- 661 Rashidun Caliphate, then the largest empire in history, ends with death of Ali. Succeeded by the Umayyad Caliphate
- 672 St Vitalian ends his reign as Catholic Pope
- 847 Sergius II ends his reign as Catholic Pope
- 1142 Wrongful execution of noted Song Dynasty General Yue Fei
- 1302 Dante becomes a Florentine political exile
- 1343 Pope Clement VI issues the Bull Unigenitus
- 1538 States of Gelderland accepts Willem van Kleef as viceroy
- 1556 Willem of Orange becomes a Knight of the Order of the Golden Fleece
Event of Interest
1591 Scottish schoolmaster Dr. John Fian burned for witchcraft at Castle Hill, Edinburgh by order King James VI. Part of the Berwick witch trials.
James I and VI
Event of Interest
1671 Pirate Henry Morgan lands at Panama City
Henry Morgan
- 1695 Mustafa II becomes the Ottoman sultan in Istanbul on the death of Ahmed II. Mustafa rules until his death in 1703.
Event of Interest
1710 Tsar Peter the Great sets first Russian state budget
Peter the Great
- 1778 Piccinni's opera "Roland" premieres in Paris
- 1785 1st US state university chartered in Athens, Georgia
- 1823 President Monroe appoints first US ambassadors to South America
- 1825 U.S. Congress approves Indian Territory (in what is present-day Oklahoma), clearing the way for forced relocation of the Eastern Indians on the "Trail of Tears"
- 1864 Battle of Fair Gardens, Tennessee
- 1864 Civil War skirmish at Kelly's Ford, Virginia
- 1870 1st sorority (Kappa Alpha Theta) (DePauw U in Greencastle, Indiana)
- 1870 After accepting 15th amendment, Virginia is readmitted to the Union
- 1870 Manitoba & Northwest Territories incorporated
Historic Invention
1880 Thomas Edison patents electric incandescent lamp
Thomas Edison
- 1886 First British government of Salisbury resigns
- 1888 The National Geographic Society is founded in Washington, D.C. for "the increase and diffusion of geographic knowledge"
- 1891 Mine explosion kills 109 at Mount Pleasant Pennsylvania
- 1894 1st college basketball game, University of Chicago beats Chicago YMCA 19-11
- 1894 Midwinter Fair opens in Golden Gate Park
- 1896 Tasmania bowl out Victoria for 65 for their 1st ever innings victory
- 1897 British troops occupy Bida Gold Coast (Ghana)
- 1900 Social Democrat Party of America (Debs' party) holds 1st convention
- 1900 Foreign diplomats in Peking, China, write formal notes of protest demanding that the Chinese Government stop the Boxes and other groups leading attacks on Westerners and Christians.
- 1902 5 workers killed on explosion during IRT subway construction (NYC)
- 1905 Maurice Rouvier forms government in France
- 1906 Rudolf Gundersen skates world record 500m at 44.8 sec
- 1908 Pasiphaë, a satellite of Jupiter, discovered by Melotte
- 1909 The Young Left is founded in Norway
- 1914 A petition is written and submitted by the black and coloured women of the Orange Free State, an independent Boer sovereign republic in southern Africa, against the carrying of passes by women
- 1915 US Marines occupy Haiti
- 1916 Communist party "Spartacus Letters" 1st published in Berlin
- 1917 Coen de Koning wins 2nd official 11 cities race (9:53) (record)
- 1918 "Tarzan of the Apes", 1st Tarzan film, premieres at Broadway Theater
- 1918 The first hostilities occurred in the Finnish Civil War.
