On This Day — 4 July

2025

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

July 2025 Central Texas floods

2025

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

Oasis Live '25 Tour

2024

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

Labour Party (UK)

2015

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

Association football

2012

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

Higgs boson

2009

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

Statue of Liberty

2009

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

2009 Mindanao bombings

2008

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

2008 Minsk bombing

2006

Space 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.

Space Shuttle program

2005

The Deep Impact collider hits the comet Tempel 1.

Deep Impact (spacecraft)

2004

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

One World Trade Center

2004

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

Greece national football team

2002

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

Boeing 707

2001

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

Vladivostok Air Flight 352

1998

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

Nozomi (spacecraft)

1997

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

NASA

1994

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

Rwandan genocide

1982

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

1982 kidnapping of Iranian diplomats

1982

Space 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.

Space Shuttle program

1977

The 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.

George Jackson Brigade

1976

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

Israel Defense Forces

1973

Barbados, 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 Caribbean regional integration.

Barbados

1966

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

Lyndon B. Johnson

1961

On 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.

Soviet submarine K-19

1960

Due to the post-Independence Day admission of Hawaii as the 50th U.S. state on August 21, 1959, the 50-star flag of the United States debuts in Philadelphia, almost ten and a half months later (see Flag Acts (United States)).

U.S. state

1954

Food 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.

Rationing in the United Kingdom

1951

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

Czechoslovak Socialist Republic

1951

William Shockley announces the invention of the junction transistor.

William Shockley

1950

Cold War: Radio Free Europe first broadcasts.

Cold War

1947

The "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.

House of Commons of the United Kingdom

1946

The Kielce pogrom against Jewish Holocaust survivors in Poland.

Kielce pogrom

1946

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

Philippines

1943

World 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.

Battle of Kursk

1943

World 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 Polish Army and the Prime Minister of the Polish government-in-exile; only the pilot survives.

Gibraltar

1942

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

Siege of Sevastopol (1941–1942)

1941

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

Nazi war crimes in occupied Poland during World War II

1941

World 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.

World War II

1939

Lou 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.

Lou Gehrig

1927

First flight of the Lockheed Vega.

Lockheed Vega

1918

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

Mehmed V

1918

World War I: The Battle of Hamel, a successful attack by the Australian Corps against German positions near the town of Le Hamel on the Western Front.

World War I

1914

The funeral of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie takes place in Vienna, six days after their assassinations in Sarajevo.

Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria

1913

President Woodrow Wilson addresses American Civil War veterans at the Great Reunion of 1913.

President of the United States

1911

A massive heat wave strikes the northeastern United States, killing 380 people in eleven days and breaking temperature records in several cities.

1911 Eastern North America heat wave

1910

The Johnson–Jeffries riots occur after African-American boxer Jack Johnson knocks out white boxer Jim Jeffries in the 15th round. Between 11 and 26 people are killed and hundreds more injured.

Johnson–Jeffries riots

1903

The Philippine–American War is officially concluded.

Philippine–American War

1901

William Howard Taft becomes American governor of the Philippines.

William Howard Taft

1898

En route from New York to Le Havre, the SS La Bourgogne collides with another ship and sinks off the coast of Sable Island, with the loss of 549 lives.

Le Havre

1894

The short-lived Republic of Hawaii is proclaimed by Sanford B. Dole.

Republic of Hawaii

1892

Western Samoa changes the International Date Line, causing Monday (July 4) to occur twice, resulting in a leap year with 367 days.

Samoa

1887

The founder of Pakistan, Quaid-i-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah, joins Sindh-Madrasa-tul-Islam, Karachi.

Pakistan

1886

The Canadian Pacific Railway's first scheduled train from Montreal arrives in Port Moody on the Pacific coast, after six days of travel.

Canadian Pacific Railway

1881

In Alabama, the Tuskegee Institute opens.

Alabama

1879

Anglo-Zulu War: The Zululand capital of Ulundi is captured by British troops and burned to the ground, ending the war and forcing King Cetshwayo to flee.

Anglo-Zulu War

1863

American Civil War: Siege of Vicksburg: The Confederate army in Vicksburg, Mississippi surrenders to Union forces under Ulysses S. Grant after 47 days of siege, contributing to the Union capture of the Mississippi River.

American Civil War

1863

American Civil War: Union forces repulse a Confederate army at the Battle of Helena in Arkansas. The battle thwarts a Rebel attempt to relieve pressure on the besieged city of Vicksburg, and paves the way for the Union capture of Little Rock.

