Today's 4 December Major Events in History

Photo for the article Today's 4 December Major Events

1110 Syrian harbor city Saida (Sidon) surrenders to Crusaders
1154 Adrian IV elected Pope. The only Englishman to become pontiff, Nicholas Breakspear was a member of the family which until recent years brewed beer in Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire.
1197 Crusaders wound Rabbi Elezar ben Judah

Treaty of Paris

1259 Treaty of Paris: English King Henry III and French King Louis IX end 100 years of conflict between the Capetian and Plantagenet dynasties

1489 Battle of Baza - Spanish army captures Baza from Moors

1563 Council of Trent holds its last session after 18 years, the last ecumenical council for more than 300 years

1619 Thirty-eight colonists from Berkeley Parish, England, disembark in Virginia and give thanks to God, considered by many the first Thanksgiving in the Americas

1644 First European peace congress opens in Munster
1655 Middelburg, Netherlands forbids building of synagogue

Alexandre le Grand

1665 Jean Racine's tragedy "Alexandre le Grand" premieres at the Palais Royal Theater in Paris

1674 Father Marquette builds first dwelling in what is now Chicago
1676 Battle of Lund: A Danish army under the command of King Christian V of Denmark engages the Swedish army commanded by Field Marshal Simon Grundel-Helmfelt
1680 Hen in Rome lays a uniquely patterned egg, later believed to have predicted the arrival of the Kirch/Newton "Great Comet of 1680"
1682 First General Assembly in Pennsylvania (Chester)

Churchill Switches Allegiance

1688 General John Churchill (later 1st Duke of Marlborough) changes allegiance from James II to William of Orange

1691 Emperor Leopold I takes control of Transylvania
1691 Spanish king Carlos II names Maximilian II as Viceroy of Southern Netherlands
1745 Bonnie Prince Charles reaches Derby
1783 General Washington bids officers farewell at Fraunce's Tavern, NYC

1791 Britain's "The Observer" is first published and becomes the world's oldest Sunday newspaper

1798 Rebellious Flemish farmers occupy Hasselt
1812 Peter Gaillard of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, patents a horse-drawn mower

James Monroe Elected

1816 James Monroe is elected to become the 5th President of the United States, defeating Rufus King of the Federalist Party

1829 Britain outlaws "suttee" in India, a Hindu practice where a widow burns herself to death on her husband's funeral pyre
1832 French army begins bombing citadel of Antwerp
1833 American Anti-Slavery Society formed by Arthur Tappan in Philadelphia
1836 Whig party holds its first national convention, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
1843 Manila paper (made from sails, canvas and rope) patented in Massachusetts

Paradise and the Peri

1843 Robert Schumann's oratorio "Das Paradies und die Peri" (Paradise and the Peri) premieres in Leipzig

1851 President Louis Napoleon Boaparte's forces crush an attempted coup d'etat in France
1864 Battle of Waynesboro is fought in eastern Georgia between Judson Kilpatrick's Union cavalry and Joseph Wheeler's Confederate cavalry
1864 Romanian Jews are forbidden to practise law
1867 Former Minnesota farmer Oliver Hudson Kelley founds the Order of the Patrons of Husbandry (better known today as the Grange)

Tweed Escapes Jail

1875 Influential New York politician William Magear Tweed "Boss Tweed" of Tammany Hall escapes from jail where he was being held for embezzlement (flees to Spain but later recaptured)

1881 The first edition of the Los Angeles Times newspaper is published
1889 Explorer Henery Morton Stanley's expedition reaches Bagamoyo in Indian Ocean
1899 56th Congress (1899-1901) convenes
1899 Webb Hayes, son of US President Rutherford Hayes, receives medal of honor
1901 Anne Russell's play "'Girl and the judge" premieres in New York

Alfred Balfour Resigns

1905 British Prime Minister Arthur Balfour resigns after three years in office

1906 Alpha Phi Alpha, first Black Greek Letter Fraternity, forms
1908 Haiti's president General Alexis Nord flees from military coup
1908 The world's ten leading maritime nations attend a Naval Conference in London; they agree on rules for blockade, convoys, and seizure of contraband
1909 Oldest still-operating NHL franchise is officially established as J. Ambrose O’Brien and Jack Laviolette create the “Club de Hockey Canadien,” known today as the Montreal Canadiens

