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These are some of many widely recognized historic events that occurred during the month of January, listed by year.  Dates provided for earlier time events may be approximate. Select another month

753 BCE, January 1 -  Traditional date of the founding of Rome by Romulus and Remus.

753 BCE, January 11 -  According to Roman tradition, Romulus dedicates the Temple of Jupiter Stator on the Capitoline Hill.

535 BCE, January 18 - Thales of Miletus, a Greek philosopher often considered the first Western philosopher, dies in Greece.

509 BCE, January 1 - The Roman Republic is established after the overthrow of the Roman monarchy.

509 BCE, January 24 - The Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus on Rome's Capitoline Hill is dedicated on the ides of January.

480 BCE, January 1 - Leonidas I, King of Sparta, is born.

475 BCE, January 19 -  The Greek city-state of Argos defeats Sparta at the Battle of Tiryns.

460 BCE, January 21 - Greek playwright Aeschylus dies in Gela, Sicily.

450 BCE, January 29 - Birth of the historian and philosopher, Herodotus, often called the "Father of History."

431 BCE, January 1 - The Peloponnesian War between Athens and Sparta officially begins.

429 BCE, January 8 - Pericles, influential Athenian statesman and general, dies during the Plague of Athens.

396 BCE, January 1 - The Romans celebrate a triumph for their victory over the Etruscans.

323 BCE, January 1 - Death of Alexander the Great, leaving his empire to be divided among his generals after his passing.

73 BCE, January 1 - The Roman Senate recognizes the legal validity of the will of the wealthy Roman merchant Lucius Calpurnius Piso Caesoninus.

68 BCE, January 9 - Birth of Roman statesman and orator, Publius Clodius Pulcher.

49 BCE, January 10 - Julius Caesar, defying the order of the Roman Senate not to so, crosses the Rubicon River with his legion, famously uttering "alea iacta est" meaning "the die has been cast and leading to the Roman Civil War. He was assassinated in 44 BCE

48 BCE, January 4 - Caesar decisively defeats Pompey at the Battle of Pharsalus.

47 BCE, January 10 - Cleopatra VII of Egypt declares her son co-ruler as Ptolemy XV Caesarion with her.

45 BCE, January 1 - The Julian Calendar takes effect replacing the traditional Roman calendar which had been introduced around the seventh century B.C. which followed the lunar cycle.

44 BCE, January 14 -  Assassination of Julius Caesar by a group of Roman senators led by Brutus and Cassius.

44 BCE, January 15 - Birth of the Roman historian and politician, Gaius Sallustius Crispus (Sallust).

40 BCE, January 15 - Birth of the Roman poet and philosopher, Gaius Maecenas.

31 BCE, January 16 - Octavian (later known as Augustus) celebrates a triple triumph in Rome for his victories in the Battle of Actium.

27 BCE, January 16 - Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus is granted the title "Augustus" by the Roman Senate, marking the beginning of the Roman Empire.

9 BCE, January 12 - The Roman general Drusus completes the conquest of Raetia (modern-day Switzerland and Bavaria).

4 BCE, January 1 - The day considered by some scholars as the possible date of the birth of Jesus Christ.

6 BCE, January 2 - Jesus is presented at the Temple in Jerusalem in accordance with Jewish law.

2 BCE, January 25 - Emperor Augustus renews the law against bachelors and childless marriages in Rome.

1 BCE, January 16 - Herod the Great dies in Jericho, according to historical calculations by some scholars.

1 BCE, January 1 - The Roman Senate and people honor Caesar Augustus with the title "Pater Patriae" (Father of the Country).

1 CE, January 1 - The first day of the Julian calendar in the Roman Empire, inaugurated by Emperor Augustus.

5 CE, January 17 - Birth of the Roman historian Tacitus.

29 CE, January 6 - According to some Christian traditions, the Baptism of Jesus Christ in the Jordan River occurs.

49 CE, January 24 - The Roman Senate confers upon Claudius the title "Pater Patriae" (Father of the Country).

64 CE, January 18 - The Roman Emperor Nero orders the construction of the Domus Aurea (Golden House) after the Great Fire of Rome.

69 CE, January 15: Roman legions in Germania Superior proclaim their commander, Vitellius, as emperor.

95 CE, January 14 - Birth of the Roman historian and senator, Gaius Cornelius Tacitus.

98 CE, January 27 - Trajan becomes Roman emperor following the death of Nerva.

167 CE, January 24 - The Roman Empire defeats the Marcomanni in the Battle of Sirmium under the reign of Marcus Aurelius.

212 CE, January 19 - Emperor Caracalla grants Roman citizenship to all free inhabitants of the Roman Empire.

225 CE, January 16 -  The Roman Emperor Severus Alexander is born.

303 CE, January 23 - Saint Emerentiana, a Christian martyr, is stoned to death in Rome during the Diocletianic Persecution.

378 CE, January 19 - The Eastern Roman Emperor Theodosius I defeats the Western Roman usurper Magnus Maximus at the Battle of Siscia.

395 CE, January 17 - The Roman Empire is permanently divided into Eastern and Western halves upon the death of Emperor Theodosius I.

418 CE, January 10 - Theodosius II becomes co-emperor of the Eastern Roman Empire at the age of 7.

457 CE, January 27 - Leo I becomes the Byzantine Emperor following the death of his predecessor Marcian.

532 CE, January 18 - The Byzantine general Belisarius enters Rome during the Gothic War.

565 CE, January 2 - Justin II succeeds his uncle Justinian I as Eastern Roman Emperor.

632 CE, January 23 - The Rashidun Caliphate is established following the death of the Islamic prophet Muhammad.

681 CE, January 4 - The Bulgarian Khan Asparukh defeats the Byzantine Emperor Constantine IV at the Battle of Ongal.

742 CE, January 26 - Charlemagne, King of the Franks, is born in modern-day Belgium.

814 CE, January 28 - Charlemagne's son, Louis the Pious, succeeds him as Holy Roman Emperor.

861 CE, January 20 - The Byzantine Empire defeats the Abbasid Caliphate at the Battle of Lalakaon.

871 CE, January 6 - Alfred the Great leads the West Saxon army to repel a Danish invasion at the Battle of Ashdown.

899 CE, January 26 - Arnulf of Carinthia, King of East Francia, dies, leading to a period of instability in the Carolingian Empire.

919 CE, January 14: The coronation of Henry the Fowler as King of East Francia (Germany) marks the beginning of the Saxon Dynasty.

949 CE, January 7 - The caliphate of Abd al-Rahman III in Al-Andalus is recognized by the Fatimid Caliphate in North Africa.

962 CE, January 6 - Otto I is crowned Holy Roman Emperor by Pope John XII in Rome.

988 CE, January 1 - Baptism of Kievan Rus' ruler Vladimir the Great, leading to the Christianization of the region.

999 CE, January 1 - Gregory V becomes Pope of the Roman Catholic Church.

1000, January 1 - Stephen I becomes the first Christian king of Hungary following his coronation.

1001, January 1 - Vikings led by Leif Erikson land in present-day Canada, possibly becoming the first Europeans to reach North America.

1002, January 23 - Emperor Otto III, ruler of the Holy Roman Empire, dies unexpectedly at the age of 22.

1007, January 5 - Henry II becomes King of Germany after the death of his father, Henry the Quarrelsome.

1014, January 30 - King Sweyn Forkbeard of Denmark dies, and his son, Cnut the Great, becomes king of Denmark.

1016, January 6 - Edmund Ironside, King of England, dies, solidifying Cnut the Great's rule over England.

1028, January 20 - Constantine VIII, Byzantine Emperor, dies, ending the Macedonian dynasty.

1035, January 5 - King Canute the Great of England and Denmark dies, leading to disputes over succession.

1046, January 28 - Pope Clement II, who had been installed by Emperor Henry III, dies suddenly.

1066, January 5 - Edward the Confessor, King of England, dies, leading to a succession crisis and the events of the Norman Conquest.

1066, January 6 - Harold Godwineson, head of the most powerful noble family in England, is crowned King Harold II, following the death of Edward the Confessor, leading to a war of succession involving Tostig, brother of Harold, King Harald III Hardraade of Norway and William, duke of Normandy. King Harold managed to fight and kill Tostig and King Harald III at the Battle of Stamford Bridge near York but was himself soon defeated and killed by William at the Battle of Hastings. Almost a year after Edward the Confessor's death, on Christmas Day, 1066, William the Conqueror was crowned the first Norman king of England. More

1077, January 27 - Holy Roman Emperor Henry IV arrives at the fortress of Canossa, beginning the famous Walk to Canossa to seek forgiveness from Pope Gregory VII.

1078, January 9 - Sultan Malik Shah I, ruler of the Seljuk Empire, dies, leading to a period of internal strife.

1086, January 14 - The Domesday Book, a comprehensive survey of landholdings in England, is completed by order of William the Conqueror.

1092, January 8 - Prince Vsevolod I becomes Grand Prince of Kiev, marking a significant period in Kievan Rus' history.

1094, January 22 - Alfonso VI of León and Castile conquers the city of Valencia from the Moors.

1095, January 10 - The Council of Clermont begins, where Pope Urban II delivers a sermon urging Christians to reclaim the Holy Land, sparking the First Crusade.

1097, January 13 - Crusaders led by Bohemond I of Antioch begin the siege of Antioch during the First Crusade.

1098, January 13 - Crusaders under Raymond IV of Toulouse capture Ma'arrat al-Numan in Syria during the First Crusade.

1098, January 31 - The Crusaders, besieged in Antioch, capture a tower, gaining a strategic advantage in the ongoing siege.

1099, January 12 - Crusaders start constructing siege engines for the siege of Arqa during the First Crusade.

1099, January 13 - Raymond IV of Toulouse leads Crusaders in capturing the town of Arqa, Lebanon, during the First Crusade.

1099, January 20 - The Crusaders besiege the city of Arqa, an important strategic point in Lebanon, during the First Crusade.

1099, January 31 -  Crusaders begin constructing siege engines for the siege of Tripoli during the First Crusade.

1100, January 6 - Henry I of England marries Matilda of Scotland, consolidating his rule after the turmoil following his brother's death.

1100, January 7 - Henry I is crowned King of England at Westminster Abbey, succeeding his brother William II.

1100, January 8 - Archbishop Anselm is consecrated as Archbishop of Canterbury, restoring ecclesiastical authority in England.

1100, January 27 -  Grand Prince Sviatopolk II of Kiev is murdered, leading to political unrest in Kievan Rus'.

1100, January 31 - William II of England's courtier and rumored successor, William de Warenne, dies, furthering uncertainties over succession.

1100, January 31 -  Hugh d'Avranches, 1st Earl of Chester, a prominent Norman magnate in England, dies, impacting the power dynamics of the time.

1107, January 24 - Edgar the Ætheling, the last male member of the House of Wessex, dies in England.

1110, January 13 - Henry V is crowned Holy Roman Emperor in Rome by Pope Paschal II.

1118, January 29 - Pope Gelasius II succeeds Pope Paschal II as the 161st pope.

1124, January 14 - Lothair III, Holy Roman Emperor, is crowned King of Italy.

1129, January 13 - The Council of Troyes, convened by Bernard of Clairvaux, acting as a Legate of Pope Honorius II, grants official sanction from the papacy to the Templar Order (Knights Templar) which had been founded in 1119 by some French noblemen. The order and the rules were subsequently approved by Pope Honorius II. The Templar Order gradually increase it size,  power and gaining considerable influence. It was eventually abolished by Pope Clement V who disbanded the order in 1312. More

1131, January 13 - King Sigurd I of Norway dies, and his son Magnus IV becomes king at the age of 11.

1138, January 24 - The Treaty of Durham between Scotland and England recognizes the River Tees as the boundary between the two countries.

1141, January 2 - Pope Innocent II is elected.

1143, January 15 - The Kingdom of Portugal is recognized by the Kingdom of León.

1145, January 19 -  The archbishopric of Uppsala in Sweden is established.

1152, January 29 - King Stephen of England and Empress Matilda sign the Treaty of Wallingford, recognizing Stephen as king while allowing Matilda's son to inherit the throne.

1158, January 1 - Vladislaus II, King of Bohemia, is crowned.

1169, January 14 - A severe earthquake strikes the Levant, causing significant damage and loss of life in Palestine.

1170, January 8 - Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury, is assassinated in Canterbury Cathedral.

1173, January 1 - Pope Alexander III canonizes Saint Thomas Becket.

1177, January 10 - Pope Alexander III issues the papal bull "Manifestis Probatum," recognizing Portugal as an independent kingdom.

1189, January 6 - Richard I (Richard the Lionheart) of England is crowned at Westminster Abbey.

1192, January 1 - Emperor Henry VI is crowned Holy Roman Emperor by Pope Celestine III in Rome.

1198, January 8 - Lotario dei Conti di Segni is elected Pope Innocent III.

1199, January 13 - King Richard I of England is wounded while besieging the castle of Châlus-Chabrol in France and dies shortly after.

1199, January 20 - King Richard I's brother, John, becomes King of England after Richard's death.

1200, January 15 - King Philip II of France and King John of England sign the Treaty of Le Goulet, marking the end of a conflict.

1200, January 20 - King Philip II of France marries Agnes of Merania.

1200, January 24 - King John of England marries Isabella of Angoulême, causing tensions in the region.

1201, January 21 - The Fourth Crusade begins with a call for a crusade against Alexios III Angelos, the Byzantine Emperor.

1202, January 1 - The Fourth Crusade reaches Venice, negotiating with the Venetians for transport to Egypt.

1202, January 28 - Alexios IV Angelos is crowned co-emperor of the Byzantine Empire, following the Fourth Crusade's arrival in Constantinople.

1204, January 17 - Crusaders of the Fourth Crusade capture the Byzantine city of Thessalonica.

1204, January 26 - Crusaders sack the city of Constantinople during the Fourth Crusade, leading to the fall of the Byzantine Empire.

1205, January 7 - Theodosius III is proclaimed Byzantine Emperor after the deposition of Alexios V.

1205, January 24 - Pope Innocent III excommunicates Otto IV, Holy Roman Emperor, for supporting the antipope.

1208, January 15 - Philip of Swabia becomes King of Germany.

1215, January 6 - King John of England marries Isabella of Angoulême.

1215, January 17 - King John of England appoints Stephen Langton as Archbishop of Canterbury.

1215, January 27 - The Fourth Lateran Council is convened by Pope Innocent III, addressing church reform and promulgating decrees.

1225, January 6 - Louis VIII of France enters into negotiations with Henry III of England for the release of English lands in France.

1236, January 28 - The city of Ryazan in Russia is captured and burned by Mongol forces under Batu Khan.

1248, January 7 - Construction of the Cologne Cathedral in Germany begins.

1259, January 18 - Michael VIII Palaiologos is proclaimed co-emperor of the Byzantine Empire.

1264, January 16 - The Parliament of Ireland meets at Castledermot in County Kildare, the first Irish parliament on record.

1265, January 20 - The first English Parliament summoned by Simon de Montfort meets in London.

1272, January 20 - Alfonso X is crowned King of Castile and León.

1274, January 18 - The Second Council of Lyon is convened by Pope Gregory X, focusing on church reunification and crusade plans.

1277, January 22 - The University of Paris condemns the teachings of philosopher and theologian Peter Abelard.

1283, January 22 - War breaks out between England and Wales as King Edward I launches a campaign against Llywelyn ap Gruffudd.

1284, January 13 - The Principality of Wales becomes united with England following the Statute of Rhuddlan.

1287, January 14 - A massive flood known as the "Saint Lucia's flood" strikes the Netherlands, causing widespread destruction.

1290, January 18 - King Edward I of England issues the Edict of Expulsion, ordering the expulsion of Jews from England.

1291, January 18: The Council of Acre ends, marking the collapse of the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem.

1292, January 20 - John Balliol is crowned King of Scotland.

1293, January 10 - King Rudolf I of Germany grants the Privilegium Majus, a document asserting the independence of Austria.

1297, January 8 - François Grimaldi, disguised as a monk, captures the fortress of Monaco, establishing the Grimaldi family's rule.

1298, January 26 - Duke Albert I of Austria defeats King Adolf of Germany at the Battle of Göllheim.

1299, January 1 - Ottoman Turks led by Osman I begin the Ottoman Empire's expansion from their base in Anatolia.

1299, January 25 - The Mongols under Ghazan Khan capture the Syrian Citadel of Aleppo, marking Mongol expansion into the region.

1299, January 26 - Pope Boniface VIII issues the papal bull "Super Cathedram," affirming papal supremacy over temporal rulers.

1299, January 31 - Edward I of England summons Parliament, instructing on measures to raise funds for military campaigns.

1299, January - The Mamluks capture the city of Jaffa, ending Crusader control in the Holy Land.

1299, January - Serbian King Stefan Milutin conquers the city of Skopje from the Byzantine Empire.

1299, January - The city of Pamplona in Spain becomes a part of the Kingdom of Navarre.

1299, January - Scottish forces under William Wallace achieve victory against English troops at the Battle of Scone Moor.

1300, January 1 - Dante Alighieri becomes one of the six priors of Florence, Italy.

1301, January 27 - Andrew III of Hungary dies, leading to succession disputes and internal conflicts in Hungary.

1302, January 18 - The Pope confirms the Knights Templar's privileges despite ongoing controversies surrounding the order.

1302, January 27 - Dante  Alighieri is accused of corruption in political office like others from the White Guelphs political party (supporters independence for the city-state who were not aligned with the Pope). Dante's sentence was a hefty fine  and banishment for two years from Florence and permanent exclusion from public office. Dante refused any pardon that required him to admit guilt against the city he loved and later that year, he was banned for life and threatened with execution if he returned. The poet never returned to Florence and died of malaria 20 years later in Ravenna on the Adriatic coast. 

1303, January 16 - The papal fortress of Castel Sant'Angelo in Rome is seized by forces loyal to Pope Boniface VIII.

1304, January 3 - The town of Helsingborg in Sweden receives its city rights.

1305, January 5 - Pope Clement V is elected, beginning the Avignon Papacy.

1306, January 5 - Robert the Bruce renounces his allegiance to England's King Edward I, beginning his campaign for the Scottish throne.

1307, January 12 - Marriage negotiations between King Edward II of England and Isabella of France, daughter of King Philip IV, begin.

1308, January 19 - Edward II of England marries Isabella of France at Boulogne-sur-Mer.

1309, January 7 - The papal court moves from Rome to Avignon, beginning the Avignon Papacy.

1310, January 27 - The Knights Templar's leadership is condemned by the Council of Vienne, leading to their suppression.

1311, January 6 - The Council of Vienne begins, discussing various church matters including the Templar Order.

1312, January 23 - Pope Clement V officially dissolves the Knights Templar by papal decree.

1313, January 20 - Emperor Henry VII is crowned Holy Roman Emperor by Pope Clement V in Rome.

1314, January 2 - Pope Clement V sends a letter to King Philip IV of France regarding the suppression of the Templars.

1315, January 23 - The Council of Ten established in Venice to safeguard internal security and stability.

1316, January 4 - Louis X of France dies, leading to a succession crisis in France.

1317, January 16 - The first Treaty of Leake is signed between England and Scotland, temporarily ending hostilities.

