On this day: June 4

Events on June 4

• 1561 The steeple of St Paul's, the medieval cathedral of London, is destroyed in a fire caused by lightning, and is never rebuilt. Wikipedia
• 1796 The siege of Mantua begins when Napoleon Bonaparte lays siege to the fortress of Mantua, the last Austrian stronghold in Northern Italy. It will become the main focus of Napoleon's army for eight months during the Italian campaign of 1796-1797. Wikipedia
• 1812 Following Louisiana's admittance as a U.S. state, the Louisiana Territory is renamed the Missouri Territory. Wikipedia
• 1855 Major Henry C. Wayne departs New York aboard the USS Supply to procure camels to establish the U.S. Camel Corps. Wikipedia
• 1876 An express train called the Transcontinental Express arrives in San Francisco via the first transcontinental railroad, 83 hours and 39 minutes after leaving New York City. Wikipedia
• 1878 Cyprus Convention: The Ottoman Empire cedes Cyprus to the United Kingdom but retains nominal title. Wikipedia
• 1896 Henry Ford completes the Ford Quadricycle, his first gasoline-powered automobile, and also gives it a successful test run. Wikipedia
• 1912 Massachusetts becomes the first state of the United States to set a minimum wage. Wikipedia
• 1916 World War I: Russia opens the Brusilov Offensive with an artillery barrage of Austro-Hungarian lines in Galicia. Wikipedia
• 1919 Leon Trotsky bans the planned Fourth Regional Congress of Peasants, Workers and Insurgents. Wikipedia
• 1920 Hungary loses 71% of its territory and 63% of its population when the Treaty of Trianon is signed in Paris. Wikipedia
• 1939 The Holocaust: The MS St. Louis, a ship carrying 973 German Jewish refugees, is denied permission to land in Florida, in the United States, after already being turned away from Cuba. Forced to return to Europe, more than 200 of its passengers later die in Nazi concentration camps. Wikipedia
• 1940 Second World War: The remaining Allied forces protecting the Dunkirk evacuation surrendered, ending the Battle of Dunkirk; in response, British prime minister Winston Churchill gave a speech in which he declared "We shall fight on the beaches". Wikipedia
• 1940 World War II: The Dunkirk evacuation ends: The British Armed Forces completes evacuation of 338,000 troops from Dunkirk in France. To rally the morale of the country, Winston Churchill delivers, only to the House of Commons, his famous "We shall fight on the beaches" speech. Wikipedia
• 1942 World War II: Gustaf Mannerheim, the Commander-in-Chief of the Finnish Army, is granted the title of Marshal of Finland by the government on his 75th birthday. On the same day, Adolf Hitler arrives in Finland for a surprise visit to meet Mannerheim. Wikipedia
• 1942 World War II: The Battle of Midway, a major battle of the Pacific War, began with a massive Japanese offensive on American forces on Midway Atoll. Wikipedia
• 1943 A military coup in Argentina ousts Ramón Castillo. Wikipedia
• 1944 World War II: A United States Navy task group captured German submarine U-505. Wikipedia
• 1946 in Argentina assumes its first presidency Juan Domingo Perón. Wikipedia
• 1961 Cold War: In the Vienna summit, the Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev sparks the Berlin Crisis by threatening to sign a separate peace treaty with East Germany and ending American, British and French access to East Berlin. Wikipedia
• 1970 Tonga gains independence from the British Empire. Wikipedia
• 1977 JVC introduces its VHS videotape at the Consumer Electronics Show in Chicago. It will eventually prevail against Sony's rival Betamax system in a format war to become the predominant home video medium. Wikipedia
• 1979 Flight Lieutenant Jerry Rawlings takes power in Ghana after a military coup in which General Fred Akuffo is overthrown. Wikipedia
• 1986 Jonathan Pollard pleads guilty to espionage for selling top secret United States military intelligence to Israel. Wikipedia
• 1988 Three cars on a train carrying hexogen to Kazakhstan explode in Arzamas, Gorky Oblast, USSR, killing 91 and injuring about 1,500. Wikipedia
• 1989 The People's Liberation Army suppressed the Tiananmen Square protests in Beijing, leaving hundreds of people dead and wounded. Wikipedia

