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This day in history

This day in history: 4 October

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

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Born on this day · Died on this day236 · 100

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Key facts

386 historical events, births and deaths are listed for 4 October.
Entries come from Wikipedia’s day pages and are ordered by page views.
1917: World War I: The Battle of Broodseinde is fought between the British and German armies in Flanders.

Holidays and observances

Christian feast day: Amun

Christian feast day: Aurea of Paris

Christian feast day: Blessed Francis Xavier Seelos

Christian feast day: Francis of Assisi Conclusion of Creationtide

Christian feast day: October 4 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)

Christian feast day: Petronius of Bologna

Cinnamon Roll Day (Sweden and Finland)

Day of Peace and Reconciliation (Mozambique)

Feast of St Francis of Assisi patron saints of Italy.

Independence Day, celebrates the independence of Lesotho from the United Kingdom in 1966.

The beginning of World Space Week (International)

World Animal Day

Events

1917World War I: The Battle of Broodseinde is fought between the British and German armies in Flanders.

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.

1777American Revolutionary War: Troops under George Washington are repelled by British troops under William Howe.

1636Thirty Years' War: The Swedish Army defeats the armies of Saxony and the Holy Roman Empire at the Battle of Wittstock.

1853The Crimean War begins when the Ottoman Empire declares war on the Russian Empire.

1582The Gregorian Calendar is introduced by Pope Gregory XIII.

1993Battle of Mogadishu occurs killing 18 U.S. Special Forces, two UN Peacekeepers and at least 600 Somalian militia men and civilians.

1876The Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas (now known as Texas A&M) opens as the first public college in Texas.

2006WikiLeaks is launched.

2017Joint Nigerien-American Special Forces are ambushed by Islamic State militants outside the village of Tongo Tongo.

1957Sputnik 1 becomes the first artificial satellite to orbit the Earth.

1602Eighty Years' War and the Anglo-Spanish War: A fleet of Spanish galleys are defeated by English and Dutch galleons in the English Channel.

1965Pope Paul VI begins the first papal visit to the Americas.

1993Tanks bombard the Russian parliament, while demonstrators against President Yeltsin rally outside.

1693Nine Years' War: Piedmontese troops are defeated by the French.

1936The Metropolitan Police and various anti-fascist organizations violently clash in the Battle of Cable Street.

1883First run of the Orient Express.

1967Omar Ali Saifuddien III of Brunei abdicates in favour of his son.

1992El Al Flight 1862 crashes into two apartment buildings in Amsterdam, killing 43 including 39 on the ground.

1927Gutzon Borglum begins sculpting Mount Rushmore.

1997The second largest cash robbery in U.S. history occurs in North Carolina.

1830The Belgian Revolution takes legal form when the provisional government secedes from the Netherlands.

1511Formation of the Holy League of Aragon, the Papal States and Venice against France.

1985The Free Software Foundation is founded.

2004SpaceShipOne wins the Ansari X Prize for private spaceflight.

1795Napoleon first rises to prominence by suppressing counter-revolutionary rioters threatening the National Convention.

1958The current constitution of France is adopted.

1966Basutoland becomes independent from the United Kingdom and is renamed Lesotho.

1941Norman Rockwell's Willie Gillis character debuts on the cover of The Saturday Evening Post.

1209Otto IV is crowned Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire by Pope Innocent III.

1883First meeting of the Boys' Brigade in Glasgow, Scotland.

2001Siberia Airlines Flight 1812 crashes after being struck by an errant Ukrainian missile. Seventy-eight people are killed.

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.

1925Great Syrian Revolt: Rebels led by Fawzi al-Qawuqji capture Hama from the French Mandate of Syria.

1363Battle of Lake Poyang: In one of the largest naval battles in history, Zhu Yuanzhang's rebels defeat rival Chen Youliang.

1535The Coverdale Bible is printed, with translations into English by William Tyndale and Myles Coverdale.

1824Mexico adopts a new constitution and becomes a federal republic.

1963Hurricane Flora kills 6,000 in Cuba and Haiti.

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.

23Rebels sack the Chinese capital Chang'an during a peasant rebellion.

