211 Roman Emperor Septimius Severus dies in Eboracum (York) in England, leaving the Roman Empire in the hands of his two quarrelsome sons, Caracalla and Geta
- 744 Maya King of Tikal, Yik'in Chan K'awiil, besieges rival city of Naranjo, taking its king Yax Mayuy Chan Chaak prisoner (depicted Stela 5 Tikal)
Song Dynasty Begins
960 Coronation of Zhao Kuangyin as Emperor Taizu of the Song initiates three centuries of Song Dynasty dominance in southern China
Ransom for Richard I
1194 Ransom of 100,000 pounds of silver is paid for the release of Richard I, King of England, to Holy Roman Emperor Henry VI
- 1454 In the Thirteen Years' War, the Secret Council of the Prussian Confederation sends a formal act of disobedience to the Grand Master
Maximilian I Assumes Title
1508 Maximilian I assumes imperial title without being crowned
First Protestant Martyr
1555 Reformer and bible translator John Roger is the first protestant martyr under Mary I, when he is burnt at the stake at Smithfield, London
- 1586 Robert Dudley, earl of Leicester, becomes governor-general of the States General of the United Provinces (Netherlands)
Hungary Makes Peace
1620 Prince Bethlen Gabor of Hungary signs peace with Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand II
Cromwell Grants Rights to English Jews
1657 Oliver Cromwell as Lord Protector, grants Portuguese Jew Antonio Fernandez Caravajal and other Sephardic Jews denizen status (1st known rights granted to English Jews)
- 1670 Battle of Sinhagad, Shivaji commander Tanaji Malusare recaptures fort of Sinhagad from the Mugals, scaling the walls with help of pet monitor lizard
- 1697 Three Dutch East India Company ships anchor at Dirk-Hartogeiland, Australia
- 1699 350 rebellious Streltsi executed in Moscow
- 1783 Worst quake in 8 years kills some 50,000 in Calabria, Italy
- 1784 First unmanned balloon flight in Ireland
- 1787 1st Anglican bishops of NY & Pennsylvania consecrated in London
- 1787 Shays' Rebellion (of debt-ridden Massachusetts farmers) fails
- 1797 Earthquake in Quito, Ecuador kills 41,000
- 1803 William Dunlap adapts French melodrama "Voice of Nature"
- 1810 Royal Navy seizes Guadeloupe.
- 1824 J W Goodrich introduces rubber galoshes to public
- 1846 Mormons leave Nauvoo, Illinois, for settlement in the west
- 1847 1st US telegraph company established in Maryland
- 1849 University of Wisconsin begins in 1 room with 20 students
- 1854 Alvan Bovay proposes name "Republican Party" in Ripon, Wisconsin
- 1855 Anti-semantic rioting drives Jewish families out of Coro, Venezuela
1859 One of the oldest known copies of the Bible, "The Codex Sinaiticus" (Sinai Bible), is seen in Egypt by Constantin von Tischendorf, who takes the manuscript home
Confederate President Jefferson Davis
1861 Confederate constitutional convention meets for the first time and elects Jefferson Davis President of the Confederacy (US Civil War)
- 1864 Skirmish at Big Black River Bridge, Mississippi
- 1865 Hawaiian Board of Education formed
Mary Baker Eddy Opens Bible
1866 American religious figure Mary Baker Eddy reportedly cures her injuries by opening a bible
- 1877 Ludwig Minkus' ballet "La Bayadère", choreographed by Marius Petipa premieres at Imperial Bolshoi Kamenny Theatre in St. Petersburg, Russia
Black Donnelly Massacre
1880 "Black Donnelly" massacre in Biddulph, Ontario, Canada: Irish immigrants James (63), Johannah (56), John (32), Thomas (25) and Bridget (21) Donnelly murdered at home by members of the Vigilance Committee
- 1880 Steele MacKay's play "Hazel Kirke" premieres in New York City
- 1887 Interstate Commerce Act authorizes federal regulation of railroads
- 1893 Riccardo Drigo's ballet "La Flûte magique" premieres by the Imperial Mariinsky Ballet in St Petersburg, Russian Empire, conducted by the composer
- 1895 1st rolling lift bridge opens in Chicago
- 1899 The Philippine–American War begins with fighting between American and Philippine revolutionary forces
Franz Joseph I Condemns Nationalists
1901 Emperor of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Franz Joseph I, gives a speech condemning the demands of national groups and calls for economic and social reform
