- 421 Flavius Constantine becomes Co-Emperor as Emperor Constantius III of the Western Roman Empire with Honorius
- 628 Smoke Imix [Smoke Jaguar] becomes the 12th ruler of the Maya city of Copán - will rule for 67 years
- 1526 Heavy storm strikes Dutch coast, killing large numbers
University of Leiden
1575 University of Leiden established by William I of Orange, given the motto "Praesidium Libertatis" (oldest university in Netherlands)
1587 Mary, Queen of Scots, is beheaded at Fotheringhay Castle at age 44 after being convicted of plotting to assassinate Elizabeth I in the Babington Plot
- 1600 Vatican convicts scholar and wayward friar Giordano Bruno of heresy and turn him over civil authorities upon his refusal to recant to mete out his punishment of death [1]
- 1601 Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, leads an unsuccessful revolt in London against Queen Elizabeth
- 1627 Gunpowder is used in a mining operation instead of mechanical tools in present-day Slovakia, reportedly the first time explosives had been used in mining
- 1649 Sobornoye Ulozheniye of 1649: Russia adopts new code of laws, consolidating serfdom (OS 29 Jan) [1]
Newton's 1st Optics Paper
1672 Isaac Newton reads his first optics paper before the Royal Society in London
- 1690 French and Native American troops attack and destroy Schenectady settlement in New York Province, either killing or capturing its inhabitants, revenge for the Lachine massacre
- 1690 Lord Halifax resigns as Lord Privy Seal
- 1693 William & Mary College is chartered in Williamsburg in the Dominion and Colony of Virginia (second in North America)
- 1726 The Supreme Privy Council is established in Russia
- 1735 First opera performance in North American colonies, "Flora," opens in Charleston, South Carolina
- 1743 Comet C/1743 C1 approaches within 0.0390 AUs of Earth
- 1744 French and Spanish fleet leave Toulon
- 1750 Minor earthquake in London
- 1802 Simon Willard patents banjo clock
Battle of Eylau
1807 Battle of Eylau ends inconclusively between Napoleon's forces and the Russian Empire, first battle Napoleon isn't victorious
- 1809 Franz I of Austria declares war on France
- 1837 1st US Vice-President chosen by Senate, Richard Johnson (Van Buren admin)
- 1849 New Roman Republic established in Italy
- 1855 The Devil's Footprints, hoof-like marks mysteriously appear for over 60km after a snowfall in southern Devon, England
- 1855 The Smithsonian Institution Building 'The Castle' first opens to the public on the Mall in Washington D.C.
- 1861 Confederate States of America organizes in Montgomery, Alabama (US Civil War)
- 1862 Battle of Roanoke Island NC, Federals gain control of Pamlico Sound
- 1865 Martin Robison Delany, 1st black major in US Army appointed during US Civil War
- 1867 The Ausgleich (compromise) establishes the Dual Monarchy of Austria-Hungary
- 1879 Sandford Fleming first proposes dividing the world into 24 equal time zones and adopting a Universal Standard Time at a meeting of the Royal Canadian Institute (adopted 1884)
- 1883 Louis Waterman begins experiment to invent the fountain pen
- 1887 Aurora Ski Club of Red Wing, Minnesota becomes the 1st US ski club
- 1887 The Dawes Act authorizes the President of the United States to survey Native American tribal land and divide it into individual allotments. Those who accepted allotments and lived separately from the tribe were granted United States citizenship.
