Events

Up to 1900 
 1018 - The Peace of Bautzen is signed between Poland and Germany.
 1607 - Massive flooding hits the coasts of the Bristol Channel and Severn Estuary in England, killing around 2,000 people.
 1648 – The Treaty of Münster is signed, ending the Eighty Years' War between the Netherlands and Spain.
 1649 – King Charles I of England is beheaded.
 1661 – Oliver Cromwell, Lord Protector of the Commonwealth of England is formally executed – after having been dead for two years.
 1667 - The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth cedes Kiev, Smolensk and western Ukraine to the Tsardom of Russia.
 1790 – The first boat specialized as a lifeboat is tested on the River Tyne.
 1806 - The original Lower Trenton Bridge, spanning the Delaware River between Morrisville, Pennsylvania and Trenton, New Jersey, is opened.
 1820 – Edward Bransfield lands on the Antarctic mainland.
 1826 - The Menai Suspension Bridge, connecting the island of Anglesey and mainland Wales, is opened.
 1835 – A mentally ill man named Richard Lawrence attempts to assassinate President Andrew Jackson in the United States Capitol—the first assassination attempt against a President. Both of Lawrence's pistols misfire, and Jackson proceeds to beat his would-be assassin with his cane.
 1841 - A fire destroys two-thirds of the city of Mayaguez, Puerto Rico.
 1847 – Yerba Buena, California is renamed San Francisco.
 1862 – The first American ironclad warship, the USS Monitor is launched.
 1869 - The University of Idaho is started.
 1889 – Archduke Crown Prince Rudolf of Austria, heir to the Austro-Hungarian crown, is found dead with his mistress Baroness Mary Vetsera in Mayerling. How they died remains a mystery.
 1900 – United Kingdom forces fighting Boers in South Africa ask for reinforcements.

1901  2000 
 1902 - The United Kingdom and Japan sign the Anglo-Japanese Alliance.
 1911 – The destroyer USS Terry makes the first airplane rescue at sea saving the life of James McCurdy 10 miles from Havana, Cuba.
 1911 – The Canadian Naval Service becomes the Royal Canadian Navy.
 1913 – House of Lords rejects Irish Home Rule Bill.
 1925 – Government of Turkey throws Patriarch Constantine VI out of Istanbul.
 1933 – Adolf Hitler is sworn in as Chancellor of Germany.
 1933 – The first of 2,956 episodes of The Lone Ranger radio series airs on station WXYZ in Detroit, Michigan.
 1942 - World War II: Japanese forces invade the island of Ambon in what is now Indonesia.
 1944 – World War II: United States troops invade Majuro, Marshall Islands.
 1945 – The Wilhelm Gustloff sinks in the Baltic Sea in the deadliest maritime disaster in known history, killing roughly 9,000.
 1948 – Indian pacifist and leader Mahatma Gandhi is assassinated in Delhi by Nathuram Godse, a Hindu extremist.
 1948 – 1948 Winter Olympics open in St. Moritz, Switzerland. Because of World War II a few years previously, German and Japanese athletes are not allowed to take part.
 1956 - Martin Luther King, Jr.'s home is bombed in retaliation for the Montgomery Bus Boycott.
 1959 - The ship MS Hans Hedtoft strikes an iceberg on her first voyage and sinks, killing 95 people on board.
 1962 – Two of the high-wire Flying Wallendas are killed when their famous seven-person pyramid collapses during a performance in Detroit, Michigan.
 1964 – Ranger 6 is launched by NASA. Its mission is to carry television cameras and to crash-land on the moon.
 1964 - Nguyen Khanh takes power in South Vietnam, removing Duong Van Minh's military junta from power.
 1965 - The funeral of Winston Churchill takes place in London. Over a million people line the streets to say farewell.
 1968 – Vietnam War: The Tết Offensive begins when NLF forces launch series of a surprise attacks in South Vietnam.
 1969 – The Beatles' last public performance, on the roof of Apple Records in London. The impromptu concert is broken up by the police.
 1972 – Bloody Sunday: United Kingdom British Paratroopers murder fourteen Roman Catholic civil rights /anti internment marchers in Northern Ireland- Bloody Sunday (1972)
 1972 – Pakistan withdraws from the Commonwealth of Nations.
 1975 – First faroese stamp issued
 1983 – Super Bowl XVII: The Washington Redskins defeat the Miami Dolphins, 27-17, thus winning their first NFL championship since 1942.
 1989 – The American embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan closes.
 1994 – Péter Lékó becomes the youngest grand master in chess.
 1994 – The Dallas Cowboys win their fourth Super Bowl title, 30-13 over the Buffalo Bills in Super Bowl XXVIII.
 1995 – Workers from the National Institutes of Health announce the success of clinical trials testing the first preventive treatment for sickle-cell disease.
 1996 – Suspected leader of the Irish National Liberation Army Gino Gallagher is killed while in line for his unemployment benefit.
 2000 – Off the coast of Côte d'Ivoire, Kenya Airways Flight 431 crashes into the Atlantic Ocean, killing 169.
 2000 – In Super Bowl XXXIV, the St. Louis Rams defeat the Tennessee Titans, 23-16.