1318, January 24 - The Council of Ravenna convenes to address church reform and discipline.

1319, January 30 - A peace treaty is signed between the Kingdom of Scotland and the Kingdom of England.

1320, January 25 - King Władysław I of Poland issues the formal establishment of the Kingdom of Poland and the Polish-Lithuanian Union with the coronation of his son.

1321, January 1 - Marsilius of Padua presents his political treatise "Defensor Pacis" to the Archbishop of Mainz.

1322, January 16 - The Battle of Burton Bridge takes place during the Despenser War in England.

1323, January 23 - Treaty of Paris between England and Scotland recognizes Scottish independence.

1324, January 24 - Louis IV becomes King of Germany, later Holy Roman Emperor.

1325, January 16 - Alfonso IV becomes King of Aragon after the death of his father, James II.

1326, January 24 - Isabella of France and Roger Mortimer invade England, starting the downfall of Edward II.

1327, January 25 - Edward II of England is formally deposed, and his son, Edward III, becomes king.

1328, January 6 - The Treaty of Edinburgh-Northampton is signed, recognizing Scottish independence from England.

1329, January 13 - King Casimir III of Poland begins his reign, focusing on domestic reforms and strengthening the kingdom.

1330, January 8 - Emperor Frederick III of Sicily dies, leading to a succession crisis.

1331, January 10 - The Battle of Emesa takes place during the Byzantine civil war between factions led by Andronikos III and John Kantakouzenos.

1332, January 10 - A truce is agreed upon between England and Scotland during the Second War of Scottish Independence.

1333, January 19 - The English capture the town of Dunbar in Scotland during the Second War of Scottish Independence.

1334, January 13 - King Edward III of England convenes Parliament at York, establishing the principle of the northern host.

1335, January 30 - A peace treaty is signed between England and Scotland in the midst of the Second War of Scottish
Independence.

1336, January 7 - Louis IV, Holy Roman Emperor, confirms the city rights of Bern, Switzerland.

1337, January 24 - King Edward III of England proclaims himself rightful heir to the French throne, initiating the Hundred Years' War.

1338, January 13 - The English Parliament grants funds for King Edward III's war against France.

1339, January 10 - Philip VI of France creates a naval blockade against English wool exports in retaliation for the Hundred Years' War.

1340, January 22 - Pope Benedict XII is consecrated as Pope in Avignon.

1341, January 25 - King David II of Scotland holds a Parliament at Scone, attempting to raise funds for the ransom to free himself from English captivity.

1342, January 5 - King Edward III of England creates the Knights of the Garter, an elite chivalric order.

1343, January 26 - King Edward III of England establishes the Truce of Malestroit with France, temporarily halting hostilities.

1344, January 20 - The Scots under Sir Andrew Murray defeat the English at the Battle of Happrew, part of the Second War of Scottish Independence.

1345, January 8 - Pope Clement VI confirms the privileges of the University of Prague, Bohemia.

1346, January 6 - The House of Commons convenes for the first time in England.

1347, January 12 - Henry, Duke of Lancaster, arrives in Calais to aid King Edward III during the Hundred Years' War.

1348, January 13 - Charles IV of Luxembourg is crowned Holy Roman Emperor in Bonn.

1349, January 17 - An earthquake strikes the region of Huesca, Spain, causing significant damage.

1350, January 17 - King John II of France, a prisoner in England, agrees to the Treaty of London, promising to pay a large ransom.

1351, January 18 - The Cortes of Leiria in Portugal is convened by King Afonso IV to address various issues in the kingdom.

1352, January 18 - The Golden Bull of Emperor Charles IV establishes the electoral college of the Holy Roman Empire.

1353, January 5 - A peace treaty is signed between Sweden and Denmark, known as the Treaty of Gottorp.

1354, January 7 - Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor, issues the Golden Bull of 1354, formalizing the electoral college of the Holy Roman Empire.

1355, January 10 - The St. Scholastica Day riot occurs in Oxford, England, resulting in significant violence between town and gown.

1356, January 1 - Edward Balliol, supported by England, is crowned King of Scotland in Scone.

1357, January 25 - King Edward III of England establishes the Order of the Garter, England's highest chivalric order.

1358, January 17 - The Jacquerie peasant revolt begins in France, triggered by social and economic grievances.

1359, January 30 - The Battle of Saintes takes place during the Hundred Years' War between England and France, resulting in an English victory.

1360, January 6 - The Treaty of Calais is signed, ending the first phase of the Hundred Years' War between England and France.

1361, January 9 - King Henry of Trastámara becomes King Henry II of Castile after defeating his half-brother, King Peter, at the Battle of Campo de Montiel.

1362, January 11 - A truce is agreed upon between England and Scotland, temporarily halting hostilities during the Hundred Years' War.

1363, January 27 - King Charles V of France creates the first franc coin, a new currency for France.

1364, January 22 - Charles V is crowned King of France at Reims Cathedral after the death of his father, King John II.

1365, January 19 - The Parliament of Ireland meets in Dublin, strengthening English control over Ireland.

1366, January 9 - King Peter I of Portugal leads a successful expedition to conquer the city of Badajoz in Spain.

1367, January 6 - Richard II of England begins his reign as king at the age of 10 following the death of his grandfather, Edward III.

1368, January 23 - The Ming Dynasty officially begins in China with the ascension of Zhu Yuanzhang as the Hongwu Emperor.

1369, January 12 - King Peter I of Portugal dies, succeeded by his daughter, Beatrice, and her husband, John I of Castile.

1370, January 25 - Pope Gregory XI publishes five papal bulls condemning the doctrines of John Wycliffe.

1371, January 22 - King Robert II of Scotland defeats a much smaller English force at the Battle of Invernahavon.

1372, January 9 - The Treaty of Calais is renewed, extending the truce between England and France.

1373, January 23 - Pope Gregory XI sends a letter to England denouncing the teachings of John Wycliffe.

1374, January 6 - An earthquake strikes Cyprus, causing significant damage and loss of life.

1375, January 9 - The Parliament of England convenes in Westminster, focusing on financial matters and reforms.

1376, January 23 - The Great Schism in the Catholic Church begins when Pope Gregory XI dies, leading to rival papal claimants.

1377, January 28 - Richard II of England marries Anne of Bohemia, daughter of Emperor Charles IV.

1378, January 17 - Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch), Italian poet and scholar, dies in Arquà Petrarca, Italy.

1379, January 9 - The Treaty of Neuberg is signed, ending a war between Austria and Bavaria.

1380, January 20 - King Charles VI of France is crowned at Reims Cathedral at the age of 11 following the death of his father, Charles V.

1381, January 7 - John Wycliffe presents his views on church reform to Parliament in England.

1382, January 9 - The Golden Horde under Tokhtamysh attacks Moscow, leading to the Battle of Kulikovo.

1383, January 19 - King Richard II of England marries Anne of Bohemia at Westminster Abbey.

1384, January 25 - Louis I of Anjou is crowned King of Naples, initiating the Angevin dynasty's rule in southern Italy.

1385, January 10 - Portuguese forces under Nuno Álvares Pereira defeat Castilian forces at the Battle of Trancoso.

1386, January 8 - King John I of Castile marries Beatrice of Portugal, sealing the Treaty of Windsor.

1387, January 23 - King Charles III of Naples is crowned King of Hungary in Naples, beginning a personal union between the two kingdoms.

1388, January 23 - Ming forces under Zhu Yuanzhang defeat the Mongol army at the Battle of Yongtai, consolidating Ming control in China.

1399, January 22 - King Richard II of England meets with Henry Bolingbroke, later Henry IV, leading to his eventual deposition.

1400, January 7 - John Montacute, Earl of Salisbury, and Thomas Holland, Duke of Surrey, are executed for their involvement in a plot against King Henry IV of England.

1401, January 10 - The Welsh rebel leader, Owain Glyndŵr, proclaims himself Prince of Wales, initiating a revolt against English rule.

1402, January 6 - King Henry IV of England declares Owain Glyndŵr a traitor and offers a reward for his capture.

1403, January 21 - King Henry IV of England grants a royal charter to the Guild of Tailors in London.

1404, January 4 - The English Parliament passes the Act of Multipliers, addressing economic issues by controlling wages and prices.

1405, January 3 - French forces under Louis, Duke of Orléans, capture the city of Bordeaux, a significant English stronghold.

1406, January 3 - The Treaty of Windsor is signed between England and Scotland, establishing peace and a marriage alliance between the two kingdoms.

1407, January 6 - Pope Gregory XII issues a papal bull against the Avignon Pope, Benedict XIII, as part of efforts to end the Western Schism.

1408, January 13 - The Council of Pisa is announced, aiming to resolve the Western Schism by deposing both Pope Gregory XII and Antipope Benedict XIII.

1409, January 3 - The Council of Pisa officially opens, attempting to resolve the Western Schism by electing a new pope, Alexander V.

1410, January 8 - The Peace of Bicêtre is signed, temporarily halting the Armagnac-Burgundian civil war in France.

1411, January 26 - The University of St. Andrews in Scotland is chartered by a papal bull from Pope Benedict XIII.

1412, January 6 - The Medici family gains power in Florence as Giovanni de' Medici becomes head of the family's bank.

1413, January 4 - King Henry IV of England dies, and his son becomes King Henry V.

1414, January 11 - Pope Gregory XII resigns from the papacy as part of efforts to resolve the Western Schism.

1415, January 20 - The Council of Constance is convened, aiming to resolve the Western Schism and address church reform.

1416, January 6 - The Council of Constance condemns the teachings of Jan Hus, leading to his trial for heresy.

1417, January 6 - The Council of Constance elects Cardinal Oddone Colonna as Pope Martin V, effectively ending the Western Schism.

1418, January 4 - The Hussite Wars in Bohemia intensify as followers of Jan Hus take control of Prague and overthrow King Wenceslaus IV's regents.

1419, January 9 - Jan Žižka leads the Hussites in the Battle of Sudoměř, defeating King Wenceslaus IV's forces.

1420, January 14 - The Treaty of Troyes is signed, establishing Henry V of England as heir to the French throne.

1421, January 23 - The University of St. Andrews in Scotland receives its papal bull of confirmation from Pope Martin V.

1422, January 11 - King Henry V of England dies, and his infant son becomes King Henry VI.

1423, January 15 - The Council of Siena is convened by Pope Martin V to discuss church reforms and the Crusades.

1424, January 2 - The Treaty of Melun is signed, temporarily ending hostilities between France and England.

1425, January 17 - The reign of King Henry VI of England officially begins with his coronation at Westminster Abbey.

1426, January 7 - The Medici Bank in Florence suffers a financial crisis, leading to its restructuring.

1427, January 6 - The University of Basel is founded in Switzerland.

1428, January 6 - King Alfonso V of Aragon establishes the University of Barcelona.

1429, January 8 - The Siege of Orléans by the English during the Hundred Years' War begins, marking a turning point in the conflict.

1431, January 9  - The trial of Joan of Arc begins in Rouen, France, presided over by an ecclesiastical court.

1432, January 10 - The Battle of San Romano takes place between Florence and Siena, a conflict depicted in famous Renaissance artworks.

1433, January 1 - Pope Eugenius IV succeeds Pope Martin V as the 207th pope.

1434, January 15 - Pope Eugenius IV grants the privileges of the University of Leuven in Belgium.

1435, January 6 - The Congress of Arras opens, aiming to negotiate peace between Burgundy and France.

1436, January 1 - The Council of Basel suspends Pope Eugene IV, beginning a period of tension between the Council and the papacy.

1437, January 21 - James I of Scotland is assassinated in Perth, Scotland.

1438, January 9 - Albert II of Habsburg is crowned Holy Roman Emperor in Rome.

1439, January 18 - The Union of Florence is signed, aiming to reconcile the Eastern and Western churches.

1440, January 15 - Gilles de Rais, a companion-in-arms of Joan of Arc, is condemned and executed for crimes including murder and heresy.

1441, January 17 - Afonso V becomes King of Portugal at the age of six following the death of his father, Edward of Portugal.

1442, January 10 - Alfonso V of Aragon reconquers Naples from the Angevins, establishing Aragonese rule in southern Italy.

1443, January 5 - Albert II, Holy Roman Emperor, dies, leaving Frederick III as his successor.

1444, January 2 - The Peace of Szeged is signed, ending the 1443-1444 Crusade of Varna between Hungary and the Ottoman Empire.
1445, January 6 - Alfonso V of Aragon is crowned King of Sicily, consolidating his control over the Italian peninsula.

1446, January 17 - The Treaty of Ragusa is signed, establishing peace between Venice and the Kingdom of Hungary.

1447, January 21: The Eton College Foundation Charter is signed, establishing Eton College near Windsor, England.

1448, January 2 - Christopher of Bavaria, King of Denmark, Sweden, and Norway, dies.

1449, January 23 - The siege of Constantinople by the Ottoman Empire begins, leading to the fall of the Byzantine Empire in 1453.

1450, January 1 - The University of Barcelona is established by King Alfonso V of Aragon.

1451, January 3 - Sultan Murad II of the Ottoman Empire abdicates the throne in favor of his son, Mehmed II.

1452, January 23 - The Gutenberg Bible, the first major book printed with movable type in the West, begins production in Mainz, Germany.

1453, January 6 - Mehmed II ascends the throne as Sultan of the Ottoman Empire after the death of his father, Murad II.

1454, January 28 - The Treaty of Prenzlau is signed, ending the war between the Teutonic Order and Poland.

1455, January 2 - The Gutenberg Bible is completed, marking a pivotal moment in the history of printing.

1456, January 6 - The Siege of Belgrade begins, with Hungarian and Serbian forces defending the city against the Ottomans.

1457, January 28 - King Henry VII of England is born, later becoming the first Tudor monarch.

1458, January 6 - Alfonso V of Aragon takes control of the Kingdom of Naples after his victory over René of Anjou.

1459, January 28 - The Treaty of Olomouc is signed, establishing a peace settlement between Hungary and Austria.

1460, January 10 - Richard, Duke of York, is proclaimed King of England, challenging the reign of King Henry VI during the Wars of the Roses.

1461, January 14 - The Battle of Mortimer's Cross takes place during the Wars of the Roses in England, where Yorkists defeat Lancastrians.

1462, January 2 - The Ottomans capture Constantinople's strategically important region, the Morea, completing their conquest of the Byzantine Empire.

1463, January 13 - Completion of the Trondheim Cathedral in Norway after several decades of construction.

1464, January 10 - The Treaty of Westminster is signed between England and Scotland, securing peace between the two kingdoms.

1465, January 15 - Charles the Bold of Burgundy marries Margaret of York, sister of Edward IV of England, solidifying an alliance.

1466, January 27 - The Second Peace of Thorn is signed, ending the Thirteen Years' War between the Teutonic Order and Poland.

1467, January 21 - The Battle of Nancy takes place, resulting in the death of Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, at the hands of the Swiss.

1468, January 5 - During the Wars of the Roses, the Duke of Clarence, brother of Edward IV, is executed for treason.

1469, January 19 - Ferdinand II of Aragon marries Isabella I of Castile, leading to the unification of Spain.

1470, January 7 - The Battle of Tewkesbury is fought during the Wars of the Roses, resulting in a decisive Yorkist victory.

1471, January 10 - The Battle of Harlaw in Scotland sees the victory of the Scottish over the Highland clans.

1472, January 4 - Florentine painter Sandro Botticelli is commissioned to paint "Adoration of the Magi."

1473, January 6 - Nicolaus Copernicus, the astronomer who proposed a heliocentric model of the universe, is born in Poland.

1474, January 5 - The University of Copenhagen is founded in Denmark.

1475, January 17 - Battle of Vaslui between the Moldavian Prince Stephen the Great and the Ottoman Empire.

1476, January 5 - Birth of Anne of Brittany, future queen consort of France and duchess of Brittany.

1477, January 5 - The Battle of Nancy takes place, where Duke Charles the Bold of Burgundy is killed.

1478, January 7 - The Grand Duke of Muscovy, Ivan III, marries Zoe Palaiologina, niece of the last Byzantine Emperor.

1479, January 17 - Treaty of Alcáçovas is signed, ending the War of Castilian Succession between Portugal and Castile.

1480, January 6 - Ivan III of Russia launches the Great Stand on the Ugra River, halting the advance of the Golden Horde.

1481, January 26 - King Afonso V of Portugal dies, and his son, John II, becomes king.

1482, January 8 - The inauguration of the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican takes place.

1483, January 26 - King Richard III of England convenes the first Parliament of his reign.

1484, January 18 - The first printed edition of the Vulgate Bible is published by Johann von Speyer in Rome.

1485, January 7 - The reign of King Henry VII of England begins after his victory at the Battle of Bosworth Field.

1486, January 18 - The Treaty of Bagnolo is signed, ending the War of Ferrara between Venice and the Papal States.

1487, January 6 - The funeral of Henry VI of England takes place in Windsor.

1488, January 4 - Bartolomeu Dias, Portuguese explorer, anchors near the mouth of the Congo River during his expedition.

1492, January 2 - Granada, the last stronghold of the Moorish kingdom in Spain surrenders to Spain ending the Reconquest led by the Catholic Monarchs, Ferdinand II and Isabella I

1497, January 2 - Vasco da Gama departs from Lisbon on his first voyage to India.

1498, January 25 - During his third voyage, Christopher Columbus discovers the island of Isla de Margarita off the coast of Venezuela.

1501, January 1 - The Battle of Vedrosha is fought between the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Grand Duchy of Moscow.

1502, January 6 - Portuguese explorer Gaspar de Lemos reaches the Bay of Guanabara in Brazil.

1503, January 26 - The Treaty of Lyons is signed, establishing peace between France and Spain.

1504, January 2 - King Ferdinand II of Aragon abandons the Kingdom of Naples, leaving it under the control of Louis XII of France.

1505, January 13 - The University of Copenhagen is officially inaugurated in Denmark.

1506, January 8 - The construction of St. Peter's Basilica in Rome begins under Pope Julius II.

1507, January 16 - Leonardo da Vinci is commissioned to paint the Mona Lisa by Francesco del Giocondo.

1508, January 23 - Construction of the Basilica of St. Peter in the Vatican City begins.

1509, January 28 - The accession of Henry VIII to the throne of England after the death of his father, Henry VII.

1510, January 2 - King Henry VIII of England orders the burning of all Lutheran books.

1511, January 3 - The Swiss Confederation defeats the Holy League at the Battle of Ravenna in Italy.

1512, January 6 - The cornerstone of the Sistine Chapel's ceiling is laid in the Vatican City.

1513, January 25 - Spanish conquistador Vasco Núñez de Balboa reaches the Pacific Ocean after crossing the Isthmus of Panama.

1514, January 4 - The Treaty of Maline is signed, forming an alliance between King Henry VIII of England and Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I.

1515, January 14 - François I of France is crowned king in Reims.

1516, January 23 - The Habsburg Charles I of Spain becomes the ruler of the Spanish Empire after the death of Ferdinand II of Aragon.

1517, January 29 - The Ottoman Sultan Selim I occupies Egypt, marking the end of the Mamluk Sultanate.

1518, January 3 - Cardinal Wolsey becomes Lord Chancellor of England under Henry VIII.

1519, January 22 - Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I dies, and his grandson Charles V becomes the new emperor.

