Historical Events on 4 Feb

Historical Events on 4 Feb

1454 - In the Thirteen Years' War, the Secret Council of the Prussian Confederation sends a formal act of disobedience to the Grand Master.
1703 - In Edo (now Tokyo), 46 of the Forty-Seven Ronin commit seppuku (ritual suicide) as recompense for avenging their master's death.
1789 - George Washington is unanimously elected to be the first President of the United States by the U.S. Electoral College.
1792 - George Washington is unanimously elected to a second term as President of the United States by the U.S. Electoral College.
1794 - The French legislature abolishes slavery throughout all territories of the French Republic.
1801 - John Marshall is sworn in as Chief Justice of the United States.
1810 - Royal Navy seizes Guadeloupe.
1825 - The Ohio Legislature authorizes the construction of the Ohio and Erie Canal and the Miami and Erie Canal.
1859 - The Codex Sinaiticus is discovered in Egypt.
1861 - American Civil War: In Montgomery, Alabama, Delegates from six break-away U.S. states meet and form The Confederate States of America.
1899 - The Philippine-American War begins.
1932 - World War II: Japan occupies Harbin, China.
1936 - Radium E becomes the first radioactive element to be made synthetically.
1941 - World War II: The United Service Organization (USO) is created to entertain American troops.
1943 - World War II: Battle of Stalingrad ends.
1945 - World War II: The Yalta Conference begins.
1948 - Ceylon (later renamed Sri Lanka) becomes independent within the British Commonwealth.
1957 - The first nuclear-powered submarine, the USS Nautilus (SSN-571), logs its 60,000th nautical mile, matching the endurance of the fictional Nautilus described in Jules Verne's novel "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea".
1966 - All Nippon Airways Boeing 727 jet plunges into Tokyo Bay, killing 133.
1969 - Yasser Arafat takes over as chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization.
1974 - The Symbionese Liberation Army kidnaps Patty Hearst in Berkeley, California.
1975 - Haicheng earthquake, M 7.3, occurred in Haicheng, Liaoning, China.
1976 - In Guatemala and Honduras an earthquake kills more than 22,000.
1980 - Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini names Abolhassan Banisadr as president of Iran.
1992 - A Coup d'état is led by Hugo Chávez Frías, against VenezuelanPresident Carlos Andrés Pérez.
1996 - Major snowstorm paralyzes Midwestern United States, Milwaukee, Wisconsin ties all-time record low temperature at -26°F (-32.2°C)
1997 - En route to Lebanon, two Israeli Sikorsky CH-53 troop-transport helicopters collide in mid-air over northern Galilee, Israel killing 73.
1997 - After at first contesting the results, Serbian President Slobodan Milošević recognizes opposition victories in the November 1996 elections.
1998 - An earthquake measuring 6.1 on the Richter Scale in northeast Afghanistan kills more than 5,000.
1999 - Unarmed West African immigrant Amadou Diallo is shot dead by four plainclothes New York City police officers on an unrelated stake-out, inflaming race-relations in the city.
1999 - The New Carissa runs aground near Coos Bay, Oregon.
2000 - German extortionist Klaus-Peter Sabotta is jailed for life for attempted murder and extortion in connection with the sabotage of German railway lines.
2003 - The Federal Republic of Yugoslavia is officially renamed to Serbia and Montenegro and adopts a new constitution.
2006 - A stampede occurs in the ULTRA Stadium near Manila killing 71.
211 - Roman Emperor Septimius Severus dies, leaving the Roman Empire in the hands of his two quarrelsome sons, Caracalla and Geta.
960 - The coronation of Zhao Kuangyin as Emperor Taizu of Song, initiating the Song Dynasty period of China that would last more than three centuries.