- 0038 BC - Octavian marries Livia Drusilla.
- 1287 King Alfonso III of Aragon invades Minorca.
- 1377 Pope Gregory XI moves the Papacy back from Avignon to Rome.
- 1501 Cesare Borgia returns in triumph to Rome from Romagna
- 1524 Beginning of Giovanni da Verrazzano's voyage to find a passage to China.
- 1536 François Rabelais absolved of apostasy by Pope Paul III
- 1562 Edict of St Germain recognizes the Huguenots in France
- 1562 France recognizes the Huguenots under the Edict of Saint-Germain.
- 1584 Bohemia adopts the Gregorian calendar
- 1595 French king Henri IV declares war on Spain
- 1595 Henry IV of France declares war to Spain.
- 1601 France gains Bresse, Bugey, Valromey & Gex in treaty with Spain
- 1605 First publication of Don Quixote.
- 1648 England's Long Parliament passes the Vote of No Address, breaking off negotiations with King Charles I and thereby setting the scene for the second phase of the English Civil War.
- 1656 Brandenburg & Sweden sign Treaty of Königsberg
- 1718 Avalanche destroys every building in Leukerbad, Switzerland; kills 53
- 1746 Battle of Falkirk, Scotland-Edward I defeats & massacres Scots
- 1746 The Jacobite Army, led by Lord George Murray, defeated Government forces under General Hawley. The last Jocobite victory.
- 1757 German Diet declares war on Prussia
- 1773 Captain James Cook becomes first to cross Antarctic Circle (66º 33' S)
- 1773 Resolution, under Captain James Cook, becomes the first ship to cross the Antarctic Circle.
- 1775 9 old women burnt as witches for causing bad harvests, Kalisk, Poland
- 1779 Captain Cook's last notation in ship's log Discovery
- 1799 Dun Mikiel Xerri, along with a handful of other patriots was shot, after that an attempted revolt went awry.
- 1800 Minor earthquake recorded in Sydney, Australia.
- 1806 James Madison Randolph, grandson of U.S. President Thomas Jefferson, becomes the first child born in the White House.
- 1806 The first baby was born in the White House, the grandson of President Thomas Jefferson.
- 1819 Simn Bolvar proclaims the Republic of Colombia.
- 1821 México permits Moses Austin & 300 US families to settle in Texas
- 1827 Duke of Wellington appointed British supreme commander
- 1832 Johannes van den Bosch appointed Governor-General of Dutch-Indies
- 1861 Flush toilet (with seperate water tank and a pull chain) patented by Mr Thomas Crapper (Honest!)
- 1862 -Jan 22nd) BBT Fort Henry TN by USS Lexington
- 1864 General Longstreet's command ends heavy fighting at Dandridge TN
- 1871 Andrew Hallikie received a patent for a cable car system that went into service in San Francisco in 1873.
- 1871 The first cable car patented, by Andrew S Hallidie (begins service in 1873)
- 1873 First Battle of the Stronghold in the US Modoc War.
- 1874 Armed Democrats seize Texas government ending Radical Reconstruction
- 1882 The first Dutch female physician Aletta Jacobs opens office
- 1885 A British force defeats a large Dervish army at the Battle of Abu Klea in the Sudan.
- 1885 British beat Mahdists at Battle of Abu Klea in the Sudan
- 1893 -17ºF (-27ºC), Millsboro DE (state record)
- 1893 Hawaii's Queen Liliuokalani abdicates the throne, bowing to pressure from sugar planters and businessmen.
- 1893 Queen Liliuokalani deposed, Kingdom of Hawaii becomes a republic
- 1893 Rutherford B. Hayes, the 19th president of the U.S., dies in Fremont, Ohio, at age 70.
- 1893 The Citizen's Committee of Public Safety, led by Lorrin A. Thurston overthrows the government of Queen Liliuokalani of the Kingdom of Hawaii.
- 1895 French President Casimir-Perier resigns
- 1895 Félix Faure installed as President of France
- 1899 The United States takes possession of Wake Island in the Pacific Ocean.
- 1899 US takes possession of Wake Island in Pacific
- 1904 Anton Chekov's The Cherry Orchard premiered at the Moscow Art Theatre.
- 1905 Punchboards patented by Charles Brewer & C G Scannell, Chicago IL
- 1911 First aircraft landing on board a ship, USS Pennsylvania by Eugene Ely.
- 1912 Robert Scott expedition arrives at South Pole, 1 month after Amundsen
- 1912 Sir Robert Falcon Scott (Scott of the Antarctic) reaches the South Pole, one month after Roald Amundsen.
- 1913 Raymond Poincar is elected President of France.