Federal League

1914 Walter Johnson accepts an advance from the Chicago Whales of the Federal League; Washington Senators owner Clark Griffith threatens to take Johnson to court

1915 Frank Friday Fletcher is first US admiral to receive Congressional Medal of Honor

Ford's Peace Ship

1915 Henry Ford's peace ship, Oscar II, sails for Europe 'to get the boys out of the trenches by Christmas'

1915 Ku Klux Klan receives charter from Fulton County, Georgia
1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition closes in San Francisco

Wilson Sails for Versailles

1918 US President Woodrow Wilson sails for the Versailles Peace Conference in France

1920 1st Pro football playoff game Buffalo-7, Canton-3 at Polo Grounds, NYC
1921 American Professional Football Association Championship, Cubs Park, Chicago: Chicago Staleys beat Buffalo All-Americans, 10-7 in de facto championship game after teams tied in standings
1921 The Virginia Rappe manslaughter trial against Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle ends in a hung jury
1922 Lucille Atcherson becomes the first woman admitted to the US Foreign Service
1923 The first US helium-filled dirigible, the USS Shenandoah, makes its first flight
1923 WEAF radio begins broadcasting Eveready Hour (variety show)
1927 Dmitri Shostakovich's Symphony No. 2 premieres in Moscow

1928 Walter Donaldson & Gus Kahn's musical "Whoopee!", starring Eddie Cantor, premieres on Broadway at the New Amsterdam Theatre, NYC; runs for 407 performances
1930 Vatican approves rhythm method for birth control

Chancellor Kurt von Schleicher

1932 Kurt von Schleicher succeeds Franz von Papen as Reich Chancellor of Germany

Federal Alcohol Control Administration

1933 FDR creates the Federal Alcohol Control Administration

1933 Jack Kirkland's play "Tobacco Road" premieres in NYC and becomes the longest-running play of its time
1935 1,200 at St Joseph's College (Philadelphia) enroll in anticommunism class
1941 Nazi ordinance places Jews of Poland outside protection of courts
1942 FDR orders dismantling of Works Progress Administration
1942 First US citizenship granted to an alien on foreign soil (James Hoey)
1942 Holocaust: In Warsaw, Zofia Kossak-Szczucka and Wanda Filipowicz set up the Żegota organization
1942 US bombers strike Italian mainland for first time in WW II

1943 Second Cairo Conference: FDR, Winston Churchill and Turkish President İsmet İnönü meet (till Dec 6)
1943 Yugoslavian resistance forms provisionary government under Dr Ribar
1944 Germans destroy Rhine dikes, Betuwe flooded
1945 11th Heisman Trophy Award: Doc Blanchard, Army (FB)
1945 Senate approves US participation in United Nations
1947 USSR joins International Amateur Athletic Union
1948 SS Kiangya hits mine in Whangpoo River, China, sinks killing 2,750
1949 Bobby Gage ties the NFL record for the longest touchdown run with a 97-yard score for the Pittsburgh Steelers
1949 Duncan Stewart, 2nd British Governor of Sarawak is fatally stabbed in the streets of Sibu by Malay student Rosli Dhoby with help from Morshidi Sidek with the goal of helping neighbouring Indonesia to take over British Sarawak

1951 Mir Waiz Maulvi Muhammad Yusouf is appointed President of Azad Kashmir Government
1951 Superheated gasses roll down Mount Catarman, Philippines, killing 500 people
1952 Walter P. Reuther chosen chairman of the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) in the US
1954 The first Burger King fast-food restaurant opens in Miami, Florida
1956 22nd Heisman Trophy Award: Paul Hornung, Notre Dame (QB)
1956 American diver Pat McCormick wins the 3m springboard gold medal at the Melbourne Olympics with 142.46 points; later wraps up the women's double when she takes the 10m platform gold

1956 Australian swimmer Murray Rose sets world record 4:27.3 to claim the 400m gold medal at the Melbourne Olympics; Rose later also wins 1,500m gold
1957 2 commuter trains collide in heavy fog killing 92 (St John's, England)
1957 First edition of "Chase's Annual Events" published
1958 American pilots Bob Timm and John Cook take off from Las Vegas, Nevada, in "The Hacienda," their modified Cessna 172, in an attempt to break a recently set airplane flight endurance record; the effort succeeds almost 65 days later [1]
1958 Dahomey (Benin), Ivory Coast become autonomous within French Community
1958 Finnish government of Fagerholm resigns
1961 1962 NFL Draft: Ernie Davis, University of Syracuse RB #1 pick by Washington Redskins

