On this day: 4 March

Years ago today

Events · 30

• 1238(Julian date)
  Battle of the Sit River — 1238 battle
• 1665
  Second Anglo-Dutch War — second conflict between England and the Dutch Republic (1665-1667)
• 1681
  Province of Pennsylvania — former colony in North America, part of Great Britain
• 1776
  Fortification of Dorchester Heights — military action of the American Revolutionary War
• 1789
  United States Congress — bicameral legislature of the United States
• 1789
  1st United States Congress — first legislative term of the United States Congress
• 1790
  department of France — administrative subdivision in France
• 1791
  Vermont — state of the United States of America
• 1797
  inauguration of John Adams — 3rd United States presidential inauguration
• 1804
  Castle Hill convict rebellion — 1804 Rebellion
• 1824
  Royal National Lifeboat Institution — maritime rescue organization in the UK, Ireland, Channel Islands and Isle of Man
• 1837
  Chicago — city and county seat of Cook County, and largest city in State of Illinois, United States of America
• 1848
  Statuto Albertino — constitution of the kingdoms of Sardinia (1848–61) and unified Italy (1861–1948)
• 1861
  flags of the Confederate States of America — flags used in the Confederate States
• 1901
  second inauguration of William McKinley — 29th United States presidential inauguration
• 1908
  Collinwood school fire — conflagration
• 1913
  United States Department of Labor — U.S. federal department that regulates workers' rights and labor markets
• 1933
  first inauguration of Franklin D. Roosevelt — 37th United States presidential inauguration
• 1941
  Operation Claymore — raid by British and Norwegian forces in the Lofoten Islands in 1941
• 1951
  1951 Asian Games — first edition of the Asian Games
• 1957
  S&P 500 — American stock market index
• 1960
  La Coubre explosion — steamship scuttling, accidental or otherwise
• 1962
  Caledonian Airways Flight 153 — Aviation incident; also the deadliest involving a DC-7
• 1966
  Canadian Pacific Air Lines Flight 402 — aviation accident
• 1977
  1977 Vrancea earthquake — March 1977 earthquake in Romania
• 2001
  2001 BBC bombing — 2001 IRA terrorist attack on the BBC headquarters in London
• 2012
  2012 Russian presidential election — election held in Russia on 4 March 2012
• 2012
  Brazzaville arms dump blasts — Series of explosions at an ammo and arms dump in Republic of Congo
• 2015
  2015 Zasyadko mine disaster — Gas explosion at a rebel-held mine in Ukraine
• 2018
  poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal — 2018 attempted murder in Salisbury, England, United Kingdom

Births · 60

• 1188(Julian date)
  Blanche of Castile — Queen consort of France (1188–1252)
• 1394(Julian date)
  Prince Henry the Navigator — Portuguese prince and governor (1394–1460)
• 1678
  Antonio Vivaldi — Italian composer and violinist (1678–1741)
• 1769
  Muhammad Ali — Wali of Egypt and Sudan (1769–1849)
• 1859(Julian date)
  Aleksandr Popov — Russian physicist (1859–1906)
• 1875
  Mihály Károlyi — Hungarian politician, president, prime minister of Hungary and ambassador to France (1875–1955)
• 1892(Julian date)
  Nikolai Kondratiev — Soviet economist (1892-1938)
• 1898
  Soong May-ling — Chiang Kai-shek's wife, First Lady of the Republic of China (1898–2003)
• 1898
  Georges Dumézil — French philologist (1898-1986)
• 1898
  Hans Krebs — German general
• 1904
  George Gamow — Russian-American theoretical physicist and cosmologist (1904–1968)
• 1904
  Luis Carrero Blanco — Spanish admiral and politician
• 1907
  Maria Branyas — former world's oldest verified living person (1907–2024)
• 1910
  Tancredo Neves — Brazilian politician (1910-1985)
• 1913
  John Garfield — American actor (1913-1952)
• 1916
  Hans Eysenck — British psychologist (1916–1997)
• 1916
  Giorgio Bassani — Italian writer
• 1923
  Patrick Moore — English astronomer, broadcaster and writer (1923–2012)
• 1925
  Paul Mauriat — French orchestra leader (1925–2006)
• 1928
  Alan Sillitoe — British writer (1928-2010)
• 1929
  Bernard Haitink — Dutch conductor and violinist (1929-2021)
• 1932
  Miriam Makeba — South African singer and civil rights activist (1932–2008)
• 1932
  Ryszard Kapuściński — Polish journalist, photographer, poet and author (1932–2007)
• 1934
  Anne Haney — American actress (1934–2001)
• 1935
  Bent Larsen — Danish chess grandmaster and author (1935–2010)

Deaths · 60

• 561(Julian date)
  Pelagius I — pope
• 1172(Julian date)
  Stephen III of Hungary — King of Hungary and Croatia (1147-1172)
• 1184(Julian date)
  Minamoto no Yoshinaka — 12th century samurai
• 1193(Julian date)
  Saladin — Sultan of Egypt and founder of the Ayyubid dynasty (1137–1193)
• 1238(Julian date)
  Yuri II of Vladimir — Grand Prince of Vladimir (1188-1238)
• 1238(Julian date)
  Joan of England — Queen of Scotland
• 1371(Julian date)
  Jeanne d'Évreux — third wife of King Charles IV of France
• 1484
  Saint Casimir — Polish and Lithuanian prince (1458–1484)
• 1496(Julian date)
  Sigismund, Archduke of Austria — Archduke of Austria
• 1604
  Fausto Sozzini — Italian theologian
• 1615
  Hans von Aachen — German painter (1552–1615)
• 1710
  Louis, Prince of Condé — Duke of Bourbon (1668-1710)
• 1793
  Louis Jean Marie de Bourbon, Duke of Penthièvre — French duke; grandson of Louis XIV (1725–1793)
• 1807
  Abraham Baldwin — United States politician (1754-1807)
• 1832
  Jean-François Champollion — French classical scholar (1790-1832)
• 1852
  Nikolai Gogol — Russian writer of Ukrainian origin (1809–1852)
• 1853
  Christian Leopold von Buch — German geologist (1774-1853)
• 1858
  Matthew C. Perry — American naval officer (1794–1858)
• 1883
  Alexander H. Stephens — vice president of the Confederate States from 1861 to 1865 (1812–1883)
• 1888
  Amos Bronson Alcott — American teacher, writer, philosopher, and reformer (1799-1888)
• 1916
  Franz Marc — German artist (1880–1916)
• 1925
  Moritz Moszkowski — German composer, pianist and teacher (1854–1925)
• 1927
  Ira Remsen — American chemist (1846–1927)
• 1941
  Ludwig Quidde — German politician (1858-1941)
• 1945
  Lucille La Verne — American actress (1872–1945)