Events Pre-1600 AD 69 – Vespasian is proclaimed Emperor of Rome; his predecessor, Vitellius, attempts to abdicate but is captured and killed at the Gemonian stairs. 401 – Pope Innocent I is elected, the only pope to succeed his father in the office. 856 – Damghan earthquake: An earthquake near the Persian city of Damghan kills an estimated 200,000 people, the sixth deadliest earthquake in recorded history. 880 – Luoyang, eastern capital of the Tang dynasty, is captured by rebel leader Huang Chao during the reign of Emperor Xizong. 1135 – Three weeks after the death of King Henry I of England, Stephen of Blois claims the throne and is privately crowned King of England, beginning the English Anarchy. 1216 – Pope Honorius III approves the Dominican Order through the papal bull of confirmation Religiosam vitam. 1489 – The forces of the Catholic Monarchs, Ferdinand and Isabella, take control of Almería from the Nasrid ruler of Granada, Muhammad XI.;
1601–1900 1769 – Sino-Burmese War: The war ends with the Qing dynasty withdrawing from Burma forever. 1788 – Nguyễn Huệ proclaims himself Emperor Quang Trung, in effect abolishing on his own the Lê dynasty. 1790 – The Turkish fortress of Izmail is stormed and captured by Alexander Suvorov and his Russian armies. 1807 – The Embargo Act, forbidding trade with all foreign countries, is passed by the U.S. Congress at the urging of President Thomas Jefferson. 1808 – Ludwig van Beethoven conducts and performs in concert at the Theater an der Wien, Vienna, with the premiere of his Fifth Symphony, Sixth Symphony, Fourth Piano Concerto and Choral Fantasy. 1825 – The Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., burns. 1851 – India's first freight train is operated in Roorkee, to transport material for the construction of the Ganges Canal. 1864 – American Civil War: Savannah, Georgia, falls to the Union's Army of the Tennessee, and General Sherman tells President Abraham Lincoln: "I beg to present you as a Christmas gift the city of Savannah". 1885 – Itō Hirobumi, a samurai, becomes the first Prime Minister of Japan. 1888 – The Christmas Meeting of 1888, considered to be the official start of the Faroese independence movement. 1890 – Cornwallis Valley Railway begins operation between Kentville and Kingsport, Nova Scotia. 1891 – Asteroid 323 Brucia becomes the first asteroid discovered using photography. 1894 – The Dreyfus affair begins in France, when Alfred Dreyfus is wrongly convicted of treason.
1901–present 1906 – An 7.9 earthquake strikes Xinjiang, China, killing at least 280. 1920 – The GOELRO economic development plan is adopted by the 8th Congress of Soviets of the Russian SFSR. 1921 – Opening of Visva-Bharati College, also known as Santiniketan College, now Visva Bharati University, India. 1937 – The Lincoln Tunnel opens to traffic in New York City. 1939 – Indian Muslims observe a "Day of Deliverance" to celebrate the resignations of members of the Indian National Congress over their not having been consulted over the decision to enter World War II with the United Kingdom. 1940 – World War II: Himara is captured by the Greek army. 1942 – World War II: Adolf Hitler signs the order to develop the V-2 rocket as a weapon. 1944 – World War II: Battle of the Bulge: German troops demand the surrender of United States troops at Bastogne, Belgium, prompting the famous one word reply by Brigadier General Anthony McAuliffe: "Nuts!" 1944 – World War II: The People's Army of Vietnam is formed to resist Japanese occupation of Indochina, now Vietnam. 1945 – U.S. President Harry S. Truman issues an executive order giving World War II refugees precedence in visa applications under U.S. immigration quotas. 1948 – Sjafruddin Prawiranegara established the Emergency Government of the Republic of Indonesia (Pemerintah Darurat Republik Indonesia, PDRI) in West Sumatra. 1963 – The cruise ship Lakonia burns north of Madeira, Portugal with the loss of 128 lives. 1964 – The first test flight of the SR-71 (Blackbird) takes place at Air Force Plant 42 in Palmdale, California, United States. 