- 0027 BC - The title Augustus is bestowed upon Gaius Julius Caesar Octavian by the Roman Senate.
- 0929 Emir Abd-ar-Rahman III of Cordoba declares himself caliph, thereby establishing the Caliphate of Cordoba.
- 1120 The Council of Nablus is held, establishing the earliest surviving written laws of the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem.
- 1219 Floods in Northern Netherlands after storm, 1,000s killed
- 1325 Laure de Noves, beloved of Petrarch, marries Hugues de Sade
- 1362 A great storm tide in the North Sea destroys the German island of Strand and the city of Rungholt.
- 1412 The Medici family are made official bankers of the Papacy.
- 1456 Painter Filippo Lippi elopes with Lucrezia Buti, a young nun from the convent of Saint Margherita.
- 1492 The first grammar of a modern language, in Spanish, is presented to Queen Isabella.
- 1493 Columbus returns to Spain on his first trip
- 1531 English Reformation parliament's 2nd sitting
- 1547 Ivan IV the Terrible (17) crowns himself first tsar of Russia
- 1547 Ivan the Terrible becomes Tsar of Russia.
- 1556 Emperor Karel appoints his son Philip II, king of Spain
- 1556 Philip II becomes King of Spain.
- 1572 The Duke of Norfolk is tried for treason for his part in the Ridolfi plot to restore Catholicism in England.
- 1581 English Parliament outlaws Roman Catholicism.
- 1581 English parliament passes laws against Catholicism
- 1581 UK hist English Parliament outlaws Roman Catholicism
- 1605 The first edition of El ingenioso hidalgo Don Quijote de la Mancha (Book One of Don Quixote) by Miguel de Cervantes was published in Madrid.
- 1707 The Scottish Parliament ratified the Act of Union, paving way for the creation of Great Britain.
- 1707 UK hist Union with Scotland – Scots agree to send 16 peers and 45 MPs to English Parliament in return for full trading privileges – Scottish Parliament meets for the last time in March
- 1756 England & Prussia sign Treaty of Westminster
- 1761 British capture Pondicherry, India from the French.
- 1761 British took Pondicherry after siege, marking end of French dominion in India.
- 1761 UK hist British capture Pondicherry, India from the French
- 1765 Charles Messier catalogs M41 (galactic cluster in Canis Major)
- 1776 Continental Congress approves enlistment of free blacks
- 1777 Vermont declares independence from NY
- 1780 Battle at Cape St Vincent Admiral Rodney beats Spanish fleet
- 1795 French army under Pichegru occupies Utrecht Netherlands
- 1795 French occupy Utrecht, Netherlands.
- 1809 French forces defeat Sir John Moore and kill him in the Battle of Corunna January 16 Sir Arthur Wellesley succeeds Moore as commander of British forces in the Peninsular War
- 1809 Peninsular War: The British defeat the French at the Battle of La Corua.
- 1809 UK hist Peninsular War – Battle of La Coruña – Sir John Moore killed: "Not a drum was heard, not a funeral note …"
- 1815 Brazil is decreed a kingdom, independent from Portugal.
- 1819 Godert baron van der de Capellen becomes Governor of Dutch-Indies
- 1832 Charles Darwin lands at San Tiago, Cape Verde
- 1847 John C. Fremont is appointed Governor of the new California Territory.
- 1864 Danish-Prussian War (Second war of Schleswig): King Christian IX of Denmark declares war to the German Confederation in order to occupy Schleswig
- 1864 Heavy fighting takes place near Dandridge TN
- 1865 Confederate Brigadier General John Pegram marries Hetty Cary
- 1865 Drunken sailor attacks munitions at Fort Fisher NC, 40 die
- 1865 General William Sherman issues Field Order #15 (land for blacks)
- 1868 Refrigerator car patented by William Davis, a fish dealer in Detroit
- 1870 Virginia becomes 8th state re-admitted to US after Civil War
- 1876 Edmund H. Sears, author of It Came Upon A midnight Clear, dies.
- 1877 Color organ (for light shows) patented, by Bainbridge Bishop
- 1878 Captain Burago with a squadron of Russian Imperial army dragoons liberates Plovdiv from the Ottoman rule.
- 1879 January record 13" of snow falls in New York City NY (broken Jan 7, 1996)
- 1883 Congress passed a bill creating the civil service.
- 1883 Pendleton Act creates basis of US Civil Service system
- 1883 The Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act, establishing the United States Civil Service, is passed.
- 1883 The U.S. Civil Service Commission is established.
