July 4th
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Pre-1600

* 362 BCBattle of Mantinea: The
Thebans Thebes ( ; , ''Thíva'' ; , ''Thêbai'' .) is a city in Boeotia, Central Greece, and is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world. It is the largest city in Boeotia and a major center for the area along with Livadeia and ...
, led by
Epaminondas Epaminondas (; ; 419/411–362 BC) was a Greeks, Greek general and statesman of the 4th century BC who transformed the Ancient Greece, Ancient Greek polis, city-state of Thebes, Greece, Thebes, leading it out of Spartan subjugation into a pre ...
, defeated the
Sparta Sparta was a prominent city-state in Laconia in ancient Greece. In antiquity, the city-state was known as Lacedaemon (), while the name Sparta referred to its main settlement in the Evrotas Valley, valley of Evrotas (river), Evrotas rive ...
ns. * 414 – Emperor
Theodosius II Theodosius II ( ; 10 April 401 – 28 July 450), called "the Calligraphy, Calligrapher", was Roman emperor from 402 to 450. He was proclaimed ''Augustus (title), Augustus'' as an infant and ruled as the Eastern Empire's sole emperor after the ...
, age 13, yields power to his older sister Aelia Pulcheria, who reigned as
regent In a monarchy, a regent () is a person appointed to govern a state because the actual monarch is a minor, absent, incapacitated or unable to discharge their powers and duties, or the throne is vacant and a new monarch has not yet been dete ...
and proclaimed herself empress ('' Augusta'') of the
Eastern Roman Empire The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived the events that caused the fall of the Western Roman E ...
. * 836 – ''
Pactum Sicardi The Pactum Sicardi was a treaty signed on 4 July 836 between the Greek Duchy of Naples, including its satellite city-states of Sorrento and Amalfi, represented by Bishop John IV and Duke Andrew II, and the Lombard Prince of Benevento, Sicard ...
'', a peace treaty between the Principality of Benevento and the
Duchy of Naples The Duchy of Naples (, ) began as a Byzantine province that was constituted in the seventh century, in the lands roughly corresponding to the current province of Naples that the Lombards had not conquered during their invasion of Italy in the si ...
, is signed. * 993Ulrich of Augsburg is
canonized Canonization is the declaration of a deceased person as an officially recognized saint, specifically, the official act of a Christian communion declaring a person worthy of public veneration and entering their name in the canon catalogue of sa ...
as a saint. *
1054 Year 1054 ( MLIV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Julian calendar. Events East-West schism: the ongoing break of communion between the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches. By place Byzantine Empire * Sultan T ...
– A supernova, called
SN 1054 SN 1054, the Crab Supernova, is a supernova that was first observed on , and remained visible until . The event was recorded in contemporary Chinese astronomy, and references to it are also found in a later (13th-century) Japanese document and ...
, is seen by Chinese
Song dynasty The Song dynasty ( ) was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 960 to 1279. The dynasty was founded by Emperor Taizu of Song, who usurped the throne of the Later Zhou dynasty and went on to conquer the rest of the Fiv ...
,
Arab Arabs (,  , ; , , ) are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in West Asia and North Africa. A significant Arab diaspora is present in various parts of the world. Arabs have been in the Fertile Crescent for thousands of years ...
, and possibly
Amerindian In the Americas, Indigenous peoples comprise the two continents' pre-Columbian inhabitants, as well as the ethnic groups that identify with them in the 15th century, as well as the ethnic groups that identify with the pre-Columbian population of ...
observers near the star Zeta Tauri. For several months it remains bright enough to be seen during the day. Its remnants form the
Crab Nebula The Crab Nebula (catalogue designations M1, NGC 1952, Taurus A) is a supernova remnant and pulsar wind nebula in the constellation of Taurus (constellation), Taurus. The common name comes from a drawing that somewhat resembled a crab with arm ...
. * 1120Jordan II of Capua is anointed as prince after his infant nephew's death. * 1187 – The
Crusades The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and at times directed by the Papacy during the Middle Ages. The most prominent of these were the campaigns to the Holy Land aimed at reclaiming Jerusalem and its surrounding t ...
:
Battle of Hattin The Battle of Hattin took place on 4 July 1187, between the Crusader states of the Levant and the forces of the Ayyubid sultan Saladin. It is also known as the Battle of the Horns of Hattin, due to the shape of the nearby extinct volcano of ...
:
Saladin Salah ad-Din Yusuf ibn Ayyub ( – 4 March 1193), commonly known as Saladin, was the founder of the Ayyubid dynasty. Hailing from a Kurdish family, he was the first sultan of both Egypt and Syria. An important figure of the Third Crusade, h ...
defeats
Guy of Lusignan Guy of Lusignan ( 1150 – 18 July 1194) was King of Jerusalem, first as husband and co-ruler of Queen Sibylla from 1186 to 1190 then as disputed ruler from 1190 to 1192. He was also Lord of Cyprus from 1192 to 1194. A French Poitevin kni ...
,
King of Jerusalem The king or queen of Jerusalem was the supreme ruler of the Kingdom of Jerusalem, a Crusader state founded in Jerusalem by the Latin Church, Latin Catholic leaders of the First Crusade, when the city was Siege of Jerusalem (1099), conquered in ...
. * 1253 – Battle of West-Capelle:
John I of Avesnes John of Avesnes (1 May 1218 – 24 December 1257) was the count of Hainaut from 1246 to his death. Life Born in Houffalize, John was the eldest son of Margaret II of Flanders by her first husband, Bouchard IV of Avesnes. As the marriage of Ma ...
defeats Guy of Dampierre. * 1333Genkō War: Forces loyal to Emperor Go-Daigo seize
Tōshō-ji was the Hōjō clan's family temple (''bodaiji'') in Kamakura during the Kamakura period. Its founder was Taikō Gyōyū and it was constructed in 1237 by Hōjō Yasutoki in memory of his mother, who had her tomb there. According to the Taiheik ...
during the Siege of Kamakura.
Hōjō Takatoki was the last '' Tokusō'' and ruling Shikken (regent) of Japan's Kamakura shogunate; the rulers that followed were his puppets. A member of the Hōjō clan, he was the son of Hōjō Sadatoki, and was preceded as ''shikken'' by Hōjō Mototo ...
and other members of the
Hōjō clan The was a Japanese samurai family who controlled the hereditary title of '' shikken'' (regent) of the Kamakura shogunate between 1203 and 1333. Despite the title, in practice the family wielded actual political power in Japan during this perio ...
commit suicide, ending the rule of the
Kamakura shogunate The was the feudal military government of Japan during the Kamakura period from 1185 to 1333. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)"''Kamakura-jidai''"in ''Japan Encyclopedia'', p. 459. The Kamakura shogunate was established by Minamoto no Yori ...
. *
1359 Year 1359 ( MCCCLIX) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Julian calendar. Events January–December * May 25 – The French States-General repudiates the terms of the Second Treaty of London, signed earlier in the year ...
Francesco II Ordelaffi of
Forlì Forlì ( ; ; ; ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) and city in Emilia-Romagna, Northern Italy, and is, together with Cesena, the capital of the Province of Forlì-Cesena.The city is situated along the Via Emilia, to the east of the Montone river, ...
surrenders to the Papal commander Gil de Albornoz. * 1456Ottoman–Hungarian wars: The Siege of Nándorfehérvár (Belgrade) begins. *
1534 Year 1534 ( MDXXXIV) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Julian calendar. Events January–March * January 15 – The Parliament of England passes the '' Act Respecting the Oath to the Succession'', recognising the mar ...
Christian III is elected King of Denmark and Norway in the town of
Rye Rye (''Secale cereale'') is a grass grown extensively as a grain, a cover crop and a forage crop. It is grown principally in an area from Eastern and Northern Europe into Russia. It is much more tolerant of cold weather and poor soil than o ...
. * 1584Philip Amadas and Arthur Barlowe arrive at
Roanoke Island Roanoke Island () is an island in Dare County, bordered by the Outer Banks of North Carolina. It was named after the historical Roanoke, a Carolina Algonquian people who inhabited the area in the 16th century at the time of English colonizat ...
.


