This is a list of selected May 4 anniversaries that appear in the "On this day" section of the Main Page. To suggest a new item, in most cases, you can be bold and edit this page. Before doing so, please review the selected anniversaries guidelines. If your suggestion is potentially controversial or relates to a day currently or soon to appear on the Main Page, post it on the talk page instead.
Please note:
- Events listed on the Main Page are selected based on article quality and to provide a diverse range of topics, rather than solely on the importance or significance of the events.
- Only four or five events are featured each day; therefore, not all important or significant events can be included.
- An event is generally excluded if it is already the subject of the scheduled featured article or picture of the day.
To report an error in content currently on the Main Page, see Wikipedia:Main Page/Errors. If a listed event is inaccurate, please first seek consensus and update the corresponding article before making changes here.
Staging area
Images
Haymarket Station
Battle of Tewkesbury
May Fourth Movement
Surrender delegates
Pope Alexander VI
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Explosion of Space Shuttle fuel
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Ineligible
| Blurb | Reason |
|---|---|
| Greenery Day in Japan | refimprove, stub |
| Remembrance of the Dead in the Netherlands; | unreferenced section |
| 1436 – Swedish rebel and later national hero Engelbrekt Engelbrektsson was assassinated in the midst of his rebellion against Eric of Pomerania. | refimprove |
| 1471 – Wars of the Roses: Yorkist Edward IV defeated a Lancastrian army in the Battle of Tewkesbury. | unreferenced section |
| 1626 – Having been appointed the new Director-General of New Netherland, Peter Minuit arrived in Manhattan. | refimprove section |
| 1814 – Ferdinand VII abolished the Spanish Constitution of 1812, returning Spain to absolutism. | refimprove |
| 1910 – The Royal Canadian Navy was created as the Naval Service of Canada. | refimprove section |
| 1919 – The May Fourth Movement began in China with large-scale student demonstrations in Tiananmen Square, Peking, against the Paris Peace Conference and Japan's Twenty-One Demands. | unreferenced section |
| 1945 – Second World War: Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery accepted the unconditional surrender of the German forces in the Netherlands, northwest Germany, and Denmark. | refimprove section |
| 1949 – A plane carrying almost the entire Torino A.C. football team crashed into the hill of Superga near Turin, Italy, killing all 31 aboard including 18 players, club officials, and the journalists accompanying them. | refimprove |
| 1959 – The inaugural Grammy Awards ceremony was held, recognizing outstanding achievement in the American music industry. | refimprove section |
| 1970 – The Ohio National Guard opened fire at Kent State University students protesting the United States invasion of Cambodia, killing four and injuring nine. | refimprove section |
| 1996 – José María Aznar was elected Prime Minister of Spain, ending 13 years of Socialist rule. | refimprove |
Eligible
- 1493 – Pope Alexander VI issued the papal bull Inter caetera, establishing a line of demarcation dividing the New World between Spain and Portugal.
- 1776 – The Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations became the first of the Thirteen Colonies to renounce its allegiance to the British Crown.
- 1780 – The first running of the Epsom Derby took place, won by Diomed, owned by Charles Bunbury.
- 1942 – World War II: The Imperial Japanese Navy engaged Allied naval forces at the Battle of the Coral Sea, the first fleet action in which aircraft carriers engaged each other.
- 1974 – An all-female Japanese team reached the summit of Manaslu in the Himalayas, becoming the first women to climb an 8,000-metre peak.
- 1982 – Falklands War: HMS Sheffield was struck by an Exocet missile, killing 20 sailors and leading to its sinking six days later—the first Royal Navy ship sunk in action since World War II.
- 1988 – A fire at an industrial plant in Henderson, Nevada, U.S., caused tons of Space Shuttle fuel to explode (pictured), resulting in two deaths, 372 injuries, and $100 million in damage.
- 1990 – The Supreme Soviet of the Latvian SSR declared the restoration of independence of Latvia, stating that the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact and the Soviet occupation of Latvia in 1940 were illegal.
- 2000 – Ken Livingstone took office as the first Mayor of London.
- Born/died: Herman II (d. 1003) · John Nevison (d. 1684) · Julia Gardiner Tyler (b. 1820) · Nettie Stevens (d. 1912) · Kanō Jigorō (d. 1938) · Christian de Duve (d. 2013)
Notes
- John Tyler appears on March 29, so Julia Tyler should not appear in the same year
- Tony Award appears on April 6, so Grammy Award should not appear in the same year
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Margaret Thatcher
- 1836 – The Ancient Order of Hibernians, an Irish Catholic fraternal organization, was founded in New York City.
- 1886 – During a peaceful labor rally in Chicago, an unknown assailant threw a bomb into a crowd of police, which resulted in the deaths of seven police officers and at least four bystanders.
- 1979 – Margaret Thatcher (pictured) became the first female Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, following the defeat of James Callaghan's incumbent Labour government in the previous day's general election.
- 2015 – The Parliament of Malta moved from the Grandmaster's Palace to the purpose-built Parliament House.
Richard Graves (b. 1715) · Audrey Hepburn (b. 1929) · Lillian Estelle Fisher (d. 1988)