📜 This Day in History

July 4

• 414Byzantine emperor Theodosius II proclaimed his elder sister Aelia Pulcheria as Augusta.
• 1837The Grand Junction Railway, the world's first long-distance railway with steam traction, opened between Birmingham and Newton Junction.
• 1918World War I: Allied forces led by the Australian general John Monash won the Battle of Hamel, demonstrating the effectiveness of combined-arms techniques in trench warfare.
• 1945The Brazilian cruiser Bahia was accidentally sunk by one of its own crewmen, killing more than 300 people.
• 1976Israeli forces raided Uganda's Entebbe International Airport to free hostages taken by hijackers on Air France Flight 139.
• 2024Keir Starmer led the Labour Party to a landslide victory in the United Kingdom general election, ending fourteen years of Conservative rule.

Born on this day

• 68Salonia Matidia, Roman daughter of Ulpia Marciana (died 119)
• 1804Nathaniel Hawthorne, American novelist and short story writer (died 1864)
• 1807Giuseppe Garibaldi, Italian general and politician (died 1882)
• 1872Calvin Coolidge, American lawyer and politician, 30th President of the United States (died 1933)