1601–1900

* 1610 – The
Battle of Klushino The Battle of Klushino, or the Battle of Kłuszyn, was fought on 4 July 1610, between forces of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and the Tsardom of Russia during the Polish–Russian War, part of Russia's Time of Troubles. The battle occu ...
is fought between forces of the
Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, also referred to as Poland–Lithuania or the First Polish Republic (), was a federation, federative real union between the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland, Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania ...
and
Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...
during the Polish–Russian War. * 1634 – The city of
Trois-Rivières Trois-Rivières (, ; ) is a city in the Mauricie administrative region of Quebec, Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Saint-Maurice River, Saint-Maurice and Saint Lawrence River, Saint Lawrence rivers, on the north shore of the Sain ...
is founded in
New France New France (, ) was the territory colonized by Kingdom of France, France in North America, beginning with the exploration of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence by Jacques Cartier in 1534 and ending with the cession of New France to Kingdom of Great Br ...
(now Quebec, Canada). * 1744 – The Treaty of Lancaster, in which the
Iroquois The Iroquois ( ), also known as the Five Nations, and later as the Six Nations from 1722 onwards; alternatively referred to by the Endonym and exonym, endonym Haudenosaunee ( ; ) are an Iroquoian languages, Iroquoian-speaking Confederation#Ind ...
cede lands between the
Allegheny Mountains The Allegheny Mountain Range ( ) — also spelled Alleghany or Allegany, less formally the Alleghenies — is part of the vast Appalachian Mountain Range of the Eastern United States and Canada. Historically it represented a significant barr ...
and the
Ohio River The Ohio River () is a river in the United States. It is located at the boundary of the Midwestern and Southern United States, flowing in a southwesterly direction from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to its river mouth, mouth on the Mississippi Riv ...
to the British colonies, was signed in
Lancaster, Pennsylvania Lancaster ( ) is a city in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 58,039 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, eighth-most populous ci ...
. * 1774Orangetown Resolutions are adopted in the
Province of New York The Province of New York was a British proprietary colony and later a royal colony on the northeast coast of North America from 1664 to 1783. It extended from Long Island on the Atlantic, up the Hudson River and Mohawk River valleys to ...
, one of many protests against the
British Parliament The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, and may also legislate for the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of ...
's
Coercive Acts The Intolerable Acts, sometimes referred to as the Insufferable Acts or Coercive Acts, were a series of five punitive laws passed by the British Parliament in 1774 after the Boston Tea Party. The laws aimed to punish Massachusetts colonists fo ...
. *
1776 Events January–February * January 1 – American Revolutionary War – Burning of Norfolk: The town of Norfolk, Virginia is destroyed, by the combined actions of the British Royal Navy and occupying Patriot forces. * January ...
American Revolution The American Revolution (1765–1783) was a colonial rebellion and war of independence in which the Thirteen Colonies broke from British America, British rule to form the United States of America. The revolution culminated in the American ...
: The
United States Declaration of Independence The Declaration of Independence, formally The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen States of America in the original printing, is the founding document of the United States. On July 4, 1776, it was adopted unanimously by the Second Continen ...
is adopted by the
Second Continental Congress The Second Continental Congress (1775–1781) was the meetings of delegates from the Thirteen Colonies that united in support of the American Revolution and American Revolutionary War, Revolutionary War, which established American independence ...
. *
1778 Events January–March * January 18 – Third voyage of James Cook: Sea captain, Captain James Cook, with ships HMS Resolution (1771), HMS ''Resolution'' and HMS Discovery (1774), HMS ''Discovery'', first views Oahu, Oʻahu th ...
American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was the armed conflict that comprised the final eight years of the broader American Revolution, in which Am ...
: U.S. forces under George Clark capture
Kaskaskia The Kaskaskia were a historical Indigenous people of the Northeastern Woodlands. They were one of about a dozen cognate tribes that made up the Illiniwek Confederation, also called the Illinois Confederation. Their longstanding homeland was in ...
during the Illinois campaign. * 1802 – The
United States Military Academy The United States Military Academy (USMA), commonly known as West Point, is a United States service academies, United States service academy in West Point, New York that educates cadets for service as Officer_(armed_forces)#United_States, comm ...
opens at
West Point, New York West Point is the oldest continuously occupied military post in the United States. Located on the Hudson River in New York (state), New York, General George Washington stationed his headquarters in West Point in the summer and fall of 1779 durin ...
. *
1803 Events January–March * January 1 – The first edition of Alexandre Balthazar Laurent Grimod de La Reynière's ''Almanach des gourmands'', the first guide to restaurant cooking, is published in Paris. * January 4 – William Symingt ...
– The
Louisiana Purchase The Louisiana Purchase () was the acquisition of the Louisiana (New France), territory of Louisiana by the United States from the French First Republic in 1803. This consisted of most of the land in the Mississippi River#Watershed, Mississipp ...
is announced to the American people. *
1817 Events January–March * January 1 – Sailing through the Sandwich Islands, Otto von Kotzebue discovers New Year Island. * January 19 – An army of 5,423 soldiers, led by General José de San Martín, starts crossing t ...
– In
Rome, New York Rome is a city in Oneida County, New York, United States, located in the central part of the state. The population was 32,127 at the 2020 census. Rome is one of two principal cities in the Utica–Rome Metropolitan Statistical Area, which lie ...
, construction on the
Erie Canal The Erie Canal is a historic canal in upstate New York that runs east–west between the Hudson River and Lake Erie. Completed in 1825, the canal was the first navigability, navigable waterway connecting the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes, ...
begins. *
1818 Events January–March * January 1 ** Battle of Koregaon: Troops of the British East India Company score a decisive victory over the Maratha Confederacy, Maratha Empire. ** English author Mary Shelley publishes the novel ''Frankenstein ...
US Flag Act of 1818 goes into effect creating a 13 stripe flag with a star for each state. New stars would be added on July 4 after a new state had been admitted. *
1827 Events January–March * January 5 – The first regatta in Australia is held, taking place in Tasmania (called at the time ''Van Diemen's Land''), on the River Derwent at Hobart. * January 15 – Furman University, founded in 1826, b ...
Slavery Slavery is the ownership of a person as property, especially in regards to their labour. Slavery typically involves compulsory work, with the slave's location of work and residence dictated by the party that holds them in bondage. Enslavemen ...
is abolished in the
State of New York New York, also called New York State, is a state in the northeastern United States. Bordered by New England to the east, Canada to the north, and Pennsylvania and New Jersey to the south, its territory extends into both the Atlantic Ocean and ...
. * 1831Samuel Francis Smith writes "
My Country, 'Tis of Thee "My Country, 'Tis of Thee", also known as "America", is an American patriotic song whose lyrics were written by Samuel Francis Smith. The song served as one of the ''de facto'' national anthems of the United States (along with songs like " Hai ...
" for the Boston, Massachusetts July 4 festivities. *
1832 Events January–March * January 6 – Abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison founds the New-England Anti-Slavery Society. * January 13 – The Christmas Rebellion of slaves is brought to an end in Jamaica, after the island's white pla ...
John Neal John Neal (August 25, 1793 – June 20, 1876) was an American writer, critic, editor, lecturer, and activist. Considered both eccentric and influential, he delivered speeches and published essays, novels, poems, and short stories between the 1 ...
delivers the first public lecture in the US to advocate the rights of women. *
1832 Events January–March * January 6 – Abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison founds the New-England Anti-Slavery Society. * January 13 – The Christmas Rebellion of slaves is brought to an end in Jamaica, after the island's white pla ...
Durham University Durham University (legally the University of Durham) is a collegiate university, collegiate public university, public research university in Durham, England, founded by an Act of Parliament (UK), Act of Parliament in 1832 and incorporated by r ...
established by Act of Parliament; the first recognized university to be founded in
England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...
since
Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...
over 600 years earlier. *
1837 Events January–March * January 1 – The destructive Galilee earthquake causes thousands of deaths in Ottoman Syria. * January 26 – Michigan becomes the 26th state admitted to the United States. * February 4 – Seminoles attack Fo ...
Grand Junction Railway The Grand Junction Railway (GJR) was an early railway company in the United Kingdom, which existed between 1833 and 1846. The line built by the company, which opened in 1837, linked the Liverpool and Manchester Railway to Birmingham via Warri ...
, the world's first long-distance railway, opens between
Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...
and
Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...
. *
1838 Events January–March * January 10 – A fire destroys Lloyd's Coffee House and the Royal Exchange in London. * January 11 – At Morristown, New Jersey, Samuel Morse, Alfred Vail and Leonard Gale give the first public demonstration ...
– The Iowa Territory is organized. *
1845 Events January–March * January 1 – The Philippines began reckoning Asian dates by hopping the International Date Line through skipping Tuesday, December 31, 1844. That time zone shift was a reform made by Governor–General Narciso ...
Henry David Thoreau Henry David Thoreau (born David Henry Thoreau; July 12, 1817May 6, 1862) was an American naturalist, essayist, poet, and philosopher. A leading Transcendentalism, transcendentalist, he is best known for his book ''Walden'', a reflection upon sim ...
moves into a small cabin on Walden Pond in Concord, Massachusetts. Thoreau's account of his two years there, ''
Walden ''Walden'' (; first published as ''Walden; or, Life in the Woods'') is an 1854 book by American transcendentalism, transcendentalist writer Henry David Thoreau. The text is a reflection upon the author's simple living in natural surroundings. T ...
'', will become a touchstone of the environmental movement. *
1855 Events January–March * January 1 – Ottawa, Ontario, is incorporated as a city.' * January 5 – Ramón Castilla begins his third term as President of Peru. * January 23 ** The first bridge over the Mississippi River o ...
– The first edition of
Walt Whitman Walter Whitman Jr. (; May 31, 1819 – March 26, 1892) was an American poet, essayist, and journalist; he also wrote two novels. He is considered one of the most influential poets in American literature and world literature. Whitman incor ...
's book of poems, ''
Leaves of Grass ''Leaves of Grass'' is a poetry collection by American poet Walt Whitman. After self-publishing it in 1855, he spent most of his professional life writing, revising, and expanding the collection until his death in 1892. Either six or nine separa ...
'', is published in
Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...
. *
1862 Events January * January 1 – The United Kingdom annexes Lagos Island, in modern-day Nigeria. * January 6 – Second French intervention in Mexico, French intervention in Mexico: Second French Empire, French, Spanish and British ...
Lewis Carroll Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (27 January 1832 – 14 January 1898), better known by his pen name Lewis Carroll, was an English author, poet, mathematician, photographer and reluctant Anglicanism, Anglican deacon. His most notable works are ''Alice ...
tells
Alice Liddell Alice Pleasance Hargreaves (''née'' Liddell, ; 4 May 1852 – 16 November 1934) was an English woman who, in her childhood, was an acquaintance and photography subject of Lewis Carroll. One of the stories he told her during a boating trip becam ...
a story that would grow into ''
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland ''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'' (also known as ''Alice in Wonderland'') is an 1865 English Children's literature, children's novel by Lewis Carroll, a mathematics university don, don at the University of Oxford. It details the story of a ...
'' and its sequels. *
1863 Events January * January 1 – Abraham Lincoln signs the Emancipation Proclamation during the third year of the American Civil War, making the abolition of slavery in the Confederate States of America an official war goal. The signing ...
American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...
: Siege of Vicksburg: The Confederate army in
Vicksburg, Mississippi Vicksburg is a historic city in Warren County, Mississippi, United States. It is the county seat. The population was 21,573 at the 2020 census. Located on a high bluff on the east bank of the Mississippi River across from Louisiana, Vicksburg ...
surrenders to Union forces under
Ulysses S. Grant Ulysses S. Grant (born Hiram Ulysses Grant; April 27, 1822July 23, 1885) was the 18th president of the United States, serving from 1869 to 1877. In 1865, as Commanding General of the United States Army, commanding general, Grant led the Uni ...
after 47 days of siege, contributing to the Union capture of the
Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the main stem, primary river of the largest drainage basin in the United States. It is the second-longest river in the United States, behind only the Missouri River, Missouri. From its traditional source of Lake Ita ...
. * 1863 – American Civil War: Union forces repulse a Confederate army at the Battle of Helena in Arkansas. The battle thwarts a Rebel attempt to relieve pressure on the besieged city of Vicksburg, and paves the way for the Union capture of
Little Rock Little Rock is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Arkansas, most populous city of the U.S. state of Arkansas. The city's population was 202,591 as of the 2020 census. The six-county Central Arkan ...
. * 1863 – American Civil War: Retreat from Gettysburg: The Confederate
Army of Northern Virginia The Army of Northern Virginia was a field army of the Confederate States Army in the Eastern Theater of the American Civil War. It was also the primary command structure of the Department of Northern Virginia. It was most often arrayed agains ...
under
Robert E. Lee Robert Edward Lee (January 19, 1807 – October 12, 1870) was a general officers in the Confederate States Army, Confederate general during the American Civil War, who was appointed the General in Chief of the Armies of the Confederate ...
withdraws from the battlefield after losing the
Battle of Gettysburg The Battle of Gettysburg () was a three-day battle in the American Civil War, which was fought between the Union and Confederate armies between July 1 and July 3, 1863, in and around Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. The battle, won by the Union, ...
, signaling an end to his last
invasion An invasion is a Offensive (military), military offensive of combatants of one geopolitics, geopolitical Legal entity, entity, usually in large numbers, entering territory (country subdivision), territory controlled by another similar entity, ...
of the
North North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating Direction (geometry), direction or geography. Etymology T ...
. *
1879 Events January * January 1 ** The Specie Resumption Act takes effect. The United States Note is valued the same as gold, for the first time since the American Civil War. ** Brahms' Violin Concerto is premiered in Leipzig with Joseph Joachim ...
Anglo-Zulu War The Anglo-Zulu War was fought in present-day South Africa from January to early July 1879 between forces of the British Empire and the Zulu Kingdom. Two famous battles of the war were the Zulu victory at Battle of Isandlwana, Isandlwana and th ...
: The Zululand capital of Ulundi is captured by British troops and burned to the ground, ending the war and forcing King
Cetshwayo Cetshwayo kaMpande (; ; 1826 – 8 February 1884) was the king of the Zulu Kingdom from 1873 to 1884 and its Commander in Chief during the Anglo-Zulu War of 1879. His name has been transliterated as Cetywayo or Cetshwayo. Cetshwayo consistently ...
to flee. * 1881 – In
Alabama Alabama ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South, Deep Southern regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gu ...
, the
Tuskegee Institute Tuskegee University (Tuskegee or TU; formerly known as the Tuskegee Institute) is a Private university, private, Historically black colleges and universities, historically black land-grant university in Tuskegee, Alabama, United States. It was f ...
opens. *
1886 Events January * January 1 – Upper Burma is formally annexed to British rule in Burma, British Burma, following its conquest in the Third Anglo-Burmese War of November 1885. * January 5–January 9, 9 – Robert Louis Stevenson ...
– The
Canadian Pacific Railway The Canadian Pacific Railway () , also known simply as CPR or Canadian Pacific and formerly as CP Rail (1968–1996), is a Canadian Class I railway incorporated in 1881. The railway is owned by Canadian Pacific Kansas City, Canadian Pacific Ka ...
's first scheduled train from Montreal arrives in
Port Moody Port Moody is a city in British Columbia, Canada, and a member municipality of the Metro Vancouver Regional District. It envelops the east end of Burrard Inlet and is the smallest of the Tri-Cities, bordered by Coquitlam on the east and south ...
on the Pacific coast, after six days of travel. *
1887 Events January * January 11 – Louis Pasteur's anti-rabies treatment is defended in the Académie Nationale de Médecine, by Dr. Joseph Grancher. * January 20 ** The United States Senate allows the United States Navy to lease Pearl Har ...
– The founder of
Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...
, Quaid-i-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah, joins Sindh-Madrasa-tul-Islam,
Karachi Karachi is the capital city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, province of Sindh, Pakistan. It is the List of cities in Pakistan by population, largest city in Pakistan and 12th List of largest cities, largest in the world, with a popul ...
. *
1892 In Samoa, this was the only leap year spanned to 367 days as July 4 repeated. This means that the International Date Line was drawn from the east of the country to go west. Events January * January 1 – Ellis Island begins processing imm ...
Western Samoa Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa and known until 1997 as Western Samoa, is an island country in Polynesia, part of Oceania, in the South Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main islands ( Savai'i and Upolu), two smaller, inhabit ...
changes the
International Date Line The International Date Line (IDL) is the line extending between the South and North Poles that is the boundary between one calendar day and the next. It passes through the Pacific Ocean, roughly following the 180.0° line of longitude and de ...
, causing Monday (July 4) to occur twice, resulting in a leap year with 367 days. * 1894 – The short-lived
Republic of Hawaii The Republic of Hawaii (Hawaiian language, Hawaiian: ''Lepupalika o Hawaii'' epupəˈlikə o həˈvɐjʔi was a short-lived one-party state in Hawaii, Hawaii between July 4, 1894, when the Provisional Government of Hawaii had Black Week (H ...
is proclaimed by Sanford B. Dole. *
1898 Events January * January 1 – New York City annexes land from surrounding counties, creating the City of Greater New York as the world's second largest. The city is geographically divided into five boroughs: Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queen ...
– En route from New York to
Le Havre Le Havre is a major port city in the Seine-Maritime department in the Normandy (administrative region), Normandy region of northern France. It is situated on the right bank of the estuary of the Seine, river Seine on the English Channel, Channe ...
, the SS ''La Bourgogne'' collides with another ship and sinks off the coast of
Sable Island Sable Island (, literally "island of sand") is a small, remote island off the coast of Nova Scotia, Canada. Sable Island is located in the North Atlantic Ocean, about southeast of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Halifax, and about southeast of the clo ...
, with the loss of 549 lives.


