January 2
- 0366 Alamanni cross the frozen Rhine River in large numbers, invading the Roman Empire.
- 0533 Mercurius becomes Pope John II, the first pope to adopt a new name upon elevation to the papacy.
- 1492 Reconquista: Granada, the last Moorish stronghold in Spain, surrenders.
- 1492 Spain recaptures Granada from the Moors (Granada Day)
- 1570 Tsar Ivan the Terrible march to Novgorod begins
- 1585 Spain & Catholic France sign Saint League of Joinville
- 1602 Spanish forces in Ireland surrender to the English at Kinsdale
- 1678 Staatsoper Hamburg opens with Theiles "Adam und Eva"
- 1757 The United Kingdom captures Calcutta, India.
- 1759 In Montreal, French Intendant Bigot cuts the bread ration in New France to half a pound per person per day.
- 1776 Austria ends interrogation torture
- 1776 First revolutionary flag displayed
- 1777 American Revolutionary War: American forces under the command of George Washington repulsed a British attack at the Battle of the Assunpink Creek near Trenton, New Jersey.
- 1788 Georgia becomes the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution.
- 1788 Georgia is 4th state to ratify US constitution
- 1790 Mozart's opera "Cosi fan tutti" premieres, Vienna
- 1791 Big Bottom massacre in the Ohio Country, marking the beginning of the Northwest Indian War.
- 1793 Russia and Prussia partition Poland.
- 1800 Free black community of Philadelphia PA petitions Congress to abolish slavery
- 1811 US Senator Thomas Pickering is first senator censured (revealed confidential documents communicated by the President of the US)
- 1814 Lord Byron completes "The Corsair"
- 1818 The British Institution of Civil Engineers is formed.
- 1831 Liberator, abolitionist newspaper, begins publishing in Boston
- 1832 First Curling club in US (Orchard Lake Curling Club) opens
- 1833 Re-establishment of British rule on the Falklands.
- 1839 First photo of the Moon (French photographer Louis Daguerre)
- 1842 First US wire suspension bridge for general traffic opens in Pennsylvania
- 1849 The first gaslit streets in the province of Quebec are lit in Quebec City
- 1860 The discovery of the planet Vulcan is announced at a meeting of the Acadmie des Sciences in Paris.
- 1861 Colonel Charles Stone is put in charge of organizing DC militia
- 1861 SC seizes inactive Fort Johnson in Charleston Harbor
- 1863 Battle of Murfreesboro (Stone's River) ends
- 1870 Construction of Brooklyn Bridge begins
- 1871 Amadeus I becomes King of Spain.
- 1872 Brigham Young is arrested on charges of bigamy for having 25 wives.
- 1872 Canada and the US first share telegraphed weather reports.
- 1879 British battleship Thunder explodes in Gulf of Ismid, 9 die
- 1879 First Test match hat-trick, Fred Spofforth at the MCG
- 1879 Fred Spofforth claims the first hat-trick in test cricket on the Sydney Cricket Ground against England.
- 1881 Frederick Varley painter, born at Sheffield England; he was a founding member of Canada's "Group of Seven" artists
- 1882 Because of anti-monopoly laws, Standard Oil is organized as a trust
- 1882 John D. Rockefeller unites his oil holdings into the Standard Oil trust.
- 1885 General Wolseley receives last distress signal of General Gordon in Khartoum
- 1890 Alice Sanger becomes first female White House staffer
- 1890 Record 19'2" alligator shot in Louisiana by E A McIlhenny
- 1893 The first US commemoratives & 1st US stamp to picture a woman issued
- 1893 Webb C. Ball of the General Railroad Timepiece Standards in North America introduces railroad chronometers.
- 1896 Battle at Doornkop, South Africa (Boers beat Dr Jamesons troops)
- 1900 E Verlinger begins manufacturing 7" single-sided records (Montreal)
- 1900 John Hay announces the Open Door Policy to promote trade with China.
