/year

July 4 in history

267 sourced entries recorded on July 4, from 68 CE to 2025 CE. Every line is quoted from the revision it came from.

Events

  • 414Emperor Theodosius II, age 13, yields power to his older sister Aelia Pulcheria, who reigns as regent and proclaims herself empress (Augusta) of the Eastern Roman Empire.source
  • 638Heraklonas, age 12, son of Heraclius, obtains (through the influence of his mother Martina) the title of Augustus. This brings him in rivalry with his elder half-brother Constantine.source
  • 836Pactum Sicardi: Prince Sicard of Benevento signs a 5-year armistice with the duchies of Sorrento, Naples and Amalfi. He recognizes the trade of merchants among the three cities in Southern Italy.source
  • 907July 4–6 – Battle of Pressburg: At "Brezalauspurc" (probably modern-day Bratislava in Slovakia), the advancing East Frankish army (60,000 men) is annihilated by the Hungarians led by Grand Prince Árpád. Duke Luitpold and Archbishop Dietmar I are killed, together with 19 dukes, 2 bishops and 3 abbots. The East Frankish Kingdom loses control of the March of Pannonia.source
  • 925At the age of 12, Shabbethai Donnolo, who will become one of the most prominent physicians in Italy and the doctor to the Byzantine court, is kidnapped by Arab slavers as a Fatimid expeditionary force, led by Jafar ibn Obeid, lands in Abruzzo in southern Italy and overruns Apulia and the city of Otranto. After defeating the Byzantine garrisons, the Arabs lay siege to the castle of Oria and destroy it, killing the defenders and taking the women and children as slaves back to North Africa. Donnolo's family pays a ransom and the Fatimid Amir Abu Ahmad Ja'far ibn 'Ubaid sets him free.source
  • 993Pope John XV issues a decree canonizing the late Bishop Ulrich of Augsburg, the first recorded canonization of a saint.source
  • 1054July 4 (approx.) – SN 1054, a supernova, is first observed by the Chinese, Arabs and possibly Native Americans, near the star Zeta Tauri. For 23 days it remains bright enough to be seen in daylight. Its remnants form the Crab Nebula (NGC 1952).source
  • 1187Battle of Hattin: Egyptian army under Saladin defeats the Crusader army (some 20,000 men) under Guy of Lusignan at the Horns of Hattin. Guy is captured along with many nobles and knights, among them, Raynald of Châtillon. The latter is executed by Saladin himself. The Crusader States have no reserves to defend the castles and fortified settlements against Saladin's forces.source
  • 1190King Richard I (the Lion Heart) and Philip II (Augustus), meet at Vézelay and agree to divide the spoils of the Crusade equally between themselves. They march to the coast and then make their way across the Mediterranean, taking different routes. Richard travels with an expeditionary force (some 17,000 men) via Marseille and Philip travels with a smaller contingent (some 15,000 men) via Genoa. Richard has some 100 ships at his disposal, several of which are from Norman ports, others from Shoreham and Southampton.source
  • 1221Pelagius orders a three-days fast in preparation for the advance. King John I of Jerusalem arrives at Damietta to rejoin the Crusade at the command of Honorius III. The Crusader force moves towards Sheremsah, halfway between Faraskur and Mansoura on the east bank of the Nile, occupying the city on July 12. Sources tell of 630 ships of various sizes, 5,000 knights, 4,000 archers, and 40,000 men. A horde of pilgrims march with the army. They are ordered to keep close to the river, to supply the Crusaders with water. Pelagius plans a new offensive and leaves a large garrison at Damietta.source
  • 1253William II, count of Holland, defeats the Flemish forces under Guy of Dampierre at Westkapelle. He forced him and his mother, Margaret II, to respect the division of Flanders and Hainaut.source
  • 1299Battle of Cape Orlando: An Aragonese-Angevin fleet (some 60 galleys) led by Admiral Roger of Lauria defeats a Sicilian fleet near Sicily. During the battle, the larger Aragonese fleet is trapped on a lee shore, but can exploit the situation with the intervention of its 6 reserve galleys. The Sicilians flee when the flagship, with King Frederick III of Sicily on board, pulls back after he collapses from heat exhaustion. Lauria captures 18 Sicilian ships, and orders the massacre of their crews to avenge the death of his nephew at the hands of Frederick.source
  • 1327During a banquet given by Galeazzo I Visconti in Milan, an attempt is apparently made to poison the guest of honor, Louis IV, newly crowned as King of Italy. Galeazzo's brother, Stefano Visconti, becomes ill after tasting food and drink intended for Louis and dies suddenly at home. Stefano's brothers Galeazzo, Giovanni, and Luchino, along with his nephew Azzone Visconti, are all imprisoned on orders of the Holy Roman Emperor based on accusations of a fourth brother, Marco Visconti.source
