Events Pre-1600 27 BC – Octavian transfers the state to the free disposal of the Roman Senate and the people. He receives Spain, Gaul, and Syria as his province for ten years. 532 – The Nika riots break out, during the racing season at the Hippodrome in Constantinople, as a result of discontent with the rule of the Emperor Justinian I. 1435 – Sicut Dudum, forbidding the enslavement by the Spanish of the Guanche natives in Canary Islands who had converted, or were converting to, Christianity, is promulgated by Pope Eugene IV. 1547 – Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey, is sentenced to death for treason, on the grounds of having quartered his arms to make them similar to those of the King, Henry VIII of England.
1601–1900 1793 – Nicolas Jean Hugon de Bassville, representative of Revolutionary France, is lynched by a mob in Rome. 1797 – French Revolutionary Wars: A naval battle between a French ship of the line and two British frigates off the coast of Brittany ends with the French vessel running aground, resulting in over 900 deaths. 1815 – War of 1812: British troops capture Fort Peter in St. Marys, Georgia, the only battle of the war to take place in the state. 1822 – The design of the Greek flag is adopted by the First National Assembly at Epidaurus. 1833 – United States President Andrew Jackson writes to Vice President elect Martin Van Buren expressing his opposition to South Carolina's defiance of federal authority in the Nullification Crisis. 1840 – The steamship Lexington burns and sinks four miles off the coast of Long Island with the loss of 139 lives. 1842 – Dr. William Brydon, an assistant surgeon in the British East India Company Army during the First Anglo-Afghan War, becomes famous for being the sole survivor of an army of 4,500 men and 12,000 camp followers when he reaches the safety of a garrison in Jalalabad, Afghanistan. 1847 – The Treaty of Cahuenga ends the Mexican–American War in California. 1849 – Establishment of the Colony of Vancouver Island. 1849 – Second Anglo-Sikh War: Battle of Chillianwala: British forces retreat from the Sikhs. 1888 – The National Geographic Society is founded in Washington, D.C. 1893 – The Independent Labour Party of the United Kingdom holds its first meeting. 1893 – U.S. Marines land in Honolulu, Hawaii from the to prevent the queen from abrogating the Bayonet Constitution. 1895 – First Italo-Ethiopian War: The war's opening battle, the Battle of Coatit, occurs; it is an Italian victory. 1898 – Émile Zola's J'accuse…! exposes the Dreyfus affair. 1900 – To combat Czech nationalism, Emperor Franz Joseph decrees German will be language of the Austro-Hungarian Armed Forces.
1901–present 1908 – The Rhoads Opera House fire in Boyertown, Pennsylvania kills 171 people. 1915 – The 6.7 Avezzano earthquake shakes the Province of L'Aquila in Italy with a maximum Mercalli intensity of XI (Extreme), killing between 29,978 and 32,610. 1920 – The Reichstag Bloodbath of January 13, 1920, the bloodiest demonstration in German history. 1935 – A plebiscite in Saarland shows that 90.3% of those voting wish to no more being a "region occupied and governed by the United Kingdom and France". 1939 – The Black Friday bushfires burn of land in Australia, claiming the lives of 71 people. 1942 – Henry Ford patents a soybean car, which is 30% lighter than a regular car. 1942 – World War II: First use of an aircraft ejection seat by a German test pilot in a Heinkel He 280 jet fighter. 1950 – British submarine collides with an oil tanker in the Thames Estuary, killing 64 men. 1950 – Finland forms diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of China. 1951 – First Indochina War: The Battle of Vĩnh Yên begins. 