What happened on August 4? There are more than 274 events that were made this day in history. Here are the important historical events, facts, and some myths about this day.

Interesting Facts & Myths About August 4

August 4 In HistoryAugust 4 is the 217th day of the year 2024. There are 149 days remaining until the end of this year. The day of the week is Sunday. This day falls under the 31st week of the year 2024.

On this day in Falkner, Mississippi 38629 sunrise will occur at 06:07 AM and sunset will occur at 07:56 PM (local time).

The zodiac sign of a person born on this day is Leo. The modern birthstone for this month is Peridot while the mystical birthstone is Diamond.

According to the Chinese calendar, there are 178 days remaining before the start of the next Chinese New Year (January 29, 2025).

Birthday curiousity Is your birthday coming up in two days? Are you not curious to find out who is sharing your special day? Discover all the March 31 famous birthdays. There are fun facts about that day that you must know. (Sponsored link)

Historical Events For August 4

  • 70
    The destruction of the Second Temple in Jerusalem by the Romans.
  • 367
    Gratian, son of Roman Emperor Valentinian I, is named co-Augustus by his father and associated to the throne aged eight.
  • 1265
    Second Barons’ War: Battle of Evesham – the army of Prince Edward (the future king Edward I of England) defeats the forces of rebellious barons led by Simon de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester, killing de Montfort and many of his allies.
  • 1327
    First War of Scottish Independence: James Douglas leads a raid into Weardale and almost kills Edward III of England.
  • 1532
    the Duchy of Brittany is annexed to the Kingdom of France.
  • 1578
    Battle of Al Kasr al Kebir – the Moroccans defeat the Portuguese. King Sebastian of Portugal is killed in the battle, leaving his elderly uncle, Cardinal Henry, as his heir. This initiates a succession crisis in Portugal.
  • 1693
    Date traditionally ascribed to Dom Perignon’s invention of Champagne, although he actually did not have anything to do with sparkling wine.
  • 1704
    War of the Spanish Succession: Gibraltar is captured by an English and Dutch fleet, commanded by Admiral Sir George Rooke and allied with Archduke Charles.
  • 1789
    In France members of the National Constituent Assembly take an oath to end feudalism and abandon their privileges.
  • 1790
    A newly passed tariff act creates the Revenue Cutter Service (the forerunner of the United States Coast Guard).
  • 1791
    The Treaty of Sistova is signed, ending the Ottoman-Habsburg wars.
  • 1796
    French Revolutionary Wars: Napoleon leads the French Army of Italy to victory in the Battle of Lonato.
  • 1821
    Atkinson & Alexander publish the Saturday Evening Post for the first time as a weekly newspaper.
  • 1824
    The Battle of Kos is fought between Turk and Greek forces.
  • 1854
    The Hinomaru is established as the official flag to be flown from Japanese ships.
  • 1863
    Matica slovenská, Slovakia’s public-law cultural and scientific institution focusing on topics around the Slovak nation, is established in Martin.
  • 1873
    Indian Wars: whilst protecting a railroad survey party in Montana, the United States 7th Cavalry, under Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer clashes for the first time with the Sioux near the Tongue River; only one man on each side is killed.
  • 1892
    The father and stepmother of Lizzie Borden are found murdered in their Fall River, Massachusetts home.
  • 1902
    The Greenwich foot tunnel under the River Thames opens.
  • 1906
    Central Railway Station, Sydney opens.
  • 1914