- 1887 Cliff House damaged when schooner "Parallel"'s powder cargo explodes
- 1889 128ºF (53ºC), Cloncurry, Queensland (Australian record)
- 1889 Cloncurry, Queensland, recorded temperature of 53.1 Celsius, highest known in Australia.
- 1896 Defeat of Cymru Fydd at South Wales Liberal Federation AGM, Newport, Monmouthshire.
- 1905 Stanley Cup Ottawa Silver 7 sweep Dawson City (Yukon) in 2 games Ottawa Silver 7 beats Dawson City (Yukon) 23-2 for Stanley Cup, this is most lopsided playoff game, Frank McGee scores 14 goals
- 1906 Conference of Algeciras (about Morocco)
- 1908 Pinnacles National Monument, California established
- 1909 British explorer Ernest Shackleton finds magnetic south pole
- 1909 Ernest Shackleton's expedition finds the magnetic South Pole.
- 1909 UK hist Ernest Shackleton's expedition finds the magnetic South Pole
- 1911 Pandora becomes first 2-man sailboat to round Cape Horn west to east
- 1913 British House of Commons accepts Home-Rule for Ireland
- 1914 Writer Maksim Gorki returns to Russia
- 1915 Congress authorizes $1 & $50 Panama-Pacific International Expo gold coin
- 1919 Missouri, Nebraska, and Wyoming ratify the Prohibition Amendment, adding it to the Constitution.
- 1919 Temperance movement: The United States of America ratifies the Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, authorizing Prohibition in the United States one year after ratification.
- 1919 The United States went legally dry as prohibition of alcoholic beverages took effect under the 18th amendment to the Constitution. The amendment was repealed in 1933.
- 1920 18th Amendment, the "National Prohibition Act," becomes law. Individuals are allowed to produce wine for religious purposes.
- 1920 First assembly of League of Nations (Paris)
- 1920 Georgia declares independence
- 1920 The 18th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution takes effect, banning the sale of beer and distilled spirits.
- 1920 UK hist Prohibition starts in USA (lasts until Dec 1933)
- 1920 Zeta Phi Beta Sorority Inc. was founded on the campus of Howard University.
- 1925 Leon Trotsky dismissed as CEO of Russian Revolution Military Council
- 1930 USS Lexington provides power to Tacoma, WA, when floods knocked out city power plants
- 1931 Bradman scores 223 Australia vs West Indies, 297 minutes, 26 fours
- 1933 Bert Oldfield flattened by Larwood delivery in Adelaide Test
- 1936 Screen Actors Guild incorporates with King Vidor as president
- 1936 Spanish socialists/communists/anarchists form Unidad Popular
- 1936 The first photo finish camera installed at Hialeah Race track in Hialeah FL
- 1939 Comic strip "Superman" debuts
- 1941 US vice admiral Bellinger warns of an assault on Pearl Harbor
- 1941 War Department forms first Army Air Corps squadron for black cadets
- 1942 Actress Carole Lombard, and twenty other people, die in a plane crash near Las Vegas.
- 1942 Screen star Carole Lombard, her mother and 20 other people were killed in a commercial airliner crash near Las Vegas, Nev. Lombard was the wife of actor Clark Gable.
- 1942 William Knudsen becomes first civilian appointed a General in US army
- 1943 -60ºF (-51ºC), Island Park Dam ID (state record)
- 1943 German 2nd SS-Pantzer division evacuates Charkow
- 1943 Red Army recaptures Pitomnik airport at Stalingrad
- 1943 The first US air raid on Ambon
- 1944 Gen. Dwight Eisenhower arrived in London to assume command of the Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Forces in Europe.
- 1944 General Eisenhower took command of Allied Invasion Force in London
- 1944 In London, General Dwight D. Eisenhower becomes commander of the Allied Invasion Force, during WWII.
- 1944 Lieutenant (jg) S. R. Graham, USCG, while en route from New York to Liverpool in the British freighter Daghestan made a 30 minute flight in an R-4B (HNS-1) from the ship's 60 by 80 foot flight deck
- 1945 Adolf Hitler moves into his underground bunker, the so-called Fuhrerbunker.
- 1945 Scottish 52nd land division/1st Commando brigade-assault at Heinsberg
- 1945 U.S. first and 3rd army units close the bulge, but do not succeed in entrapping enemy forces.
