On this day: October 4

Events on October 4

• 23 Rebels sack the Chinese capital Chang'an during a peasant rebellion. Wikipedia
• 1209 Otto IV is crowned Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire by Pope Innocent III. Wikipedia
• 1363 Red Turban Rebellions: The rebel leader Zhu Yuanzhang won the Battle of Lake Poyang by deploying ships intentionally set aflame when the emperor tried to escape. Wikipedia
• 1448 Skanderbeg and Gjergj Arianiti signed a peace treaty to end the Albanian–Venetian War. Wikipedia
• 1582 The Gregorian Calendar is introduced by Pope Gregory XIII. Wikipedia
• 1602 Eighty Years' War and the Anglo-Spanish War: A fleet of Spanish galleys are defeated by English and Dutch galleons in the English Channel. Wikipedia
• 1633 Smolensk War: Forces from the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth broke the Russian siege of Smolensk. Wikipedia
• 1636 Thirty Years' War: The Swedish Army defeats the armies of Saxony and the Holy Roman Empire at the Battle of Wittstock. Wikipedia
• 1777 American Revolutionary War: Troops under George Washington are repelled by British troops under William Howe. Wikipedia
• 1853 The Crimean War begins when the Ottoman Empire declares war on the Russian Empire. Wikipedia
• 1862 American Civil War: After a naval battle in Galveston Harbor, Texas, Confederate commanders negotiated the surrender of the city to Union forces. Wikipedia
• 1862 American Civil War: The two-day Second Battle of Corinth ends in a Union victory, with General William Rosecrans protecting the critical rail junction of Corinth, Mississippi from Confederate forces under General Earl Van Dorn. Wikipedia
• 1917 First World War: The Allies devastated the German defence at the Battle of Broodseinde, prompting a crisis among German commanders and causing a severe loss of morale in the 4th Army. Wikipedia
• 1917 World War I: The Battle of Broodseinde is fought between the British and German armies in Flanders. Wikipedia
• 1918 First World War: The Japanese merhant ship Hirano Maru was sunk by a German submarine in the Celtic Sea with the loss of 291 lives. Wikipedia
• 1920 The Mannerheim League for Child Welfare, a Finnish non-governmental organization, is founded on the initiative of Sophie Mannerheim. Wikipedia
• 1925 S2, a Finnish Sokol class torpedo boat, sinks during a fierce storm near the coast of Pori in the Gulf of Bothnia, taking with it the whole crew of 53. Wikipedia
• 1925 Great Syrian Revolt: Rebels led by Fawzi al-Qawuqji captured the city of Hama from the French Mandate of Syria. Wikipedia
• 1925 Great Syrian Revolt: Rebels led by Fawzi al-Qawuqji capture Hama from the French Mandate of Syria. Wikipedia
• 1927 Gutzon Borglum and approximately 400 workers began sculpting Mount Rushmore. Wikipedia
• 1927 Gutzon Borglum begins sculpting Mount Rushmore. Wikipedia
• 1943 World War II: Allied forces executed Operation Leader, an air raid against German shipping near Bodø, Norway. Wikipedia
• 1957 Sputnik 1 becomes the first artificial satellite to orbit the Earth. Wikipedia
• 1965 Pope Paul VI begins the first papal visit to the Americas. Wikipedia
• 1985 The Free Software Foundation is founded. Wikipedia
• 2006 WikiLeaks is launched. Wikipedia

Born on October 4

• 1160 Alys, Countess of the Vexin, daughter of Louis VII of France (died c. 1220) Wikipedia
• 1289 Louis X of France (died 1316) Wikipedia
• 1787 François Guizot, French historian and politician, 22nd Prime Minister of France (died 1874) Wikipedia
• 1814 Jean-François Millet, French painter and educator (died 1875) Wikipedia
• 1822 Rutherford B. Hayes, American general, lawyer, and politician, 19th President of the United States (died 1893) Wikipedia
• 1843 Marie-Alphonsine Danil Ghattas, Palestinian nun and Catholic Saint (died 1927) Wikipedia
• 1862 Johanna van Gogh-Bonger, sister-in-law of Vincent van Gogh, who is credited with promoting his posthumous fame (died 1925). Wikipedia
• 1892 Engelbert Dollfuss, Austrian soldier and politician, 14th Federal Chancellor of Austria (died 1934) Wikipedia
• 1895 Buster Keaton, American film actor, director, and producer (died 1966) Wikipedia
• 1896 Dorothy Lawrence, English reporter, who secretly posed as a man to become a soldier during World War I (died 1964) Wikipedia
• 1903 Ernst Kaltenbrunner, Austrian-German lawyer and general, convicted Nuremberg war criminal (died 1946) Wikipedia
• 1916 Vitaly Ginzburg, Russian physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 2009) Wikipedia
• 1918 Kenichi Fukui, Japanese chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1998) Wikipedia
• 1923 Charlton Heston, American actor, director and gun rights activist (died 2008) Wikipedia
• 1938 Kurt Wüthrich, Swiss chemist and biophysicist, Nobel Prize laureate Wikipedia
• 1941 Anne Rice, American author (died 2021) Wikipedia
• 1942 Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir, Icelandic politician, 24th Prime Minister of Iceland Wikipedia
• 1946 Susan Sarandon, American actress and activist Wikipedia
• 1956 Christoph Waltz, Austrian-German actor Wikipedia
• 1976 Alicia Silverstone, American actress, producer, and author Wikipedia
• 1980 Tomáš Rosický, Czech footballer Wikipedia
• 1989 Dakota Johnson, American actress Wikipedia

Died on October 4

• 863 Turpio, Frankish nobleman Wikipedia
• 1497 John, Prince of Asturias, only son of Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile (born 1478) Wikipedia
• 1582 Teresa of Ávila, Spanish nun and saint (born 1515) Wikipedia
• 1669 Rembrandt, Dutch painter and illustrator (born 1606) Wikipedia
• 1680 Pierre-Paul Riquet, French engineer, designed the Canal du Midi (born 1609) Wikipedia
• 1890 Catherine Booth, English theologian and saint, co-founded The Salvation Army (born 1829) Wikipedia
• 1903 Otto Weininger, Austrian philosopher and author (born 1880) Wikipedia
• 1904 Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi, French sculptor, designed the Statue of Liberty (born 1834) Wikipedia
• 1947 Max Planck, German physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1858) Wikipedia
• 1970 Janis Joplin, American singer-songwriter (born 1943) Wikipedia
• 1989 Graham Chapman, English actor and screenwriter, member of Monty Python (born 1941) Wikipedia
• 1997 Gunpei Yokoi, Japanese game designer, created the Game Boy (born 1941) Wikipedia
• 2000 Michael Smith, English-Canadian biochemist and geneticist, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1932) Wikipedia
• 2013 Võ Nguyên Giáp, Vietnamese general and politician, 3rd Minister of Defence for Vietnam (born 1911) Wikipedia

Holidays and observances

• Christian feast day: Amun Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Aurea of Paris Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Francis of Assisi Conclusion of Creationtide Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Blessed Francis Xavier Seelos Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Petronius of Bologna Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: October 4 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics) Wikipedia
• Feast of St Francis of Assisi patron saints of Italy. Wikipedia
• Cinnamon Roll Day (Sweden and Finland) Wikipedia
• Day of Peace and Reconciliation (Mozambique) Wikipedia
• Independence Day, celebrates the independence of Lesotho from the United Kingdom in 1966. Wikipedia
• The beginning of World Space Week (International) Wikipedia
• World Animal Day Wikipedia

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