    World War I: Germany invades Belgium. In response, the United Kingdom declares war on Germany. The United States declare their neutrality.
  • 1916
    World War I: Liberia declares war on Germany.
  • 1924
    Diplomatic relations between Mexico and the Soviet Union are established.
  • 1936
    Prime Minister of Greece Ioannis Metaxas suspends parliament and the Constitution and establishes the 4th of August Regime.
  • 1944
    The Holocaust: a tip from a Dutch informer leads the Gestapo to a sealed-off area in an Amsterdam warehouse where they find and arrest Jewish diarist Anne Frank, her family, and four others.
  • 1946
    An earthquake of magnitude 8.0 hits northern Dominican Republic. 100 are killed and 20,000 are left homeless.
  • 1947
    The Supreme Court of Japan is established.
  • 1958
    The Billboard Hot 100 is published for the first time.
  • 1964
    American civil rights movement: civil rights workers Michael Schwerner, Andrew Goodman and James Chaney are found dead in Mississippi after disappearing on June 21.
  • 1964
    Gulf of Tonkin Incident: U.S. destroyers USS Maddox and USS Turner Joy report coming under attack in the Gulf of Tonkin.
  • 1965
    The Constitution of Cook Islands comes into force, giving the Cook Islands self-governing status within New Zealand.
  • 1969
    Vietnam War: at the apartment of French intermediary Jean Sainteny in Paris, American representative Henry Kissinger and North Vietnamese representative Xuan Thuy begin secret peace negotiations. The negotiations will eventually fail.
  • 1974
    A bomb explodes in the Italicus Express train at San Benedetto Val di Sambro, Italy, killing 12 people and wounding 22.
  • 1975
    The Japanese Red Army takes more than 50 hostages at the AIA Building housing several embassies in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The hostages include the U.S. consul and the Swedish chargé d’affaires. The gunmen win the release of five imprisoned comrades and fly with them to Libya.
  • 1977
    US President Jimmy Carter signs legislation creating the United States Department of Energy.
  • 1984
    The Republic of Upper Volta changes its name to Burkina Faso.
  • 1987
    The Federal Communications Commission rescinds the Fairness Doctrine which had required radio and television stations to present controversial issues “fairly”.
  • 1989
    Licence to Kill goes on general cinema release in the United Kingdom.
  • 1991
    The Greek cruise ship Ship MTS sinks off the Wild Coast of South Africa.
  • 1993
    A federal judge sentences LAPD officers Stacey Koon and Laurence Powell to 30 months in prison for violating motorist Rodney King’s civil rights.
  • 1995
    Operation Storm begins in Croatia.
  • 2002
    Soham murders: 10 year old school girls Jessica Chapman and Holly Wells go missing from the town of Soham, Cambridgeshire, United Kingdom.
  • 2005
    Prime Minister Paul Martin announces that Michaëlle Jean will be Canada’s 27th Governor General.
  • 2006
    A massacre, is carried out by Sri Lankan government forces, killing 17 employees of the French INGO Action Against Hunger (known internationally as Action Contre la Faim, or ACF).
  • 2007
    Airport police officer María del Luján Telpuk discovers a suitcase containing the undeclared sum of US$800,000 as it goes through an x-ray machine in Aeroparque Jorge Newbery in Buenos Aires, sparking an international scandal involving Venezuela and Argentina known as “Maletinazo”.
  • 2007
    NASA’s Phoenix spaceship is launched.
  • 2010
    California’s Proposition 8, the ballot initiative prohibiting same-sex marriage passed by the state’s voters in 2008, is overturned by Judge Vaughn Walker in the case Perry v. Schwarzenegger.

Who Were Born On August 4?