1520, January 28 - The Diet of Worms begins in Germany, where Martin Luther defends his religious beliefs.

1521, January 9 - Pope Leo X excommunicates Martin Luther from the Catholic Church.

1522, January 11 - The Treaty of Brussels is signed, ending the Anglo-French War of 1522–1526.

1523, January 6 - Christian II is crowned King of Denmark and Norway.

1524, January 22 - The French troops under King Francis I capture the city of Milan from the Holy Roman Empire.

1525, January 17 - The Swiss Confederation defeats the French at the Battle of Pavia during the Italian War of 1521–1526.

1526, January 26 - King Charles V's troops sack Rome, capturing Pope Clement VII.

1527, January 28 - The Anabaptist movement starts in Zurich, Switzerland, with the first adult baptism by Conrad Grebel.

1528, January 23 - England and France sign the Treaty of Westminster, establishing peace between the two nations.

1529, January 26 - The Spanish defeat the French at the Battle of Landriano during the War of the League of Cognac.

1530, January 3 - Cardinal Thomas Wolsey is arrested for high treason in England.

1531, January 5 - Pope Clement VII  forbids  Henry VIII from remarrying until his first marriage is resolved and forbidding the clergy in England from trying the case. More

 forbidding Henry from remarrying until his first marriage is resolved and forbidding the clergy in England from trying the case.

1531, January 21 - The Protestant city of Zürich declares independence from the Catholic cantons, leading to the First War of Kappel in Switzerland.

1532, January 26 - The English parliament bans payments to Rome, marking a step towards the English Reformation.

1533, January 25 - King Henry VIII of England secretly marries Anne Boleyn.

1534, January 6 - French explorer Jacques Cartier lands in Newfoundland, marking the beginning of French exploration in North America.

1535, January 10 - Henry VIII declares himself head of the Church in England, formally separating from the Roman Catholic Church.

1535, January 18 - The city of Lima, Peru, is founded by Spanish conquistador Francisco Pizarro on the central coast of Peru.  Founded on the then Julian Calendar's Catholic holiday of Epiphany, when the Three Kings visited the baby Jesus, and was therefore known as Ciudad de los Reyes or City of the Kings.

1536, January 25 - Henry VIII of England marries his third wife, Jane Seymour, following the execution of Anne Boleyn.

1537, January 14 - The first complete English-language Bible, the Matthew Bible, is printed.

1538, January 1 - King Francis I of France issues the Ordinance of Villers-Cotterêts, making French the official language of legal documents.

1539, January 27 - Spain annexes Cuba.

1540, January 6 - King Henry VIII of England marries Anne of Cleves, a marriage that will be annulled after a few months.

1541, January 18 - Santiago, Chile, is founded by Spanish conquistador Pedro de Valdivia.

1542, January  - King James V of Scotland dies, leaving his daughter Mary, Queen of Scots, as his heir.

1543, January 9 - England and Scotland sign the Treaty of Greenwich, aiming to unite the two kingdoms through the marriage of King Henry VIII's son, Edward, to Mary, Queen of Scots.

1544, January 12 - King Henry VIII of England leads an invasion of France during the Italian War of 1542–1546.

1545, January 10 - The Council of Trent reconvenes in Trento, Italy, to discuss reforms in response to the Protestant Reformation.

1546, January 18 - Protestant reformer Martin Luther dies in Eisleben, Germany.

1547, January 28 - King Henry VIII of England dies, and his nine-year-old son Edward VI succeeds him as king.

1548, January 7- The city of Nuestra Señora de La Paz (La Paz) is founded in Bolivia by Spanish conquistadors.

1549, January 22 - The execution of Thomas Seymour, brother of Jane Seymour and uncle of King Edward VI, takes place for treason.

1550, January 1 - The first version of the Gutenberg Bible is auctioned in London. More

1552, January 15 -  The German cities of Würzburg and Bamberg surrender to the forces of Albert Alcibiades, Margrave of Brandenburg-Kulmbach.

1554, January 18 - A French army led by Henry II of France and the Duke of Guise capture the city of Siena, Italy, during the Italian War of 1551–1559.

1554. January 25 -  The City of São Paulo is founded in Brazil. The city’s name derives from its having been founded by Jesuit missionaries on the anniversary of the conversion of St. Paul.

1555, January 5 - The election of Pope Julius III takes place, succeeding Pope Paul IV.

1556, January 24 - The Shaanxi earthquake, believed to be the deadliest earthquake ever recorded, strikes China's Shaanxi and neighboring Shanxi province, killing or injuring and estimated 830,000 people. Although the quake lasted only seconds, it leveled mountains, altered the path of rivers, ignited fires that burned for days and caused massive flooding. More

1557, January 17 - England declares war on France during the Italian War of 1551–1559.

1558, January 7 - Calais, the last English possession on mainland France, falls to the French, ending English territorial claims in France.

1559, January 6 - The Council of Trent concludes its discussions on the Counter-Reformation.

1559, January 15 - Elizabeth I is crowned Queen of England. Elizabeth was the daughter of Henry VIII and his second wife, Anne Boleyn and succeeded to the throne on the death of her half-sister Mary I .1558. Elizabeth's 45-year reign is generally considered one of the most glorious in English history. During it, a secure Church of England was established. Its doctrines were laid down in the 39 Articles of 1563, a compromise between Roman Catholicism and Protestantism. More

1560, January 20 - The Treaty of Berwick is signed, ending hostilities between England and Scotland.

1562, January 1 - The Edict of Saint-Germain is signed, granting French Protestants limited religious freedoms.

1563, January 2 - The Council of Trent concludes its meetings, marking the end of the Council's discussions on church reform.

1564, January 14 - The Council of Trent formally adopts the Tridentine Creed as the official doctrine of the Catholic Church.

1565, January 18 - Battle of Talikota in India sees the defeat of the Vijayanagara Empire by a coalition of Deccan Sultanates.

1566, January 5 - Antonio de Espinosa, Spanish viceroy of Peru, issues an ordinance banning foreign silver coins in the Americas.

1567, January 17 - The Battle of Rio de Janeiro takes place between the Portuguese and French, resulting in a Portuguese victory.

1568, January 18 - The Netherlands' Duke of Alva sets the penalty for treason at confiscation of property and death.

1569, January 4 - The Union of Lublin establishes the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, uniting the Kingdom of Poland and Grand Duchy of Lithuania.

1570, January 1 - Tsar Ivan the Terrible suppresses a rebellion in Novgorod, Russia, executing thousands.

1571, January 22 - The Royal Exchange opens in London, designed by Sir Thomas Gresham as a center for commerce.

1572, January 23 - The stipulations of the 1571 Marriage Act in England are published, requiring approval from the Queen or Privy Council for marriages of nobles.

1573, January 13 - English astronomer Thomas Digges publishes a work promoting the Copernican system of astronomy.

1574, January 31 - Louis de Nogaret de La Valette becomes the Grand Master of the Knights Hospitaller after the death of Jean Parisot de Valette.

1575, January 6 - King Frederick II of Denmark establishes a Lutheran state church in Norway.

1576, January 1 - The Union of Arras is signed, reconciling the Catholic southern provinces of the Netherlands with King Philip II of Spain.

1577, January 4 - The Truce of Bergerac is signed, temporarily halting the French Wars of Religion.

1578, January 23 - The Battle of Gembloux sees Spanish forces defeat the rebel States Army during the Eighty Years' War.

1579, January 6 - The Union of Arras unites Catholic provinces in the southern Netherlands against the Calvinist Dutch Revolt.

1580, January 25 - The assassination of Henry I, Duke of Guise, takes place during the French Wars of Religion.

1581, January 23 - The States-General of the Netherlands declare independence from Spain with the Act of Abjuration.

1582, January 1 - The Gregorian calendar is adopted in Catholic countries, adjusting the calendar by 10 days to correct discrepancies.

1583, January 25 - Geneva expels Catholic residents, following the escalation of religious tensions.

1584, January 10 - Spain's King Philip II revokes William the Silent's amnesty, renewing hostilities in the Dutch Revolt.

1585, January 5 - The Treaty of Nonsuch is signed between England and the Dutch rebels, formalizing their alliance against Spain.

1586, January 6 - Sir Francis Drake takes the fort at Santo Domingo in the Caribbean, capturing it briefly.

1587, January 25 - Elizabeth I of England signs the death warrant for Mary, Queen of Scots, who is executed three days later.

1588, January 7 - A document detailing the Spanish Armada's preparations for invasion is discovered in Madrid.

1591, January 18 - King Naresuan of Siam kills the Crown Prince of Burma in single combat, leading to Siamese independence.

1600, January 1 - Scotland adopts January 1 as the start of the new year, aligning with the Gregorian calendar but only in part. More

1601, January 7 - The Long Parliament of England is convened, marking a significant period in English history.

1602, January 1 - The Dutch East India Company is chartered by the Netherlands government, beginning its trade dominance in Asia.

1603, January 7 - Queen Elizabeth I of England dies, and James VI of Scotland becomes James I of England, uniting the crowns.

1604, January 19 - Tsar Boris Godunov of Russia grants trading privileges to the English Muscovy Company.

1605, January 16 - Miguel de Cervantes’s masterpiece Don Quixote ("The Ingenious Nobleman Don Quixote of La Mancha")  is published. The second portion of the book was published in 1615. More
  
1605, January 25 - A document detailing the Gunpowder Plot is anonymously delivered to English authorities, leading to the plot's exposure.

1606, January 1 - The Union Flag, combining the flags of England and Scotland, is adopted for the first time.

1607, January 21 - San Agustin Church in Manila, the oldest stone church in the Philippines, is completed.

1608, January 4 - Fire destroys a significant portion of Edo (modern-day Tokyo), leading to the rebuilding of the city.

1609, January 5 - The publication of Galileo Galilei's "Sidereus Nuncius" announces the discovery of Jupiter's moons.

1610, January 14 - Galileo Galilei discovers Callisto, the fourth moon of Jupiter.

1611, January 7 - Johannes Fabricius observes sunspots through a telescope, contributing to early astronomy studies.

1612, January 5 - Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei observes Neptune but mistakes it for a fixed star.

1613, January 21- Michael Romanov is elected as the Tsar of Russia, founding the Romanov dynasty.

1614, January 4 - The University of Groningen is established in the Netherlands.

1615, January 7 - The New River, an artificial waterway supplying London with fresh water, is opened.

1616, January 15 - French explorer Samuel de Champlain discovers Lake Champlain in North America.

1617, January 16 - The Treaty of Stolbovo ends the Ingrian War between Sweden and Russia.

1618, January 23 -  The Thirty Years' War begins with the Defenestration of Prague, where Protestant officials are thrown from a window.

1619, January 1 - The first recorded African slaves arrive in North America at Jamestown, Virginia.

1620, January 21 - The Mayflower Compact is signed by Pilgrims aboard the Mayflower, establishing a self-governing colony in Plymouth, Massachusetts.

1621, January 1 - The Old Burying Ground, the oldest cemetery in North America, is established in Massachusetts.

1622, January 26 - The Dutch colony of New Amsterdam (later New York City) is incorporated.

1623, January 22 - William Shakespeare's "First Folio" is published, compiling his plays.

1624, January 19 - The first submarine is tested in London's River Thames by its inventor, Cornelius Drebbel.

1625, January 4 - England's King James I dies, and his son Charles I ascends to the throne.

1626, January 2 - The Dutch buy Manhattan Island from Native Americans for trinkets and tools, founding New Amsterdam.

1627, January 6 - The Spanish galleon "Nuestra Señora de Atocha" sinks off the coast of Florida with a significant cargo of treasure.

1628, January 19 - The Petition of Right is accepted by England's King Charles I, limiting his power.

1629, January 26 - Charles I dissolves the English Parliament, initiating the period known as the Eleven Years' Tyranny.

1631, January 16 - The Treaty of Bärwalde is signed between Sweden and the Electorate of Brandenburg during the Thirty Years' War.

1632, January 23 - Galileo Galilei publishes "Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems," defending the Copernican theory of heliocentrism.

1633, January 8 - The Dutch East India Company retakes the city of Quilon in India from the Portuguese.

1634, January 27 - The first recorded sighting of Maryland is made by English settlers.

1635, January 16 - France establishes the Académie Française, a council for matters related to the French language and literature.

1636, January 16 - The Papal States release Galileo Galilei from house arrest after his trial for heresy.

1637, January 24 - The Dutch attempt to capture the Portuguese fort at Elmina in West Africa but fail.

1638, January 2 - The Scottish National Covenant is signed in Edinburgh, opposing religious reforms imposed by King Charles I of England.

1639, January 14 - The Puritan political leaders in Connecticut, representing the populations of Hartford, Windsor, and Wethersfield, approved and adopt a set of written laws agreed upon by the colonists, known as the Fundamental Orders of Connecticut  which stated the powers and limits of government. This document became the first complete, written constitution in the history of the world.

1639, January 28 - The Treaty of Madras is signed between the English East India Company and the Maratha Empire.

1640, January 13 - Cardinal Richelieu lays the foundation stone for the Church of the Sorbonne in Paris.

1641, January 3 - The United East India Company (VOC) conquers Malacca from the Portuguese.

1642, January 4 - King Charles I of England attempts to arrest five members of the Parliament, leading to tension between the king and parliamentarians.

1643, January 24 - Abel Tasman's expedition reaches Tongatapu, the main island of Tonga.

1644, January 20 - The Ming dynasty in China falls as Beijing is captured by Li Zicheng's rebel forces.

1645, January 9 - Archbishop William Laud is executed in London for high treason during the English Civil War.

1646, January 12 - The Royalist stronghold of Bolesworth Castle surrenders to the Parliamentarians during the English Civil War.

1647, January 30 - King Charles I is handed over to the English Parliamentarians by the Scots, marking a pivotal moment in the English Civil War.

1648, January 25 - The Thirty Years' War ends with the Treaty of Westphalia which changed the map of Europe irrevocably. The peace was negotiated, from 1644, in the Westphalian towns of Münster and Osnabrück. The Spanish-Dutch Peace of Münster treaty was signed on January 30, 1648. 

1649, January 30 - King Charles I of England is executed by beheading after being found guilty of treason. Thousands had perished during the seven years of fighting between Charles’ supporters and Oliver Cromwell’s Parliamentarians and finally the life of the King himself. #gs.4c0dnr">More

1651, January 20 - Charles II of England is crowned king of Scotland at Scone.

1652, January 3 - The Dutch East India Company's forces defeat the Portuguese at the Battle of Colombo in Sri Lanka.

1653, January 20 - Oliver Cromwell dissolves the English Parliament, leading to the establishment of the Protectorate.

1654, January 23 - The Dutch surrender Recife, Brazil, to the Portuguese after an unsuccessful attempt to regain control.

1655, January 1 - The Bishop's War between England and Scotland ends with the Treaty of Edinburgh.

1656, January 4 - The Portuguese defeat the Dutch at the Battle of São Jorge da Mina, leading to the recapture of Elmina Castle in West Africa.

1657, January 30 - The English Parliament passes the Humble Petition and Advice, seeking to reinstate a monarchy under Oliver Cromwell.

1658, January 9 - Swedish troops under Charles X Gustav invade Denmark during the Dano-Swedish War.

1659, January 19 - The Treaty of the Pyrenees is signed between France and Spain, ending the Franco-Spanish War.

1661, January 1 - Samuel Pepys completes his famous manuscript of "Diary of Samuel Pepys," documenting daily life in London which he had started a year before.

1662, January 18 - The first portrait of a reigning monarch, King Charles II of England, is painted by Sir Peter Lely.

1663, January 29 - The Ottoman Empire agrees to the Peace of Vasvar with Austria and Holy Roman Empire, ending the Fifteen Years' War.

1664, January 9 - England's King Charles II grants a trading charter to the Royal African Company to facilitate the Atlantic slave trade.

1665, January 30 - The colonial territory of New Jersey is established.

1666, January 7 - The first edition of French newspaper "Mercure Galant" is published in Paris.

1667, January 21 - The Treaty of Andrusovo ends the Russo-Polish War and establishes the Truce of Andrusovo between Russia and Poland.

1668, January 20 - England, the Dutch Republic, and Sweden sign the Triple Alliance against France.

1669, January 26 - The island of Saint Helena in the South Atlantic is named after Saint Helena by the English East India Company.

1670, January 15 - Henry Morgan, a Welsh pirate, attacks Panama City, Panama, looting and causing destruction.

1671, January 1 - Pirate Henry Morgan is knighted by England's King Charles II for protecting Jamaica from French attacks.

1672, January 19 - France declares war on the Dutch Republic, initiating the Franco-Dutch War.

1673, January 31 - France's King Louis XIV suspends the Edict of Nantes, revoking the religious rights of Huguenots.

1674, January 4 - The Treaty of Westminster ends England's involvement in the Franco-Dutch War.

1675, January 30 - The Royal Greenwich Observatory in London is established by King Charles II.

1676, January 14 - King Charles II disbands the English Parliament due to conflicts over foreign policy and taxation.

1677, January 24 - King Charles II ratifies the Treaty of Middle Plantation, guaranteeing peace between the Virginia colonists and Native American tribes.

1678, January 30 - The Treaty of Nijmegen ends the Franco-Dutch War, resulting in territorial changes and peace in Europe.

1679, January 30 - King Charles II calls the English Parliament to session after a prolonged period of dissolution.

1680, January 4 - A great comet appears in the night sky, visible in the Americas, Europe, and Asia.

1681, January 28 - English Quaker William Penn receives a land grant from King Charles II, founding Pennsylvania.

1682, January 6 - Jean-Baptiste Colbert, the French minister of finance, creates the Académie Royale d'Architecture.

1683, January 31 - The Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, England, the world's first university museum, opens to the public.

1684, January 8 - King Charles II grants a charter to the Massachusetts Bay Colony, reaffirming its rights.

1685, January 31 - King Charles II of England dies, and James II ascends to the throne.

1686, January 28 - The Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb reopens the Hindu temple at Kashi Vishwanath in Varanasi, India.

1687, January 5 - Isaac Newton's "Principia Mathematica" is published, outlining the laws of motion and universal gravitation.

1688, January 11 - England's Glorious Revolution begins as William of Orange lands at Torbay to overthrow King James II.

1689, January 16 - The Convention Parliament declares that James II has abdicated the throne, leading to the crowning of William III and Mary II.

1690, January 26 - The Iroquois League signs the Treaty of Lachine, ending hostilities with the New France government.

1691, January 7 - The Williamite War in Ireland concludes with the Treaty of Limerick, granting religious freedom to Catholics under certain conditions.

1692, January 13 - The Massacre of Glencoe occurs in Scotland when government troops slaughter the MacDonald clan.

1693, January 26 - Mount Etna in Sicily erupts, causing significant destruction to nearby towns.

1694, January 25 - The Bank of England is chartered by the English Parliament, becoming the first national bank in the world.

1695, January 1 - The window tax, a property tax based on the number of windows in a house, is imposed in England.

1696, January 16 - The Bank of Scotland is established by an Act of the Scottish Parliament.

1697, January 26 - The Treaty of Ryswick ends the Nine Years' War (War of the Grand Alliance) between France and the Grand Alliance.