- 1902 Stanley Cup, Winnipeg Auditorium, Winnipeg, Manitoba: Montreal HC beats Winnipeg Victorias, 2-1 for a 2-1 challenge series victory
- 1903 Stanley Cup: Montreal HC beats Winnipeg Victorias, 4-1 for a 2-1 challenge series win
- 1904 John Millington Synge's play "Well of Saints" premieres in Dublin
- 1908 Star #46 was added to US flag for Oklahoma with the addition to the Union of Oklahoma on November 16, 1907
- 1913 Louis Perlman patents demountable auto tire-carrying wheel rim
- 1913 National Institute of Arts & Letters founded
- 1914 US Congress approves Burnett-anti-immigration law
- 1915 Experiments to find cause of pellagra begin at Mississippi State Penitentiary
- 1917 Belgian Council of Flanders established
- 1919 City of Bremen's Soviet Republic overthrown
- 1920 1st flight from London to South Africa departs (takes 1½ months)
- 1922 After boycotts and international pressure, Japan agrees to return Shantung Province to China
The Garden Party
1922 First part of Katherine Mansfield's short story "The Garden Party" appears in the Saturday Westminster Gazette
- 1922 WGY-AM in Schenectady NY begins radio transmissions
1924 Jacob Tullin Thams of Norway wins ski jumping gold at the Chamonix Winter Olympics; in 1936 he earns a silver medal in sailing at Berlin Summer Games
- 1924 Norway sweeps the medals in the Nordic combined event at the inaugural Chamonix Winter Olympics; Thorleif Haug wins his 3rd gold of the Games ahead of teammates Thoralf Strømstad & Johan Grøttumsbråten
- 1926 Austrian chancellor Seipel wants to join Germany
- 1927 KGA-AM in Spokane WA begins radio transmissions
- 1929 Archie Jackson scores 164 in Test Cricket debut v England at Adelaide
- 1930 1st tieless, soundless, shockless streetcar tracks, New Orleans
- 1931 National League adopts a deader baseball
- 1932 III Winter Olympic Games open in Lake Placid, New York
- 1932 Japanese troops occupy Harbin, Manchuria
- 1936 First radioactive substance produced synthetically (radium E)
- 1937 Jim Margie, Philadelphia, bowls 900 in 3 (unsanctioned) games
Hitler Seizes Military Control
1938 Adolf Hitler seizes control of the German armed forces and places Nazi officials in key positions
- 1941 British tanks occupy Maus, Libya
- 1941 Former Dutch premier De Geer flies to Berlin
- 1941 United Service Organization (USO) founded
- 1942 Clinton Pierce becomes 1st US general wounded in action in WW II
- 1943 Bertolt Brecht's play "The Good Person of Szechwan" premieres in Zurich
- 1944 Jean Anouilh's play "Antigone" premieres in Paris
- 1944 US 7th Infantry Division captures Kwajalein, in the Pacific
1945 Franklin D. Roosevelt, Winston Churchill and Joseph Stalin meet at Yalta in the Crimea to discuss the final phase of World War II
- 1946 Garson Kanin's "Born Yesterday" premieres in NYC
- 1948 After winning the men’s downhill, French alpine skier Henri Oreiller takes the combined gold medal at the St. Moritz Winter Olympics; becomes most successful athlete at these Games with a slalom bronze
- 1948 British-ruled Colony of Ceylon achieves independence, becoming the Dominion of Ceylon, and later Sri Lanka
- 1950 IV British Empire Games open in Auckland, New Zealand
First African-American TV Executive
1952 Jackie Robinson becomes the 1st African American executive of a major US TV and radio station as Director of Community Activities at radio WNBC-NY and TV station WNBT
Astro Boy
1952 Manga series "Tetsuwan Atom" (Astro Boy) by Osamu Tezuka is first published in Japanese weekly magazine Shōnen
- 1956 AL plans to test automatic intentional walk during spring training
- 1956 Soviet Union beats Canada, 2-0 at Cortina d'Ampezzo to clinch their first ever Olympic ice hockey gold medal; US takes silver, Canada bronze
- 1957 First electric portable typewriter goes on sale in Syracuse, New York
- 1958 MLB Hall of Fame fails to elect anyone for 1st time since 1950
- 1959 Israel begins exporting copper ore
- 1960 Giants move their offices to Candlestick Park
- 1960 Lionel Bart's musical comedy "Fings Ain't Wot They Used T'be" opens at Garrick Theatre, London; runs for 886 pefromances
