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“As for myself, I always willingly acknowledge my own self as the principal cause of every good and of every evil which may befall me; therefore I have always found myself capable of being my own pupil, and ready to love my teacher.”
~ Giacomo Casanova painting by Anton Raphael Mengs (March 22, 1728 – June 29, 1779)
Wikiquote (Giacomo Casanova (Giacomo Girolamo Casanova; April 2, 1725 – June 4, 1798) was an Italian adventurer and author from the Republic of Venice. His autobiography, Histoire de ma vie (Story of My Life), is regarded as one of the most authentic sources of the customs and norms of European social life during the 18th century.)
October 4th, 610
Byzantine Empire (East Roman Empire):
610 - Heraclius arrives by ship from Africa at Constantinople, overthrows Byzantine Emperor Phocas and becomes Emperor.
Wikipedia Image: The Baptism of Constantine painted by Raphael's pupils (1520–1524, fresco, Vatican City, Apostolic Palace); Mural of Saints Cyril and Methodius, 19th century, Troyan Monastery, Bulgaria; Justinian I depicted on one of the famous mosaics of the Basilica of San Vitale, Ravenna; The Greek fire was first used by the Byzantine Navy during the Byzantine-Arab Wars (from the Madrid Skylitzes, Biblioteca Nacional de España, Madrid); Alexios I, founder of the Komnenos dynasty.
Painting: Medieval painting depicting the victory of Emperor Heraclius over the Persians.
October 4th, 1363
China - Three Kingdoms period:
1363 - Battle of Lake Poyang: Chinese rebel forces of Zhu Yuanzhang defeat that of his rival, Chen Youliang, in one of the largest naval battles in history.
Wikipedia Photo: China from NASA Wordwind Satellite; © Great Wall of China, credit National Geographic; LongJi Terrace, credit National Geographic; Great Bear Rainforest, credit Paul Nicklen, National Geographic; Platoons of clay soldiers were buried with China's first emperor, Qin Shi Huang Di, (required a labor force of 700,000 to build), credit O. Louis Mazzatenta, National Geographic.
● Battle of Lake Poyang; The Chinese rebel forces constructed several "fire ships" (kamikazes) filled with the most flammable explosives they could find. Boats were staffed with false sailors made of straw to fool the enemy, then sent downwind toward enemy ships, burning tens of thousands of men alive.
October 4th, 1535
The first complete English-language (the Coverdale Bible) is printed, with translations by William Tyndale and Miles Coverdale.
Wikipedia Painting: Miles Coverdale published the first complete English Bible in 1535.
October 4th, 1582
The first complete Pope Gregory XIII implements the Gregorian Calendar. In Italy, Poland, Portugal, and Spain, October 4 of this year is followed directly by October 15.
Wikipedia Image: Detail of the tomb of Pope Gregory XIII celebrating the introduction of the Gregorian calendar.
October 4th, 1777
American Revolutionary War:
1777 - Battle of Germantown; Troops under George Washington are repelled by British troops under Sir William Howe.
Wikipedia Paintings: Washington Crossing the Delaware, by Emanuel Leutz; Battle of the Chesapeake, French (left) and British (right) lines; Battle of Bunker Hill, The Death of General Warren at the Battle of Bunker Hill by John Trumbull; The Defeat of the Floating Batteries at Gibraltar, September 13, 1782, by John Singleton Copley; Washington and the Comte de Rochambeau at Yorktown, 1781; "The surrender at Saratoga" shows General Daniel Morgan in front of a French de Vallière 4-pounder; Surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown by (John Trumbull, 1797).
Painting: Battle of Germantown.
October 4th, 1795
French Revolutionary Wars / Napoleonic Wars:
1795 - General Napoleon Bonaparte first rises to national prominence with a "Whiff of Grapeshot", using cannon to suppress armed counter-revolutionary rioters threatening the French Legislature National Convention.