From 2001 
 2002 – Slobodan Milošević accuses the United Nations war crimes tribunal of an "evil and hostile attack" against him.
 2003 – Belgium legally recognizes same-sex marriage.
 2005 – Amid violence and threats to boycott the results, Iraq holds an election for its National Assembly, the country's first free election since 1953.
 2007 - Microsoft Windows Vista is released.
 2015 - 55 people are killed in a bomb attack in Shikarpur, Southern Pakistan.
 2016 - 39 people drown as a boat carrying refugees sinks in the Mediterranean Sea.
 2016 - Tennis: Angelique Kerber becomes the first German woman since Steffi Graf to win a Grand Slam singles title, defeating Serena Williams in three sets to win the Australian Open.

Births

Up to 1900 
 58 BC – Livia Drusilla, wife of Roman Emperor Augustus (d. 29)
 133 – Marcus Severus Didius Julianus, Roman Emperor (d. 193)
 1563 - Franciscus Gomarus, Dutch theologian (d. 1641)
 1628 - George Villiers, 2nd Duke of Buckingham, English diplomat (d. 1687)
 1661 - Charles Rollin, French historian (d. 1741)
 1697 - Johann Joachim Quantz, German flautist (d. 1773)
 1720 - Charles De Geer, Swedish industrialist and entomologist (d. 1778)
 1736 - James Watt, Scottish engineer (d. 1819)
 1754 - John Lansing, Jr., American statesman (d. 1829)
 1775 - Walter Savage Landor, English writer and poet (d. 1864)
 1781 – Adelbert von Chamisso, German writer (d. 1838)
 1816 – Nathaniel Prentice Banks, American politician, Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1894)
 1822 - Franz Ritter von Hauer, Austrian geologist (d. 1899)
 1841 - Félix Faure, French politician (d. 1899)
 1841 - Sam Lloyd, American game inventor and puzzle specialist (d. 1911)
 1845 - Jose Domingo de Obaldia, 2nd President of Panama (d. 1910)
 1846 - F. H. Bradley, British philosopher (d. 1924)
 1852 - Ion Luca Caragiale, Romanian playwright and poet (d. 1912)
 1862 - Walter Damrosch, German conductor and composer (d. 1950)
 1875 - Walter Middelberg, Dutch rower (d. 1944)
 1878 – Anton Hansen Tammsaare, Estonian writer (d. 1940)
 1882 – Franklin D. Roosevelt, 32nd President of the United States (d. 1945)
 1884 - Pedro Pablo Ramirez, President of Argentina (d. 1962)
 1888 - Beatrice Brigden, Canadian activist (d. 1977)
 1889 – Jaishankar Prasad, Indian poet and dramatist (d. 1937)
 1890 - Bruno Kastner, German actor (d. 1932)
 1894 – Tsar Boris III of Bulgaria (d. 1943)
 1895 – Wilhelm Gustloff, German leader of the Swiss Nazi Party (d. 1936)
 1899 – Max Theiler, South African virologist (d. 1972)
 1900 - Isaac Dunayevsky, Soviet composer (d. 1955)

