On this day: 4 December
Events, births and deaths on 4 December. Every date is checked against Wikidata.
Years ago today
1 year ago2025
- Deaths · Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa
- Deaths · Yasser Abu Shabab
- Events · killing of Yasser Abu Shabab
10 years ago2016
Nothing recorded for that year.
100 years ago1926
- Deaths · Ivana Kobilca
- Births · Ned Romero
1000 years ago1026
Within 100 years of that
- 1075 · Deaths · Anno II, Archbishop of Cologne
Events · 23
- 1259(Julian date)Treaty of Paris — 1259 treaty
- 1370Battle of Pontvallain — 1370 battle in the Hundred Years' War
- 1623Great Martyrdom of Edo — 1623 execution of 50 Christians in Edo
- 1639transit of Venus, 1639 — transit of Venus across the Sun visible from Earth in 1639
- 1676(Julian date)Battle of Lund — 1676 battle of the Scanian War
- 1864Battle of Waynesboro, Georgia — 1864 battle of the American Civil War
- 1893Shangani Patrol — British South Africa Company unit attacked in 1893 in Rhodesia
- 1905Great Seimas of Vilnius — 1905 assembly held in Vilnius, Lithuania
- 1906Alpha Phi Alpha — African-American Greek-lettered fraternity
- 1915Calais Conference (December 1915) — Anglo-French conference on matters of war
- 1942Carlson's patrol — WWII anti-Japanese operation in 1942
- 1950Flight of Refugees Across Wrecked Bridge in Korea — photograph by Max Desfor
- 1971Operation Trident — offensive military operation launched by India against Pakistan during Indo-Pakistani war of 1971
- 1971McGurk's Bar bombing — Fatal bombing in Belfast, Northern Ireland
- 1974Martinair Flight 138 — aviation accident
- 1976Central African Empire — former country
- 1977Malaysian Airline System Flight 653 — 1977 aviation hijacking
- 19841984 Mannar massacre — killing of Tamils in Mannar town by the Sri Lankan Army
- 20142014 Grozny clashes — 2014 attack by Islamist militants in Grozny, Chechnya, Russia
- 2017Thomas Fire — 2017 wildfire in California, USA
- 20212021 Semeru eruption — volcanic eruption in East Java, Indonesia
- 2024killing of Brian Thompson — 2024 killing of United Healthcare's CEO in New York City, US
- 2025killing of Yasser Abu Shabab — 2025 killing in Rafah, Gaza
Births · 60
- 34(Julian date)Persius — Roman poet and satirist (AD 34-62)
- 1595Jean Chapelain — French poet and critic
- 1660André Campra — French composer and conductor (1660-1744)
- 1711Barbara of Portugal, Queen of Spain — queen consort of Spain (1746 - 1758)
- 1777Juliette Récamier — French salon-holder (1777-1849)
- 1795Thomas Carlyle — Scottish essayist, historian and philosopher (1795–1881)
- 1798Jules Armand Dufaure — French politician and lawyer (1798-1881)
- 1817Nikoloz Baratashvili — Georgian poet (1817-1844)
- 1835Samuel Butler — English novelist and critic (1835–1902)
- 1861Hannes Hafstein — Icelandic politician (1861-1922)
- 1865Edith Cavell — British nurse (1865-1915)
- 1875Rainer Maria Rilke — Austrian poet and writer (1875–1926)
- 1881Erwin von Witzleben — German field marshal (1881–1944)
- 1892Francisco Franco — Spanish general and dictator (1892-1975)
- 1892Liu Bocheng — Marshal of the People's Republic of China (1892-1986)
- 1893Herbert Edward Read — English anarchist, poet, and critic of literature and art (1893-1968)
- 1893T. V. Soong — Chinese businessman and politician (1894-1971)
- 1895Feng Youlan — Chinese philosopher and historian (1895–1990)
- 1903Cornell Woolrich — American author and screenwriter (1903–1968)
- 1905Emílio Garrastazu Médici — Brazilian politician (1905–1985), president of Brazil (1969–1974)
- 1908Alfred Hershey — American chemist (1908–1997)
- 1910R. Venkataraman — President of India from 1987 to 1992
- 1910Alex North — American composer (1910–1991)
- 1913Mark Robson — film director, producer, and editor from Canada (1913-1978)
- 1919Inder Kumar Gujral — Prime Minister of India (1997-1998)
Deaths · 60
- 749(Julian date)John of Damascus — Christian monk, priest, hymnographer and apologist (675/6-749)
- 771Carloman I — King of the Franks (r. 768–771)
- 811(Julian date)Charles the Younger — second son of Charlemagne
- 1131(Julian date)Omar Khayyám — Persian mathematician and poet (1048–1131)
- 1214(Julian date)William the Lion — King of Alba from 1165 to 1214
- 1270(Julian date)Theobald II of Navarre — King of Navarre
- 1334(Julian date)John XXII — pope of the Catholic Church from 1316 to 1334
- 1408(Julian date)Valentina Visconti, Duchess of Orléans — (1371-1408) wife of Louis de Valois, Duke of Orléans
- 1456(Julian date)Charles I of Bourbon — Duke of Auvergne and Duke of Bourbon
- 1603Maerten de Vos — Flemish painter, draughtsman (1532-1603)
- 1642Armand-Jean du Plessis, duc de Richelieu — French clergyman, cardinal, noble and statesman (1585-1642)
- 1679Thomas Hobbes — English philosopher (1588–1679)
- 1680Thomas Bartholin — Danish physician, mathematician and theologian
- 1696Empress Meishō — empress of Japan (1624-1696)
- 1732John Gay — English poet and playwright (1685–1732)
- 1798Luigi Galvani — Italian physician, physicist, and philosopher
- 1828Robert Jenkinson, 2nd Earl of Liverpool — Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1812 to 1827
- 1850William Sturgeon — British inventor
- 1893John Tyndall — Irish physicist (1820–1893)
- 1902Charles Dow — American journalist (1851–1902)
- 1912Archibald Gracie IV — writer, historian, real estate investor (1858–1912)
- 1923Maurice Barrès — French novelist (1862-1923)
- 1926Ivana Kobilca — Slovenian artist (1861–1926)
- 1933Stefan George — German poet, editor, and translator (1868–1933)
- 1935Charles Richet — French physiologist and parapsychologist (1850-1935)
Dates verified against Wikidata (CC0). Titles and descriptions come from Wikidata.