- 1924 Egyptian king Foead nominates Saad Zaghloel Pasja premier
Vladimir Lenin
Historic Publication
1926 Physicist Erwin Schrödinger publishes his theory of wave mechanics and presents what becomes known as the Schrödinger equation in quantum mechanics
Erwin Schrödinger
- 1927 20th Women's Australian Championships: Esna Boyd beats Sylvia Lance Harper (5-7, 6-1, 6-2)
- 1927 20th Men's Australian Championships: Gerald Patterson beats John Hawkes (3-6, 6-4, 3-6, 18-16, 6-3)
- 1933 Otto Meisnner (Head of the German President's Office) dines with British ambassador Sir Horace Rumbold
- 1934 French government of Chautemps falls (Stavisky Affair)
- 1934 VARA refuses to hire after commemoration of Marinus Van de Lubbe
- 1934 27th Women's Australian Championships: Joan Hartigan Bathurst beats Margaret Molesworth (6-1, 6-4)
- 1934 27th Men's Australian Championships: Fred Perry beats Jack Crawford (6-3, 7-5, 6-1)
- 1936 29th Women's Australian Championships: Joan Hartigan Bathurst beats Nancye Wynne Bolton (6-4, 6-4)
- 1936 29th Men's Australian Championships: Adrian Quist beats Jack Crawford (6-2, 6-3, 4-6, 3-6, 9-7)
- 1939 First flight of the Lockheed P-38 Lightning
- 1940 -17°F (-27°C), CCC Camp F-16, Georgia (state record)
Attack on Pearl Harbor
1941 Peruvian ambassador Ricardo Rivera-Schreiber warns American Ambassador of Japanese assault on Pearl Harbor
More >>
- 1942 -19°F (-27.4°C), Netherland's coldest day since 1850
- 1943 1st US air attack on Germany (Wilhelmshafen)
- 1944 Leningrad liberated from Germany in 880 days with the loss of 600,000 killed
- 1944 Casey Stengel, manager of the Boston Braves since 1938, resigns Lou Perini, Guido Rugo, & Joseph Maney buy control of Boston Braves
- 1945 Nazi occupiers forbid food transport to West (The Netherlands)
- 1945 Soviet troops liberate Auschwitz and Birkenau Concentration Camps in Poland
- 1945 S Romberg, H&D Fields' musical premieres in NYC
- 1945 Wally van Hall, Dutch banker and resistance leader, arrested
- 1948 1st locomotive to carry 1,000,000 pounds (450,000 kg) operates
- 1948 1st tape recorder sold
- 1949 Chinese liner "Taiping" collides with a collier off south China
- 1950 2nd Emmy Awards: Ed Wynn Show & Texaco Star Theater win
- 1951 "Peter Pan" closes at Imperial Theater NYC after 320 performances
- 1951 US begins 126 nuclear tests at Nevada Test Site
- 1953 Netherlands end Marshall aid
- 1955 "Plain & Fancy" opens at Mark Hellinger Theater NYC for 476 performances
- 1955 1955 NFL Draft: George Shaw from University of Oregon first pick by Baltimore Colts
- 1956 NFL's NY Giants switches games from Polo Grounds to Yankee Stadium
Music Single
1956 "Heartbreak Hotel" single released by Elvis Presley, his first million-selling single
Elvis Presley
Tennis Open
1958 46th Men's Australian Championships: Ashley Cooper beats Malcolm Anderson (7-5, 6-3, 6-4)
Ashley Cooper
- 1961 "Sing Along with Mitch" [Miller] premieres on NBC TV
Event of Interest
1961 Leontyne Price and Franco Corelli make their debut at the Metropolitan Opera in New York in "Il trovatore", final curtain call lasts 35 mins
Leontyne Price
- 1961 49th Women's Australian Championships: Margaret Court beats Jan Lehane O'Neill (6-1, 6-4)
- 1961 49th Men's Australian Championships: Roy Emerson beats Rod Laver (1-6, 6-3, 7-5, 6-4)
- 1962 "Family Affair" opens at Billy Rose Theater NYC for 65 performances
- 1963 Jevgeni Grishin skates world record 500m in 39.6 sec
- 1963 Sam Rice, Eppa Rixey, Elmer Flick, & John Clarkson elected to Baseball Hall of Fame
- 1964 Barlow & Graeme Pollock complete 341 stand at Adelaide Oval
- 1964 Margaret Chase Smith (Sen-R-Maine) tries for Republican President bid
- 1965 1st ground station-to-aircraft radio communication via satellite
- 1965 Groundbreaking for "Dragon Gateway" at Grant Avenue
- 1966 Wisconsin State Circuit Court Judge Elmer W Roller rules either the Braves stay in Milwaukee or NL must promise Wisconsin an expansion team for 1966
