On this day: 4 July

Battle of Mantinea: The Thebans, led by Epaminondas, defeat the Spartans.

Marcus Licinius Crassus is granted a triumph for his victory in Thrace.

Byzantine emperor Theodosius II proclaimed his elder sister Aelia Pulcheria as Augusta.

Heraclonas and David, sons of Byzantine Emperor Heraclius, are proclaimed augustus and caesar respectively, possibly due to the bad health of their elder brother Heraclius Constantine.

Pactum Sicardi, a peace treaty between the Principality of Benevento and the Duchy of Naples, is signed.

Ulrich of Augsburg is canonized as a saint.

Chinese astronomers recorded the sudden appearance of a "guest star", later identified as the supernova that created the Crab Nebula (pictured).

The Crusades: Battle of Hattin: Saladin defeats Guy of Lusignan, King of Jerusalem.

Battle of West-Capelle: John I of Avesnes defeats Guy of Dampierre.

Francesco II Ordelaffi of Forlì surrenders to the Papal commander Gil de Albornoz.

Ottoman–Hungarian wars: The Siege of Nándorfehérvár (Belgrade) begins.

Christian III is elected King of Denmark and Norway in the town of Rye.

The Battle of Klushino is fought between forces of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and Russia during the Polish–Russian War, after which Polish troops entered Moscow.

The city of Trois-Rivières is founded in New France (now Quebec, Canada).

American Revolutionary War: U.S. forces under George Clark capture Kaskaskia during the Illinois campaign.

The United States Military Academy opens at West Point, New York.

The Louisiana Purchase is announced to the public.

In Rome, New York, construction on the Erie Canal begins.

U.S. Flag Act of 1818 goes into effect creating a 13-stripe flag with a star for each state. New stars are to be added on the July 4 following the admission of each new state to the Union.

Slavery is abolished in the State of New York.

Samuel Francis Smith writes "My Country, 'Tis of Thee" for the Boston, Massachusetts July 4 festivities.

John Neal delivers the first public lecture in the U.S. to advocate the rights of women.

The Iowa Territory is organized.

Henry David Thoreau moves into a small cabin on Walden Pond in Concord, Massachusetts. Thoreau's account of his two years there, Walden, will become a touchstone of the environmental movement.

The first edition of Walt Whitman's book of poems, Leaves of Grass, is published in Brooklyn.

American Civil War: Confederate forces failed in an attempt to recapture the Union-occupied Helena, Arkansas.

American Civil War: Retreat from Gettysburg: The Confederate Army of Northern Virginia under Robert E. Lee withdraws from the battlefield after losing the Battle of Gettysburg, signaling an end to his last invasion of the North.

In Alabama, the Tuskegee Institute opens.

The Canadian Pacific Railway's first scheduled train from Montreal arrives in Port Moody on the Pacific coast, after six days of travel.

The founder of Pakistan, Quaid-i-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah, joins Sindh-Madrasa-tul-Islam, Karachi.

Western Samoa changes the International Date Line, causing Monday (July 4) to occur twice, resulting in a leap year with 367 days.

The short-lived Republic of Hawaii is proclaimed by Sanford B. Dole.

William Howard Taft becomes American governor of the Philippines.

The Philippine–American War is officially concluded.

President Woodrow Wilson addresses American Civil War veterans at the Great Reunion of 1913.

World 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.

First flight of the Lockheed Vega.

Lou Gehrig, recently diagnosed with Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, informs a crowd at Yankee Stadium that he considers himself "The luckiest man on the face of the earth", then announces his retirement from major league baseball.

World War II: The Battle of Kursk, the largest full-scale battle in history and the world's largest tank battle, begins in the village of Prokhorovka.

After 381 years of near-continuous colonial rule by various powers, the Philippines attains full independence from the United States.

Cold War: Radio Free Europe first broadcasts.

William Shockley announced the invention of the junction transistor, for which he, John Bardeen, and Walter Houser Brattain later won the Nobel Prize in Physics.

In what is known as "The Miracle of Bern", West Germany defeated Hungary 3–2 to win the FIFA World Cup.

The 50-star flag of the United States debuts in Philadelphia following the admission of Hawaii as the 50th U.S. state over ten months prior (August 21, 1959), in accordance with the Flag Acts.

U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Freedom of Information Act into United States law. The act went into effect the next year.

Barbados, Guyana, Jamaica, and Trinidad and Tobago sign the Treaty of Chaguaramas in Chaguaramas, Trinidad and Tobago establishing the Caribbean Community (CARICOM). It replaces the Caribbean Free Trade Association as another step towards Caribbean regional integration.

Space Shuttle program: Columbia lands at Edwards Air Force Base at the end of the program's final test flight, STS-4. President Ronald Reagan declares the Space Shuttle to be operational.

NASA's Pathfinder space probe lands on the surface of Mars.

The monster movie Pulgasari, the most-widely-seen North Korean film ever made, premiered in Tokyo, Japan.

Japan launches the Nozomi probe to Mars, joining the United States and Russia as a space exploring nation.

Greece beats Portugal in the UEFA Euro 2004 Final and becomes European Champion for first time in its history.

The cornerstone of the Freedom Tower is laid on the World Trade Center site in New York City.

The Deep Impact collider hits the comet Tempel 1.

Space Shuttle program: Discovery launches STS-121 to the International Space Station. The event gained wide media attention as it was the only shuttle launch in the program's history to occur on the United States' Independence Day.

The Statue of Liberty's crown reopens to the public after eight years of closure due to security concerns following the September 11 attacks.

The discovery of particles consistent with the Higgs boson at the Large Hadron Collider is announced at CERN.

Chile claims its first title in international football by defeating Argentina in the 2015 Copa América final.