- 1889 Flood ravages Dutch coast
- 1894 US Enforcement Act repealed, making it easier to disenfranchise blacks
- 1896 Georges Feydeau's farce "Le Dindon" premieres in Paris
- 1896 Western Conference forms to be first Western college football season, later renamed Big 10 Conference
- 1898 John Ames Sherman patents 1st envelope folding & gumming machine in Massachusetts
- 1905 Cyclone hits Tahiti & adjacent islands, killing some 10,000 people
- 1908 Wilhelmina '08 soccer team forms in Weert, Netherlands
- 1909 France & Germany sign treaty about Morocco
- 1910 The Boy Scouts of America is incorporated by William D. Boyce
- 1911 US helps overthrow President Miguel Devila of Honduras
- 1912 1st eastbound US transcontinental flight lands in Jacksonville, Florida
- 1912 British Emissary journeys to Berlin to suggest that Britain might support German colonial aspirations in Africa if Germany agrees to hold her current naval strength
- 1914 General Zamon becomes President of Haiti
First 12-Reel Film
1915 "The Birth of a Nation" the first 12-reel film in America, directed by D. W. Griffith, starring Lillian Gish and Mae Marsh, premieres at Clune's Auditorium in Los Angeles
- 1916 French cruiser "Admiral Charner" torpedoed off Syrian coast, kills 374
- 1916 NL votes down Charlie Ebbets proposal to limit 25 cent seats
- 1918 "Stars & Stripes,", weekly US armed forces newspaper, 1st published
- 1920 Bolshevik troops capture Odessa, bringing an end to foreign involvement in the resistance against Bolshevik rule
- 1922 Radio arrives at the White House
- 1923 Coal mine explosion at Dawson, New Mexico kills 120
- 1923 German NSDAP Volkischer Beobachter newspaper becomes a daily
- 1924 1st US coast-to-coast radio hookup: General John Joseph Carty speech in Chicago
Walt Disney Studios
1926 Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio becomes Walt Disney Studios
- 1926 German Reichstag decides to apply for League of Nations membership
- 1926 Sean O'Casey's "Plough & Stars" opens at Abbey Theater Dublin
- 1927 Belgian-Swiss treaty signed
- 1928 1st transatlantic TV image received at Hartsdale, NY
- 1929 KOY-AM in Phoenix Arizona begins radio transmissions
- 1930 "Happy Days Are Here Again" by Benny Mereoff hits #1
- 1931 Gas explosion Fire in Fushun-coal mine, Manchuria kills 3,000
- 1932 American speed skater Irving Jaffee wins the 10,000m at the Lake Placid Winter Olympics; clinches distance double after also taking out the 5,000m
- 1933 -23°F (-31°C), Seminole, Texas (state record)
- 1933 1st flight of all-metal Boeing 247
- 1934 Export-Import Bank organizes in Washington, D.C.
- 1934 Gaston Doumergue forms new French government
- 1936 1st ski jumping tournament at Red Wing, Minnesota
- 1936 First-ever NFL Draft: Jay Berwanger from the University of Chicago is first pick by Philadelphia Eagles
- 1936 German alpine skier Christi Cranz wins the inaugural Olympic women’s combined gold medal at the Garmisch-Partenkirchen Winter Games ahead of teammate Käthe Grasegger
Event of Interest
1936 Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru succeeds Mahatma Gandhi as chairman of India Congress Party
- 1940 Lewis & Hamilton's musical "Two for the Show" premieres in NYC
- 1940 Lodtz, 1st large ghetto established by Nazis in Poland
- 1941 Radio presenter and National Socialist Max Blokzijl begins Nazi propaganda on Dutch national radio (executed for it in 1946)
Internment of Japanese Americans
1942 Congress advises FDR that, Americans of Japanese descent should be locked up en masse so they wouldn't oppose the US war effort
Danses Concertantes
1942 Igor Stravinsky's orchestral piece "Danses Concertantes" premieres in Los Angeles, California
- 1942 Japanese armored barges cross Strait of Johore to attack Singapore (WWII)
Hitler Appoints Speer
1942 Nazi architect Albert Speer appointed Minister of Armaments by Adolf Hitler after death of Fritz Todt in a plane crash
- 1943 Red Army recaptures Kursk on the eastern front
- 1944 1st African American reporter accredited to White House, Harry McAlpin
- 1944 German submarine U-762 sunk off Ireland by British forces with the loss of all 50 crewmen
- 1945 Allied air attack on Goch, Kleef, Kalkar and Reichswald
Brown to Coach Cleveland
1945 Paul Brown agrees to coach the new American football expansion team in Cleveland, which would later be named the Cleveland Browns after their coach
Bartók's 3rd Piano Concerto
1946 Béla Bartók's 3rd Piano Concerto premieres in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, by the Philadelphia Orchestra conducted by Eugene Ormandy with György Sándor as piano soloist
- 1947 Jan van der Hoorn wins 8th Dutch 11-cities skating race (10:51)
- 1947 KSD (now KSDK) TV channel 5 in St Louis, MO (NBC) begins broadcasting
- 1948 Canada beats Switzerland 3-0, to regain the Olympic ice hockey title at the St. Moritz Winter Games; forward Walter Halder top scores with 29 points in Canada’s 5th Olympic title
- 1948 V Winter Olympic Games close at St Moritz, Switzerland
- 1949 Hungarian cardinal József Mindszenty sentenced to life in prison
- 1952 "RCA Victor Show Starring Dennis Day" debuts on NBC TV
- 1953 WLVA (now WSET) TV channel 13 in Lynchburg-Roanoke, VA (ABC) begins
Georgy Malenkov Resigns
1955 Georgy Malenkov resigns as USSR premier and is replaced by Nikolai Bulganin
- 1955 The Government of Sindh abolished Jagirdari system in the province. One million acres (4000 km²) of land thus acquired is to be distributed among the landless peasants.