1965 – In the United Kingdom, a speed limit is applied to all rural roads including motorways for the first time. 1968 – Cultural Revolution: People's Daily posted the instructions of Mao Zedong that "The intellectual youth must go to the country, and will be educated from living in rural poverty." 1971 – The international aid organization Doctors Without Borders is founded by Bernard Kouchner and a group of journalists in Paris, France. 1973 – A Royal Air Maroc Sud Aviation Caravelle crashes near Tangier-Boukhalef Airport in Tangier, Morocco, killing 106. 1974 – Grande Comore, Anjouan and Mohéli vote to become the independent nation of Comoros. Mayotte remains under French administration. 1975 – U.S. President Gerald Ford creates the Strategic Petroleum Reserve in response to the 1970s energy crisis. 1978 – The pivotal Third Plenum of the 11th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party is held in Beijing, with Deng Xiaoping reversing Mao-era policies to pursue a program for the reform and opening up. 1984 – "Subway vigilante" Bernhard Goetz shoots four would-be muggers on a 2 express train in Manhattan section of New York, United States. 1987 – In Zimbabwe, the political parties ZANU and ZAPU reach an agreement that ends the violence in the Matabeleland region known as the Gukurahundi. 1989 – Romanian Revolution: Communist President of Romania Nicolae Ceaușescu is overthrown by Ion Iliescu after days of bloody confrontations. The deposed dictator and his wife Elena flee Bucharest in a helicopter as protesters erupt in cheers. 1989 – German reunification: Berlin's Brandenburg Gate re-opens after nearly 30 years, effectively ending the division of East and West Germany. 1990 – Lech Wałęsa is elected President of Poland. 1990 – Final independence of Marshall Islands and Federated States of Micronesia after termination of trusteeship. 1992 – During approach to Tripoli International Airport, a Boeing 727 operating as Libyan Arab Airlines Flight 1103 collides in mid-air with a Libyan Air Force Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-23, killing 157 people. 1996 – Airborne Express Flight 827 crashes in Narrows, Virginia, killing all six people on board. 1997 – Acteal massacre: Attendees at a prayer meeting of Roman Catholic activists for indigenous causes in the small village of Acteal in the Mexican state of Chiapas are massacred by paramilitary forces. 1997 – Somali Civil War: Hussein Farrah Aidid relinquishes the disputed title of President of Somalia by signing the Cairo Declaration, in Cairo, Egypt. It is the first major step towards reconciliation in Somalia since 1991. 1999 – Just after taking off from London Stansted Airport, Korean Air Cargo Flight 8509 crashes into Hatfield Forest near Great Hallingbury, killing all four people on board. 2001 – Burhanuddin Rabbani, political leader of the Northern Alliance, hands over power in Islamic State of Afghanistan to the interim government headed by President Hamid Karzai. 2001 – Richard Reid attempts to destroy a passenger airliner by igniting explosives hidden in his shoes aboard American Airlines Flight 63. 2008 – An ash dike ruptures at a solid waste containment area for a Tennessee Valley Authority coal-fired power plant in Roane County, Tennessee, releasing of coal fly ash slurry in the largest industrial spill in U.S. history. 2010 – The repeal of the Don't ask, don't tell policy, the 17-year-old policy banning homosexuals serving openly in the United States military, is signed into law by President Barack Obama. 2012 – Bashir Ahmad Bilour of Awami National Party and eight others are killed in a Pakistan Taliban bomber suicide attack in Dhaki Nalbandi area near Qissa Khwani Bazaar. 2016 – A study finds the VSV-EBOV vaccine against the Ebola virus between 70 and 100% effective, making it the first proven vaccine against the disease. 2017 – United Nations Security Council Resolution 2397 against North Korea is unanimously approved. 2018 – A tsunami caused by an eruption of Anak Krakatau in Indonesia kills at least 430 people and injures almost a thousand more. 2018 – The 2018–2019 United States federal government shutdown, the second-longest shutdown of the U.S. federal government in history, begins."Donald Trump - Key Events | Miller Center". millercenter.org. 2021-01-28. Retrieved 2022-01-11.
