Events

Up to 1900 
 23  Rebels capture the then-Chinese capital city Chang'an during a peasant rebellion. They kill and behead the Emperor, Wang Mang, two days later.
 610  Heraclius arrives by ship from Africa at Constantinople, otherthrows Byzantine Emperor Phocas and becomes Emperor.
 1511  Formation of a Holy League of Ferdinand II of Aragon, the Papal States, and the Republic of Venice against France.
 1535  The first complete English language Bible is printed, with translations by William Tyndale and Miles Coverdale.
 1582  Pope Gregory XIII implements the Gregorian calendar. In Italy, Poland, Portugal, and Spain October 4 of this year is followed directly by October 15, skipping over 10 days.
 1636  Thirty Years' War: The Swedish Army defeats the armies of Saxony and the Holy Roman Empire at the Battle of Wittstock.
 1693  Battle of Marsaglia: Piedmontese troops are defeated by the French.
 1725  The city of Rosario, Argentina is founded.
 1744  British sailing ship Victory is last seen, near the Channel Islands in the English Channel. During the night, it sinks, killing 1,150 people.
 1777  American Revolutionary War: At the Battle of Germantown, troops under George Washington are repelled by British troops under Sir William Howe.
 1824  Mexico becomes a republic.
 1830  Creation of the state of Belgium after separation from The Netherlands.
 1853  Crimean War: The Ottoman Empire declares war on Russia.
 1883  First run of the Orient Express
 1883  First meeting of the Boys' Brigade in Glasgow, Scotland.
 1895  The first U.S. Open Men's Golf Championship run by the United States Golf Association was played on a nine-hole course in Newport, Rhode Island.

1901  2000 
 1910  Portugal becomes a republic. King Manuel II flees to Britain.
 1917  World War I: The Battle of Broadseinde is fought between British and German armies in Flanders.
 1918  An explosion kills more than 100 people and destroys the T. A. Gillespie Company Shell Loading Plant in Sayreville, New Jersey.
 1927  Gutzon Borglum begins sculpting Mount Rushmore.
 1943  World War II: US forces re-capture the Solomon Islands.
 1957  Launch of Sputnik I, the first artificial satellite to orbit the Earth.
 1958  The Fifth Republic of France established.
 1959  The Soviet Union sends the Lunik 3 probe to the Moon.
 1960  An Eastern Airlines Lockheed L-188 Electra flying from Boston crashes killing 62 people after a bird strike.
 1963  Richard Noble sets a new land speed record of 633.468 mph, driving Thrust 2 at the Black Rock Desert, Nevada.
 1965  Pope Paul VI becomes the first Pope to visit the United States, as he arrives in New York City.
 1966  Basutoland becomes independent from the United Kingdom and is renamed Lesotho.
 1967  Omar Ali Saifuddin III of Brunei abdicates in favour of his son, Hassanal Bolkiah.
 1974  Founding of the New Democracy political party in Greece.
 1983  Richard Noble sets a new land-speed record of 633.468 miles per hour (1,019 kilometres per hour), driving Thrust 2 at the Black Rock Desert in Nevada.
 1985  The Free Software Foundation is founded in Massachusetts.
 1988  Jim Bakker is indicted for fraud.
 1991  The Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty was opened for signature.
 1992  An El Al Boeing 747-200F crashes into 2 apartment buildings in Amsterdam, killing 43 including 38 on the ground. See Bijlmerramp.
 1992  The Rome General Peace Accords end the 16-year civil war in Mozambique.
 1993  At the climax of the Russian constitutional crisis of 1993, Russian President Boris Yeltsin orders army tanks to begin the storming of the Russian parliament building.
 1997  The second-largest cash robbery in United States history takes place in Charlotte, North Carolina.
 1998  Leafie Mason of Hughes Springs, Texas is murdered by Angel Maturino Resendiz. She is Angel's second victim in his second incident.

From 2001 
 2001  A Sibir Airlines Tupolev TU-154 crashes into the Black Sea after being struck by an errant Ukrainian S-200 missile. 78 people are killed.
 2003  Maxim restaurant suicide bombing: A female Palestinian suicide bomber, Hanadi Jaradat, exploded inside the Maxim restaurant in Haifa. 21 Israelis, Jews and Arabs, were killed, and 51 others were wounded.
 2004  SpaceShipOne wins Ansari X Prize for private spaceflight.
 2006  WikiLeaks is launched by Julian Assange.
 2006  Lesotho changes its flag. 
 2010  Toxic red sludge escapes from the Ajka alumina plant in western Hungary, causing an environmental disaster and killing at least nine people.
 2016  Hurricane Matthew hits Haiti and the Dominican Republic, causing flooding, destroying homes and killing seven people.