MOMA's Upside Down Matisse

1961 NY's Museum of Modern Art hangs Henri Matisse's picture "Le Bateau" the right side up, after stockbroker Genevieve Habert notices it is displayed upside down, the first of 116,000 people in 47 days to notice [1]

1961 Smallest NY Knick, 49th St Madison Square Garden crowd-1,300 (snowstorm)
1961 Tanganyika becomes 104th member of UN

Contraceptive Pill

1961 The female contraceptive 'pill' becomes available on the National Health Service in Britain

1961 WXGA TV channel 8 in Waycross, GA (PBS) begins broadcasting
1962 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site

Moro Government

1963 Aldo Moro forms Italian government (1963-1968)

1963 Boston Bruins' right wing Andy Hebenton sets a new NHL record by playing in his 581st consecutive game in 2-2 tie with Chicago Black Hawks; reaches 630 straight games
1963 Pope Paul VI closes second session of 2nd Vatican Council
1964 Baseball approves a free-agent draft
1964 Commissioner's office given full powers in baseball disputes
1964 Test Cricket debut of Ian Chappell, v Pakistan MCG, 11, 0-49, 0-31
1964 The Beatles release "Beatles For Sale", their fourth studio album in the UK
1965 2 passenger planes collide above Danbury, Connecticut, 4 die
1965 2nd NY Knicks game postponed (due to death of opponent 76ers' owner)

1965 San Francisco Giant Masanori Murakami, 4-1 this year, does not renew his contract signing instead with the Nankai Hawks of Osaka for $40,000
1966 KETS TV channel 2 in Little Rock, AR (PBS) begins broadcasting
1966 Military Working Dog "Nemo" saves the life of his handler Airman Robert A. Throneburg during the Vietnam War, surviving a gunshot wound to the nose
1968 Following a civil rights march in Dungannon, Northern Ireland, there is a violent clash between Loyalists and those who are taking part in the march
1970 Unemployment in US increases to 5.8%
1971 McGurk's Bar bombing: the UVF explode a bomb at a Catholic-owned pub in Belfast, killing fifteen Catholic civilians and wounding seventeen others; this was the highest death toll from a single incident in Belfast during 'the Troubles'

Smoke on the Water

1971 Montreux Casino, in Montreux, Switzerland, burns down to the ground after a fan fires a flare gun during concert by Frank Zappa and The Mothers of Invention; incident inspires rock band Deep Purple's song "Smoke on the Water"

1971 The Indian Navy attacks the Pakistan Navy and Karachi
1971 The UN Security Council calls an emergency session to consider the deteriorating situation between India and Pakistan
1974 Dutch DC-8 charter crashes in Sri Lanka killing 191 Muslim pilgrims

1975 6 South Molukkans occupy Indonesian consulate in The Hague, 1 dead

1977 Jean-Bédel Bokassa crowns himself Emperor of the Central African Empire in a lavish ceremony costing US$20 million - one third of the nation's budget

1977 Neil Simon's play "Chapter Two" opens in NYC
1977 NFL's 5,000th game, Cincinnati beats KC 27-7
1978 Dianne Feinstein is named as San Francisco's 1st female and Jewish mayor after the assassination of George Moscone, then elected for two full terms

1978 Pioneer Venus 1 goes into orbit around Venus
1979 Cleveland Cavaliers retire jersey # 7, Bingo Smith
1980 Islanders end 15 game undefeated streak (13-0-2) (Col Rockies)

Led Zeppelin Disbands

1980 Two months after death of drummer John Bonham, Led Zeppelin announces they will disband

1981 "Falcon Crest" premieres on CBS-TV
1981 According to South Africa, Ciskei gains independence. Not recognized as an independent country outside South Africa.

Reagan Broadens CIA Powers

1981 Reagan Executive Order on Intelligence (No 12333) that allows CIA to engage in domestic counter-intelligence

1982 48th Heisman Trophy Award: Herschel Walker, Georgia (RB)
1982 China adopts its constitution
1982 Police and racist demonstrators clash in Antwerp
1983 NJ Devils 1st shut-out, beating Minnesota North Stars 6-0
1983 US jet fighters strike Syrian anti-aircraft positions in Lebanon
1984 Hezbollah militants hijack a Kuwait Airlines plane, killing four passengers.