1953 – An article appears in Pravda accusing some of the most prestigious and prominent doctors, mostly Jews, in the Soviet Union of taking part in a vast plot to poison members of the top Soviet political and military leadership. 1958 – The Moroccan Army of Liberation ambushes a Spanish patrol in the Battle of Edchera. 1963 – Coup d'état in Togo results in the assassination of president Sylvanus Olympio. 1964 – Anti-Muslim riots break out in Calcutta, in response to anti-Hindu riots in East Pakistan. About one hundred people are killed. 1964 – In Manchester, New Hampshire, fourteen-year-old Pamela Mason is murdered. Edward Coolidge is tried and convicted of the crime, but the conviction is set aside by the landmark Fourth Amendment case Coolidge v. New Hampshire (1971). 1966 – Robert C. Weaver becomes the first African American Cabinet member when he is appointed United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development. 1968 – Johnny Cash performs live at Folsom State Prison. 1972 – Prime Minister Kofi Abrefa Busia and President Edward Akufo-Addo of Ghana are ousted in a bloodless military coup by Colonel Ignatius Kutu Acheampong. 1977 – Japan Air Lines Cargo Flight 1045, a Douglas DC-8 jet, crashes onto the runway during takeoff from Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport, killing five. 1978 – United States Food and Drug Administration requires all blood donations to be labeled "paid" or "volunteer" donors. 1982 – Shortly after takeoff, Air Florida Flight 90, a Boeing 737 jet, crashes into Washington, D.C.'s 14th Street Bridge and falls into the Potomac River, killing 78 including four motorists. 1985 – A passenger train plunges into a ravine in Ethiopia, killing 428 in the worst railroad disaster in Africa. 1986 – A month-long violent struggle begins in Aden, South Yemen between supporters of Ali Nasir Muhammad and Abdul Fattah Ismail, resulting in thousands of casualties. 1988 – Lee Teng-hui becomes the first native Taiwanese President of the Republic of China. 1990 – Douglas Wilder becomes the first elected African American governor as he takes office as Governor of Virginia in Richmond, Virginia. 1991 – Soviet Union troops attack Lithuanian independence supporters in Vilnius, killing 14 people and wounding around 1,000 others. 1993 – Space Shuttle program: Endeavour heads for space for the third time as STS-54 launches from the Kennedy Space Center. 1993 – The Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) is signed. 1993 – Operation Southern Watch: U.S.A.F., U.S.N., R.A.F. and French Air Force jets attack AAA and SAM sites in Southern Iraq. 1998 – Alfredo Ormando sets himself on fire in St. Peter's Square, protesting against homophobia. 2000 – A Short 360 aircraft chartered by the Sirte Oil Company crashes off the coast of Brega, Libya, killing 21. - Alternate link from the Aviation Safety Network. 2001 – An earthquake hits El Salvador, killing more than 800. 2003 – 208996 Achlys was discovered by Chad Trujillo and Michael E. Brown at Palomar Observatory. 2004 – Uzbekistan Airways Flight 1154 crashes while landing at Tashkent International Airport, killing 37. 2012 – The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia sinks off the coast of Italy due to the captain Francesco Schettino's negligence and irresponsibility. There are 32 confirmed deaths. 2018 – A false emergency alert warning of an impending missile strike in Hawaii causes widespread panic in the state. 2020 – The Thai Ministry of Public Health confirms the first case of COVID-19 outside China. 2021 – Outgoing U.S. President Donald Trump is impeached for a second time on a charge of incitement of insurrection following the January 6 United States Capitol attack one week prior.