- 1956 Mine disaster in Quaregnon Belgium, 8 die
- 1958 Edgar Whitehead succeeds Garfield Todd as premier of South Rhodesia
- 1958 French planes bomb Sakiet, Tunisia, 75 die
- 1958 KIRO TV channel 7 in Seattle, WA (CBS) begins broadcasting
Hoagy Carmichael Hollywood Star
1960 American "Stardust" composer and character actor Hoagy Carmichael receives a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
Russell's 50 Rebounds
1960 Boston Celtic Bill Russell becomes 1st NBAer with 50 rebounds (51)
House of Windsor
1960 Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom issues an Order-in-Council stating that she and her family will be known as the House of Windsor and that her descendants will take the name "Mountbatten-Windsor"
- 1960 US Congress opens hearings looking into payola
- 1962 In Paris, 8 people killed at a protest against independence for the French colony Algeria
- 1962 KACB TV channel 3 in San Angelo, TX (NBC) begins broadcasting
- 1962 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
- 1963 AFL's Dallas Texans become KC Chiefs
- 1963 First transmission of Clandestine Voice of Iraqi People (Communist)
- 1963 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
Royal Hunt of the Sun
1964 Peter Shaffer's musical "Royal Hunt of the Sun" premieres in London
- 1964 US Rep Martha Griffiths address gets civil rights protection for women being added to the 1964 Civil Rights Act
- 1965 Eastern DC-7B crashes into Atlantic off Jones Beach, NJ, kills 84
Stop In the Name of Love
1965 Motown Records release The Supremes' single "Stop In the Name of Love"
- 1965 President Johnson deploys 1st US combat troops to South Vietnam, with 3500 marines sent to protect key US airbase near Da Nang
- 1967 English Pirate Radio UKGM closes down
- 1967 Longest losing streak in Toronto Maple Leaf history (10 games)
- 1967 Peter (Asher) & Gordon (Waller) discontinue their singing partnership
- 1967 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
- 1968 Film "Planet of the Apes," based on Pierre Boulle's 1963 novel "La Planète des Singes," premieres in New York City
- 1968 Orangeburg Massacre: highway patrol officers kill 3 students and injure 27 others demonstrating at South Carolina State University, 1st student killing by law enforcement in the US
- 1969 Last edition of American magazine "Saturday Evening Post"
- 1969 Meteorite weighing over 1 ton falls in Chihuahua, Mexico
- 1971 NASDAQ Composite stock market index debuts with 50 companies and a starting value of 100
- 1971 Operation Lam Son 719 begins, a limited South Vietnamese incursion into Laos
Zappa Concert Cancelled
1971 Royal Albert Hall cancels scheduled concert featuring Frank Zappa, due to concerns about indecent lyrics
- 1973 Jean Kerrs "Finishing Touches" premieres in NYC
- 1973 Mushtaq & Asif Iqbal make 350 stand for Pakistan's 4th wicket v NZ
- 1973 Senate names seven members to investigate Watergate scandal
- 1974 American television soap opera "The Secret Storm" ends a 20 year run on CBS
You're Sixteen
1974 Ringo Starr releases a cover of "You're Sixteen" as a single in UK; originally released by Johnny Burnette in 1960
- 1974 Three US astronauts return to Earth after a 85 days in the US space station, Skylab
- 1974 TV sitcom "Good Times", spin-off from "Maude", starring Esther Rolle, John Amos, and J.J. Walker, premieres on CBS TV
- 1975 1800 Unification church couples wed at mass ceremony in Korea
- 1975 NHL Washiongton Capitols only got one shot in a period againstNew York Islanders
Jazz End Losing Streak
1975 Pete Maravich scores 47 points as the New Orleans Jazz end a 28-game NBA road losing streak with a 106-102 win over the Hawks in Atlanta
- 1976 Largest crowd at Cleveland Coliseum (Cavs vs Wash-21,130)
- 1977 Earthquake in San Francisco, at 5.0, strongest since 1966
Larry Flynt Sentenced
1977 Hustler publisher Larry Flynt sentenced on obscenity charges
- 1978 Crown Prince Sad Abdallah al-Salim Al Sabah becomes Prime Minister of Kuwait
- 1978 Proceedings of the US Senate are broadcast on radio for the first time
