4 January 2026 (MIA)

1717 – The Netherlands, Great Britain, and France sign the Triple Alliance.

1762 – Great Britain enters the Seven Years’ War against Spain and Naples.

1798 – Constantine Hangerli arrives in Bucharest, Wallachia, as its new Prince, invested by the Ottoman Empire.

1853 – After having been kidnapped and sold into slavery in the American South, Solomon Northup regains his freedom; his memoir Twelve Years a Slave later becomes a national bestseller.

1865 – The New York Stock Exchange opens its first permanent headquarters near Wall Street in New York City.

1878 – Russo-Turkish War (1877–78): Sofia is liberated from Ottoman rule and becomes capital of Liberated Bulgaria in 1879.

1884 – The Fabian Society is founded in London, England, United Kingdom.

1889 – The Oklahoma Land Run opens two million acres of unused Oklahoma Territory to first serve first come settlers on April 22.

1896 – Utah is admitted as the 45th U.S. state.

1944 – World War II: Operation Carpetbagger, involving the dropping of arms and supplies to resistance fighters in Europe, begins.

1948 – Burma gains its independence from the United Kingdom.

1951 – Korean War: Chinese and North Korean forces capture Seoul.

1955 – The Greek National Radical Union is formed by Konstantinos Karamanlis.

1958 – Sputnik 1 falls to Earth from orbit.

1959 – Luna 1 becomes the first spacecraft to reach the vicinity of the Moon.

1966 – A military coup takes place in Upper Volta (later Burkina Faso), dissolving the National Parliament and leading to a new national constitution.

1972 – Rose Heilbron becomes the first female judge to sit at the Old Bailey in London, England.

1974 – United States President Richard Nixon refuses to hand over materials subpoenaed by the Senate Watergate Committee.

1976 – The Troubles: The Ulster Volunteer Force shoots dead six Irish Catholic civilians in County Armagh, Northern Ireland. The next day, gunmen shoot dead ten Protestant civilians nearby in retaliation.

1987 – The Maryland train collision: An Amtrak train en route to Boston from Washington, D.C., collides with Conrail engines in Chase, Maryland, killing 16 people.

1989 – Second Gulf of Sidra incident: A pair of Libyan MiG-23 “Floggers” are shot down by a pair of US Navy F-14 Tomcats during an air-to-air confrontation.

1990 – In Pakistan’s deadliest train accident an overloaded passenger train collides with an empty freight train, resulting in 307 deaths and 700 injuries.

1992 – The government of the Republic of Macedonia declares January 7, the first day of Christmas, a non-working day – a first since the independence of Macedonia a religious holiday to be declared also a state holiday.

1996 – Macedonia and Tajikistan establish diplomatic relations.

1998 – Wilaya of Relizane massacres in Algeria: Over 170 are killed in three remote villages.

1998 – A massive ice storm hits eastern Canada and the northeastern United States, continuing through January 10 and causing widespread destruction.

1999 – Former professional wrestler Jesse Ventura is sworn in as governor of Minnesota.

2004 – Spirit, a NASA Mars rover, lands successfully on Mars at 04:35 UTC.

2004 – Mikheil Saakashvili is elected President of Georgia following the November 2003 Rose Revolution.

2006 – Prime Minister Ariel Sharon of Israel suffers a second, apparently more serious stroke. His authority is transferred to acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.

2007 – The 110th United States Congress convenes, electing Nancy Pelosi as the first female Speaker of the House in U.S. history.

2013 – A gunman kills eight people in a house-to-house rampage in Kawit, Cavite, Philippines.