  • 1336Battle of Minatogawa: Ashikaga Takauji defeats Japanese Imperial forces, under Kusunoki Masashige and Nitta Yoshisada.source
  • 1359Francesco II Ordelaffi surrenders to the Papal commander, Gil de Albornoz.source
  • 1399While Richard II of England is away on a military campaign in Ireland, Henry Bolingbroke, with exiled former archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Arundel as an advisor, returns to England and begins a military campaign to reclaim his confiscated lands.source
  • 1415Pope Gregory XII officially opens the Council of Constance, and then abdicates. He is the last pope to resign, until Pope Benedict XVI in 2013.source
  • 1455King Danjong of Korea, ruler since the death in 1452 of his father, King Munjong, is forced to abdicate. He is promoted to the figurehead post of King Emeritus (Sangyang).source
  • 1460The cannons of the Tower of London, still in Lancastrian hands, are fired on the city of London, which is mostly in Yorkist. The Tower is surrendered on July 19.source
  • 1475Burgundian Wars: Edward IV of England lands in Calais, in support of the Duchy of Burgundy against France.source
  • 1489King James IV of Scotland gives royal assent to numerous acts passed by the Scottish Parliament, including the Siege of Castles held by Rebels Act 1489, and the renewal of alliances with France and Denmark.source
  • 1490John Corvinus, son of the late King Matthias Corvinus of Hungary and a claimant to the throne, is defeated by the Kingdom of Hungary at the Battle of Bonefield.source
  • 1516King James V of Scotland opens the Scottish Parliament at Edinburgh.source
  • 1519Martin Luther joins the debate regarding papal authority, against Johann Eck at Leipzig.source
  • 1522Brought on ships across the English Channel, an English fleet and army under the command of Thomas Howard, Earl of Surrey, attacks Brittany and Picardy after landing at Le Dourduff-en-Mer, near Calais, and burns and loots the countryside.source
  • 1530King François of France marries Eleanor of Austria, daughter of King Philip the Handsome of Castile and widow of King Manuel I of Portugal.source
  • 1534The Election of Christian III, as King of Denmark, takes place in the town of Rye.source
  • 1546After the death of Martin Luther, the leaders of the Lutheran Schmalkaldic League German states (Saxony, Hesse, the Palatinate, Württemberg, Pomerania and Anhalt-Köthen) gather at Ichtershausen as the guests of Saxon Elector John Frederick I in order to make plans to defend against the Roman Catholic forces of the Holy Roman Empire.source
  • 1568The second, official wedding between Eric XIV and Karin Månsdotter.source
  • 1572The city council of Haarlem, one of the largest cities of the Netherlands, votes to join the Dutch Revolt against King Philip II of Spain. King Philip orders sent an army north under command of Don Fadrique, son of the Duke of Alva, to lead an army to conquer the rebelling cities.source
  • 1589Jeremias II Tranos is appointed as the Patriarch of Constantinople, leader of the Eastern Orthodox Church, by Ottoman Sultan Murad III.source
  • 1601Archduke Albert applies to the States of Flanders, in session in Bruges, for a "half hundredth penny" (a tax of 0.5%) to finance the Siege of Ostend.source
  • 1604The Jesuits Act 1603 (officially "An Act for the due execution of the Statutes against Jesuits, seminary Priests and recusants") is given royal assent by King James I of England to create penalties against Jesuits and Catholics who send their children abroad to Catholic colleges.source
  • 1605A proclamation commands all Roman Catholic seminary priests and Jesuits to leave Ireland by December 10 and directs the laity to attend Church of Ireland services.source
  • 1605a proclamation commands all Roman Catholic seminary priests and Jesuits to leave the country by 10 December and directs the laity to attend Church of Ireland services.source
  • 1609French explorer Samuel de Champlain and his entourage of 60 men in 24 canoes become the first Europeans to enter Lake Champlain, located between the modern-day U.S. states of Vermont and New York.source
  • 1610(June 24 O.S.); Polish–Russian War – Battle of Klushino: The outnumbered forces of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth defeat the combined Russian and Swedish armies; Polish troops go on to occupy Moscow.source
  • 1610At the Battle of Klushino, the Polish‑Lithuanian Commonwealth forces under Stanisław Żółkiewski decisively defeat the numerically superior combined Russian and Swedish army, leading to the deposition of Tsar Vasily IV and the withdrawal of Swedish-supported forces from central Russia.source
