Browse Historical Events by Day: What Happened on November 4th?

Richard the Lionheart is captured in Austria while returning from the Third Crusade.

Pope Innocent III issues the papal bull "Ad Apostolicae Dignitatis Apicem," calling for the Albigensian Crusade against the Cathar heretics in southern France.

The Fourth Lateran Council, convened by Pope Innocent III, opens in Rome and addresses various church matters.

King Charles VI of France is first diagnosed with a mental illness that would affect his reign.

The St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre occurs in France, resulting in the killing of thousands of Huguenots (Protestants).

General George Washington learns of a conspiracy to discredit him with Congress and have him replaced by General Horatio Gates. The conspiracy was led by to discredit him led by Thomas Conway (The Conway Cabal). More

Democrat Grover Cleveland defeats Republican James G. Blaine Becoming the 22nd President of the United States and the first Democrat to occupy the White House after the Civil War. President Grover Cleveland was the only President to leave the White House and return for a second term four years later becoming also the 24th President. More

The entrance to the tomb of Tutankhamun is discovered by British archaeologist Howard Carter in Egypt's Valley of the Kings. More

The United States conducts its first successful hydrogen bomb test, code-named "Ivy Mike." More

Dwight D. Eisenhower is elected president. A popular World War II general who ran on the slogan “I Like Ike,” Eisenhower easily defeated Democrat Adlai Stevenson becoming the the 34th president of the United States.

Soviet troops move against Budapest with great force to crush a nascent rebellion in Budapest, the capital of the Soviet satellite state of Hungary. Over the course of the next several days, thousands of Hungarians were killed by Red Army troops. Hundreds of thousands more fled to the West, seeking asylum. More

Iranian students seized the embassy and detained more than 50 Americans, ranging from the Chargé d’Affaires to the most junior members of the staff, as hostages. The Iranians held the American diplomats hostage for 444 days. More

Ronald Reagan is elected President of the United States, defeating incumbent Jimmy Carter.

Yitzhak Rabin, the fifth prime minister of Israel, is assassinated. The assassin, an Israeli ultra nationalist named Yigal Amir, radically opposed Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin's peace initiative, particularly the signing of the Oslo Accords. More

Barack Obama is elected President of the United States defeating Republican John McCain, thus becoming the first Black president of the United States,

The Paris Agreement, a legally binding international treaty on climate change enters into force. It was originally adopted by 196 Parties at the UN Climate Change Conference (COP21) in Paris, France. on December 12, 2015. Its overarching goal is to hold “the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels” and pursue efforts “to limit the temperature increase to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.” More

The United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) concludes in Glasgow, Scotland, with commitments to address climate change.