August 4

### Up to 1940

- 70 – Destruction of the Second Temple of Jerusalem by the Romans.
- 1265 – Second Barons' War: Battle of Evesham – an army led by Prince Edward, the future King Edward I of England, defeats the forces of rebellious barons led by Simon de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester, killing de Montfort and many of his allies.
- 1327 – First War of Scottish Independence: James Douglas, Lord of Douglas leads a raid into Weardale and almost killed Edward III of England.
- 1532 – The Duchy of Brittany is annexed to the Kingdom of France.
- 1578 – Battle of Al-Kasr al Kebir: The Moroccans defeat the Portuguese.
- 1627 – The Siege of La Rochelle under King Louis XIII of France begins.
- 1704 – War of Spanish Succession: Gibraltar is captured by an English and Dutch fleet, commanded by Admiral Sir George Rooke, and allied with Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor.
- 1783 – Mount Asama erupts in Japan, killing about 1,400 people, and resulting in a famine that kills a further 20,000. There was a similarly destructive eruption in Iceland just two months earlier.
- 1789 – In France, members of the National Constituent Assembly take an oath to end feudalism and end their privileges.
- 1791 – The Treaty of Sistova is signed, ending the Ottoman-Habsburg Wars.
- 1796 – French Revolutionary Wars: Napoleon Bonaparte leads the French Army of Italy to victory in the Battle of Lonato.
- 1824 – The Battle of Kos is fought between Turkish and Greek forces.
- 1845 – The British emigrant ship _Catargui_ runs aground off King Island, near Tasmania, killing 399 people. 9 survive.
- 1851 – David Livingstone reaches the upper course of the Zambezi River in Africa.
- 1854 – The Hinomaru is established as the official flag to be flown on Japanese ships.
- 1863 – Matika slovenska, Slovakia's public–law cultural and scientific institution, focusing on topics around the Slovak nation, is founded.
- 1873 – American Indian Wars: US 7th Cavalry, under George Armstrong Custer, clashes with the Sioux for the first time, near the Tongue River, Montana. One on each side is killed.
- 1892 – The father and stepmother of Lizzie Borden are found dead in their home in Massachusetts, leading to one of the most well–known murder cases. It is still unknown whether Borden committed the murders.
- 1902 – The Greenwich Foot Tunnel under the River Thames opens.
- 1903 – Giuseppe Melchiore Sarto is elected Pope. He becomes Pope Pius X.
- 1906 – Central Railway Station in Sydney, Australia opens.
- 1906 – Italian passenger steamboat _Sirio_hits a reef at Cabo de Palos, southern Spain. 442 people drown.
- 1914 – World War I: Germany invades Belgium, and the UK declares war on Germany.
- 1915 – The German 12th Army occupies in Warsaw.
- 1917 – The Tigra Reservoir in India breaks, causing a flood, killing around 1,000 people.
- 1924 – Diplomatic relations between Mexico and the Soviet Union are established.
- 1936 – Greek Prime Minister Ioannis Metaxas suspends Parliament and the Constitution, establishing the 4th August regime.

