This is a list of selected August 4 anniversaries that appear in the "On this day" section of the Main Page. To suggest a new item, in most cases, you can be bold and edit this page. Please read the selected anniversaries guidelines before making your edit. However, if your addition might be controversial or on a day that is or will soon be on the Main Page, please post your suggestion on the talk page instead.
Please note that the events listed on the Main Page are chosen based more on relative article quality and to maintain a mix of topics, not based solely on how important or significant their subjects are. Only four to five events are posted at a time and thus not everything that is "most important and significant" can be listed. In addition, an event is generally not posted this year if it is also the subject of the scheduled featured article, featured list or picture of the day.
To report an error when this appears on the Main Page, see Main Page errors. Please remember that this list defers to the supporting articles, so it is best to achieve consensus and make any necessary changes there first.
Staging area
Images
Use only ONE image at a time
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Pope Pius X -
Cardinal Giuseppe Sarto (later Pope Pius X) -
King Sebastian I of Portugal -
Mount Asama -
Flag of Burkina Faso -
Rock of Gibraltar as seen from Spain -
Napoleon at the Battle of Lonato -
Capture of Gibraltar -
Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yōhei Kōno -
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Mount Asama
_underway_at_sea,_circa_the_early_1960s_(NH_97900).jpg)
Ineligible
| Blurb | Reason |
|---|---|
| 1327 – First War of Scottish Independence: James Douglas led a raid into Weardale and almost killed Edward III of England. | refimprove section |
| 1578 – King Sebastian disappeared at the Battle of Alcácer Quibir near Ksar-el-Kebir, Morocco, leading to a dynastic crisis in Portugal. | Sebastian and Battle both need more footnotes |
| 1790 – A newly passed tariff act in the United States established the Revenue Cutter Service, an armed maritime law enforcement service that was the forerunner of the U.S. Coast Guard. | unreferenced section |
| 1903 – Italian cardinal Giuseppe Melchiorre Sarto was elected to become Pope Pius X. | unreferenced section |
| 1974 – A bomb placed by a neo-fascist group exploded on a train of the Ferrovie dello Stato while on the Bologna–Florence railway. | CN tags at key locations |
| 1983 – A coup d'état organised by Blaise Compaoré and supported by Libya made Thomas Sankara president of Upper Volta (now Burkina Faso). | refimprove, neutrality issues |
| 1993 – Yōhei Kōno, Chief Cabinet Secretary of Japan, issued a formal apology for forcing women into sexual slavery during World War II. | Date not listed in article |
| As-Salih Ismail, Sultan of Egypt |d|1345| | date of death not yet referenced |
| George Nicol |d|1924| | date of death uncertain |
Eligible
- 1265 – Second Barons' War: Royal troops led by Prince Edward defeated baronial forces under Simon de Montfort at the Battle of Evesham in Worcestershire, England.
- 1356 – Hundred Years' War: A large-scale mounted raid by Anglo-Gascon forces began under the command of Edward the Black Prince.
- 1783 – Mount Asama (pictured) in Japan began a climactic eruption, which exacerbated the Great Tenmei famine and led to thousands of deaths.
- 1791 – The signing of the Treaty of Sistova brought an end to the Austro-Turkish War.
- 1796 – French Revolutionary Wars: Commanded by Napoleon Bonaparte (depicted), the French Army of Italy decisively defeated Austrian forces led by Peter Vitus von Quosdanovich at the Battle of Lonato.
- 1830 – American surveyor James Thompson produced the first plat of Chicago for the Illinois and Michigan Canal Commissioners.
- 1892 – Lizzie Borden's father and stepmother were found murdered in their home in Fall River, Massachusetts; Borden was later tried and acquitted for the murders.
- 1964 – Vietnam War: The National Security Agency falsely claimed that a U.S. Navy destroyer was attacked a second time by North Vietnamese vessels in the Gulf of Tonkin, leading Congress to authorize the use of military force.
- 1972 – President Idi Amin announced the expulsion of Asians from Uganda.
- 1983 – Jean-Baptiste Ouédraogo, the president of Upper Volta, was ousted in a coup d'état led by Thomas Sankara.
- 1991 – An explosion on the Greek cruise ship MTS Oceanos ruptured its hull, causing it to sink off the east coast of South Africa, with all 571 people on board rescued.
- 1995 – Yugoslav Wars: The Croatian Army initiated Operation Storm, the last major battle of the Croatian War of Independence and the largest European land battle since the Second World War.
- 2006 – Sri Lankan Civil War: Seventeen employees of the French nongovernmental organization ACF International were massacred in Muttur.
- 2007 – An airport police officer discovered a suitcase containing approximately US$800,000 as it passed through security at Jorge Newbery Airfield in Buenos Aires, sparking an international scandal involving Venezuela and Argentina.
- 2020 – A large explosion of ammonium nitrate stored at the Port of Beirut in Lebanon killed 218 people and caused US$15 billion in damage.
- Born/died: | Lady Zhen |d|221| Henry I of France |d|1060| Peter de Montfort |d|1265| Percy Bysshe Shelley |b|1792| Harry Lauder |b|1870| Laura Knight |b|1877| Samuel J. Tilden |d|1886| Ray Farquharson |b|1897| Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother |b|1900| Osbert Lancaster |b|1908| Helen Thomas |b|1920| David Lange |b|1942 John Wark |b|1957| Margarito Bautista |d|1961| Meghan, Duchess of Sussex |b|1981|
Notes
- Mount Fuji appears on July 31, so Mount Asama should not appear in the same year
Glassell's black marlin
- 1704 – War of the Spanish Succession: A combined Anglo-Dutch fleet under the command of George Rooke and allied with Archduke Charles captured Gibraltar from Spain.
- 1914 – World War I: Adhering to the terms of the Treaty of London, the United Kingdom declared war on Germany in response to the latter's invasion of Belgium.
- 1953 – Alfred C. Glassell Jr. caught a black marlin weighing 1,560 lb (710 kg) (pictured) off the coast of Peru, setting the record for the largest bony fish caught by hand.
- 1997 – French supercentenarian Jeanne Calment died at the age of 122 years, 164 days, with the longest confirmed human lifespan in history.
- 2014 – Julieka Ivanna Dhu, an Aboriginal Australian woman, died in police custody after her deteriorating condition was mocked and ignored.
- John Venn (b. 1834)
- Joseph Calleia (b. 1897)
- Maurice Richard (b. 1921)
- Jessica Mauboy (b. 1989)