- 1903 President T Roosevelt shuts down post office in Indianola MI, for refusing to accept its appointed postmistress because she was black
- 1905 Elara, a satellite of Jupiter, discovered by Perrine
- 1905 Japanese troops capture Port Arthur
- 1905 Russo-Japanese War: The Russian fleet surrenders at Port Arthur, China.
- 1905 The American anarcho-syndicalist union known as the Industrial Workers of the World forms.
- 1908 Canadian branch of the Royal Mint opens in Ottawa
- 1908 The founding of the Royal Mint of Canada, as a branch of the British Royal Mint.
- 1909 The first official Dutch 11 city skate (Minne Hoekstra in 13 50)
- 1910 First junior high schools in US open in Berkeley CA
- 1913 National Woman's Party forms
- 1914 Philips installs research department in Eindhoven
- 1917 The Royal Bank of Canada takes over Quebec Bank.
- 1919 Anti-British uprising in Ireland
- 1919 Lithuania gains independence
- 1920 10,000 US union & socialist organizers arrested (Palmer Raids)
- 1920 The Palmer Raids begin in the United States.
- 1921 DeYoung Museum in Golden Gate Park opens
- 1921 The first radio religious service is broadcast, as Pittsburgh station KDKA airs the Sunday service of the Calvary Episcopal Church.
- 1923 Ku Klux Klan surprise attack on black residential area Rosewood FL, 8 killed (compensation awarded in 1995)
- 1923 U.S. Interior Secretary Albert Fall resigns over the Teapot Dome scandal.
- 1925 Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region established (now in Tadzhik SSR)
- 1929 Canada and the United States agree on a plan to preserve Niagara Falls.
- 1929 US & Canada agree to preserve Niagara Falls
- 1932 Young gang shoot dead 6 police in Springfield Missouri
- 1933 Ijmuider fishing strike begins (till July 11th)
- 1933 US troops leave Nicaragua
- 1934 Bradman scores 253 New South Wales vs Queensland, 204 minutes, 29 fours 4 sixes
- 1934 First state liquor stores open, in Pennsylvania
- 1934 Visitor posting - Hi Barb B., you are born! In Iowa, Barb's parents are full of pride! You go girl!
- 1935 Bruno Hauptmann goes on trial for the murder of Charles Lindbergh, Jr., infant son of aviator Charles Lindbergh.
- 1936 Bradman scores 357 for South Africa vs Victoria, 424 minutes, 40 fours
- 1936 First electron tube to enable night vision described, St Louis MO
- 1938 Book publisher Simon and Schuster founded
- 1939 Bradman scores 107 South Africa vs Victoria, his 4th consecutive century
- 1941 World War II: German bombing severely damages the Llandaff Cathedral in Cardiff, Wales.
- 1942 28 nations, at war with Axis, pledge no separate peace
- 1942 German troops in Bardia surrender
- 1942 The Philippine capital city of Manila falls to Japanese invaders during WWII.
- 1942 World War II: Manila is captured by Japanese forces.
- 1943 Canadian government brings in newsprint rationing.
- 1944 First use of helicopters during warfare (British Atlantic patrol)
- 1945 Allied air raid on Neurenberg
- 1945 Radio Orange ends cooperation at Liese-Aktion
- 1946 Unable to resume rule after World War II, King Zog of Albania abdicates but retains his claim to the throne.
- 1947 A new specification for aircraft color was issued providing for the use of glossy sea blue on all shipboard and water based aircraft and all helicopters
- 1947 Mahatma Gandhi begins march for peace in East-Bengali
- 1949 Luis Muoz Marn became the first democratically elected Governor of Puerto Rico.
- 1951 Trade Minister C.D. Howe announces construction of a $30 million-dollar atomic reactor facility at Chalk River, Ontario.