  • 1222
    Richard de Clare, 6th Earl of Hertford, English soldier (d. 1262)
  • 1290
    Duke Leopold I of Austria (d. 1326)
  • 1521
    Pope Urban VII (d. 1590)
  • 1604
    François Hédelin, abbé d'Aubignac, French writer (d. 1676)
  • 1701
    Thomas Blackwell, Scottish classical scholar (d. 1757)
  • 1719
    Johann Gottlob Lehmann, German mineralogist and geologist (d. 1767)
  • 1721
    Granville Leveson-Gower, 1st Marquess of Stafford, English politician (d. 1803)
  • 1755
    Nicolas-Jacques Conté, French painter and inventor (d. 1805)
  • 1792
    Percy Bysshe Shelley, English poet (d. 1822)
  • 1805
    William Rowan Hamilton, Irish mathematician (d. 1865)
  • 1821
    James Springer White, American theologian (d. 1881)
  • 1821
    Louis Vuitton, French designer (d. 1892)
  • 1834
    John Venn, English mathematician (d. 1923)
  • 1839
    Walter Pater, English essayist and critic (d. 1894)
  • 1844
    Henri Berger, German composer and royal bandmaster (d. 1929)
  • 1848
    Vladimir Sukhomlinov, Russian general (d. 1926)
  • 1859
    Knut Hamsun, Norwegian writer, Nobel Laureate (d. 1952)
  • 1865
    Gus Kempis, South African cricketer (d. 1890)
  • 1867
    Jake Beckley, American baseball player (d. 1918)
  • 1870
    Sir Harry Lauder, Scottish entertainer (d. 1950)
  • 1876
    Giovanni Giuriati, Italian politician (d. 1970)
  • 1884
    Béla Balázs, Hungarian-Jewish film critic, writer and poet (d. 1949)
  • 1884
    Henri Cornet, French cyclist (d. 1941)
  • 1888
    Syedna Taher Saifuddin, Indian Dawoodi Bohra leader, 51st Da'i al-Mutlaq (d. 1965)
  • 1890
    Dolf Luque, Cuban baseball player (d. 1957)
  • 1891
    Margit Makay, Hungarian actress (d. 1989)
  • 1899
    Ezra Taft Benson, American religious figure (d. 1994)
  • 1900
    Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, Scottish consort of George VI (d. 2002)
  • 1901
    Clarence Passailaigue, Jamaican cricketer (d. 1972)
  • 1901
    Louis Armstrong, American jazz trumpeter and singer (d. 1971)
  • 1902
    Wild Bill Hallahan, American baseball player (d. 1981)
  • 1904
    Helen Kane, American singer, dancer, and actress (d. 1966)
  • 1904
    Joe Tate, English footballer (d. 1973)
  • 1904
    Witold Gombrowicz, Polish novelist and dramatist (d. 1969)
  • 1906
    Eugen Schuhmacher, German zoologist (d. 1973)
  • 1906
    Marie-José of Belgium, consort of Umberto II of Italy (d. 2001)
  • 1908
    Kurt Eichhorn, German conductor (d. 1994)
  • 1909
    Glenn Cunningham, American middle-distance runner (d. 1988)
  • 1909
    Saunders Mac Lane, American mathematician (d. 2005)
  • 1910
    Anita Page, American actress (d. 2008)
  • 1910
    Hedda Sterne, Romanian-born American painter and printmaker (d. 2011)
  • 1910
    William Schuman, American composer (d. 1992)
  • 1912
    Aleksandr Danilovich Aleksandrov, Russian mathematician and mountaineer (d. 1999)
  • 1912
    Raoul Wallenberg, Swedish diplomat (d. 1947)
  • 1913
    Robert Hayden, American poet (d. 1980)
  • 1915
    Warren Avis, American entrepreneur (d. 2007)
  • 1918
    Iceberg Slim, American author (d. 1992)
  • 1919
    Michel Déon, French writer
  • 1920
    Helen Thomas, American journalist
  • 1921