  • 1612(8th waxing of Waso 974 ME) In what is now Myanmar, Min Khamaung becomes the new King of Arakan upon the death of his father, King Min Razagyi.source
  • 1626The Ottoman Army halts its attempt to retake Baghdad from the Persians, after having lost it in 1624.source
  • 1631400 Piedmontais raise the garrison of the castle of Nice, which is almost destroyed.source
  • 1634The city of Trois-Rivières is founded in New France, in what is the modern-day Canadian province of Quebec.source
  • 1634The trading post of Trois-Rivières is founded in New France (the modern-day Canadian province of Quebec).source
  • 1635Siege of Leuven raised.source
  • 1642The Committee of Safety is created by the English Parliament as a challenge to the authority of King Charles I. Five members of the House of Lords (Robert Devereux, 3rd Earl of Essex, Henry Rich, 1st Earl of Holland, Algernon Percy, 10th Earl of Northumberland, Philip Herbert, 4th Earl of Pembroke, and William Fiennes, 1st Viscount Saye and Sele) and ten members of the House of Commons (Nathaniel Fiennes, John Glynn, John Hampden, Denzil Holles, Henry Marten, John Merrick, William Pierrepoint, John Pym, Philip Stapleton and William Waller) are appointed to the Committee.source
  • 1646Pierre Teuleron, sieur de Repentigny, granted Jules Trottier II land in La Rochelle to build and develop New France, under the authorization of Jacques Le Neuf de la Poterie.source
  • 1652A mob kills 150 people, including judges, in the massacre at the Hôtel de Ville, Paris.source
  • 1653Barebone's Parliament, named for a prominent Puritan member, Praise-God Barebone, opens its session in London with elected representatives to pass laws for the Commonwealth of England.source
  • 16534 July–12 December – the Barebones Parliament meets in London.source
  • 1653Archduke Leopold Wilhelm of Austria prohibits soldiers from lodging with family instead of in their assigned quarterssource
  • 1672William III of Orange is appointed Stadtholder of Holland and Zeeland.source
  • 1674A Dutch fleet under Cornelis Tromp Captures the island of Noirmoutier on the French coast. For nearly three weeks, the Dutch occupied the French island and the Dutch fleet captured many French ships in the meantime. The whole coastline from Brest to Bayonne was in turmoil, and French forces gathered to prevent the Dutch from landing. On 23 July the island of Noirmoutier was however abandoned after the Dutch blew up the castle and demolished the coastal batteries.source
  • 1676Captain Benjamin Church and his soldiers begin sweeping Plymouth Colony, for any remaining Wampanoag tribesmen.source
  • 1697A Byzantine icon, the "Weeping Madonna of Pócs", arrives in Vienna after a five-month journey following its forced removal from the Hungarian village of Pócs by order of the Holy Roman Emperor, Leopold I. It has been housed for more than 320 years in St. Stephen's Cathedral.source
  • 1708Swedish victory over Russia at the Battle of Holowczyn.source
  • 1716Fredrikshald is set on fire by its inhabitants as to prevent the city being taken by the forces of King Charles XII.source
  • 1736Isaac Maddox is consecrated Bishop of St Asaph. Maddox continues to reside in south-east England and rarely visits the diocese.source
  • 1766Charles of Hesse was appointed Steward of Norway.source
  • 1776American Revolution: United States Declaration of Independence – The Continental Congress approves the declaration by the United States of its independence from the Kingdom of Great Britain. The text was drafted during June by Benjamin Franklin.source
  • 1776American Revolution: United States Declaration of Independence. Fife-born James Wilson and Gifford-born Rev. John Witherspoon are among the signatories.source
  • 1776United States Declaration of Independence signed in Philadelphia. Sixteen of the 56 signatories are of Welsh descent, Francis Lewis having been born in Llandaff.source
  • 1776The Albertina art museum is founded in Vienna, Austria.source
  • 1777Near Fort Ticonderoga, General Burgoyne offers condonement if colonists lay down their arms.source
  • 1777The first organized Independence Day celebration in Philadelphia: included fireworks set off from the city's commons.source
  • 1778American Revolutionary War: George Rogers Clark takes Kaskaskia.source
  • 1781Robert Burns joins the Freemasons at Tarbolton.source
  • 1789The U.S. Congress passes its first bill, the Tariff of 1789, setting out tariffs.source
  • 1789Congress passes its first tax on 30 different items at 8.5% with discount to American ships over foreign ones.source
  • 1790Battle of Vyborg Bay (1790)source
  • 1790Third Anglo-Mysore War: in India, Britain allies with the Nizam of Hyderabad against the Kingdom of Mysore.source
  • 1800St. Nicolas Church, one of the four Medieval churches in Copenhagen, is closed.source