Births

Up to 1850 
 1160  Alys, Countess of Vexin (died 1220)
 1268  King Eric II of Norway (died 1299)
 1274  Rudolf I, Duke of Bavaria (died 1319)
 1276  Margaret of Brabant, Queen of Germany (died 1311)
 1289  King Louis X of France (died 1316)
 1379  King Henry III of Castile (died 1406)
 1515  Lucas Cranach the Younger, German painter (died 1586)
 1542  Robert Bellarmine, Italian saint (died 1621)
 1550  King Charles IX of Sweden (died 1611)
 1562  Christian Sorensen Longomontanus, Danish astronomer (died 1647)
 1585  Anna of Tyrol, Empress Consort of the Holy Roman Empire (died 1618)
 1625  Jacqueline Pascal, French child prodigy and nun (died 1661)
 1626  Richard Cromwell, English politician (died 1712)
 1633  Anthony Ulrich, Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel (died 1714)
 1657  Francesco Solimena, Italian painter (died 1747)
 1687  Robert Simson, Scottish mathematician (died 1768)
 1720  Giovanni Battista Piranesi, Italian painter (died 1778)
 1759  Antoine Arbogast, French mathematician (died 1803)
 1787  François Guizot, French statesman (died 1874)
 1797  Jeremias Gotthelf, Swiss writer (died 1854)
 1808  Giovanni Battista Pioda, Swiss politician and diplomat (died 1882)
 1814  Jean-François Millet, French painter (died 1875)
 1819  Francesco Crispi, Italian politician (died 1901)
 1822  Rutherford B. Hayes, 19th President of the United States (died 1893)
 1833  John Anderson, Scottish zoologist (died 1900)
 1835  Grigory Potanin, Russian explorer (died 1920)
 1836  Juliette Adam, French writer and activist (died 1936)
 1837  Mary Elizabeth Braddon, English writer (died 1915)
 1841  Prudente José de Morais Barros, President of Brazil (died 1912)
 1841  Maria Sophie of Bavaria, Queen of the Two Sicilies (died 1925)
 1843  Marie Alphonsine Danil Ghattas, Palestinian nun and saint (died 1927)

1851  1900 
 1858  Michael Pupin, telephone pioneer, Pulitzer Prize winning writer (died 1935)
 1861  Frederic Remington, American painter (died 1909)
 1862  Edward Stratemeyer, American writer (died 1930)
 1863  Samuel Prescott Bush, American industrialist (died 1948)
 1868  Marcelo T. de Alvear, Argentine politician (died 1942)
 1876  Hugh McCrae, Australian writer (died 1958)
 1877  Razor Smith, English cricketer (died 1946)
 1880  Damon Runyon, writer (died 1946)
 1881  Walther von Brauchitsch, German Commander-in-Chief (died 1948)
 1886  Erich Fellgiebel, German military officer and Resistance activist (died 1944)
 1888  Friedrich Olbricht, German general and Resistance activist (died 1944)
 1892  Engelbert Dollfuss, Austrian politician (died 1934)
 1895  Buster Keaton, American comedian, producer and actor (died 1966)
 1895  Richard Sorge, German-Soviet spy (died 1944)
 1899  Franz Jonas, President of Austria (died 1974)

1901  1950 
 1903  John Vincent Atanasoff, American computer pioneer (died 1995)
 1903  Ernst Kaltenbrunner, German military officer (died 1946)
 1913  Martial Celestin, Prime Minister of Haiti (died 2011)
 1914  Jim Cairns, Australian politician (died 2003)
 1916  Vitaly Ginzburg, Russian physicist (died 2009)
 1916  Jan Murray, American comedian, actor and game show host (died 2006)
 1916  George Sidney, American director (died 2002)
 1917  Luis Carniglia, Argentine footballer (died 2001)
 1917  Jan Murray, American comedienne (died 2006)
 1918  Kenichi Fukui, Japanese chemist (died 1998)
 1918  Giovanni Cheli, Italian cardinal (died 2013)
 1921  Francisco Morales-Bermúdez, former President of Peru
 1922  Malcolm Baldridge, American politician (died 1987)
 1922  Don Lenhardt, American baseball player (died 2014)
 1923  Charlton Heston, American actor (died 2008)
 1927  Virginia Luque, Argentine actress and singer (died 2014)
 1928  Alvin Toffler, American writer and futurist (died 2016)
 1930  Svava Jakobsdóttir, Icelandic author and politician (died 2004)
 1931  Richard Rorty, American philosopher and academic (died 2007)
 1931  Basil D'Oliveira, South African-born cricketer (died 2011)
 1931  Terence Conran, English designer, restaurateur, retailer and writer
 1931  Thane Baker, American athlete
 1933  German Moreno, Filipino television host, actor and comedian (died 2016)
 1934  Sam Huff, American football player
 1936  Cynthia McLeod, Surinamese writer, daughter of Johan Ferrier
 1937  Franz Vranitzky, former Chancellor of Austria
 1937  Jackie Collins, English writer (died 2015)
 1937  Jim Sillars, Scottish politician
 1938  Kurt Wüthrich, Swiss chemist, Nobel Prize laureate
 1939  Ivan Mauger, New Zealand speedway rider (died 2018)
 1940  Silvio Marzolini, Argentine footballer
 1941  Anne Rice, American writer
 1942  Johanna Sigurdardottir, former Prime Minister of Iceland
 1942  Karl W. Richter, American lieutenant and pilot (died 1967)
 1943  H. Rap Brown (Jamil Al-Amin), American civil rights activist
 1943  Buddy Roemer, former Governor of Louisiana (d. 2021)
 1943  Owen Davidson, Australian tennis player
 1946  Susan Sarandon, American actress
 1946  Chuck Hagel, American politician
 1946  Bridget St. John, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
 1947  Jim Fielder, American bass player
 1947  Julien Clerc, French singer
 1947  Ann Widdecombe, British politician
 1949  Antonello Cuccureddu, Italian footballer and coach
 1949  Armand Assante, actor
 1949  Ally Hunter, Scottish footballer