Battle of Helena

1863

American Civil War: Retreat from Gettysburg: The Confederate Army of Northern Virginia under Robert E. Lee withdraws from the battlefield after losing the Battle of Gettysburg, signaling an end to his last invasion of the North.

Retreat from Gettysburg

1862

Lewis Carroll tells Alice Liddell a story that would grow into Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and its sequels.

Lewis Carroll

1855

The first edition of Walt Whitman's book of poems, Leaves of Grass, is published in Brooklyn.

Walt Whitman

1845

Henry David Thoreau moves into a small cabin on Walden Pond in Concord, Massachusetts. Thoreau's account of his two years there, Walden, will become a touchstone of the environmental movement.

Henry David Thoreau

1838

The Iowa Territory is organized.

Iowa Territory

1837

Grand Junction Railway, the world's first long-distance railway, opens between Birmingham and Liverpool.

Grand Junction Railway

1832

John Neal delivers the first public lecture in the US to advocate the rights of women.

John Neal

1832

Durham University established by Act of Parliament; the first recognized university to be founded in England since Cambridge over 600 years earlier.

Durham University

1831

Samuel Francis Smith writes "My Country, 'Tis of Thee" for the Boston, Massachusetts July 4 festivities.

Samuel Francis Smith

1827

Slavery is abolished in the State of New York.

Slavery in the United States

1818

US Flag Act of 1818 goes into effect creating a 13 stripe flag with a star for each state. New stars would be added on July 4 after a new state had been admitted.

Flag Acts

1817

In Rome, New York, construction on the Erie Canal begins.

Rome, New York

1803

The Louisiana Purchase is announced to the US people.

Louisiana Purchase

1802

The United States Military Academy opens at West Point, New York.

United States Military Academy

1778

American Revolutionary War: US forces under George Clark capture Kaskaskia during the Illinois campaign.

American Revolutionary War

1776

American Revolution: The United States Declaration of Independence is adopted by the Second Continental Congress.

American Revolution

1774

Orangetown Resolutions are adopted in the Province of New York, one of many protests against the British Parliament's Coercive Acts.

Orangetown Resolutions

1744

The Treaty of Lancaster, in which the Iroquois cede lands between the Allegheny Mountains and the Ohio River to the British colonies, was signed in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

Six Nations land cessions

1634

The city of Trois-Rivières is founded in New France (now Quebec, Canada).

Trois-Rivières

1610

The Battle of Klushino is fought between forces of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and Russia during the Polish–Russian War, after which Polish troops entered Moscow.

Battle of Klushino

1584

Philip Amadas and Arthur Barlowe arrive at Roanoke Island.

Philip Amadas

1534

Christian III is elected King of Denmark and Norway in the town of Rye.

Election of Christian III

1456

Ottoman–Hungarian wars: The Siege of Nándorfehérvár (Belgrade) begins.

Hungarian–Ottoman Wars

1359

Francesco II Ordelaffi of Forlì surrenders to the Papal commander Gil de Albornoz.

Francesco II Ordelaffi

1333

Genkō War: Forces loyal to Emperor Go-Daigo seize Tōshō-ji during the Siege of Kamakura. Hōjō Takatoki and other members of the Hōjō clan commit suicide, ending the rule of the Kamakura shogunate.

Genkō War

1253

Battle of West-Capelle: John I of Avesnes defeats Guy of Dampierre.

John I, Count of Hainaut

1187

The Crusades: Battle of Hattin: Saladin defeats Guy of Lusignan, King of Jerusalem.

Crusades

1120

Jordan II of Capua is anointed as prince after his infant nephew's death.

Jordan II of Capua

1054

A supernova, called SN 1054, is seen by Chinese Song dynasty, Arab, and possibly Amerindian observers near the star Zeta Tauri. For several months it remains bright enough to be seen during the day. Its remnants form the Crab Nebula.

SN 1054

993

Ulrich of Augsburg is canonized as a saint.

Ulrich of Augsburg

836

Pactum Sicardi, a peace treaty between the Principality of Benevento and the Duchy of Naples, is signed.

Pactum Sicardi

414

Emperor Theodosius II, age 13, yields power to his older sister Aelia Pulcheria, who reigned as regent and proclaimed herself empress (Augusta) of the Eastern Roman Empire.

Theodosius II

-362

Battle of Mantinea: The Thebans, led by Epaminondas, defeated the Spartans.

Battle of Mantinea (362 BC)