Historical Events on 4 Aug

Historical Events on 4 Aug

1265 - Second Barons' War: Battle of Evesham - the army of Prince Edward (future Edward I of England) defeats the forces of rebellious barons led by Simon de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester; killing de Montfort and many of his allies. This is sometimes considere
1578 - Battle of Al Kasr al Kebir - the Moroccans defeat the Portuguese. King Sebastian of Portugal is defeated and killed in North Africa, leaving his elderly uncle, Cardinal Henry, as his heir. This initiates a succession crisis in Portugal.
1693 - Date traditionally ascribed to Dom Perignon's invention of Champagne.
1704 - War of the Spanish Succession: Gibraltar is captured by an English and Dutch fleet, commanded by Admiral Sir George Rooke and allied with Archduke Charles.
1789 - In France members of the National Constituent Assembly take an oath to end feudalism and abandon their privileges.
1790 - A newly passed tariff act creates the Revenue Cutter Service (the forerunner of the United States Coast Guard).
1791 - The Treaty of Sistova is signed, ending the Ottoman-Habsburg wars.
1821 - Atkinson & Alexander publish the Saturday Evening Post for the first time as a weekly newspaper.
1824 - Battle of Kos is fought between Turks and Greeks.
1854 - The Hinomaru is established as the official flag to be flown from Japanese ships.
1873 - Indian Wars: whilst protecting a railroad survey party in Montana, the United States 7th Cavalry, under Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer, clashes for the first time with the Sioux (near the Tongue River; only one man on each side is killed).
1892 - The family of Lizzie Borden is found murdered in their Fall River, Massachusetts home.
1902 - The Greenwich foot tunnel under the River Thames opens.
1906 - Central Railway Station, Sydney opens.
1914 - World War I: Germany invades Belgium. In response, the United Kingdom declares war on Germany. The United States declares its neutrality.
1916 - World War I: Liberia declares war on Germany.
1924 - Diplomatic relations between Mexico and the Soviet Union are established.
1936 - Greek General Ioannis Metaxas, leader of the 4th of August Regime, suspends parliament and the Constitution and declares himself dictator.
1944 - The Holocaust: a tip from a Dutch informer leads the Gestapo to a sealed-off area in an Amsterdam warehouse where they find Jewish diarist Anne Frank and her family.
1946 - 1946 Dominican Republic earthquake: an earthquake of magnitude 8.0 hits northern Dominican Republic. 100 are killed and 20,000 are left homeless.
1947 - The Supreme Court of Japan is established.
1954 - The Government of Pakistan approves the National Anthem, written by Hafeez Jullundhry and composed by Ahmed G. Chagla.
1964 - American civil rights movement: civil rights workers Michael Schwerner, Andrew Goodman and James Chaney are found dead in Mississippi after disappearing on June 21.
1964 - Vietnam War: United States destroyers USS Maddox and USS C. Turner Joy report coming under attack in the Gulf of Tonkin. The destroyers open fire at what they believe were Vietnam People's Army torpedo boats, although subsequent research has raised doubts
1969 - Vietnam War: at the apartment of French intermediary Jean Sainteny in Paris, U.S. representative Henry Kissinger and North Vietnamese representative Xuan Thuy begin secret peace negotiations. The negotiations will eventually fail.
1975 - The Japanese Red Army takes more than 50 hostages at the AIA Building housing several embassies in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The hostages include the U.S. consul and the Swedish charge d'affaires. The gunmen win the release of five imprisoned comrades and f
1977 - US President Jimmy Carter signs legislation creating the United States Department of Energy.
1984 - The African republic Upper Volta changes its name to Burkina Faso.
1987 - The Federal Communications Commission rescinds the Fairness Doctrine which had required radio and television stations to present controversial issues "fairly".
1991 - The Greek cruise ship Oceanos sinks off the Wild Coast of South Africa.
1993 - A federal judge sentences LAPD officers Stacey Koon and Laurence Powell to 30 months in prison for violating motorist Rodney King's civil rights.
1995 - Operation Storm begins in Croatia.
1997 - 185,000 Teamsters union United Parcel Service drivers walk off the job.
2002 - Soham murders: 10 year old school girls Jessica Chapman and Holly Wells go missing from the town of Soham, Cambridgeshire.
2005 - Prime Minister Paul Martin announces that Michaëlle Jean will be Canada's 27th â€" and first black â€" Governor General.
2006 - Dame Silvia Cartwright steps down as the Governor-General of New Zealand and is replaced by The Honourable Anand Satyanand, who is sworn in on 23 August.
2007 - NASA's Phoenix spaceship is launched.
70 - The destruction of the Second Temple in Jerusalem by the Romans.