Wikipedia:Selected anniversaries/July 4
This is a list of selected July 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. Please read the selected anniversaries guidelines before making your edit. However, if your addition might be controversial or on a day that is or will soon be on the Main Page, please post your suggestion on the talk page instead.
Please note that the events listed on the Main Page are chosen based more on relative article quality and to maintain a mix of topics, not based solely on how important or significant their subjects are. Only four to five events are posted at a time and thus not everything that is "most important and significant" can be listed. In addition, an event is generally not posted this year if it is also the subject of the scheduled featured article, featured list or picture of the day.
To report an error when this appears on the Main Page, see Main Page errors. Please remember that this list defers to the supporting articles, so it is best to achieve consensus and make any necessary changes there first.
Images
Use only ONE image at a time
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Fireworks over the Washington Monument
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Signing of the U.S. Declaration of Independence -
The U.S. Declaration of Independence
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The Grand Union Flag of the Thirteen Colonies in 1776 -
A Waffen-SS Tiger I engages another tank -
Alice Liddell -
The Brazilian cruiser Bahia -
Deep Impact Probe collision with the comet Tempel 1
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Ineligible
| Blurb | Reason |
|---|---|
| 1187 – Saladin defeated Guy of Lusignan, King of Jerusalem, at the Battle of Hattin and captured the True Cross. | refimprove section |
| 1776 - In Philadelphia, the Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence, announcing that the thirteen American colonies were no longer a part of the British Empire. | US-related items both TFA and POTD for 2016 |
| 1802 - In West Point, New York, the United States Military Academy began operations. | featured on March 16 |
| 1837 – The Grand Junction Railway, the world's first long-distance railway, opened between Birmingham and Liverpool. | refimprove |
| 1862 – In a rowing boat on the River Thames from Oxford to Godstow, author Lewis Carroll told Alice Liddell and her sisters a story that would eventually form the basis for his book Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. | needs additional citations |
| 1894 – The Republic of Hawaiʻi was proclaimed at Ali'iolani Hale in Honolulu, with Sanford B. Dole as the first president. | needs more footnotes |
| 1943 – World War II: Fighting began in the Battle of Kursk, the largest full-scale battle in history as well as the largest series of armoured clashes. | maintenance tags |
| 1950 – The United States' anti-communist propaganda source Radio Free Europe made its first broadcast aimed at Czechoslovakia. | external links |
| 1954 – In what is known as the "The Miracle of Bern", the underdogs West Germany defeated the favourites Hungary 3–2 to win the FIFA World Cup. | refimprove |
| 2012 – CERN announced the discovery of the Higgs boson elementary particle after a 40-year search for its existence. | Higgs boson: original research; Search: outdated |
Eligible
- 414 – Aelia Pulcheria proclaimed herself regent over her brother Theodosius II and made herself Augusta and Empress of the Eastern Roman Empire.
- 1943 – The aircraft carrying Władysław Sikorski, Prime Minister of the Polish government-in-exile, crashed, killing him and fifteen others, leading to several conspiracy theories.
- 1945 – The Brazilian cruiser Bahia was accidentally sunk by one of its own crewmen, killing more than 300 and leaving the rest adrift in shark-infested waters.
- 1951 – William Shockley announced the invention of the junction transistor, for which he, John Bardeen, and Walter Houser Brattain won the 1956 Nobel Prize in Physics.
- 1965 – The first Annual Reminder, a series of early pickets organized by homophile organizations, one of the earliest LGBT demonstrations in the United States, took place at Independence Hall in Philadelphia.
- 2005 – The NASA space probe Deep Impact impacted the nucleus of the comet Tempel 1, excavating debris from its interior so that its composition could be studied.
July 4: Aphelion of Earth (16:24 UTC, 2016); Feast day of Ulrich of Augsburg (Roman Catholicism); Republic Day in the Philippines (1946); Independence Day in the United States (1776)
- 1054 – Chinese astronomers recorded the sudden appearance of a "guest star", which was in actuality the supernova that created the Crab Nebula (pictured).
- 1610 – Polish–Muscovite War: The outnumbered forces of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth defeated the Tsardom of Russia at the Battle of Klushino.
- 1855 – The first edition of Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass was published, and it went on to become one of the most important collections of American poetry.
- 1941 – German AB-Aktion operation in Poland: After capturing Lwów, the Nazis executed professors of the University of Lwów along with their families.
- 1976 – Israel Defense Forces raided Uganda's Entebbe International Airport to free hostages taken by hijackers on Air France Flight 139.