Wikipedia:Selected anniversaries/August 4
- 1578 – King Sebastian I (pictured) disappeared at the Battle of Alcácer Quibir near Ksar-el-Kebir, Morocco, leading to a dynastic crisis in Portugal.
- 1704 – War of the Spanish Succession: A combined Anglo–Dutch fleet under the command of George Rooke and allied with Archduke Charles captured Gibraltar from Spain.
- 1790 – A newly passed tariff act in the United States established the Revenue Cutter Service, an armed maritime law enforcement service that was the forerunner of the United States Coast Guard.
- 1892 – The father and stepmother of spinster Lizzie Borden were found murdered in Fall River, Massachusetts, USA, an incident that became a cause célèbre and entered into pop culture and folklore.
- 1964 – Gulf of Tonkin Incident: The second of two U.S. Navy destroyers was reportedly attacked by North Vietnamese forces in the Gulf of Tonkin, sparking the U.S. Congress to pass a resolution giving U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson authorization for the use of military force in Southeast Asia.
More events on this day... Recent days: August 3 – August 2 – August 1