- 1960 Voters fail to elect a new Baseball Hall of Fame member
Angolan War of Independence
1961 Angolan War of Independence begins when militants storm Luanda jail and barracks, trying to free political prisoners (last until 1974)
- 1961 Sputnik 7 launches into Earth orbit; probable Venus probe failure
- 1962 Russian newspaper Izvestia reports that baseball is an old Russian game
St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital
1962 St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital opens in Memphis, Tennessee; funding for the cancer fighting facility led by entertainer Danny Thomas
- 1964 FAA begins 6 month test of reactions to sonic booms over Oklahoma City
- 1965 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
- 1966 All-Nippon Airways 727 crashes off Haneda Airport (Japan); kills 133
- 1967 "Wild Thing" cover version by "Senator Bobby" hits #20 on the pop singles chart
- 1967 US launches Lunar Orbiter 3
- 1968 Around 100 Indians and Pakistanis from Kenya arrive in Britain, escaping discrimination
Commissioner Kuhn Replaces Eckert
1968 Bowie Kuhn replaces William Eckert as 5th commissioner of Major League Baseball
- 1969 41,163, then largest NBA crowd, watches doubleheader Cin-Det, SD-Bost
- 1969 John Madden is named head coach of NFL's Oakland Raiders
- 1969 Lonne Elder's "Ceremonies in Dark Old Men" premieres in NYC
- 1969 The Beatles appoint Eastman & Eastman as general counsel to Apple Records
PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat
1969 The Palestine National Congress appoints Yasser Arafat chairman of the PLO
Patton
1970 Biographical film "Patton" directed by Franklin J. Schaffner and starring George C. Scott premieres in New York (Academy Awards Best Picture 1971)
- 1970 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
- 1971 Baseball announces a special hall of fame wing for black players and coaches
- 1971 British automobile and aerospace company Rolls Royce Ltd enters voluntary liquidation
- 1971 Government exhibit under construction in Brazil collapses, kills 65
- 1971 Lieutenant-General Vernon Erskine-Crum becomes General Officer Commanding of the British Army in Northern Ireland
- 1971 National Guard mobilized to quell rioting in Wilmington NC
- 1971 The National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations (NASDAQ) stock exchange, the second-largest in the world - behind the New York Stock Exchange - is founded in New York City
- 1972 6th round of Strategic Arms Limitation Talks ends in Vienna Austria
Schenk Wins Gold
1972 Dutch speed skater Ard Schenk wins the 5,000m at the Sapporo Winter Olympics; also wins the 1,500m and 10,000m gold medals
- 1973 An International inspection team is sent to Vietnam to observe progress on the Paris truce agreement
- 1973 British Army snipers shoot dead a Provisional Irish Republican Army volunteer and three civilians at the junction in Belfast during the 'Troubles' in N Ireland
- 1973 Comic strip "Hagar The Horrible" by Dik Browne debuts
- 1973 East German sprinter Manfred Kokot runs indoor world record 50m (5.61 sec) in Berlin
- 1973 Islanders & Sabres had a penalty free game
- 1973 Reshef, Israel's missile boat, unveiled
Patty Hearst Kidnapped
1974 American publishing heiress Patty Hearst, 19-year-old granddaughter of William Randolph Hearst, is kidnapped from her apartment in Berkeley, California, by the Symbionese Liberation Army
- 1974 Chimpanzee Nim Chimsky signs his 1st word, at 2½ months
- 1974 Gasoline rationing ends in the Netherlands
- 1974 Provisional Irish Republican Army bomb explodes on a bus in West Yorkshire, England, carrying British Army soldiers and some of their family members
- 1975 Haicheng earthquake, M 7.3, strikes Haicheng, Liaoning, China
- 1976 7.5 earthquake kills 22,778 in Guatemala & Honduras
Premier Hua Guofeng
1976 Hua Guofeng becomes Premier of the People's Republic of China
- 1976 US Federal Judge Oliver upholds Seitz's decision on Andy Messersmith free agency
- 1976 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
- 1976 XII Winter Olympic Games open in Innsbruck, Austria