### From 1941

- 1944 – Anne Frank and her family are arrested by the Gestapo, after a secret informant had given information about the secret annex.
- 1946 – A magnitude 8 earthquake hits the Dominican Republic, killing 100 people and leaving 20,000 people homeless.
- 1947 – The Supreme Court of Japan is established.
- 1958 – The Billboard Hot 100 is first published.
- 1961 – US President Barack Obama is born in Honolulu, Hawaii.
- 1964 – American Civil rights activists Michael Schwerner, Andrew Gooding and James Chaney are found dead after disappearing on June 21.
- 1964 – Gulf of Tonkin incident: US destroyers USS _Maddox_ and USS _Turner Joy_ report coming under attack in the Gulf of Tonkin.
- 1965 – The Cook Islands achieve self–determination in 'Free Association' with New Zealand.
- 1974 – A bomb explodes in the Italicus Express train at San Benedetto Val di Sambro, Italy, killing 12 people.
- 1975 – The Japanese Red Army takes more than 50 hostages at the AIA Building housing several Embassies in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
- 1977 – Jimmy Carter signs the legislation creating the United States Department of Energy.
- 1979 – The Cook Islands introduce a new flag.
- 1983 – Thomas Sankara takes control in Upper Volta, through a military coup.
- 1984 – Exactly a year after coming to power, Thomas Sankara changes Upper Volta's name to Burkina Faso.
- 1991 – Greek cruise ship MTS _Oceanus_ sinks off the Wild Coast of South Africa.
- 1995 – Operation Storm begins in Croatia.
- 1996 – The 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia, US, come to an end.
- 1997 – The oldest human on record, Jeanne Calment of France, dies aged 122 years, 164 days.
- 2005 – Prime Minister of Canada Paul Martin announces that Michaelle Jean would become the 27th Governor–General of Canada.
- 2006 – A massacre is carried out by Sri Lankan government forces, killing 17 employees of the French INGO Action Against Hunger charity.
- 2007 – Slovenia bans smoking in public places.
- 2007 – NASA's Phoenix spacecraft is launched.
- 2009 – Former US President Bill Clinton travels to North Korea to secure the release of two journalists.
- 2013 – The United States closes several embassies in North Africa and the Middle East for up to a week. The UK, France and Germany also do so with their Embassy in Yemen.
- 2014 – Commemorations take place around the world to mark 100 years since the start of World War I.
- 2019 – 2019 Dayton shooting: A gunman kills 9 people, including his sister, in Dayton, Ohio, before killing himself. It occurs less than 24 hours after another mass shooting in El Paso, Texas.
- 2019 – 20 people are killed in an explosion in Cairo.

### Up to 1900

- 1222 – Richard de Clare, 6th Earl of Gloucester, English soldier (d. 1262)
- 1290 – Duke Leopold I of Austria (d. 1326)
- 1502 – Pieter Coecke van Aelst, Flemish painter (d. 1550)
- 1521 – Pope Urban VII, (d. 1590)
- 1647 – Giovanni II Cornaro, ruler of Venice (d. 1722)
- 1701 – Thomas Blackwell, Scottish classical scholar (d. 1757)
- 1704 – Louis d'Orléans, Duke of Orléans (d. 1752)
- 1719 – Johanna Gottlob Lehmann, German mineralogist and geologist (d. 1767)
- 1721 – Granville Leveson-Gower, 1st Marquess of Stafford, English politician (d. 1803)
- 1755 – Nicolas-Jacques Conté, French chemist, painter and inventor (d. 1805)
- 1792 – Edward Irving, Scottish clergyman (d. 1834)
- 1792 – Percy Bysshe Shelley, English poet (d. 1822)
- 1800 – Ramon Maria Narvaez, 1st Duke of Valencia, Spanish military and politician (d. 1868)
- 1804 – Karl Friedrich Hermann, German historian and classical scholar (d. 1855)
- 1805 – William Rowan Hamilton, Irish mathematician (d. 1865)
- 1813 – Alexander von Mensdorff-Pouilly, Prince Dietrich von Nicolsburg, Austrian statesman (d. 1871)
- 1816 – Richard Leach Maddox, English physician (d. 1902)
- 1817 – Frederick Theodore Frelinghuysen, United States Secretary of State (d. 1885)
- 1821 – Louis Vuitton, French designer (d. 1892)
- 1821 – James Springer White, American religious leader, founder of the Seventh-day Adventist Church (d. 1881)
- 1823 – Oliver P. Morton, 44th Governor of Indiana (d. 1877)
- 1824 – Domingo Santa María, President of Chile (d. 1889)
- 1834 – John Venn, British mathematician (d. 1923)
- 1848 – Vladimir Sukhomlinov, Russian general (d. 1926)
- 1853 – John Henry Twachtman, American painter (d. 1902)
- 1859 – Knut Hamsun, Norwegian writer, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Literature 1920 (d. 1952)
- 1861 – Daniel Edward Howard, President of Liberia (d. 1935)
- 1870 – Harry Lauder, Scottish comedian and singer (d. 1950)
- 1876 – Giovanni Giuriati, Italian politician (d. 1970)
- 1883 – René Schickele, German–French writer (d. 1940)
- 1884 – Henri Cornet, French cyclist (d. 1941)
- 1887 – Albert M. Greenfield, American businessman (d. 1967)
- 1888 – Taher Saifuddin, Indian religious leader (d. 1965)
- 1890 – Dolf Luque, Cuban baseball player (d. 1957)
- 1895 – José Paulino Gomes, Brazilian supercentenarian (d. 2023)
- 1899 – Ezra Taft Benson, President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (d. 1994)
- 1900 – Nabi Tajima, Japanese supercentenarian (d. 2018)
- 1900 – Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, Queen Mother of the United Kingdom (d. 2002)
- 1900 – Arturo Umberto Illia, President of Argentina (d. 1983)