1698, January 16: Russia's Peter the Great imposes a tax on beards as part of his efforts to modernize the country.

1699, January 1 - A treaty is signed between Denmark and the Tsardom of Russia, ending the Russo-Swedish War.

1700, January 30 - Sweden introduces the Julian calendar, shifting from the old-style calendar to the Gregorian calendar.

1701, January 30 - Frederick I of Prussia crowns himself as King in Prussia.

1702, January 15 - The Palace of Versailles in France catches fire, causing substantial damage to the building.

1703, January 2 - Tsar Peter the Great founds Saint Petersburg, Russia, as the new Russian capital.

1704, January 24 - The Battle of Ayubale establishes Russian dominance in the Caucasus, securing territories.

1705, January 6 - The Spanish ship San Jose y las Animas sinks off the coast of Florida, becoming a subject of treasure hunting.

1707, January 16 - The Acts of Union between England and Scotland are ratified, forming the Kingdom of Great Britain.

1708, January 15 - James Francis Edward Stuart, known as the Old Pretender, declares himself King of England and Scotland.

1709, January 26 - The Great Northern War sees Swedish forces defeat a Russian army at the Battle of Poltava.

1710, January 6 - The first copyright legislation is enacted in Great Britain, known as the Statute of Anne.

1711, January 17 - The Ottoman Empire declares war on Venice, initiating the Ottoman-Venetian War.

1712, January 5 - The Duke of Marlborough is dismissed from his command by Queen Anne during the War of the Spanish Succession.

1713, January 11 - A peace conference begins in Utrecht, aiming to end the War of the Spanish Succession.

1714, January 22 - The German mathematician and physicist Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit invents the mercury thermometer.

1715, January 17 - The Boston Riot of 1715 erupts in Boston, Massachusetts, protesting taxation without representation.

1716, January 6 - The Battle of Rio de Janeiro sees Portuguese forces repel a French attack during the War of the Spanish Succession.

1717, January 24 - The first Freemasons' Grand Lodge is founded in London, establishing modern Freemasonry.

1718, January 28 - France declares war on Spain, escalating the War of the Quadruple Alliance.

1719, January 25 - The Principality of Liechtenstein is created within the Holy Roman Empire.

1720, January 23 - The South Sea Bubble bursts, leading to a financial crisis in England and affecting the stock market.

1721, January 22 - Peter the Great of Russia establishes the city of Saint Petersburg as the new capital.

1722, January 15 - Czar Peter the Great begins a military campaign in Persia, capturing the Persian capital of Isfahan.

1723, January 28 - Christopher Wren, the English architect who designed St. Paul's Cathedral in London, dies at the age of 90.

1724, January 11 - Royal astronomer Edmond Halley presents his paper on the periodicity of his namesake comet to the Royal Society.

1725, January 14 - Alexander Selkirk, the inspiration for Daniel Defoe's "Robinson Crusoe," is rescued after being marooned on an island for four years.

1726, January 28 - The Grafton Estate in Virginia is established by the colonial governor, Sir William Gooch.

1727, January 28 - Sir Isaac Newton, renowned mathematician, physicist, and astronomer, dies in London at the age of 84.

1728, January 16 - The Chinese Emperor Yongzheng bans Christian missions in China.

1729, January 7 - Johann Beringer, a German scholar, discovers the controversial "Lügensteine" or "lying stones," later
revealed as a hoax.

1730, January 29 - The "Baltimore News-Letter," the first newspaper in the American colonies, is published.

1731, January 17 - Benjamin Franklin opens the first library in the United States in Philadelphia.

1732, January 7 - The Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, opens in London.

1733, January 12 - James Oglethorpe and 130 English colonists arrive at Charleston, South Carolina, establishing the colony of Georgia.

1734, January 29 - A fire destroys the Palace of Whitehall in London.

1739, January 15 - The British East India Company captures the city of Madras in India from the French.

1740, January 30 - Charles de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu, French philosopher, publishes "The Spirit of the Laws."

1741, January 16 - The city of Milan surrenders to Austrian forces during the War of the Austrian Succession.

1742, January 12 - Astronomer Edmond Halley observes the comet that bears his name.

1743, January 23 - The French defeat the Austrians at the Battle of Campo Santo during the War of the Austrian Succession.

1744, January 24 - Charles Edward Stuart, known as Bonnie Prince Charlie, arrives in France after his defeat in the Jacobite Rising.

1745, January 17 - The city of Prague surrenders to the Prussian army during the War of the Austrian Succession.

1746, January 31 - Bonnie Prince Charlie's Jacobite forces defeat government troops at the Battle of Falkirk Muir in Scotland.

1747, January 8 - The Austrian army secures a victory against the French at the Battle of Bergen in the Netherlands.

1748, January 18 - The Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle ends the War of the Austrian Succession, restoring territorial boundaries.

1750, January 30 - The publication of "Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society" features Benjamin Franklin's account of his kite experiment to study electricity.

1751, January 1 - Sweden adopts the Gregorian calendar, moving from the Julian calendar.

1752, January 17 - The first hospital in the United States, the Pennsylvania Hospital, is founded in Philadelphia.

1753, January 11 - The first American professional librarian, Louis Timothee, is hired in Philadelphia.

1754, January 5 - Columbia University in New York City holds its first classes.

1755, January 9 - The British Museum opens its doors to the public in Montagu House, London.

1756, January 16 - The Treaty of Westminster between France and Great Britain marks the start of the Seven Years' War.

1758, January 9 - Charles Edward Stuart, known as Bonnie Prince Charlie, flees to France following his failed Jacobite Rising in Scotland.

1759, January 8 - George Washington marries Martha Dandridge Custis in Virginia.

1759, January 15 - The British Museum, established in 1753, opens to the public. The Elgin Marbles and the Rosetta Stone are among its world-renowned antiquities and archaeological holdings.

1760, January 5 - Afghani ruler Ahmad Shah Durrani defeats the Marathas in the Battle of Barari Ghat, consolidating power in India.

1761, January 22 - The African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, the first African-American denomination in the United States, is founded in New York City.

1762, January 5 - Catherine the Great becomes Empress of Russia after a coup that deposes her husband, Peter III.

1763, January 10 - The Treaty of Paris ends the Seven Years' War, redistributing territories and marking significant colonial changes.

1764, January 14 - The English Parliament passes the American Revenue Act, which initiates the taxation of the American colonies.

1765, January 17 - The Leiden University Library, one of the oldest in the Netherlands, burns down with over 100,000 books lost.

1766, January 29 - The British Parliament repeals the Stamp Act, a major concession to the American colonies.

1768, January 17 - English explorer Captain James Cook anchors at Botany Bay in Australia during his first voyage.

1769, January 19 - The first institution dedicated to the study of volcanoes, the Osservatorio Vesuviano, is established in Naples, Italy.

1770, January 18 - The first shipment of rhubarb from the American colonies arrives in London.

1771, January 28 - The Spanish mission San Gabriel Arcángel is founded in California, becoming one of the oldest Catholic missions.

1772, January 5 - The first traveler's cheques are issued by the London Credit Exchange Company.

1773, January 6 - The Royal Colony of North Carolina issues a legislative act offering £1,000 for the capture of pirate Blackbeard.

1774, January 11 - The first session of the Continental Congress convenes in Philadelphia.

1775, January 19 - The American Continental Army is established by the Continental Congress, with George Washington appointed as its commander-in-chief.

1776, January 10 - Thomas Paine publishes "Common Sense," advocating American independence from Britain. More

1777, January 2 - American forces defeat the British at the Battle of the Assunpink Creek in the American Revolutionary War.

1777, January 15 - Vermont declares independence from the British crown and from the Colony of New York. They called the territory New Connecticut but when they met in June to write a constitution, they changed the name to Vermont, loosely  based on the French term for “green mountain,” or “ montagne verte.” Vermont became the 14th State  when it was admitted into the Union on on March 4 1791. More 

1778, January 18 - English Captain James Cook, traveling aboard the 100-foot flagship HMS Resolution and its 90-foot companion HMS Discovery. sights O‘ahu and two days later steps ashore at Waimea on Kaua‘i, becoming the first European to travel to the Hawaiian Islands. After a short stay Capitan Cook went on to explore the west coast of North America, to continue his search for the Northwest Passage. A year later, he returned to Hawaii where he was killed by the Hawaiian natives at Kealakekua Bay on February 14, 1779 after he attempted to kidnap Kalaniʻōpuʻu, the ruling chief (aliʻi nui) of the island and hold him in exchange for the return of a small stolen cutter. A fatal error that led to his death. Cook's arrival in Hawaii eventually led to large migrations of Europeans and Americans to the islands resulting a century later in 1893, in the overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaii by pro-American elements. More

1778, January 27 - The first state constitution of Georgia is adopted.

1779, January 16 - Spain declares war on Great Britain during the American Revolutionary War.

1780, January 17 - American forces win the Battle of Cowpens in South Carolina during the American Revolutionary War.

1781, January 17 - American forces under Daniel Morgan defeat the British at the Battle of Cowpens in South Carolina during the American Revolutionary War.

1782, January 20 - The Siege of Gibraltar ends with the lifting of the Spanish and French blockade.

1783, January 14 - The signing of the Treaty of Paris formally ends the American Revolutionary War between Great Britain and the United States.

1784, January 14 -  The Continental Congress ratified the Treaty of Paris on January 14, 1784, officially establishing the United States as an independent and sovereign nation. The treaty, signed in Paris on September 3, 1783, required Congress to return the ratified document to England within six months. More

1785, January 7 - French balloonist Jean-Pierre Blanchard and American John Jeffries make the first aerial crossing of the English Channel in a hydrogen balloon. More

1786, January 9 - The first successful balloon flight in America takes place in Philadelphia, piloted by Jean-Pierre Blanchard.

1787, January 6 - The Ordinance of 1787 is passed, establishing the Northwest Territory and laying the groundwork for the eventual creation of new states.

1788, January 2 - Georgia becomes the fourth  State of the Union.

1788, January 26 - The British colony of New South Wales is established as a penal colony. Led by Governor Arthur Phillip, the first settlement, at Sydney, consisted of about 850 convicts and their Marine guards and officers. The early years were increasingly difficult ones as the colony struggled to establish and be able to feed. By 1792, the first signs of stability were appearing but Governor Phillip, weakened by illness and the deprivations of those years, returned to England, leaving the colony in the hands of military Lieutenant-Governors. January 26 is now celebrated nationally as "Australia Day". Many Aboriginal Australians refer to it as "Invasion Day" More

1789, January 9 -  Connecticut becomes the fifth State of the Union.

1788, January 26 - The First Fleet, led by Captain Arthur Phillip, arrives at Port Jackson, Australia, establishing the first European settlement.

1789, January 7 - The first U.S. presidential election is held, resulting in George Washington's unanimous election as the nation's first president.

1790, January 8 - George Washington delivers the first State of the Union Address in New York City.

1791, January 27 - The British Parliament passes the Constitutional Act, dividing Canada into Upper Canada and Lower Canada.

1792, January 21 - The French National Convention declares King Louis XVI guilty of treason, leading to his execution.

1793, January 21 - King Louis XVI of France is executed by guillotine during the French Revolution after voting unanimously to find the King guilty.  For the first time in a thousand years, the French people were not ruled by a monarch. More

1794, January 14 - Dr. Jesús H. García discovers the healing powers of the "Niagara" medicinal spring in Colombia.

1795, January 19 - The Batavian Republic, a French client state, is established in the Netherlands.

1796, January 11 - John Jay, on behalf of the United States, signs the Jay Treaty with Great Britain, easing tensions between the two countries.

1797, January 15 - The first top hat is worn in public by John Etherington in London, England.

1798, January 22 - The French Revolutionary Wars see the British fleet under Admiral Horatio Nelson defeat the French fleet off the Egyptian coast at the Battle of the Nile.

1799, January 1 - The income tax is introduced in Britain to finance the Napoleonic Wars.

1800, January 1 - The Dutch East India Company is dissolved by the Netherlands government.

1801, January 1 - The Act of Union between Great Britain and Ireland comes into effect, creating the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.

1802, January 25 - The Treaty of Amiens is signed, temporarily ending hostilities between France and the United Kingdom during the Napoleonic Wars.

1803, January 18 - Thomas Jefferson secretly commissions Meriwether Lewis to explore the newly acquired Louisiana Territory.

1804, January 1 - Haiti gains independence from France, becoming the first independent black-led nation in the Western Hemisphere.

1805, January 22 - The Lewis and Clark Expedition reaches the Pacific Ocean, completing their journey across the American continent.

1806, January 23 - The Pall Mall Gazette becomes the first London newspaper to be published daily.

1807, January 1 - The importation of slaves into the United States is banned by an act of Congress, taking effect in 1808.

1808, January 27 - The Rum Rebellion in Australia sees Governor William Bligh deposed by the New South Wales Corps.

1809, January 19 - Edgar Allan Poe, American author and poet, is born in Boston, Massachusetts.

1810, January 20 - The Argentine Primera Junta is established, marking the beginning of Argentina's independence from Spain.

1811, January 12 - An earthquake in the Midwest, known as the New Madrid earthquake, shakes the central United States.

1812, January 19 - Peninsular War: French forces under Napoleon Bonaparte storm the city of Valencia, Spain.

1813, January 8 - The Creek War ends with the signing of the Treaty of Fort Jackson, ceding Creek territory to the United States.

1814, January 14 - Denmark cedes Norway to Sweden, following the Treaty of Kiel between Sweden and Denmark-Norway.

1815, January 8 - American forces, led by General Andrew Jackson, defeat the British in the Battle of New Orleans during the War of 1812.

1816, January 1 - The Bank of America opens its doors in New York City.

1817, January 27 - Argentine General José de San Martín begins his crossing of the Andes during the South American Wars of Independence.

1818, January 28 - The British explorer and navigator John Ross reaches the North Magnetic Pole.

1819, January 15 - Simon Bolivar, the South American revolutionary, proclaims the Republic of Colombia.

1820, January 8 - Britain's King George III dies, and his son, King George IV, ascends to the throne.

1821, January 25 - The Mexican War of Independence concludes with the signing of the Treaty of Córdoba, recognizing Mexican independence from Spain.

1822, January 8 - The Greek War of Independence against the Ottoman Empire begins with an uprising in the Peloponnese.

1823, January 2 - Stephen F. Austin receives a grant of land in Texas from Mexico, initiating American colonization.

1824, January 26 - Peru defeats Spain in the Battle of Ayacucho, effectively securing South American independence.

1825, January 10 - The first freight train is introduced in the United States, operating in Quincy, Massachusetts.

1826, January 22 - The Treaty of Yandabo is signed, ending the First Anglo-Burmese War and ceding Assam, Manipur, and Arakan to Britain.

1827, January 27 - Ludwig van Beethoven's Symphony No. 8 in F Major premieres in Vienna, Austria.

1828, January 30 - The London Metropolitan Police, led by Sir Robert Peel, begins operating at Scotland Yard.

1829, January 8 - Frenchman Louis Braille publishes his system of raised dots for blind readers.

1830, January 14 - The Great Fire of New Orleans destroys over 200 buildings in the city.

1831, January 1 - William Lloyd Garrison publishes the first edition of the abolitionist newspaper, "The Liberator."

1832, January 26 - The Kingdom of Poland adopts a constitution, granting limited freedoms.

1833, January 1 - The United Kingdom abolishes slavery in its colonies, leading to the gradual emancipation of slaves.

1834, January 1 - The United States Congress approves a plan to dismantle Native American tribes' governments and relocate them west of the Mississippi River.

1835, January 8 - The United States national debt is zero for the first and only time in its history.

1836, January 5 - Davy Crockett arrives in Texas, joining the fight for independence from Mexico.

1837, January 30 - Michigan becomes the 26th state of the United States.

1838, January 11 - Samuel Morse and Alfred Vail demonstrate their telegraph system publicly for the first time at the Speedwell Iron Works in Morristown, New Jersey, by sending a telegram across two miles of wire. Morse continued to improve the system as well as invented the Morse Code while trying to get financial backing. It wasn't until  four years later, on March 1843, that Congress, awarded him $30,00 to construct an experimental telegraph line from Washington to Baltimore, a distance of 44 miles. In May 24, 1844 the now famous message "WHAT HATH GOD WROUGHT" was sent over those lines from the Capitol in Washington to the old Mt. Clare Depot in Baltimore marking the beginning of a new era of faster communications. More 

1839, January 25 - The British East India Company captures Aden, establishing a strategic foothold in Yemen.

1840, January 9 - Upper Canada and Lower Canada are merged into the Province of Canada by an Act of Union.

1840. January 19 - The United States Naval officer, Lt. Charles Wilkes, exploring expedition of the South Seas reaches the Antarctic continent. The six U.S. Navy vessels  under Wilkes command had set out in 1838 on a great voyage of exploration with several hundred seamen and scientists to explore and map the Pacific, Antarctica, and the northwest coast of the United States. Lt. Charles Wilkes' tremendous feat of navigation during his 4 year expedition helped broadened the knowledge of uncharted areas of the world and to expand American scientific knowledge, commerce, industry, and world standing. Wilkes is credited with proving the existence of Antarctica as a land continent, a vital contribution to world geography. More

1840, January 22 -  The first group of European settlers arrive at Petone aboard the ship the Aurora, to found the settlement that would become Wellington, named after Named for the first Duke of Wellington. By July of 1840 there were over 1000 settlers in New Zeeland .On May 21 1840, Lieutenant-Governor William Hobson proclaimed British sovereignty over all of New Zealand even though copies of the treaty were still circulating throughout the country for  the Māori to sign.

1841, January 4 - China cedes the Island of Hong Kong to the British as a result of the First Opium War. The treaty was followed in 1898 by a 99-year lease in 1898 that allowed Britain to control even more land. The lease ended in 1997.

1842, January 29 - The Treaty of Nanking is signed, ending the First Opium War between Britain and China.

1843, January 4 - Richard Wagner's opera "Der fliegende Holländer" premieres in Dresden, Germany.

1844, January 13 - The University of Notre Dame is founded in Indiana, United States.

1845, January 3 - Texas is admitted as the 28th state of the United States.

1846, January 13 - The United States Congress establishes the Smithsonian Institution.

1847, January 26 - The Battle of the Sacramento River takes place during the Mexican-American War.

1848, January 24 - Gold is discovered at Sutter's Mill in California by James W. Marshall as he sees shining flecks of gold in the tailrace of the sawmill he was building in partnership with John Sutter. This discovery unleashed the California Gold Rush changing the course of California's and the nation's history. More

1849, January 23 - Elizabeth Blackwell becomes the first woman in the United States to earn a medical degree.

1850, January 29 - Henry Clay presents the Compromise of 1850 to the U.S. Senate in an attempt to prevent a civil war over slavery.

1851, January 29 - The British East India Company conquers the Kingdom of Punjab.

1852, January 27 - The United Kingdom recognizes the independence of the Transvaal (South African Republic).

1853,  January 4 -  Solomon Northrup, who was born a free person of color in what is now Minerva, New York, legally regains his freedom after being kidnapped, sold into slavery and spending 12 years as a slave. Northrup was a farmer, laborer, and musician.  He later wrote about his experiences in "Twelve Years a Slave"  More  

1853, January 4 - The first private mental health hospital in the United States, the Asylum for the Relief of Persons Deprived of the Use of Their Reason, opens in Philadelphia.