- 1967 A fire in the Apollo I Command Module kills astronauts Grissom, White & Chaffee during a launch rehearsal
- 1967 The Beatles sign a 9 year worldwide contract with EMI records
- 1967 New Orleans Saints sign their 1st player (Paige Cothren-kicker)
- 1967 Treaty signed banning military use of nuclear weapons in space
- 1968 "Darling of the Day" opens at George Abbott Theater NYC for 31 performances
- 1969 14 spies hanged in Baghdad
- 1969 9 Jews publicly executed in Damascus, Syria
- 1969 Actress Thelma Ritter suffers a heart attack (she dies Feb 5th)
- 1969 Ian Paisley sentenced to 3 years
Event of Interest
1969 Chuck Noll is named head coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers (the youngest coach in NFL history at the time)
Chuck Noll
Event of Interest
1969 1st Women's Australian Open (57th edition of the tournament): Margaret Court beats Billie Jean King (6-4, 6-1)
Billie Jean King
- 1970 Movie rating system modifies "M" rating to "PG"
- 1970 1970 NFL Draft: Terry Bradshaw from Louisiana Tech first pick by Pittsburgh Steelers
- 1970 58th Men's Australian Open: Arthur Ashe beats Dick Crealy (6-4, 9-7, 6-2)
- 1970 58th Women's Australian Open: Margaret Court beats Kerry Melville Reid (6-1, 6-3)
- 1971 Montgomery St Station, last link in Bay Area Rapid Transit in San Francisco, 'holed thru'
- 1971 The body of a man who had been shot dead is found in Belfast
- 1972 Two Royal Ulster Constabulary officers shot dead by IRA in an attack on their patrol car in the Creggan Road, Derry
- 1972 The British Army and the Irish Republican Army engage in gun battles near County Armagh; British troops fire over 1,000 rounds of ammunition
Music Premiere
1972 World premiere of Scott Joplin's rediscovered opera "Treemonisha" at Morehouse College in Atlanta
Scott Joplin
- 1973 UCLA's basketball team wins 61st consecutive game (NCAA record)
- 1973 US & North Vietnam's William Rogers & Nguyen Duy Trinh sign cease-fire, ending longest US war and military draft
- 1973 US female Figure Skating championship won by Janet Lynn
- 1973 US male Figure Skating championship won by Gordon McKellen Jr
- 1974 "Lorelei" opens at Palace Theater NYC for 320 performances
- 1976 "Laverne & Shirley" spinoff from "Happy Days" premieres on ABC TV
- 1976 9th ABA All-Star Game: Denver 144 beats ABA 138 at Denver
- 1976 Morocco-Algeria battles in West Sahara
- 1976 Viv Richards scores his 1st Test century against Australia
Film and TV Awards
1979 36th Golden Globes: Midnight Express, Jon Voight & Jane Fonda win
Jane Fonda
Jon Voight
Event of Interest
1980 Robert Mugabe returns to Rhodesia after 5 years in exile
Robert Mugabe
- 1982 "Joseph & the Amazing Dreamcoat" opens at Royale NYC for 747 performances
- 1982 Mauno Koivisto installed as President of Finland
- 1982 Philadelphia trades Larry Bowa & Ryne Sandberg to Cubs for Ivan DeJesus
- 1982 Roberto S. Cordova installed as President of Honduras
- 1982 West Indies beat Australia 3-1 to win cricket's World Series Cup
- 1983 World's longest underwater tunnel (53.90 km) opens, Honshu-Hokkaid
Album Release
1984 John Lennon and Yoko Ono release "Milk & Honey" album
John Lennon
Yoko Ono
- 1984 LA Kings end Wayne Gretzky's NHL-record 51-game scoring streak
Event of Interest
1984 Michael Jackson is burned during filming for Pepsi commercial
Michael Jackson
Music Awards
1986 13th American Music Awards: Whitney Houston, Huey Lewis & C Gayle
Whitney Houston
- 1987 Midnight Rockers beat Buddy Rose & Doug Somers for AWA World Tag Team
- 1988 Senate Judiciary Committee unanimously approves nomination of Judge Anthony Kennedy to US Supreme Court
- 1989 German war criminals Fischer & Aus der Funten freed
- 1989 Kevin Johnson (Phoenix) begins NBA free throw streak of 57 games
- 1989 Okla linebacker Mark VanKeirsblilck assaults an Ok grad student
- 1990 6th Sundance Film Festival: "Chameleon Street" wins Grand Jury Prize Dramatic
- 1991 Dutch Pacifist Socialistic Party disbands
- 1991 Nadine Strossen is 1st female president of the ACLU