1901  1950 
 1901 – Rudolf Caracciola, German racing driver (d. 1959)
 1910 - Chidambaram Subramaniam, Indian politician (d. 2000)
 1911 – Roy Eldridge, American jazz musician (d. 1989)
 1912 – Werner Hartmann, German physicist (d. 1988)
 1913 - Percy Thrower, English gardener and television host (d. 1988)
 1913 - Amrita Sher-Gil, Indian painter (d. 1941)
 1915 – John Profumo, British politician (d. 2006)
 1917 - Paul Frère, Belgian racing driver, journalist and author (d. 2008)
 1920 - Michael Anderson, British director
 1920 - Delbert Mann, American director (d. 2007)
 1924 – Lloyd Alexander, American writer (d. 2007)
 1925 - Douglas Engelbart, American inventor (d. 2013)
 1927 – Olof Palme, Prime Minister of Sweden (d. 1986)
 1928 – Hal Prince, American stage producer and director
 1929 - Lucille Teasdale-Corti, Canadian physician, surgeon and aid worker (d. 1996)
 1929 - Isamu Akasaki, Japanese scientist, joint-winner of the 2014 Nobel Prize in Physics
 1930 – Gene Hackman, American actor
 1930 - Janis Krumins, Latvian basketball player (d. 1994)
 1930 - Egon Klepsch, German politician (d. 2010)
 1931 - Shirley Hazzard, Australian-American writer (d. 2016)
 1932 - Knock Yokoyama, Japanese comedian and politician
 1934 - Tammy Grimes, American actress and singer (d. 2016)
 1934 - Giovanni Battista Re, Italian cardinal
 1935 - Richard Brautigan, American writer (d. 1984)
 1935 - Jean Tiberi, former Mayor of Paris
 1936 - Horst Jankowski, German pianist (d. 1998)
 1937 – Vanessa Redgrave, British actress
 1937 – Boris Spassky, Russian chess player
 1937 - Ed Hansen, American movie director and editor (d. 2005)
 1938 – Islam Karimov, President of Uzbekistan (d. 2016)
 1940 - Mitch Murray, English songwriter and producer
 1941 - Gregory Benford, American science fiction writer
 1941 – Dick Cheney, 46th Vice President of the United States
 1945 - Meir Dagan, Israeli general (d. 2016)
 1945 - Michael Dorris, American author (d. 1997)
 1946 - John Bird, Baron Bird, English social entrepreneur
 1947 - Steve Marriott, English musician (d. 1991)
 1947 - Malgorzata Braunek, Polish actress (d. 2014)
 1948 - Sergio Cofferati, Italian politician
 1949 – Peter Agre, American biologist
 1949 - Jaak Salumets, Estonian basketball player and coach

1951  1975 
 1951 – Phil Collins, British singer and musician
 1955 – John Baldacci, American politician, 73rd Governor of Maine
 1955 - Curtis Strange, American golfer
 1956 - Keiichi Tsuchiya, Japanese racing driver
 1956 - Darko Rundek, Croatian musician, actor and theatre director
 1956 - Jeremy Gittins, English actor
 1957 - Payne Stewart, American golfer (d. 1999)
 1959 – Irina Pudova, Yakut ballerina
 1960 - Eddie Jones, Australian rugby union player and coach
 1961 - Liu Gang, Chinese physicist and computer scientist
 1961 – Dexter Scott King, son of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Coretta Scott King
 1962 – King Abdullah II of Jordan
 1963 - Tina Malone, English actress
 1964 - Otis Smith, American basketball player
 1965 - Julie McCullough, American model and actress
 1967 - Jay Gordon, American musician
 1967 - Sergey Tchepikov, Russian biathlete
 1968 – King Felipe VI of Spain
 1968 - Trevor Dunn, American musician
 1969 - Alexey Dreev, Russian chess player
 1971 - Darren Boyd, British actor
 1972 - Jennifer Hale, Canadian-American actress and comedienne
 1974 – Christian Bale, British actor
 1974 – Olivia Colman, British actress
 1974 – Jemima Khan, British socialite
 1975 - Yumi Yoshimura, Japanese singer
 1975 – Juninho Pernambucano, Brazilian footballer

From 1976 
 1976 – Cristian Brocchi, Italian footballer
 1978 - Romesh Ranganathan, English comedian
 1979 - Davide Simoncelli, Italian cross-country skier
 1979 - Trevor Gillies, Canadian ice hockey player
 1980 – Wilmer Valderrama, American actor and producer
 1981 – Dimitar Berbatov, Bulgarian footballer
 1981 – Peter Crouch, English footballer
 1981 - Mathias Lauda, Austrian racing driver
 1982 - DeSagana Diop, Senegalese basketball player
 1983 - Ben Maher, English equestrian
 1984 – Kid Cudi, American Hip hop performer
 1987 – Arda Turan, Turkish footballer
 1987 - Phil Lester, English YouTuber, vlogger and radio personality
 1987 – Rebecca Quin, Irish professional wrestler better known as Becky Lynch
 1990 – Jake Thomas, American actor
 1990 - Yoon Bo-ra, South Korean singer
 1993 - Katy Marchant, English track cyclist
 1995 - Misaki Iwasa, Japanese singer (AKB48)
 1995 - Viktoria Komova, Russian gymnast
 1995 - Danielle Campbell, American actress
 1995 - Jack Laugher, English diver
 2000 - Benee, New Zealand singer
 2005 – Prince Hashem bin Al Abdullah II of Jordan

Deaths

Up to 1900 
 680 - Bathild, Frankish Queen (b. 626)
 1030 - William V, Duke of Aquitaine (b. 969)
 1181 – Emperor Takakura of Japan (b. 1161)
 1314 - Nicholas III of Saint Omer
 1384 – Louis II of Flanders (b. 1330)
 1649 – King Charles I of England, Ireland and Scotland (b. 1600)
 1730 – Tsar Peter II of Russia (b. 1715)
 1836 – Betsy Ross, American seamstress (b. 1752)
 1867 – Emperor Komei of Japan (b. 1831)
 1869 - William Carleton, Irish novelist (b. 1794)
 1889 – Crown Prince Rudolf of Austria (b. 1858)
 1889 – Baroness Marie Vetsera, mistress of Austrian Crown Prince Rudolf (b. 1871)