Births Pre-1600 244 – Diocletian, Roman emperor (died 311) 948 – Kang Kam-ch'an, Korean official and general (died 1031) 1095 – Roger II of Sicily (died 1154) 1178 – Emperor Antoku of Japan (died 1185) 1183 – Chagatai Khan, Mongol ruler (died 1242) 1300 – Khutughtu Khan Kusala, Mongolian emperor (died 1329) 1459 – Sultan Cem, Ottoman politician (died 1495) 1546 – Kuroda Yoshitaka, Japanese daimyō (died 1604) 1550 – Cesare Cremonini, Italian philosopher and author (died 1631) 1569 – Étienne Martellange, French architect (died 1641) 1591 – Tommaso Dingli, Maltese architect and sculptor (died 1666)
1601–1900 1639 – Jean Racine, French poet and playwright (died 1699) 1666 – Guru Gobind Singh, Indian guru and poet (died 1708) 1694 – Hermann Samuel Reimarus, German philosopher and academic (died 1768) 1696 – James Oglethorpe, English general and politician, 1st Colonial Governor of Georgia (died 1785) 1723 – Carl Friedrich Abel, German viol player and composer (died 1787) 1765 – Johann Friedrich Pfaff, German mathematician and academic (died 1825) 1799 – Nicholas Callan, Irish priest and physicist (died 1864) 1805 – John Obadiah Westwood, English entomologist and archaeologist (died 1893) 1807 – Johan Sebastian Welhaven, Norwegian author, poet, and critic (died 1873) 1819 – Franz Abt, German composer and conductor (died 1870) 1819 – Pierre Ossian Bonnet, French mathematician and academic (died 1892) 1839 – John Nevil Maskelyne, English magician (died 1917) 1850 – Victoriano Huerta, Mexican general and politician, 35th President of Mexico (died 1916) 1853 – Teresa Carreño, Venezuelan-American singer-songwriter and pianist (died 1917) 1853 – Evgraf Fedorov, Russian mathematician, crystallographer, and mineralogist (died 1919) 1853 – Sarada Devi, Indian mystic and philosopher (died 1920) 1856 – Frank B. Kellogg, American lawyer and politician, 45th United States Secretary of State, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1937) 1858 – Giacomo Puccini, Italian composer and educator (died 1924) 1862 – Connie Mack, American baseball player and manager (died 1956) 1865 – Charles Sands, American golfer and tennis player (died 1945) 1868 – Jaan Tõnisson, Estonian journalist, lawyer, and politician, 2nd Prime Minister of Estonia (died 1941?) 1869 – Dmitri Egorov, Russian mathematician and academic (died 1931) 1869 – Edwin Arlington Robinson, American poet and playwright (died 1935) 1872 – Camille Guérin, French veterinarian and bacteriologist (died 1961) 1874 – Franz Schmidt, Austrian cellist, pianist, and composer (died 1939) 1876 – Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, Egyptian-Italian poet and composer (died 1944) 1878 – Myer Prinstein, Polish-American jumper (died 1925) 1880 – Fred Woolley, Australian rugby league player (died 1955) 1883 – Marcus Hurley, American cyclist (died 1941) 1883 – Edgard Varèse, French-American composer (died 1965) 1884 – St. Elmo Brady, African American chemist and educator (died 1966) 1885 – Deems Taylor, American conductor and critic (died 1966) 1887 – Srinivasa Ramanujan, Indian mathematician and theorist (died 1920) 1888 – J. Arthur Rank, 1st Baron Rank, English businessman, founded Rank Organisation (died 1972) 1889 – George Hutson, English runner and soldier (died 1914) 1892 – Herman Potočnik, Slovenian-Austrian engineer (died 1929) 1894 – Edwin Linkomies, Finnish academic, professor and the Prime Minister of Finland (died 1963) 1898 – Vladimir Fock, Russian physicist and mathematician (died 1974) 1899 – Gustaf Gründgens, German actor and director (died 1963) 1900 – Marc Allégret, French director and screenwriter (died 1973)