On this day: November 4

Events on November 4

• 1429 Armagnac–Burgundian Civil War: Joan of Arc liberates Saint-Pierre-le-Moûtier. Wikipedia
• 1493 Christopher Columbus reaches the Leeward Islands. Wikipedia
• 1576 Eighty Years' War: In Flanders, Spain captures Antwerp (which is nearly destroyed after three days). Wikipedia
• 1783 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Symphony No. 36 is performed for the first time in Linz, Austria. Wikipedia
• 1852 Camillo Benso, Count of Cavour, becomes the prime minister of Piedmont-Sardinia, which soon expands to become Italy. Wikipedia
• 1864 American Civil War: Nathan Bedford Forrest led a cavalry division in an attack on a Union Army supply base at Johnsonville, Tennessee, resulting in the capture of 150 prisoners. Wikipedia
• 1864 American Civil War: Confederate troops bombard a Union supply base and destroy millions of dollars in materiel at the Battle of Johnsonville. Wikipedia
• 1918 World War I: The Armistice of Villa Giusti between Italy and Austria-Hungary is implemented. Wikipedia
• 1921 The Saalschutz Abteilung (hall defense detachment) of the Nazi Party is renamed the Sturmabteilung (storm detachment) after a large riot in Munich. Wikipedia
• 1924 Nellie Tayloe Ross of Wyoming becomes the first female elected as governor in the United States. Wikipedia
• 1939 World War II: U.S. president Franklin D. Roosevelt orders the United States Customs Service to implement the Neutrality Act of 1939, allowing cash-and-carry purchases of weapons by belligerents. Wikipedia
• 1942 World War II: Disobeying a direct order by Adolf Hitler, General Field Marshal Erwin Rommel begins a retreat of his forces after a costly defeat during the Second Battle of El Alamein. The retreat would ultimately last five months. Wikipedia
• 1944 World War II: Operation Pheasant, an Allied offensive to liberate North Brabant in the Netherlands, ends successfully. Wikipedia
• 1944 Second World War: Allied forces completed Operation Pheasant, a major operation to clear German troops from the province of North Brabant in the Netherlands. Wikipedia
• 1956 Soviet troops enter Hungary to end the Hungarian revolution against the Soviet Union that started on October 23. Thousands are killed, more are wounded, and nearly a quarter million leave the country. Wikipedia
• 1966 The Arno River floods Florence, Italy, to a maximum depth of 6.7 m (22 ft), leaving thousands homeless and destroying millions of masterpieces of art and rare books. Venice is also submerged on the same day at its record all-time acqua alta of 194 cm (76 in). Wikipedia
• 1970 Salvador Allende takes office as President of Chile, the first Marxist to become president of a Latin American country through open elections. Wikipedia
• 1970 Vietnam War: The United States turns over control of the air base at Bình Thủy in the Mekong Delta to South Vietnam. Wikipedia
• 1979 Iran hostage crisis: A group of Iranian college students overruns the U.S. embassy in Tehran and takes 90 hostages. Wikipedia
• 1980 Ronald Reagan is elected as the 40th President of the United States, defeating incumbent Jimmy Carter. Wikipedia
• 1993 China Airlines Flight 605, a brand-new 747-400, overruns the runway at Hong Kong Kai Tak Airport. Wikipedia
• 1995 Israel-Palestinian conflict: Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Rabin is assassinated by an extremist Israeli. Wikipedia
• 1995 Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated by Yigal Amir, a right-wing extremist, at a peace rally at Kings of Israel Square in Tel Aviv. Wikipedia
• 2008 Barack Obama became the first person of biracial or African-American descent to be elected President of the United States. Wikipedia
• 2008 Barack Obama becomes the first person of biracial or African-American descent to be elected as President of the United States. Wikipedia
• 2015 A cargo plane crashes shortly after takeoff from Juba International Airport in Juba, South Sudan, killing at least 37 people. Wikipedia