  • 1803The Louisiana Purchase is announced to the American people.source
  • 1806Invasion of Naples (War of the Third Coalition): Battle of Maida – Britain defeats the French in Calabria.source
  • 1811The National Congress of Chile is established.source
  • 1817At Rome, New York, construction on the Erie Canal begins in the U.S. to link the Hudson River to Lake Erie, with the long-range goal of making the first navigable waterway between the Atlantic Ocean and the Great Lakes, and reducing the amount of time and costs for transporting goods westward past the Appalachian mountains.source
  • 18171817 Santiago del Estero earthquake. A 7.0 magnitude earthquake hits Argentina's Santiago del Estero Province.source
  • 1821Return of John VI from Brazil to Portugal who approves on that day the Bases da Constituição.source
  • 1823Royal assent is given to several significant Acts of Parliament in the United Kingdom, after the Home Secretary (and future Prime Minister) Robert Peel had worked to get approval by Parliament. Approved are the Judgment of Death Act 1823, effectively abolishing the death penalty for over 100 offences and; allowing judges to commute sentences for capital offences (other than murder or treason) to imprisonment or transportation.; the Transportation Act allowing convicts transported to the colonies to be employed on public works. On July 10, the Gaols Act 1823 is given assent, beginning the process of prison reform based on the campaign of Elizabeth Fry.source
  • 1825The sloop Restauration set sail from Stavanger to New York City. It is considered the first organized emigration from Norway to the United States.source
  • 1826Former U.S. Presidents Thomas Jefferson and John Adams both die on the 50th anniversary of the signing of the United States Declaration of Independence.source
  • 1828Construction of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad commences with a cornerstone laid by Charles Carroll of Carrollton.source
  • 1828Lord William Bentinck arrives at Calcutta (modern-day Kolkata) to begin his administration as the new Governor-General of India, on behalf of King George IV of the United Kingdom.source
  • 1829George Shillibeer begins operating the first bus service in London.source
  • 1832University of Durham is founded by Act of Parliament at the instigation of the authorities of the city's cathedral.source
  • 1832Durham University is founded in the north of England by an act of Parliament given royal assent by King William IV.source
  • 1835The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad completed construction of its Thomas Viaduct then the longest bridge in the United States, and second only to London Bridge in the world; the longer Canton Viaduct is completed two weeks later.source
  • 1837Samuel Marsden leaves New Zealand for the final time.source
  • 1838In the United States, the Iowa Territory is formally established, following the signing of a bill by President Martin Van Buren on June 12. In addition to Iowa, which will become a state on December 28, 1846, the Territory also includes most of what will become the states of Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota. Robert Lucas, former Governor of Ohio, takes office as the first Territorial Governor.source
  • 1838Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway authorised.source
  • 1838Huskar Pit disaster in the South Yorkshire Coalfield results in the deaths by drowning of 26 children working underground in the mine aged 7 to 17.source
  • 1840The Cunard Line's 700-ton wooden paddlewheel steamer RMS Britannia departs from Liverpool, bound for Halifax, Nova Scotia, on the first steam transatlantic passenger mail service.source
  • 1840the Cunard Line's 700-ton wooden paddle steamer RMS Britannia, launched by Robert Duncan & Company at Greenock on 5 February, departs from Liverpool bound for Halifax, Nova Scotia, on the first steam transatlantic passenger mail service. Scottish marine engineer Robert Napier is a major partner in the venture and has supplied the ship's engine.source
  • 1844A National Language Meeting is held at Skamlingsbanken.source
  • 1845Near Concord, Massachusetts, Henry David Thoreau embarks on a 2-year experiment in simple living at Walden Pond (see Walden).source
  • 1852Anti-Chinese riots occur in Victoria, Australia.source
  • 1854James Ambrose Cutting takes out the first of his three United States patents for improvements to the wet plate collodion process (Ambrotype photography).source
  • 1855Thomas Cook escorts his first party of excursionists from England to tour the European continent, travelling via Belgium and enabling the tourists to visit the Paris Exposition.source
  • 1855Thomas Cook escorts his first party of excursionists to tour the European continent, travelling via Belgium and enabling the tourists to visit the Exposition Universelle in Paris.source