Wikipedia Painting: Battle of Trafalgar: The British HMS Sandwich fires to the French flagship Bucentaure (completely dismasted) in the battle of Trafalgar;
Napoleon in Berlin (Meynier). After defeating Prussian forces at Jena, the French Army entered Berlin on 27 October 1806;
Battle of the Bridge of Arcole Napoleon Bonaparte leading his troops over the bridge of Arcole, by Horace Vernet;
Napoleon as King of Italy (Appiani);
Napoleon Crossing the Alps (David). In 1800 Bonaparte took the French Army across the Alps, eventually defeating the Austrians at Marengo;
Charge of the Russian Imperial Guard cavalry against French cuirassiers at the Battle of Friedland, 14 June 1807;
Battle of Borodino as depicted by Louis Lejeune. The battle was the largest and bloodiest single-day action of the Napoleonic Wars;
Napoleon's withdrawal from Russia, a painting by Adolph Northen;
Wellington at Waterloo by Robert Alexander Hillingford;
Napoleon is often represented in his green colonel uniform of the Chasseur à Cheval, with a large bicorne and a hand-in-waistcoat gesture.
Napoleon crossing the Alps, by Jacques-Louis David (1748–1825), Rueil-Malmaison, France.
October 4th, 1824
Mexican War of Independence:
1824 - Constitution of Mexico: Mexico becomes a federal republic.
Wikipedia Painting: Mexican War of Independence ● Photo: Mexico City, Ciudad de México (City of Mexico)
October 4th, 1830
Creation of the Kingdom of Belgium after separation from the Netherlands.
Wikipedia Photo: Faulx Les Tombes Castle Namur Belgium
October 4th, 1853
Crimean War: Ottoman Empire declares war on Russia.
Wikipedia Lithograph: by William Simpson illustrating conditions of the sick and injured in Balaklava
October 4th, 1876
Texas A&M University opens as the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas, becoming the first public institution of higher education in Texas.
Wikipedia Photo: Texas A&M University campus in College Station.
October 4th, 1927
Gutzon Borglum begins sculpting Mount Rushmore.
Wikipedia Photo: Mount Rushmore; Sculptures of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln represent the first 130 years of the history of the United States.
October 4th, 1941
Norman Rockwell's Willie Gillis character debuts on the cover of the Saturday Evening Post.
Wikipedia Photo: Saturday Evening Post Norman Rockwell Willie Gillis
October 4th, 1943
World War II:
1943 - United States captures Solomon Islands.
Wikipedia Photo: Bombing of Dresden in World War II; August Schreitmüller's sculpture 'Goodness' surveys Dresden after a firestorm started by Allied bombers in 1945.
USS Bunker Hill was hit by kamikazes piloted by Ensign Kiyoshi Ogawa and another airman on 11 May 1945. 389 personnel were killed or missing from a crew of 2,600; Ensign Kiyoshi Ogawa, who flew his aircraft into the USS Bunker Hill during a Kamikaze mission on 11 May 1945; Kamikaze Missions - Lt Yoshinori Yamaguchi's Yokosuka D4Y3 (Type 33 Suisei) "Judy" in a suicide dive against USS Essex. The dive brakes are extended and the non-self-sealing port wing tank is trailing fuel vapor and/or smoke 25 November 1944.
German V1 flying-bomb and V2 Rockets - Preparations for a Salvo Launch of V-2 Rockets in the Heidelager near Blizna (Poland) (1944), credit German History in Documents and Images GHDI.
Eastern Front (World War II); Germans race towards Stalingrad. August 1942; Soviet children during a German air raid in the first days of the war, June 1941, by RIA Novosti archive; Soviet sniper Roza Shanina in 1944. About 400,000 Soviet women served in front-line duty units Caucasus Mountains, winter 1942/43; Finnish ski patrol: the invisible enemy of the Soviet Army with an unlimited supply of skis; Men of the German Engineers Corps cross a river which is swollen after the first autumn rains, to strengthen bridges linking the German positions on the central front in Russia. by Keystone / Getty Images. October 1942; Russian snipers fighting on the Leningrad front during a blizzard. Photo by Hulton Archive / Getty Images, 1943; German soldiers surrendering to the Russians in Stalingrad, the soldier holding the white flag of surrender is dressed in white so that there could be no doubt of his intentions, a Russian soldier is on the right of the photograph. by Keystone / Getty Images, January 1943.
October 4th, 1957
Leave It To Beaver premieres on CBS television.