1951  1975 
 1953  Tchéky Karyo, actor
 1955  John Rutherford, Scottish rugby player
 1955  Andy Pichler, Austrian footballer
 1955  Jorge Valdano, Argentine footballer
 1956  Christoph Waltz, Austrian actor
 1958  Yevgeny Bushmin, Russian politician (died 2019)
 1958  Anneka Rice, Welsh television and radio presenter
 1959  Chris Lowe, English musician (Pet Shop Boys)
 1959  Tony Meo, English snooker player
 1960  Henry Worsley, English explorer (died 2016)
 1961  Kazuki Takahashi, Japanese writer and artist
 1961  Philippe Russo, French singer-songwriter
 1962  Jon Secada, Cuban-American singer
 1962  Marc Minkowski, French conductor
 1963  A.C. Green, American basketball player
 1963  Mark Powley, English actor
 1964  Francis Magalona, Filipino entertainer (died 2009)
 1964  Sarah Lancashire, English actress
 1964  Yvonne Murray, Scottish athlete
 1967  Liev Schreiber, actor
 1967  Marcus Bentley, British voice actor
 1968  Beverley Allitt, British nurse and serial killer
 1975  Cristiano Lucarelli, Italian footballer

From 1976 
 1976  Alicia Silverstone, American actress
 1976  Mauro Camoranesi, Argentine-Italian footballer
 1976  Ueli Steck, Swiss climber (died 2017)
 1977  Richard Parry, Canadian musician and songwriter
 1978  Kei Horie, Japanese actor, director, producer and screenwriter
 1979  Björn Phau, German tennis player
 1979  Rachael Leigh Cook, American actress and model
 1980  Tomas Rosicky, Czech footballer
 1982  Kasia Madera, British television journalist
 1982  Ilhan Omar, Somali-born American politician
 1984  Elena Sergeyevna Katina, Russian musician (t.A.T.u.)
 1985  Shontelle, Barbadian singer-songwriter
 1985  Thorsten Wiedemann, German rugby player
 1986  Sara Forestier, French actress
 1986  Yuridia, Mexican singer
 1987  Juan Pablo García, Mexican racing driver
 1987  Marina Weisband, German politician
 1988  Evgeni Krasnopolski, Israeli figure skater
 1988  Melissa Benoist, American actress and singer
 1988  Derrick Rose, American basketball player
 1988  Magdaléna Rybáriková, Slovakian tennis player
 1989  Kimmie Meissner, American figure skater
 1989  Lil Mama, American singer and rapper
 1989  Stacey Solomon, English singer
 1989  Dakota Johnson, American model and actress
 1991  Leigh-Anne Pinnock, English singer (Little Mix)
 1994  Ignazio Boschetto, Italian singer (Il Volo)
 1995  Mikolas Josef, Czech singer, musician and model
 1997  Yuju, South Korean singer
 2005  Prince Emmanuel of Belgium

Deaths

Up to 1900 
 1052  Vladimir of Novgorod (born 1020)
 1250  Herman VI, Margrave of Baden (born 1226)
 1305  Emperor Kameyama of Japan (born 1249)
 1582  Teresa of Avila, Spanish saint (born 1515)
 1597  Sarsa Dengel, Emperor of Ethiopia (born 1550)
 1661  Jacqueline Pascal, French child prodigy and nun (born 1625)
 1669  Rembrandt van Rijn, Dutch painter (born 1606)
 1680  Pierre-Paul Riquet, French engineer (born 1609)
 1747  Amaro Pargo, Spanish pirate (born 1678)
 1785  David Brearly, American statesman (born 1703)
 1821  John Rennie the Elder, Scottish engineer (born 1761)
 1851  Manuel de Godoy, Prince of Peace, Spanish politician (born 1767)
 1852  James Whitcomb, 8th Governor of Indiana (born 1795)
 1859  Karl Baedeker, German publisher (born 1801)
 1890  Catherine Booth, co-founder of the Salvation Army (born 1829)

