On This Day — 4 April

2025

The impeachment of President Yoon Suk Yeol of South Korea in response to his declaration of martial law is unanimously upheld by the country's Constitutional Court, ending his presidency.

Impeachment of Yoon Suk Yeol

2024

Russo-Ukrainian war: The Battle of Chasiv Yar begins.

Russo-Ukrainian war

2023

Finland becomes a member of NATO after Turkey accepts its membership request.

Finland

2020

China holds a national day of mourning for martyrs who died in the fight against the novel coronavirus disease outbreak.

National day of mourning

2017

Syria conducts an air strike on Khan Shaykhun using chemical weapons, killing 89 civilians.

Khan Shaykhun chemical attack

2013

Seventy-four people are killed in a building collapse in Thane, India.

2013 Thane building collapse

2011

Georgian Airways Flight 834 crashes at N'djili Airport in Kinshasa, killing 32.

Georgian Airways Flight 834

2010

A magnitude 7.2 earthquake hits south of the Mexico-USA border, killing at least two and damaging buildings across the two countries.

2010 Baja California earthquake

2009

France announces its return to full participation of its military forces within NATO.

France

2002

The MPLA government of Angola and UNITA rebels sign a peace treaty ending the Angolan Civil War.

MPLA

1997

Space Shuttle program: Space Shuttle Columbia is launched on STS-83. However, the mission is later cut short due to a fuel cell problem.

Space Shuttle Columbia

1996

Comet Hyakutake is imaged by the USA Asteroid Orbiter Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous.

Comet Hyakutake

1994

Three people are killed when KLM Cityhopper Flight 433 crashes at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol.

KLM Cityhopper Flight 433

1991

Senator John Heinz of Pennsylvania and six others are killed when a helicopter collides with their airplane over an elementary school in Merion, Pennsylvania.

John Heinz

1991

Forty-one people are taken hostage inside a Good Guys! Electronics store in Sacramento, California. Three of the hostage takers and three hostages are killed.

1991 Sacramento hostage crisis

1990

The current flag of Hong Kong is adopted for post-colonial Hong Kong during the Third Session of the Seventh National People's Congress.

Flag of Hong Kong

1988

Governor Evan Mecham of Arizona is convicted in his impeachment trial and removed from office.

List of governors of Arizona

1987

Garuda Indonesia Flight 032 crashes at Medan Airport, killing 23.

Garuda Indonesia Flight 035

1984

President Ronald Reagan calls for an international ban on chemical weapons.

Ronald Reagan

1983

Space Shuttle program: Space Shuttle Challenger makes its maiden voyage into space on STS-6.

Space Shuttle program

1981

Iran–Iraq War: The Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force mounts an attack on H-3 Airbase and destroys about 50 Iraqi aircraft.

Iran–Iraq War

1979

Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto of Pakistan is executed.

Zulfikar Ali Bhutto

1977

Southern Airways Flight 242 crashes in New Hope, Paulding County, Georgia, killing 72.

Southern Airways Flight 242

1975

Microsoft is founded as a partnership between Bill Gates and Paul Allen in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Microsoft

1975

Vietnam War: A United States Air Force Lockheed C-5A Galaxy transporting orphans, crashes near Saigon, South Vietnam shortly after takeoff, killing 172 people.

Vietnam War

1973

The Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York City are officially dedicated.

World Trade Center (1973–2001)

1973

A Lockheed C-141 Starlifter, dubbed the Hanoi Taxi, makes the last flight of Operation Homecoming.

Lockheed C-141 Starlifter

1969

Dr. Denton Cooley implants the first temporary artificial heart.

Denton Cooley

1968

Martin Luther King Jr. is assassinated by James Earl Ray at a motel in Memphis, Tennessee.

Assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.

1968

Apollo program: NASA launches Apollo 6.

Apollo program

1967

Martin Luther King Jr. delivers his "Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence" speech in New York City's Riverside Church.

Martin Luther King Jr.

1964

The Beatles occupy the top five positions on the Billboard Hot 100 pop chart.

The Beatles

1963

Bye Bye Birdie, a musical romantic comedy film directed by George Sidney, was released.

Bye Bye Birdie (1963 film)

1960

France agrees to grant independence to the Mali Federation, a union of Senegal and French Sudan.

