On this day: December 4

Events on December 4

• 771 Austrasian king Carloman I dies, leaving his brother Charlemagne as sole king of the Frankish Kingdom. Wikipedia
• 1110 An army led by Baldwin I of Jerusalem and Sigurd the Crusader of Norway captures Sidon at the end of the First Crusade. Wikipedia
• 1783 At Fraunces Tavern in New York City, U.S. General George Washington bids farewell to his officers. Wikipedia
• 1808 Napoleonic Wars: Under the orders by commander Tomás de Morla, the city of Madrid surrenders to French Emperor Napoleon I after a 4 day long siege. Wikipedia
• 1861 American Civil War: The 109 electors of the several states of the Confederate States of America unanimously elect Jefferson Davis as President and Alexander H. Stephens as Vice President. Wikipedia
• 1865 North Carolina ratifies 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, followed two days later by Georgia, and U.S. slaves were legally free within two weeks. Wikipedia
• 1867 Former Minnesota farmer Oliver Hudson Kelley founds the Order of the Patrons of Husbandry (better known today as the Grange). Wikipedia
• 1909 The first Grey Cup, the championship game of the Canadian Football League, was held in Toronto. Wikipedia
• 1915 World War I: Senior British and French figures, including prime ministers H. H. Asquith and Aristide Briand, met at Calais to discuss the future of the Salonika Front. Wikipedia
• 1917 The Finnish Senate submits to the Parliament of Finland a proposal for the form of government of the Republic of Finland and issues a communication to Parliament declaring the independence of Finland. Wikipedia
• 1918 U.S. President Woodrow Wilson sails for the World War I peace talks in Versailles, becoming the first US president to travel to Europe while in office. Wikipedia
• 1939 World War II: HMS Nelson is struck by a mine (laid by U-31) off the Scottish coast and is laid up for repairs until August 1940. Wikipedia
• 1943 World War II: U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt closes down the Works Progress Administration, because of the high levels of wartime employment in the United States. Wikipedia
• 1945 By a vote of 65–7, the United States Senate approves United States participation in the United Nations. (The UN had been established on October 24, 1945.) Wikipedia
• 1948 Chinese Civil War: The SS Kiangya, carrying Nationalist refugees from Shanghai, explodes in the Huangpu River. Wikipedia
• 1956 The Million Dollar Quartet (Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, and Johnny Cash) get together at Sun Studio for the first and last time. Wikipedia
• 1971 Indo-Pakistani War: The Indian Navy launched a successful attack against the Pakistan Navy at Karachi, sinking three ships with no Indian casualties. Wikipedia
• 1977 Jean-Bédel Bokassa, president of the Central African Republic, crowns himself Emperor Bokassa I of the Central African Empire. Wikipedia
• 1978 Following the murder of Mayor George Moscone, Dianne Feinstein became San Francisco's first female mayor. Wikipedia
• 1978 Following the murder of Mayor George Moscone, Dianne Feinstein becomes San Francisco's first female mayor. Wikipedia
• 1982 The China adopts its current constitution. Wikipedia
• 1991 Terry A. Anderson is released after seven years in captivity as a hostage in Beirut; he is the last and longest-held American hostage in Lebanon. Wikipedia
• 1992 Somali Civil War: President George H. W. Bush orders 28,000 U.S. troops to Somalia in Northeast Africa. Wikipedia
• 1992 U.S. president George H. W. Bush ordered American troops into Somalia to help provide humanitarian aid and restore order during the ongoing Somali Civil War. Wikipedia
• 2015 A firebomb is thrown into a restaurant in the Egyptian capital of Cairo, killing 17 people. Wikipedia
• 2017 The Thomas Fire starts near Santa Paula in California. It eventually became the largest wildfire in modern California history to date after burning 1,140 square kilometers (440 sq mi) in Ventura and Santa Barbara Counties. Wikipedia