1901–present

* 1901
William Howard Taft William Howard Taft (September 15, 1857March 8, 1930) served as the 27th president of the United States from 1909 to 1913 and the tenth chief justice of the United States from 1921 to 1930. He is the only person to have held both offices. ...
becomes American governor of the Philippines. * 1903 – The
Philippine–American War The Philippine–American War, known alternatively as the Philippine Insurrection, Filipino–American War, or Tagalog Insurgency, emerged following the conclusion of the Spanish–American War in December 1898 when the United States annexed th ...
is officially concluded. *
1910 Events January * January 6 – Abé people in the French West Africa colony of Côte d'Ivoire rise against the colonial administration; the rebellion is brutally suppressed by the military. * January 8 – By the Treaty of Punakha, t ...
– The Johnson–Jeffries riots occur after African-American boxer Jack Johnson knocks out white boxer Jim Jeffries in the 15th round. Between 11 and 26 people are killed and hundreds more injured. *
1911 Events January * January 1 – A decade after federation, the Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory are added to the Commonwealth of Australia. * January 3 ** 1911 Kebin earthquake: An earthquake of 7.7 m ...
– A massive heat wave strikes the northeastern United States, killing 380 people in eleven days and breaking temperature records in several cities. *
1913 Events January * January – Joseph Stalin travels to Vienna to research his ''Marxism and the National Question''. This means that, during this month, Stalin, Hitler, Trotsky and Tito are all living in the city. * January 3 &ndash ...
President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...
Woodrow Wilson Thomas Woodrow Wilson (December 28, 1856February 3, 1924) was the 28th president of the United States, serving from 1913 to 1921. He was the only History of the Democratic Party (United States), Democrat to serve as president during the Prog ...
addresses
American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...
veterans at the Great Reunion of 1913. *
1914 This year saw the beginning of what became known as the First World War, after Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, heir to the Austrian throne was Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, assassinated by Serbian nationalist Gavrilo Princip ...
– The funeral of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife
Sophie Sophie is a feminine given name, another version of Sophia, from the Greek word for "wisdom". People with the name Born in the Middle Ages * Sophie, Countess of Bar (c. 1004 or 1018–1093), sovereign Countess of Bar and lady of Mousson * Soph ...
takes place in
Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...
, six days after their assassinations in
Sarajevo Sarajevo ( ), ; ''see Names of European cities in different languages (Q–T)#S, names in other languages'' is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Bosnia and Herzegovina, largest city of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a population of 2 ...
. *
1918 The ceasefire that effectively ended the World War I, First World War took place on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month of this year. Also in this year, the Spanish flu pandemic killed 50–100 million people wor ...
Mehmed V Mehmed V Reşâd (; or ; 2 November 1844 – 3 July 1918) was the penultimate List of sultans of the Ottoman Empire, sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1909 to 1918. Mehmed V reigned as a Constitutional monarchy, constitutional monarch. He had ...
died at the age of 73 and
Ottoman sultan The sultans of the Ottoman Empire (), who were all members of the Ottoman dynasty (House of Osman), ruled over the Boundaries between the continents, transcontinental empire from its perceived inception in 1299 to Dissolution of the Ottoman Em ...
Mehmed VI Mehmed VI Vahideddin ( ''Meḥmed-i sâdis'' or ''Vaḥîdü'd-Dîn''; or /; 14 January 1861 – 16 May 1926), also known as ''Şahbaba'' () among the Osmanoğlu family, was the last sultan of the Ottoman Empire and the penultimate Ottoman Cal ...
ascends to the throne. * 1918 –
World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
: The Battle of Hamel, a successful attack by the Australian Corps against German positions near the town of Le Hamel on the Western Front. *
1927 Events January * January 1 – The British Broadcasting ''Company'' becomes the BBC, British Broadcasting ''Corporation'', when its Royal Charter of incorporation takes effect. John Reith, 1st Baron Reith, John Reith becomes the first ...
– First flight of the
Lockheed Vega The Lockheed Vega is an American five- to seven-seat high-wing monoplane airliner built by the Lockheed Corporation starting in 1927. It became famous for its use by a number of record-breaking pilots who were attracted to its high speed and lo ...
. *
1939 This year also marks the start of the World War II, Second World War, the largest and deadliest conflict in human history. Events Events related to World War II have a "WWII" prefix. January * January 1 ** Coming into effect in Nazi Ger ...
Lou Gehrig Henry Louis Gehrig ( ; June 19, 1903June 2, 1941), also known as Heinrich Ludwig Gehrig, was an American professional baseball first baseman who played 17 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the New York Yankees (1923–1939). Gehrig was ...
, recently diagnosed with
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as motor neuron disease (MND) or—in the United States—Lou Gehrig's disease (LGD), is a rare, Terminal illness, terminal neurodegenerative disease, neurodegenerative disorder that results i ...
, informs a crowd at
Yankee Stadium Yankee Stadium is a baseball stadium located in the Bronx in New York City. It is the home field of Major League Baseball’s New York Yankees and New York City FC of Major League Soccer. The stadium opened in April 2009, replacing the Yankee S ...
that he considers himself "The luckiest man on the face of the earth", then announces his retirement from major league
baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...
. *
1941 The Correlates of War project estimates this to be the deadliest year in human history in terms of conflict deaths, placing the death toll at 3.49 million. However, the Uppsala Conflict Data Program estimates that the subsequent year, 1942, wa ...
Nazi crimes against the Polish nation War crime, Crimes against the Polish nation committed by Nazi Germany and Axis powers, Axis collaborationist forces during the invasion of Poland, along with Schutzmannschaft#Police battalions, auxiliary battalions during the subsequent occu ...
:
Nazi Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...
troops massacre Polish scientists and writers in the captured Ukrainian city of
Lviv Lviv ( or ; ; ; see #Names and symbols, below for other names) is the largest city in western Ukraine, as well as the List of cities in Ukraine, fifth-largest city in Ukraine, with a population of It serves as the administrative centre of ...
. * 1941 –
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
: The Burning of the Riga synagogues: The Great Choral Synagogue in German-occupied
Riga Riga ( ) is the capital, Primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Latvia, largest city of Latvia. Home to 591,882 inhabitants (as of 2025), the city accounts for a third of Latvia's total population. The population of Riga Planni ...
is burnt with 300 Jews locked in the basement. *
1942 The Uppsala Conflict Data Program project estimates this to be the deadliest year in human history in terms of conflict deaths, placing the death toll at 4.62 million. However, the Correlates of War estimates that the prior year, 1941, was th ...
– World War II: The 250-day Siege of Sevastopol in the
Crimea Crimea ( ) is a peninsula in Eastern Europe, on the northern coast of the Black Sea, almost entirely surrounded by the Black Sea and the smaller Sea of Azov. The Isthmus of Perekop connects the peninsula to Kherson Oblast in mainland Ukrain ...
ends when the city falls to
Axis An axis (: axes) may refer to: Mathematics *A specific line (often a directed line) that plays an important role in some contexts. In particular: ** Coordinate axis of a coordinate system *** ''x''-axis, ''y''-axis, ''z''-axis, common names ...
forces. *
1943 Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * January 1 – WWII: The Soviet Union announces that 22 German divisions have been encircled at Stalingrad, with 175,000 killed and 137,650 captured. * January 4 ...
– World War II: The
Battle of Kursk The Battle of Kursk, also called the Battle of the Kursk Salient, was a major World War II Eastern Front battle between the forces of Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union near Kursk in southwestern Russia during the summer of 1943, resulting in ...
, the largest full-scale battle in history and the world's largest tank battle, begins in the village of Prokhorovka. * 1943 – World War II: In
Gibraltar Gibraltar ( , ) is a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory and British overseas cities, city located at the southern tip of the Iberian Peninsula, on the Bay of Gibraltar, near the exit of the Mediterranean Sea into the A ...
, a
Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...
B-24 Liberator The Consolidated B-24 Liberator is an American heavy bomber, designed by Consolidated Aircraft of San Diego, California. It was known within the company as the Model 32, and some initial production aircraft were laid down as export models desi ...
bomber crashes into the sea in an apparent accident moments after takeoff, killing sixteen passengers on board, including general
Władysław Sikorski Władysław Eugeniusz Sikorski (; 20 May 18814 July 1943) was a Polish military and political leader. Before World War I, Sikorski established and participated in several underground organizations that promoted the cause of Polish independenc ...
, the commander-in-chief of the Polish Army and the Prime Minister of the Polish government-in-exile; only the pilot survives. *
1946 1946 (Roman numerals, MCMXLVI) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1946th year of the Common Era (CE) and ''Anno Domini'' (AD) designations, the 946th year of the 2nd millennium, the 46th year of the 20th centur ...
– The
Kielce pogrom The Kielce pogrom was an outbreak of violence toward the Jewish community centre's gathering of refugees in the city of Kielce, Poland, on 4 July 1946 by Polish soldiers, police officers, and civiliansPhilippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...
attains full independence from the United States. *
1947 It was the first year of the Cold War, which would last until 1991, ending with the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Events January * January–February – Winter of 1946–47 in the United Kingdom: The worst snowfall in the country i ...
– The "Indian Independence Bill" is presented before the
British House of Commons The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the upper house, the House of Lords, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. The House of Commons is an elected body consisting of 650 memb ...
, proposing the independence of the Provinces of British India into two sovereign countries: India and
Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...
. *
1950 Events January * January 1 – The International Police Association (IPA) – the largest police organization in the world – is formed. * January 5 – 1950 Sverdlovsk plane crash, Sverdlovsk plane crash: ''Aeroflot'' Lisunov Li-2 ...
Cold War The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...
:
Radio Free Europe Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) is a media organization broadcasting news and analyses in 27 languages to 23 countries across Eastern Europe, Central Asia, the Caucasus, and the Middle East. Headquartered in Prague since 1995, RFE/RL ...
first broadcasts. *
1951 Events January * January 4 – Korean War: Third Battle of Seoul – Chinese and North Korean forces capture Seoul for the second time (having lost the Second Battle of Seoul in September 1950). * January 9 – The Government of the Uni ...
– Cold War: A court in
Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia ( ; Czech language, Czech and , ''Česko-Slovensko'') was a landlocked country in Central Europe, created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland beca ...
sentences American journalist William N. Oatis to ten years in prison on charges of
espionage Espionage, spying, or intelligence gathering, as a subfield of the intelligence field, is the act of obtaining secret or confidential information ( intelligence). A person who commits espionage on a mission-specific contract is called an ...
. * 1951 –
William Shockley William Bradford Shockley ( ; February 13, 1910 – August 12, 1989) was an American solid-state physicist, electrical engineer, and inventor. He was the manager of a research group at Bell Labs that included John Bardeen and Walter Houser Brat ...
announces the invention of the
junction transistor A bipolar junction transistor (BJT) is a type of transistor that uses both electrons and electron holes as charge carriers. In contrast, a unipolar transistor, such as a field-effect transistor (FET), uses only one kind of charge carrier. A ...
. *
1954 Events January * January 3 – The Italian broadcaster RAI officially begins transmitting. * January 7 – Georgetown–IBM experiment: The first public demonstration of a machine translation system is held in New York, at the head ...
Food rationing in Great Britain ends, with the lifting of restrictions on sale and purchase of meat, 14 years after it began early in
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, and nearly a decade after the war's end. *
1960 It is also known as the "Year of Africa" because of major events—particularly the independence of seventeen African nations—that focused global attention on the continent and intensified feelings of Pan-Africanism. Events January * Janu ...
– Due to the post-Independence Day admission of Hawaii as the 50th
U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...
on
August 21 Events Pre-1600 * 959 – Eraclus becomes the 25th bishop of Liège. *1140 – Song dynasty general Yue Fei defeats an army led by Jin dynasty (1115–1234), Jin dynasty general Wuzhu at the Battle of Yancheng during the Jin–Song War ...
, 1959, the 50-star
flag of the United States The national flag of the United States, often referred to as the American flag or the U.S. flag, consists of thirteen horizontal Bar (heraldry), stripes, Variation of the field, alternating red and white, with a blue rectangle in the Canton ( ...
debuts in
Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...
, almost ten and a half months later (see Flag Acts (United States)). *
1961 Events January * January 1 – Monetary reform in the Soviet Union, 1961, Monetary reform in the Soviet Union. * January 3 ** United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower announces that the United States has severed diplomatic and cons ...
– On its maiden voyage, the Soviet nuclear-powered submarine ''K-19'' suffers a complete loss of coolant to its reactor. The crew are able to effect repairs, but 22 of them die of radiation poisoning over the following two years. *
1966 Events January * January 1 – In a coup, Colonel Jean-Bédel Bokassa takes over as military ruler of the Central African Republic, ousting President David Dacko. * January 3 – 1966 Upper Voltan coup d'état: President Maurice Yaméogo i ...
– U.S. President
Lyndon B. Johnson Lyndon Baines Johnson (; August 27, 1908January 22, 1973), also known as LBJ, was the 36th president of the United States, serving from 1963 to 1969. He became president after the assassination of John F. Kennedy, under whom he had served a ...
signs the Freedom of Information Act into United States law. The act went into effect the next year. *
1976 Events January * January 2 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 18 – Full diplomatic ...
Israeli commandos raid Entebbe airport in
Uganda Uganda, officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the ...
, rescuing all but four of the passengers and crew of an
Air France Air France (; legally ''Société Air France, S.A.''), stylised as AIRFRANCE, is the flag carrier of France, and is headquartered in Tremblay-en-France. The airline is a subsidiary of the Air France-KLM Group and is one of the founding members ...
jetliner seized by Palestinian terrorists. *
1977 Events January * January 8 – 1977 Moscow bombings, Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group. * January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (no ...
– The George Jackson Brigade plants a bomb at the main power substation for the Washington state capitol in Olympia, in solidarity with a prison strike at the Walla Walla State Penitentiary Intensive Security Unit. *
1982 Events January * January 1 – In Malaysia and Singapore, clocks are adjusted to the same time zone, UTC+8 (GMT+8.00). * January 13 – Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff into the 14th Street Bridge in Washington, D.C. ...
– Three Iranian diplomats and a journalist are kidnapped in Lebanon by Phalange forces, and their fate remains unknown. *1982 –
Space Shuttle program The Space Shuttle program was the fourth human spaceflight program carried out by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), which accomplished routine transportation for Earth-to-orbit crew and cargo from 1981 to 2011. Its ...
: '' Columbia'' lands at
Edwards Air Force Base Edwards Air Force Base (AFB) is a United States Air Force installation in California. Most of the base sits in Kern County, California, Kern County, but its eastern end is in San Bernardino County, California, San Bernardino County and a souther ...
at the end of the program's final test flight,
STS-4 STS-4 was the fourth NASA Space Shuttle mission, and also the fourth for Space Shuttle ''Columbia''. Crewed by Ken Mattingly and Henry Hartsfield, the mission launched on June 27, 1982, and landed a week later on July 4, 1982. Due to parachut ...
. President
Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan (February 6, 1911 – June 5, 2004) was an American politician and actor who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He was a member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party a ...
declares the Space Shuttle to be operational. *
1994 The year 1994 was designated as the " International Year of the Family" and the "International Year of Sport and the Olympic Ideal" by the United Nations. In the Line Islands and Phoenix Islands of Kiribati, 1994 had only 364 days, omitti ...
Rwandan genocide The Rwandan genocide, also known as the genocide against the Tutsi, occurred from 7 April to 19 July 1994 during the Rwandan Civil War. Over a span of around 100 days, members of the Tutsi ethnic group, as well as some moderate Hutu and Gre ...
:
Kigali Kigali () is the Capital (political), capital and largest city of Rwanda. It is near the nation's geographic centre in a region of rolling hills, with a series of valleys and ridges joined by steep slopes. As a primate city, Kigali is a relativ ...
, the Rwandan capital, is captured by the
Rwandan Patriotic Front The Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF–Inkotanyi; , FPR) is the ruling political party in Rwanda. The RPF was founded in December 1987 by Rwandan Tutsi in exile in Uganda because of the ethnic violence that had occurred during the Rwandan Hutu Revo ...
, ending the genocide in the city. *
1997 Events January * January 1 – The Emergency Alert System is introduced in the United States. * January 11 – Turkey threatens Cyprus on account of a deal to buy Russian S-300 missiles, prompting the Cypriot Missile Crisis. * January 1 ...
NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States ...
's
Pathfinder Pathfinder, Path Finder or Pathfinders may refer to: Aerospace * ''Mars Pathfinder'', a NASA Mars Lander * NASA Pathfinder, a high-altitude, solar-powered uncrewed aircraft * Space Shuttle ''Pathfinder'', a Space Shuttle test simulator Arts and ...
space probe lands on the surface of
Mars Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun. It is also known as the "Red Planet", because of its orange-red appearance. Mars is a desert-like rocky planet with a tenuous carbon dioxide () atmosphere. At the average surface level the atmosph ...
. *
1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...
– Japan launches the Nozomi probe to
Mars Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun. It is also known as the "Red Planet", because of its orange-red appearance. Mars is a desert-like rocky planet with a tenuous carbon dioxide () atmosphere. At the average surface level the atmosph ...
, joining the United States and Russia as a
space Space is a three-dimensional continuum containing positions and directions. In classical physics, physical space is often conceived in three linear dimensions. Modern physicists usually consider it, with time, to be part of a boundless ...
exploring nation. *
2001 The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...
Vladivostok Air Flight 352 crashes on approach to Irkutsk Airport killing all 145 people on board. *
2002 The effects of the September 11 attacks of the previous year had a significant impact on the affairs of 2002. The war on terror was a major political focus. Without settled international law, several nations engaged in anti-terror operation ...
– A
Boeing 707 The Boeing 707 is an early American long-range Narrow-body aircraft, narrow-body airliner, the first jetliner developed and produced by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. Developed from the Boeing 367-80 prototype, the initial first flew on Decembe ...
crashes near
Bangui M'Poko International Airport Bangui M'Poko International Airport is an international airport located northwest of Bangui, the capital of the Central African Republic. It is owned by the government of the Central African Republic. The airport is situated at an elevation of ...
in
Bangui Bangui (; or Bangî in Sango language, Sango, formerly written Bangi in English) is the Capital (political), capital and List of cities in the Central African Republic, largest city of the Central African Republic. It was established as a Fren ...
,
Central African Republic The Central African Republic (CAR) is a landlocked country in Central Africa. It is bordered by Chad to Central African Republic–Chad border, the north, Sudan to Central African Republic–Sudan border, the northeast, South Sudan to Central ...
, killing 28. *
2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...
– The cornerstone of the Freedom Tower is laid on the
World Trade Center site The World Trade Center site, often referred to as " Ground Zero" or "the Pile" immediately after the September 11 attacks, is a 14.6-acre (5.9 ha) area in Lower Manhattan in New York City. The site is bounded by Vesey Street to the north ...
in New York City. * 2004 –
Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...
beats
Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...
in the UEFA Euro 2004 Final and becomes European Champion for first time in its history. *
2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...
– The Deep Impact collider hits the
comet A comet is an icy, small Solar System body that warms and begins to release gases when passing close to the Sun, a process called outgassing. This produces an extended, gravitationally unbound atmosphere or Coma (cometary), coma surrounding ...
Tempel 1. *
2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...
Space Shuttle program The Space Shuttle program was the fourth human spaceflight program carried out by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), which accomplished routine transportation for Earth-to-orbit crew and cargo from 1981 to 2011. Its ...
: ''
Discovery Discovery may refer to: * Discovery (observation), observing or finding something unknown * Discovery (fiction), a character's learning something unknown * Discovery (law), a process in courts of law relating to evidence Discovery, The Discovery ...
'' launches STS-121 to the
International Space Station The International Space Station (ISS) is a large space station that was Assembly of the International Space Station, assembled and is maintained in low Earth orbit by a collaboration of five space agencies and their contractors: NASA (United ...
. The event gained wide media attention as it was the only shuttle launch in the program's history to occur on the United States'
Independence Day An independence day is an annual event memorialization, commemorating the anniversary of a nation's independence or Sovereign state, statehood, usually after ceasing to be a group or part of another nation or state, or after the end of a milit ...
. *
2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...
– A bomb explodes at a concert in Minsk's Independence Square, injuring 50 people. *
2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...
– The
Statue of Liberty The Statue of Liberty (''Liberty Enlightening the World''; ) is a colossal neoclassical sculpture on Liberty Island in New York Harbor, within New York City. The copper-clad statue, a gift to the United States from the people of French Thir ...
's crown reopens to the public after eight years of closure due to security concerns following the
September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, also known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing the first two into ...
. * 2009 – The first of four days of bombings begins on the southern
Philippine The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...
island group of
Mindanao Mindanao ( ) is the List of islands of the Philippines, second-largest island in the Philippines, after Luzon, and List of islands by population, seventh-most populous island in the world. Located in the southern region of the archipelago, the ...
. *
2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...
– The discovery of particles consistent with the
Higgs boson The Higgs boson, sometimes called the Higgs particle, is an elementary particle in the Standard Model of particle physics produced by the excited state, quantum excitation of the Higgs field, one of the field (physics), fields in particl ...
at the
Large Hadron Collider The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is the world's largest and highest-energy particle accelerator. It was built by the CERN, European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) between 1998 and 2008, in collaboration with over 10,000 scientists, ...
is announced at
CERN The European Organization for Nuclear Research, known as CERN (; ; ), is an intergovernmental organization that operates the largest particle physics laboratory in the world. Established in 1954, it is based in Meyrin, western suburb of Gene ...
. *
2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...
– Chile claims its first title in international
football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...
by defeating Argentina in the 2015 Copa América Final. *
2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...
– The Labour Party, led by
Keir Starmer Sir Keir Rodney Starmer (born 2 September 1962) is a British politician and lawyer who has served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom since 2024 and as Leader of the Labour Party (UK), Leader of the Labour Party since 2020. He previously ...
, wins a landslide majority in the
2024 United Kingdom general election The 2024 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday, 4 July 2024 to elect all 650 members of the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons. The opposition Labour Party (UK), Labour Party, led by Keir Starmer, won a lan ...
, ending 14 years of
Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...
government.


