first time in its history.

2004The cornerstone of the Freedom Tower is laid on the World Trade Center site in New York City.

2002A Boeing 707 crashes near Bangui M'Poko International Airport in Bangui, Central African Republic, killing 28.

2001Vladivostok Air Flight 352 crashes on approach to Irkutsk Airport killing all 145 people on board.

1998Japan launches the Nozomi probe to Mars, joining the United States and Russia as a space exploring nation.

1997NASA's Pathfinder space probe lands on the surface of Mars.

1994Rwandan genocide: Kigali, the Rwandan capital, is captured by the Rwandan Patriotic Front, ending the genocide in the city.

1982Space Shuttle program: Columbia lands at Edwards Air Force Base at the end of the program's final test flight, STS-4. President Ronald Reagan declares the Space Shuttle to be operational.

1982Three Iranian diplomats and a journalist are kidnapped in Lebanon by Phalange forces, and their fate remains unknown.

1977The George Jackson Brigade plants a bomb at the main power substation for the Washington state capitol in Olympia, in solidarity with a prison strike at the Walla Walla State Penitentiary Intensive Security Unit.

1976Israeli commandos raid Entebbe airport in Uganda, rescuing all but four of the passengers and crew of an Air France jetliner seized by Palestinian terrorists.

1973Barbados, Guyana, Jamaica, and Trinidad and Tobago sign the Treaty of Chaguaramas in Chaguaramas, Trinidad and Tobago establishing the Caribbean Community (CARICOM). It replaces the Caribbean Free Trade Association as another step towards C

1966U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Freedom of Information Act into United States law. The act went into effect the next year.

1961On its maiden voyage, the Soviet nuclear-powered submarine K-19 suffers a complete loss of coolant to its reactor. The crew are able to effect repairs, but 22 of them die of radiation poisoning over the following two years.

1960The 50-star flag of the United States debuts in Philadelphia following the admission of Hawaii as the 50th U.S. state over ten months prior (August 21, 1959), in accordance with the Flag Acts.

1954Food rationing in Great Britain ends, with the lifting of restrictions on sale and purchase of meat, 14 years after it began early in World War II, and nearly a decade after the war's end.

1951Cold War: A court in Czechoslovakia sentences American journalist William N. Oatis to ten years in prison on charges of espionage.

1951William Shockley announces the invention of the junction transistor.

1950Cold War: Radio Free Europe first broadcasts.

1947The "Indian Independence Bill" is presented before the British House of Commons, proposing the independence of the Provinces of British India into two sovereign countries: India and Pakistan.

1946After 381 years of near-continuous colonial rule by various powers, the Philippines attains full independence from the United States.

1946The Kielce pogrom against Jewish Holocaust survivors in Poland.

1943World War II: In Gibraltar, a Royal Air Force B-24 Liberator bomber crashes into the sea in an apparent accident moments after takeoff, killing sixteen passengers on board, including general Władysław Sikorski, the commander-in-chief of the

1943World War II: The Battle of Kursk, the largest full-scale battle in history and the world's largest tank battle, begins in the village of Prokhorovka.

1942World War II: The 250-day Siege of Sevastopol in the Crimea ends when the city falls to Axis forces.

1941Nazi crimes against the Polish nation: Nazi troops massacre Polish scientists and writers in the captured Ukrainian city of Lviv.

1941World War II: The Burning of the Riga synagogues: The Great Choral Synagogue in German-occupied Riga is burnt with 300 Jews locked in the basement.

1939Lou Gehrig, recently diagnosed with Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, informs a crowd at Yankee Stadium that he considers himself "The luckiest man on the face of the earth", then announces his retirement from major league baseball.

1927First flight of the Lockheed Vega.

1918Mehmed V died at the age of 73 and Ottoman sultan Mehmed VI ascends to the throne.

