Events Pre-1600 43 BC – Legions loyal to the Roman Senate, commanded by Gaius Pansa, defeat the forces of Mark Antony in the Battle of Forum Gallorum. 69 – Vitellius, commanding Rhine-based armies, defeats Roman emperor Otho in the First Battle of Bedriacum to take power over Rome. 966 – Following his marriage to the Christian Doubravka of Bohemia, the pagan ruler of the Polans, Mieszko I, converts to Christianity, an event considered to be the founding of the Polish state. 972 – Otto II, Co-Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, marries Byzantine princess Theophanu. She is crowned empress by Pope John XIII in Rome the same day. 1205 – Combined Bulgarian and Cuman army under Kalojan ambushes and defeats forces of the Latin Empire of Constantinople in the Battle of Adrianople. 1395 – Tokhtamysh–Timur war: At the Battle of the Terek River, Timur defeats the army of the Golden Horde, beginning the khanate's permanent military decline. 1471 – In England, the Yorkists under Edward IV defeat the Lancastrians under the Earl of Warwick at the Battle of Barnet; the Earl is killed and Edward resumes the throne. 1561 – A celestial phenomenon is reported over Nuremberg, described as an aerial battle.
1601–1900 1639 – Thirty Years' War: Forces of the Holy Roman Empire and Electorate of Saxony are defeated by the Swedes at the Battle of Chemnitz, ending the military effectiveness of the Saxon army for the rest of the war and allowing the Swedes to advance into Bohemia. 1775 – The Society for the Relief of Free Negroes Unlawfully Held in Bondage, the first abolition society in North America, is organized in Philadelphia by Benjamin Franklin and Benjamin Rush. 1793 – The French troops led by Léger-Félicité Sonthonax defeat the slaves settlers in the Siege of Port-au-Prince. 1816 – Bussa, a slave in British-ruled Barbados, leads a slave rebellion, for which he is remembered as the country's first national hero. 1849 – Hungary declares itself independent of Austria with Lajos Kossuth as its leader. 1858 – The 1858 Christiania fire severely destroys several city blocks near Stortorvet in Christiania, Norway, and about 1,000 people lose their homes. 1865 – U.S. President Abraham Lincoln is shot in Ford's Theatre by John Wilkes Booth; Lincoln dies the following day. 1865 – William H. Seward, the U.S. Secretary of State, and his family are attacked at home by Lewis Powell. 1881 – The Four Dead in Five Seconds Gunfight occurs in El Paso, Texas. 1890 – The Pan-American Union is founded by the First International Conference of American States in Washington, D.C. 1894 – The first ever commercial motion picture house opens in New York City, United States. It uses ten Kinetoscopes, devices for peep-show viewing of films. 1895 – The 1895 Ljubljana earthquake, both the most and last destructive earthquake in the area, occurs. 1900 – The world's fair Exposition Universelle opens in Paris.|
1901–present 1906 – The first meeting of the Azusa Street Revival, which will launch Pentecostalism as a worldwide movement, is held in Los Angeles. 1908 – Hauser Dam, a steel dam on the Missouri River in Montana, fails, sending a surge of water high downstream. 1909 – Muslims in the Ottoman Empire begin a massacre of Armenians in Adana. 1912 – The British passenger liner hits an iceberg in the North Atlantic and begins to sink. 1929 – The inaugural Monaco Grand Prix takes place in the Principality of Monaco. William Grover-Williams wins driving a Bugatti Type 35. 1931 – The Second Spanish Republic is proclaimed and King Alfonso XIII goes into exile. Meanwhile, in Barcelona, Francesc Macià proclaims the Catalan Republic. 1935 – The Black Sunday dust storm, considered one of the worst storms of the Dust Bowl, sweeps across the Oklahoma and Texas panhandles and neighboring areas. 