- 1979 Denis Sassou-Nguesso becomes the President of the Republic of the Congo for the first time
- 1979 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
- 1982 Los Angeles Dodgers trade 2B Davey Lopes to Oakland A's, breaking up MLB's longest-playing infield (Garvey-Lopes-Russell-Cey) after 8 1/2 seasons
Ariel Sharon Resigns
1983 Ariel Sharon resigns from Israeli government after an inquiry shows he was indirectly responsible for the killings of hundreds of people in 1982
Mantel to Sever Casino Ties
1983 Baseball orders Mickey Mantle to sever ties with Claridge Casino
- 1983 Eric Peters sets transatlantic sailboat record (E-W)-46 days
- 1983 Prize stallion and Derby winner Shergar kidnapped in Ireland, never to be found causing Lloyd's of London to payout $10.6 million insurance
- 1983 Tina Howe's play "Painting Churches" premieres in NYC
- 1984 For the 1st time eight people are in space
- 1984 Soyuz T-10 launches with crew of 3 to Salyut 7
- 1984 XIV Winter Olympic Games open in Sarajevo, Yugoslavia
- 1985 Bruce Morris, Marshall Univ, makes a 92' 5½" basketball shot
- 1985 Michael Gross swims world record 800m freestyle (7:38.75)
Opposition Leader Returns
1985 Opposition leader Kim Dae-jung returns to South Korea
- 1986 1984 Summer Olympics LAPD bomb squad chief Arleigh McCree, and his partner Officer Ronald Ball of the Firearms and explosives unit are killed while trying to dismantle two pipe bombs
- 1986 5'7" Spud Webb of the Atlanta Hawks wins the NBA Slam Dunk Contest
A Better Tomorrow
1986 Jon Woo's action film "A Better Tomorrow", starring Chow Yun-fat, premieres in Hong Kong
- 1988 NASA launches DOD-2
- 1989 American jockey Chris Antley begins record 64-day consecutive winning streak; ends 1 May and includes 147 winners from 486 mounts
- 1989 Five centimeters of snow falls in the outskirts of Los Angeles
- 1989 US Boeing 707 crashes into Santa Maria mountain, 145 die
- 1990 "60 Minutes" commentator Andy Rooney suspended by CBS for racial remarks attributed to him by a gay magazine
- 1990 David Hares play "Racing Demon" premieres in London at the National Theatre
Clemens Signs Contract
1991 Roger Clemens signs record $5,380,250 per year Red Sox contract
- 1992 "I'm Too Sexy" by Right Said Fred peaks at #1
- 1992 Ulysses spacecraft passes Jupiter
- 1992 XVI Winter Olympic Games opens in Albertville, France
- 1993 GM sues NBC, alleging that "Dateline NBC" program had rigged 2 car-truck crashes to show that 1973-87 GM pickups were prone to fires
- 1993 Sukhoi-24 crashes into a Tupolev passenger flight, killing 134 people
- 1994 "Sátántangó", Hungarian film directed by Béla Tarr, starring Mihály Víg, Putyi Horváth, is released
Dev Test Wicket Record
1994 Kapil Dev sets world record for Test Cricket wickets with 432
Tommy Lee Charged
1994 Motley Crue drummer Tommy Lee is charged with possession of a loaded firearm
- 1995 6.4 earthquake at Trujillo, Colombia (46+ killed)
Cleveland To Lose Browns Name
1996 NFL & Cleveland allows Art Modell to move his NFL franchise to Baltimore but he had to leave the Browns' name behind
- 1996 The massive Internet collaboration "24 Hours in Cyberspace" takes place
- 1996 US Congress passes the Communications Decency Act
- 1998 Finland beats Sweden, 6-0 at the Aqua Wing Arena in Nagano, Japan in the first female ice hockey game played in Olympic history
- 1998 NHL stops season stops to accommodate the Nagano Winter Olympics; returns February 24
Both Sides Now
2000 Reprise Records releases "Both Sides Now", Canadian singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell's 17th studio album, a collection of torch songs, including re-worked versions of two of her own, backed by an orchestra
- 2002 XIX Winter Olympic Games open in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States
2004 46th Grammy Awards: Coldplay's "Clocks", and Evanescence win
- 2005 Leaders of both Palestine and Israel declare a truce in what many hope will be a "new era of peace"
- 2008 Nebraska bans electric chair as sole execution method