Born on November 4

• 1575 Guido Reni, Italian painter and illustrator (died 1642) Wikipedia
• 1879 Will Rogers, American actor and screenwriter (died 1935) Wikipedia
• 1884 Harry Ferguson, Irish engineer, invented the tractor (died 1960) Wikipedia
• 1908 Joseph Rotblat, Polish-English physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 2005) Wikipedia
• 1916 Ruth Handler, American businesswoman, created Barbie (died 2002) Wikipedia
• 1916 Walter Cronkite, American journalist, voice actor, and producer (died 2009) Wikipedia
• 1916 John Basilone, American sergeant, Medal of Honor recipient (died 1945) Wikipedia
• 1918 Art Carney, American actor (died 2003) Wikipedia
• 1928 Eugenio Lopez Jr., Filipino businessman and chairman of the ABS-CBN Broadcasting Corporation (died 1999) Wikipedia
• 1929 Shakuntala Devi, Indian mathematician and astrologer (died 2013) Wikipedia
• 1932 Thomas Klestil, Austrian politician and diplomat, 10th President of Austria (died 2004) Wikipedia
• 1933 Charles K. Kao, Chinese physicist and engineer, Nobel Prize laureate (died 2018) Wikipedia
• 1946 Laura Bush, American educator and librarian, 45th First Lady of the United States Wikipedia
• 1948 Amadou Toumani Touré, Malian soldier and politician, President of Mali (died 2020) Wikipedia
• 1951 Traian Băsescu, Romanian captain and politician, 4th President of Romania Wikipedia
• 1955 Matti Vanhanen, Finnish journalist and politician, 40th Prime Minister of Finland Wikipedia
• 1957 Tony Abbott, English-Australian scholar and politician, 28th Prime Minister of Australia Wikipedia
• 1969 Matthew McConaughey, American actor and producer Wikipedia
• 1969 Sean Combs, American rapper, producer, and actor Wikipedia
• 1971 Tabu, Indian actress Wikipedia
• 1972 Luís Figo, Portuguese footballer and sportscaster Wikipedia
• 1998 Achraf Hakimi, Moroccan footballer Wikipedia

Died on November 4

• 1581 Mathurin Romegas, rival Grandmaster of the Knights Hospitaller (born c.1525) Wikipedia
• 1847 Felix Mendelssohn, German pianist, composer, and conductor (born 1809) Wikipedia
• 1893 Pierre Tirard, Swiss-French engineer and politician, 54th Prime Minister of France (born 1827) Wikipedia
• 1918 Wilfred Owen, English lieutenant and poet (born 1893) Wikipedia
• 1921 Hara Takashi, Japanese politician, 10th Prime Minister of Japan (born 1856) Wikipedia
• 1924 Gabriel Fauré, French pianist, composer, and educator (born 1845) Wikipedia
• 1924 Richard Conner, American sergeant, Medal of Honor recipient (born 1843) Wikipedia
• 1940 Arthur Rostron, English mariner, captain of the rescue ship Carpathia during the Titanic disaster (born 1869) Wikipedia
• 1957 Shoghi Effendi, Guardian of the Baháʼí Faith (born 1897) Wikipedia
• 1995 Yitzhak Rabin, Israeli general and politician, 5th Prime Minister of Israel, Nobel Peace Prize laureate (born 1922) Wikipedia
• 1995 Gilles Deleuze, French philosopher and scholar (born 1925) Wikipedia
• 2008 Michael Crichton, American medical doctor, author, director, producer, and screenwriter (born 1942) Wikipedia
• 2013 John D. Hawk, American sergeant, Medal of Honor recipient (born 1924) Wikipedia
• 2016 Catherine Davani, first female Papua New Guinean judge (born 1960) Wikipedia

Holidays and observances

• Christian feast day: Charles Borromeo (Roman Catholic Church) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Emeric of Hungary Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Felix of Valois Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Joannicius the Great Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Modesta Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Our Lady of Kazan (Russian Orthodox Church) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Pierius Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Blessed Teresa Manganiello Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Vitalis and Agricola Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: November 4 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics) Wikipedia
• Community Service Day (Dominica) Wikipedia
• Flag Day (Panama) Wikipedia
• National Tonga Day (Tonga) Wikipedia
• National Unity and Armed Forces Day or Giorno dell'Unità Nazionale e Festa delle Forze Armate (Italy) Wikipedia
• Unity Day (Russia) Wikipedia
• Yitzhak Rabin Memorial (unofficial, but widely commemorated) Wikipedia

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