Events Pre-1600 222 – Roman emperor Elagabalus is murdered alongside his mother, Julia Soaemias. He is replaced by his 14-year old cousin, Severus Alexander. 483 – Election of Pope Felix III following the death of Pope Simplicius earlier that month. 624 – The Battle of Badr, the first major battle between the Muslims and Quraysh.W. Montgomery Watt (1956), Muhammad at Medina Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. 12. Watt notes that the date for the battle is also recorded as the 19th or the 21st of Ramadan (15 or 17 March 624). 1261 – The Byzantine Empire and the Republic of Genoa sign a permanent treaty against the Venetians at Nymphaeum. 1323 – Siege of Warangal: Sultan Ghiyath al-Din Tughluq sends an expeditionary army led by his son, Muhammad bin Tughluq, to the Kakatiya capital Warangal – after ruler Prataparudra has refused to make tribute payments. He besieges the city and finally, after a campaign of 8 months, Prataparudra surrenders on November 9.Richard M. Eaton (2005). A Social History of the Deccan, 1300–1761, p. 21. Cambridge University Press. . 1567 – The Battle of Oosterweel, traditionally regarded as the start of the Eighty Years' War. 1591 – At the Battle of Tondibi in Mali, Moroccan forces of the Saadi dynasty, led by Judar Pasha, defeat the Songhai Empire, despite being outnumbered by at least five to one.
1601–1900 1639 – Harvard College is named after clergyman John Harvard. 1697 – Nojpetén, capital of the last independent Maya kingdom, falls to Spanish conquistadors, the final step in the Spanish conquest of Guatemala. 1741 – The Battle of Cartagena de Indias (part of the War of Jenkins' Ear) begins. 1781 – William Herschel discovers Uranus. 1809 – Gustav IV Adolf of Sweden is deposed in the Coup of 1809. 1811 – A French and Italian fleet is defeated by a British squadron off the island of Vis in the Adriatic during the Napoleonic Wars. 1815 – Participants at the Congress of Vienna declare Napoleon an outlaw following his escape from Elba. 1825 – Pope Leo XII publishes the apostolic constitution Quo Graviora in which he renewed the prohibition on Catholics joining freemasonry. 1845 – Felix Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto receives its première performance in Leipzig with Ferdinand David as soloist. 1848 – The German revolutions of 1848–1849 begin in Vienna. 1862 – The Act Prohibiting the Return of Slaves is passed by the United States Congress, effectively annulling the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 and setting the stage for the Emancipation Proclamation. 1884 – The Siege of Khartoum begins. It lasts until January 26, 1885. 1888 – The eruption of Ritter Island triggers tsunamis that kill up to 3,000 people on nearby islands. 1900 – British forces occupy Bloemfontein, Orange Free State, during the Second Boer War.
1901–present 1920 – The Kapp Putsch briefly ousts the Weimar Republic government from Berlin. 1930 – The news of the discovery of Pluto is announced by Lowell Observatory. 1940 – The Winter War between Finland and the Soviet Union officially ends after the signing of the Moscow Peace Treaty. 1943 – The Holocaust: German forces liquidate the Jewish ghetto in Kraków. 1954 – The Battle of Điện Biên Phủ begins with an artillery barrage by Viet Minh forces under Võ Nguyên Giáp; Viet Minh victory led to the end of the First Indochina War and French withdrawal from Vietnam. 1957 – Cuban student revolutionaries storm the presidential palace in Havana in a failed attempt on the life of President Fulgencio Batista. 1964 – Kitty Genovese is murdered in New York City, prompting research into the bystander effect due to the false story that neighbors witnessed the killing and did nothing to help her.; 1969 – Apollo 9 returns safely to Earth after testing the Lunar Module. 1974 – Sierra Pacific Airlines Flight 802 crashes into the White Mountains near Bishop, California, killing 36. 