- 1915 Antoni van Leeuwenhoek's Hospital in Amsterdam opens
- 1915 Russia occupies Bukovina & Western Ukraine
- 1917 The United States bought 50 of the Virgin Islands in the West Indies from Denmark for $25 million.
- 1917 US pays Denmark $25 million for the Virgin Islands
- 1920 Paul Deschanel elected President of France
- 1923 Belgian Working people Party protest against occupied Ruhrgebied
- 1923 Origin of Brown lunation numbers
- 1926 George Burns marries Gracie Allen
- 1928 The first fully automatic photographic film developing machine patented
- 1929 King Inayatullah of Afghanistan forced to abdicate after a coup; he ruled for only three days.
- 1929 Popeye makes first appearance, in comic strip "Thimble Theatre"
- 1929 Popeye the Sailor Man, a cartoon character created by Elzie Crisler Segar, first appears in the Comic Strip Thimble Theatre.
- 1933 Bradman takes second Test wicket, Hammond, bowled
- 1934 Electric Home & Farm Authority incorporated
- 1938 Supreme Soviet elects Michail Kalinin as presidium chairman
- 1941 Kuomintang forces under the order of Chiang Kai-Shek opened fire at communist force, Chinese Civil War resumes after WWII.
- 1943 Tin Can Drive Day
- 1944 Corvette Violet sinks U-641 in Atlantic Ocean
- 1945 Auschwitz concentration camp begins evacuation
- 1945 Liberation of Warsaw by Soviet troops (end of Nazi occupation)
- 1945 Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg disappears in Hungary while in Soviet custody.
- 1945 The Nazis begin the evacuation of the Auschwitz concentration camp as Soviet forces close in.
- 1945 Warsaw is liberated by Polish and Soviet forces during WWII.
- 1946 United Nations Security Council holds its first meeting
- 1947 Muiden Netherlands ammunition factory explodes, 16 die
- 1948 Netherlands & Indonesia agree to a cease fire
- 1948 Trial of 11 US Communist party members begins in New York City NY
- 1949 The Goldbergs, the first sitcom on American television, first airs.
- 1950 11 men rob Brink's office in Boston of $1.2M cash & $1.5M securities
- 1950 The Great Brinks Robbery - 11 thieves steal more than $2 million from an armored car Company's offices in Boston, Massachusetts.
- 1951 China refuses cease-fire in Korea
- 1955 USS Nautilus (SSN-571), the first nuclear-powered submarine, is commissioned and sends the message "underway on nuclear power"
- 1956 Allen Ginsberg writes his poem "America".
- 1957 9-county commission recommends creation of BART
- 1961 Eisenhower allegedly orders the assassination of Congo's Lumumba
- 1963 Artist Sarah Jane Trehearne was born
- 1963 Joe Walker takes X-15 to altitude of 82 km
- 1966 A B-52 bomber collides with a KC-135 Stratotanker over Spain, dropping four 70-kiloton hydrogen bombs near the town of Palomares and another one into the sea in the Palomares hydrogen bombs incident.
- 1966 A U.S. B52 bomber carrying four hydrogen bombs collided with its refueling plane over Palomares, Spain, scattering radioactive plutonium over the area.
- 1966 USAF B-52 carrying 4 unarmed hydrogen bombs crashes on Spanish coast at Palomares, 7 die
- 1968 Soyuz 4 & 5 completed first docking of 2 manned spacecraft
- 1969 Beatles release Yellow Submarine album in UK
- 1969 Debut album of Led Zeppelin released in US
- 1969 Visitor posting - January 17, 1969 Kathryn Melissa Swaine was born in Quincy, Florida.
- 1970 AFL Pro Bowl West beats East 26-3
- 1970 John M Burgess installed as bishop of Protestant Episcopals (Massachusetts)
- 1972 Section of Memphis' Highway 51 South renamed Elvis Presley Blvd
- 1972 Visitor posting - Damien Garry (Ireland) was born
- 1973 City of Amsterdam decides to support Hanoi
- 1973 New Philippine constitution names Marcos president for life
- 1976 "I Write the Songs" by Barry Manilow hits #1
- 1976 Hermes rocket launched by European Space Agency
- 1977 Convicted murderer Gary Gilmore is executed by a firing squad in Utah, ending a ten-year moratorium on Capital punishment in the United States.
- 1977 Zaire President Mobutu visits Belgium
- 1979 Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi flees Iran
- 1981 Philippino President Marcos ends state of siege
- 1982 "Cold Sunday" in the United States sees temperatures fall to their lowest levels in over 100 years in numerous cities.