Births


Pre-1600

* 68Salonia Matidia, Roman daughter of Ulpia Marciana (died 119) * 1095
Usama ibn Munqidh Majd ad-Dīn Usāma ibn Murshid ibn ʿAlī ibn Munqidh al-Kināni al-Kalbī (also Usamah, Ousama, etc.; ) (4 July 1095 – 17 November 1188) or Ibn Munqidh was a medieval Arab Muslim poet, author, '' faris'' (knight), and diplomat from the Ban ...
, Muslim poet, author and faris (Knight) (died 1188) * 1330
Ashikaga Yoshiakira was the second ''shōgun'' of the Ashikaga shogunate who reigned from 1358 to 1367 during the Muromachi period of Japan. Yoshiakira was the son of the founder and first ''shōgun'' of the Muromachi shogunate, Ashikaga Takauji. His mother was Ak ...
, Japanese shōgun (died 1367) * 1477Johannes Aventinus, Bavarian historian and philologist (died 1534) * 1546
Murad III Murad III (; ; 4 July 1546 – 16 January 1595) was the sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1574 until his death in 1595. His rule saw battles with the Habsburg monarchy, Habsburgs and exhausting wars with the Safavid Iran, Safavids. The long-inde ...
, Ottoman sultan (died 1595)


1601–1900

*
1656 Events January–March * January 5 – The First War of Villmergen, a civil war in the Old Swiss Confederacy, Confederation of Switzerland pitting its Protestant and Roman Catholic Swiss canton, cantons against each other, breaks o ...
John Leake, Royal Navy admiral (died 1720) * 1694Louis-Claude Daquin, French organist and composer (died 1772) *
1715 Events For dates within Great Britain and the British Empire, as well as in the Russian Empire, the "old style" Julian calendar was used in 1715, and can be converted to the "new style" Gregorian calendar (adopted in the British Empire in ...
Christian Fürchtegott Gellert, German poet and academic (died 1769) * 1719
Michel-Jean Sedaine Michel-Jean Sedaine (2 June 1719 – 17 May 1797) was a French dramatist and librettist, especially noted for his librettos for ''opéras comiques'', in which he took an important and influential role in the advancement of the genre from the ...
, French playwright (died 1797) *
1729 Events January–March * January 8 – Frederick, the eldest son of King George II of Great Britain is made Prince of Wales at the age of 21, a few months after he comes to Britain for the first time after growing up in Hanover ...
George Leonard, American lawyer, jurist and politician (died 1819) *
1753 Events January–March * January 3 – King Binnya Dala of the Hanthawaddy Kingdom orders the burning of Ava, the former capital of the Kingdom of Burma. * January 29 – After a month's absence, Elizabeth Canning return ...
Jean-Pierre Blanchard Jean-Pierre rançoisBlanchard (; 4 July 1753 – 7 March 1809) was a French inventor, best known as a pioneer of gas balloon flight, who distinguished himself in the conquest of the air in a balloon. Notable for his successful hydrogen balloo ...
, French inventor, best known as a pioneer in balloon flight (died 1809) * 1790
George Everest Sir George Everest, (, ; 4 July 1790 – 1 December 1866) was a British surveyor and geographer who served as Surveyor General of India from 1830 to 1843. After a military education, Everest joined the East India Company and arrived in I ...
, Welsh geographer and surveyor (died 1866) *
1799 Events January–March * January 9 – British Prime Minister William Pitt the Younger introduces an income tax of two shillings to the pound, to raise funds for Great Britain's war effort in the French Revolutionary Wars. * January ...
Oscar I of Sweden Oscar I (born Joseph François Oscar Bernadotte; 4 July 1799 – 8 July 1859) was King of Sweden and List of Norwegian monarchs, Norway from 8 March 1844 until his death. He was the second monarch of the House of Bernadotte. The only child of Ki ...
(died 1859) *
1804 Events January–March * January 1 – Haiti gains independence from France, and becomes the first black republic. * February 4 – The Sokoto Caliphate is founded in West Africa. * February 14 – The First Serbian uprising begins th ...
Nathaniel Hawthorne Nathaniel Hawthorne (né Hathorne; July 4, 1804 – May 19, 1864) was an American novelist and short story writer. His works often focus on history, morality, and religion. He was born in 1804 in Salem, Massachusetts, from a family long associat ...
, American novelist and short story writer (died 1864) *
1807 Events January–March *January 7 – The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland issues an Order in Council prohibiting British ships from trading with France or its allies. *January 20 – The Sierra Leone Company, faced with b ...
Giuseppe Garibaldi Giuseppe Maria Garibaldi ( , ;In his native Ligurian language, he is known as (). In his particular Niçard dialect of Ligurian, he was known as () or (). 4 July 1807 – 2 June 1882) was an Italian general, revolutionary and republican. H ...
, Italian general and politician (died 1882) * 1816Hiram Walker, American businessman, founded Canadian Club whisky (died 1899) *
1826 Events January–March * January 15 – The French newspaper ''Le Figaro'' begins publication in Paris, initially as a satirical weekly. * January 17 – The Ballantyne printing business in Edinburgh (Scotland) crashes, ruining noveli ...
Stephen Foster Stephen Collins Foster (July 4, 1826January 13, 1864), known as "the father of American music", was an American composer known primarily for his parlour music, parlour and Folk music, folk music during the Romantic music, Romantic period. He wr ...
, American songwriter and composer (died 1864) *
1842 Events January–March * January 6– 13 – First Anglo-Afghan War – Massacre of Elphinstone's army (Battle of Gandamak): British East India Company troops are destroyed by Afghan forces on the road from Kabul to Jalalabad, Afghan ...
Hermann Cohen Hermann Cohen (; ; 4 July 1842 – 4 April 1918) was a German philosopher, one of the founders of the Marburg school of neo-Kantianism, and he is often held to be "probably the most important Jewish philosopher of the nineteenth century". Bio ...
, German philosopher (died 1918) *
1845 Events January–March * January 1 – The Philippines began reckoning Asian dates by hopping the International Date Line through skipping Tuesday, December 31, 1844. That time zone shift was a reform made by Governor–General Narciso ...
Thomas John Barnardo Thomas John Barnardo (4 July 184519 September 1905) was an Irish, Christian philanthropist and founder and director of homes for poor and deprived children. From the foundation of the first Barnardo's home in 1867 to the date of Barnardo's dea ...
, Irish philanthropist and humanitarian (died 1905) * 1847James Anthony Bailey, American circus ringmaster, co-founded Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus (died 1906) * 1854Victor Babeș, Romanian physician and biologist (died 1926) *
1868 Events January * January 2 – British Expedition to Abyssinia: Robert Napier, 1st Baron Napier of Magdala, Robert Napier leads an expedition to free captive British officials and missionaries. * January 3 – The 15-year-old Mutsu ...
Henrietta Swan Leavitt Henrietta Swan Leavitt (; July 4, 1868 – December 12, 1921) was an American astronomer. Her discovery of how to effectively measure vast distances to remote galaxies led to a shift in the understanding of the scale and nature of the universe. ...
, American astronomer and academic (died 1921) *
1886 Events January * January 1 – Upper Burma is formally annexed to British rule in Burma, British Burma, following its conquest in the Third Anglo-Burmese War of November 1885. * January 5–January 9, 9 – Robert Louis Stevenson ...
Tom Longboat, Canadian runner and soldier (died 1949) *
1871 Events January–March * January 3 – Franco-Prussian War: Battle of Bapaume – Prussians win a strategic victory. * January 18 – Proclamation of the German Empire: The member states of the North German Confederation and the sout ...
Hubert Cecil Booth Hubert Cecil Booth (4 July 1871 – 14 January 1955) was an English engineer, best known for having invented one of the first powered vacuum cleaners. He also designed Ferris wheels, suspension bridges and factories. Later he became Chairm ...
, English engineer (died 1955) *
1872 Events January * January 12 – Yohannes IV is crowned Emperor of Ethiopia in Axum, the first ruler crowned in that city in over 500 years. *January 20 – The Cavite mutiny was an uprising of Filipino military personnel of Fort S ...
Calvin Coolidge Calvin Coolidge (born John Calvin Coolidge Jr.; ; July 4, 1872January 5, 1933) was the 30th president of the United States, serving from 1923 to 1929. A Republican Party (United States), Republican lawyer from Massachusetts, he previously ...
, American lawyer and politician, 30th
President of the United States The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president directs the Federal government of the United States#Executive branch, executive branch of the Federal government of t ...
(died 1933) *
1874 Events January * January 1 – New York City annexes The Bronx. * January 2 – Ignacio María González becomes head of state of the Dominican Republic for the first time. * January 3 – Third Carlist War: Battle of Caspe &n ...
John McPhee John Angus McPhee (born March 8, 1931) is an American author. He is considered one of the pioneers of creative nonfiction. He is a four-time finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in the category General Nonfiction, and he won that award on the fourt ...
, Australian journalist and politician, 27th
Premier of Tasmania The premier of Tasmania is the head of the Government of Tasmania, executive government in the Australian state of Tasmania. By convention, the leader of the party or political grouping which has majority support in the Tasmanian House of Assem ...
(died 1952) *
1880 Events January *January 27 – Thomas Edison is granted a patent for the incandescent light bulb. Edison filed for a US patent for an electric lamp using "a carbon filament or strip coiled and connected ... to platina contact wires." gr ...
Victor Kraft, Austrian philosopher from the Vienna Circle (died 1975) * 1881
Ulysses S. Grant III Ulysses Simpson Grant III (July 4, 1881August 29, 1968) was a United States Army officer and planner. He was the son of Frederick Dent Grant, and the grandson of General of the Army (United States), General of the Army and President of the United ...
, American general (died 1968) *
1883 Events January * January 4 – ''Life'' magazine is founded in Los Angeles, California, United States. * January 10 – A fire at the Newhall Hotel in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States, kills 73 people. * January 16 – ...
Rube Goldberg Reuben Garrett Lucius Goldberg (July 4, 1883 – December 7, 1970), better known as Rube Goldberg (), was an American cartoonist, sculptor, author, engineer, and inventor. Goldberg is best known for his popular cartoons depicting complicated ...
, American sculptor, cartoonist, and engineer (died 1970) *
1887 Events January * January 11 – Louis Pasteur's anti-rabies treatment is defended in the Académie Nationale de Médecine, by Dr. Joseph Grancher. * January 20 ** The United States Senate allows the United States Navy to lease Pearl Har ...
Pio Pion, Italian engineer and businessman (died 1965) * 1888Henry Armetta, Italian-American actor and singer (died 1945) *
1895 Events January * January 5 – Dreyfus affair: French officer Alfred Dreyfus is stripped of his army rank and sentenced to life imprisonment on Devil's Island (off French Guiana) on what is much later admitted to be a false charge of tr ...
Irving Caesar, American songwriter and composer (died 1996) *
1896 Events January * January 2 – The Jameson Raid comes to an end as Jameson surrenders to the Boers. * January 4 – Utah is admitted as the 45th U.S. state. * January 5 – An Austrian newspaper reports Wilhelm Röntgen's dis ...
Mao Dun Shen Dehong (Shen Yanbing; 4 July 1896 – 27 March 1981), best known by the pen name of Mao Dun, was a Chinese novelist, essayist, journalist, playwright, literary and cultural critic. He was highly celebrated for his Literary realism, rea ...
, Chinese journalist, author, and critic (died 1981) *
1897 Events January * January 2 – The International Alpha Omicron Pi sorority is founded, in New York City. * January 4 – A British force is ambushed by Chief Ologbosere, son-in-law of the ruler. This leads to a punitive expedit ...
Alluri Sitarama Raju Alluri Sitarama Raju (4 July 1897 or 1898 – 7 May 1924) was an Indian revolutionary who waged an armed rebellion against the British Raj, British colonial rule in India. He led the Rampa Rebellion of 1922, Rampa rebellion (1922–1924) whic ...
, Indian activist (died 1924) *
1898 Events January * January 1 – New York City annexes land from surrounding counties, creating the City of Greater New York as the world's second largest. The city is geographically divided into five boroughs: Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queen ...
Pilar Barbosa, Puerto Rican-American historian and activist (died 1997) * 1898 –
Gertrude Lawrence Gertrude Lawrence (4 July 1898 – 6 September 1952) was an English actress, singer, dancer and musical comedy performer known for her stage appearances in the West End of London and on Broadway in New York. Early life Lawrence was born in 1 ...
, British actress, singer, and dancer (died 1952) * 1898 –
Gulzarilal Nanda Gulzarilal Nanda (4 July 1898 – 15 January 1998) was an Indian politician and economist who specialised in labour issues. He was the Acting Prime Minister of India for two 13-day tenures following the deaths of Jawaharlal Nehru in 1964 and L ...
, Indian politician (died 1998) * 1898 – Gertrude Weaver, American supercentenarian (died 2015) *
1900 As of March 1 ( O.S. February 17), when the Julian calendar acknowledged a leap day and the Gregorian calendar did not, the Julian calendar fell one day further behind, bringing the difference to 13 days until February 28 ( O.S. February 15 ...
Belinda Dann, Indigenous Australian who was one of the Stolen Generation, reunited with family aged 107 (died 2007) * 1900 – Nellie Mae Rowe, American folk artist (died 1982)