  • 1855Walt Whitman's poetry collection Leaves of Grass is published in Brooklyn.source
  • 1855Amelia Bloomer speaks in favor of women's rights and suffrage in Omaha, Nebraska.source
  • 1857Anti-Chinese riots occur in the goldfields of the Buckland Valley, Victoria.source
  • 1862Charles Dodgson (better known as Lewis Carroll) extemporises the story that becomes Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, for ten-year-old Alice Liddell and her sisters, on a rowboat trip on The Isis from Oxford to Godstow.source
  • 1863Siege of Vicksburg – Ulysses S. Grant and the Union army capture the Confederate city Vicksburg, Mississippi, after the town surrenders following a 47-day siege.source
  • 1864The University of Bucharest in Romania is founded.source
  • 1865Lewis Carroll publishes his children's novel Alice's Adventures in Wonderland in England (first trade editions in December).source
  • 1866The Great Fire of Portland, Maine kills two and leaves 10,000 homeless in the worst fire in an American city at this time.source
  • 1868Battle of Ueno: Imperial Japanese troops defeat the Shōgitai (elite forces remaining loyal to the shōgun).source
  • 1872Jesuits Law is promulgatedsource
  • 1872The Society of Jesus is pronounced illegal in the German Empire.source
  • 1872Tsukuba University is founded in Japan, as a teacher training college.source
  • 1875July 1–7 – Third Carlist War: Battle of Treviño – Advancing on the key city of Vitoria, in Navarre, Spanish Republican commander General Jenardo de Quesada sends General Tello to attack the Carlist lines just to the southwest, at Treviño. The newly appointed Carlist commander General José Pérula is heavily defeated and withdraws, and soon afterwards Quesada enters Vitoria in triumph.source
  • 1876The United States Centennial Exposition is celebrated across the country.source
  • 1878A match race between champion thoroughbred racehorses Ten Broeck and Mollie McCarty draws more than 30,000 fans to Louisville, and inspires the folk song, "Molly and Tenbrooks".source
  • 1879Anglo-Zulu War – Battle of Ulundi: A British victory effectively ends the war.source
  • 1881Tuskegee Institute opens in Alabama.source
  • 1883The world's first rodeo is held in Pecos, Texas.source
  • 1892July 4–26 – British general election: The Conservative and Liberal Unionist coalition government loses its majority in the House of Commons, eventually leading to Prime Minister Lord Salisbury's resignation on August 12.source
  • 1892Samoa changes its time zone from 4 hours ahead of Japan to being 3 hours behind California, such that it crosses the International Date Line, and Monday, July 4 occurs twice.source
  • 1893An underground explosion at Combs Pit, Thornhill, West Yorkshire, kills 135.source
  • 1894The short-lived Republic of Hawaii is proclaimed by Sanford B. Dole.source
  • 1894June 28 – July 9 – Colonial Conference of 1894 held in Ottawa.source
  • 1894The football club FC La Chaux-de-Fonds is founded in Switzerland.source
  • 1895The Chilean cruiser Esmeralda (1895) is laid down.source
  • 1898En route from New York to Le Havre, the ocean liner SS La Bourgogne collides with another ship and sinks with the loss of 549 lives. It is considered one of the worst maritime disasters in historysource
  • 1899The most famous skeleton of a dinosaur ever found intact, a diplodocus, is discovered at the Sheep Creek Quarry near Medicine Bow, Wyoming. The expedition team, financed by Andrew Carnegie for the Carnegie Museum of Natural History and led by William Harlow Reed, bestows the name "Dippy" on the Diplodocus carnegii. It becomes well known after Carnegie has plaster cast replicas made for donation to museums all over the world.source
  • 1901William Howard Taft becomes Governor-General of the Philippines.source
  • 1901The 1,282 foot (390 m) covered bridge crossing the Saint John River at Hartland, New Brunswick, Canada opens. It is the longest covered bridge in the world.source
  • 1904Piero Ginori Conti tests the first-ever geothermal power generator at the Larderello dry steam field in Italy. It was a small generator that lit four light bulbs.source
  • 1910Jack Johnson defeats James J. Jeffries by technical knockout in the 15th round at Reno, Nevada, in the bout billed as the "Fight of the Century". Johnson retains his world heavyweight boxing title over the previously undefeated Jeffries, who had been promoted as boxing's "Great White Hope". The result sparks race riots across more than 25 states, leaving at least 20 people dead.source
  • 1910Transvaal – Dunswart to Cranbourne, 3 mi 14 ch.source
  • 1912Emil Stang, jurist, politician and Prime Minister of Norway (born 1834)source
  • 1914The funeral of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria takes place at Artstetten Castle, 50 miles west of Vienna.source
