On this day: September 4

Events on September 4

• 929 Battle of Lenzen: Slavic forces (the Redarii and the Obotrites) are defeated by a Saxon army near the fortified stronghold of Lenzen in Brandenburg. Wikipedia
• 1260 The Sienese Ghibellines, supported by the forces of Manfred, King of Sicily, defeat the Florentine Guelphs at Montaperti. Wikipedia
• 1607 The Flight of the Earls takes place in Ireland (14 September N.S.). Wikipedia
• 1774 New Caledonia is first sighted by Europeans, during the second voyage of Captain James Cook. Wikipedia
• 1800 The French garrison in Valletta surrenders to British troops who had been called at the invitation of the Maltese. The islands of Malta and Gozo become the Malta Protectorate. Wikipedia
• 1813 Future US President Andrew Jackson was shot and severely injured in a tavern brawl with future US Senator Thomas Hart Benton. Wikipedia
• 1813 Future U.S. president Andrew Jackson is shot in a tavern brawl with future U.S. Senator Thomas Hart Benton and others. Wikipedia
• 1827 The Great Fire of Turku almost completely destroys Finland's former capital city. Wikipedia
• 1862 American Civil War Maryland Campaign: General Robert E. Lee takes the Army of Northern Virginia, and the war, into the North. Wikipedia
• 1886 After more than 25 years of fighting against the United States Army and the armed forces of Mexico, Geronimo of the Chiricahua Apache surrendered at Skeleton Canyon in Arizona. Wikipedia
• 1886 American Indian Wars: After almost 30 years of fighting, Apache leader Geronimo, with his remaining warriors, surrenders to General Nelson Miles in Arizona. Wikipedia
• 1912 Albanian rebels succeed in their revolt when the Ottoman Empire agrees to fulfill their demands Wikipedia
• 1912 The Albanian revolt ended when the Ottoman government agreed to meet most of the rebels' demands. Wikipedia
• 1919 Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, who founded the Republic of Turkey, gathers a congress in Sivas to make decisions as to the future of Anatolia and Thrace. Wikipedia
• 1939 World War II: William J. Murphy commands the first Royal Air Force attack on Germany. Wikipedia
• 1944 World War II: The British 11th Armoured Division liberates the Belgian city of Antwerp. Wikipedia
• 1951 The first live transcontinental television broadcast takes place in San Francisco, United States, from the Japanese Peace Treaty Conference. Wikipedia
• 1964 Scotland's Forth Road Bridge near Edinburgh officially opens. Wikipedia
• 1967 Vietnam War: Operation Swift begins when U.S. Marines engage the North Vietnamese in battle in the Que Son Valley. Wikipedia
• 1970 Salvador Allende is elected President of Chile. Wikipedia
• 1971 Alaska Airlines Flight 1866 crashes near Juneau, Alaska, killing all 111 people on board. Wikipedia
• 1972 Mark Spitz becomes the first competitor to win seven medals at a single Olympic Games. Wikipedia
• 1977 The Golden Dragon massacre takes place in San Francisco. Wikipedia
• 1989 In Leipzig, East Germany, the first of weekly demonstration for the legalisation of opposition groups and democratic reforms takes place. Wikipedia
• 1998 Google is founded by Larry Page and Sergey Brin, two PhD students at Stanford University. Wikipedia
• 2020 Pope Benedict XVI becomes the longest-lived pope, 93 years, four months, 16 days, surpassing Pope Leo XIII, who died in 1903. Wikipedia

Born on September 4

• 973 Al-Biruni, Persian physician and polymath (died 1048) Wikipedia
• 1241 Alexander III, king of Scotland (died 1286) Wikipedia
• 1768 François-René de Chateaubriand, French historian and politician, Minister of Foreign Affairs for France (died 1848) Wikipedia
• 1809 Juliusz Słowacki, Polish poet and playwright (died 1849) Wikipedia
• 1824 Anton Bruckner, Austrian organist and composer (died 1896) Wikipedia
• 1877 Kārlis Ulmanis, Latvian prime minister and president (died 1942) Wikipedia
• 1896 Antonin Artaud, French actor, director, and playwright (died 1948) Wikipedia
• 1901 William Lyons, English businessman, co-founded Jaguar Cars (died 1985) Wikipedia
• 1906 Max Delbrück, German-American biophysicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1981) Wikipedia
• 1908 Richard Wright, American novelist, short story writer, essayist, and poet (died 1960) Wikipedia
• 1913 Stanford Moore, American biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1982) Wikipedia
• 1913 Kenzō Tange, Japanese architect (died 2005) Wikipedia
• 1925 Asa Earl Carter, American Ku Klux Klan leader and author (died 1979) Wikipedia
• 1926 Ivan Illich, Austrian priest and philosopher (died 2002) Wikipedia
• 1927 John McCarthy, American computer scientist and academic (died 2011) Wikipedia
• 1934 Clive Granger, Welsh-American economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 2009) Wikipedia
• 1953 Fatih Terim, Turkish footballer and manager Wikipedia
• 1962 Shinya Yamanaka, Japanese physician and biologist, Nobel Prize laureate Wikipedia
• 1969 Giorgi Margvelashvili, Georgian academic and politician, 4th President of Georgia Wikipedia
• 1981 Beyoncé, American singer-songwriter Wikipedia
• 1985 Raúl Albiol, Spanish footballer Wikipedia
• 1993 Yannick Carrasco, Belgian footballer Wikipedia

Died on September 4

• 422 Boniface I, pope of the Catholic Church Wikipedia
• 1037 Bermudo III, king of León (born c. 1017) Wikipedia
• 1063 Tughril, Seljuq sultan (born 990) Wikipedia
• 1907 Edvard Grieg, Norwegian pianist and composer (born 1843) Wikipedia
• 1911 John Francon Williams, Welsh-born writer, journalist, geographer, historian, cartographer and inventor (born 1854) Wikipedia
• 1914 Charles Péguy, French poet and philosopher (born 1873) Wikipedia
• 1963 Robert Schuman, Luxembourgian-French politician, 130th Prime Minister of France (born 1886) Wikipedia
• 1965 Albert Schweitzer, French-Gabonese physician, theologian, and missionary, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1875) Wikipedia
• 1974 Marcel Achard, French playwright and screenwriter (born 1899) Wikipedia
• 1989 Georges Simenon, Belgian-Swiss author (born 1903) Wikipedia
• 2006 Steve Irwin, Australian zoologist and television host (born 1962) Wikipedia
• 2006 Giacinto Facchetti, Italian footballer and manager (born 1942) Wikipedia
• 2014 Joan Rivers, American comedian, television host, and author (born 1933) Wikipedia
• 2025 Giorgio Armani, Italian fashion designer (born 1934) Wikipedia

Holidays and observances

• Christian feast day: Candida the Elder Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Blessed Catherine of Racconigi Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Blessed Dina Bélanger Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Hermione of Ephesus Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Ida of Herzfeld Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Irmgardis (of Süchteln) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Moses and Aaron (Catholic, Lutheran Church and Eastern Orthodox Church) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Paul Jones (Episcopal Church) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Rosalia Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Rose of Viterbo Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Rufinus, Silvanus, and Vitalicus Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Thamel and companions Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Ultan of Ardbraccan Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: September 4 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics) Wikipedia
• Immigrant's Day (Argentina) Wikipedia
• Toothfish Day (South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands) Wikipedia

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