- 1983 10th American Music Award Kenny Rogers
- 1983 Alabama Governor George C Wallace, becomes governor for record 4th time
- 1983 Nigeria expels 2 million illegal aliens, mostly Ghanaians
- 1983 UK hist Start of breakfast TV in Britain
- 1984 Supreme Court rules (5-4) private use of home VCRs to tape TV programs for later viewing does not violate federal copyright laws
- 1985 Azharuddin scores second Test century in second Test (v England)
- 1985 British Telecom announces the retirement of the United Kingdom's famous red telephone boxes.
- 1986 Tim Witherspoon beats Tony Tubbs in 15 to regain WBA heavyweight title
- 1987 President Reagan signed a secret order permitting the covert sale of arms to Iran.
- 1988 Leslie Manigay elected President of Haiti
- 1989 Al Arbour wins his 600th NHL game as coach
- 1989 Five children are shot to death at Cleveland Elementary School in Stockton, California, by a gunman who then kills himself.
- 1989 Gunman opens fire in California schoolyard; 5 students slain, 30 wounded
- 1989 Murden & Metz are first women to reach South Pole overland (on skis)
- 1990 5th Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Awards Bobby Darin
- 1990 A study concluded it is not oat bran itself, but the substitution of oat bran or other foods for high-fat foods which cuts blood cholesterol.
- 1990 Who, Simon & Garfunkel, 4 Seasons, 4 Tops, Hank Ballard, Platters & Kinks inducted into Cleveland's Rock & Roll Hall of Fame
- 1991 Gulf War: Operation Desert Storm began early in the morning. Iraq fires 8 Scud missiles into Israel in an unsuccessful bid to provoke Israeli retaliation.
- 1991 Harald V becomes King of Norway on the death of his father, Olav V.
- 1991 Iraq fires 8 SCUD missiles on Israel
- 1991 Mountie Jacques Rougeau beats Hart for WWF intercontinental title
- 1991 The U.S. Centers for Disease Control reported that Florida dentist David Acer had infected three patients with the AIDS virus.
- 1992 Sarah Ferguson attends dinner of Everglades club (club excludes Jews)
- 1993 14th ACE Cable Awards HBO wins 32 awards
- 1994 6.6 Earthquake hits Los Angeles killing 60, $30B in damage
- 1994 A magnitude 6.7 earthquake hits Northridge, California; see 1994 Northridge Earthquake.
- 1994 A pre-dawn earthquake struck the Los Angeles area, claiming 61 lives and causing widespread damage.
- 1994 Liz Taylor released from the hospital after hip treatment
- 1995 7.2 earthquake destroys Kobe Japan (5,372 die)
- 1995 A magnitude 7.3 earthquake (known as "the Great Hanshin earthquake") hits near Kobe, Japan, causing extensive property damage and killing 6,433 people.
- 1995 A powerful earthquake rocked Kobe, Japan, and the surrounding area, killing more than 5,000 people.
- 1995 More than 6,000 die as a magnitude 7.2 earthquake rocks Kobe, Japan.
- 1995 Visitor posting - Chris Lake was born - USA
- 1996 Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman got life in prison and 16 others were also sentenced to jail for plotting to bomb the United Nations.
- 1996 The Czech Republic applies for membership of the European Union.
- 1997 A Delta 2 carrying a GPS2R satellite explodes 13 seconds after launch, dropping 250 tons of burning rocket remains around the launch pad. [1]
- 1998 Paula Jones accuses President Bill Clinton of sexual harassment.
- 1998 President Clinton faces sexual harassment charges from Paula Jones
- 1998 Visitor posting - sierra was born - USA
- 2000 Almost 50,000 people marched in Columbia, S.C., to protest the flying of the Confederate battle flag over the state Capitol.
- 2001 Jewish Holocaust survivors win compensation deal from Austria for assets stripped from them when Austria was part of Adolf Hitler's Third Reich.
- 2001 Parts of California were plunged into darkness after utility companies failed to deliver enough electrical power. The rolling blackouts affected as many as 2 million people.
- 2002 Mount Nyiragongo erupts in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, displacing an estimated 400,000 people.
- 2002 The volcano on Mount Nyiragongo, near the town of Goma in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo, erupted causing at least 45 deaths and leaving an estimated 55,000 people homeless.
- 2004 Authorities placed the U.S. military death toll in Iraq at 500, including 346 in combat.
- 2005 A first century mosaic is found on Colle Oppio in Rome.
- 2005 Major accident of collision of two trains in Bangkok.
- 2007 Doomsday Clock is set to five minutes to midnight in response to N. Korea nuclear testing
- 2008 Death of Robert James "Bobby" Fischer age 64. He was an American-born chess Grandmaster, an Icelandic citizen at the time of his death. In 1972 he defeated the Soviet Union's Boris Spassky become the first officially recognized world champion born in the US.
- 2010 Visitor posting - Ryan started dating michelle pepe - USA
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