  • 1915June 23 – July 7 – The First Battle of the Isonzo between the Armies of Italy and Austria-Hungary on the Italian Front in World War I. The aim of the Italian Army, under the command of Luigi Cadorna, was to drive the Austrians away from its defensive positions along the Soča (Isonzo) and on the nearby mountains.source
  • 1916July 1–12 – Jersey Shore shark attacks of 1916: At least one shark attacks 5 swimmers along 80 mi of New Jersey coastline, resulting in 4 deaths and the survival of one youth, who requires limb amputation. This event is the inspiration for author Peter Benchley, over half a century later, to write Jaws.source
  • 1916July 1–12 – At least one shark mauls five swimmers along 80 mi of New Jersey coastline during the Jersey Shore shark attacks of 1916, resulting in four deaths and the survival of one youth who required limb amputation. This event is the inspiration for author Peter Benchley, over half a century later, to write Jaws.source
  • 1919July 2–6 – British airship R34 makes the first transatlantic flight by dirigible, and the first westbound flight, from RAF East Fortune, Scotland, to Mineola, New York.source
  • 1919Food riots and strikes in Romagna and Bologna spread to other cities like Milan, Genoa, Livorno, Pisa, Florence, Palermo and others, with several people dead. Shopkeepers reduce food prices; sometimes to as much as 50 to 70 per cent.source
  • 1921A new conservative government is formed in Italy by Ivanoe Bonomi.source
  • 1921James Craig refuses to attend a peace conference in Dublin because the invitation by President Éamon de Valera was addressed to him personally instead of to the Prime Minister of Northern Ireland.source
  • 1928Financier Alfred Loewenstein vanishes on a Croydon Airport to Brussels.source
  • 1930July 3–10 – The First Eastern Women's Congress takes place in Damascus in Syria.source
  • 1930The dedication of George Washington's sculpted head is held at Mount Rushmore, South Dakota.source
  • 1933Gandhi is sentenced to prison in India.source
  • 1934Hayim Nahman Bialik (born 1873), Russian-born Jewish poet and one of the pioneers of modern Hebrew poetry.source
  • 1936First publication recognizing stress as a biological condition.source
  • 1940Taoiseach Éamon de Valera announces that the policy of neutrality adopted the previous September will not be reversed.source
  • 1940June 28–July 4 – Soviet occupation of Bessarabia and Northern Bukovinasource
  • 1941The mass murder of Polish scientists and writers is committed by German troops in the captured Polish city of Lwów.source
  • 1942Uriel Reichman, Israeli politician and professor of law, founder of IDC Herzliyasource
  • 19431943 Gibraltar B-24 crash: The aircraft carrying General Władysław Sikorski, Prime Minister of the Polish government-in-exile, crashes, killing him and 15 others, leading to a lasting controversy over the circumstances.source
  • 1945Brazilian cruiser Bahia is sunk by an accidentally induced explosion, killing more than 300 and stranding the survivors in shark-infested waters.source
  • 1946After more than 48 years of American dominance, the Philippines attains full independence as the 3rd Republic; Manuel A. Roxas is 5th President of the Philippines. It marks the end of nearly 400 years of colonial era when the Viceroyalty of New Spain took control since April 27, 1565.source
  • 1946The Kielce Pogrom takes place in Poland.source
  • 1946Kielce pogrom: A violent attack by Polish soldiers, police and civilians on the Jewish community in Kielce kills at least 42 people and injures over 40 others.source
  • 1948Several Ceylonese individuals are included in the list of British 1948 Birthday Honours.source
  • 1951William Shockley of Bell Labs in the United States announces the invention jointly with John Bardeen and Walter Brattain of the grown-junction transistor. Also this year, General Electric and RCA develop the alloy-junction transistor.source
  • 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.source
  • 1954Fourteen years of rationing in the UK during and following World War II comes to an end, when meat officially comes off ration.source
  • 1954"Miracle of Bern": West Germany beats Hungary 3–2 to win the 1954 FIFA World Cup.source
  • 1956An American Lockheed U-2 reconnaissance aircraft makes its first flight over the Soviet Union.source
  • 1957Queen Sirikit gives birth to a fourth child and third daughter Chulabhorn.source
  • 1959With the admission of Alaska as the 49th U.S. state earlier in the year, the 49-star flag of the United States debuts in Philadelphia.source
  • 1960The completed grounds of the Luxembourg American Cemetery and Memorial are dedicated.source
  • 1961Soviet submarine K-19 suffers a reactor leak in the North Atlantic.source