### 1901 – 1950

- 1901 – Louis Armstrong, American jazz musician (d. 1971)
- 1904 – Witold Gombrowicz, Polish novelist and dramatist (d. 1969)
- 1906 – Marie-José of Belgium, last Queen of Italy (d. 2001)
- 1906 – Eugen Schuhmacher, German zoologist (d. 1973)
- 1908 – Kurt Eichhorn, German conductor (d. 1994)
- 1909 – Glenn Cunningham, American athlete (d. 1988)
- 1909 – Saunders Mac Lane, American mathematician (d. 2005)
- 1909 – Roberto Burle Marx, Brazilian landscape architect, plant collector and painter (d. 1994)
- 1910 – Anita Page, American actress (d. 2008)
- 1910 – William Schuman, composer (d. 1992)
- 1912 – Aleksandr Danilovich Aleksandrov, mathematician, physicist, philosopher and a mountaineer (d. 1999)
- 1912 – Raoul Wallenberg, Swedish diplomat (d. 1947 presumed)
- 1913 – Robert Hayden, American poet, Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress (d. 1980)
- 1915 – Warren Avis, American businessman (d. 2007)
- 1915 – Loni Nest, German actress (d. 1990)
- 1917 – John Fitch, American racing driver (d. 2012)
- 1918 – Iceberg Slim, American writer (d. 1992)
- 1919 – Michel Déon, French writer (d. 2016)
- 1920 – Helen Thomas, American journalist (d. 2013)
- 1921 – Herb Ellis, American jazz guitarist (d. 2010)
- 1921 – Maurice Richard, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 2000)
- 1921 – Geoffrey Wellum, British fighter pilot (d. 2018)
- 1923 – Reg Grundy, Australian entrepreneur (d. 2016)
- 1926 – George Irving Bell, American physicist, biologist and mountaineer (d. 2000)
- 1926 – Perry Moss, American football coach (d. 2014)
- 1926 – Martha Vaughan, American biochemist and physiologist (d. 2018)
- 1927 – Jess Thomas, American tenor (d. 1993)
- 1927 – John Wilcock, British journalist (d. 2018)
- 1928 – Christian Goethals, Belgian racing driver (d. 2003)
- 1928 – Flóra Kádár, Hungarian actress (d. 2003)
- 1929 – Victor Krasin, Ukrainian–born Russian human rights activist and economist (d. 2017)
- 1929 – Yasser Arafat, Chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization (possibly born on August 24) (d. 2004)
- 1929 – Kishore Kumar, Indian singer and actor (d. 1987)
- 1930 – Götz Friedrich, opera director (d. 2000)
- 1932 – Hans Jürgen Fröhlich, writer
- 1932 – Guillermo Mordillo, graphic artist and cartoonist
- 1932 – Francis E. Allen, American computer scientist
- 1934 – Dallas Green, American baseball player and manager
- 1936 – Assia Djebar, member of the Académie française (d. 2015)
- 1937 – David Bedford, English musician and composer (d. 2011)
- 1939 – Frankie Ford, American singer (d. 2015)
- 1940 – Robin Harper, Scottish academic and politician
- 1941 – Ted Strickland, American politician, 68th Governor of Ohio
- 1942 – David Lange, 32nd Prime Minister of New Zealand (d. 2005)
- 1942 – Don S. Davis, American actor (d. 2008)
- 1943 – Bjørn Wirkola, Norwegian ski jumper
- 1943 – Vicente Alvarez Areces, Spanish politician
- 1944 – Richard Belzer, American actor and comedian
- 1944 – Orhan Gencebay, Turkish musician, composer, singer, producer, director and actor
- 1946 – Maureen Starkey Tigrett, wife of Ringo Starr (d. 1994)
- 1947 – Hubert Ingraham, former Prime Minister of the Bahamas
- 1947 – Klaus Schulze, German composer and performer
- 1950 – Caldwell Jones, American basketball player (d. 2014)
- 1950 – N. Rangasamy, Indian politician, Chief Minister of Puducherry

