On this day: 4 September

Germanic leader Odoacer captured Ravenna and deposed Emperor Romulus Augustus, marking the fall of the Western Roman Empire.

Battle of Lenzen: Slavic forces (the Redarii and the Obotrites) are defeated by a Saxon army near the fortified stronghold of Lenzen in Brandenburg.

The Sienese Ghibellines, supported by the forces of Manfred, King of Sicily, defeat the Florentine Guelphs at Montaperti.

Peter III of Aragon is proclaimed King of Sicily in Palermo.

The Flight of the Earls takes place in Ireland (14 September N.S.).

The Treaty of Kerden concludes the Ottoman–Persian War (1743–1746).

New Caledonia is first sighted by Europeans, during the second voyage of Captain James Cook.

Los Angeles is founded as El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora La Reina de los Ángeles (The Village of Our Lady, the Queen of the Angels) by 44 Spanish settlers.

Coup of 18 Fructidor in France.

War of 1812: The Siege of Fort Harrison begins when the fort is set on fire.

The Great Fire of Turku almost completely destroys Finland's former capital city.

The state wedding of Teresa Cristina of the Two Sicilies and Emperor Pedro II of Brazil took place at the Cathedral of Rio de Janeiro.

American Civil War Maryland Campaign: General Robert E. Lee takes the Army of Northern Virginia, and the war, into the North.

Emperor Napoleon III of France is deposed and the Third Republic is declared.

The Pearl Street Station in New York City becomes the first power plant to supply electricity to paying customers.

After more than 25 years of fighting against the United States Army and the armed forces of Mexico, Geronimo of the Chiricahua Apache surrendered at Skeleton Canyon in Arizona.

George Eastman registers the trademark Kodak and receives a patent for his camera that uses roll film.

The Albanian revolt ended when the Ottoman government agreed to meet most of the rebels' demands.

Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, who founded the Republic of Turkey, gathers a congress in Sivas to make decisions as to the future of Anatolia and Thrace.

Peasants in and around Križ began a rebellion to protest economic and conscription policies enacted by the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes.

Maiden flight of the first U.S. airship, the USS Shenandoah.

Spanish Civil War: Largo Caballero forms a war cabinet to direct the republican war effort.

World War II: William J. Murphy commands the first Royal Air Force attack on Germany.

World War II: A German submarine makes the first attack of the war against a United States warship, the USS Greer.

World War II: Finland exits from the war with Soviet Union.

Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands abdicates for health reasons.

Darlington Raceway is the site of the inaugural Southern 500, the first 500-mile NASCAR race.

The first live transcontinental television broadcast takes place in San Francisco, United States, from the Japanese Peace Treaty Conference.

Governor Orval Faubus deployed the Arkansas National Guard to prevent nine African-American students from attending Little Rock Central High School (pictured).

Vietnam War: Operation Swift begins when U.S. Marines engage the North Vietnamese in battle in the Que Son Valley.

Salvador Allende is elected President of Chile.

Mark Spitz becomes the first competitor to win seven medals at a single Olympic Games.

The Price Is Right premieres on CBS. It currently is the longest running game show on American television.

The Sinai Interim Agreement relating to the Arab–Israeli conflict is signed.

The discovery of Buckminsterfullerene, the first fullerene molecule of carbon.

In Leipzig, East Germany, the first of weekly demonstration for the legalisation of opposition groups and democratic reforms takes place.

Google is founded by Larry Page and Sergey Brin, two PhD students at Stanford University.

Tokyo DisneySea opens to the public as part of the Tokyo Disney Resort in Urayasu, Chiba, Japan.

The Oakland Athletics win their 20th consecutive game, an American League record, until the Cleveland Indians surpassed it in 2017.