Born on June 4

• 590 Harsha, Maharajadhiraja of Kannauj (died 647) Wikipedia
• 1694 François Quesnay, French economist and physician (died 1774) Wikipedia
• 1738 George III of the United Kingdom (died 1820) Wikipedia
• 1867 Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim, Finnish general and politician, 6th President of Finland (died 1951) Wikipedia
• 1877 Heinrich Otto Wieland, German chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1957) Wikipedia
• 1907 Rosalind Russell, American actress (died 1976) Wikipedia
• 1910 Christopher Cockerell, English engineer, invented the hovercraft (died 1999) Wikipedia
• 1915 Modibo Keïta, Malian educator and politician, 1st President of Mali (died 1977) Wikipedia
• 1916 Robert F. Furchgott, American biochemist and pharmacologist, Nobel Prize laureate (died 2009) Wikipedia
• 1929 Karolos Papoulias, Greek lawyer and politician, 5th President of Greece (died 2021) Wikipedia
• 1936 Bruce Dern, American actor Wikipedia
• 1952 Bronisław Komorowski, Polish historian and politician, 5th President of Poland Wikipedia
• 1961 Ferenc Gyurcsány, Hungarian businessman and politician, 6th Prime Minister of Hungary Wikipedia
• 1971 Joseph Kabila, Congolese soldier and politician, President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo Wikipedia
• 1975 Angelina Jolie, American actress, filmmaker, humanitarian, and activist Wikipedia
• 1976 Alexei Navalny, Russian lawyer and politician (died 2024) Wikipedia
• 1979 Naohiro Takahara, Japanese footballer Wikipedia
• 1985 Lukas Podolski, German footballer Wikipedia
• 1985 Bar Refaeli, Israeli model and actress Wikipedia
• 1991 Lorenzo Insigne, Italian footballer Wikipedia
• 2001 Takefusa Kubo, Japanese footballer Wikipedia
• 2004 Mackenzie Ziegler, American child actress, dancer, and recording artist Wikipedia

Died on June 4

• 895 Li Xi, chancellor of the Tang Dynasty Wikipedia
• 1039 Conrad II, Holy Roman Emperor (born 990) Wikipedia
• 1394 Mary de Bohun, wife of Henry IV of England (bornc. 1368) Wikipedia
• 1798 Giacomo Casanova, Italian adventurer and author (born 1725) Wikipedia
• 1801 Frederick Muhlenberg, American minister and politician, 1st Speaker of the United States House of Representatives (born 1750) Wikipedia
• 1830 Antonio José de Sucre, Venezuelan general and politician, 2nd President of Bolivia (born 1795) Wikipedia
• 1875 Eduard Mörike, German pastor and poet (born 1804) Wikipedia
• 1876 Abdulaziz, 32nd Sultan of the Ottoman Empire (born 1830) Wikipedia
• 1931 Hussein bin Ali, Sharif of Mecca, Sharif and Emir of Mecca, King of the Hejaz (born 1853–54) Wikipedia
• 1941 Wilhelm II, German Emperor (born 1859) Wikipedia
• 1942 Reinhard Heydrich, German SS officer and a principle architect of the Holocaust (born 1904) Wikipedia
• 1971 György Lukács, Hungarian historian and philosopher (born 1885) Wikipedia
• 2002 Fernando Belaúnde Terry, Peruvian architect and politician, 42nd President of Peru (born 1912) Wikipedia
• 2004 Nino Manfredi, Italian actor (born 1921) Wikipedia

Holidays and observances

• Christian feast day: Blessed Antoni Zawistowski Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Filippo Smaldone Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Francis Caracciolo Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Optatus Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Petroc of Cornwall Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Quirinus of Sescia Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Saturnina Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: June 4 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics) Wikipedia
• The Flag Day of the Finnish Defence Forces, also known as the birthday of C. G. E. Mannerheim, Marshal of Finland (Finland) Wikipedia
• Emancipation Day or Independence Day, commemorates the abolition of serfdom in Tonga by King George Tupou in 1862, and the independence of Tonga from the British protectorate in 1970. (Tonga) Wikipedia
• International Day of Innocent Children Victims of Aggression (International) Wikipedia
• Trianon Treaty Day (Romania) Wikipedia
• Memorials for the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre (International) Wikipedia

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