  • 1965Hans Aasnæs, sport shooter (born 1902).source
  • 1966Philippine Republic Daysource
  • 1966An Air New Zealand Douglas DC-8 on a training flight crashes on takeoff from Auckland Airport, killing two of the five crew members.source
  • 19661966-67 Balkans Cup: Albania defeats Romania 1-2 at Francisc von Neuman Stadium, Arad, Romaniasource
  • 1968English yachtsman Alec Rose, 59, receives a hero's welcome as he sails into Portsmouth, after his 354-day solo round-the-world trip.source
  • 1970Mogens Frey wins stage 8 of the 1970 Tour de France.source
  • 1971The first plane lands at Seychelles International Airport in Victoria, Seychelles (Mahe).source
  • 1971Michael S. Hart posts the first e-book, a copy of the United States Declaration of Independence, on the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign's mainframe computer, the origin of Project Gutenberg.source
  • 1972The first Rainbow Gathering is held in Colorado.source
  • 1979Psychiatrist and leader of the global anti-asylum movement Franco Basaglia visits the Colônia de Barbacena Psychiatric Hospital in Minas Gerais, Brazil, and compares the facility to Nazi concentration camps, a move that momentum to psychiatric reform in the country that same year.source
  • 1983Filipino-American Friendship Daysource
  • 1986The Statue of Liberty is reopened to the public after celebrating its centennial and an extensive refurbishment.source
  • 1987A court in Lyon sentences former Gestapo boss Klaus Barbie to life imprisonment for crimes against humanity.source
  • 1991The Constituent Assembly of Colombia proclaims a new constitution, allowing the President of Colombia César Gaviria to lift the country's seven-year-long state of siege.source
  • 1993Argentina defeats Mexico 2-1 to win the 1993 Copa America and their fourteenth Copa America title.source
  • 1994The Hutu government is finally defeated by the Rwandan Patriotic Front, thus ending the genocide.source
  • 1994Rwandan Patriotic Front troops capture Kigali, a major breakthrough in the Rwandan Civil War.source
  • 1995Prime Minister of the United Kingdom John Major is re-elected as leader of the Conservative Party, ending an internal challenge to his position.source
  • 1997NASA's Pathfinder space probe lands on the surface of Mars.source
  • 2001Vladivostok Air Flight 352 crashes on approach while landing at Irkutsk Airport, Russia, killing all 145 people aboard.source
  • 2004The International Court of Justice issues an advisory ruling that the construction of the West Bank barrier violates the Palestinian people's right to self-determination.source
  • 2007The International Olympic Committee awards Sochi the right to host the 2014 Winter Olympics.source
  • 2009Steve McNair, former NFL quarterback for the Tennessee Titans, is shot and killed by his girlfriend in Nashville, Tennessee.source
  • 2012Sport Club Corinthians Paulista wins the Copa Libertadores by beating the Boca Juniors.source
  • 2012CERN announces the discovery of a new particle with properties consistent with the Higgs boson after experiments at the Large Hadron Collider.source
  • 2017Russia and China urge North Korea to halt its missile and nuclear programs after it successfully tested its first intercontinental ballistic missile.source
  • 2023Iran joins the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, becoming the organization's ninth member.source
  • 20242024 United Kingdom general election: Sir Keir Starmer leads the Labour Party to victory, returning the party to government for the first time in 14 years.source

Births

  • 68Salonia Matidia, niece of Trajan (died AD 119)source
  • 1095Usama ibn Munqidh, Arabian diplomat and poet (died 1188)source
  • 1330Ashikaga Yoshiakira, Japanese shōgun (died 1367)source
  • 1428Filippo Strozzi the Elder, Italian banker (died 1491)source
  • 1473Matilda of Hesse, German noblewoman (died 1505)source
  • 1477Johannes Aventinus, Bavarian historian and philologist (died 1534)source
  • 1523Pier Francesco Orsini, Italian condottiero and art patron (died 1583)source
  • 1539Louis VI, Elector Palatine (died 1583)source
  • 1546Murat III, Ottoman Sultan (died 1595)source
  • 1656John Leake, English Royal Navy admiral (died 1720)source
  • 1715Christian Fürchtegott Gellert, German author (died 1769)source
  • 1729George Leonard, American lawyer, jurist and politician (died 1819)source
  • 1756John Evans, surgeon and cartographer (died 1846)source
  • 1767Kyokutei Bakin, Japanese author (died 1848)source
  • 1799King Oscar I of Sweden and Norway (died 1859)source
  • 1804Nathaniel Hawthorne, American writer (died 1864)source
  • 1807Giuseppe Garibaldi, Italian patriot (died 1882)source
  • 1826Stephen Foster, American songwriter, poet (died 1864)source