- 1945 US first & 3rd army meet at Houffalise
- 1947 Vincent Aurial elected President of France
- 1948 35 Haganah members are ambushed & killed in Gush Etzyon
- 1950 Belgium, Luxembourg & Netherlands recognize Israel
- 1951 Viet Minh offensive against Hanoi
- 1951 World's largest gas pipeline opens (Brownsville TX, to 134th St, New York City NY)
- 1952 New Dutch bible translation finished
- 1952 US Standard Board clears Stan Musial to get an $85,000 salary
- 1953 Egyptian Premier General Naguib disbands all political parties
- 1954 "South Pacific" closes at Majestic Theater New York City NY after 1928 performances
- 1956 Egyptian President Nassar pledges to reconquer Palestine
- 1956 President Gamal Abdal Nasser of Egypt vows to reconquer Palestine.
- 1957 3 B-52s leave California for first non-stop round the world flights
- 1957 Cavern Club (home of Beatles' first appearance) opens on Mathew Street in England
- 1957 The Cavern Club, a hangout for music-lovers, opens its doors in Liverpool, England. This club would be the springboard that launches The Beatles to stardom a few years later.
- 1961 Russian espionage ring detected in Great Britain
- 1962 Death of JF Hurley, first official AIF photographer, appointed during the Battle of Third Ypres in 1917
- 1962 Shooting begins on "Dr No"
- 1962 Suit accuses New York City NY Board of Education uses "racial quotas"
- 1963 Khrushchev claims to have a 100-megaton nuclear bomb
- 1964 "Hello, Dolly!" starring Carol Channing, opens at St James Theater New York City NY for 2,844 performances
- 1964 Number one hit on UK music charts - The Dave Clark Five - Glad All Over
- 1964 The musical Hello, Dolly! opens on Broadway.
- 1965 "Outer Limits" last airs on ABC-TV
- 1965 Searchers' "Love Potion #9" peaks at #3
- 1966 Metropolitan Opera House opens in Lincoln Center
- 1967 Alan S. Boyd is sworn in as the first U.S. Secretary of Transportation.
- 1967 Lucius Amerson, becomes first southern (Alabama) black sheriff in 20th century
- 1967 The first black government installed in Bahamas
- 1968 Youth International Party (Yippies) is founded.
- 1969 Czech student Jan Palach commits suicide by self-immolation in Prague, in protest against the Soviets' crushing of the Prague Spring the year before.
- 1969 Jan Palach immolates himself to protest Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia
- 1969 Metroliner train starts running.
- 1969 Soviet Soyuz 4 & Soyuz 5 perform first transfer of crew in space
- 1970 Buckminster Fuller receives the Gold Medal award from the American Institute of Architects.
- 1970 Colonel Kadhaffi becomes premier of Libya
- 1970 Curt Flood files a civil lawsuit challenging baseball's reserve clause
- 1973 NBC presents 440th & final showing of "Bonanza"
- 1973 USSR's Lunakhod 2 begins radio-controlled exploration of the Moon
- 1974 "Jaws" by Peter Benchley is published
- 1974 L A Landslide kills 9, Canyonville OR
- 1976 "Donny & Marie" [Osmond] musical variety show premieres on ABC TV
- 1978 5th American Music Award Stevie Wonder, Fleetwood Mac & Conway Twitty
- 1978 Soyuz 27 returns to Earth
- 1979 Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlevi of Iran flees Iran for Egypt
- 1979 The Shah of Iran flees Iran with his family and relocates to Egypt.
- 1980 Paul McCartney jailed in Tokyo for 10 days on marijuana possession
- 1981 Ivan Lendl intentionally loses a match in the Volvo Masters in order to avoid having to play Björn Borg
- 1981 Leon Spinks is mugged, his assailants even take his gold teeth
- 1981 Protestant gunmen shoot & wound Bernadette Devlin McAliskey & husband
- 1981 Visitor posting - The Day Betty Was Born
- 1982 Number one hit on UK music charts - Bucks Fizz - Land Of Make Believe
- 1984 11th American Music Award Michael Jackson
- 1984 Extortionist sends letter to Queensland Primary Industries Department threatening to release foot and mouth virus unless state jails are reformed.
- 1984 Paul & Linda McCartney arrested in Barbados-possession of cannabis
- 1984 President Reagan called for peaceful competition with Moscow. He authorized research and development on space-age weapons capable of destroying incoming nuclear missiles, the program known as Star Wars.
- 1985 "Playboy" announces end of stapling centerfolds
- 1986 First meeting of the Internet Engineering Task Force.
- 1986 Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi said Libya would train, arm and protect Arab guerrillas for Palestinian suicide and terrorist missions, his first explicit endorsement of terrorism.