### 1951 – 1975

- 1952 – Gábor Demszky, Hungarian politician
- 1952 – Daniel Bautista, Mexican race walker
- 1953 – Antonio Tajani, Italian politician
- 1953 – Hiroyuki Usui, Japanese footballer
- 1954 – Anatoliy Kinakh, 11th Prime Minister of Ukraine
- 1955 – Dariusz Lipinski, Polish politician
- 1955 – Andrew M. Allen, American astronaut
- 1955 – Alberto Gonzales,  former United States Attorney General
- 1955 – Billy Bob Thornton, American actor and writer
- 1955 – Steingrímur J. Sigfússon, Icelandic politician
- 1956 – Meg Whitman, American businesswoman
- 1957 – Valdis Valters, Latvian basketball player
- 1957 – John Wark, Scottish footballer
- 1958 – Liao Yiwu, Chinese writer, poet and musician
- 1958 – Mary Decker Slaney, American middle–distance runner
- 1958 – Pita, Brazilian footballer
- 1958 – Phillip Scott, American politician, 82nd Governor of Vermont
- 1958 – Siwan Shalom, Israeli politician
- 1959 – Kim Reynolds, American politician, 43rd Governor of Iowa
- 1960 – Dean Malenko, American professional wrestler
- 1960 – José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, former Prime Minister of Spain
- 1961 – Barack Obama, 44th President of the United States
- 1961 – Lauren Tom, American actress
- 1962 – Roger Clemens, American baseball player
- 1962 – Lori Lightfoot, American lawyer and politician, 56th Mayor of Chicago
- 1964 – Andrew Bartlett, Australian politician and activist
- 1964 – Sebastian Roché, French actor
- 1965 – Adam Afriyie, British politician
- 1965 – Terri Lyne Carrington, American musician and singer-songwriter
- 1965 – Fredrik Reinfeldt, former Prime Minister of Sweden
- 1965 – Michael Skibbe, German footballer and coach
- 1966 – Dennis Lehane, American author
- 1967 – Mike Marsh, American athlete
- 1968 – Daniel Dae Kim, American actor
- 1968 – Marcus Schenkenberg, model
- 1968 – Lee Mack, English comedian
- 1969 – Max Cavalera, Brazilian singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1969 – Jojo Moyes, English author
- 1970 – Michael DeLuise, American actor
- 1970 – Kate Silverton, English journalist
- 1971 – Jeff Gordon, race car driver
- 1973 – Xavier Marchand, French swimmer
- 1975 – Nikos Liberopoulos, Greek footballer
- 1975 – Jutta Urpilainen, Finnish politician
- 1975 – Adnan Gulshair el Shukrijumah, Saudi militant (d. 2015)

