- 1626 Yuan Chonghuan is appointed Governor of Liaodong, after he led the Chinese into a great victory against the Manchurians under Nurhaci
- 1665 Battle at Elmina, Gold Coast: Vice-admiral De Ruyter beats English
- 1667 Abraham Crijnssen conquers Fort Willoughby (Zeelandia), Suriname
- 1670 Jews expelled from Austria by order of Leopold I
- 1678 Earl of Shaftesbury freed from the Tower of London
- 1693 1st women's magazine "Ladies' Mercury" published in London, England
- 1696 English/Welsh nobles lay down Oath of Association
Event of Interest
1700 English explorer William Dampier is the 1st British person to visit the Pacific Island of New Britain, which he names
William Dampier
Music Premiere
1814 Ludwig van Beethoven's 8th Symphony in F premieres
Ludwig van Beethoven
Napoléon Bonaparte
Event of Interest
1854 Composer Robert Schumann saved from suicide attempt in Rhine
Robert Schumann
- 1856 18th Grand National: George Stevens wins aboard 25/1 Freetrader; first of Stevens' record 5 GN victories
Event of Interest
1860 Abraham Lincoln makes a speech at Cooper Union in the city of New York that is largely responsible for his election to the Presidency
Abraham Lincoln
- 1861 Russians shoot at Poles protesting Russian rule of Poland in Castle Square, Warsaw
- 1861 US Congress authorizes 1st stamped newspaper wrappers for mailing
- 1864 6th and last day of battle at Dalton, Georgia (about 600 casualties)
- 1864 Near Andersonville, Georgia, rebels open a new POW camp "Camp Sumpter"
- 1865 Civil War skirmish near Sturgeon, Missouri
- 1869 John Menard is 1st African American to make a speech in the US Congress
- 1871 Meeting of Alabama claims commission
- 1872 Charlotte Ray, 1st African American woman lawyer in USA, graduates from Howard University
- 1873 Dutch socialist Samuel van Wooden demands law against child labor
- 1874 Baseball 1st played in England at Lord's Cricket Ground
- 1879 Russian Chemist Constantin Fahlberg discovers saccharin (artificial sweetener) [1]
- 1881 Battle at Amajuba: South African Boers vs British army under General Colley
- 1883 Oscar Hammerstein patents 1st cigar-rolling machine
- 1890 D Needham and P Kerrigan box 100 rounds (6 h 39 m) in San Francisco; match is a draw
- 1900 Battle at Pietershoogte during the Boer War
- 1900 Boer General Cronjé surrenders to British in Pardenberg, South Africa
- 1900 In London, the Trades Union Congress and the Independent Labour Party (formed in 1893) meet, results in a Labour Representative Committee and eventually the modern Labour Party in 1906
- 1901 NL Rules Committee decrees that all fouls are to count as strikes except after two strikes
- 1901 A General Committee of National Liberal Federation meets and adopts a resolution deploring the continuation of the war in South Africa and condemning the British Government's insistence on unconditional surrender by the Boers
- 1906 France and Britain agree to joint control of New Hebrides
Event of Interest
1907 Psychiatrists Carl Jung and Sigmund Freud meet for the first time in Vienna
Sigmund Freud
Carl Jung
- 1908 Sacrifice fly adopted (repealed in 1931, reinstated 1954)
Event of Interest
1912 Lord Kitchener opens Khartoum-El Obeid (Nyala) railway
Horatio Kitchener
- 1919 1st public performance of Holst's "Planets"
- 1919 American Association for Hard of Hearing forms (NYC)
- 1921 US Female Figure Skating championship won by Theresa Weld Blanchard; US male Figure Skating championship won by Sherwin Badger
- 1921 The International Working Union of Socialist Parties is founded in Vienna
- 1921 The Fascists incite a riot in Florence, Italy
Conference of Interest
1922 US Commerce Secretary Herbert Hoover convenes 1st National Radio Conference
Herbert Hoover
Adolf Hitler
- 1925 Test Cricket debut of Clarrie Grimmett, who took 5-45 & 6-37 v England
- 1927 For 2nd Sunday in a row golfers in SC arrested for violating Sabbath
- 1929 Turkey signs Litvinov-pact
- 1930 Bouvet Island declared a Norwegian dependency
- 1932 Explosion in coal mine Boissevain, Virginia, USA leaves 38 dead
Reichstag Fire
1933 The Reichstag, German parliament building, destroyed by fire; possibly set by the Nazis, who blame and execute Martin van der Lubbe, a Dutch Communist
Learn More
Event of Interest
1933 Jean Genet's "Intermezzo" premieres in Paris
Jean Genet
Academy Awards
1935 7th Academy Awards: "It Happened One Night", Clark Gable, and Claudette Colbert win