    Herb Ellis, American jazz guitarist (d. 2010)
  • 1921
    Maurice Richard, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 2000)
  • 1923
    Mushtaq Ahmad Yusufi, Pakistani satirical and humor writer
  • 1923
    Reg Grundy, Australian media and television mogul
  • 1926
    George Irving Bell, American mountaineer (d. 2000)
  • 1927
    Jess Thomas, American tenor (d. 1993)
  • 1928
    Christian Goethals, Belgian racing driver (d. 2003)
  • 1929
    Kishore Kumar, Indian singer and actor (d. 1987)
  • 1930
    Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, Iranian Shi'a cleric
  • 1931
    Naren Tamhane, Indian cricketer (d. 2002)
  • 1932
    Liang Congjie, Chinese environmentalist (d. 2010)
  • 1934
    Dallas Green, American baseball player
  • 1937
    David Bedford, English keyboardist and composer
  • 1938
    Ellen Schrecker, American college professor
  • 1939
    Frank Vincent, American actor
  • 1940
    Larry Knechtel, keyboard and bass player (d. 2009)
  • 1940
    Timi Yuro, American singer (d. 2004)
  • 1941
    Martin Jarvis, English actor
  • 1941
    Ted Strickland, American politician
  • 1942
    Cleon Jones, American baseball player
  • 1942
    David Lange, New Zealand politician (d. 2005)
  • 1942
    Don S. Davis, American actor and painter (d. 2008)
  • 1943
    Bjørn Wirkola, Norwegian ski jumper
  • 1943
    Vicente Alberto Álvarez Areces, Spanish politician
  • 1944
    Doudou Ndoye, Senegalese lawyer and politician
  • 1944
    Richard Belzer, American actor and comedian
  • 1945
    Alan Mulally, American businessman
  • 1946
    Maureen Starkey, English ex-wife of Ringo Starr (d. 1994)
  • 1947
    Klaus Schulze, German composer
  • 1948
    Johnny Grubb, American baseball player
  • 1949
    John Riggins, American football player
  • 1952
    Gábor Demszky, Hungarian politician
  • 1952
    Moya Brennan, Irish singer
  • 1953
    Hiroyuki Usui, Japanese footballer
  • 1954
    Anatoliy Kinakh, Ukrainian politician
  • 1954
    François Valéry, French singer-songwriter and composer
  • 1955
    Alberto Gonzales, 80th U.S. Attorney General
  • 1955
    Billy Bob Thornton, American actor and writer
  • 1955
    Dariusz Lipiński, Polish politician
  • 1956
    Gerry Cooney, American boxer
  • 1957
    Brooks D. Simpson, American historian
  • 1957
    John Wark, Scottish footballer
  • 1958
    Allison Hedge Coke, American poet and writer
  • 1958
    Ian Broudie, English music producer and vocalist (Lightning Seeds)
  • 1958
    Kym Karath, American actress
  • 1958
    Mary Decker, American middle-distance runner
  • 1959
    John Gormley, Irish politician
  • 1959
    Robbin Crosby, American guitarist (Ratt) (d. 2002)
  • 1960
    Bernard Rose, English director
  • 1960
    Dean Malenko, American professional wrestler
  • 1960
    José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, 5th Prime Minister of Spain
  • 1960
    Tim Winton, Australian writer
  • 1961
    Barack Obama, 44th President of the United States, Nobel Peace Prize laureate
  • 1961
    Eddie James, American murderer and sex offender
  • 1961
    Lauren Tom, American actress
  • 1961
    Peter Reichert, German footballer
  • 1962
