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This day in history

This day in history: 4 August

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

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Key facts

351 historical events, births and deaths are listed for 4 August.
Entries come from Wikipedia’s day pages and are ordered by page views.
2020: Beirut 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.

Holidays and observances

2020 Beirut explosion commemoration day in Lebanon

Barack Obama Day in Illinois in the United States

Christian feast day: Aristarchus

Christian feast day: August 4 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)

Christian feast day: Blessed Cecilia Cesarini

Christian feast day: Blessed Frédéric Janssoone

Christian feast day: Euphronius

Christian feast day: John Vianney

Christian feast day: Molua (or Lua)

Christian feast day: Raynerius of Split

Christian feast day: Sithney, patron saint of mad dogs

Coast Guard Day (United States)

Events

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.

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.

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.

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.

2007NASA's Phoenix Mars lander is launched.

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).

1995Operation Storm, the last major battle of the Croatian War of Independence begins.

1987The Federal Communications Commission rescinds the Fairness Doctrine which had required radio and television stations to give equal time to opposing views.

1984The Ariane 3 rocket is launched for the first time, carrying the Eutelsat I F-2 and Télécom 1A satellites into geosynchronous transfer orbit.

1984The Republic of Upper Volta changes its name to Burkina Faso.

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.

1977U.S. President Jimmy Carter signs legislation creating the United States Department of Energy.

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

1974A bomb explodes in the Italicus Express train at San Benedetto Val di Sambro, Italy, killing 12 people and wounding 22.

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.

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.

1965The Constitution of the Cook Islands comes into force, giving the Cook Islands self-governing status within New Zealand.

1964Civil rights movement: Civil rights workers Michael Schwerner, Andrew Goodman and James Chaney are found dead in Mississippi after disappearing on June 21.

1964Second Gulf of Tonkin Incident: U.S. destroyers USS Maddox and USS Turner Joy mistakenly report coming under attack in the Gulf of Tonkin.

1947The Supreme Court of Japan is established.

1946An earthquake of magnitude 8.0 hits northern Dominican Republic. One hundred are killed and 20,000 are left homeless.

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.

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.

1936Prime Minister of Greece Ioannis Metaxas suspends parliament and the Constitution and establishes the 4th of August Regime.

1924Diplomatic relations between Mexico and the Soviet Union are established.

1922Enver Pasha dies in a skirmish between the Bolshevik Red Army and Basmachi troops, to whom he had defected earlier.

1921Bolshevik–Makhnovist conflict: Mikhail Frunze declares victory over the Makhnovshchina.

1915World War I: The German 12th Army occupies Warsaw during the Gorlice–Tarnów Offensive and the Great Retreat of 1915.

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.

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.

1889The Great Fire of Spokane, Washington destroys some 32 blocks of the city, prompting a mass rebuilding project.

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.

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;

1863Matica slovenská, Slovakia's public-law cultural and scientific institution focusing on topics around the Slovak nation, is established in Martin.

1854The Hinomaru is established as the official flag to be flown from Japanese ships.

1821The Saturday Evening Post is published for the first time as a weekly newspaper.

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.

1796French Revolutionary Wars: Napoleon leads the French Army of Italy to victory in the Battle of Lonato.

1791The Treaty of Sistova is signed, ending the Ottoman–Habsburg wars.

1790A newly passed tariff act creates the Revenue Cutter Service (the forerunner of the United States Coast Guard).

Born on this day

1998Lil Skies, American rapper

1995Bruna Marquezine, Brazilian actress

1994Bobby Shmurda, American rapper

1992Cole Sprouse, American actor

1992Daniele Garozzo, Italian fencer

1992Domingo Germán, Dominican baseball player

1992Dylan Sprouse, American actor

1989Jessica Mauboy, Australian singer-songwriter and actress

1989Wang Hao, Chinese chess grandmaster

1988Kelley O'Hara, American soccer player

1987Marreese Speights American basketball player

1986Cicinho, Brazilian footballer

1986David Williams, Australian rugby league player

1986Iosia Soliola, New Zealand-Samoan rugby league player

1986Leon Camier, English motorcycle racer

1986Nick Augusto, American drummer

1985Antonio Valencia, Ecuadorean footballer

1985Crystal Bowersox, American singer-songwriter and guitarist

1985Ha Seung-jin, South Korean basketball player

1985Mark Milligan, Australian footballer

1985Robbie Findley, American soccer player

1984Mardy Collins, American basketball player

1984Terry Campese, Australian rugby league player

1983Greta Gerwig, American actress, producer, and screenwriter

1981Marques Houston, American singer-songwriter, producer, and actor

1981Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, American member of British royal family, media personality and actress

1980Richard Dawson, English cricketer and coach

1979Robin Peterson, South African cricketer

1978Agnė Eggerth, Lithuanian sprinter

1978Jeremy Adduono, Canadian ice hockey player and coach

1978Kurt Busch, American race car driver

1978Luke Allen, American baseball player (died 2022)

1978Per-Åge Skrøder, Norwegian ice hockey player

1978Ricardo Serrano, Spanish cyclist

1978Satoshi Hino, Japanese voice actor

1977Frankie Kazarian, American wrestler

1977Luís Boa Morte, Portuguese footballer and manager

1976Andrew McLeod, Australian footballer

1976Paul Goldstein, American tennis player

1976Trevor Woodman, English rugby player and coach

Died on this day

2024Charles Cyphers, American actor (born 1939)

2024Duane Thomas, American football player (born 1947)

2024Tsung-Dao Lee, Chinese-American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1926)

2023Dalia Fadila, Israeli educator (born 1971/1972)

2019Nuon Chea, Cambodian politician and theorist for the Khmer Rouge (born 1926)

2015Billy Sherrill, American songwriter and producer (born 1936)

2015Elsie Hillman, American philanthropist and politician (born 1925)

2015John Rudometkin, American basketball player (born 1940)

2015Les Munro, New Zealand soldier and pilot (born 1919)

2014Chester Crandell, American lawyer and politician (born 1946)

2014Jake Hooker, Israeli-American guitarist and songwriter (born 1953)

2014James Brady, American activist and politician, 15th White House Press Secretary (born 1940)

2013Art Donovan, American football player and radio host (born 1925)

2013Keith H. Basso, American anthropologist and academic (born 1940)

2013Olavi J. Mattila, Finnish engineer and politician, Finnish Minister of Foreign Affairs (born 1918)

2013Renato Ruggiero, Italian lawyer and politician, Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs (born 1930)

2013Sandy Woodward, English admiral (born 1932)

2013Tony Snell, English lieutenant and pilot (born 1922)

2012Brian Crozier, Australian-English journalist and historian (born 1918)

2012Bud Riley, American football player and coach (born 1925)

2012Johnnie Bassett, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (born 1935)

2011Naoki Matsuda, Japanese footballer (born 1977)

2009Blake Snyder, American screenwriter and producer (born 1957)

2008Craig Jones, English motorcycle racer (born 1985)

2007Lee Hazlewood, American singer-songwriter and producer (born 1929)

2007Raul Hilberg, Austrian-American political scientist and historian (born 1926)

2005Anatoly Larkin, Russian-American physicist and theorist (born 1932)

2005Iván Szabó, Hungarian economist and politician, Minister of Finance of Hungary (born 1934)

2004Hossein Panahi (Persian: حسین پناهی), Iranian actor and poet (born 1956)

2004Mary Sherman Morgan, American chemist and engineer (born 1921)

Quote of the day

“Before enlightenment, chop wood, carry water. After enlightenment, chop wood, carry water.”

Zen proverb

Questions people ask

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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