- 1954 Herman Wouks "Caine Mutiny," premieres in New York City NY
- 1954 Visitor posting - Jerome Allen Charles Kennedy born 4th of 11 children to James and Madonna Kennedy. And now you know the rest of the story! - USA
- 1955 First "Bob Cummings Show" premieres on NBC (later on CBS)
- 1955 Panamanian president Jose Antonio Remon is assassinated.
- 1956 Poujadists/communists win French parliamentary elections
- 1957 The San Francisco Stock and Bond Exchange and Los Angeles Oil Exchange merge.
- 1959 Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista flees
- 1959 The first artificial satellite to orbit the moon, Luna 1, is launched by the U.S.S.R.
- 1959 USSR launches Mechta (Luna 1) for first lunar fly-by, first solar orbit
- 1960 First redshank old world shore bird reported in North America (Halifax)
- 1960 John Reynolds sets age of solar system at 4,950,000,000 years
- 1960 Roger Sessions' 4th Symphony premieres
- 1960 Senator John F Kennedy, announces his candidacy for President
- 1961 Hawaii's, then all time low temperature, 14ºF recorded atop Haleakale
- 1962 Nighttime version of "Password" with Allen Ludden premieres on CBS
- 1964 Ayub Khan elected President of Pakistan
- 1965 Obverse design of all Canadian coins is changed to depict present-day
- 1966 Visitor posting - Vladimir Krasnoslobodtsev, the founder of Holstik Company was born - Russian Federation
- 1968 Christian Barnard performs 2nd heart transplant
- 1969 "Soviet Sport" calls Emile Zatopek a public enemy
- 1969 FLQ bombs are discovered in Ottawa.
- 1969 Luis Ferr becomes the first statehooder Governor of Puerto Rico.
- 1969 Operation Barrier Reef began in Mekong Delta, Vietnam
- 1970 Dutch premiere of musical "Hair" in Amsterdam
- 1970 US population is 293,200,000; Black population 22,600,000 (11.1%)
- 1971 A barrier collapses at Ibrox Park football ground at end of a soccer match in Glasgow Scotland, killing 66
- 1971 The second Ibrox disaster kills 66 fans at a Rangers-Celtic football game.
- 1972 Mariner 9 begins mapping Mars
- 1974 Richard Nixon signs a bill lowering the maximum US speed limit to 55 MPH in order to conserve gasoline during an OPEC embargo.
- 1974 U.S. President Nixon signs into law a national highway speed limit of 55 miles per hour.
- 1974 Worst fire in Argentine history destroys 1.2 million acres
- 1975 US Department of Interior designates grizzly bear a threatened species
- 1978 Bülent Ecevit forms government in Turkey
- 1978 Rhino Records releases their first album "Wildmania"
- 1979 Sid Vicious' trial for murder of girlfriend Nancy Spingen begins
- 1980 68th Australian Men Tennis Guillermo Vilas beat John Sadri (76 63 62)
- 1981 Mary Terstegge Meagher swims female record 200 meter butterfly (2 05.65)
- 1981 Sylvester Clarke knocks out spectator with brick, West Indies vs Pakistan
- 1982 "Camelot" closes at Winter Garden Theater New York City NY after 48 performances
- 1982 70th Australian Mens Tennis Johan Kriek beats S Denton (62 76 67 64)
- 1982 Islanders start 23 undefeated home streak (21-0-2) 14 straight wins
- 1982 San Diego Chargers beat Miami Dolphins, 41-38 in 13 52 of OT
- 1983 "Sophisticated Ladies" closes at Lunt-Fontanne New York City NY after 767 performances
- 1983 Don Muraco beats Pedro Morales to become WWF Intercontinental Champ
- 1983 Gary Trudeau takes a 20-month break from writing "Doonesbury"
- 1983 Ken Anderson of Cincinnati OH completes record 20 consecutive passes
- 1983 Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau starts 18-day mission to Hong Kong, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Brunei, Philippines
- 1983 The musical Annie, based on the comic strip Little Orphan Annie, ends its Broadway run after 2,377 performances.
