- 69 – Otho seizes power in Rome, proclaiming himself Emperor of Rome,[1] beginning a reign of only three months.
- 1541 – King Francis I of France gives Jean-François Roberval a commission to settle the province of New France (Canada) and provide for the spread of the “Holy Catholic faith”.[2]
- 1559 – Elizabeth I is crowned Queen of England in Westminster Abbey, London.[3]
- 1582 – Truce of Yam-Zapolsky: Russia cedes Livonia to the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth.[4]
- 1759 – The British Museum opens to the public.[5]
- 1777 – American Revolutionary War: New Connecticut (present-day Vermont) declares its independence.[6]
- 1782 – Superintendent of Finance Robert Morris goes before the U.S. Congress to recommend establishment of a national mint and decimal coinage.
- 1815 – War of 1812: American frigate USS President, commanded by Commodore Stephen Decatur, is captured by a squadron of four British frigates.
- 1818 – A paper by David Brewster is read to the Royal Society, belatedly announcing his discovery of what we now call the biaxial class of doubly-refracting crystals. On the same day, Augustin-Jean Fresnel signs a “supplement” (submitted four days later) on reflection of polarized light.
- 1822 – Greek War of Independence: Demetrios Ypsilantis is elected president of the legislative assembly.
- 1865 – American Civil War: Fort Fisher in North Carolina falls to the Union, thus cutting off the last major seaport of the Confederacy.
- 1867 – Forty people died when ice covering the boating lake at Regent’s Park, London, collapsed.
- 1870 – A political cartoon for the first time symbolizes the Democratic Party with a donkey (“A Live Jackass Kicking a Dead Lion” by Thomas Nast for Harper’s Weekly).
- 1876 – The first newspaper in Afrikaans, Die Afrikaanse Patriot, is published in Paarl.
- 1889 – The Coca-Cola Company, then known as the Pemberton Medicine Company, is incorporated in Atlanta.
- 1892 – James Naismith publishes the rules of basketball.
- 1908 – The Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority becomes the first Greek-letter organization founded and established by African American college women.
- 1910 – Construction ends on the Buffalo Bill Dam in Wyoming, United States, which was the highest dam in the world at the time, at 325 ft (99 m).
- 1911 – Palestinian Arabic-language Falastin newspaper founded.
- 1919 – Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht, two of the most prominent socialists in Germany, are tortured and murdered by the Freikorps at the end of the Spartacist uprising.
- 1919 – Great Molasses Flood: A wave of molasses released from an exploding storage tank sweeps through Boston, Massachusetts, killing 21 and injuring 150.
- 1934 – The 8.0 Mw Nepal–Bihar earthquake strikes Nepal and Bihar with a maximum Mercalli intensity of XI (Extreme), killing an estimated 6,000–10,700 people.
- 1936 – The first building to be completely covered in glass, built for the Owens-Illinois Glass Company, is completed in Toledo, Ohio.
- 1937 – Spanish Civil War: Nationalists and Republican both withdraw after suffering heavy losses, ending the Second Battle of the Corunna Road.
- 1943 – World War II: The Soviet counter-offensive at Voronezh begins.
- 1943 – The Pentagon is dedicated in Arlington, Virginia.
- 1947 – The Black Dahlia murder: the dismembered corpse of Elizabeth Short was found in Los Angeles.
- 1949 – Chinese Civil War: The Communist forces take over Tianjin from the Nationalist Government.
- 1962 – The Derveni papyrus, Europe’s oldest surviving manuscript dating to 340 BC, is found in northern Greece.
- 1962 – Netherlands New Guinea Conflict: Indonesian Navy fast patrol boat RI Macan Tutul commanded by Commodore Yos Sudarso sunk in Arafura Sea by the Dutch Navy.
- 1966 – The First Nigerian Republic, led by Abubakar Tafawa Balewa is overthrown in a military coup d’état.
- 1967 – The first Super Bowl is played in Los Angeles. The Green Bay Packers defeat the Kansas City Chiefs 35–10.
- 1969 – The Soviet Union launches Soyuz 5.
- 1970 – Nigerian Civil War: Biafran rebels surrender following an unsuccessful 32-month fight for independence from Nigeria.
- 1970 – Muammar Gaddafi is proclaimed premier of Libya.
- 1973 – Vietnam War: Citing progress in peace negotiations, President Richard Nixon announces the suspension of offensive action in North Vietnam.
- 1975 – The Alvor Agreement is signed, ending the Angolan War of Independence and giving Angola independence from Portugal.
- 1976 – Gerald Ford‘s would-be assassin, Sara Jane Moore, is sentenced to life in prison.
- 1981 – Pope John Paul II receives a delegation from Solidarity (Polish trade union) at the Vatican led by Lech Wałęsa.
- 1991 – The United Nations deadline for the withdrawal of Iraqi forces from occupied Kuwait expires, preparing the way for the start of Operation Desert Storm.
- 1991 – Elizabeth II, in her capacity as Queen of Australia, signs letters patent allowing Australia to become the first Commonwealth realm to institute its own Victoria Cross in its honours system.
- 2001 – Wikipedia, a free wiki content encyclopedia, goes online.
- 2005 – ESA‘s SMART-1 lunar orbiter discovers elements such as calcium, aluminum, silicon, iron, and other surface elements on the Moon.
- 2007 – Barzan Ibrahim al-Tikriti, former Iraqi intelligence chief and half-brother of Saddam Hussein, and Awad Hamed al-Bandar, former chief judge of the Revolutionary Court, are executed by hanging in Iraq.
- 2009 – US Airways Flight 1549 ditches safely in the Hudson River after the plane collides with birds less than two minutes after take-off.
- 2013 – A train carrying Egyptian Army recruits derails near Giza, Greater Cairo, killing 19 and injuring 120 others.
- 2015 – The Swiss National Bank abandons the cap on the franc’s value relative to the euro, causing turmoil in international financial markets
- 2016 – The Kenyan Army suffers it worst defeat ever in a battle with Al-Shabaab Islamic insurgents in El-Adde, Somalia. An estimated 150 soldiers die.
- 2019 – Somali militants attacked the DusitD2 hotel in Nairobi,Kenya killing at least 21 people and injuring 19.[7]
- 2019 – Theresa May‘s UK government suffers the biggest government defeat in modern times, when 432 MPs voting against the proposed European Union withdrawal agreement, giving her opponents a majority of 230.[8]
-Source: wikipedia.org