- 1991 Super Bowl XXV: NY Giants beat Buffalo Bills, 20-19 in Tampa Super Bowl MVP: Ottis Anderson, NY Giants, RB ("Wide Right"
- 1991 79th Men's Australian Open: Boris Becker beats Ivan Lendl (1-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4)
- 1991 Women's Australian Open: Monica Seles beats Jana Novotná 5-7, 6-3, 6-1
- 1991 7th Sundance Film Festival: "Poison" wins Grand Jury Prize Dramatic
- 1992 "Crazy He Calls Me" opens at Walter Kerr Theater NYC for 7 performances
- 1992 19th American Music Awards: C & C Music Factory, Michael Bolton win
- 1992 Jane Fonda undergoes arthroscopic surgery on her right knee
Event of Interest
1992 Mike Tyson goes on trial for rape (he is found guilty)
Mike Tyson
Event of Interest
1992 Presidential candidate Bill Clinton (D) & Genifer Flowers accuse each other of lying over her assertion they had a 12-year affair
Bill Clinton
- 1993 DC-3 crashes in Kinshasa, killing 12
- 1994 "No Man's Land" opens at Criterion Theater NYC for 61 performances
- 1994 Carlos Reina succeeds pres Callejas in Honduras
- 1994 Romanian social democrats form government with anti-Semites
- 1995 Eric Cantona of Manchester United fined and banned from playing football after attacking a fan
- 1996 15 day old conjoined twins separate:Sarah Morales survives, Sarahi dies
- 1996 Catherine Roskam becomes the 1st NY female Episcopal bishop
- 1996 France performs nuclear test at Mururoa atoll
- 1996 Germany celebrates its 1st Holocaust Remembrance Day
- 1996 Shiv Chanderpaul scores 303* for Guyana v Jamaica at Kingston
- 1996 Colonel Ibrahim Baré Maïnassara deposes the first democratically elected president of Niger, Mahamane Ousmane, in a military coup.
- 1997 "Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus" opens at Gershwin NYC
Music Awards
1997 24th American Music Awards: Toni Braxton & Alanis Morissette win
Alanis Morissette
- 1998 Crane crashes into Roosevelt Island tram (NYC), injuring 10
- 1998 Roland Clarkson discovers 2^3021377-1 (37th known Mersenne prime)
- 1998 WNBA begins filling rosters of Washington Mystics & Detroit Shock
- 2002 Australian Open Men's Tennis: Thomas Johansson of Sweden wins his only Grand Slam title; beats Marat Safin 3-6, 6-4, 6-4, 7-6
- 2002 90th Women's Australian Open: Jennifer Capriati beats Martina Hingis (4-6, 7-6, 6-2)
- 2002 AFC Championship Game: New England Patriots beat Pittsburgh Steelers 24-17
- 2002 NFC Championship Game: St. Louis Rams beat Philadelphia Eagles 29-24
- 2008 96th Men's Australian Open: Novak Đoković beats Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (4-6, 6-4, 6-3, 7-6)
- 2008 Australian Open Women's Tennis: Maria Sharapova beats Ana Ivanovic 7-5, 6-3
- 2008 56th NHL All-Star Game: East beats West 8-7 at Atlanta, Georgia
- 2008 24th Sundance Film Festival: "Frozen River", directed by Courtney Hunt, wins Grand Jury Prize Dramatic
- 2013 20 police officers have been killed in a series of bomb attacks in Kandahar, Afghanistan
- 2013 In Port Said, Egypt, protests result in 7 people being killed and 630 are injured
- 2013 11 people are killed and 32 are injured after a bus crashes down a ravine in Serta, Portugal
- 2013 7 people are killed and 3 are injured after a retaining wall collapses during a football match at the Ugur Sports Facility, Turkey
- 2013 Magnus Carlsen wins the 2013 Tata Steel Chess Tournament
- 2013 Spain defeats Denmark to win the 2013 World Men's Handball Championship
- 2013 NFL Pro Bowl: NFC beats AFC 62-35
- 2013 101st Men's Australian Open: Novak Đoković beats Andy Murray (6-7, 7-6, 6-3, 6-2)
- 2013 29th Sundance Film Festival: "Fruitvale Station", directed by Ryan Coogler, wins Grand Jury Prize Dramatic
- 2016 On This Day receives its second substantial face-lift, courtesy of a fresh new website design and brand by design studio Fhoke. Dedicated history and film and television channels are launched alongside the new design.
Event of Interest
2017 Donald Trump issues executive order banning travel to the US for 7 mostly Muslim countries and suspending admission for refugees
Donald Trump