4 October 1489

World War II: Allied forces executed Operation Leader, an air raid against German shipping near Bodø, Norway.

Willie Gillis, one of Norman Rockwell's trademark characters, debuted on the cover of The Saturday Evening Post.

Gutzon Borglum and approximately 400 workers began sculpting Mount Rushmore.

Great Syrian Revolt: Rebels led by Fawzi al-Qawuqji captured the city of Hama from the French Mandate of Syria.

First World War: The Japanese merhant ship Hirano Maru was sunk by a German submarine in the Celtic Sea with the loss of 291 lives.

First World War: The Allies devastated the German defence at the Battle of Broodseinde, prompting a crisis among German commanders and causing a severe loss of morale in the 4th Army.

Texas A&M University opened as the first public institution of higher education in the U.S. state.

American Civil War: After a naval battle in Galveston Harbor, Texas, Confederate commanders negotiated the surrender of the city to Union forces.

Smolensk War: Forces from the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth broke the Russian siege of Smolensk (depicted).

Skanderbeg and Gjergj Arianiti signed a peace treaty to end the Albanian–Venetian War.

Red Turban Rebellions: The rebel leader Zhu Yuanzhang won the Battle of Lake Poyang by deploying ships intentionally set aflame when the emperor tried to escape.

Joint Nigerien-American Special Forces are ambushed by Islamic State militants outside the village of Tongo Tongo.

The Ajka plant accident in Hungary releases a million cubic metres of liquid alumina sludge, killing nine, injuring 122, and severely contaminating two major rivers.

WikiLeaks is launched.

SpaceShipOne wins the Ansari X Prize for private spaceflight.

The Maxim restaurant suicide bombing in Israel kills twenty-one Israelis, both Jews and Arabs.

Siberia Airlines Flight 1812 crashes after being struck by an errant Ukrainian missile. Seventy-eight people are killed.

Battle of Mogadishu occurs killing 18 U.S. Special Forces, two UN Peacekeepers and at least 600 Somalian militia men and civilians.

Tanks bombard the Russian parliament, while demonstrators against President Yeltsin rally outside.

El Al Flight 1862 crashes into two apartment buildings in Amsterdam, killing 43 including 39 on the ground.

Richard Noble sets a new land speed record of 633.468 miles per hour (1,019.468 km/h) at the Black Rock Desert in Nevada.

Omar Ali Saifuddien III of Brunei abdicates in favour of his son.

Basutoland becomes independent from the United Kingdom and is renamed Lesotho.

Pope Paul VI begins the first papal visit to the Americas.