Born on this day

2003Polina Bogusevich, Russian singer

1999Moa Kikuchi, Japanese musician

1995Post Malone, American rapper, singer, songwriter and record producer

1993Tom Barkhuizen, English footballer

1992Ángel Romero, Paraguayan footballer

1992Óscar Romero, Paraguayan footballer

1990Ihar Yasinski, Belarusian footballer

1990Jake Gardiner, American ice hockey player

1990Naoki Yamada, Japanese footballer

1990Richard Mpong, Ghanaian footballer

1989Benjamin Büchel, Liechtensteiner footballer

1988Angelique Boyer, French-Mexican actress

1987Guram Kashia, Georgian footballer

1987Wude Ayalew, Ethiopian runner

1986Marte Elden, Norwegian skier

1986Nguyen Ngoc Duy, Vietnamese footballer

1986Ömer Aşık, Turkish basketball player

1986Rafael Arévalo, Salvadoran tennis player

1986Terrance Knighton, American football player

1986Willem Janssen, Dutch footballer

1985Dimitrios Mavroeidis, Greek basketball player

1985Kane Tenace, Australian footballer

1985Wason Rentería, Colombian footballer

1984Jin Akanishi, Japanese singer-songwriter

1983Amantle Montsho, Botswanan sprinter

1983Amol Rajan, Indian-English journalist

1983Mattia Serafini, Italian footballer

1983Melanie Fiona, Canadian singer-songwriter

1983Miguel Pinto, Chilean footballer

1982Jeff Lima, New Zealand rugby league player

1982Michael "The Situation" Sorrentino, American model, author and television personality

1982Vladimir Boisa, Georgian basketball player

1982Vladimir Gusev, Russian cyclist

1981Brock Berlin, American football player

1981Christoph Preuß, German footballer

1981Dedé, Angolan footballer

1981Francisco Cruceta, Dominican baseball player

1981Will Smith, American football player (died 2016)

1980Kwame Steede, Bermudan footballer

1979Josh McCown, American football player

Died on this day

2025Bobby Jenks, American baseball player (born 1981)

2025Lyndon Byers, Canadian ice hockey player and radio host (born 1964)

2025Mark Snow, American composer for film and television (born 1946)

2025Peter Russell-Clarke, Australian chef, author and illustrator (born 1935)

2025Richard Greenberg, American playwright and television writer (born 1958)

2022Cláudio Hummes, Brazilian prelate of the Catholic Church (born 1934)

2022Kazuki Takahashi, Japanese manga artist (born 1961)

2021Harmoko, Indonesian politician, former parliament speaker and government minister (born 1939)

2021Matīss Kivlenieks, Latvian ice hockey goaltender (born 1996)

2018Henri Dirickx, Belgian footballer (born 1927)

2018Robby Müller, Dutch cinematographer (born 1940)

2017Daniil Granin, Soviet and Russian author (born 1919)

2017Gene Conley, American MLB player and NBA player (born 1930)

2017John Blackwell, American R&B, funk, and jazz drummer (born 1973)

2016Abbas Kiarostami, Iranian film director, screenwriter, poet, and photographer (born 1940)

2015Nedelcho Beronov, Bulgarian judge and politician (born 1928)

2015William Conrad Gibbons, American historian, author, and academic (born 1926)

2014C. J. Henderson, American author and critic (born 1951)

2014Earl Robinson, American baseball player (born 1936)

2014Giorgio Faletti, Italian author, screenwriter, and actor (born 1950)

2014Richard Mellon Scaife, American businessman (born 1932)

2013Bernie Nolan, Irish singer (born 1960)

2013Charles A. Hines, American general (born 1935)

2013Jack Crompton, English footballer and manager (born 1921)

2013James Fulton, American dermatologist and academic (born 1940)

2013Onllwyn Brace, Welsh rugby player and sportscaster (born 1932)

2012Eric Sykes, English actor, director, and screenwriter (born 1923)

2012Hiren Bhattacharyya, Indian poet and author (born 1932)

2012Jeong Min-hyeong, South Korean footballer (born 1987)

2012Jimmy Bivins, American boxer (born 1919)

Quote of the day

“Make the best use of what is in your power, and take the rest as it happens.”

Epictetus

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Where do the entries come from?

From Wikipedia’s on-this-day pages for this language, updated once a day and ordered by how often each article is read.

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