1985 President Reagan appoints Vice Admiral John Poindexter as security adviser
1986 US launches its Fleet Satellite Communications System (Fltsatcom-7)
1987 Karlstad skates world record 10 km (13:48.51)
1988 Actor Gary Busey critically injured in motorcycle crash
1988 Edmonton center Jimmy Carson becomes just the third player to score 6 NHL hat tricks before the age of 21 in the Oilers 10-6 win over the New York Rangers
1988 Orioles trade veteran 1B Eddie Murray to the Dodgers
1988 Roy Orbison gives his final concert at The Front Row Theater in Cleveland, Ohio
1988 USSR performs nuclear test at Novaya Zemlya USSR
1989 NBC's premiere of "Howard Beach: Making A Case for Murder", based on December 1986 murders of black youths by white youths in New York City
1990 An Iraqi official reports that Iraq will withdraw if it can retain control of the Rumailah field and keep Bubiyan and Werbah islands; also says that demands that the Palestinian issue be treated separately would not be surmountable
1990 Due to Persian Gulf crisis gas hits $1.60 per gallon price in NYC
1990 Iraq announces it will release all 3,300 Soviet hostages
1991 Country music mother and daughter act The Judds "farewell" concert at Murphy Center in Murfreesboro, Tennessee; later re-unions and "farewells" in 2000, 2010, 2015, and 2021
1991 Muslim Shi'ites release last US hostage, journalist Terry Anderson, after 6½ years of captivity
1991 Pan American World Airways ceased operations
1991 Patricia Bowman testifies that William Kennedy Smith raped her

1993 A truce is concluded between the government of Angola and UNITA rebels.
1993 Dan Jansen skates world record 500m (35.92 sec)
1993 Johann Koss skates world record 5K (6:35.53)

1995 England's captain Michael Atherton bats for 643 minutes (10 hours and 43 minutes) to score an unbeaten 185 and secure a draw for his team in the Johannesburg Test
1996 NASA's 1st Mars rover launched from Cape Canaveral
1996 Orlando Magic tie NBA record of fewest points scored since inception of 24 second clock losing to Cleveland Cavalier, 84-57
1997 "Diary of Anne Frank" opens at Music Box Theater NYC
1997 NBA suspends former Golden State Warriors guard Latrell Sprewell for 1 year for attacking coach P.J. Carlesimo
1997 Nizar Hamdoon warns that Iraq will not allow oil to flow during a third six-month phase of the UN's oil-for-food sale until the UN approves an aid distribution plan
1998 The Unity Module, the second module of the International Space Station, is launched

Murder of Marike de Klerk

2001 Marike de Klerk, ex-wife of former President F.W. de Klerk is murdered at her home in Cape Town

2005 Tens of thousands of people in Hong Kong protest for democracy and call on the Government to allow universal and equal suffrage
2005 U.S. debut of the first part of two-part TV biopic miniseries "Pope John Paul II" on CBS
2006 An adult giant squid is caught on video by Kubodera near the Ogasawara Islands, 1,000 km (620 miles) south of Tokyo

2007 Ballon d'Or: Milan's Brazilian midfielder Kaká is named best football player in the world; first year in which players from clubs outside the UEFA federation eligible for nomination

2009 Montreal Canadiens retire Hall of Fame center Elmer Lach's jersey (No. 16), as part of team's centennial celebration
2011 Pedro Martínez officially announces his retirement from professional baseball
2012 29 people are killed by a mortar attack in Bteeha, Syria

Is It Just Me?

2012 Miranda Hart wins Popular Non-Fiction Book of the Year for "Is It Just Me?" at The British Book Awards

2012 Typhoon Bopha makes landfall in the Philippines, killing at least 81 people
2013 Mosconi Cup nine-ball pool, Las Vegas, Nevada: 4 consecutive titles for Europe after an 11-2 thrashing of US; MVP: Niels Feijen (Netherlands)
2013 Xavier Bettel becomes Luxenberg's first openly gay Prime Minister
2014 Mosconi Cup nine-ball pool, Blackpool, England: Team Europe beats US, 11-5 for 5th straight title; MVP: Niels Feijen (Netherlands)

Peter Pan Live!

