On this day: January 4

Events on January 4

• 46 BC Julius Caesar fights Titus Labienus in the Battle of Ruspina. Wikipedia
• 1762 Great Britain declares war on Spain, which meant the entry of Spain into the Seven Years' War. Wikipedia
• 1798 After his appointment as Prince of Wallachia, Constantine Hangerli arrived in Bucharest to assume the throne. Wikipedia
• 1798 Constantine Hangerli arrives in Bucharest, Wallachia, as its new Prince, invested by the Ottoman Empire. Wikipedia
• 1863 The New Apostolic Church, a Christian and chiliastic church, is established in Hamburg, Germany. Wikipedia
• 1878 Russo-Turkish War (1877–78): Sofia is liberated from Ottoman rule. Wikipedia
• 1885 Sino-French War: French troops under General Oscar de Négrier defeat a numerically superior Qing force at Núi Bop in northern Vietnam. Wikipedia
• 1896 Utah is admitted as the 45th U.S. state. Wikipedia
• 1903 Topsy, an elephant, is electrocuted by the owners of Luna Park, Coney Island. The Edison film company records the film Electrocuting an Elephant of Topsy's death. Wikipedia
• 1912 The Scout Association is incorporated throughout the British Empire by royal charter. Wikipedia
• 1944 World War II: Operation Carpetbagger, involving the dropping of arms and supplies to resistance fighters in Europe, begins. Wikipedia
• 1948 Burma gains its independence from the United Kingdom, becoming an independent republic. Wikipedia
• 1951 Korean War: Chinese and North Korean forces capture Seoul for the second time. Wikipedia
• 1951 Korean War: Chinese and North Korean troops captured Seoul from United Nations forces. Wikipedia
• 1958 Sputnik 1, the first artificial Earth satellite, launched by the Soviet Union in 1957, falls to Earth from orbit. Wikipedia
• 1959 Luna 1 becomes the first spacecraft to reach the vicinity of the Moon. Wikipedia
• 1967 The Doors released their eponymous debut album. Wikipedia
• 1973 Last of the Summer Wine, the longest-running sitcom in the world, premiered as an episode of the BBC's Comedy Playhouse. Wikipedia
• 1987 The Maryland train collision: An Amtrak train en route to Boston from Washington, D.C., collides with Conrail engines in Chase, Maryland, United States, killing 16 people. Wikipedia
• 1998 A massive ice storm hits eastern Canada and the northeastern United States, continuing through January 10 and causing widespread destruction. Wikipedia
• 1999 Former professional wrestler Jesse Ventura is sworn in as governor of Minnesota, United States. Wikipedia
• 2004 Spirit, a NASA Mars rover, lands successfully on Mars at 04:35 UTC. Wikipedia
• 2004 Spirit (artist's impression depicted), the first of two rovers of NASA's Mars Exploration Rover mission, successfully landed on Mars. Wikipedia
• 2008 A Let L-410 Turbolet crashes in the Los Roques Archipelago in Venezuela, killing 14 people. Wikipedia
• 2010 The Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest structure, officially opened in Dubai. Wikipedia
• 2010 The Burj Khalifa, the current tallest building in the world, officially opens in Dubai. Wikipedia

Born on January 4

• 659 Ali ibn Husayn Zayn al-Abidin (died 680) Wikipedia
• 1710 Giovanni Battista Pergolesi, Italian composer, violinist, and organist (died 1736) Wikipedia
• 1785 Jacob Grimm, German philologist and mythologist (died 1863) Wikipedia
• 1809 Louis Braille, French educator, invented Braille (died 1852) Wikipedia
• 1848 Katsura Tarō, Japanese general and politician, 6th Prime Minister of Japan (died 1913) Wikipedia
• 1929 Günter Schabowski, German journalist and politician (died 2015) Wikipedia
• 1931 William Deane, Australian judge and politician, 22nd Governor-General of Australia Wikipedia
• 1932 Carlos Saura, Spanish director and screenwriter (died 2023) Wikipedia
• 1934 Rudolf Schuster, Slovak politician, 2nd President of Slovakia Wikipedia
• 1937 Dyan Cannon, American actress, director, producer, and screenwriter Wikipedia
• 1940 Gao Xingjian, Chinese novelist, playwright, and critic, Nobel Prize laureate Wikipedia
• 1940 Brian Josephson, Welsh physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate Wikipedia
• 1945 Richard R. Schrock, American chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate Wikipedia
• 1958 Julian Sands, English actor (died 2023) Wikipedia
• 1960 Michael Stipe, American singer-songwriter and producer Wikipedia
• 1963 Till Lindemann, German singer, songwriter, and poet Wikipedia
• 1965 Julia Ormond, English actress and producer Wikipedia
• 1986 James Milner, English footballer Wikipedia
• 1990 Toni Kroos, German footballer Wikipedia
• 2003 Jaeden Martell, American actor Wikipedia
• 2004 Victor Wembanyama, French basketball player Wikipedia
• 2005 Dafne Keen, British-Spanish actress Wikipedia

Died on January 4

• 1248 Sancho II of Portugal (born 1209) Wikipedia
• 1786 Moses Mendelssohn, German philosopher and theologian (born 1729) Wikipedia
• 1825 Ferdinand I of the Two Sicilies (born 1751) Wikipedia
• 1877 Cornelius Vanderbilt, American businessman and philanthropist (born 1794) Wikipedia
• 1919 Georg von Hertling, German academic and politician, 7th Chancellor of the German Empire (born 1843) Wikipedia
• 1920 Benito Pérez Galdós, Spanish author and playwright (born 1843) Wikipedia
• 1941 Henri Bergson, French philosopher and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1859) Wikipedia
• 1960 Albert Camus, French novelist, philosopher, and journalist, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1913) Wikipedia
• 1961 Erwin Schrödinger, Austrian physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1887) Wikipedia
• 1965 T. S. Eliot, American-English poet, playwright, and critic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1888) Wikipedia
• 1986 Christopher Isherwood, English-American author and academic (born 1904) Wikipedia
• 2011 Mohamed Bouazizi, Tunisian street vendor who caused the Tunisian Revolution, which was the first revolution in the Arab Spring. (born 1984) Wikipedia
• 2021 Tanya Roberts, American actress (born 1949) Wikipedia
• 2024 Glynis Johns, British actress and singer (born 1923) Wikipedia

Holidays and observances

• Christian feast day: Angela of Foligno Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Elizabeth Ann Seton Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Ferréol of Uzès Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Mavilus Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Pharaildis of Ghent Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Rigobert Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: January 4 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics) Wikipedia
• The eleventh of the Twelve Days of Christmas. (Western Christianity) Wikipedia
• Independence Day (Myanmar), celebrates the independence of Myanmar from the United Kingdom in 1948. Wikipedia
• Colonial Martyrs Repression Day (Angola) Wikipedia
• Day of the Martyrs (Democratic Republic of the Congo) Wikipedia
• Ogoni Day (Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People) Wikipedia
• Tokyo Dome Show: The annual Wrestle Kingdom event run by New Japan Pro-Wrestling Wikipedia
• World Braille Day Wikipedia

The events, births, deaths and observances above are from the English Wikipedia article “January 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.