On This Day â 4 September
2000s
2024
A 14-year-old gunman kills four people and injures seven in a mass shooting at Apalachee High School near Winder, Georgia.
2024 Apalachee High School shooting
2022
Ten people are killed and 15 are injured in a stabbing spree in 13 locations on the James Smith Cree Nation and in Weldon, Saskatchewan.
2022 Saskatchewan stabbings
2020
Pope Benedict XVI becomes the longest-lived pope, 93 years, four months, 16 days, surpassing Pope Leo XIII, who died in 1903.
Pope Benedict XVI
2007
Three terrorists suspected to be a part of Al-Qaeda are arrested in Germany after allegedly planning attacks on both the Frankfurt International airport and US military installations.
Al-Qaeda
2002
The Oakland Athletics win their 20th consecutive game, an American League record, until the Cleveland Indians surpassed it in 2017.
Oakland Athletics
2001
Tokyo DisneySea opens to the public as part of the Tokyo Disney Resort in Urayasu, Chiba, Japan.
Tokyo DisneySea
1900s
1998
Google is founded by Larry Page and Sergey Brin, two PhD students at Stanford University.
1995
The 1995 Okinawa rape occurred, when 3 US servicemen abducted and raped a schoolchild. This would cause widespread protest against the US military presence on the prefecture.
1995 Okinawa rape incident
1989
In Leipzig, East Germany, the first of weekly demonstration for the legalisation of opposition groups and democratic reforms takes place.
Leipzig
1985
The discovery of Buckminsterfullerene, the first fullerene molecule of carbon.
Buckminsterfullerene
1977
The Golden Dragon massacre takes place in San Francisco.
Golden Dragon massacre
1975
The Sinai Interim Agreement relating to the ArabâIsraeli conflict is signed.
Sinai Interim Agreement
1972
Mark Spitz becomes the first competitor to win seven medals at a single Olympic Games.
Mark Spitz
1972
The Price Is Right premieres on CBS. It currently is the longest running game show on American television.
The Price Is Right
1971
Alaska Airlines Flight 1866 crashes near Juneau, Alaska, killing all 111 people on board.
Alaska Airlines Flight 1866
1970
Salvador Allende is elected President of Chile.
Salvador Allende
1967
Vietnam War: Operation Swift begins when U.S. Marines engage the North Vietnamese in battle in the Que Son Valley.
Vietnam War
1964
Scotland's Forth Road Bridge near Edinburgh officially opens.
Forth Road Bridge
1963
Swissair Flight 306 crashes near DĂŒrrenĂ€sch, Switzerland, killing all 80 people on board.
Swissair Flight 306
1957
American Civil Rights Movement: Little Rock Crisis: The governor of Arkansas calls out the National Guard to prevent African American students from enrolling in Little Rock Central High School, resulting in the lawsuit Cooper v. Aaron the following year.
Civil rights movement
1951
The first live transcontinental television broadcast takes place in San Francisco, United States, from the Japanese Peace Treaty Conference.
San Francisco
1950
Darlington Raceway is the site of the inaugural Southern 500, the first 500-mile NASCAR race.
Darlington Raceway
1949
Paul Robeson performs a second concert in Peekskill, New York eight days after the Peekskill riots.
Paul Robeson
1948
Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands abdicates for health reasons.
Wilhelmina of the Netherlands
1944
World War II: The British 11th Armoured Division liberates the Belgian city of Antwerp.
11th Armoured Division (United Kingdom)
1944
World War II: Finland exits from the war with Soviet Union.
Continuation War
1941
World War II: A German submarine makes the first attack of the war against a United States warship, the USSÂ Greer.
USS Greer
1939
World War II: William J. Murphy commands the first Royal Air Force attack on Germany.
World War II
1936
Spanish Civil War: Largo Caballero forms a war cabinet to direct the republican war effort.
Spanish Civil War
1923
Maiden flight of the first U.S. airship, the USSÂ Shenandoah.
Airship
1919
Mustafa Kemal AtatĂŒrk, who founded the Republic of Turkey, gathers a congress in Sivas to make decisions as to the future of Anatolia and Thrace.
Mustafa Kemal AtatĂŒrk
1912
Albanian rebels succeed in their revolt when the Ottoman Empire agrees to fulfill their demands
Albania
1800s
1888
George Eastman registers the trademark Kodak and receives a patent for his camera that uses roll film.
George Eastman
1886
American Indian Wars: After almost 30 years of fighting, Apache leader Geronimo, with his remaining warriors, surrenders to General Nelson Miles in Arizona.
American Indian Wars
1882
The Pearl Street Station in New York City becomes the first power plant to supply electricity to paying customers.
Pearl Street Station
1870
Emperor Napoleon III of France is deposed and the Third Republic is declared.
Napoleon III
1862
American Civil War Maryland Campaign: General Robert E. Lee takes the Army of Northern Virginia, and the war, into the North.
American Civil War
1839
Battle of Kowloon: British vessels open fire on Chinese war junks enforcing a food sales embargo on the British community in China in the first armed conflict of the First Opium War.
Battle of Kowloon
1827
The Great Fire of Turku almost completely destroys Finland's former capital city.
Great Fire of Turku
1812
War of 1812: The Siege of Fort Harrison begins when the fort is set on fire.
War of 1812
1800
The French garrison in Valletta surrenders to British troops who had been called at the invitation of the Maltese. The islands of Malta and Gozo become the Malta Protectorate.
Valletta
Before 1800
1797
Coup of 18 Fructidor in France.
Coup of 18 Fructidor
1781
Los Angeles is founded as El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora La Reina de los Ăngeles (The Village of Our Lady, the Queen of the Angels) by 44 Spanish settlers.
Pueblo de Los Ăngeles
1774
New Caledonia is first sighted by Europeans, during the second voyage of Captain James Cook.
New Caledonia
1666
In London, England, the most destructive damage from the Great Fire occurs.
Great Fire of London
1607
The Flight of the Earls takes place in Ireland (14 September N.S.).
Flight of the Earls
1479
The Treaty of Alcåçovas is signed by the Catholic Monarchs of Castile and Aragon on one side and Afonso V and his son, Prince John of Portugal.
Treaty of Alcåçovas
1282
Peter III of Aragon becomes the King of Sicily.
Peter III of Aragon
1260
The Sienese Ghibellines, supported by the forces of Manfred, King of Sicily, defeat the Florentine Guelphs at Montaperti.
Siena
929
Battle of Lenzen: Slavic forces (the Redarii and the Obotrites) are defeated by a Saxon army near the fortified stronghold of Lenzen in Brandenburg.
Battle of Lenzen
626
Li Shimin, posthumously known as Emperor Taizong of Tang, assumes the throne over the Tang dynasty of China.
Posthumous name
476
Romulus Augustulus is deposed when Odoacer proclaims himself "King of Italy", thus ending the Western Roman Empire.
Romulus Augustulus