1854, January 23 - The San Francisco steamer sinks in the Pacific Ocean, resulting in a significant loss of life.

1855, January 23 - The first bridge over the Mississippi River opens in what is now Minneapolis, Minnesota.

1855, January 31 -  Treaty of Neah Bay: Makah Reservation established in US Territory of Washington for Makah nation, preserving tribal rights but ceding over 300,000 acres to the US government  More

1856, January 28 - The Victoria Cross, the highest British military decoration, is established.

1857, January 10 - The Great Eastern ship is launched in England, designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel.

1858, January 11 - The Wedding March by Felix Mendelssohn is played for the first time at a wedding in Germany.

1859, January 1 - The French conquest of Cochinchina (Vietnam) begins.

1860, January 10 - The Pemberton Mill in Lawrence, Massachusetts, collapses, resulting in the death of over 145 workers.

1861, January 9 - Mississippi becomes the second state to secede from the Union before the American Civil War.

1861, January 29 - Kansas is admitted into the Union, becoming the 34th State  

1863, January 1 - The Emancipation Proclamation by President Abraham Lincoln goes into effect, freeing slaves in Confederate-held territories. The proclamation declared "that all persons held as slaves" within the rebellious states "are, and henceforward shall be free." More

1863, January 1 - The first claim under the Homestead Act is made by Daniel Freeman for a farm in Nebraska.

1864, January 17 - General William T. Sherman begins his march through the Carolinas during the American Civil War.

1865, January 31 - The United States Congress passes the 13th Amendment, abolishing slavery and sends it to the States for ratification. The amendment passed 119 to 56, barely above the required two-thirds majority. Ratification from the States was received on December 1865, ending the institution of slavery in the U.S. with a final constitutional solution. More

1866, January 1  The Royal Aeronautical Society is formed in London, becoming the world's oldest aeronautical society.

1867, January 30 - The United States buys Alaska from Russia for $7.2 million, known as the Alaska Purchase.

1868, January 1 - The Shogunate in Japan is abolished, marking the beginning of the Meiji Restoration.

1869, January 1 - The construction of the Brooklyn Bridge in New York City begins.

1870, January 1 - Construction of the Brooklyn Bridge begins.

1870, January 23 - The Bear River Massacre (also known as the Marias Massacre or the Baker Massacre) was the largest massacre of Indigenous people in present-day Montana. Over 150 Blackfeet—most of whom were women, children, the elderly, and those suffering from disease—were massacred by U.S. Second Cavalry soldiers under the command of Major Eugene Baker  near the Marias River. More 

1871, January 18 - Wilhelm I is proclaimed the first German Emperor in the Hall of Mirrors at the Palace of Versailles. Following the surrender by the French army in Sedan and the  south German states, except for Austria, Switzerland, and Liechtenstein, joined the North German Confederation  and recognized the Prussian King as the German Emperor More

1873, January 9 - French poet Arthur Rimbaud decides to stop writing at the age of 18.

1874, January 1 - New York City annexes the Bronx, increasing the city's land area by about a third.

1875, January 23 - The first electric dental drill is patented by George F. Green in Kalamazoo, Michigan.

1876, January 8 - Alexander Graham Bell receives a patent for the telephone.

1877, January 10 - Crazy Horse and his warriors fight their last battle against the U.S. Cavalry at Wolf Mountain, Montana. More

1878, January 22 - The world's first telephone directory is issued, by the New Haven District Telephone Company in Connecticut.

1879, January 1 - Thomas Edison demonstrates incandescent lighting to the public for the first time.

1879, January 11 - The Anglo - Zulu war begins when British troops invade Zululand from the southern African republic of Natal after Zululand King Cetshwayo refuses the British demands for him to disband his army or join a federation of British colonies and Boer Republics. The Zulus proved to be formidable opponents but could not overcome the technological advantage the British and were eventually defeated after a series of particularly bloody battles which lasted eight months. It wasn't until 1887 that Zululand was declared British territory and finally annexed to Natal ten years later. More

1880, January 10 - The Salvation Army begins operations in the United States.

1881, January 20 - -The United States Senate ratifies the Treaty of Paris, officially ending the Spanish-American War.

1882, January 1 - John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil Trust is formed.

1883, January 4 - The Philippines formally becomes a Spanish colony.

1884, January 11 - Supreme Court rules that Native Americans cannot be barred from voting in the U.S.

1885, January 27 - The first successful appendectomy is performed by Dr. William Grant in Iowa.

1886, January 29 - Karl Benz patents the first successful gasoline-driven automobile.

1887, January 9 - Record Snow and cold hit the Northern Plains. The winter of 1886–1887, also known as the Big Die-Up, was extremely harsh for much of continental North America, especially the northern plains of the United States where the cattle industry was decimated. The cattle, already weak from lack of forage from the previous dry summer became weaker as they trudged through the deepening snow in search for food. Hundreds of thousands of cattle are said to have died, Montana ranchers alone lost an estimated 362,000 head of cattle, more than half the territory's herd. The disaster led  to a major reorganization of ranching and ending the open range era. More

1888, January 12 - One of the deadliest winter storms hits the upper Midwest. The blizzard with an epicenter in present-day South Dakota caused the deaths of hundreds of people, including 213 children who never made it home from their one-room schoolhouses and became known as the “Children’s Blizzard”. The frigid temperatures were a nationwide phenomenon. Sub-zero temperatures reached all the way to Texas and Georgia, people could ice skate in San Francisco, and water mains froze in Los Angeles. More

1888, January 14 - The National Geographic Society is founded in Washington, D.C.

1889, January 22 - Columbia Phonograph is formed in Washington, D.C., later merging with Edison's company to form Columbia Records.

1890, January 2 - Alice Sanger becomes the first female White House staffer.

1891, January 1 - The British South Africa Company is chartered, marking the start of British colonization in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe and Zambia).

1892, January 19 - The first official basketball game is played at the YMCA gymnasium in Springfield, Massachusetts.

1893, January 4 - The Independent Labour Party of the UK holds its first meeting.

1893, January 17 - The Kingdom of Hawaii is overthrown by a group which called themselves the Committee of Safety, staged a coup d'état against Queen Liliuokalani and her government. The group composed of 13 Caucasian businessmen and lawyers, six citizens of the Kingdom and seven foreign residents of Hawaii (five Americans, one Scotsman, and one German). Their ultimate goal was annexation to the United States. However it took five years until that goal was achieved. More

1894, January 1 - The Manchester Ship Canal in England opens to traffic, becoming the largest navigation canal in the world.

1895, January 4 - Dreyfus Affair: French army officer Alfred Dreyfus is stripped of his rank and sentenced to life imprisonment on Devil's Island.

1896, January 4 - Utah is admitted into the Union, becomingthe 45th U.S. state.

1897, January 6 - The National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty is founded in England.

1898, January 25 - The United States battleship Maine is commissioned.

1899, January 13 - The Spanish-American War ends with the signing of the Treaty of Paris, ceding Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines to the United States.

1900, January 8 - -U.S. President William McKinley places Alaska under military rule.

1901, January 1 - The Commonwealth of Australia is established by the Federation of six colonies.

1901, January 10 - The Lucas Gusher at Spindletop, just south of Beaumont, Texas, blew a stream of oil over 100 feet high until it was capped nine days later and flowed an estimated 100,000 barrels a day. It was found at a depth of 1,139 feet and it herald the beginning of the American Oil era. While some made fortunes, others lost everything. More

1902, January 4 - The first American college football bowl game, the Rose Bowl, is held in Pasadena, California.

1903, January 1 - Edward VII is proclaimed King after the death of Queen Victoria in the United Kingdom.

1904, January 16 - The first large-scale bodybuilding competition in America is held at Madison Square Garden, New York City.

1905, January 9 - The Russian Revolution of 1905 begins as a peaceful protest by Russian workers in St. Petersburg turns violent.

1905, January 25 - The Cullinan Diamond, the largest diamond ever found is discovered near Pretoria in modern-day South Africa. It was named after the chairman of the mining company, Thomas Cullinan. In its uncut state, it weighed 3,106 metric carats with a size of 10.1 x 6.35 x 5.9 cm. with extraordinary blue-white color and exceptional clarity. The rough stone was gifted to King Edward VII in 1907  and cut into nine major diamonds named Cullinan I through IX, ranked from largest to smallest.   More

1906, January 10 - The British SS Valencia runs aground off Vancouver Island, resulting in over 100 deaths.

1907, January 18 - The Short Magazine Lee-Enfield rifle (SMLE) becomes the official service rifle of the British Army.

1908, January 11 - U.S, President Theodore Roosevelt declares the Grand Canyon in Arizona a National Monument after having it established it as a Game Preserve by Proclamation in 1906. Theodore Roosevelt,  protected approximately 230 million acres of public land during his presidency. More

1908, January 21 - New York City passes the Sullivan Ordinance, prohibiting women from smoking in public establishments.

1909, January 7 - Ernest Shackleton's expedition reaches the magnetic South Pole.

1910, January 20 - The first public radio broadcast takes place in the United States, a live performance from the Metropolitan Opera House in New York City.

1911, January 11 - The first landing of an aircraft on a ship occurs as Eugene Ely lands a Curtiss Pusher biplane on the USS Pennsylvania in San Francisco Bay.

1912, January 6 - New Mexico is admitted into the Union, becoming the 47th U.S. state.

1912, January 18 - British explorer Robert Falcon Scott and four members of his expedition reached the South Pole, only to discover that Norwegian explorer Roald Engelbregt Amundsen had reached the South Pole a month earlier. Scott and his men died when trying to return to their base camp.

1913, January 12 - The Mona Lisa is recovered in Florence after being stolen from the Louvre Museum in Paris in 1911.

1914, January 16 - The first telephone line across the Atlantic Ocean is established between New York and London.

1915, January 13 - An earthquake in Avezzano, Italy, kills over 29,000 people.

1915, January 28 - A German cruiser sinks first American merchant ship, the William P. Frye, off the coast of Brazil. More

1915, January 28 - The U.S. Congress  creates the Coast Guard by combining the Revenue Cutter Service was merged with the U.S. Life-Saving Service, and was officially renamed the Coast Guard. In 1939, the Lighthouse Service was folded in and the Commerce Department's Bureau of Marine Inspection and Navigation was added to the USCG in 1946. More

1916, January 10 - The Professional Golfers' Association of America (PGA) is established in New York City.

1917, January 22 - President Woodrow Wilson pleads for "peace without victory" in World War I.

1918, January 8 - United States President Woodrow Wilson outlines his "Fourteen Points" for peace after World War I.

1919, January 16: The Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, prohibiting the sale, manufacture, or transportation of intoxicating liquors, is ratified. More

1919, January 18 - The Paris Peace Conference convenes at Versailles just outside Paris. The conference was called to establish the terms of the peace after World War I. More

1920, January 10 - The League of Nations officially comes into existence holding its first council meeting in Paris. On November 15, 1920, 41 members states, representing more than 70% of the world’s population, gathered in Geneva for the opening of the first session of the Assembly. More

1921, January 10 - The Irish War of Independence begins as Irish guerrillas attack and burn down the Custom House in Dublin.

1922, January 3 - Arthur Griffith is elected President of Dáil Éireann (Irish Republic).

1923, January 3 - British archaeologist Howard Carter unseals the burial chamber of Pharaoh Tutankhamun in Egypt's Valley of the Kings.

1923, January 10 - U.S. President Harding issues an executive order halting U.S. occupation of the Rhine allowing the return of the final contingent of American troops to return home, more than four years after the end of World War I. More

1924, January 21 - Soviet leader Vladimir Lenin dies, leading to a power struggle in the Soviet Union.

1925, January 26: The world's first motor race at 300 km/h is won by Malcolm Campbell in a Sunbeam at Pendine Sands, Wales.

1926, January 28 - The first demonstration of television by John Logie Baird takes place in London.

1927, January 20 - The first transatlantic telephone service is established between New York and London.

1928, January 10 - The Soviet Union orders the exile of Leon Trotsky.

1929, January 3 - The Soviet Union announces the collectivization of agriculture, leading to significant upheaval in rural areas.

1930, January 4 - British India arrests Mohandas Gandhi in Bombay for organizing resistance against British rule.

1931, January 7 - The Second Italo-Ethiopian War begins as Italy invades Ethiopia.

1932, January 12 - Hattie Ophelia Wyatt Caraway becomes first woman elected to U.S. Senate when she defeated two male opponents in a special race in Arkansas. More

1932, January 23 - Franklin D. Roosevelt institutes the Reconstruction Finance Corporation to aid the struggling U.S. economy during the Great Depression.

1933, January 5 - The Golden Gate Bridge construction starts. Joseph B. Strauss led the way as Chief Engineer of the Golden Gate Bridge and he is is also credited as being the leading force behind seeing the Golden Gate Bridge become a reality. The bridge was completed on May May 28, 1937. More

1933, January 30 - Adolf Hitler becomes Chancellor of Germany. More

1934, January 17 - The United States formally devalues the dollar against gold for the first time in history.

1935, January 11: Amelia Earhart becomes the first person to fly solo from Hawaii to California. More

1936, January 6: The first all-glass windowless building, the Owens-Illinois Glass Company, is completed in Toledo, Ohio.

1937, January 7 - The U.S. Senate rejects the nomination of Hugo Black to the Supreme Court due to his Ku Klux Klan involvement.

1938, January 3 - The National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis s found by Franklin Delano Roosevelt, an adult victim of polio. The foundation was renamed later "The March of Dimes Foundation" More  

1938, January 5 - Iceland becomes the first country to legalize abortion.

1939, January 1 - The Hewlett-Packard Company is founded in a one-car garage in Palo Alto, California.

1940, January 3 -The British Royal Air Force bombs a German seaplane base, marking the first British raid of World War II.

1941, January 6 - Franklin D. Roosevelt delivers his "Four Freedoms" speech during the State of the Union Address.

1942, January 14 - U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt issues Presidential Proclamation 2537 , requiring."All alien enemies" within the continental United States, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands, to obtain a certificate of identification and carry it "at all times". Along with travel and access restrictions. More

1942, January 19 - Japan begins its invasion of Burma during World War II.

1943, January 14 - The Casablanca Conference begins between Winston Churchill and Franklin D. Roosevelt to plan Allied strategy during World War II. 

1943, January 27 - The first US raid was conducted on Germany proper as 91 US bombers were sent on a day light raid on the submarine bases at Wilhelmshaven. 53 bombers successfully bombed the target and 3 were lost. The US daylight bombing of Germany continued as the British continue their night  bombing raids. More

1944, January 27- The 900 day siege of Leningrad is broken when the Soviet Leningrad–Novgorod Offensive expels the German forces from the southern outskirts of the city. This was a combined effort by the Leningrad and Volkhov Fronts, along with the 1st and 2nd Baltic Fronts. The estimates of the death toll vary, but it is believed than more than 1 million Leningrad residents perished from hunger or bombardments, during the siege.

1945, January 7 -  American troops land on the main Philippine Island of Luzon, after the capture the Philippine islands of  the Leyte and Mindoro Island to the south in late December 1944, where two airfields were established from which aircraft would be launched to assist in the landings on Luzon. Mexican and Australian troops also participated in the battle for Luzon, as well as a very large number of Filipino fighters. Japanese losses were 217,000 dead, with 9,050 taken prisoners. U.S. losses were 8,310 killed and 29,560 wounded. Civilian casualties are estimated at 120,000 to 140,000 dead. More

1945, January 16 - Hitler moves his headquarters to his underground bunker (Führerbunker) as the Soviet Army approaches and Berlin is under bombardment. His aides, bodyguards, servants, and his girlfriend Eva Braun joined him in the bunker. Later, propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels and his wife Magda moved into the bunker with their six children. Hitler stayed in the bunker for 105 days and married Eva Braun there on 29 April 1945, less than 40 hours before they committed suicide. More

1945, January 17 - Soviet forces capture Warsaw during World War II.

1945, January 27 - The Soviet troops liberate the Nazi concentration camp at Auschwitz, Poland.

1945, January 30 - The German MV Wilhelm Gustloff military transport ship is sunk by the Soviet submarine S-13 in the Baltic Sea while on a mission to evacuate civilians and military personnel from East Prussia and other German occupied areas as the Red army advanced, It was estimated that between 6,000-9,000 people died, making it the largest loss of life in a single ship sinking in history. More

1946, January 1 - Emperor Hirohito of Japan announces he is not a god during a radio broadcast.

1946, January 10, The United Nations convened the First Session of the General Assembly in London, England. Delegates representing 51 nations attended the session, wherein the scope and purpose of the United Nations was defined. More

1947, January 1 - Canada's Citizenship Act comes into effect, allowing Canadians to acquire separate Canadian citizenship from British nationality.

1948, January 4 - Burma (Myanmar) formally achieves independence from Britain after the negotiations between Burmese leader Aung San and British Prime Minister Clement Attlee were completed.

1948, January 17 -The trial of 11 U.S. Communist Party leaders begins in New York City.

1948, January 30 -  Mahatma Gandhi, is assassinated at age 78 following a prayer vigil in New Delhi. His killer was Nathuram Vinayak Godse, a Hindu fanatic Hindu nationalist fanatic and a member of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), a right-wing Hindu paramilitary organization, who believed Gandhi had been too conciliatory to the Indian subcontinent's large Muslim minority. 

1949, January 1 - The Act of Free Choice in The Netherlands grants Indonesia independence.

1950, January 17 - The security firm Brinks, in Boston, Massachusetts, is surprised by five heavily disguised men as they were closing for the day. The men quickly bound the employees and within minutes, they’d stolen more than $1.2 million in cash and another $1.5 million in checks and other securities, making it the largest robbery in the U.S. at the time. More

1950, January 23 - Alger Hiss, a former State Department official, is convicted of perjury for lying about being a Soviet spy.

1950, January 26 - India declares itself a Sovereign, Democratic and Republic state with the adoption of the Constitution. Although India had become a free nation on August 15, 1947 (independence day), it officially became a republic on 26 January 1950, (Republic Day) when the Constitution was adopted. Republic Day and Independence Day are national holidays. 

1950, January 31 - U.S. President Harry Truman publicly announces his decision to continue and intensify research and production of thermonuclear weapons.(Hydrogen Bomb), a weapon theorized at that time to be hundreds of times more powerful than the atomic bombs dropped on Japan during World War II. Five months earlier, the Soviet Union successfully detonated an atomic bomb. Then, several weeks after that, British and U.S. intelligence came to the staggering conclusion that German-born Klaus Fuchs, a top-ranking scientist in the U.S. nuclear program, was a spy for the Soviet Union. More

1951, January 8 - The United Nations headquarters officially opens in New York City. More

1951, January 27 - The Nevada Test Site (NTS), 65 miles north of Las Vegas, detonates the first of several nuclear bombs, Shot Able, a 1-kiloton bomb, as part of Operation Ranger. Between 1951 and 1992, the U.S. government conducted a total of 928 nuclear tests here. Out of these tests 100 were atmospheric, and 828 were underground. More

1952, January 31: The first official TV broadcast in Canada takes place in Montreal.