1901  2000 
 1903  Otto Weininger, Austrian philosopher (born 1880)
 1904  Karl Bayer, Austrian chemist (born 1847)
 1904  Frederic Auguste Bartholdi, French sculptor (born 1834)
 1910  Sergey Muromtsev, Russian lawyer and politician (born 1850)
 1915  Karl Staaff, 11th Prime Minister of Sweden (born 1860)
 1943  Irena Illakowicz, Polish lieutenant and intelligence agent (born 1906)
 1944  Al Smith, American politician (born 1873)
 1946  Barney Oldfield, American automobile pioneer (born 1878)
 1947  Max Planck, German physicist (born 1858)
 1951  Henrietta Lacks, American medical patient (born 1920)
 1955  Alexander Papagos, Greek general and political leader (born 1883)
 1970  Janis Joplin, American singer-songwriter (born 1943)
 1974  Anne Sexton, American poet (born 1928)
 1981  Freddie Lindstrom, American baseball player (born 1905)
 1982  Stefanos Stefanopoulos, Greek politician (born 1898)
 1982  Glenn Gould, Canadian pianist (born 1932)
 1989  Graham Chapman, British comedian, writer, doctor (born 1941)
 1989  Secretariat, Triple Crown-winning race horse (born 1970)
 1991  J. Frank Wilson, American singer (born 1941)
 1992  Denny Hulme, New Zealand racing driver (born 1936)
 1996  Silvio Piola, Italian footballer (born 1913)
 1997  Gunpei Yokoi, Japanese game developer (born 1941)
 2000  Michael Smith, biochemist (born 1932)
 2000  Yu Kwo-hwa, Taiwanese Premier (born 1914)

From 2001 
 2001  John Collins, American jazz guitarist (born 1913)
 2003  Sid McMath, 34th Governor of Arkansas (born 1912)
 2004  Gordon Cooper, American astronaut (born 1927)
 2005  Stanley K. Hathaway, Governor of Wyoming (born 1924)
 2009  Shoichi Nakagawa, Japanese politician (born 1953)
 2009  Mercedes Sosa, Argentine singer (born 1935)
 2009  Günther Rall, German fighter ace (born 1918)
 2010  Norman Wisdom, British actor and comedian (born 1915)
 2011  Yelena Chernykh, Russian theatre actress (born 1979)
 2013  Vo Nguyen Giap, Vietnamese general and politician (born 1911)
 2013  Nicholas Oresko, American sergeant (born 1917)
 2014  Jean-Claude Duvalier (Baby Doc), President of Haiti (born 1951) 
 2014  Paul Revere, American musician (Paul Revere and the Raiders) (b. 1938)
 2014  Hugo Carvana, Brazilian actor (born 1937)
 2014  Fyodor Cherenkov, Russian footballer (born 1959)
 2015  José Eduardo Dutra, Brazilian businessman and politician (born 1957)
 2015  J. Whyatt Mondesire, American journalist and activist (born 1949)
 2016  Mario Almada, Mexican actor (born 1922)
 2016  Brigitte Hamann, German-Austrian historian and author (born 1940)
 2017  Davoud Ahmadinejad, Iranian politician (born 1950)
 2017  Liam Cosgrave, Irish politician, Taoiseach of the Republic of Ireland (born 1920)
 2017  John R. Miller, American politician and activist (born 1938)
 2017  Jesús Mosterín, Spanish anthropologist and philosopher (born 1941)
 2018  Dave Anderson, American sports writer (born 1929)
 2018  Jeanne Ashworth, American speed skater (born 1938)
 2018  Hamiet Bluiett, American jazz saxophonist (born 1940)
 2018  Kurt Malangré, German politician (born 1934)
 2018  José Sacal, Mexican sculptor (born 1944)
 2018  Will Vinton, American animator (born 1947)
 2019  Mikhail Biryukov, Russian tennis player (born 1992)
 2019  Diahann Carroll, American actress and singer (born 1935)
 2019  Bill McKnight, Canadian politician (born 1940)

Observances 
 Independence Day (Lesotho)
 Day of Peace and Reconciliation (Mozambique)
 World Animal Day
 Saint Francis of Assisi (Roman Catholicism)
 BB Founder’s Day (The Boys’ Brigade)

October 04