Today in History, September 4th
On September 4, 476, Odoacer deposed Romulus Augustulus, the last Western Roman emperor. Plus Geronimo's surrender and the Little Rock Nine.
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September 4 is best known for 476, when the soldier Odoacer deposed Romulus Augustulus, the last emperor in the West, a date many historians use to mark the fall of the Western Roman Empire. The date also saw Geronimo surrender in 1886 and Arkansas troops turn away the Little Rock Nine in 1957.
The big story: Odoacer deposes the last Western Roman emperor (476)
By the 470s, the Western Roman Empire was an empire mostly in name. Real power sat with the generals and the Germanic soldiers who filled the army. One of those generals, Orestes, had pushed out the emperor Julius Nepos in 475 and put his own young son, Romulus Augustulus, on the throne. Then Orestes broke a promise to give the tribal soldiers land in Italy. They rallied behind Odoacer, a German officer, and proclaimed him king. Orestes was caught and executed at Piacenza, Odoacer took Ravenna, which had served as the western capital since 402, and on September 4, 476, he removed the boy emperor and sent him into exile. Odoacer took no imperial title. He called himself king, ran Italy himself and accepted the Eastern emperor Zeno as his overlord. Roman rule survived in the East, but many historians treat this quiet handover as the end of Rome in the West.
More events on September 4
| Year | What happened |
|---|---|
| 1781 | Spanish settlers founded the town that grew into Los Angeles. |
| 1861 | Confederate forces moved into Kentucky, ending the state’s attempt to stay neutral in the Civil War. |
| 1870 | After France’s defeat at Sedan, Napoleon III was deposed and the Third Republic was proclaimed in Paris. |
| 1886 | Apache leader Geronimo surrendered to U.S. troops, an event often treated as the end of the Indian Wars in the Southwest. |
| 1888 | George Eastman received a patent for his handheld roll-film camera and registered the name “Kodak.” |
| 1951 | President Harry Truman’s speech in San Francisco became the first live coast-to-coast television broadcast in the U.S. |
| 1957 | Arkansas Governor Orval Faubus used the National Guard to block nine Black students from entering Little Rock’s Central High School. |
| 1972 | Swimmer Mark Spitz won his seventh gold medal at the Munich Olympics, the first time anyone had won seven golds at a single Olympics. |
| 1998 | Google’s founders filed incorporation papers, formally establishing the company. |
| 2002 | Kelly Clarkson won the first season of American Idol. |
| 2016 | Pope Francis declared Mother Teresa a saint. |
Born on September 4
- 1908: Richard Wright, American novelist and author of Native Son, born near Natchez, Mississippi.
- 1927: John McCarthy, American computer scientist and a pioneer of artificial intelligence, born in Boston.
- 1981: Beyoncé, American singer, songwriter and actress, born in Houston.
Sources
- Western Roman Empire falls, History.com
- Odoacer, Encyclopaedia Britannica
- This Day in History: September 4, History.com
- On This Day: September 4, Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Arkansas troops prevent desegregation, History.com
- Richard Wright, Encyclopaedia Britannica
- John McCarthy, Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Beyoncé, Encyclopaedia Britannica