1953, January 7 - President Harry S. Truman announces in his last State of the Union message to Congress that the United States had developed a hydrogen bomb. More

1953, January 20: -Dwight D. Eisenhower is inaugurated as the 34th President of the United States.

1954, January 14 - The Hudson Motor Car Company merges with Nash-Kelvinator Corporation, forming American Motors Corporation (AMC).

1955, January 7 - Marian Anderson, made her debut at the Metropolitan Opera in New York Cityas Ulrica in Verdi’s Un ballo in maschera. She was the first African American to perform with the company.

1955, January 14 -The USSR ends its state of war with Germany.

1956, January 26 - The Republic of India's first election commences, making Jawaharlal Nehru the country's first Prime Minister.

1957, January 5 - The Eisenhower Doctrine is announced, providing military and economic aid to Middle Eastern countries threatened by communism.

1958, January 31 - The United States enters the space age by launching its first satellite, Explorer 1.

1959, January 1 Cuban President Fulgencio Batista flees Cuba and flies to the Dominican Republic with his chief military aides leaving behind a junta which the rebels refused to recognize. His eldest son and over 50 other military leaders left on a plane to Jacksonville, Florida.

1959, January 7 - The United States recognizes the new Cuban government after a general strike in early January forces the military Junta Government, left by Batista, to relinquish power to the 26th of July Movement. Fidel Castro arrives in Havana on January 8. The following month, on February 16, 1959, Castro was sworn in as Prime Minister of Cuba, and accepted the position on the condition that the Prime Minister's powers be increased. More

1959, January 3 - Alaska is admitted into the Union, becoming the 49th U.S. State 

1960, January 1 - Cameroon achieves independence from France.

1960, January 7 - The Aswan High Dam in Egypt construction starts. The rock-fill dam across the Nile River at Aswān, Egypt, was completed in 1970 and inaugurated in 1971. It now generates large amounts of electric power and allows for the control of the annual Nile flood providing major benefits to the Egyptian economy. More

1961, January 3 - The United States severs diplomatic relations with Cuba as Fidel Castro solidifies his socialist government.

1962, January 1 - The Western Samoan islands become independent from New Zealand and become Western Samoa, later known as Samoa.

1963, January 14 - George Wallace is inaugurated as Governor of Alabama and delivers his infamous "Segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever" speech.

1964, January 4 -  Patsy Mink (Patsy Matsu Takemoto) becomes the first Asian-American woman to serve in Congress. She was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives for the State of Hawaii. More

1964, January 11 - The United States Surgeon General Luther Terry announces that cigarette smoking may be hazardous to health and it is linked to serious health effects, including lung cancer and heart disease. More

1964, January 28 - A Soviet fighter shot down a U.S. T–39 training aircraft over East Germany. The three U.S. officers aboard were killed. More

1965, January 4 - President Lyndon B. Johnson unveils his "Great Society" vision in his State of the Union address calling for  legislation for major investments in social welfare programs. More 

1966, January 17 - A US B-52 bomber loaded with nuclear weapons collides with a tanker plane during a midair refueling operation off the coast of Almeria, Spain. Seven of the total 11 crew members were killed. The crash caused four hydrogen bombs to tumble from the B-52; one was later recovered intact in the Mediterranean while the other three crashed on land near the coastal village of Palomares. The bombs did not explode but two cracked open and dispersed 7 pounds of radioactive plutonium with the wind. More

1966, January 24 - Indira Gandhi becomes the first female Prime Minister of India.

1967, January 3 - Jack Leon Ruby dies of cancer in a Dallas hospital. Born Jacob Leon Rubenstein, he had been convicted  and sentenced to death for murdering Lee Harvey Oswald on November 24, 1963, two days after Oswald was accused of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. The conviction was appealed, and he was to be granted a new trial, but Ruby became ill, was diagnosed with cancer, and died of a pulmonary embolism at a Dallas hospital. More

1967, January 27 - The United States, United Kingdom, and Soviet Union sign the Outer Space Treaty banning the militarization of space.

1967, January 27 - The Apollo I Tragedy; a fire swept through the Apollo 1 Command Module during a launch rehearsal test, tragically killing astronauts Virgil “Gus” Grissom, Edward H. White II, and Roger B. Chaffee. A long investigation concluded that a faulty electrical wire inside the Apollo 1 command module was the probable cause of the fire. More

1968, January 5 - Alexander Dubček comes to power in Czechoslovakia, beginning the period known as the Prague Spring.

1968, January 23 - North Korea, using three torpedo boats, two sub chasers and a couple of MiG fighters  opens fire on the  USS Pueblo (AGER-2) —and captures the virtually unarmed U.S. Ship outfitted as an electronic surveillance platform, in international waters off North Korea’s east coast in the Sea of Japan. More

1969, January 30 - The Beatles perform their last public concert on the rooftop of Apple Records in London.

1970, January 28 - The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty is ratified by 43 nations.

1971, January 7 - In a television address, President Richard Nixon announces the end of the convertibility of the United States dollar into gold.

1972, January 5 - President Richard Nixon signs a bill authorizing $5.5 billion for the development of a reusable winged space transportation system commonly known as the space shuttle. The reusability of the shuttle’s components was expected to provide regular access to space to many customers, while at the same time reducing costs. The spacecraft was to be designed to carry seven astronauts and up to 50,000 pounds of cargo into orbits a few hundred miles from Earth. NASA launched Columbia, the first space shuttle, in 1981. More  

1972, January 24 - Japanese Army Sergeant  Shoichi Yokoi is discovered by local farmers on Guam. Yokoi, who fought in World War II, had been hiding in the jungle for almost 28 years. The return of the American forces to Guam and the bloody battle for possession of the island, created a breakdown of the Japanese command on Guam and soldiers like Yokoi were left to fend for themselves and told “to prefer death to the disgrace of getting captured alive”. More

1972, January 30 - British Paratroopers open fire on Roman Catholic civil rights supporters in Derry, Northern Ireland, killing 13 in what becomes known as Bloody Sunday. The demonstration began as a peaceful, but illegal, demonstration by some 10,000 people organized by the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association in opposition to the British government’s policy of interning suspected members of the IRA without trial. The incident remained a source of controversy for decades, with competing accounts of the events. In 2010 the Saville Report, the final pronouncement of a government inquiry initiated by British Prime Minister Tony Blair in 1998, concluded that none of the victims had posed any threat to the soldiers and that their shooting was without justification.

1973, January 22 - The U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Roe v. Wade recognized that the decision whether to continue or end a pregnancy belongs to the individual, not the government. Roe held that the specific guarantee of “liberty” in the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which protects individual privacy, includes the right to abortion prior to fetal viability. After Roe, the Supreme Court repeatedly reaffirmed that the Constitution protects for abortion as an essential liberty, which is tied to other liberty rights to make personal decisions about family, relationships, and bodily autonomy. However, the Supreme Court overturned Roe in 2022. More

1973, January 27 - The Vietnam War Paris Peace Accords are signed, effectively ending direct U.S. involvement in the war. More

1974, January 30 - The 10 millionth Volkswagen Beetle is produced.

1975, January 7 - OPEC ends its oil embargo against the United States, Europe, and Japan.

1976, January 15 - Sara Jane Moore is sentenced to life for attempting to assassinate President Gerald Ford.

1977, January 20 - Jimmy Carter is inaugurated as the 39th President of the United States.

1977, January 21 - President Jimmy Carter Issues Proclamation 4483 and Executive Order 11967, granting a pardon to those who evaded the draft in the Vietnam War by violating the Military Selective Service Act from August 4, 1964, to March 28, 1973.  It is estimated that the Pardon applied to over 500,000 people, of which 100,000 had left the country. About half of those who left returned. More 

1978, January 1 - The Soviet Union begins a series of five nuclear tests in the Arctic Circle.

1979, January 16 - After almost 40 years of ruling, the  Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi flees Iran amidst growing unrest, paving the way for the Islamic Revolution. More

1980, January 28 - The six United States embassy hostages in Tehran, Iran, are released.

1981, January 20: Ronald Reagan is inaugurated as the 40th President of the United States.

1981, January 20 -The Iran Hostage Crisis finally came to an end within hours from President Ronald Reagan inauguration and the hostages were brought to Germany for family reunions. More

1983, January 17 - The International Olympic Committee restores Jim Thorpe's Olympic medals 70 years after they were taken away due to his playing semi-professional baseball.

1984, January 24 - Apple Computer Inc. unveils its Macintosh personal computer.

1985, January 28 - The charity single "We Are the World" is recorded by USA for Africa.

1986, January 28 - The Space Shuttle Challenger explodes 73 seconds after liftoff, killing all seven astronauts aboard: Commander Michael J. Smith; Commander Francis R. 'Dick' Scobee; Ronald E. McNair, mission specialist; Ellison Onizuka, mission specialist; S. Christa McAuliffe, payload specialist; Gregory B. Jarvis, payload specialist; Judith A. Resnik, mission specialist. More

1987, January 15 - Delta Air Lines Flight 191 crashes in Dallas, Texas, killing 137 people.

1988, January 26 - The Phantom of the Opera, a musical by Andrew Lloyd Webber, opens in London's West End.

1989, January 20 - George H. W. Bush is inaugurated as the 41st President of the United States.

1990, January 31 - The first McDonald's restaurant in the Soviet Union opens in Moscow's Pushkin Square.

1991, January 17 - Operation Desert Storm begins as coalition forces led by the United States launch air raids against Iraq, five months after Iraqi forces invaded and annexed Kuwait. More

1993, January 1 - Czechoslovakia peacefully splits into two nations, the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

1994, January 1 - The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) comes into effect.  NAFTA immediately lifted tariffs on the majority of goods produced by the signatory nations. It also calls for the gradual elimination, over a period of 15 years, of most remaining barriers to cross-border investment and to the movement of goods and services among the three countries. More 

1994, January 17 - At 4:30 am, on January 17, 1994, Residents of the greater Los Angeles area were awakened by the strong shaking of the magnitude 6.7 Northridge earthquake. This was the first earthquake to strike directly under an urban area of the United States since the 1933 Long Beach earthquake. More

1995, January 1 - The World Trade Organization (WTO) is established to promote free trade globally.

1996, January 8 - Chechen separatists seize a hospital in Kizlyar, Russia, leading to the Kizlyar-Pervomayskoye hostage crisis.

1996. January 20, In Yasser Arafat is elected President of the newly created Palestinian National Authority (PNA) with 88.1 percent of the popular vote and a high voter turnout, despite the campaign by his rivals to abstain. 

1997, January 1 - Zaire's President Mobutu Sese Seko flees the country, ending his 32-year rule and leading to the rise of Laurent Kabila.

1998, January 1 - The European Central Bank is established, leading to the introduction of the euro currency.

1998, January 15 -  Fred Korematsu was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom. His journey to that day started during World War II when he refused to be forced into a Japanese-American relocation center where families lived in horse stalls at an abandoned race track until they were sent to remote internment camps in the West. Korematsu went on to have a historical impact becoming an American civil rights activist and founder of the Korematsu Institute. On January 30, 2011, California celebrated its first of “Fred Korematsu Day of Civil Liberties and the Constitution”—the first day named after an Asian American in the United States. which celebrates the legacy of a courageous man who has left a message not just for one community, but for the entire country' More

1998, January 22 - Theodore J. Kaczynski, confesses and pleads guilty, admitting that he was the terrorist Unabomber who killed three and maimed dozens more in a deranged campaign against scientists, computers and jet airplanes. Under terms of the agreement. As part of a last minute plea deal where he was, Kaczynski pleaded guilty to all federal charges against him including 13 counts of transporting explosive devices with the intent to kill or maim. Kaczynski also admitted in court that he placed or mailed another 11 bombs, for which he was not charged. He was spared the death penalty and will serve life in prison without possibility of release. More

1999, January 1 - The euro becomes the official currency for 11 European countries. More

2000, January 1 - The Millennium Summit of the United Nations outlines the Millennium Development Goals.

2001, January 1 - Greece adopts the euro as its official currency.

2002, January 1 - Euro banknotes and coins become legal tender in 12 European countries.

2003, January 1 - Estonia introduces the euro as its official currency.

2004, January 1 - Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia join the European Union.

2004. January 2 - NASA's spacecraft Stardust flies within 155 miles from the comet P/Wild 2, and collects dust grains and the cometary material. Stardust sealed its collected matter inside a sample reentry capsule, which separated from Stardust and landed in the Utah desert on Jan. 15, 2006. They were later revealed to contain the amino acid glycine, an essential building block of life. More 

2004, January 3 - The Mars robotic rover Spirit lands on Mars. Launched on June 10, 2003, lands on March. Its twin, rover, Opportunity, on Mars 21 days later on January 24, 2004. Spirit remained active until March 22, 2010. NASA was not able to regain contact with Spirit and officially concluded its recovery efforts May 25, 2011. More

2004, January 24 - Opportunity. the six-wheeled robotic rover Opportunity lands on Mars. Launched in mid 2003 it readies to analyze Mars soil and rocks and relay pictures back to earth. It remained active on Mars from 2004 until 2018. Its twin rover, Spirit, had landed on Jan 3, 2004 More

2005, January 26 -  A U.S. helicopter crashes in Iraq, killing 31 people, including 13 Americans.

2006, January 26 - Western Union discontinues its Telegram and Commercial Messaging services.

2007, January 1 - Romania and Bulgaria join the European Union.

2007, January 4 - Nancy Pelosi, Congress Woman for the State of California becomes first female Speaker of the House

2008, January 1 - Cyprus and Malta adopt the euro as their official currency.

2009, January 15 - US Airways flight 1549, flight makes an emergency landing in the Hudson River. shortly after taking off from LaGuardia Airport in New York City. the Airbus A320airplane flew into a flock of Canada geese. Both engines were severely damaged, causing an almost complete loss of thrust . Repeated attempts to restart the engines were unsuccessful. Five people were seriously injured, but there were no fatalities. . On board were 5 crew members, including Capt. Chesley (“Sully”) Sullenberger III, First Officer Jeffrey Skiles and 150 passengers. The event has been nicknamed "Miracle on the Hudson" More

2009, January 20 - Barack Obama is inaugurated as the 44th President of the United States.

2010, January 12 - A 7.0-magnitude earthquake strikes Haiti, causing widespread devastation and loss of life.

2011, January 14 - Tunisia's President Ben Ali flees the country, marking the start of the Arab Spring.

2012, January 13 - The Costa Concordia cruise ship runs aground off Italy, resulting in 32 deaths.

2013, January 21 -  Algerian militants attack the Tigantourine gas facility, resulting in multiple casualties.

2014, January 29 - The first case of Ebola is confirmed in the United States, leading to an international health crisis.

2015, January 7 - The Charlie Hebdo shooting occurs in Paris, killing 12 people in an attack on the satirical magazine's office.

2016, January 16 - Implementation of the Iran nuclear deal (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action) begins following international agreement.

2017, January 20 - Donald Trump is inaugurated as the 45th President of the United States.

2017, January 21, The Women’s March takes place in Washington DC . to protest Donald Trump’s blatant misogyny and history of sexual assault. It was the single largest demonstration in the capital’s history, with over 500,000 people in attendance.  Additional demonstrations, where hundreds of thousands of people gathered, took place in cities across the United States. More

2018, January 13 - A false missile alert causes panic in Hawaii, warning of an incoming ballistic missile threat.

2019, January 1 - Jair Bolsonaro assumes office as the President of Brazil.

2019, January 3 - China successfully lands the Chang'e 4 spacecraft on the far side of the Moon, a first in human space exploration.

2019, January 15 - British Parliament rejects Theresa May's Brexit deal, leading to political uncertainty regarding the UK's departure from the EU.

2019, January 16 - Zimbabwe experiences protests and violent crackdowns over a significant fuel price hike.

2019, January 25 - A viral outbreak of the coronavirus begins in Wuhan, China, which later leads to a global pandemic.

2020, January 3 - A U.S. drone strike kills Iranian General Qasem Soleimani in Baghdad, escalating tensions between the US and Iran.

2020, January 8 - Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 is shot down by Iran, killing all 176 passengers and crew on board.

2020, January 16 - The impeachment trial of President Donald Trump begins in the U.S. Senate.

2020, January 20 - The first case of COVID-19 in the United States was diagnosed in Snohomish County, WA. The patient from had returned to the United States from Wuhan on January 15, 2020,” The Seattle area became an early epicenter of the U.S. outbreak. Notably, 39 residents of a nursing home in Kirkland, WA, died from complications from the virus during a span of one month. The CDC reported that 14 U.S. coronavirus cases were reported by public health agencies between January 21 and February 23, 2020; all patients had traveled to China. On February 26, the first non-travel case was confirmed in California , and the first U.S. death was reported on February 29. More than 110 Million cases were diagnosed in the U.S. alone.

2020, January 23 - The Chinese city of Wuhan is placed under lockdown due to the spread of COVID-19.

2020, January 26 - Basketball legend Kobe Bryant dies in a helicopter crash in Calabasas, California.

2020, January 31 - The World Health Organization (WHO) declares the COVID-19 outbreak a global health emergency.

2020, January 31 - The United Kingdom officially leaves the European Union, implementing Brexit.

2021, January 1 - The United Kingdom officially exits the Brexit transition period, fully separating from the European Union.

2021, January 5 - Democrats win both Senate seats in Georgia's runoff elections, giving them control of the U.S. Senate.

2021, January 6 - Pro-Trump supporters storm the United States Capitol in a violent insurrection, disrupting the certification of Joe Biden's presidential victory forcing lawmakers into hiding. Most of the rioters had come from a nearby rally where Trump urged them to “fight like hell.”

2021, January 8 - Twitter permanently suspends then-President Donald Trump's account, citing the risk of further incitement of violence.

2021, January 13 - The U.S. House of Representatives impeaches President Donald Trump for the second time, charging him with "incitement of insurrection."

2021, January 15 - Uganda holds presidential elections, resulting in a controversial win for incumbent President Yoweri Museveni.

2021, January 20 - Joe Biden is inaugurated as the 46th President of the United States, and Kamala Harris becomes the first female Vice President.

2021, January 22: The Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons enters into force, marking a significant step in nuclear disarmament efforts.

2021, January 23 - Anti-government protests erupt in Russia, demanding the release of opposition leader Alexei Navalny.

2021, January 26 - GameStop stocks surge due to a Reddit-driven trading frenzy by small investors, challenging Wall Street hedge funds.

2021, January 29 - Myanmar's military seizes power in a coup, detaining civilian leaders including Aung San Suu Kyi.

2021, January 30 - Mount Semeru in Indonesia erupts, spewing ash and triggering evacuations in nearby areas.

2021, January 31 - The UK surpasses 100,000 COVID-19 deaths, becoming the first European country to reach this grim milestone.

2021, January 31 - The International Criminal Court's jurisdiction is extended to cover war crimes in the occupied Palestinian territories, angering Israel.

2021, January 31 - NASA's Mars rover, Perseverance, lands successfully on Mars, beginning its mission to search for signs of ancient life.

2021, January 31 - Myanmar experiences widespread internet shutdowns as the military government tightens control following the coup.

2021, January 31  WHO approves the AstraZeneca/Oxford COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use, aiding global vaccination efforts.