1979 – The New Jewel Movement, headed by Maurice Bishop, ousts the Prime Minister of Grenada, Eric Gairy, in a coup d'état. 1988 – The Seikan Tunnel, the longest tunnel in the world with an undersea segment, opens between Aomori and Hakodate, Japan. 1989 – Space Shuttle Discovery launches on STS-29 carrying the TDRS-4 satellite. 1992 – The 6.6 Erzincan earthquake strikes eastern Turkey with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe). 1993 – The 1993 Storm of the Century affects the eastern United States, dropping feet of snow in many areas. 1996 – The Dunblane massacre leads to the death of sixteen primary school children and one teacher in Dunblane, Scotland. 1997 – The Missionaries of Charity choose Sister Nirmala to succeed Mother Teresa as their leader. 2003 – An article in Nature identifies the Ciampate del Diavolo as 350,000-year-old hominid footprints. 2012 – The Sierre coach crash kills 28 people, including 22 children. 2013 – The 2013 papal conclave elects Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio taking the name Pope Francis as the 266th Pope of the Catholic Church. 2015 - Serbian Army Mi-17 helicopter crashes near Belgrade airport while transporting a 5-day-old baby with respiratory problems to hospital, killing all 7 on board. 2016 – The Ankara bombing kills at least 37 people. 2016 – Three gunmen attack two hotels in the Ivory Coast town of Grand-Bassam, killing at least 19 people. 2020 – President Donald Trump declares the COVID-19 pandemic to be a national emergency in the United States."Donald Trump - Key Events | Miller Center". millercenter.org. 2021-01-28. Retrieved 2022-01-11. 2020 – Breonna Taylor is killed by police officers who were forcibly entering her home in Louisville, Kentucky; her death sparked extensive protests against racism and police brutality. 2020 – Katerina Sakellaropoulou is sworn in as the first female President of Greece amid strict COVID-19 measures.Greece's first female president is sworn in
Births
Pre-1600 1372 – Louis I, Duke of Orléans (died 1407) 1479 – Lazarus Spengler, German hymnwriter (died 1534) 1560 – William Louis, Count of Nassau-Dillenburg, Dutch count (died 1620) 1593 – Georges de La Tour, French painter (probable; (died 1652) 1599 – John Berchmans, Belgian Jesuit scholastic and saint (died 1621)
1601–1900 1615 – Innocent XII, pope of the Catholic Church (died 1700) 1683 – Johann Wilhelm Weinmann, German botanist (died 1741) 1700 – Michel Blavet, French flute player and composer (died 1768) 1719 – John Griffin, 4th Baron Howard de Walden, English field marshal and politician, Lord Lieutenant of Essex (died 1797) 1720 – Charles Bonnet, Swiss historian and author (died 1793) 1741 – Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor (died 1790) 1763 – Guillaume Brune, French general and diplomat (died 1815) 1764 – Charles Grey, 2nd Earl Grey, English politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (died 1845) 1770 – Daniel Lambert, English animal breeder (died 1809) 1781 – Karl Friedrich Schinkel, German painter and architect, designed the Konzerthaus Berlin (died 1841) 1798 – Abigail Fillmore, American wife of Millard Fillmore, 14th First Lady of the United States (died 1853) 1800 – Mustafa Reşid Pasha, Ottoman politician, 212th Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire (died 1858) 1815 – James Curtis Hepburn, American physician, linguist, and missionary (died 1911) 1825 – Hans Gude, Norwegian-German painter and academic (died 1903) 1855 – Percival Lowell, American astronomer and mathematician (died 1916) 1857 – B. H. Roberts, English-American historian and politician (died 1933) 1860 – Hugo Wolf, Slovene-Austrian composer (died 1903) 1862 – Paul Prosper Henrys, French general (died 1943) 1864 – Alexej von Jawlensky, Russian-German painter (died 1941) 1870 – William Glackens, American painter and illustrator (died 1938) 1874 – Ellery Harding Clark, American jumper, coach, and lawyer (died 1949) 1880 – Josef Gočár, Czech architect (died 1945) 1883 – Enrico Toselli, Italian pianist and composer (died 1926) 1884 – Hugh Walpole, New Zealand-English author and educator (died 