2009 Al Gore's book "An Inconvenient Truth" wins a Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album
Rihanna Cancels
2009 Singer Rihanna cancels performance at the Grammys after being assaulted by boyfriend Chris Brown
- 2010 747-8 Freighter takes off for its maiden flight from Paine Field, Washington
- 2013 100,000 people march to demand justice for the atrocities of the Bangladesh Liberation War in Dhaka
- 2013 16 people are killed and 27 are wounded by a market bombing in Kalaya, Pakistan
- 2013 29 people are killed and 69 are injured in a series of Iraq bombings
- 2013 A massive blizzard begins in the US and Canada that resulted in 15 deaths, 5,300 cancelled flights, and loss of power for 900,000 people
- 2014 15 people are killed & 130 injured in a hotel fire in Medina, Saudi Arabia
- 2014 17 people are killed after a truck & bus collide in Mendoza, Argentina
- 2014 Justine and Chloe Dufour-Lapointe claim gold and silver medals in the moguls freestyle skiing event at the Sochi Winter Olympics; first Canadian sisters to stand together on the podium
- 2014 Netherlands sweeps the medals in the men's 5,000m speed skating at the Sochi Winter Olympics; Sven Kramer retains title ahead of teammates Jan Blokhuijsen and Jorrit Bergsma
- 2014 Ole Einar Bjørndalen equals the Winter Olympics medal record with 12
- 2014 Slopestyle snowboarding event makes Olympic debut at Sochi Winter Games; American Sage Kotsenburg is inaugural men's gold medallist
- 2015 57th Grammy Awards: Best Song "Stay With Me" by Sam Smith; Best Album "Morning Phase" by Beck
- 2015 Ivory Coast wins the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations football championship
Full Frontal with Samantha Bee
2016 Late-night talk show "Full Frontal with Samantha Bee" debuts on TBS in the US
Jeff Sessions Confirmed
2017 US Senate confirms Jeff Sessions Attorney General, after controversy and protests
- 2018 Bangladesh court sentences former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia to 5 years in prison for corruption
- 2018 Noriaki Kasai of Japan becomes first athlete in history to participate in 8 Winter Olympics in the ski jumping qualification prior to the Pyeongchang Games
- 2018 Twitter reports its first quarterly profit as a public company
- 2019 Amazon founder Jeff Bezos accuses The National Enquirer and its owner, American Media Inc, of blackmail over private messages detailing an extramarital affair
- 2019 Fire at Ninho de Urubu football training center for Flamengo football club, Rio de Janeiro, kills 10
- 2019 Thai King Vajiralongkorn issues royal decree calling Princess Ubolratana 's candidacy for Prime Minister for Thai Raksa Chart political party “improper and highly inappropriate”
- 2019 Washington's Governor Jay Inslee declares a state emergency after heavy snowfall
- 2020 Gunman shoots and kills 29 people in a shopping center in Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand, with 57 injured. Shooter shot and killed by security forces a day later.
- 2020 Irish General Election: No party wins a majority, Sinn Féin 37 seats and the popular vote, Fianna Fáil 38 seats, Leo Varadkar's ruling Fine Gael only 35 seats
- 2021 Martial law declared in Mandalay, Myanmar, amid continuing protests against the country's military coup
- 2021 South Africa halts rollout of Oxford AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine after research into the South African variant showed no protection against mild and moderate illness
- 2022 Austrian alpine skier Matthias Mayer narrowly retains his Olympic Super-G title from American Ryan Cochran-Siegle at the Beijing Winter Games; Mayer's 3rd Olympic gold medal
- 2022 Horn of Africa with 13 million people now facing humanitarian crisis amid drought where the rainy season has failed three years in a row, according to UN World Food Program [1]
Pakistan Election
2024 Pakistan election: In an upset independents backed by imprisoned Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party win the most seats with 97, PML-N win 76, PPP 54 [1]