2021, January 31 - The European Union introduces new export controls on COVID-19 vaccines amid supply shortages.
These events cover a broad spectrum, including political turmoil, global health crises, technological advancements, and social movements that have significantly impacted the world in recent years.

Note: Sources for the Historical Content shown, include research and reviews of relevant Online History Resources or printed material. When possible, we show a link to a source which provides additional or unique perspective about the event. We do our best to provide accurate information but would appreciate being notified if any incorrect information is found. You may do so by using this link: Feedback

Although fighting continued in many parts of the Western Front, a rare heart-warming display of humanity in the history of human conflict takes place in some sections. By Christmas of that year there were millions of soldiers dug in trenches packed together and living in freezing conditions. On Christmas Eve German troops began unwrapping gifts from home and singing Christmas carols and soon the British and French troops joined in. Christmas greetings and well wishes were exchanged, and offers of a temporary ceasefire were communicated between the trenches. On Christmas morning, The troops began to greet one another, messages and gifts were exchanged and spontaneous games of football(soccer) were rumored to have happened. More

"In pursuit of knowledge, the evolution of humanity ranks with the origins of life and the universe. And yet, except when an exciting find hits the headlines, paleoanthropology and its related fields have gained far less scientific support and funding – particularly for scientists and institutions based in the African countries where so many landmark discoveries have occurred". More at The Conversation ➜ 

Julius Caesar is believed to have said “Alea iacta est", expressing his irreversible commitment, as he led his army across the Rubicon River in Northern Italy, defying the Roman Senate’s authority and initiating a civil war. More

Leonardo Pisano Bigollo, also known as Leonardo of Pisa, or simply Fibonacci, (“Filius Bonacci - the son of ”Bonacci") was not the first to think of the sequence and pattern of counting made up of numbers that sum the previous two numbers before them — 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13 — and so on. But he was the first to bring it to the European world and bring awareness to its importance in the furthering of science.  The sequence is now used in computing, stock trading, architecture and design. In 1202, Fibonacci published “Liber Abaci” (The Book of Calculation) introducing Europe not only to his now-famous sequence but also to the Hindu-Arabic base 10, numeral system, which by the 15th century replaced the Roman numeral system, revolutionized math, and is in use today in most of the world although some countries still rely on their traditional numeral system for specific purposes.

The sequence itself first appeared in Indian Mathematics, known as Virahanka numbers, and was connected with Sanskrit prosody. The number sequence is also tied to the golden ratio and the golden triangle, both of which appear again and again in nature, as does the sequence itself. It is in the most fundamental of things, from the petals of the yellow chamomile to the complex and seemingly random branching of a tree’s limbs. These are just a few. The Fibonacci sequence is everywhere. Video

November 23 is the date chosen by some to celebrate as Fibonacci day, because when the date is written in the mm/dd format (11/23), the digits forms a Fibonacci sequence: 1,1,2,3. Fibonacci was a very important mathematician and that date may remind us to take the opportunity to marvel at the way math pervades everything around us. The Fibonacci sequence can be used to calculate the proportions of countless things on Earth and beyond, such as animals, plants, weather patterns, and even galaxies. Pause to observe your surroundings and you’ll start to notice the familiar spiral all around you. Leonardo Bonacci was born to an Italian merchant and customs official working in in North Africa, modern-day Algeria, It was there when living with his father, that Fibonacci learned Hindu-Arabic numerals. It is believed that Fibonacci died sometime between 1240 and 1250 in Pisa, Italy. More

Note: Fibonacci' Liber abaci book, contains the respectful quote: "If by chance I have omitted anything more or less proper or necessary, I beg forgiveness, since there is no one who is without fault and circumspect in all matters".

"On 29 October 1969, two scientists established a connection between computers some 350 miles away and started typing a message. Halfway through, it crashed. They sat down with the BBC 55 years later"......"I was on the phone with Bill when we tried this. I told him I typed the letter L. He told me he had received the letter L and echoed it back. I told him that it printed. Then I typed the letter O. Again, it worked fine. I typed the letter G. Bill told me his system had crashed, and he would call me back"..... Read more at The BBC ➜

Pablo Picasso's masterpiece, Guernica was painted in 1937 when he was commissioned by the Spanish Republican government to create a mural for the Spanish Pavilion at the Paris International Exposition. The inspiration for this piece came in the most unexpected and tragic way. On April 26, 1937, the town of Guernica, in Vizcaya, was bombed for about two hours during the Spanish Civil War by warplanes of the Nazi Germany Condor Legion, commanded by Colonel Wolfram von Richthofen, in support of the Nationalistic Spanish rebels led by Francisco Franco. The horrific carpet bombing attack was the first of its kind in history and reportedly an opportunity to test out new weapons and tactics.
Picasso completed the work quickly on June 4 1937, a grey, black and white painting, on a canvas 11 ft 5 in tall and 25 ft 6 in across, which portrays the suffering brought by violence and chaos. Prominently featured in the composition are a gored horse, a bull, screaming women, a dead baby, a dismembered soldier, and flames.captured the horror and desolation caused by the war.

In 1939, after being displayed in parts of Europe before WWII broke out, the painting was sent to New York on a tour for the benefit of the Spanish Refugee Committee. When World War II broke out later that year, Picasso requested that Guernica, as well as a number of other of his works, be held at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) on extended loan. Most of his works were returned to Europe after the war, however Picasso  asked that Guernica stay at the MoMA until the “reestablishment of public liberties” in Spain. The death of Picasso in 1973 and objections by Picasso's heirs who questioned Spain’s democratic credentials delayed Guernica's return to Spain until September 10, 1981 after being in the custody of New York's Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) for more than four decades.
Once landed in Madrid, the work was initially installed in the Casón del Buen Retiro, which was specially adapted to exhibit it under special security conditions, with armored glass protection. This location had a special significance since it was part of the Prado Museum of which Picasso was director. Later, in July 1992, the work made a final trip to the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía.

"Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has expressed his intention, if elected to a second term, to use the U.S. armed forces to suppress domestic protests. The New York Times reports that Trump’s allies are marshaling legal arguments to justify using National Guard or active-duty military troops for crowd control." More at The Conversation ➜

These are some of many widely recognized historic events that occurred during the month of August, listed by year. Dates provided for earlier time events may be approximate. Select another month

3114 BCE, August 11- The mythical start date of the Mesoamerican Long Count calendar. A a non-repeating base-20 and base-18 calendar used by several pre-Columbian Mesoamerican cultures, most notably the Maya. The Long Count calendar identifies a day by counting the number of days passed since the mythical creation date of August 11, 3114 BCE in the proleptic Gregorian calendar or September 6 on the Julian calendar. The Long Count calendar was widely used on monuments. More

63 BCE, August - The Roman general Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus (Pompey the Great) captures Jerusalem, bringing it under Roman control.

30 BCE, August 10 - Cleopatra VII, the last ruler of Ptolemaic Egypt, kills herself on either 10 or 12 August, in Alexandria, when she was 39 years old, following the defeat of her forces against Octavian, the future first emperor of Rome. According to popular belief, she died by allowing an Egyptian cobra to bite her, but others believe she either poisoned herself or was murdered. The location of Cleopatra's tomb is unknown. According to historians Suetonius and Plutarch, the Roman leader Octavian permitted their burial together after he had defeated them. Mark Antony, had stabbed himself with a sword, a few days before on August 1.

29 BCE, August - Octavian (later known as Augustus) celebrates three days of triumph in Rome, marking the end of the Final War of the Roman Republic.

70 CE, Augusr 29 - Jerusalem falls to Roman forces, marking the collapse of the Jewish state.

79, August 24 - Vesuvius, an active volcano in southern Italy, erupts and destroys the cities of Pompeii, Stabiae, Oplontis and Herculaneum and several other settlements. Although exact toll is unknown, more than 1,000 people are thought to have died in the eruption. The eruption ejected a cloud of stones, ashes and volcanic gases to a height of 21 miles (33 km). Vesuvius is the only volcano on Europe's mainland to have erupted in the last hundred years. It is regarded as one of the most dangerous volcanoes in the world because 3 Million people live near enough to be affected by an eruption, with at least 600,000 in the danger zone. There has been Speculation that the eruption happened later than August, based on findings of autumnal fruits and heating braziers discovered in the ruins. More

325, August 25 - The First Council of Nicaea ends. The Council was a meeting of Christian bishops convened in the Bithynian city of Nicaea (now İznik, Turkey) by the Roman Emperor Constantine I. It was specifically called to make a decision about Arianism—the belief that God created Jesus, and that Jesus was not eternal or one with God. Arianism was growing in popularity, even among church leaders threatening to tear the church apart. More 

379, August 9 - The Visigoths defeat a large Roman army led by Valens, the Roman emperor of the East, at the Battle of Adrianople (also known as the Battle of Hadrianopolis), in present-day Turkey. The battle was an overwhelming victory for the Visigoths ending with two-thirds of the Roman army, including Emperor Valens overrun and slaughtered. More

410, August 24 - The Visigoths, led by King Alaric, sack the city of Rome, marking the first time in almost 800 years that the city falls to an enemy force.

1057, August 15 - Malcolm Canmore slains King Macbeth of Scotland at the Battle of Lumphananand. His father, King Duncan I, had been murdered by Macbeth 17 years earlier. Following the battle  Macbeth's stepson, Lulach, was crowned King, before being killed by Malcolm who then recovered the Scottish throne as Malcolm III.  All the kings of Scotland since Malcolm himself and all the kings of England since the accession of Henry II descend from Malcolm and his English wife Margaret, the grandchild of Edmund Ironside.  More

1204, August 1 - The Fourth Crusade concludes with the sack of Constantinople, leading to the division and weakening of the Byzantine Empire.

1209, August 15 - The Massacre at Béziers takes place during the Albigensian Crusade, where the Catholic Crusaders sack the city of Béziers in southern France.

1214, August 24 - The Battle of Bouvines occurs during the Fourth Crusade, where the forces of Philip II of France defeat an alliance of European powers led by Emperor Otto IV.

1227, August 15 - 31  - Genghis Khan, (actually named Borjigin Temujin), the founder and Great Khan of the Mongol Empire, dies in Mongolia some time in late August. 1227. At the time of his death, the Mongol Empire was 2.5 times larger by territory than the Roman Empire. A study published in 2003 in The American Journal of Human Genetics suggested that Genghis Khan DNA can be found in one in 200 men today. The cause of his death is shrouded in mystery and it is now believed that it was caused by the bubonic plague.

1248, August 15 - The Seventh Crusade, led by King Louis IX of France, reaches Egypt and begins the siege of Damietta.

1258, August 29 - The Mongol Empire, under the leadership of Hulagu Khan, captures and sacks the city of Baghdad, leading to the fall of the Abbasid Caliphate.

1261, August 15 - The Byzantine Empire recaptures the city of Constantinople from the Latin Empire, marking the end of the Fourth Crusade.

1270, August 25 - The Eighth Crusade, led by King Louis IX of France, departs from Aigues-Mortes, France, with the goal of conquering Tunis.

1281, August 15 - The Mongol-led Yuan Dynasty of China successfully repels a second invasion attempt by the Japanese forces in the Battle of Kōan.

1291, August 1 - Swiss National Day - Alliance against the Holy Roman Empire in 1291.

1291, August 20 - The Siege of Acre ends, resulting in the fall of the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem and the complete expulsion of European Christian forces from the Holy Land.

1305, August 7 - William Wallace, Scottish leader of the resistance against English rule, is captured by English forces near Glasgow.

1314, August 23-24 - The Battle of Bannockburn takes place, where Scottish forces led by Robert the Bruce defeat the English army, securing Scottish independence.

1346, August 26 - The Battle of Crécy occurs during the Hundred Years' War, where the
English army, led by Edward III, defeats the French forces.

1350, August 14 - The St. Mary Magdalene's flood devastates the Netherlands, England, and
Germany, causing significant loss of life and destruction.

1396, August 17 - The Battle of Nicopolis takes place, marking the final major crusade of the Middle Ages and resulting in a victory for the Ottoman Empire over an alliance of European forces.

1485, August 22 - The Battle of Bosworth Field. The last significant battle of the Wars of the Roses, the civil war between the houses of Lancaster and York that extended across England. The battle was won by an alliance of Lancastrians and disaffected Yorkists. Their leader Henry Tudor, Earl of Richmond, became the first English monarch of the Tudor dynasty by his victory and subsequent marriage to a Yorkist princess. His opponent Richard III, the last king of the House of York, was killed during the battle. Historians consider Bosworth Field battle one of the defining moments of English history. More

1492, August 3 - Christopher Columbus sets sail from Palos de la Frontera, Spain, with three ships, Niña, Pinta and Santa Maria. Searching for a westerly route to the Far East. Instead, on October 12th, he lands in the Bahamas, thinking it was an outlying Japanese island. More

1498, August 1 - Explorer Christopher Columbus lands on South America at the Paria Peninsula in present-day Venezuela. He Thinking it was an island, he claims it for Spain and christened it "Isla Santa". 

1521, August 13 - Spanish conquistador Hernándo Cortés succeeds in bringing about the fall of Tenochtitlan, the capital of the Aztec Empire after over two months of fighting. Cortes' conquests began with Cuba in 1511, Mexico’s Bay of Campeche in 1519, and then deeper into Mexico.

1526, August 29 - Ottoman Sultan, Suleiman the Magnificent, defeats the Hungarian forces at the Battle of Mohács in 1526, establishing Ottoman control in the region for over 150 years. Sultan Suleiman I inherited the throne of the Ottoman Empire at the age of 26. He was the only son of Selim I, who conquered Mecca, Medina, Jerusalem and Alexandria. More

1572, August 24 - Thousands of Protestant Huguenots are massacred in France by Catholics, in what became known as the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre. More

1583, August 5 - Sir Humphrey Gilbert, a British navigator and explorer takes possession of the area around St. John’s harbor, Newfoundland in the name of the Queen. He was later lost at sea in a storm off the Azores on his return trip to England.

1619, August 20 -  First enslaved Africans arrive in Virginia; Two English pirate ships, the Treasurer and White Lion. each carrying 20-30 African slaves land in the Jamestown colony within four days of each other. The slaves had been taken from a Portuguese slave ship, the San Juan Bautista, carrying 350 African slaves in route to Veracruz, Mexico.
Virginia’s first enslaved people spoke Bantu languages, and their homelands were the kingdoms of Ndongo and Kongo. They are the first recorded Africans to arrive in England's mainland American colonies. marking the beginning of what evolved into a legalized system of slavery that lasted two and a half centuries. More

1753, August 4 - George Washington becomes a Master Mason n his hometown of Fredericksburg, Virginia. He was twenty one years old. More

1776, August 2 - Most of the 55 members of the Continental Congress signed the parchment copy of the Declaration of Independence in Philadelphia. More

1782, August 7 -  General George Washington announces the Badge of Military Merit. The Badge was designed by Washington in the form of a purple heart, it was intended as a military order for soldiers who exhibited, "not only instances of unusual gallantry in battle, but also extraordinary fidelity and essential service in any way". It is believed that only three people received the Badge of Military Merit during the American Revolutionary War, In 1932, the United States War Department  authorized the new Purple Heart Medal, officially considered the "successor decoration" to the Badge of Military Merit. More

1784, August 14 - Russians led by Grigorii Shelikhov established the first permanent Russian outpost in Alaska on Kodiak Island at Three Saints Bay. More 

1789, August 26 - The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen is adopted in France, laying the groundwork for the French
Revolution.

1791, August 19 - Benjamin Banneker, the son of a free Black American woman and a formerly enslaved African man from Guinea, writes a letter to Thomas Jefferson, then-Secretary of State. On the letter, Banneker criticizes Jefferson’s hypocritical stance on slavery in respectful but unambiguous terms, using Jefferson’s own words to make his case for the abolition of slavery. Jefferson brief  response thanked him for the letter, expressed his ambivalence about slavery ("…no body [sic] wishes more sincerely than I do to see such proofs as you exhibit in your letter, that nature has given to our black brethren, talents equal to those of the other colours of men") and endorsed Banneker’s accomplishments. More 

1792, August 10 - Louis XVI of France and his wife, Marie-Antoinette are imprisoned and the French monarchy is effectively overthrown, as the French Revolution (1787–99) continues. They were both executed by guillotine in 1793.

1792, August 29 - In one of the worst maritime disasters, 900 men drowned on the British battleship Royal George. A gust of wind allowed water to flood into open gun ports as the ship was being repaired. The ship sank within minutes.

1794, August 26 - President George Washington leads a militia force of 12,950 men towards Western Pennsylvania to subdue the Whiskey Rebellion, warning locals "not to abet, aid, or comfort the Insurgents aforesaid, as they will answer the contrary at their peril." More

1809, August 10 - Ecuador Independence Day - Celebration of the first Ecuadorian patriot uprising against Spanish rule and original proclamation of independence. The movement failed and the leaders of the movement were executed. On 1822 Ecuador won independence from Spain as part of the confederation of Gran Colombia on the decisive Battle of Pichincha. The confederation of Gran Colombia was comprised of what is now the countries of Panama, Colombia, and Venezuela. On May 13, 1830, Ecuador seceded and became a separate independent republic.

1814, August 24 - During the War of 1812, British forces capture Washington, D.C. and burn down the White House, the Capitol, and other public buildings along with a number of private homes. The burning was in retaliation for the earlier American burning of York (Toronto). Shortly before the arrival of the British forces, an iconic portrait of George Washington is removed from the White House walls, to prevent it being looted by British troops. First lady, Dolley Madison is credited for saving the portrait. The portrait was actually a copy of Gilbert Stuart's original. President Madison served the rest of his term residing at the city’s Octagon House. It was not until 1817 that the newly elected president James Monroe moved back into the reconstructed building.

1821, August 10 - Missouri is admitted into the Union becoming the 24th State

1821, August 24 - Spain recognizes Mexico independence with the signing of the Treaty of Córdoba, Spain finally recognized the independence of the First Mexican Empire. More

1825, August 6 - Bolivia declaration of Independence.

1825, August 25 - Uruguay Independence day from the Empire of Brazil. Declaration of independence and union with the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata.

1833, August 28 - Slavery is abolished throughout the British Empire, including in the British colonies of the Caribbean and North America.

1838, Slavery is abolished in Jamaica where it had been introduced in 1509.

1844, August 8 - Brigham Young is chosen to lead the Mormon Church. More 

1846, August 10 - The act establishing the Smithsonian Institution  for "the Increase and Diffusion of Knowledge among Men," is passed by the U.S. Congress and signed into law by President James K. Polk. The Institution was founded with funds from the Englishman James Smithson (1765–1829) according to his wishes “under the name of the Smithsonian Institution, an establishment for the increase and diffusion of knowledge.” A bequest to a country that he had never visited. The Smithsonian Institution is now the world's largest museum, education, and research complex. More

1876, August 1 -  Colorado is admitted into the Union and becomes the 38th State

1856, August 23 - Eunice Newton Foote makes first public scientific mention of the upcoming "Greenhouse effect". Her paper , titled “Circumstances Affecting the Heat of the Sun’s Rays,” was presented at a meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). Foote' s short paper included a prescient conclusion; “An atmosphere of that gas (Carbon Dioxide) would give to our earth a high temperature,” describing the phenomenon we now call the greenhouse effect, the main cause of climate change. More

1858, August 16 - The first successful transatlantic telegraph line is completed. Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom sends a telegraph  to U.S. President James Buchanan. Near-instantaneous communication between Europe and North America. Become a reality.  

