October 4 in History

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Historical Events on October 4

AD 23

Rebels capture and sack the Chinese capital Chang'an during a peasant rebellion. They kill and decapitate the emperor, Wang Mang, two days later.
610

Heraclius arrives by ship from Africa at Constantinople, overthrows Byzantine Emperor Phocas and becomes Emperor.
1227

Assassination of Caliph al-Adil.
1302

A peace treaty between the Byzantine Empire and the Republic of Venice ends the Byzantine-Venetian War (1296-1302).
1363

End of the Battle of Lake Poyang; the Chinese rebel forces of Zhu Yuanzhang defeat that of his rival, Chen Youliang, in one of the largest naval battles in history.
1511

Formation of the Holy League of Ferdinand II of Aragon, the Papal States and the Republic of Venice against France.
1535

The first complete English-language Bible (the Coverdale Bible) is printed, with translations by William Tyndale and Myles Coverdale.
1582

Pope Gregory XIII implements the Gregorian calendar. In Italy, Poland, Portugal, and Spain, October 4 of this year is followed directly by October 15.
1597

The first Guale uprising begins against the Spanish missions in Georgia.
1636

The Swedish Army defeats the armies of Saxony and the Holy Roman Empire at the Battle of Wittstock.
1693

Piedmontese troops are defeated by the French.
1777

Battle of Germantown: Troops under George Washington are repelled by British troops under Sir William Howe.
1795

Napoleon Bonaparte first rises to national prominence by suppressing armed counter-revolutionary rioters threatening the National Convention.
1824

Mexico adopts a new constitution and becomes a federal republic.
1830

The Provisional Government of Belgium secedes from the United Kingdom of the Netherlands.
1853

The Ottoman Empire declares war on the Russian Empire.
1876

Texas A&M University opens as the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas, becoming the first public institution of higher education in Texas.
1883

First run of the Orient Express.
1883

First meeting of the Boys' Brigade in Glasgow, Scotland.
1895

The first U.S. Open Men's Golf Championship administered by the United States Golf Association is played at the Newport Country Club in Newport, Rhode Island.
1904

IFK Göteborg was founded in Café Olivedal in Gothenburg, Sweden.
1917

World War I: The Battle of Broodseinde is fought between the British and German armies in Flanders.
1918

An explosion kills more than 100 and destroys the T.A. Gillespie Company Shell Loading Plant in Sayreville, New Jersey.
1927

Gutzon Borglum begins sculpting Mount Rushmore.
1936

The British Union of Fascists and various anti-fascist organizations violently clash in the Battle of Cable Street.
1941

Norman Rockwell's Willie Gillis character debuts on the cover of The Saturday Evening Post.
1957

Space Race: Launch of Sputnik 1, the first artificial satellite to orbit the Earth.
1958

The current constitution of France is adopted.
1960

Eastern Air Lines Flight 375, a Lockheed L-188 Electra, crashes after a bird strike on takeoff from Boston's Logan International Airport, killing 62 people (out of 72 onboard).
1963

Hurricane Flora kills 6,000 in Cuba and Haiti.
1965

Pope Paul VI arrives in New York City, the first Pope to visit the Americas.
1966

Basutoland becomes independent from the United Kingdom and is renamed Lesotho.
1967

Omar Ali Saifuddien III of Brunei abdicates in favour of his son, Hassanal Bolkiah.
1983

Richard Noble sets a new land speed record of 633.468 miles per hour (1,019.468 km/h), driving Thrust2 at the Black Rock Desert in Nevada.
1985

The Free Software Foundation is founded in Massachusetts, United States.
1991

The Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty is opened for signature.
1992

The Rome General Peace Accords ends a 16-year civil war in Mozambique.
1992

El Al Flight 1862: An El Al Boeing 747-258F crashes into two apartment buildings in Amsterdam, killing 43 including 39 on the ground.
1993

Russian Constitutional Crisis: In Moscow, tanks bombard the White House, a government building that housed the Russian parliament, while demonstrators against President Boris Yeltsin rally outside.
1997

The second largest cash robbery in U.S. history occurs at the Charlotte, North Carolina office of Loomis, Fargo and Company. A Federal Bureau of Investigation investigation eventually results in 24 convictions and the recovery of approximately 95% of the $17.3 million stolen cash.
2001

Siberia Airlines Flight 1812: A Sibir Airlines Tupolev Tu-154 crashes into the Black Sea after being struck by an errant Ukrainian S-200 missile. Seventy-eight people are killed.
2003

Maxim restaurant suicide bombing in Haifa, Israel: Twenty-one Israelis, Jews and Arabs, are killed, and 51 others wounded.
2004

SpaceShipOne wins Ansari X Prize for private spaceflight, by being the first private craft to fly into space.
2006

Wikileaks is launched by Julian Assange.
2010

The Ajka plant accident in western Hungary releases about a million cubic metres (35 million cubic feet) of liquid alumina sludge. Nine people are killed and 122 injured, and the Marcal and Danube rivers are severely contaminated.

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