2014 NBC airs musical "Peter Pan Live!" starring Allison Williams and Christopher Walken; substantially revised from the earlier Mary Martin productions

2014 The United Nations warns that the world is on course for the warmest year since records began
2014 Ukraine and Pro-Russian rebels agree to cease fire in the eastern war zone, beginning December 9
2014 US authorities promise a "fair" investigation into the death of African American Eric Garner, after a white New York City police officer held him in a choke-hold faces no charges
2015 Floods in Chennai and Tamil Nadu state, India start receding after a month of heavy rainfall, leaving more 260 dead and thousands stranded
2016 Austria elects liberal independent Alexander Van der Bellen as President, after original vote in May annulled

John Key Resigns

2016 New Zealand Prime Minister John Key resigns after 8 years in office

2016 Tens of thousands march throughout Brazil against a vote to undermine anti-corruption investigations
2016 Venezuela issues new higher-value notes after currency falls 60% in 1 months against the US dollar
2017 New York Giants fire head coach Ben McAdoo and manager Jerry Reese after a 2–10 start
2017 New York's Metropolitan Opera suspends conductor James Levine after allegations of sexual misconduct
2017 Thomas fire begins and spreads to city of Ventura, California

Trump Scales Back Parks

2017 US President Donald Trump scales back Utah National Parks - Bears Ears National Monument (85%), Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument (50%)

2017 US Supreme Court allows President Trump's travel ban to come into effect for 6 mostly Muslim countries
2018 Attempts to establish mob council in Sicily thwarted when 46 members of the mafia arrested including Settimio Mineo
2018 First successful birth resulting from uterus transplant from a deceased donor in São Paulo, Brazil
2018 French couture house Chanel ends its use of fur and exotic skins following bans by other companies

Macron Drops Fuel Tax

2018 French President Emmanuel Macron drops controversial rise in fuel tax after three weeks of mass protests

2018 Ownership group Seattle Hockey Partners led by billionaire businessman Davis Bonderman is unanimously granted an NHL license by the Board of Governors; to start play 2020-21 season at KeyArena
2018 Research published in "Nature" and "Science" claims Native Americans had just one migration from Siberia to the New World, at most 23,000 years ago
2018 Scottish artist Charlotte Prodger wins the 2018 Turner Prize with a film shot on her iPhone

Three Defeats in a Day

2018 Theresa May's UK government suffers three parliamentary defeats in one day, also found in contempt of parliament for failing to publish report in full on Brexit

2019 58 migrants drown after a boat sinks off the coast of Mauritania, with 83 saved
2019 North American migratory birds are getting smaller, and their wings are getting wider due to climate change, according to a study by the University of Michigan published in the journal "Ecology Letters"
2020 Mosconi Cup nine-ball pool, Coventry, England: Europe ends US 2-year run with emphatic 11-3 win; MVP: Jayson Shaw (Scotland)
2020 New Zealand cricket captain Kane Williamson smashes 251 to set up the home side's innings & 134 run win over the West Indies in the 1st Test in Hamilton
2021 Mt Semeru erupts on Java island, Indonesia, killing at least 14 and injuring 56
2021 New Zealand cricket spin bowler Ajaz Patel (10-119) joins Jim Laker and Anil Kumble as the only three men to take all ten wickets in a Test innings, on Day 2 of the 2nd Test against India in Mumbai

A Beautiful Noise

2022 "A Beautiful Noise, The Neil Diamond Musical" opens at Broadhurst Theatre, NYC

2022 At least 27 people killed after a bus is buried in a landslide in Risaralda province, western Colombia [1]

Kennedy Center Honors

2022 Kennedy Center Honors ceremony held for singers Gladys Knight and Amy Grant, actor George Clooney, rock band U2, and composer Tania León, in Washington D.C.

2022 Mt Semeru, Indonesia’s highest volcano, erupts releasing gas clouds and rivers of lava on the island of Java [1]

Clark Sets Big Ten Record

2023 Caitlin Clark posts 22 points, 10 rebounds, and 10 assists for Iowa against Wisconsin, surpassing the Big Ten career triple-double record

2024 French government led by Prime Minister Michel Barnier is toppled by a no confidence vote for the first time since 1962 [1]
2024 United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson is shot and killed outside a hotel in Manhattan, New York, in a targeted attack