France

1958

The CND peace symbol is displayed in public for the first time in London.

Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament

1949

Cold War: Twelve nations sign the North Atlantic Treaty creating the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

Cold War

1946

Greek judge and archeologist Panagiotis Poulitsas is appointed Prime Minister of Greece in the midst of the Greek Civil War.

Panagiotis Poulitsas

1945

World War II: United States Army troops liberate Ohrdruf forced labor camp in Germany.

United States Army

1945

World War II: United States Army troops capture Kassel.

Battle of Kassel (1945)

1945

World War II: Soviet Red Army troops liberate Hungary from German occupation.

Red Army

1944

World War II: First bombardment of oil refineries in Bucharest by Anglo-American forces kills 3,000 civilians.

World War II

1933

U.S. Navy airship USS Akron is wrecked off the New Jersey coast due to severe weather.

United States Navy

1925

The Schutzstaffel (SS) is founded under Adolf Hitler's Nazi Party in Germany.

Schutzstaffel

1920

The four-day Nebi Musa riots commence.

1920 Nebi Musa riots

1913

First Balkan War: Greek aviator Emmanouil Argyropoulos becomes the first pilot to die in the Hellenic Air Force when his plane crashes.

First Balkan War

1905

In India, an earthquake hits the Kangra Valley, killing 20,000, and destroying most buildings in Kangra, McLeod Ganj and Dharamshala.

1905 Kangra earthquake

1904

Two Ms  ~7.1 earthquakes, among the largest in Europe, strike Bulgaria, killing over 200 people and causing destruction.

1904 Kresna earthquakes

1894

Foyot bombing by the Russian or French state during the Ère des attentats.

Foyot bombing

1887

Argonia, Kansas elects Susanna M. Salter as the first female mayor in the United States.

Argonia, Kansas

1866

Alexander II of Russia narrowly escapes an assassination attempt by Dmitry Karakozov in the city of Saint Petersburg.

Alexander II of Russia

1865

American Civil War: A day after Union forces capture Richmond, Virginia, U.S. President Abraham Lincoln visits the Confederate capital.

American Civil War

1860

The declaration on the introduction of the Finnish markka as an official currency is read in different parts of the Grand Duchy of Finland.

Finnish markka

1841

William Henry Harrison dies of pneumonia, becoming the first President of the United States to die in office, and setting the record for the briefest administration. Vice President John Tyler succeeds Harrison as President.

William Henry Harrison

1818

The United States Congress, affirming the Second Continental Congress, adopts the flag of the United States with 13 red and white stripes and one star for each state (20 at that time).

United States Congress

1814

Napoleon abdicates (conditionally) for the first time and names his son Napoleon II as Emperor of the French, followed by unconditional abdication two days later.

Napoleon

1796

Georges Cuvier delivers the first paleontological lecture.

Georges Cuvier

1660

Declaration of Breda by King Charles II of Great Britain promises, among other things, a general pardon to all royalists and opponents of the monarchy for crimes committed during the English Civil War and the Interregnum.

Declaration of Breda

1609

Moriscos are expelled from the Kingdom of Valencia.

Morisco

1581

Francis Drake is knighted by Queen Elizabeth I for completing a circumnavigation of the world.

Francis Drake

1423

Death of the Venetian Doge Tommaso Mocenigo, under whose rule victories were achieved against the Kingdom of Hungary and against the Ottoman Empire at the Battle of Gallipoli (1416).

Doge (title)

1268

A five-year Byzantine–Venetian peace treaty is concluded between Venetian envoys and Emperor Michael VIII Palaiologos.

Byzantine–Venetian treaty of 1268

801

King Louis the Pious captures Barcelona from the Moors after a siege of several months.

Louis the Pious

619

The Bijapur-Mumbai inscription is issued by Pulakeshin II, describing the Battle of Narmada.: 207

Pulakeshin II

611

Maya king Uneh Chan of Calakmul sacks rival city-state Palenque in southern Mexico.

Scroll Serpent

190

Dong Zhuo has his troops evacuate the capital Luoyang and burn it to the ground.

Dong Zhuo

-503

Roman consul Agrippa Menenius Lanatus celebrates a triumph for a military victory over the Sabines.

Roman consul