1940 – World War II: Royal Marines land in Namsos, Norway, preceding a larger force which will arrive two days later. 1941 – World War II: German and Italian forces attack Tobruk, Libya. 1945 – World War II: In what becomes known as the Razing of Friesoythe, the 4th Canadian (Armoured) Division deliberately destroys the German town of Friesoythe on the orders of Major General Christopher Vokes. 1958 – The Soviet satellite Sputnik 2 falls from orbit after a mission duration of 162 days. This was the first spacecraft to carry a living animal, a female dog named Laika, who likely lived only a few hours. 1967 – Gnassingbé Eyadéma overthrows Nicolas Grunitzky and installs himself as the new President of Togo, a title he will hold for the next 38 years. 1978 – Tbilisi demonstrations: Thousands of Georgians demonstrate against Soviet attempts to change the constitutional status of the Georgian language. 1979 – The Progressive Alliance of Liberia stages a protest, without a permit, against an increase in rice prices proposed by the government, with clashes between protestors and the police resulting in over 70 deaths and over 500 injuries. 1981 – STS-1: The first operational Space Shuttle, Columbia, completes its first test flight. 1986 – The heaviest hailstones ever recorded, each weighing , fall on the Gopalganj district of Bangladesh, killing 92. 1988 – The strikes a mine in the Persian Gulf during Operation Earnest Will. 1988 – In a United Nations ceremony in Geneva, Switzerland, the Soviet Union signs an agreement pledging to withdraw its troops from Afghanistan. 1991 – The Republic of Georgia introduces the post of President following its declaration of independence from the Soviet Union. 1994 – In a friendly fire incident during Operation Provide Comfort in northern Iraq, two U.S. Air Force aircraft mistakenly shoot-down two U.S. Army helicopters, killing 26 people. 1997 – Pai Hsiao-yen, daughter of Taiwanese artiste Pai Bing-bing, is kidnapped on her way to school, preceding her murder. 1999 – NATO mistakenly bombs a convoy of ethnic Albanian refugees. Yugoslav officials say 75 people were killed. 1999 – A severe hailstorm strikes Sydney, Australia causing A$2.3 billion in insured damages, the most costly natural disaster in Australian history. 2001 – Series of bombings at Ramna Park in Dhaka during the Bengali New Year celebrations leave 10 people dead and dozens other injured. 2002 – Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez returns to office two days after being ousted and arrested by the country's military. 2003 – The Human Genome Project is completed with 99% of the human genome sequenced to an accuracy of 99.99%. 2003 – U.S. troops in Baghdad capture Abu Abbas, leader of the Palestinian group that killed an American on the hijacked cruise liner in 1985. 2005 – The Oregon Supreme Court nullifies marriage licenses issued to same-sex couples a year earlier by Multnomah County. 2006 – Twin blasts triggered by crude bombs during Asr prayer in the Jama Masjid mosque in Delhi injure 13 people.Two blasts rock Delhi's Jama Masjid 2014 – Two bombs detonate at a bus station in Nyanya, Nigeria, killing at least 88 people and injuring hundreds. Boko Haram claims responsibility. 2014 – Boko Haram abducts 276 girls from a school in Chibok, Nigeria. 2016 – The foreshock of a major earthquake occurs in Kumamoto, Japan. 2022 – Russian invasion of Ukraine: The Russian warship Moskva is struck by two anti-ship missiles and sinks into the Black Sea. 2023 – The Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (JUICE) is launched by the European Space Agency. 2024 – Flooding in the Persian Gulf starts, killing 19 in Oman.