Births
Pre-1600 5 BC – Guangwu of Han, Chinese emperor (died 57) 101 – Lucius Aelius, Roman adopted son of Hadrian (died 138) 915 – Al-Hakam II, Umayyad caliph (died 976) 1334 – Henry II, king of Castile and León (died 1379) 1338 – Chŏng Mong-ju, Korean civil minister, diplomat and scholar (died 1392) 1381 – Colette of Corbie, French abbess and saint in the Catholic Church (died 1447) 1400 – Infante John, Constable of Portugal (died 1442) 1477 – Henry Percy, 5th Earl of Northumberland (died 1527) 1505 – Joachim II Hector, Elector of Brandenburg (died 1571) 1562 – Mark Alexander Boyd, Scottish poet and soldier (died 1601) 1596 – Jan van Goyen, Dutch painter and illustrator (died 1656)
1601–1900 1610 – Maria Anna of Bavaria, archduchess of Austria (died 1665) 1616 – Antoinette Bourignon, French-Flemish mystic and author (died 1680) 1651 – Henry Booth, 1st Earl of Warrington, English soldier and politician, Chancellor of the Exchequer (died 1694) 1672 – Lucy Filippini, Italian teacher and saint (died 1732) 1683 – Christoph Graupner, German harpsichord player and composer (died 1760) 1720 – Richard Hurd, English bishop (died 1808) 1749 – Maler Müller, German poet, painter, and playwright (died 1825) 1787 – John Davis, American lawyer and politician, 14th Governor of Massachusetts (died 1854) 1804 – Paul Gavarni, French illustrator (died 1866) 1805 – Thomas Dyer, American lawyer and politician, 18th Mayor of Chicago (died 1862) 1808 – Salmon P. Chase, American jurist and politician, 6th Chief Justice of the United States (died 1873) 1810 – Ernestine Rose, American suffragist, abolitionist, and freethinker (died 1892) 1812 – Victor de Laprade, French poet and critic (died 1883) 1832 – Horatio Alger, Jr., American novelist and journalist (died 1899) 1845 – Félix Tisserand, French astronomer and academic (died 1896) 1858 – Oskar Minkowski, Lithuanian-German biologist and academic (died 1931) 1859 – Kostis Palamas, Greek poet and playwright (died 1943) 1861 – Max Nonne, German neurologist and academic (died 1959) 1864 – Wilhelm Wien, German physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1928) 1865 – Princess Marie of Orléans (died 1908) 1866 – Vasily Kalinnikov, Russian bassoon player and composer (died 1901) 1869 – Prince Emanuele Filiberto, Duke of Aosta (died 1931) 1870 – Ross Granville Harrison, American biologist and anatomist (died 1959) 1878 – Lionel Groulx, Canadian priest and historian (died 1967) 1881 – Essington Lewis, Australian engineer and businessman (died 1961) 1883 – Nathaniel Cartmell, American runner and coach (died 1967) 1885 – Alfred Fuller, Canadian-American businessman, founded the Fuller Brush Company (died 1973) 1886 – Art Ross, Canadian-American ice hockey player and coach (died 1964) 1886 – Sophie Tucker, Russian-born American singer and actress (died 1966) 1890 – Jüri Uluots, Estonian journalist, lawyer, and politician, 7th Prime Minister of Estonia (died 1945) 1892 – Ermanno Aebi, Italian-Swiss footballer (died 1976) 1893 – Charles Arnison, English lieutenant and pilot (died 1974) 1893 – Roy Cazaly, Australian footballer and coach (died 1963) 1893 – Clark Ashton Smith, American poet, sculptor, painter, and author (died 1961) 1893 – Chaïm Soutine, Belarusian-French painter (died 1943) 1900 – Shimizugawa Motokichi, Japanese sumo wrestler (died 1967) 1900 – Gertrude Mary Cox, American mathematician (died 1978)
1901–present 1901 – A. B. Guthrie, Jr., American novelist, screenwriter, historian (died 1991) 1901 – Mieczysław Żywczyński, Polish priest and historian (died 1978) 1902 – Karl Menger, Austrian-American mathematician from the Vienna Circle (died 1985) 1904 – Richard Addinsell, English composer (died 1977) 1904 – Nathan Milstein, Ukrainian-American violinist and composer (died 1992) 1904 – Dick Rowley, Irish footballer (died 1984) 1905 – Kay Francis, American actress (died 1968) 1905 – Jack London, English sprinter and pianist (died 1966) 1906 – Zhou Youguang, Chinese linguist, sinologist, and academic (died 2017) 1909 – Helm Glöckler, German race car driver (died 1993) 1910 – Yannis Tsarouchis, Greek painter and illustrator (died 1989) 1911 – Joh Bjelke-Petersen, New Zealand-Australian farmer and politician, 31st Premier of Queensland (died 2005) 1914 – Osa Massen, Danish-American actress (died 2006) 1914 – Ted Willis, Baron Willis, English author, playwright, and screenwriter (died 1992) 1919 – Robert Stack, American actor (died 2003) 1921 – Necati Cumalı, Greek-Turkish author and poet (died 2001) 1921 – Dachine Rainer, American-English author and poet (died 2000)