1901–present

* 1902
Meyer Lansky Meyer Lansky (born Maier Suchowljansky; July 4, 1902 – January 15, 1983), known as the "Mob's Accountant", was an American organized crime figure who, along with his associate Lucky Luciano, Charles "Lucky" Luciano, was instrumental in the dev ...
, American gangster (died 1983) * 1902 –
George Murphy George Lloyd Murphy (July 4, 1902 – May 3, 1992) was an American actor and politician. Murphy was a song-and-dance leading man in many big-budget Hollywood musicals from 1930 to 1952. He was the president of the Screen Actors Guild from 1944 to ...
, American actor and politician (died 1992) * 1903Flor Peeters, Belgian organist, composer, and educator (died 1986) *
1904 Events January * January 7 – The distress signal ''CQD'' is established, only to be replaced 2 years later by ''SOS''. * January 8 – The Blackstone Library is dedicated, marking the beginning of the Chicago Public Library system. * ...
Angela Baddeley, English actress (died 1976) * 1905Irving Johnson, American sailor and author (died 1991) * 1905 – Robert Hankey, 2nd Baron Hankey, British diplomat and public servant (died 1996) * 1905 –
Lionel Trilling Lionel Mordecai Trilling (July 4, 1905 – November 5, 1975) was an American literary critic, short story writer, essayist, and teacher. He was one of the leading U.S. critics of the 20th century who analyzed the contemporary cultural, social, ...
, American critic, essayist, short story writer, and educator (died 1975) *
1906 Events January–February * January 12 – Persian Constitutional Revolution: A nationalistic coalition of merchants, religious leaders and intellectuals in Persia forces the shah Mozaffar ad-Din Shah Qajar to grant a constitution, ...
Vincent Schaefer, American chemist and meteorologist (died 1993) *
1907 Events January * January 14 – 1907 Kingston earthquake: A 6.5 Moment magnitude scale, Mw earthquake in Kingston, Jamaica, kills between 800 and 1,000. February * February 9 – The "Mud March (suffragists), Mud March", the ...
John Anderson, American discus thrower (died 1948) * 1907 –
Howard Taubman Hyman Howard Taubman (July 4, 1907 – January 8, 1996) was an American music critic, theater critic, and author. Biography Born in Manhattan, Taubman attended DeWitt Clinton High School and then won a four-year scholarship to Cornell University ...
, American author and critic (died 1996) * 1909Alec Templeton, Welsh composer, pianist and satirist (died 1963) *
1910 Events January * January 6 – Abé people in the French West Africa colony of Côte d'Ivoire rise against the colonial administration; the rebellion is brutally suppressed by the military. * January 8 – By the Treaty of Punakha, t ...
Robert K. Merton, American sociologist and scholar (died 2003) * 1910 –
Gloria Stuart Gloria Frances Stuart (born Gloria Stewart; July 4, 1910 – September 26, 2010) was an American actress, visual artist, and activist. She was known for her roles in pre-code films, and garnered renewed fame late in life for her portrayal of Ro ...
, American actress (died 2010) *
1911 Events January * January 1 – A decade after federation, the Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory are added to the Commonwealth of Australia. * January 3 ** 1911 Kebin earthquake: An earthquake of 7.7 m ...
Bruce Hamilton, Australian public servant (died 1989) * 1911 –
Mitch Miller Mitchell William Miller (July 4, 1911 – July 31, 2010) was an American choral conductor, record producer, record-industry executive, and professional oboist. He was involved in almost all aspects of the industry, particularly as a conductor ...
, American singer and producer (died 2010) * 1911 – Elizabeth Peratrovich, Alaskan-American civil rights activist (died 1958) *
1914 This year saw the beginning of what became known as the First World War, after Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, heir to the Austrian throne was Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, assassinated by Serbian nationalist Gavrilo Princip ...
Nuccio Bertone, Italian automobile designer (died 1997) *
1915 Events Below, the events of World War I have the "WWI" prefix. January *January – British physicist Sir Joseph Larmor publishes his observations on "The Influence of Local Atmospheric Cooling on Astronomical Refraction". *January 1 * ...
Timmie Rogers, American actor and singer-songwriter (died 2006) *
1916 Events Below, the events of the First World War have the "WWI" prefix. January * January 1 – The British Empire, British Royal Army Medical Corps carries out the first successful blood transfusion, using blood that has been stored ...
Iva Toguri D'Aquino, American typist and broadcaster (died 2006) *
1918 The ceasefire that effectively ended the World War I, First World War took place on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month of this year. Also in this year, the Spanish flu pandemic killed 50–100 million people wor ...
Eppie Lederer, American journalist and radio host (died 2002) * 1918 –
Johnnie Parsons John Woodrow Parsons (July 4, 1918 – September 8, 1984) was an American racing driver in the AAA Contest Board, AAA and United States Automobile Club, USAC Championship Car series. He was the 1949 AAA Championship Car season, 1949 AAA List of ...
, American race car driver (died 1984) * 1918 – King Taufa'ahau Tupou IV of Tonga, (died 2006) * 1918 –
Alec Bedser Sir Alec Victor Bedser (4 July 1918 – 4 April 2010) was an English professional cricketer, primarily a medium-fast bowler. He is widely regarded as one of the best English cricketers of the 20th century. Bedser played first-class cricket fo ...
, English cricketer (died 2010) * 1918 – Eric Bedser, English cricketer (died 2006) * 1918 –
Pauline Phillips Pauline Esther Phillips (born Friedman; July 4, 1918 – January 16, 2013), also known as Abigail Van Buren, was an American advice columnist and radio show host who began the well-known Dear Abby, ''Dear Abby'' newspaper column in 1956. It beca ...
, American journalist and radio host, created
Dear Abby ''Dear Abby'' is an American advice column founded in 1956 by Pauline Phillips under the pen name "Abigail Van Buren" and carried on today by her daughter, Jeanne Phillips, who now owns the legal rights to the pen name. History According to Pau ...
(died 2013) *
1920 Events January * January 1 ** Polish–Soviet War: The Russian Red Army increases its troops along the Polish border from 4 divisions to 20. ** Kauniainen in Finland, completely surrounded by the city of Espoo, secedes from Espoo as its ow ...
Norm Drucker Norm Drucker (July 4, 1920 – February 6, 2015) was a major influence in professional basketball officiating for over 35 years. His NBA and ABA officiating career as both a referee and Supervisor of Officials spanned the careers of all-time pro ...
, American basketball player and referee (died 2015) * 1920 – Leona Helmsley, American businesswoman (died 2007) * 1920 – Fritz Wilde, German footballer and manager (died 1977) * 1920 – Paul Bannai, American politician (died 2019) *
1921 Events January * January 2 ** The Association football club Cruzeiro Esporte Clube, from Belo Horizonte, is founded as the multi-sports club Palestra Italia by Italian expatriates in First Brazilian Republic, Brazil. ** The Spanish lin ...
Gérard Debreu Gérard Debreu (; 4 July 1921 – 31 December 2004) was a French-born economist and mathematician. Best known as a professor of economics at the University of California, Berkeley, where he began work in 1962, he won the 1983 Nobel Memorial Prize ...
, French economist and mathematician,
Nobel Prize The Nobel Prizes ( ; ; ) are awards administered by the Nobel Foundation and granted in accordance with the principle of "for the greatest benefit to humankind". The prizes were first awarded in 1901, marking the fifth anniversary of Alfred N ...
laureate (died 2004) * 1921 – Nasser Sharifi, Iranian sports shooter * 1921 – Metropolitan Mikhail of Asyut (died 2014) * 1921 – Philip Rose, American actor, playwright, and producer (died 2011) * 1921 – Tibor Varga, Hungarian violinist and conductor (died 2003) *
1922 Events January * January 7 – Dáil Éireann (Irish Republic), Dáil Éireann, the parliament of the Irish Republic, ratifies the Anglo-Irish Treaty by 64–57 votes. * January 10 – Arthur Griffith is elected President of Dáil Éirean ...
R. James Harvey, American politician (died 2019) *
1923 In Greece, this year contained only 352 days as 13 days was skipped to achieve the calendrical switch from Julian to Gregorian Calendar. It happened there that Wednesday, 15 February ''(Julian Calendar)'' was followed by Thursday, 1 March ' ...
Rudolf Friedrich, Swiss lawyer and politician (died 2013) *
1924 Events January * January 12 – Gopinath Saha shoots Ernest Day, whom he has mistaken for Sir Charles Tegart, the police commissioner of Calcutta, and is arrested soon after. * January 20–January 30, 30 – Kuomintang in Ch ...
Eva Marie Saint Eva Marie Saint (born July 4, 1924) is an American retired actress. In a career that spanned nearly 80 years, she won an Academy Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, in addition to nominations for a Golden Globe Award and two British Academy Film Awa ...
, American actress * 1924 – Delia Fiallo, Cuban author and screenwriter (died 2021) * 1924 – Harry Stewart Jr., American military officer and fighter pilot (died 2025) *
1925 Events January * January 1 – The Syrian Federation is officially dissolved, the State of Aleppo and the State of Damascus having been replaced by the State of Syria (1925–1930), State of Syria. * January 3 – Benito Mussolini m ...
Ciril Zlobec Ciril Zlobec (4 July 1925 – 24 August 2018) was a Slovene poet, writer, translator, journalist and former politician. He is best remembered for his poems, publishing several volumes of poetry in his lifetime. In 1990 he became a member of th ...
, Slovene poet, writer, translator, journalist and politician (died 2018) * 1925 – Dorothy Head Knode, American tennis player (died 2015) *
1926 In Turkey, the year technically contained only 352 days. As Friday, December 18, 1926 ''(Julian Calendar)'' was followed by Saturday, January 1, 1927 '' (Gregorian Calendar)''. 13 days were dropped to make the switch. Turkey thus became the ...
Alfredo Di Stéfano Alfredo Stéfano Di Stéfano Laulhé (; 4 July 1926 – 7 July 2014) was an Argentine professional footballer and coach who played as a forward, widely regarded as one of the greatest footballers of all time. Nicknamed "Saeta Rubia" ("Blond A ...
, Argentinian-Spanish footballer and coach (died 2014) * 1926 – Lake Underwood, American race car driver and businessman (died 2008) *
1927 Events January * January 1 – The British Broadcasting ''Company'' becomes the BBC, British Broadcasting ''Corporation'', when its Royal Charter of incorporation takes effect. John Reith, 1st Baron Reith, John Reith becomes the first ...
Gina Lollobrigida Luigia "Gina" Lollobrigida (4 July 1927 – 16 January 2023) was an Italian actress, model, photojournalist, and sculptor. She was one of the highest-profile European actresses of the 1950s and 1960s, a period in which she was an international ...
, Italian actress and photographer (died 2023) * 1927 –
Neil Simon Marvin Neil Simon (July 4, 1927 – August 26, 2018) was an American playwright, screenwriter and author. He wrote more than 30 plays and nearly the same number of movie screenplays, mostly film adaptations of his plays. He received three ...
, American playwright and screenwriter (died 2018) *
1928 Events January * January – British bacteriologist Frederick Griffith reports the results of Griffith's experiment, indirectly demonstrating that DNA is the genetic material. * January 1 – Eastern Bloc emigration and defection: Boris B ...
Giampiero Boniperti, Italian footballer and politician (died 2021) * 1928 – Teofisto Guingona Jr., Filipino politician; 11th Vice President of the Philippines * 1928 –
Jassem Alwan Jassem Alwan (, ''Jāsim ʿAlwān;'' 4 July 1928 – 3 January 2018 ) was a Syrian military officer and prominent military figure in Syria in the early 1960s. He rose to prominence during the period of the United Arab Republic (UAR) when he serve ...
, Syrian Army Officer (died 2018) * 1928 – Shan Ratnam, Sri Lankan physician and academic (died 2001) * 1928 – Chuck Tanner, American baseball player and manager (died 2011) * 1929
Al Davis Allen R. Davis (July 4, 1929 – October 8, 2011) was an American professional football executive and coach. He was the managing general partner, principal owner and ''de facto'' general manager of the National Football League (NFL) Oakland Rai ...
, American football player, coach, and manager (died 2011) * 1929 – Bill Tuttle, American baseball player (died 1998) *