### From 1976

- 1977 – Luís Boa Morte, Portuguese footballer
- 1977 – Marek Heinz, Czech footballer
- 1978 – Kurt Busch, race car driver
- 1981 – Benjamin Boukpeti, Togolese slalom canoeist
- 1981 – Simone Del Nero, Italian footballer
- 1981 – Meghan, Duchess of Sussex
- 1981 – Abigail Spencer, American actress
- 1983 – Greta Gerwig, American actress, writer and director
- 1984 – Mardy Collins, American basketball player
- 1985 – Ha Seung-Jin, South Korean basketball player
- 1985 – Mark Milligan, Australian footballer
- 1985 – Luis Antonio Valencia, Ecuadorean footballer
- 1987 – Jang Keun-suk, South Korean actor and singer
- 1987 – Phil Younghusband, English–Filipino footballer
- 1987 – Marreese Speights, American basketball player
- 1988 – Tom Parker, British singer (The Wanted)
- 1989 – Wang Hao, Chinese chess player
- 1989 – Jessica Mauboy, Australian singer-songwriter and actress
- 1991 – Graeme Shinnie, Scottish footballer
- 1992 – Tiffany Evans, American singer
- 1992 – Dylan & Cole Sprouse, American actors
- 1992 – Yvonne Neuwirth, Austrian tennis player
- 1993 – Saido Berahino, Burundian–English footballer
- 1994 – Mayuko Fukuda, Japanese actress
- 1995 – Jessica Sanchez, American singer
- 1997 – Ekaterina Ryabova, Russian singer
- 2016 – Charlie Gard, British infant in life support and parental rights case (d. 2017)

### Up to 1800

- 966 – Berengar II of Italy (b. 900)
- 1060 – Henry I of France (b. 1008)
- 1113 – Gertrude of Saxony (b. 1030)
- 1265 – Killed in the Battle of Evesham:
    - Hugh le Despencer, 1st Baron le Despencer (b. 1223)
    - Henry de Montfort (b. 1238)
    - Peter de Montfort (b. 1215)
    - Simon de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester (b. 1208)
- 1306 – Wenceslaus III of Bohemia (b. 1289)
- 1338 – Thomas of Brotherton, 1st Earl of Norfolk, son of Edward I of England (b. 1300)
- 1430 – Philip I, Duke of Brabant (b. 1404)
- 1526 – Juan Sebastián Elcano, Spanish explorer (b. 1476)
- 1578 – Sebastian of Portugal (b. 1554)
- 1578 – Thomas Stucley, English adventurer (b. 1520)
- 1598 – William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley, English statesman (b. 1520)
- 1612 – Hugh Broughton, English scholar (b. 1549)
- 1639 – Juan Ruiz de Alarcón, Mexican dramatist (b. 1581)
- 1699 – Maria Sofia of Neuburg, Queen of Portugal (b. 1666)
- 1718 – René Lepage de Ste-Claire, lord–founder of the town of Rimouski, in New France (b. 1656)
- 1727 – Victor-Maurice, comte de Broglie, French general (b. 1647)
- 1741 – Andrew Hamilton, American lawyer (b. 1676)
- 1778 – Pierre de Rigaud, French colonial governor in North America (b. 1698)
- 1784 – Giovanni Battista Martini, Italian musician (b. 1706)
- 1792 – John Burgoyne, British general (b. 1723)
- 1795 – Timothy Ruggles, American–born Tory politician (b. 1711)

### 1801 – 1900

- 1821 – William Floyd, American politician (b. 1734)
- 1822 – Kristjan Jaak Peterson, Estonian poet (b. 1801)
- 1834 – Dimitrios Panourgias, Greek military commander (b. 1754)
- 1844 – Jacob Aall, Norwegian journalist and statesman (b. 1773)
- 1849 – Anita Garibaldi, Brazilian wife of Giuseppe Garibaldi (b. 1821)
- 1859 – Jean Vianney, French priest (b. 1786)
- 1873 – Viktor Hartmann, Russian painter (b. 1834)
- 1875 – Hans Christian Andersen, Danish writer (b. 1805)
- 1877 – Gustav, Prince of Vasa, Prince of Sweden (b. 1799)
- 1886 – Samuel J. Tilden, United States Presidential candidate and Governor of New York (b. 1814)
- 1900 – Isaac Levitan, Russian painter (b. 1860)
- 1900 – Jacob Dolson Cox, American politician, Governor of Ohio (b. 1828)