Rumours
1977 "Rumours" 11th studio album by Fleetwood Mac is released (Grammy Album of the Year)
- 1977 Elevated train jumps track, crashes onto Chicago st (11 die, 200 hurt)
- 1977 Wings release their single "Maybe I'm Amazed"
- 1978 NHL New York Islanders rookie Mike Bossy scores 1st career hat trick in 6-1 win over Washington Capitols at Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Uniondale, New York
- 1979 "Co-Ed Fever," TV Comedy, debut & cancelled that outing on CBS
- 1979 End of last 3+day D/N game for 15 yrs (WSC, SCG)
- 1980 Bani Sadr sworn in as premier of Iran
- 1980 Studio 54 holds its grand closing party on its last night in business
- 1982 Paper airplane flies for then indoor record of 154.2 ft (47m) in Tacoma, Washington
- 1982 Suriname premier Chin A Sen flees
- 1983 Jose Happart becomes mayor of Voeren Belgium
- 1984 "Backstage Magic" opens at CommuniCore
- 1984 Frank Aquilera sets then world record for distance of a frisbee flying disc toss of 551.2 ft (168m) in Las Vegas, Nevada
- 1985 20 countries (but not US) sign UN treaty outlawing torture
- 1985 Naval exercises canceled when US refuses to tell NZ if nuclear weapons aboard USS Buchanan
- 1986 Israeli fighters intercept Libyan passenger airliner
- 1987 Sacramento Kings score only 4 points 1st quarter against Lakers; fewest in a period since introduction of 24 second shot-clock in 1954
- 1987 San Diego Yacht Club's 'Stars & Stripes' captained by Dennis Conner beats Royal Perth Yacht Club of Australia's 'Kookaburra III' to capture the America's Cup at Freemantle, Western Australia
Congress Overrides Reagan Veto
1987 US President Reagan's veto of Clean Water Act is overridden by Congress
- 1988 Despite union calls to end the strike, rank-and-file seamen at major British ports refuse to return to work
Noriega Indicted
1988 Panamanian General Manuel Noriega is indicted by a US federal grand jury for drug trafficking and racketeering
- 1989 Australian cricketer Dean Jones scores 216 v WI at the Adelaide Oval
- 1990 10 Israeli tourists murdered near Cairo
- 1990 Anders Holmertz swims world record 400 m freestyle (3:40.81)
- 1990 Danny Everett runs world record 400m indoor (45:04)
- 1990 Lyudmila Narozhilenko runs world record 60m hurdles indoor (7.69)
First to 400 Test Wickets
1990 New Zealand bowler Richard Hadlee takes his 400th Test cricket wicket, dismissing Sanjay Manjrekar, becoming the first to reach the milestone
- 1990 St Petersburg Pelicans beat West Palm Beach Tropics 12-4 to win 1st Senior Professional Baseball Association Championship
Trebak Makes Game Show History
1991 Alex Trebek becomes first person to host three American game shows at the same time (Jeopardy!, Classic Concentration, To Tell the Truth)
- 1991 Baseball's Hall of Fame board of directors vote 12-0 to bar Pete Rose, due to his betting on games while a player and manager
World Record Stand
1991 NZ cricketers Martin Crowe and Andrew Jones make a world record 467 run stand, against Sri Lanka at the Basin Reserve in Wellington
- 1991 US postage raises from 25 cents to 29 cents
- 1993 Admiral William Studeman ends term as acting director of CIA
- 1993 Russian space agency tests a 82-foot wide space mirror
- 1994 20 die in armed assault on mosque in Khartoum, Sudan
- 1994 Merlene Ottey runs world record 50 m indoor (6.00 sec)
- 1994 Russian team beats ladies world record 4x800 m indoor (8:18.71)
- 1995 Archaeologist Kent R. Weeks crawls inside KV5, the tomb of the sons of Ramases II, to discover the largest tomb ever found in the Valley of the Kings [1]
- 1995 Australian cricketer Dean Jones completes 324* for Victoria v South Australia
- 1995 Sandra Volker swims female European record 50m backstroke (27.77)
- 1995 Zimbabwe's 1st Test Cricket victory, over Pakistan by an inning
Milošević Recognizes Opposition Victory
1997 After at first contesting the results, Serbian President Slobodan Milošević recognizes opposition victories in the November 1996 elections.
- 1997 En route to Lebanon, two Israeli Sikorsky CH-53 troop-transport helicopters collide in mid-air over northern Galilee, Israel killing 73.