1930 Events January * January 15 – The Moon moves into its nearest point to Earth, called perigee, at the same time as its fullest phase of the Lunar Cycle. This is the closest moon distance at in recent history, and the next one will be on J ...
George Steinbrenner George Michael Steinbrenner III (July 4, 1930July 13, 2010) was an American businessman who was the principal owner and managing partner of Major League Baseball's New York Yankees from 1973 until his death in 2010. He was the longest-serving own ...
, American businessman (died 2010) *
1931 Events January * January 2 – South Dakota native Ernest Lawrence invents the cyclotron, used to accelerate particles to study nuclear physics. * January 4 – German pilot Elly Beinhorn begins her flight to Africa. * January 22 – Sir I ...
Stephen Boyd, Northern Ireland-born American actor (died 1977) * 1931 – Rick Casares, American football player and soldier (died 2013) * 1931 –
Sébastien Japrisot Sébastien Japrisot (; 4 July 1931 – 4 March 2003) was a French author, screenwriter and film director. His pseudonym was an anagram of Jean-Baptiste Rossi, his real name. Renowned for subverting the rules of the crime genre, Japrisot broke do ...
, French author, director, and screenwriter (died 2003) * 1931 – Peter Richardson, English cricketer (died 2017) *
1932 Events January * January 4 – The British authorities in India arrest and intern Mahatma Gandhi and Vallabhbhai Patel. * January 9 – Sakuradamon Incident (1932), Sakuradamon Incident: Korean nationalist Lee Bong-chang fails in his effort ...
– Aurèle Vandendriessche, Belgian runner (died 2023) *1934 – Yvonne B. Miller, American academic and politician (died 2012) * 1934 – Colin Welland, English actor and screenwriter (died 2015) *1935 – Paul Scoon, Grenadian politician, 2nd Governor-General of Grenada (died 2013) *1936 – Zdzisława Donat, Polish soprano and actress *1937 – Thomas Nagel, American philosopher and academic * 1937 – Queen Sonja of Norway * 1937 – Richard Rhodes, American journalist and historian * 1937 – Eric Walters (newsreader), Eric Walters, Australian journalist (died 2010) *1938 – Steven Rose, English biologist and academic * 1938 – Bill Withers, American singer-songwriter and producer (died 2020) *1940 – Pat Stapleton (ice hockey), Pat Stapleton, Canadian ice hockey player (died 2020) *
1941 The Correlates of War project estimates this to be the deadliest year in human history in terms of conflict deaths, placing the death toll at 3.49 million. However, the Uppsala Conflict Data Program estimates that the subsequent year, 1942, wa ...
– Sam Farr, American politician * 1941 – Tomaž Šalamun, Croatian-Slovenian poet and academic (died 2014) * 1941 – Pavel Sedláček (musician), Pavel Sedláček, Czech singer-songwriter and guitarist * 1941 – Brian Willson, American soldier, lawyer, and activist *
1942 The Uppsala Conflict Data Program project estimates this to be the deadliest year in human history in terms of conflict deaths, placing the death toll at 4.62 million. However, the Correlates of War estimates that the prior year, 1941, was th ...
– Hal Lanier, American baseball player, coach, and manager * 1942 – Floyd Little, American football player and coach (died 2021) * 1942 – Stefan Meller, French-Polish academic and politician, Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Poland), Polish Minister of Foreign Affairs (died 2008) * 1942 – Prince Michael of Kent * 1942 – Peter Rowan, American singer-songwriter and guitarist *
1943 Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * January 1 – WWII: The Soviet Union announces that 22 German divisions have been encircled at Stalingrad, with 175,000 killed and 137,650 captured. * January 4 ...
– Conny Bauer, German trombonist * 1943 – Emerson Boozer, American football player and sportscaster * 1943 – Adam Hart-Davis, English historian, author, and photographer * 1943 – Geraldo Rivera, American lawyer, journalist, and author * 1943 – Fred Wesley, American jazz and funk trombonist * 1943 – Alan Wilson (musician), Alan Wilson, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (died 1970) *1945 – Andre Spitzer, Romanian-Israeli fencer and coach (died 1972) *
1946 1946 (Roman numerals, MCMXLVI) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1946th year of the Common Era (CE) and ''Anno Domini'' (AD) designations, the 946th year of the 2nd millennium, the 46th year of the 20th centur ...
– Ron Kovic, American author and activist * 1946 – Michael Milken, American businessman and philanthropist *
1947 It was the first year of the Cold War, which would last until 1991, ending with the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Events January * January–February – Winter of 1946–47 in the United Kingdom: The worst snowfall in the country i ...
– Lembit Ulfsak, Estonian actor and director (died 2017) *1948 – René Arnoux, French race car driver * 1948 – Tommy Körberg, Swedish singer and actor * 1948 – Jeremy Spencer, English singer-songwriter and guitarist *
1950 Events January * January 1 – The International Police Association (IPA) – the largest police organization in the world – is formed. * January 5 – 1950 Sverdlovsk plane crash, Sverdlovsk plane crash: ''Aeroflot'' Lisunov Li-2 ...
– Philip Craven, English basketball player and swimmer * 1950 – David Jensen, Canadian-English radio and television host *
1951 Events January * January 4 – Korean War: Third Battle of Seoul – Chinese and North Korean forces capture Seoul for the second time (having lost the Second Battle of Seoul in September 1950). * January 9 – The Government of the Uni ...
– John Alexander (Australian politician), John Alexander, Australian tennis player and politician * 1951 – Ralph Johnson (musician), Ralph Johnson, American R&B drummer and percussionist * 1951 – Vladimir Tismăneanu, Romanian-American political scientist, sociologist, and academic * 1951 – Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, American lawyer and politician, 6th Lieutenant Governor of Maryland *1952 – Álvaro Uribe, Colombian lawyer and politician, 39th President of Colombia * 1952 – Carol MacReady, English actress * 1952 – John Waite, English singer-songwriter and guitarist * 1952 – Paul Rogat Loeb, American author and activist *1953 – Francis Maude, English lawyer and politician, Minister for the Cabinet Office *
1954 Events January * January 3 – The Italian broadcaster RAI officially begins transmitting. * January 7 – Georgetown–IBM experiment: The first public demonstration of a machine translation system is held in New York, at the head ...
– Jim Beattie (baseball), Jim Beattie, American baseball player, coach, and manager * 1954 – Morganna, American model, actress, and dancer * 1954 – Devendra Kumar Joshi, 21st Chief of Naval Staff (India), Chief of Naval Staff of the Indian Navy *1955 – Eero Heinäluoma, Finnish politician * 1955 – Kevin Nichols, Australian cyclist *1956 – Robert Sinclair MacKay, British academic and educator *1957 – Rein Lang, Estonian politician and diplomat, 25th Minister of Foreign Affairs (Estonia), Estonian Minister of Foreign Affairs *1958 – Vera Leth, Greenlandic Ombudsman * 1958 – Kirk Pengilly, Australian guitarist, saxophonist, and songwriter * 1958 – Carl Valentine, Canadian soccer player, coach, and manager *1959 – Victoria Abril, Spanish actress and singer *
1960 It is also known as the "Year of Africa" because of major events—particularly the independence of seventeen African nations—that focused global attention on the continent and intensified feelings of Pan-Africanism. Events January * Janu ...
– Roland Ratzenberger, Austrian race car driver (died 1994) *
1961 Events January * January 1 – Monetary reform in the Soviet Union, 1961, Monetary reform in the Soviet Union. * January 3 ** United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower announces that the United States has severed diplomatic and cons ...
– Richard Garriott, English-American video game designer, created the Ultima (series), Ultima series *1962 – Pam Shriver, American tennis player and sportscaster *1963 – Henri Leconte, French tennis player and sportscaster * 1963 – Laureano Márquez, Spanish-Venezuelan political scientist and journalist * 1963 – José Oquendo, Puerto Rican-American baseball player and coach * 1963 – Sonia Pierre, Haitian-Dominican human rights activist (died 2011) *1964 – Cle Kooiman, American soccer player and manager * 1964 – Elie Saab, Lebanese fashion designer * 1964 – Edi Rama, Albanian politician * 1964 – Mark Slaughter, American singer-songwriter and producer * 1964 – Mark Whiting, American actor, director, and screenwriter *1965 – Harvey Grant, American basketball player and coach * 1965 – Horace Grant, American basketball player and coach * 1965 – Kiriakos Karataidis, Greek footballer and manager * 1965 – Gérard Watkins, English actor and playwright *
1966 Events January * January 1 – In a coup, Colonel Jean-Bédel Bokassa takes over as military ruler of the Central African Republic, ousting President David Dacko. * January 3 – 1966 Upper Voltan coup d'état: President Maurice Yaméogo i ...
– Ronni Ancona, Scottish actress and screenwriter * 1966 – Minas Hantzidis, German-Greek footballer * 1966 – Lee Reherman, American actor (died 2016) *1967 – Vinny Castilla, Mexican baseball player and manager * 1967 – Sébastien Deleigne, French athlete *1969 – Al Golden, American football player and coach * 1969 – Todd Marinovich, American football player and coach * 1969 – Wilfred Mugeyi, Zimbabwean footballer and coach *1972 – Stephen Giles, Canadian canoe racer and engineer * 1972 – Mike Knuble, Canadian-American ice hockey player and coach *1973 – Keiko Ihara, Japanese race car driver * 1973 – Gackt, Japanese musician, singer, songwriter, record producer and actor * 1973 – Michael Johnson (footballer, born 1973), Michael Johnson, English-Jamaican footballer and manager * 1973 – Anjelika Krylova, Russian ice dancer and coach * 1973 – Jan Magnussen, Danish race car driver * 1973 – Tony Popovic, Australian footballer and manager *1974 – Jill Craybas, American tennis player * 1974 – La'Roi Glover, American football player and sportscaster * 1974 – Adrian Griffin, American basketball player and coach *
1976 Events January * January 2 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 18 – Full diplomatic ...
– Daijiro Kato, Japanese motorcycle racer (died 2003) * 1976 – Yevgeniya Medvedeva-Arbuzova, Yevgeniya Medvedeva, Russian skier *1978 – Marcos Daniel, Brazilian tennis player * 1978 – Émile Mpenza, Belgian footballer *1979 – Siim Kabrits, Estonian politician * 1979 – Josh McCown, American football player * 1979 – Renny Vega, Venezuelan footballer *1980 – Kwame Steede, Bermudan footballer *1981 – Dedé (Angolan footballer), Dedé, Angolan footballer * 1981 – Brock Berlin, American football player * 1981 – Christoph Preuß, German footballer * 1981 – Francisco Cruceta, Dominican baseball player * 1981 – Will Smith (defensive end), Will Smith, American football player (died 2016) *
1982 Events January * January 1 – In Malaysia and Singapore, clocks are adjusted to the same time zone, UTC+8 (GMT+8.00). * January 13 – Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff into the 14th Street Bridge in Washington, D.C. ...
– Vladimir Boisa, Georgian basketball player * 1982 – Vladimir Gusev (cyclist), Vladimir Gusev, Russian cyclist * 1982 – Jeff Lima (rugby league), Jeff Lima, New Zealand rugby league player * 1982 – Michael "The Situation" Sorrentino, American model, author and television personality *1983 – Melanie Fiona, Canadian singer-songwriter * 1983 – Amantle Montsho, Botswanan sprinter * 1983 – Miguel Pinto, Chilean footballer * 1983 – Amol Rajan, Indian-English journalist * 1983 – Mattia Serafini, Italian footballer *1984 – Jin Akanishi, Japanese singer-songwriter * 1985 – Kane Tenace, Australian footballer * 1985 – Dimitrios Mavroeidis, Greek basketball player * 1985 – Wason Rentería, Colombian footballer *1986 – Ömer Aşık, Turkish basketball player * 1986 – Nguyen Ngoc Duy, Vietnamese footballer * 1986 – Rafael Arévalo, Salvadoran tennis player * 1986 – Willem Janssen (footballer, born 1986), Willem Janssen, Dutch footballer * 1986 – Terrance Knighton, American football player * 1986 – Marte Elden, Norwegian skier *1987 – Wude Ayalew, Ethiopian runner * 1987 – Guram Kashia, Georgian footballer *1988 – Angelique Boyer, French-Mexican actress *1989 – Benjamin Büchel, Liechtensteiner footballer *1990 – Jake Gardiner, American ice hockey player * 1990 – Richard Mpong, Ghanaian footballer * 1990 – Naoki Yamada, Japanese footballer * 1990 – Ihar Yasinski, Belarusian footballer *1992 – Ángel Romero (footballer), Ángel Romero, Paraguayan footballer * 1992 – Óscar Romero (footballer), Óscar Romero, Paraguayan footballer *1993 – Tom Barkhuizen, English footballer *1995 – Post Malone, American rapper, singer, songwriter and record producer *1999 – Moa Kikuchi, Japanese musician *2003 – Polina Bogusevich, Russian singer