### 1901 - 2000

- 1914 – Jules Lemaitre, French critic and dramatist (b. 1863)
- 1922 – Enver Pasha, Turkish politician (b. 1891)
- 1938 – Pearl White, American actress (b. 1889)
- 1942 – Alberto Franchetti, Italian composer (b. 1860)
- 1957 – Washington Luís Pereira de Sousa, President of Brazil (b. 1869)
- 1958 – Ethel Anderson, Australian poet (b. 1883)
- 1967 – Peter Smith, English cricketer (b. 1908)
- 1973 – Eddie Condon, American jazz guitarist (b. 1905)
- 1976 – Roy Herbert Thomson, Canadian publisher (b. 1894)
- 1977 – Ernst Bloch, German philosopher (b. 1885)
- 1977 – Edgar Adrian, 1st Baron Adrian, English physiologist (b. 1889)
- 1981 – Melvyn Douglas, American actor (b. 1901)
- 1982 – Bruce Goff, American architect (b. 1904)
- 1993 – Chinmayananda, Indian spiritual leader and teacher (b. 1916)
- 1994 – Giovanni Spadolini, Prime Minister of Italy (b. 1925)
- 1996 – Geoff Hamilton, British gardener and broadcaster (b. 1936)
- 1997 – Jeanne Calment, French supercentenarian; world's oldest ever–human (b. 1875)
- 1998 – Yuri Artyukhin, cosmonaut (b. 1930)
- 1999 – Victor Mature, American actor (b. 1915)
- 2000 – Leslie Glass, American adult movie actress (b. 1963)

### From 2001

- 2001 – Lorenzo Music, American actor (b. 1937)
- 2002 – Holly Wells & Jessica Chapman, Soham murder victims (b. 1991, 1991)
- 2003 – Frederick Chapman Robbins, American Nobel Prize Laureate (b. 1916)
- 2005 – Anatoly Larkin, Russian–American physicist (b. 1932)
- 2007 – Lee Hazlewood, American singer (b. 1929)
- 2008 – Craig Jones, English motorcycle racer (b. 1985)
- 2011 – Naoki Matsuda, Japanese footballer (b. 1977)
- 2013 – Yitzhak Berman, Ukrainian–born Israeli politician (b. 1913)
- 2013 – Renato Ruggiero, Italian politician, former foreign minister (b. 1930)
- 2013 – Art Donovan, American football player (b. 1924)
- 2013 – Sandy Woodward, British admiral (b. 1932)
- 2014 – James Brady, American Press Secretary (b. 1940)
- 2014 – Walter Massey, Canadian actor (b. 1928)
- 2014 – George Hilton, American historian (b. 1925)
- 2015 – Les Munro, New Zealand pilot (b. 1919)
- 2015 – Theo van Els, Dutch linguist (b. 1936)
- 2015 – Achim Hill, German rower (b. 1935)
- 2016 – Patrice Munsel, American coloratura soprano (b. 1925)
- 2017 – Luiz Melodia, Brazilian actor and singer–songwriter (b. 1951)
- 2017 – Heinz F. Dressel, German theologian and writer (b. 1929)
- 2017 – Waldemar Schreckenberger, German lawyer, jurist and politician (b. 1929)
- 2017 – Laurie Brokenshire, English Royal Navy officer and magician (b. 1952)
- 2018 – Lorrie Collins, American singer and guitarist (b. 1942)
- 2018 – Masahiko Tsugawa, Japanese actor (b. 1940)
- 2018 – Arsène Tchakarian, Armenian–French resistance fighter (b. 1916)
- 2019 – Ernie Bowman, American baseball player (b. 1935)
- 2019 – Nuon Chea, Cambodian politician (b. 1926)
- 2019 – André Goosse, Belgian grammarian (b. 1926)
- 2019 – Willi Tokarev, Russian–American singer–songwriter (b. 1934)
- 2019 – Bob Wilber, American jazz musician (b. 1928)

## Observances

- Revolution Day (Burkina Faso)
- Constitution Day (Cook Islands)