March 4

What happened that day?

• 2015: At least 34 miners die in a suspected gas explosion at the Zasyadko coal mine in the rebel-held Donetsk region of Ukraine.
• 2012: A series of explosions is reported at a munitions dump in Brazzaville, the capital of the Republic of the Congo, killing at least 250 people.
• 2009: The International Criminal Court (ICC) issues an arrest warrant for Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur. Al-Bashir is the first sitting head of state to be indicted by the ICC since its establishment in 2002.
• 2002: Afghanistan: Seven American Special Operations Forces soldiers and 200 Al-Qaeda Fighters are killed as American forces attempt to infiltrate the Shah-i-Kot Valley on a low-flying helicopter reconnaissance mission.
• 2001: BBC bombing: A massive car bomb explodes in front of the BBC Television Centre in London, seriously injuring one person; the attack was attributed to the Real IRA.
• 1998: Gay rights: Oncale v. Sundowner Offshore Services, Inc.: The Supreme Court of the United States rules that federal laws banning on-the-job sexual harassment also apply when both parties are the same sex.
• 1996: A derailed train in Weyauwega, Wisconsin (USA) causes the emergency evacuation of 2,300 people for 16 days.
• 1986: The Soviet Vega 1 begins returning images of Halley's Comet and the first images of its nucleus.
• 1985: The Food and Drug Administration approves a blood test for AIDS infection, used since then for screening all blood donations in the United States.
• 1980: Nationalist leader Robert Mugabe wins a sweeping election victory to become Zimbabwe's first black prime minister.
• 1977: The 1977 Vrancea earthquake in eastern and southern Europe kills more than 1,500, mostly in Bucharest, Romania.
• 1976: The [Northern Ireland](https://wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_Ireland) Constitutional Convention is formally dissolved in Northern Ireland resulting in direct rule of Northern Ireland from London by the British parliament.
• 1974: People magazine is published for the first time in the United States as People Weekly.
• 1970: French submarine Eurydice explodes underwater, resulting in the loss of the entire 57-man crew.
• 1966: A Canadian Pacific Air Lines DC-8-43 explodes on landing at Tokyo International Airport, killing 64 people.
• 1962: A Caledonian Airways Douglas DC-7 crashes shortly after takeoff from Cameroon, killing 111 - the worst crash of a DC-7.
• 1960: The French freighter La Coubre explodes in Havana, Cuba, killing 100.
• 1957: The S&P 500 stock market index is introduced, replacing the S&P 90.
• 1944: World War II: After the success of Big Week, the USAAF begins a daylight bombing campaign of Berlin.
• 1943: World War II: The Battle of the Bismarck Sea in the south-west Pacific comes to an end.
• 1941: World War II: The United Kingdom launches Operation Claymore on the Lofoten Islands; the first large scale British Commando raid.
• 1933: The Parliament of Austria is suspended because of a quibble over procedure - Chancellor Engelbert Dollfuss initiates an authoritarian rule by decree.
• 1933: Frances Perkins becomes United States Secretary of Labor, the first female member of the United States Cabinet.
• 1917: Jeannette Rankin of Montana becomes the first female member of the United States House of Representatives.
• 1913: The United States Department of Labor is formed.
• 1913: First Balkan War: The Greek army engages the Turks at Bizani, resulting in victory two days later.
• 1909: U.S. President William Taft used what became known as a Saxbe fix, a mechanism to avoid the restriction of the U.S. Constitution's Ineligibility Clause, to appoint Philander C. Knox as U.S. Secretary of State
• 1908: The [Collinwood](https://wikipedia.org/wiki/Collinwood) school fire, Collinwood near Cleveland, Ohio, kills 174 people.
• 1899: Cyclone Mahina sweeps in north of Cooktown, Queensland, with a 12 metres (39 ft) wave that reaches up to 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) inland, killing over 300.
• 1890: The longest bridge in Great Britain, the Forth Bridge in Scotland, measuring 1,710 feet (520 m) long, is opened by the Prince of Wales, later King Edward VII.
• 1882: Britain's first electric trams run in east London.
• 1865: The third and final national flag of the Confederate States of America is adopted by the Confederate Congress.
• 1861: The first national flag of the Confederate States of America (the "Stars and Bars") is adopted.
• 1848: Carlo Alberto di Savoia signs the Statuto Albertino that will later represent the first constitution of the Regno d'Italia.
• 1837: The city of Chicago is incorporated.
• 1814: Americans defeat British forces at the Battle of Longwoods between London, Ontario and Thamesville, near present-day Wardsville, Ontario.
• 1813: Cyril VI of Constantinople is elected Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople.
• 1804: Castle Hill Rebellion: Irish convicts rebel against British colonial authority in the Colony of New South Wales.
• 1797: John Adams is inaugurated as the 2nd President of the United States of America, becoming the first President to begin his presidency on March 4.
• 1794: The 11th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution is passed by the U.S. Congress.
• 1791: Vermont is admitted to the United States as the fourteenth state.
• 1791: The Constitutional Act of 1791 is introduced by the British House of Commons in London which envisages the separation of Canada into Lower Canada (Quebec) and Upper Canada (Ontario).
• 1790: France is divided into 83 départements, cutting across the former provinces in an attempt to dislodge regional loyalties based on ownership of land by the nobility.
• 1789: In New York City, the first Congress of the United States meets, putting the United States Constitution into effect. The United States Bill of Rights is written and proposed to Congress.
• 1776: American Revolutionary War: The Continental Army fortifies Dorchester Heights with cannon, leading the British troops to abandon the Siege of Boston.
• 1681: Charles II grants a land charter to William Penn for the area that will later become Pennsylvania.
• 1675: John Flamsteed is appointed the first Astronomer Royal of England.
• 1665: English King Charles II declares war on the Netherlands marking the start of the Second Anglo-Dutch War.
• 1628: The Massachusetts Bay Colony is granted a Royal charter.
• 1519: Hernán Cortés arrives in Mexico in search of the Aztec civilization and its wealth.
• 1493: Explorer Christopher Columbus arrives back in Lisbon, Portugal, aboard his ship Niña from his voyage to what is now The Bahamas and other islands in the Caribbean.
• 1461: Wars of the Roses in England: Lancastrian King Henry VI is deposed by his House of York cousin, who then becomes King Edward IV.
• 1386: Władysław II Jagiełło (Jogaila) is crowned King of Poland.
• 1351: Ramathibodi becomes King of Siam.
• 1238: The Battle of the Sit River is fought in the northern part of the present-day Yaroslavl Oblast of Russia between the Mongol hordes of Batu Khan and the Russians under Yuri II of Vladimir-Suzdal during the Mongol invasion of Rus'.
• 1152: Frederick I Barbarossa is elected King of Germany.
• 932: Translation of the relics of martyr Wenceslaus I, Duke of Bohemia, Prince of the Czechs.
• 852: Croatian Knez Trpimir I issues a statute, a document with the first known written mention of the Croats name in Croatian sources.
• 306: Martyrdom of Saint Adrian of Nicomedia.
• AD 51: Nero, later to become Roman emperor, is given the title princeps iuventutis (head of the youth).