Clark Gable
Claudette Colbert
- 1936 Dutch swimmer Willy den Ouden sets new women's world 100m freestyle record (1:04.6) in Amsterdam; lasts 22 years until broken in 1956 by Dawn Fraser of Australia
Donald Bradman
Event of Interest
1939 Britain and France recognize Francisco Franco's government in Spain
Francisco Franco
Academy Awards
1941 13th Academy Awards: "Rebecca", James Stewart & Ginger Rogers win
Ginger Rogers
James Stewart
- 1942 1st transport of French Jews to nazi-Germany
- 1942 Battle of Java Sea began: 13 US warships sunk and 2 Japanese
- 1942 J S Hey discovers radio emissions from Sun
- 1943 The Smith Mine #3 in Bearcreek, Montana, explodes, killing 74 men
- 1943 The Rosenstrasse protest starts in Berlin
- 1945 Battle of US 94 Infantry
- 1946 4th "Road" film "Road to Utopia" premieres (NYC)
- 1947 French explorer Paul-Emile Victor founds French Polar Expeditions to oversee French scientific missions
- 1949 Chaim Weizmann becomes 1st President of Israel
Election of Interest
1950 General Chiang Kai-shek elected president of Nationalist China
Chiang Kai-shek
- 1951 22nd amendment ratified, limiting US Presidents to 2 terms
- 1956 Female suffrage granted in Egypt
- 1957 Mao's famous speech to the Supreme State Conference "On Correct Handling of Contradictions Among People" expounding Maoist ideals
- 1957 Premiere of only prime-time network TV show beginning with an "X": "Xavier Cugat Show" on NBC (until X-Files)
- 1958 USSR performs nuclear test at Novaya Zemlya USSR
- 1959 Chicago Cards trade running back Ollie Matson to LA Rams for 9 players
- 1960 Oil pipe line from Rotterdam to Ruhrgebied opens
Event of Interest
1960 US Olympic ice hockey Team beats USSR 3-2 en route to gold medal
Bob Cleary
- 1960 Veikko Hakulinen of Finland wins his 3rd career Olympic cross country gold medal as part of Finland's 4 x 10k relay team at Squaw Valley, CA; winner: 50k (Oslo, 1952) and 30k (Cortina d’Ampezzo, 1956)
- 1960 Five Nations Rugby Championship is won jointly by England and France with the pivotal game a 3-3 draw between the teams at Stade Colombes, Paris
- 1961 The first congress of the Spanish Trade Union Organisation is inaugurated
Assassination Attempt
1962 South Vietnam President Ngô Đình Diệm's palace bombed by dissident air pilots in a failed assassination attempt
Ngô Đình Diệm
Contract of Interest
1963 Mickey Mantle of NY Yankees sign a baseball contract worth $100,000
Mickey Mantle
- 1964 "What Makes Sammy Run?" opens at 84th St Theater NYC for 540 performances
- 1964 The government of Italy asks for help to keep the Leaning Tower of Pisa from toppling over.
- 1965 "High Spirits" closes at Alvin Theater NYC after 375 performances
- 1965 Dutch Marijnen government resigns
- 1965 France performs Underground nuclear test at Ecker Algeria
- 1966 Ice Dance Championship at Davos won by Diane Towler and Bernard Ford of great Britain
- 1966 Ice Pairs Championship at Davos won by Belousova and Protopopov of the Soviet Union
- 1966 Ladies Figure Skating Championship in Davos won by Peggy Fleming of US
- 1966 Men's Figure Skating Championship in Davos won by Emmerich Danzer of Austria
Daytona 500
1966 8th Daytona 500: Polesitter Richard Petty comes from 2 laps down to win the event after 198 laps were completed because of rain
Richard Petty
Event of Interest
1968 CBS news anchor Walter Cronkite delivers a scathing editorial on America's chances of winning the Vietnam War
Walter Cronkite
Coup d'état
1969 General Hafez al-Assad becomes head of Syria via military coup
Hafez al-Assad
Event of Interest
1972 US President Richard Nixon and Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai issue Shanghai Communique
Zhou Enlai
Richard Nixon
- 1973 American Indian Movement occupy Wounded Knee in South Dakota
Meeting of Interest
1976 Final meeting between Mao Zedong and Richard Nixon
Mao Zedong
Richard Nixon
Event of Interest
1977 Keith Richards gets suspended sentence for heroin possession, Canada
Keith Richards
- 1978 France performs nuclear test at Mururoa atoll
Grammy Awards
1980 22nd Grammy Awards: Song of the Year Kenny Loggins' "What a Fool Believes" Best Album Billy Joel's "52nd Street
Billy Joel
Event of Interest
1981 Paul McCartney and Stevie Wonder record the single "Ebony & Ivory"
Paul McCartney
- 1982 Dan Issel (NBA-Nuggets), hits on 63rd consecutive free throw
- 1982 Earl Anthony becomes 1st pro bowler to win more than $1 million