Births Pre-1600 1126 – Averroes, Andalusian Arab physician and philosopher (died 1198) 1204 – Henry I, king of Castile (died 1217) 1331 – Jeanne-Marie de Maille, French Roman Catholic saint (died 1414) 1527 – Abraham Ortelius, Flemish cartographer and geographer (died 1598) 1572 – Adam Tanner, Austrian mathematician, philosopher, and academic (died 1632) 1578 – Philip III of Spain (died 1621)
1601–1900 1629 – Christiaan Huygens, Dutch mathematician, astronomer, and physicist (died 1695) 1669 – Magnus Julius De la Gardie, Swedish general and politician (died 1741) 1678 – Abraham Darby I, English iron master (died 1717) 1709 – Charles Collé, French playwright and songwriter (died 1783) 1714 – Adam Gib, Scottish minister and author (died 1788) 1738 – William Cavendish-Bentinck, 3rd Duke of Portland, English politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (died 1809) 1769 – Barthélemy Catherine Joubert, French general (died 1799) 1773 – Jean-Baptiste de Villèle, French politician, Prime Minister of France (died 1854) 1788 – David G. Burnet, American politician, 2nd Vice-president of Texas (died 1870) 1800 – John Appold, English engineer (died 1865) 1812 – George Grey, Portuguese-New Zealand soldier, explorer, and politician, 11th Prime Minister of New Zealand (died 1898) 1814 – Dimitri Kipiani, Georgian publicist and author (died 1887) 1819 – Harriett Ellen Grannis Arey, American educator, author, editor, and publisher (died 1901) 1827 – Augustus Pitt Rivers, English general, ethnologist, and archaeologist (died 1900) 1852 – Alexander Greenlaw Hamilton, Australian biologist (died 1941) 1854 – Martin Lipp, Estonian pastor and poet (died 1923) 1857 – Princess Beatrice of the United Kingdom (died 1944) 1865 – Alfred Hoare Powell, English architect, and designer and painter of pottery (died 1960) 1866 – Anne Sullivan, American educator (died 1936) 1868 – Peter Behrens, German architect, designed the AEG turbine factory (died 1940) 1870 – Victor Borisov-Musatov, Russian painter and educator (died 1905) 1870 – Syd Gregory, Australian cricketer and coach (died 1929) 1872 – Abdullah Yusuf Ali, Indian-English scholar and translator (died 1953) 1874 – Matti Lonkainen, Finnish politician (died 1918) 1876 – Cecil Chubb, English barrister and one time owner of Stonehenge (died 1934) 1881 – Husain Salaahuddin, Maldivian poet and scholar (died 1948) 1882 – Moritz Schlick, German-Austrian physicist and philosopher (died 1936) 1886 – Ernst Robert Curtius, German philologist and scholar (died 1956) 1886 – Edward C. Tolman, American psychologist (died 1959) 1886 – Árpád Tóth, Hungarian poet and translator (died 1928) 1889 – Arnold J. Toynbee, English historian and academic (died 1975) 1889 – Efim Bogoljubow, Russian-German chess grandmaster (1889–1952) 1891 – B. R. Ambedkar, Indian economist, jurist, and politician, 1st Indian Minister of Law and Justice (died 1956) 1891 – Otto Lasanen, Finnish wrestler (died 1958) 1892 – Juan Belmonte, Spanish bullfighter (died 1962) 1892 – V. Gordon Childe, Australian archaeologist and philologist (died 1957) 1892 – Claire Windsor, American actress (died 1972) 1900 – Shivrampant Damle, Indian educationist (died 1977)
1901–present 1902 – Sylvio Mantha, Canadian ice hockey player, coach, and referee (died 1974) 1903 – Henry Corbin, French philosopher and academic (died 1978) 1903 – Ruth Svedberg, Swedish discus thrower and triathlete (died 2002) 1904 – John Gielgud, English actor, director, and producer (died 2000) 1905 – Elizabeth Huckaby, American author and educator (died 1999) 1905 – Georg Lammers, German sprinter (died 1987) 1905 – Jean Pierre-Bloch, French author and activist (died 1999) 1906 – Faisal of Saudi Arabia, Saudi Arabian king (died 1975) 1907 – François Duvalier, Haitian physician and politician, 40th President of Haiti (died 1971) 1912 – Robert Doisneau, French photographer and journalist (died 1994) 1912 – Georg Siimenson, Estonian footballer (died 1978) 1913 – Jean Fournet, French conductor (died 2008) 1916 – Don Willesee, Australian telegraphist and politician, 29th Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs (died 2003) 1917 – Valerie Hobson, English actress (died 1998) 1917 – Marvin Miller, American baseball executive (died 2012) 1918 – Mary Healy, American actress and singer (died 2015) 1919 – Shamshad Begum, Pakistani-Indian singer (died 2013) 1919 – K. Saraswathi Amma, Indian author and playwright (died 1975) 1920 – Ivor Forbes Guest, English lawyer, historian, and author (died 2018)