Deaths


Pre-1600

* 673 – Ecgberht of Kent, Ecgberht, king of Kent * 907 – Luitpold, Margrave of Bavaria, Luitpold, margrave of Duchy of Bavaria, Bavaria * 907 – Dietmar I (archbishop of Salzburg), Dietmar I, archbishop of Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Salzburg, Salzburg * 910 – Luo Shaowei, Chinese warlord (born 877) * 940 – Wang Jianli, Chinese general (born 871) * 943 – Taejo of Goryeo, Korean king (born 877) * 945 – Zhuo Yanming, Chinese Bhikkhu, Buddhist monk and emperor * 965 – Pope Benedict V, Benedict V, pope of the Catholic Church * 973 – Ulrich of Augsburg, German bishop and saint (born 890) * 975 – Gwangjong of Goryeo, Korean king (born 925) * 1187 – Raynald of Châtillon, French knight (born 1125) *1307 – Rudolf I of Bohemia (born 1281) *1336 – Saint Elizabeth of Portugal (born 1271) *1429 – Carlo I Tocco, ruler of Epirus (born 1372) *1533 – John Frith (martyr), John Frith, English priest, writer, and martyr (born 1503) *1541 – Pedro de Alvarado, Spanish general and explorer (born 1495) * 1546 – Hayreddin Barbarossa, Ottoman admiral (born 1478) *1551 – Gregory Cromwell, 1st Baron Cromwell, English politician (born 1514)