Wikipedia Photo: Leave It to Beaver an American television situation comedy about an inquisitive but often naïve boy named Theodore "The Beaver" Cleaver and his adventures at home, in school, and around his suburban neighborhood, with Beaver's brother Wally.
October 4th, 1957
Sputnik 1 is launched by the Soviet Union.
Wikipedia Image: Sputnik 1, credit Science Photo Library.
October 4th, 1963
1963 - Hurricane Flora, kills 6,000 in Cuba and Haiti.
Wikipedia Image: Hurricane Andrew sequence, NASA ● Hurricane Mitch at peak intensity (formed October 22, 1998 - Dissipated November 5, 1998) ● Hurricane Katrina taken on August 28, 2005, at 11:45 AM EDT by NOAA when the storm was a Category Five hurricane ● Hurricane Jeanne September 23, 2004, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) ● PDC Global Hazards Atlas displaying 3 hour precipitation accumulation, typhoon Evan (04P), with JTWC positions, segments, and winds...over the South Pacific Ocean ● Satellite imagery provided by NOAA and taken by the Japan Meteorological Agency's MTSAT weather satellite shows Typhoon Roke as it approaches Japan, September 20, 2011. Over 1.3 million ordered to evacuate in Japan ahead of Typhoon Roke.
October 4th, 1993
Russian Constitutional Crisis: Moscow, tanks bombard the White House (Moscow), a government building that housed the Russian parliament, while demonstrators against President Boris Yeltsin rally outside.
Wikipedia Photo: Russian Constitutional Crisis, Russia - Moscow Civil War
October 4th, 2001
Aviation accidents and incidents:
2001 - Siberia Airlines Flight 1812; a Sibir Airlines Tupolev Tu-154 crashes into the Black Sea after being struck by an errant Ukrainian S-200 missile, killing 78 people.
Wikipedia Photo: ● Pan AM 747 ● U.S. Airways flight 1549 also known as the "Miracle on the Hudson" navigates an exit ramp near Burlington, New Jersey, June 5, 2011 ● Passengers stand on the wings of a U.S. Airways plane as a ferry pulls up to it after it landed in the Hudson River in New York, Reuters ● US Airways plane crashes into New York Hudson River, Photo: AP
October 4th, 2003
Modern conflicts in the Middle East, social unrest and terrorist attacks:
2003 - Maxim restaurant suicide bombing; In Haifa, Israel, 21 Israelis, Jew and Arabs, are killed, and 51 others wounded.
Wikipedia Photo: Middle East satellite image, NASA. ● Camels are seen early morning on a beach in the Marina area of Dubai October 16, 2008. (Steve Crisp, Reuters) ● A portrait of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad burns during clashes between rebels and Syrian troops in Selehattin, near Aleppo, on July 23, 2012. (Bulent Kilic, AFP / GettyImages) ● Egyptians gather in their thousands in Tahrir Square to mark the one year anniversary of the revolution on Jan. 25, 2012 in Cairo Egypt. Tens of thousands have gathered in the square on the first anniversary of the Arab uprising which toppled President Hosni Mubarak. (Jeff J Mitchell, Getty Images) ● Black smoke rises above the Tehran skyline as supporters of Mir Hossein Mousavi burn tires and other material in the streets as they fight running battles with police to protest the declared results of the Iranian presidential election in Tehran, Iran, Saturday, June 13, 2009. (Ben Curtis, AP) ● The Iron Dome defense system fires to interecpt incoming missiles from Gaza in the port town of Ashdod, Thursday, Nov. 15, 2012. (Tsafrir Abayov, AP)
October 4th, 2004
SpaceShipOne wins Ansari X Prize for first private spaceflight, by being the first private craft to fly into space.
Wikipedia Photo: SpaceShipOne, credit Scaled Composites.
October 4th, 2010
Ajka plant accident: in western Hungary releases about a million cubic metres (35 million cubic feet) of liquid alumina sludge. Nine people are killed and 122 injured, and the Marcal and Danube rivers are severely contaminated.
Wikipedia Image: Ajka plant accident: in western Hungary releases about a million cubic metres (35 million cubic feet) of liquid alumina sludge. Nine people are killed and 122 injured, and the Marcal and Danube rivers are severely contaminated.