    Paul Reynolds, British guitarist (A Flock of Seagulls)
  • 1962
    Roger Clemens, American baseball player
  • 1964
    Andrew Bartlett, Australian politician and activist
  • 1964
    Gary King, British radio presenter
  • 1965
    Crystal Chappell, American actress
  • 1965
    Dennis Lehane, American crime writer
  • 1965
    Fredrik Reinfeldt, 42nd Prime Minister of Sweden
  • 1965
    James Tupper, Canadian actor
  • 1965
    Wayne Pacelle, President and CEO of the Humane Society of the United States
  • 1966
    Kensuke Sasaki, Japanese professional wrestler
  • 1967
    Michael Marsh, American sprinter
  • 1967
    Timothy Adams, American actor
  • 1968
    Daniel Dae Kim, American actor
  • 1968
    Lee Mack, British comedian
  • 1968
    Marcus Schenkenberg, Swedish model
  • 1969
    Mark Bickley, Australian AFL football player
  • 1969
    Max Cavalera, Brazilian vocalist and guitarist (Sepultura, Soulfly)
  • 1969
    Michael DeLuise, American actor
  • 1969
    Troy O'Leary, American baseball player
  • 1970
    Bret Baier, FOX News Channel anchor
  • 1970
    John August, American screenwriter
  • 1970
    Steve House, American mountaineer
  • 1970
    Steven Jack, South African cricketer
  • 1971
    Jeff Gordon, American race car driver
  • 1972
    Stefan Brogren, Canadian actor
  • 1973
    Eva Amaral, Spanish singer and songwriter
  • 1973
    Marcos Roberto Silveira Reis, Brazilian footballer
  • 1973
    Marek Penksa, Slovak footballer
  • 1973
    Xavier Marchand, French swimmer
  • 1974
    Keenan Milton, American professional skater (d. 2001)
  • 1974
    Kily González, Argentine footballer
  • 1975
    Andy Hallett, American actor (d. 2009)
  • 1975
    Daniella van Graas, Dutch model and actress
  • 1975
    Jutta Urpilainen, Finnish politician
  • 1975
    Nikos Liberopoulos, Greek footballer
  • 1976
    Andrew McLeod, Australian rules footballer
  • 1977
    Frankie Kazarian, American professional wrestler
  • 1977
    Luís Boa Morte, Portuguese footballer
  • 1978
    Kurt Busch, American race car driver
  • 1979
    Robin Peterson, South African cricketer
  • 1980
    Richard Dawson, English cricketer
  • 1981
    Ben Scott, English cricketer
  • 1981
    Marques Houston, American singer (IMx) and actor
  • 1984
    Mardy Collins, American basketball player
  • 1985
    Crystal Bowersox, American singer
  • 1985
    Ha Seung-Jin, Korean basketball player
  • 1985
    Kina Grannis, American musician
  • 1985
    Luis Antonio Valencia, Ecuadorean footballer
  • 1985
    Mark Milligan, Australian footballer
  • 1986
    Nick Augusto, Italian-American drummer (Trivium)
  • 1987
    Jang Geun-suk, Korean actor
  • 1988
    Carly Foulkes, Canadian model and actress
  • 1989
    Jessica Mauboy, Australian singer (Young Divas)
  • 1991
    Lucinda Dryzek, British actress
  • 1991
    River Viiperi, Spanish Model
  • 1991
    Thiago Cardoso, Brazilian footballer
  • 1992
    Cole Sprouse, American actor
  • 1992
    Dylan Sprouse, American actor
  • 1992
    Tiffany Evans, American singer
  • 1994
    Kevin Van Fleet, Notorious bird watcher and friend of Bob Saget
  • 1994
    Mayuko Fukuda, Japanese actress
  • 2001
    Seishiro Kato, Japanese actor