- 1997 Mario Lemieux is 7th NHL player to score 600 goals
O.J. Simpson Liable
1997 O.J. Simpson found liable in the deaths of Ron Goldman and Nicole Simpson in a civil court action
Albright Discovers Jewish Heritage
1997 US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright announces she just discovered that her grandparents were Jewish, three of whom were killed in the Holocaust
- 1998 An earthquake measuring 6.1 on the Richter Scale in northeast Afghanistan kills more than 5,000
Gates Hit by Pie
1998 Bill Gates gets a pie thrown in his face in Brussels, Belgium
- 1999 MV New Carissa runs aground near Coos Bay, Oregon
- 1999 Unarmed West African immigrant Amadou Diallo is shot dead by four plainclothes New York City police officers on an unrelated stake-out, inflaming race-relations in the city.
- 2000 German extortionist Klaus-Peter Sabotta is jailed for life for attempted murder and extortion in connection with the sabotage of German railway lines.
- 2000 Simulation video game "The Sims" developed by Maxis released in North America
- 2003 The Federal Republic of Yugoslavia is officially renamed Serbia and Montenegro and adopts a new constitution.
- 2006 A stampede occurs in the ULTRA Stadium near Manila killing 71
2007 Super Bowl XLI, Dolphin Stadium, Miami Gardens, Miami, FL: Indianapolis Colts beat Chicago Bears, 29-17; MVP: Peyton Manning, Indianapolis, QB
- 2012 Tens of thousands of people are stranded by floods in the Australian states of New South Wales and Queensland
- 2013 20 people are killed after an apartment building was struck by a rocket in Aleppo, Syria
- 2013 22 people are killed and 24 are injured after a bus and a truck collide in Al Ain, United Arab Emirates
- 2013 22 people are killed and 44 are injured after a suicide bombing in Taji, Iraq
- 2013 8 people are killed and 30 are injured after a bus collides with two vehicles and flips in Yucaipa, California
- 2013 Europol announces it will investigate over 680 football matches alleged to involve match fixing
- 2013 Paris, France annuls 213-year-old law banning women from wearing trousers
- 2014 10 people are killed & 35 injured after a bus falls into a ravine in Pune, India
- 2014 Same-sex marriage is legalized in Scotland
White Iverson
2015 Post Malone uploads his debut single "White Iverson" to his SoundCloud account
- 2016 Fifth Democratic presidential candidates debate, broadcast on MSNBC, held in Durham, New Hampshire
- 2016 Morocco's Mohammed VI switches on world's largest solar plant near Ouarzazate. Planned to power 1 million homes when fully completed 2018
Van Morrison Knighted
2016 Northern Irish singer-songwriter Van Morrison knighted by the Prince of Wales at Buckingham Palace
2018 Super Bowl LII, US Bank Stadium, Minneapolis, MN: Philadelphia Eagles defeat New England Patriots, 41-33; MVP: Nick Foles, Philadelphia, QB
- 2019 Caitlin Clark scores 60 points in a game for Dowling Catholic High School against Mason City High School, setting the second-highest single-game point total in Iowa five-on-five girls' basketball history
- 2020 Charles McGee, American retired US Air Force officer and fighter pilot of the Tuskegee Airmen promoted from colonel to brigadier general
Presidential Medal of Freedom
2020 Radio personality Rush Limbaugh is presented the Presidential Medal of Freedom by Donald Trump during the State Of The Union Address
- 2021 Denmark approves plans for world's first energy island in the North Sea to provide power to 3 million Europeans
- 2021 First successful face and double hand transplant announced performed on 22 year-old Joe DiMeo in New York
- 2021 International Criminal Court convicts Ugandan Lord’s Resistance Army commander Dominic Ongwen of war crimes and crimes against humanity including forced pregnancy in legal first [1]
US Ends Support for Yemen War
2021 US President Joe Biden announces an end to US support for the Saudi-led offensive in Yemen's civil war
- 2022 Cyclone Batsirai strikes Madagascar less than a month after Cyclone Ana, causing widespread damage, killing at least 92 people and displacing 91,000 [1]
- 2022 XXIV Olympic Winter Games open in Beijing, China
- 2023 Chinese surveillance balloon shot down by US fighter jets off the US eastern seaboard, after drifting across the US for days and igniting a political storm [1]
- 2024 President Nayib Bukele of El Salvador, the self-titled "world's coolest dictator", wins re-election in a landslide [1]
- 2025 Deadliest mass shooting in Sweden's history as gunman kills 10 students and injures another 15 at an adult learning center in Örebro, Sweden [1]
- 2025 First clinical trial approved to transfer genetically modified pigs kidneys into humans by the US Food and Drug Administration [1]
- 2025 Zara Lachlan becomes the first woman and youngest person to slow row from Europe to South America over 97 days (3,600 nautical-miles)