- 1982 France performs nuclear test at Mururoa atoll
- 1982 Wayne Williams found guilty of murdering 2 of 28 blacks in Atlanta
- 1983 Eamonn Coghlan of Ireland set indoor mile record of 3:49.78
World Record
1984 Carl Lewis jumps world record indoor (8,675 m)
Carl Lewis
- 1984 WRC-AM in Washington, D.C. changes call letters to WWRC
- 1984 Worker's union leader Billy Nair freed in South Africa
- 1985 Farmers converge in Washington to demand economic relief
- 1985 Mauritania's new constitutional charter published
- 1985 US dollar is worth Ÿ3.9355 (Netherlands)
- 1986 The United States Senate allows its debates to be televised on a trial basis
- 1987 "Washington Week In Review" 20th anniversary on PBS
- 1987 Donald Regan resigns as White House chief of staff
- 1987 Mike Conley triple jumps world indoor record (17.76m)
- 1987 NCAA cancels SMU's entire 1987 football schedule for gross violations of NCAA rules regarding athletic corruption
Event of Interest
1988 Bonnie Blair (US) wins Olympic 500m speed skating in record 39.1
Bonnie Blair
- 1988 Gulfstream G-IV goes around the world 36:08:34
- 1988 Katarina Witt (GDR) wins 2nd consecutive Olympic figure skating
- 1989 German war criminals Aus der Funten and Fischer freed in Holland
- 1989 Venezuela is rocked by the riots of Caracazo
- 1990 Exxon Corp and Exxon Shipping are indicted on 5 criminal counts (Valdez)
- 1990 No-one elected to Hall of Fame for 2nd time in 3 years
Event of Interest
1991 Singer James Brown is released from prison
James Brown
- 1992 Larry Smith named 9th Commissioner of the CFL
- 1993 PBA National Championship Won by Ron Palombi Jr
- 1994 XVII Winter Olympic Games close in Lillehammer, Norway
- 1994 Maronite church near Beirut bombed, 10 killed
- 1995 Car bomb explodes in Zakho, North-Iraq (54-80 killed)
- 1996 Mark Waugh scores 126 in World Cup against India
Event of Interest
1996 American film production company "Happy Madison Productions" is founded by Adam Sandler
Adam Sandler
- 1996 First ever appearance of Pokémon in role-playing video game "Pocket Monsters Red and Green" for Game Boy in Japan
- 1997 "Last Night of Ballyhoo" opens at Helen Hayes Theater NYC
- 1997 Singer Sade (Helen Folasade) arrested in Jamaica for disobeying a police officer
- 1998 Apple discontinues development of the Newton computer
- 1998 FBI arrests 10 most wanted suspected serial killer Tony Ray Amati
- 1998 NE Patriot David Meggett arrested in Toronto on sex assault charges
- 1998 Britain's House of Lords agrees to end 1,000 years of male precedence by giving a monarch's first-born daughter the same claim to the throne as any first born son
Music Awards
1998 12th Soul Train Music Awards: Puff Daddy, Whitney Houston win
Puff Daddy
Whitney Houston
- 1998 14th Soap Opera Digest Awards - General Hospital wins
- 1999 Olusegun Obasanjo becomes Nigeria's first elected president since mid-1983
- 1999 Korea International School is founded by Soon-Il Chung
- 1999 Aston Villa are the last Premier League team to play a match with an all-English starting XI in a 4-1 defeat by Coventry
- 2002 Godhra train burning, a Muslim mob kills 59 Hindu pilgrims returning from Ayodhya
- 2002 Ryanair Flight 296 catches fire in London Stansted Airport. Subsequent investigations criticize Ryanair's handling of the evacuation.
Grammy Awards
2002 44th Grammy Awards: Walk On, Alicia Keys wins
Alicia Keys
- 2003 Former Bosnian Serb leader Biljana Plavsic is sentenced by the U.N. tribunal in The Hague, Netherlands, to 11 years in prison
- 2003 Rowan Williams is enthroned as the 104th Archbishop of Canterbury.
- 2004 Former BPMC general secretary Ordrick Samuel launches a new party in Barbuda, Barbudans for a Better Barbuda
- 2004 A bombing of a Superferry by Abu Sayyaf in the Philippines worst terrorist attack kills 116
Academy Awards
2005 77th Academy Awards: "Million Dollar Baby", Jamie Foxx & Hilary Swank win
Hilary Swank
Jamie Foxx
Event of Interest
2007 Mark Messier's #11 jersey is retired by the Edmonton Oilers
Mark Messier
Academy Awards
2011 83rd Academy Awards: Best Picture "The King's Speech", Colin Firth and Natalie Portman win best acting awards
Natalie Portman
Colin Firth
Academy Awards
2011 83rd Academy Awards: Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross win Best Original Score for 'The Social Network'
Trent Reznor
Event of Interest
2013 Pope Benedict XVI presents his farewell address to Vatican City
Benedict XVI