Born on December 4

• 34 Persius, Roman poet (died 62) Wikipedia
• 846 Hasan al-Askari 11th Imam of Twelver Shia Islam (died 874) Wikipedia
• 1795 Thomas Carlyle, Scottish-English historian, philosopher, and academic (died 1881) Wikipedia
• 1798 Jules Armand Dufaure, French lawyer and politician, 33rd Prime Minister of France (died 1881) Wikipedia
• 1835 Samuel Butler, English author and critic (died 1902) Wikipedia
• 1865 Edith Cavell, English nurse, humanitarian, and saint (Anglicanism) (died 1915) Wikipedia
• 1875 Rainer Maria Rilke, Austrian-Swiss poet and author (died 1926) Wikipedia
• 1892 Francisco Franco, Spanish general and dictator, Prime Minister of Spain (died 1975) Wikipedia
• 1908 Alfred Hershey, American bacteriologist and geneticist, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1997) Wikipedia
• 1910 R. Venkataraman, Indian lawyer and politician, 6th President of India (died 2009) Wikipedia
• 1912 Pappy Boyington, American colonel and pilot, Medal of Honor recipient (died 1988) Wikipedia
• 1919 I. K. Gujral, Indian poet and politician, 12th Prime Minister of India (died 2012) Wikipedia
• 1925 Albert Bandura, Canadian-American psychologist and academic (died 2021) Wikipedia
• 1932 Roh Tae-woo, South Korean general and politician, 6th President of South Korea (died 2021) Wikipedia
• 1949 Jeff Bridges, American actor Wikipedia
• 1961 Naomi Robson, American-Australian television host[better source needed] Wikipedia
• 1963 Sergey Bubka, Ukrainian pole vaulter Wikipedia
• 1964 Marisa Tomei, American actress Wikipedia
• 1969 Jay-Z, American rapper, producer, actor, and co-founder of Roc-A-Fella Records Wikipedia
• 1973 Tyra Banks, American model, actress, and producer Wikipedia
• 1982 Nick Vujicic, Australian evangelist Wikipedia
• 1996 Diogo Jota, Portuguese footballer (died 2025) Wikipedia

Died on December 4

• 749 John of Damascus, Syrian priest and saint (born 676) Wikipedia
• 870 Suairlech ind Eidnén mac Ciaráin, Irish bishop Wikipedia
• 1131 Omar Khayyám, Persian poet, astronomer, mathematician, and philosopher (born 1048) Wikipedia
• 1334 Pope John XXII (born 1249) Wikipedia
• 1642 Cardinal Richelieu, French cardinal and politician, Chief Minister to the French Monarch (born 1585) Wikipedia
• 1679 Thomas Hobbes, English philosopher and theorist (born 1588) Wikipedia
• 1798 Luigi Galvani, Italian physician, physicist, and philosopher (born 1737) Wikipedia
• 1828 Robert Jenkinson, 2nd Earl of Liverpool, English politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (born 1770) Wikipedia
• 1850 William Sturgeon, English physicist, invented the electric motor (born 1783) Wikipedia
• 1935 Charles Richet, French physiologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1850) Wikipedia
• 1945 Thomas Hunt Morgan, American geneticist and biologist, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1866) Wikipedia
• 1975 Hannah Arendt, German-American historian, theorist, and academic (born 1906) Wikipedia
• 1976 Benjamin Britten, English pianist, composer, and conductor (born 1913) Wikipedia
• 1993 Frank Zappa, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (born 1940) Wikipedia

Holidays and observances

• Christian feast day: Ada Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Anno II Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Barbara, and its related observances: Barbórka, Miners' Day in Poland Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Barbara, and its related observances: Eid il-Burbara, a holiday similar to Halloween in honor of Saint Barbara. (Russia, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, Syria, Turkey) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Bernardo degli Uberti Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Clement of Alexandria (Anglicanism, Eastern Catholicism) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Giovanni Calabria Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: John of Damascus Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Maruthas Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Nicholas Ferrar (Anglicanism) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Osmund Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Sigiramnus Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: December 4 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics) Wikipedia
• Navy Day (India) Wikipedia
• Thai Environment Day (Thailand) Wikipedia
• Tupou I Day (Tonga) Wikipedia

The events, births, deaths and observances above are from the English Wikipedia article “December 4” and the articles it links to (authors and history), retrieved 2026-10-09 through the Wikimedia “On this day” feed. They are licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0; this selection is shared under the same licence. We picked the 26 events, 22 births and 14 deaths with the widest coverage across Wikipedia's language editions (counted from Wikidata) and sorted them by year; the wording is unchanged apart from removing references to pictures.