- 1984 Darryl Cullinan, 16, scores his first first-class cricket century
- 1984 Miami beats Nebraska in Orange Bowl for college football championship
- 1984 Riot in Tunis kills over 100
- 1984 Wilson Goode, sworn-in as Philadelphia's first black mayor
- 1985 90th hat trick in Islander history-Brent Sutter
- 1985 Egyptian President Mubarak re-appoints Coptic pope Shenuda III
- 1985 Nevada-Las Vegas beats Utah 142-140, highest college basketball score
- 1985 Undefeated Brigham Young University becomes college football champion
- 1986 191.66 million shares traded in New York Stock Exchange
- 1986 New York Islander, Mike Bossy, scores his 500th goal
- 1986 Visitor posting - January 2 1986 Kirby Lauren Key, Supermom, was born - The world will never be the same.
- 1987 Penn State upsets Miami in Fiesta Bowl for college football champ
- 1987 Troops of Chad President Habré conquer Fada oasis
- 1988 Ashland Oil storage tank spills 3.8 million gallons, Pennsylvania
- 1988 Mulroney & Reagan sign Canada-US free trade agreement
- 1990 Dow Jones hits record 2,800 (2,810.15)
- 1990 Sting joins wrestlings 4 Horsemen (Flair, Arn Anderson, Ole Anderson)
- 1991 Sharon Pratt Dixon is sworn in as mayor of Washington, DC, becoming the first African American woman to lead a city of that size and importance.
- 1992 Test debut of Shane Warne, vs India at Sydney
- 1993 Leaders of the three warring factions in Bosnia meet to discuss peace plans.
- 1994 "Shakespeare after My Father" closes at Helen Hayes New York City NY after 266 performances
- 1994 Battles between army & rebellious Indians in South Mexico, kill 57
- 1994 Visitor posting - Alexandra Tilton is born - USA
- 1995 Bus crashes in Luzon Philippines, 29 killed
- 1995 Marion Barry is sworn in as mayor of Washington DC, four years after leaving office to serve a six-month sentence for drug possession.
- 1995 Most distant galaxy yet discovered found by scientists using Keck telescope in Hawaii (estimated 15 billion light years away)
- 1996 Bookclip.com launched. Unique invention to Keep Books Open.
- 1997 Residents of southern and eastern Ontario are digging out again this morning after another round of snow.
- 1997 Visitor posting - Annik Bertrand was born jan 2 1997 bc canada - Canada
- 1997 Visitor posting - January 2nd, 1997 Alexi was born - USA (:
- 1998 Autopsy of Chris Farley shows he overdosed of opiates & cocaine
- 1998 Russia begins to circulate new rubles to stem inflation and promote confidence.
- 1999 A brutal snowstorm smashes into the Midwestern United States, causing 14 inches (359 mm) of snow at Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and 19 inches (487 mm) at Chicago, where temperatures plunge to -13F (-25C); 68 deaths are reported.
- 2001 Sila Caldern becomes the first female Governor of Puerto Rico.
- 2002 Eduardo Duhalde is appointed interim President of Argentina by the Legislative Assembly.
- 2002 Levy Mwanawasa takes office as the third President of Zambia.
- 2002 UK hist UK 1901 census details available
- 2004 Stardust successfully flies past Comet Wild 2, collecting samples that it will return to Earth two years later.
- 2006 An explosion in a coal mine leads to the death of 12 of 13 miners in the 2006 Sago Mine disaster in West Virginia.
- 2006 Fifteen people die in the Bad Reichenhall ice rink roof collapse tragedy in Bavaria, Germany.
- 2008 Massachusetts decriminalizes the recreational use of marijuana.
- 2008 Oil reached $100 US a barrel
- 2010 Visitor posting - The world's sweetest and most beautiful woman marries the world's luckiest man. I love you, my "breadloaf!" - USA
More historical events added daily - keep checking back
- 2004 Stardust successfully flies past Comet Wild 2, collecting samples that it will return to Earth two years later.