1941) 1886 – Home Run Baker, American baseball player and manager (died 1963) 1886 – Albert William Stevens, American captain and photographer (died 1949) 1888 – Paul Morand, French author and diplomat (died 1976) 1890 – Fritz Busch, German conductor and director (died 1951) 1892 – Janet Flanner, American journalist and author (died 1978) 1897 – Yeghishe Charents, Armenian poet and activist (died 1937) 1898 – Henry Hathaway, American director and producer (died 1985) 1899 – John Hasbrouck Van Vleck, American physicist and mathematician, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1980) 1899 – Pancho Vladigerov, Bulgarian pianist and composer (died 1978) 1900 – Andrée Bosquet, Belgian painter (died 1980) 1900 – Giorgos Seferis, Greek poet and diplomat, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1971)
1901–present 1902 – Hans Bellmer, German-French painter and sculptor (died 1975) 1904 – Clifford Roach, Trinidadian cricketer and footballer (died 1988) 1907 – Dorothy Tangney, Australian politician (died 1985) 1908 – Walter Annenberg, American publisher, philanthropist, and diplomat, United States Ambassador to the United Kingdom (died 2002) 1908 – Myrtle Bachelder, American chemist and Women's Army Corps officer (died 1997) 1910 – Sammy Kaye, American saxophonist, songwriter, and bandleader (died 1987) 1910 – Kemal Tahir, Turkish journalist and author (died 1973) 1911 – José Ardévol, Cuban composer and conductor (died 1981) 1911 – L. Ron Hubbard, American author, founder of Scientology (died 1986) 1913 – William J. Casey, American politician, 13th Director of Central Intelligence (died 1987) 1913 – Sergey Mikhalkov, Russian author and playwright (died 2009) 1914 – W. O. Mitchell, Canadian author and playwright (died 1998) 1914 – Edward O'Hare, American lieutenant and pilot, Medal of Honor recipient (died 1943) 1916 – Lindy Boggs, American educator and politician, 5th United States Ambassador to the Holy See (died 2013) 1916 – Jacque Fresco, American engineer and academic (died 2017) 1920 – Ralph J. Roberts, American businessman, co-founded Comcast (died 2015) 1921 – Al Jaffee, American cartoonist (died 2023) 1923 – Dimitrios Ioannidis, Greek general (died 2010) 1925 – Roy Haynes, American drummer and composer (died 2024) 1926 – Carlos Roberto Reina, Honduran lawyer and politician, President of Honduras (died 2003) 1929 – Zbigniew Messner, Polish economist and politician, 9th Prime Minister of the Republic of Poland (died 2014) 1930 – Walter Jacob, American Reform rabbi (died 2024) 1933 – Diane Dillon, American illustrator 1933 – Mahdi Elmandjra, Moroccan economist and sociologist (died 2014) 1933 – Gero von Wilpert, German author and academic (died 2009) 1935 – David Nobbs, English author and screenwriter (died 2015) 1938 – Robert Gammage, American captain and politician (died 2012) 1939 – Neil Sedaka, American singer-songwriter and pianist (died 2026) 1941 – Donella Meadows, American environmentalist, author, and academic (died 2001) 1941 – Lee Moses, American R&B Soul Singer and Guitarist (died 1998) 1942 – Dave Cutler, American computer scientist and engineer 1942 – Mahmoud Darwish, Palestinian poet and author (died 2008) Note that his year of birth is given as 1941 in some other sources. 1942 – Scatman John, American singer-songwriter (died 1999) 1942 – George Negus, Australian journalist and television host (died 2024) 1944 – Terence Burns, Baron Burns, English economist and academic 1945 – Anatoly Fomenko, Russian mathematician and academic 1946 – Yonatan Netanyahu, American-Israeli colonel (died 1976) 1947 – Lesley Collier, English ballerina and educator 1947 – Beat Richner, Swiss pediatrician and cellist (died 2018) 1947 – Lyn St. James, American race car driver 1949 – Ze'ev Bielski, Israeli politician 1949 – Sian Elias, New Zealand lawyer and politician, 12th Chief Justice of New Zealand 1949 – Trevor Sorbie, Scottish hairdresser (died 2024) 1950 – Joe Bugner, Hungarian-British boxer and actor (died 2025) 1950 – Bernard Julien, Trinidadian cricketer