Who Died On August 4?

  • 1060
    King Henry I of France (b. 1008)
  • 1113
    Gertrude of Saxony, daughter of Bernard II, Duke of Saxony and wife of Floris I, Count of Holland (b. 1030)
  • 1265
    Killed in the Battle of Evesham: Henry de Montfort (b. 1238)
  • 1265
    Killed in the Battle of Evesham: Hugh le Despencer, 1st Baron le Despencer (b. 1223)
  • 1265
    Killed in the Battle of Evesham: Peter de Montfort (b. c. 1215)
  • 1265
    Killed in the Battle of Evesham: Simon de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester (b. 1208)
  • 1306
    King Wenceslaus III of Bohemia, Hungary and Poland (b. 1289)
  • 1338
    Thomas of Brotherton, 1st Earl of Norfolk, son of Edward I of England (b. 1300)
  • 1526
    Juan Sebastián Elcano, Spanish explorer (b. 1476)
  • 1578
    King Sebastian of Portugal (b. 1554)
  • 1578
    Thomas Stukley, English adventurer (b. c. 1520)
  • 1598
    William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley, English statesman (b. 1520)
  • 1612
    Hugh Broughton, English scholar (b. 1549)
  • 1639
    Juan Ruiz de Alarcón, Mexican dramatist
  • 1718
    René Lepage de Sainte-Claire, French lord-founder of the town of Rimouski in New France (b. 1656)
  • 1727
    Victor-Maurice, comte de Broglie, French general (b. 1647)
  • 1741
    Andrew Hamilton, American lawyer
  • 1778
    Pierre de Rigaud, French colonial governor in North America (b. 1698)
  • 1792
    John Burgoyne, British general (b. 1723)
  • 1795
    Timothy Ruggles, American politician (b. 1711)
  • 1804
    Adam Duncan, 1st Viscount Duncan Royal Navy Admiral (b. 1731)
  • 1834
    Dimitrios Panourgias Greek military commander during the Greek War of Independence (b. 1754)
  • 1844
    Jakob Aall, Norwegian journalist and statesman (b. 1773)
  • 1859
    Jean Vianney, French priest (b. 1786)
  • 1873
    Viktor Hartmann, Russian painter (b. 1834)
  • 1875
    Hans Christian Andersen, Danish writer (b. 1805)
  • 1886
    Samuel Jones Tilden, Governor of New York and Democratic candidate for President of the United States in the 1876 presidential election (b. 1814)
  • 1900
    Isaac Levitan, Russian painter (b. 1860)
  • 1914
    Jules Lemaître, French critic and dramatist (b. 1853)
  • 1919
    Dave Gregory, Australian cricketer (b. 1845)
  • 1938
    Pearl White, American actress (b. 1889)
  • 1941
    Mihály Babits, Hungarian writer and poet (b. 1883)
  • 1942
    Alberto Franchetti, Italian opera composer (b. 1860)
  • 1957
    Washington Luís Pereira de Sousa, 13th President of Brazil (b. 1869)
  • 1958
    Ethel Anderson, Australian poet (b. 1883)
  • 1959
    József Révai, Hungarian politician (b. 1898)
  • 1967
    Peter Smith, English cricketer (b. 1908)
  • 1976
    Enrique Angelelli, Argentine bishop (b. 1923)
  • 1976
    Roy Herbert Thomson, Canadian publisher (b. 1894)
  • 1981
    Melvyn Douglas, American actor (b. 1901)
  • 1982
    Bruce Goff, American architect (b. 1904)
  • 1985
    Don Whillans, British mountaineer (b. 1933)
  • 1991
    Nikiforos Vrettakos, Greek writer and poet (b. 1912)
  • 1992
    Seicho Matsumoto, Japanese writer and journalist (b. 1909)
  • 1993
    Bernard Barrow, American actor (b. 1927)
  • 1996
    Geoff Hamilton, British gardener and broadcaster (b. 1936)
  • 1997
    Jeanne Calment, French supercentenarian, the world’s oldest human on record and the only person ever to live past the age of 122 (b. 1875)
  • 1998
    Yuri Artyukhin, Russian cosmonaut (b. 1930)
  • 1999
    Rodney Ansell, Australian who was the inspiration for Crocodile Dundee (b. 1953)
  • 1999
    Victor Mature, American actor (b. 1913)
  • 2000
    Leslie Glass, American adult film actress (b. 1963)
  • 2001
    Lorenzo Music, American actor (b. 1937)
  • 2003
    Frederick Chapman Robbins, American pediatrician and virologist, Nobel Laureate (b. 1916)
  • 2005
    Anatoly Larkin, Russian-born American physicist (b. 1932)
  • 2005
    Iván Szabó, Hungarian politician (b. 1934)
  • 2007
    Lee Hazlewood, American country singer, songwriter and producer (b. 1929)
  • 2007
    Raul Hilberg, Austrian-born American political scientist and historian of the Holocaust (b. 1926)
  • 2008
    Craig Jones, English motorcycle racer (b. 1985)
  • 2009
    Blake Snyder, American screenwriter (b. 1957)
  • 2011
    Naoki Matsuda, Japanese Soccer player (b. 1977)

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