Born on this day

1991Leigh-Anne Pinnock, English singer and songwriter

1996Ella Balinska, English actress

1997Rishabh Pant, Indian cricketer

1994Mike Williams, American football player

1995Kenny Clark, American football player

1995Jeonghan, South Korean singer

1997Yuju, South Korean singer

1990Saki, Japanese guitarist and songwriter

1995Mikolas Josef, Czech singer and songwriter

1993Mitchell Swepson, Australian cricketer

1990Signy Aarna, Estonian footballer

1990Sergey Shubenkov, Russian hurdler

1989Dakota Johnson, American actress

1988Caner Erkin, Turkish footballer

1988Derrick Rose, American basketball player

1988Evgeni Krasnopolski, Israeli figure skater

1988Lonnie Chisenhall, American baseball player

1988Melissa Benoist, American actress and singer

1987Marina Weisband, German politician

1985Shontelle, Barbadian singer-songwriter

1985Thorsten Wiedemann, German rugby player

1984Karolina Tymińska, Polish heptathlete

1984Lena Katina, Russian singer-songwriter

1984Petri Kontiola, Finnish ice hockey player

1983Kurt Suzuki, American baseball player

1983Vicky Krieps, Luxembourgish actress

1982Ilhan Omar, American politician

1982Jered Weaver, American baseball player

1982Tony Gwynn Jr., American baseball player

1981Justin Williams, Canadian-American ice hockey player

1980James Jones, American basketball player

1980Sarah Fisher, American race car driver

1980Tomáš Rosický, Czech footballer

1979Adam Voges, Australian cricketer

1979Caitríona Balfe, Irish actress

1979Rachael Leigh Cook, American actress

1978Dana Davis, American actress and author

1978Kyle Lohse, American baseball player

1977Richard Reed Parry, Canadian guitarist, songwriter, and producer

1976Alicia Silverstone, American actress, producer, and author

Died on this day

2024Billy Shaw, American football player (born 1938)

2024Christopher Ciccone, American artist (born 1960)

2022Loretta Lynn, American singer-songwriter and musician (born 1932)

2020Clark Middleton, American actor (born 1957)

2020Kenzō Takada, Japanese-French fashion designer (born 1939)

2015Dave Pike, American vibraphone player and songwriter (born 1938)

2015Edida Nageswara Rao, Indian director and producer (born 1934)

2015Neal Walk, American basketball player (born 1948)

2014Fyodor Cherenkov, Russian footballer and manager (born 1959)

2014Hugo Carvana, Brazilian actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (born 1937)

2014Jean-Claude Duvalier, Haitian politician, 41st President of Haiti (born 1951)

2014Konrad Boehmer, German-Dutch composer and educator (born 1941)

2013Akira Miyoshi, Japanese composer (born 1933)

2013Diana Nasution, Indonesian singer (born 1958)

2013John Cloudsley-Thompson, Pakistani-English commander (born 1921)

2013Nicholas Oresko, American sergeant, Medal of Honor recipient (born 1917)

2013Ulric Cross, Trinidadian navigator, judge, and diplomat (born 1917)

2013Võ Nguyên Giáp, Vietnamese general and politician, 3rd Minister of Defence for Vietnam (born 1911)

2012David Atkinson, Canadian actor and singer (born 1921)

2012Stan Mudenge, Zimbabwean historian and politician, Zimbabwean Minister of Foreign Affairs (born 1941)

2012Tom Stannage, Australian footballer, historian, and academic (born 1944)

2011Doris Belack, American actress (born 1926)

2010Norman Wisdom, English actor, comedian, and singer-songwriter (born 1915)

2009Gerhard Kaufhold, German footballer (born 1928)

2009Günther Rall, German general and pilot (born 1918)

2007Qassem Al-Nasser, Jordanian general (born 1925)

2005Stanley K. Hathaway, American lawyer and politician, 40th United States Secretary of the Interior (born 1924)

2004Gordon Cooper, American colonel, engineer, and astronaut (born 1927)

2003Sid McMath, American lawyer and politician, 34th Governor of Arkansas (born 1912)

2002André Delvaux, Belgian-Spanish director and screenwriter (born 1926)

Quote of the day

“Think of yourself as dead. You have lived your life. Now take what is left and live it properly.”

Marcus Aurelius

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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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