1601–1900

*1603 – Philippe de Monte, Flemish composer and educator (born 1521) *1623 – William Byrd, English composer (born c. 1540) *1644 – Brian Twyne, English academic, antiquarian and archivist (born 1581) *1648 – Antoine Daniel, French missionary and saint, one of the eight Canadian Martyrs (born 1601) *1742 – Luigi Guido Grandi, Italian monk, mathematician, and engineer (born 1671) *1754 – Philippe Néricault Destouches, French playwright and author (born 1680) *1761 – Samuel Richardson, English author and painter (born 1689) *1780 – Prince Charles Alexander of Lorraine (born 1712) *1787 – Charles, Prince of Soubise, Marshal of France (born 1715) *1821 – Richard Cosway, English painter and academic (born 1742) *
1826 Events January–March * January 15 – The French newspaper ''Le Figaro'' begins publication in Paris, initially as a satirical weekly. * January 17 – The Ballantyne printing business in Edinburgh (Scotland) crashes, ruining noveli ...
– John Adams, American lawyer and politician, 2nd
President of the United States The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president directs the Federal government of the United States#Executive branch, executive branch of the Federal government of t ...
(born 1735) * 1826 – Thomas Jefferson, American architect, lawyer, and politician, 3rd
President of the United States The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president directs the Federal government of the United States#Executive branch, executive branch of the Federal government of t ...
(born 1743) * 1831 – James Monroe, American soldier, lawyer, and politician, 5th
President of the United States The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president directs the Federal government of the United States#Executive branch, executive branch of the Federal government of t ...
(born 1758) *1848 – François-René de Chateaubriand, French historian and politician (born 1768) *1850 – William Kirby (entomologist), William Kirby, English entomologist and author (born 1759) * 1854 – Karl Friedrich Eichhorn, German academic and jurist (born 1781) *1857 – William L. Marcy, American lawyer, judge, and politician, 21st United States Secretary of State (born 1786) * 1881 – Johan Vilhelm Snellman, Finnish philosopher and politician (born 1806) *1882 – Joseph Brackett, American composer and author (born 1797) *
1886 Events January * January 1 – Upper Burma is formally annexed to British rule in Burma, British Burma, following its conquest in the Third Anglo-Burmese War of November 1885. * January 5–January 9, 9 – Robert Louis Stevenson ...
– Poundmaker, Canadian tribal chief (born 1797) *1891 – Hannibal Hamlin, American lawyer and politician, 15th Vice President of the United States (born 1809)


1901–present

* 1901 – Johannes Schmidt (linguist), Johannes Schmidt, German linguist and academic (born 1843) * 1902 – Swami Vivekananda, Indian monk and saint (born 1863) * 1905 – Élisée Reclus, French geographer and author (born 1830) *
1910 Events January * January 6 – Abé people in the French West Africa colony of Côte d'Ivoire rise against the colonial administration; the rebellion is brutally suppressed by the military. * January 8 – By the Treaty of Punakha, t ...
– Melville Fuller, American lawyer and jurist, Chief Justice of the United States (born 1833) * 1910 – Kabua the Great, Marshallese iroijlaplap (born ) * 1910 – Giovanni Schiaparelli, Italian astronomer and historian (born 1835) *
1916 Events Below, the events of the First World War have the "WWI" prefix. January * January 1 – The British Empire, British Royal Army Medical Corps carries out the first successful blood transfusion, using blood that has been stored ...
– Alan Seeger, American soldier and poet (born 1888) *
1922 Events January * January 7 – Dáil Éireann (Irish Republic), Dáil Éireann, the parliament of the Irish Republic, ratifies the Anglo-Irish Treaty by 64–57 votes. * January 10 – Arthur Griffith is elected President of Dáil Éirean ...
– Lothar von Richthofen, German lieutenant and pilot (born 1894) *
1926 In Turkey, the year technically contained only 352 days. As Friday, December 18, 1926 ''(Julian Calendar)'' was followed by Saturday, January 1, 1927 '' (Gregorian Calendar)''. 13 days were dropped to make the switch. Turkey thus became the ...
– Pier Giorgio Frassati, Italian activist and saint (born 1901) *1934 – Marie Curie, French-Polish physicist and chemist, Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1867) *1935 – Anna Paaske, Norwegian opera singer and music teacher (born 1856) *1938 – Otto Bauer, Austrian philosopher and politician, Federal Ministry for Europe, Integration and Foreign Affairs, Austrian Minister of Foreign Affairs (born 1881) * 1938 – Suzanne Lenglen, French tennis player (born 1899) *
1941 The Correlates of War project estimates this to be the deadliest year in human history in terms of conflict deaths, placing the death toll at 3.49 million. However, the Uppsala Conflict Data Program estimates that the subsequent year, 1942, wa ...
– Antoni Łomnicki, Polish mathematician and academic (born 1881) *
1943 Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * January 1 – WWII: The Soviet Union announces that 22 German divisions have been encircled at Stalingrad, with 175,000 killed and 137,650 captured. * January 4 ...
Władysław Sikorski Władysław Eugeniusz Sikorski (; 20 May 18814 July 1943) was a Polish military and political leader. Before World War I, Sikorski established and participated in several underground organizations that promoted the cause of Polish independenc ...
, Polish general and politician, 9th List of Prime Ministers of Poland, Prime Minister of the Second Republic of Poland (born 1881) *
1946 1946 (Roman numerals, MCMXLVI) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1946th year of the Common Era (CE) and ''Anno Domini'' (AD) designations, the 946th year of the 2nd millennium, the 46th year of the 20th centur ...
– Taffy O'Callaghan, Welsh footballer and coach (born 1906) *1948 – Monteiro Lobato, Brazilian journalist and author (born 1882) *1949 – François Brandt, Dutch rower and engineer (born 1874) *1963 – Bernard Freyberg, 1st Baron Freyberg, New Zealand general and politician, 7th Governor-General of New Zealand (born 1889) * 1963 – Clyde Kennard, American activist and martyr (born 1927) * 1963 – Pingali Venkayya, Indian activist, designed the Flag of India (born 1876) *1964 – Gaby Morlay, French actress and singer (born 1893) *1969 – Henri Decoin, French director and screenwriter (born 1890) *1970 – Barnett Newman, American painter and illustrator (born 1905) * 1970 – Harold Stirling Vanderbilt, American sailor and businessman (born 1884) *1971 – August Derleth, American anthologist and author (born 1909) * 1971 – Thomas C. Hart, American admiral and politician (born 1877) *1974 – Georgette Heyer, English author (born 1902) * 1974 – André Randall, French actor (born 1892) *
1976 Events January * January 2 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 18 – Full diplomatic ...
– Yonatan Netanyahu, Israeli colonel (born 1946) * 1976 – Antoni Słonimski, Polish poet and playwright (born 1895) *
1977 Events January * January 8 – 1977 Moscow bombings, Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group. * January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (no ...
– Gersh Budker, Ukrainian physicist and academic (born 1918) *1979 – Lee Wai Tong, Chinese footballer and manager (born 1905) *1980 – Maurice Grevisse, Belgian linguist and author (born 1895) *1984 – Jimmie Spheeris, American singer-songwriter (born 1949) *1986 – Paul-Gilbert Langevin, French musicologist, critique musical and physicist (born 1933) * 1986 – Flor Peeters, Belgian organist and composer (born 1903) * 1986 – Oscar Zariski, Belarusian-American mathematician and academic (born 1899) *1988 – Adrian Adonis, American wrestler (born 1954) *1990 – Olive Ann Burns, American journalist and author (born 1924) *1991 – Victor Chang, Chinese-Australian surgeon and physician (born 1936) * 1991 – Art Sansom, American cartoonist (born 1920) *1992 – Astor Piazzolla, Argentinian bandoneon player and composer (born 1921) *1993 – Bona Arsenault, Canadian historian, genealogist, and politician (born 1903) *
1994 The year 1994 was designated as the " International Year of the Family" and the "International Year of Sport and the Olympic Ideal" by the United Nations. In the Line Islands and Phoenix Islands of Kiribati, 1994 had only 364 days, omitti ...
– Joey Marella, American wrestling referee (born 1964) *1995 – Eva Gabor, Hungarian-American actress and singer (born 1919) * 1995 – Bob Ross, American painter and television host (born 1942) *
1997 Events January * January 1 – The Emergency Alert System is introduced in the United States. * January 11 – Turkey threatens Cyprus on account of a deal to buy Russian S-300 missiles, prompting the Cypriot Missile Crisis. * January 1 ...
– Charles Kuralt, American journalist (born 1934) * 1997 – John Zachary Young, English zoologist and neurophysiologist (born 1907) *1999 – Leo Garel, American illustrator and educator (born 1917) *2000 – Gustaw Herling-Grudziński, Polish journalist and author (born 1919) *
2002 The effects of the September 11 attacks of the previous year had a significant impact on the affairs of 2002. The war on terror was a major political focus. Without settled international law, several nations engaged in anti-terror operation ...
– Gerald Bales, Canadian organist and composer (born 1919) * 2002 – Benjamin O. Davis, Jr., American general (born 1912) *2003 – Larry Burkett, American author and radio host (born 1939) * 2003 – André Claveau, French singer (born 1915) * 2003 – Barry White, American singer-songwriter, pianist, and producer (born 1944) *
2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...
– Jean-Marie Auberson, Swiss violinist and conductor (born 1920) *
2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...
– Cliff Goupille, Canadian ice hockey player (born 1915) * 2005 – Hank Stram, American football player and coach (born 1923) *2007 – Bill Pinkney, American singer (born 1925) *
2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...
– Thomas M. Disch, American author and poet (born 1940) * 2008 – Jesse Helms, American politician (born 1921) * 2008 – Evelyn Keyes, American actress (born 1916) * 2008 – Terrence Kiel, American football player (born 1980) * 2008 – Charles Wheeler (journalist), Charles Wheeler, German-English soldier and journalist (born 1923) *
2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...
– Brenda Joyce (actress), Brenda Joyce, American actress (born 1917) * 2009 – Allen Klein, American businessman and talent agent, founded ABKCO Records (born 1931) * 2009 – Drake Levin, American guitarist (born 1946) * 2009 – Steve McNair, American football player (born 1973) * 2009 – Lasse Strömstedt, Swedish author and actor (born 1935) * 2009 – Jean-Baptiste Tati Loutard, Congolese poet and politician (born 1938) *2010 – Robert Neil Butler, American physician and author (born 1927) *
2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...
– Hiren Bhattacharyya, Indian poet and author (born 1932) * 2012 – Jimmy Bivins, American boxer (born 1919) * 2012 – Jeong Min-hyeong, South Korean footballer (born 1987) * 2012 – Eric Sykes, English actor, director, and screenwriter (born 1923) *2013 – Onllwyn Brace, Welsh rugby player and sportscaster (born 1932) * 2013 – Jack Crompton, English footballer and manager (born 1921) * 2013 – James Fulton (dermatologist), James Fulton, American dermatologist and academic (born 1940) * 2013 – Charles A. Hines, American general (born 1935) * 2013 – Bernie Nolan, Irish singer (born 1960) *2014 – Giorgio Faletti, Italian author, screenwriter, and actor (born 1950) * 2014 – C. J. Henderson (writer), C. J. Henderson, American author and critic (born 1951) * 2014 – Earl Robinson (baseball), Earl Robinson, American baseball player (born 1936) * 2014 – Richard Mellon Scaife, American businessman (born 1932) *
2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...
– Nedelcho Beronov, Bulgarian judge and politician (born 1928) * 2015 – William Conrad Gibbons, American historian, author, and academic (born 1926) *2016 – Abbas Kiarostami, Iranian film director, screenwriter, poet, and photographer (born 1940) *2017 – John Blackwell (musician), John Blackwell, American R&B, funk, and jazz drummer (born 1973) * 2017 – Daniil Granin, Soviet and Russian author (born 1919) * 2017 – Gene Conley, American MLB player and NBA player (born 1930) *2018 – Henri Dirickx, Belgian footballer (born 1927) * 2018 – Robby Müller, Dutch cinematographer (born 1940) *2021 – Harmoko, Indonesian politician, former parliament speaker and government minister (born 1939) *2021 – Matīss Kivlenieks, Latvian ice hockey goaltender (born 1996) *2022 – Cláudio Hummes, Brazilian prelate of the Catholic Church (born 1934) * 2022 – Kazuki Takahashi, Japanese manga artist (born 1961)


Holidays and observances

*Christian feast day: **Andrew of Crete **Bertha of Artois **Blessed Catherine Jarrige **Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati **Elizabeth of Aragon, Elizabeth of Aragon (or of Portugal) **Oda of Canterbury ** Ulrich of Augsburg **July 4 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics) *The first evening of Dree Festival, celebrated until July 7 (Apatani people, Arunachal Pradesh, India) *
Independence Day An independence day is an annual event memorialization, commemorating the anniversary of a nation's independence or Sovereign state, statehood, usually after ceasing to be a group or part of another nation or state, or after the end of a milit ...
(United States) *Liberation Day (Northern Mariana Islands) *Liberation Day (Rwanda), Liberation Day (Rwanda) *Republic Day (Philippines)


References


External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:July 04 Days of July