1901  2000 
 1913 - James Henderson Berry, Governor of Arkansas (b. 1841)
 1926 - Barbara La Marr, American actress (b. 1896)
 1927 - Simeon Eben Baldwin, American politician, 65th Governor of Connecticut (b. 1840)
 1928 – Johannes Andreas Grib Fibiger, Danish doctor, won the 1926 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1867)
 1929 - La Goulue, French dancer (b. 1866)
 1934 - Frank Nelson Doubleday, American publisher (b. 1862)
 1948 – Mahatma Gandhi, Indian spiritual leader and advocate of non-violence (assassinated) (b. 1869)
 1948 – Orville Wright, American aviation pioneer (b. 1871)
 1951 – Ferdinand Porsche, Austrian automobile engineer (b. 1875)
 1958 - Jean Crotti, Swiss artist (b. 1878)
 1958 – Ernst Heinkel, German engineer (b. 1888)
 1963 - Francis Poulenc, French composer (b. 1899)
 1969 – Dominique Pire, Belgian monk (b. 1910)
 1980 - Professor Longhair, American musician (b. 1918)
 1982 – Stanley Holloway, British actor (b. 1890)
 1982 – Lightnin' Hopkins, American musician (b. 1912)
 1984 - Luke Kelly, Irish singer (The Dubliners) (b. 1940)
 1986 - Ivan Papanin, Russian explorer (b. 1894)
 1989 - Alfonso, Duke of Anjou and Cadiz, Spanish royal and claimant to the French throne (b. 1936)
 1991 – John Bardeen, American physicist (b. 1908)
 1995 – Gerald Durrell, British naturalist (b. 1925)
 1999 – Huntz Hall, American actor (b. 1919)

From 2001 
 2006 – Coretta Scott King, American civil rights activist (b. 1927)
 2007 – Sidney Sheldon, American writer and screenwriter (b. 1917)
 2008 – Jeremy Beadle, British television presenter (b. 1948)
 2009 – Ingemar Johansson, Swedish boxer (b. 1932)
 2009 – Sune Jonsson, Swedish writer, movie maker and photographer (b. 1930)
 2009 - H. Guy Hunt, 49th Governor of Alabama (b. 1933)
 2011 – John Barry, British movie score composer (b. 1933)
 2013 - Patty Andrews, American singer (b. 1918)
 2014 - Jack Stoddard, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1926)
 2014 - The Mighty Hannibal, American singer, songwriter and record producer (b. 1939)
 2014 - Arthur Rankin, Jr., American animator, director, producer and writer (b. 1924)
 2015 - Gerrit Voorting, Dutch road bicycle racer (b. 1923)
 2015 - Zhelyu Zhelev, 2nd President of Bulgaria (b. 1935)
 2015 - Geraldine McEwan, English actress (b. 1932)
 2015 - Carl Djerassi, Austrian-American chemist, novelist and playwright (b. 1923)
 2016 - Frank Finlay, British actor (b. 1926)
 2016 - T. N. Gopakumar, Indian journalist (b. 1957)
 2016 - Georgia Davis Powers, American civil rights activist and politician (b. 1923)
 2016 - Francisco Flores Pérez, President of El Salvador (b. 1959)
 2016 - Mohammad Salimi, Iranian general (b. 1937)
 2017 - Marta Becket, American dancer, painter and choreographer (b. 1924)
 2017 - David Burhani, Tanzanian footballer (b. 1990)
 2017 - Carmen Contreras-Bozak, American World War II veteran (b. 1919)
 2017 - Mario R. Ramil, Filipino-born American justice (b. 1946)
 2018 - Rolf Schafstall, German footballer (b. 1937)
 2018 - Mark Salling, American actor and singer (b. 1982)
 2018 - Clyde Scott, American football player and hurdler (b. 1924)
 2018 - Kevin Towers, American baseball executive (b. 1961)
 2018 - Terry Van Ginderen, Belgian television and music producer (b. 1931)
 2018 - Azeglio Vicini, Italian footballer (b. 1933)
 2018 - Louis Zorich, American actor (b. 1924)
 2019 - Stewart Adams, British chemist, inventor of ibuprofen (b. 1923)
 2019 - Per Jorsett, Norwegian sports reporter (b. 1920)
 2019 - Dick Miller, American actor (b. 1928)

Observances
 Observances related to the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi
 Martyrs' Day (India)
 School Day of non-violence and Peace (Spain)

Days of the year