- 1986 Police arrested 3 IRA-terrorists in Amsterdam
- 1987 Hu Yaobang resigns as head of China's Communist Party, accepting blame for policy mistakes stemming from student turmoil
- 1988 4th Soap Opera Digest Awards - Days of Our Live wins
- 1988 Number one hit on UK music charts - Belinda Carlisle - Heaven Is A Place On Earth
- 1989 Police arrest writer Vaclav Havel in Prague
- 1989 Three days of riots begin in Miami after a police officer shoots and kills a black motorcyclist, which also claims the life of the passenger in the ensuing crash.
- 1989 USSR announces plan for 2-year manned mission to Mars
- 1990 2 Bank of Credit & Commerce members plea guilty to money laundering
- 1990 Canadian Rail Operating Rules are approved by the Minister of Transport
- 1990 Moscow rushed 11,000 more troops to Azerbaijan and Armenia to reinforce soldiers trying to quell deadly ethnic violence.
- 1990 The Soviet Union sends 11,000 reinforcements to the Caucasus to end the civil war between Armenians and Azerbaijanis.
- 1991 Operation Desert Storm begins - US & 27 allies attack Iraq for occupying Kuwait (US times)
- 1991 The Persian Gulf War began with the allied bombing of Baghdad. President Bush drew the largest TV audience in history with an address to the nation on the commencement of hostilities against Iraq.
- 1991 The United States of America declares war on Iraq, beginning the Persian Gulf War (U.S.Time).
- 1991 The White House announces the start of Operation Desert Storm to drive Iraqi troops from Kuwait.
- 1992 El Salvador officials and rebel leaders sign the Chapultepec Peace Accords in Mexico City that ends a 12-year civil war that claimed at least 75,000.
- 1992 Representatives of the El Salvadoran government and rebels sign a pact in Mexico City ending 12 years of civil war.
- 1993 Windsor Castle was reopened just two months after a fire swept through the British landmark.
- 1994 At a joint news conference in Geneva with President Clinton, Syrian President Hafez Assad indicated a willingness to negotiate a peace treaty with Israel.
- 1995 Former federal minister Ros Kelly, brought down over her administration of sports grants, resigns from Australian parliament.
- 1995 Visitor posting - The first snowsheep was discovered in the North East of Greenland, this species is still protected today as an endangered animal. - Greenland
- 1996 Greek Prime Minister Andreas Papandreou resigns from office for health reasons.
- 1996 New South Wales Premier Bob Carr announces that the state's next governor will be part-time and Government House to be turned over to public use.
- 1997 A bomb exploded at an Atlanta building housing an abortion clinic. An hour later, after investigators and others had come to the scene, a second bomb went off, injuring six people.
- 1997 Ennis Cosby, the son of entertainer Bill Cosby, was shot to death while changing a tire on a freeway exit ramp in Los Angeles.
- 1998 Investigators for special counsel Kenneth Starr questioned former White House intern Monica Lewinsky about allegations that she had an affair with President Clinton.
- 1998 Visitor posting - Teraza Malwal was born
- 2000 Ricardo Lagos is elected Chile's first socialist president since Salvador Allende, whose government was toppled in a bloody 1973 military coup led by Gen Augusto Pinochet.
- 2001 Congolese President Laurent-Dsir Kabila is assassinated by one of his own bodyguards.
- 2001 Environmental activists and local authorities in a town in El Salvador where a mountainside buried an entire neighbourhood say deforestation – and greed – contributed to the earthquake disaster.
- 2001 President Laurent Kabila of the Democratic Republic of the Congo was shot to death, reportedly by one of his bodyguards, who in turn was killed by other bodyguards.
- 2001 US President Bill Clinton awards former US President Theodore Roosevelt a posthumous Medal of Honor for his service in the Spanish-American War.
- 2002 The UN Security Council unanimously establishes an arms embargo and the freezing of assets of Osama bin Laden, Al-Qaida, and the remaining members of the Taliban.
- 2003 President George W. Bush called the Michigan affirmative action program unconstitutional.
- 2004 NASA announced plans to cancel further space shuttle missions to repair and upgrade the Hubble Space Telescope, an act that would condemn the Hubble to mechanical failure in the next two years.
- 2005 Adriana Iliescu gives birth at age 66 and becomes the oldest woman in the world to do so.
- 2006 Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf is sworn in as Liberia's new president. She becomes Africa's first female elected head of state.
- 2006 Liu Xinjuan is committed by the Chinese government to a psychiatric hospital, allegedly for political activism.
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