MENU

Home Upcoming Holidays Religious Holidays National Holidays Other Days Blog Date converter On This Day Contact Us

© 2025 CalendarZ. All Rights Reserved.

Languages

English español français português русский العربية 简体中文

March 4 in History

Ad

Historical Events on March 4

AD 51

Nero, later to become Roman emperor, is given the title princeps iuventutis (head of the youth).
306

Martyrdom of Saint Adrian of Nicomedia.
852

Croatian Knez Trpimir I issues a statute, a document with the first known written mention of the Croats name in Croatian sources.
932

Translation of the relics of martyr Wenceslaus I, Duke of Bohemia, Prince of the Czechs.
1152

Frederick I Barbarossa is elected King of Germany.
1238

The Battle of the Sit River is fought in the northern part of the present-day Yaroslavl Oblast of Russia between the Mongol hordes of Batu Khan and the Russians under Yuri II of Vladimir-Suzdal during the Mongol invasion of Rus'.
1351

Ramathibodi becomes King of Siam.
1386

Władysław II Jagiełło (Jogaila) is crowned King of Poland.
1461

Wars of the Roses in England: Lancastrian King Henry VI is deposed by his House of York cousin, who then becomes King Edward IV.
1493

Explorer Christopher Columbus arrives back in Lisbon, Portugal, aboard his ship Niña from his voyage to what is now The Bahamas and other islands in the Caribbean.
1519

Hernán Cortés arrives in Mexico in search of the Aztec civilization and its wealth.
1628

The Massachusetts Bay Colony is granted a Royal charter.
1665

English King Charles II declares war on the Netherlands marking the start of the Second Anglo-Dutch War.
1675

John Flamsteed is appointed the first Astronomer Royal of England.
1681

Charles II grants a land charter to William Penn for the area that will later become Pennsylvania.
1776

American Revolutionary War: The Continental Army fortifies Dorchester Heights with cannon, leading the British troops to abandon the Siege of Boston.
1789

In New York City, the first Congress of the United States meets, putting the United States Constitution into effect. The United States Bill of Rights is written and proposed to Congress.
1790

France is divided into 83 départements, cutting across the former provinces in an attempt to dislodge regional loyalties based on ownership of land by the nobility.
1791

The Constitutional Act of 1791 is introduced by the British House of Commons in London which envisages the separation of Canada into Lower Canada (Quebec) and Upper Canada (Ontario).
1791

Vermont is admitted to the United States as the fourteenth state.
1794

The 11th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution is passed by the U.S. Congress.
1797

John Adams is inaugurated as the 2nd President of the United States of America, becoming the first President to begin his presidency on March 4.
1804

Castle Hill Rebellion: Irish convicts rebel against British colonial authority in the Colony of New South Wales.
1813

Cyril VI of Constantinople is elected Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople.
1814

Americans defeat British forces at the Battle of Longwoods between London, Ontario and Thamesville, near present-day Wardsville, Ontario.
1837

The city of Chicago is incorporated.
1848

Carlo Alberto di Savoia signs the Statuto Albertino that will later represent the first constitution of the Regno d'Italia.
1861

The first national flag of the Confederate States of America (the "Stars and Bars") is adopted.
1865

The third and final national flag of the Confederate States of America is adopted by the Confederate Congress.
1882

Britain's first electric trams run in east London.
1890

The longest bridge in Great Britain, the Forth Bridge in Scotland, measuring 1,710 feet (520 m) long, is opened by the Prince of Wales, later King Edward VII.
1899

Cyclone Mahina sweeps in north of Cooktown, Queensland, with a 12 metres (39 ft) wave that reaches up to 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) inland, killing over 300.
1908

The Collinwood school fire, Collinwood near Cleveland, Ohio, kills 174 people.
1909

U.S. President William Taft used what became known as a Saxbe fix, a mechanism to avoid the restriction of the U.S. Constitution's Ineligibility Clause, to appoint Philander C. Knox as U.S. Secretary of State
1913

First Balkan War: The Greek army engages the Turks at Bizani, resulting in victory two days later.
1913

The United States Department of Labor is formed.
1917

Jeannette Rankin of Montana becomes the first female member of the United States House of Representatives.
1933

Frances Perkins becomes United States Secretary of Labor, the first female member of the United States Cabinet.
1933

The Parliament of Austria is suspended because of a quibble over procedure - Chancellor Engelbert Dollfuss initiates an authoritarian rule by decree.
1941

World War II: The United Kingdom launches Operation Claymore on the Lofoten Islands; the first large scale British Commando raid.
1943

World War II: The Battle of the Bismarck Sea in the south-west Pacific comes to an end.
1944

World War II: After the success of Big Week, the USAAF begins a daylight bombing campaign of Berlin.
1957

The S&P 500 stock market index is introduced, replacing the S&P 90.
1960

The French freighter La Coubre explodes in Havana, Cuba, killing 100.
1962

A Caledonian Airways Douglas DC-7 crashes shortly after takeoff from Cameroon, killing 111 - the worst crash of a DC-7.
1966

A Canadian Pacific Air Lines DC-8-43 explodes on landing at Tokyo International Airport, killing 64 people.
1970

French submarine Eurydice explodes underwater, resulting in the loss of the entire 57-man crew.
1974

People magazine is published for the first time in the United States as People Weekly.
1976

The Northern Ireland Constitutional Convention is formally dissolved in Northern Ireland resulting in direct rule of Northern Ireland from London by the British parliament.
1977

The 1977 Vrancea earthquake in eastern and southern Europe kills more than 1,500, mostly in Bucharest, Romania.
1980

Nationalist leader Robert Mugabe wins a sweeping election victory to become Zimbabwe's first black prime minister.
1985

The Food and Drug Administration approves a blood test for AIDS infection, used since then for screening all blood donations in the United States.
1986

The Soviet Vega 1 begins returning images of Halley's Comet and the first images of its nucleus.
1996

A derailed train in Weyauwega, Wisconsin (USA) causes the emergency evacuation of 2,300 people for 16 days.
1998

Gay rights: Oncale v. Sundowner Offshore Services, Inc.: The Supreme Court of the United States rules that federal laws banning on-the-job sexual harassment also apply when both parties are the same sex.
2001

BBC bombing: A massive car bomb explodes in front of the BBC Television Centre in London, seriously injuring one person; the attack was attributed to the Real IRA.
2002

Afghanistan: Seven American Special Operations Forces soldiers and 200 Al-Qaeda Fighters are killed as American forces attempt to infiltrate the Shah-i-Kot Valley on a low-flying helicopter reconnaissance mission.
2009

The International Criminal Court (ICC) issues an arrest warrant for Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur. Al-Bashir is the first sitting head of state to be indicted by the ICC since its establishment in 2002.
2012

A series of explosions is reported at a munitions dump in Brazzaville, the capital of the Republic of the Congo, killing at least 250 people.
2015

At least 34 miners die in a suspected gas explosion at the Zasyadko coal mine in the rebel-held Donetsk region of Ukraine.

March 4 Birthdays

Choose Another Date

Su
Mo
Tu
We
Th
Fr
Sa

February

March

April

© 2025 CalendarZ. All Rights Reserved.