  • 1872Calvin Coolidge, 30th President of the United States (died 1933)source
  • 1884Louis B. Mayer, American film producer, studio mogul (died 1957)source
  • 1957Chulabhorn Thai Princesssource
  • 1973Gackt, Japanese singer-songwriter and actorsource
  • 1995Post Malone, American rappersource

Deaths

  • 236Dong Zhao, Chinese official and politician (born 156)source
  • 673King Ecgberht I of Kent dies after a reign of nearly 9 years. He is succeeded by his brother Hlothhere.source
  • 673Ecgberht, king of Kentsource
  • 907Dietmar I, archbishop of Salzburgsource
  • 907Luitpold, margrave of Bavariasource
  • 910Luo Shaowei, Chinese warlord (born 877)source
  • 940Wang Jianli, Chinese general (born 871)source
  • 943Wang Kon, founder of Goryeo (Korea) (born 877)source
  • 945Zhuo Yanming, Chinese Buddhist monk and emperorsource
  • 965Benedict V, pope of the Catholic Churchsource
  • 973Ulrich (or Oldarici), bishop of Augsburg (born 893)source
  • 975Gwangjong (Wang So), Korean king (born 925)source
  • 1187Raynald of Châtillon, prince of Antioch (born 1125)source
  • 1307Rudolf I, German nobleman, knight and king (born 1282)source
  • 1307Rudolf I, king of Bohemia, dies.source
  • 1336Elizabeth of Portugal, queen consort and saint (born 1271)source
  • 1429Carlo I Tocco, ruler of Epirus (born 1372)source
  • 1450James Fiennes, 1st Baron Saye and Sele, English soldier and politician (born c. 1395)source
  • 1533John Frith, English Protestant priest and martyr (born 1503)source
  • 1541Pedro de Alvarado, Spanish conquistador (born 1495)source
  • 1546Khair ad Din "Barbarossa", corsair ruler of Algiers (born 1475)source
  • 1548Philip, Duke of Palatinate-Neuburg, German duke (born 1503)source
  • 1576Alonso de Solís, who was appointed by Spain as Governor of the colony of La Florida, is killed in the colonial capital at San Augustin, the modern U.S. city of St. Augustine, Florida.source
  • 1593Min Phalaung, Burmese monarch (born 1535)source
  • 1623William Byrd, English composer (born 1543)source
  • 1627July 4 (bur.) – Thomas Middleton, English playwright (born 1580)source
  • 1644Brian Twyne, English archivist (born 1581)source
  • 1671Jan Cossiers, Flemish painter (born 1600)source
  • 1673Robert Moray, English Freemason (born 1608 or 1609)source
  • 1742Guido Grandi, Italian mathematician (born 1671)source
  • 1761Samuel Richardson, English writer (born 1689)source
  • 1765Claude-Godefroy Coquart, missionary (born 1706)source
  • 1768Paula de Odivelas, nun and royal mistress (born 1701).source
  • 1780Prince Charles Alexander of Lorraine, Austrian military leader (born 1712)source
  • 1812Infante Pedro Carlos of Spain and Portugalsource
  • 1826Thomas Jefferson, 83, 3rd President of the United States (born 1743), at 12:50 p.m. at his home near Charlottesville, Virginia.source
  • 1831James Monroe, 73, 5th President of the United States (born 1758)source
  • 1848François-René de Chateaubriand, French writer, diplomat (born 1768)source
  • 1857Henry Lawrence, British soldier, statesman (born 1806)source
  • 1896Marcelo H. del Pilar, Filipino writer, journalist (born 1850)source
  • 1902Swami Vivekananda, Indian religious leader (born 1863)source
  • 1910Melville Fuller, American Chief Justice (born 1833)source
  • 1914Lexington Avenue bombing: Four people are killed in New York City when an anarchist bomb intended to kill John D. Rockefeller explodes prematurely, in the conspirator's apartment.source
  • 1934Marie Curie, Polish-born scientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry and physics (born 1867)source
  • 1938Suzanne Lenglen, French tennis champion (born 1899)source
  • 1941Massacre of Lviv professors: Polish scientists and writers are murdered by Nazi German troops in the occupied Polish city of Lwów.source
  • 1943Władysław Sikorski, Polish prime minister in exile (aviation accident) (born 1881)source
  • 1976Entebbe Raid: Israeli airborne commandos free 103 hostages being held by Palestinian hijackers of an Air France plane at Uganda's Entebbe Airport; Yonatan Netanyahu and several Ugandan soldiers are killed in the raid.source
  • 1983John Bodkin Adams, 84, British general practitioner, convicted fraudster, and suspected serial killer.Chest infection while hospitalized for a fractured hip.source
  • 1990Commonwealth v. Twitchell: David and Ginger Twitchell are convicted of involuntary manslaughter in Massachusetts after the 1986 death of their 2-year-old son, who died from a bowel obstruction after the couple withheld medical treatment in keeping with their Christian Science beliefs.source
  • 2008Jesse Helms, 86, American politician, senator from North Carolina (1973–2003), natural causes.source
  • 2025July 4–7 – At least 135 people are killed and over a hundred reported missing during a flood in Central Texas, United States.source