1861, August 5 - The Revenue Act is signed by President Lincoln imposing the first federal income tax. The action was prompted by the financial requirements of the Civil War. At first, Congress placed a flat 3-percent tax on all incomes over $800,and later modified this principle to include a graduated tax. Congress repealed Lincoln’s tax law in 1871, but in 1909 passed the 16th Amendment, which set in place the federal income-tax system used today. Congress ratified the 16th Amendment in 1913. More

1862, August 22 - Abraham Lincoln replies to Horace Greeley's New York Tribune editorial entitled “The Prayer of Twenty Millions". More

1864, August 5 - Battle of Mobile Bay -- Admiral David G. Farragut, leads a fleet of fourteen wooden ships and four ironclads and delivers a much needed victory for the Union and immortalizes the phase "Damn the torpedoes! - Full speed ahead!” Farragut became the first U.S. Navy’s full admiral. At the time of his death in 1870, he had served a total of 59 years in uniform. More

1864, August 22 - The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), created in 1863 comes into being as the draft convention submitted to the Geneva Convention for the Amelioration of the Condition of the Wounded and Sick of Armies in the Field, conference is adopted by 12 nations at meeting.  "The ICRC is an independent, neutral organization ensuring humanitarian protection and assistance for victims of armed conflict and other situations of violence." More 

1865, August 2 - James I. Waddell, Commander of the CSS Shenandoah learns the war is over from the bark Barracouta. More 

1866, August 20 - President Johnson issued a proclamation announcing the end of the American Civil War: "And I do further proclaim that the said insurrection is at an end and that peace, order, tranquility, and civil authority now exists in and throughout the whole of the United States of America." The proclamation  officially closed a costly, bloody, and deadly chapter in its nation's history that started at Fort Sumter several years and incurred the loss of 620,000 Union and Confederate soldiers. More 

1873, August 24 - Mount of the Holy Cross was first photographed by William Henry Jackson. Stories had circulated for years of a mountain with a large cross etched in its side. Jackson climbed the western slope of the Rocky Mountains with more than 100 pounds of photography equipment and captured his most famous photograph. He later painted the iconic image in watercolor. More 

1875, August 24 -  Matthew Webb, an English  Merchant Marine Captain swimmer and stuntman, becomes the first recorded person to swim the English Channel for sport without the use of artificial aids. Webb swam from Dover to Calais in less than 22 hours., becoming a celebrity. He went on to perform many stunts in public. He died in 1883 trying to swim the Niagara Gorge below Niagara as part of a publicity stunt.

1879, August 28 - Zulu King Cetshwayo, the last king of the independent Zulu nation was captured by the British during the Zulu war and taken into custody. Two years later he was allowed to travel to London and met Queen Victoria. He was permitted to return to South Africa to rule a portion of the former Zulu kingdom in 1883. More 

1880, August14 - The construction of the Cologne Cathedral ( Kölner Dom), the largest Gothic church in northern Europe is finally completed after having been started 642 years earlier in 1248. It is now the city's major landmark. More

1883,  August 26 - Krakatoa eruption. One of the most catastrophic volcanic eruptions in recorded history takes place on the Indonesian island of Krakatoa (Krakatau). The first eruption sends a cloud of gas and debris into the air and it is followed by increasingly powerful explosions culminating in a gigantic blast around 10 am on August 27, sending ash and debris 50 miles into the air blanketing 300,000 square miles (800,000 square kilometers) and plunging the area into darkness for two and a half days. The explosions were heard 2,000 miles away. Tidal waves 120 ft. high killed 36,000 persons on nearby islands, while five cubic miles of earth were blasted into the air up to a height of 50 miles. More

1890, August 6 -  New York executed William Kemmler. It was the first time ever a state used the electric chair to carry out an execution. States have carried out 158 executions by electric chair since 1973. Tennessee was the most recent state to use the electric chair, taking place in 2020. More

1896, August 16 - Gold was discovered in Rabbit Creek, a tributary of the Klondike River in Canada's Yukon Territory, resulting in the Great Klondike Gold Rush. More

1898, August 12 - A cease-fire agreement to stop the hostilities in the Spanish - American War was signed. Spain formally agreed to to the cession of Cuba, Puerto Rico and Manila in the Philippines to the United States pending a final peace treaty. The war officially ended four months later, when the U.S. and Spanish governments signed the Treaty of Paris on December 10, 1898. More 

1911, August 20 - A telegram reading “This message sent around the world” is sent by the New York Times to test how fast a commercial message could be sent around the world.  it traveled over 28,000 miles and was relayed by 16 different operators. It arrived back at The Times only 16.5 minutes later. The building where the message originated is now called One Times Square and is best known for where the ball drops on New Year’s Eve. More

1911, August 21 - The Louvre announces the theft of the Mona Lisa. painted by Leonardo da Vinci in 1507. It was recovered two years later in Italy on December 1913. More  

1911, August 29 - Ishi, believed to be the last surviving member of the Native American Yahi Tribe is found outside a slaughterhouse near Oroville. More

1914, August 1 - World War I starts. Germany declares war on Russia on August 1 and on France on August 3. Austria-Hungary, with German encouragement, had declared war on Serbia on 28 July. Russia's support of Serbia brought France into the conflict.  Germany's violation of Belgian neutrality and British fears of German domination in Europe brought Britain and its empire into the war on 4 August. More

1914, August 4 - President Woodrow Wilson declared U.S. neutrality as World War erupts .  The conflict eventually became a matter of principles: whether to uphold the freedom of the seas, to make the world safe for democracy in the face of autocracy, or to establish a new world order ensuring permanent peace and governed by rational law. The United States declared war on Germany on April 6, 1917. More 

1914, August 5 -  The first electric traffic signal is installed in Cleveland, Ohio at the corner of East 105th Street and Euclid Avenue. It was shaped like a birdhouse and had just green and red lights, with a buzzer that indicated when the light was about to change. A police officer named Lester Wire came up with the idea that revolutionized traffic engineering. He later sold the patent to General Electric. In 1923, inventor Garrett Morgan patented the three-position traffic signal, which is where we get today’s yellow light. More

1914, August 15 - The Panama Canal had its inaugural passage when the U.S. vessel  USS Ancon, passed through its gates and it opened to traffic, In the 1880s, the French  attempted to build the canal to connect the Pacific and Atlantic oceans. the project  was halted because of poor planning, a breakout of disease among the crew, and financial problems that drove the contractor’s company to bankruptcy in 1889. More

1914, August 15 - Japan issues an ultimatum to Germany demanding the withdraw of its warships from Chinese and Japanese waters and to hand over Tsingtao. This was refused and on  August 23, 1914 Japan declared war on Germany.  More

1914, August 26 - The WW1 Battle of Tannenberg between the Germans and the Russians begins. The German forces, led by Paul von Hindenburg and Erich Ludendorff, handed Russia a crushing defeat resulting in the destruction of the Russian Second Army, with 120,000-170,000 soldiers killed, injured, or captured by the German 8th Army . More

1916, August  - 27 Romania declares war on Austria-Hungary. and enters WW1 on the side of the Allies. The decision was motivated primarily by the desire to claim the region of Transylvania and its majority ethnic Romanian population from the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

1917, August 14 - China ends its neutrality and declares war on Germany and Austria-Hungary during World War I. 

1918, August 30 - Soviet leader Vladimir Lenin is shot by Fanya Kaplan, a member of the Social Revolutionary party. Lenin was seriously wounded but survived the attack which was the third assassination attempt on his life. More

1919, August 11 - Germany's Weimar constitution was passed by the National Assembly. The design of a new Democratic constitution began in late 1918, following the abdication of Kaiser Wilhelm II and the collapse of the monarchy. The Weimar Republic, Germany's 12-year experiment with democracy, came to an end 12 years later when the Nazis came to power in January 1933 and established a dictatorship. More

1919, August 19 - Afghan Independence Day (Afghan Victory Day) It commemorates the Anglo-Afghan Treaty of 1919

1920, August 18 - The 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, granting women the right to vote is ratified as Tennessee, by a vote of 50 to 49, becomes the 36th State to do so. The deciding vote came from Harry T. Burn, a 24 year old, who supported suffrage but but was under political pressure to vote no. In his pocket was a letter from his mother, Febb Burn, urging him to vote for the amendment. On August 26, the amendment was formally adopted into the Constitution by proclamation of Secretary of State Bainbridge Colby. More

1923, August 2 -  President Warren G. Harding died suddenly in San Francisco while on a Western speaking tour. He was succeeded the next day by Calvin Coolidge.

1926, August 6 - Gertrude Ederle becomes first woman to swim English Channel. She swam across the Channel in 14 hours and 34 minutes, beating the men's record by two hours. More 

1931, August 25 - A dike along China' Lake Gaoyou is breached during major floods in the Yangtze Valley. The floods covered an area  approximately the size of New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut combined. All together the floods which lasted from June to the end of August and flooded areas of central and eastern China including densely populated cities like Wuhan and Nanjing. The death toll of the floods ranges between 422,000 - 4,000,000, depending on the source. The 1931 China flood is known as one of the world's deadliest disasters. More

1934, August 2 - Adolf Hitler becomes absolute dictator of Germany under the title of Fuhrer, or “Leader after German President Paul von Hindenburg death. More

1934, August 11 - The first batch of 137 prisoners arrives at Alcatraz, arriving by railroad from the United States Penitentiary in Leavenworth, Kansas, to Santa Venetia, California. In 1850, a presidential order set aside the island for possible use as a United States military reservation. and the U.S. Army had used the island for more than 80 years. In 1933, the island was transferred to the U.S. Department of Justice for use by the Federal Bureau of Prisons to open a maximum-security, minimum-privilege penitentiary to deal with the most incorrigible inmates in Federal prisons. More

1934, August 19 -  Hitler becomes President of Germany; 89.9 percent of German voters approved granting Chancellor Adolf Hitler additional powers, including the office of president.

1935. August 14 - President Roosevelt signed the Social Security Act to provide for the general welfare by establishing a system of Federal old-age benefits, and by enabling the several States to make more adequate provision for aged persons, blind persons, dependent and crippled children, maternal and child welfare, public health, and the administration of their unemployment compensation laws; to establish a Social Security Board; to raise revenue; and for other purposes. More

1936, August 1 - Hitler declares the Berlin Olympics, the eleventh Olympiad of the modern era, to be open.

1939, August 2 - Albert Einstein writes a letter to President Franklin D. Roosevelt regarding the possibility of atomic weapons. Six years later, on August 6, 1945, the first Atomic Bomb, developed by the U.S., was dropped on the Japanese port of Hiroshima.

1941, August 12 - FDR and Churchill meet for the first time as leaders of their respective nations on board naval vessels anchored in Placentia Bay, off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada. The document released as a result of the meeting is referred to as "The Atlantic Charter." It was not an official document, but rather a joint statement expressing the war aims of the two countries--one technically neutral and the other at war.  More

1942, August 4 - The United States signed the Mexican Farm Labor Agreement with Mexico. An executive order called the Mexican Farm Labor Program established the Bracero Program. This series of diplomatic accords between Mexico and the United States permitted millions of Mexican men to work legally in the United States on short-term labor contracts. The Bracero Program ended  on December 31, 1964. More

1942, August 7 - American forces land on the Solomon Islands of Guadalcanal, Tulagi, and Florida. on the morning of August 7,1942. After some fierce fighting, the US Marines cleared Tulagi and Florida by August 9. The main forces on Guadalcanal met little resistance on their way inland to secure the airfield at Lunga Point,  Almost immediately, however, Japanese naval aircraft attacked transport and escort ships, and Japanese reinforcements arrived in the area. More 

1942, August 11 - Hollywood actress Hedy Lamarr and composer with composer George Antheil were awarded a patent for a  “frequency hopping, spread-spectrum communication system” designed to make radio-guided torpedoes harder to detect or jam.
 Lamarr and Antheil donated their patent to the US Navy and never realized any money from their invention which was the simplest version of a radio transmission technique , known today as spread-spectrum technique, which refers to any method that widens the frequency band of a signal. The technique would eventually find its way into other cutting-edge technologies like wireless phones, Global Positioning Systems, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi. More

1942, August 19-25 - The Dieppe Raid, an Allied amphibious assault on the German-occupied port of Dieppe, France, ends in a heavy defeat and high casualties.

1943, August 1 - A race riot takes place in Harlem, New York City, lasting two days, after a white police officer, James Collins, shot and wounded Robert Bandy, an African American soldier; and rumors circulated that the soldier had been killed. More

1943, August 17 - During World War II in Europe, the Allies completed the conquest of the island of Sicily after 38 days and U.S. General George S. Patton and his 7th Army arrive in Messina several hours before British Field Marshal Bernard L. Montgomery and his 8th Army, completing the Allied conquest of Sicily. There were more than 24,000 American, British, and Canadian casualties on Sicily. More

1944, August 1 - The Warsaw Uprising starts. The Polish Home Army), a non-Communist underground resistance movement, led by Polish General Tadeusz Bor-Komorowski, takes action to liberate the city from the German occupation and reclaim Polish independence, encouraged by the appearance of the Soviet Red Army along the east bank of the Vistula River. and the perceived weakness of the German military. However the Red army made no efforts to aid the rebels in Warsaw and by October 2, 1944, the Germans had suppressed the uprising, deporting civilians to concentration and forced-labor camps and reducing Warsaw to ruins. After the Germans eventually left, the Red Army came into Warsaw and established a Communist regime. More

1944, August 23 - Romania King Michael announces that Romania had unilaterally ceased all military actions against the Allies, accepted the Allied armistice offer and joined the war against the Axis powers. As no formal armistice offer had been extended yet, the Red Army occupied most of Romania as enemy territory prior to the signing of the Moscow Armistice of September 12, 1944.

1944, August 25 - Paris is liberated and the four-year Nazi occupation of the city comes to an end as the Free French 2nd Armored division under General Jacques-Philippe Leclerc enters the city and takes the German garrison capturing the German general Choltitz’s prisoner. His captors took Choltitz to French General Leclerc where the men signed a formal surrender document and Paris was finally liberated. German general Dietrich von Choltitz had spared Paris from the destruction ordered by Hitler. More 

1945, August 2 - The Potsdam Conference, held in Potsdam, Germany between the "Big Three: Britain, The Soviet Union and the United States  comes to an end without resolution on key issues. The conference was held to negotiate the terms for the end of World War II. Even though the Allies remained committed to fighting a joint war in the Pacific, mutual distrust stemming from differing views of what a postwar world should look, like led to disagreements on several key issues between the Soviet Union and the West, set the stage for the Cold War. More

1945, August 6 - The United States drops an atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. The bomb dropped by the American B-29 bomber Enola Gay, detonated about 1,800 ft. above ground, killing over 105,000 persons and destroying the city. Another estimated 100,000 persons later died as a result of radiation effects.

1945, August 8 - Soviet Russia declared war on Japan and sent troops into Japanese-held Manchuria.

1945, August 9 - The United States drops an atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Nagasaki. An American B-29 bomber headed for the city of Kokura, but because of poor visibility then chose a secondary target, Nagasaki. The bomb detonated killing an estimated 70,000 persons and destroying about half the city.

1945, August 14 - Believing that continuation of the war would only result in further loss of Japanese lives, delegates of Emperor Hirohito accepted Allied surrender terms originally issued at Potsdam on July 26, 1945, with the exception that the Japanese Emperor's sovereignty would be maintained. The formal surrender ceremony occurred later, on September 2, 1945, on board the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay.

1945, August 15 - South Korea and North Korea celebrate this day as their National Liberation Day as the Korean peninsula was freed from Japanese rule.

1945, August 17 - Proclamation of Indonesian Independence from the Empire of Japan and the Netherlands.

1947, August 7 - Norwegian scientist Thor Heyerdahl and five companions sail the Kon-Tiki, raft  from Peru to the islands east of Tahiti. Heyerdahl was interested in demonstrating the possibility that ancient people from the Americas could have colonized Polynesia; to do so, he constructed the raft from locally available balsa logs at Callao, Peru, and in three and a half months traversed some 4,300 miles (6,900 km) of ocean. The Kon-Tiki has been preserved in a museum in Oslo, Norway.

1947, August 14 - Pakistan achieved independence one day prior to Indian independence. India was partitioned, and an East and West Pakistan were created from Muslim majority areas.

1947, August 15, India was declared independent from British colonialism, and the reins of control were handed over to the leaders of the Country. 

1948, August 3 - During a hearing before the House Un-American Activities Committee, Whittaker Chambers, American writer and intelligence agent, accuses former State Department official Alger Hiss of being a communist and a spy for the Soviet Union. Hiss denied the accusation but was eventually tried and convicted of perjury. More

1949, - The Soviet Union successfully tested their first nuclear device, called RDS-1 or “First Lightning” (codenamed “Joe-1” by the United States), at Semipalatinsk.  As the Cold War intensified, both the Soviet Union and the United States embarked upon efforts to rapidly develop and grow their respective nuclear arsenals. The US launched its hydrogen bomb program in the early 1950s and the USSR followed suit and initiated their own hydrogen bomb program. More

1950, Aug 25 -  President Harry S. Truman issues an executive order putting America’s railroads under the control of the U.S. Army, Truman said that “governmental seizure [of the railroads] is imperative” to protect American citizens as well as “essential to the national defense and security of the nation.” Truman acted in anticipation of an imminent strike by railroad workers, two months after the United Nations, led by the United States, had intervened in Korea to repel an invasion by communist-led North Korea. More 

1951, Aug 30, - The United States and the  Philippines sign a Mutual Defense Treaty. More

1952, August 11 - Hussein was proclaimed king of Jordan succeeding to the throne three months before his 17th birthday. A three-man regency council made up of the prime minister and heads of the Senate and the House of Representatives was appointed until he became 18. He was enthroned on 2 May 1953, the same day that his cousin Faisal II assumed his constitutional powers as king of Iraq. More

1953, August 19 - A U.S. CIA and UK supported coup d'état by the Iranian military topples the democratically elected government of Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh. It favored strengthening the monarchical rule of the shah, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and all but insuring access to Iranian oil by the U.S. and the U.K. Sixty years later, in 2013, the National Security Archive released declassified CIA documents on the United States' role in the controversial operation. Although American and British involvement, had long been public knowledge, the released documents were the CIA's first formal acknowledgement that the agency helped to plan and execute the coup and participated in smoothing over the aftermath. More

1954, August 24 - Congress passed the Communist Control Act of 1954 (CCA) as an amendment to the McCarran Internal Security Act of 1950 “to outlaw the Communist Party, to prohibit members of Communist organizations from serving in certain representative capacities, and for other purposes.” Many of the CCA provisions impinged upon a number of constitutional rights and were removed over time. More

1957, August 31 -  Malayan Declaration of Independence from the United Kingdom.

1958, August 3 - The USS Nautilus, the first U.S. nuclear submarine, reaches the geographic North Pole traveling 1000 miles under sea from Point Barrow, Alaska and then on to Iceland, pioneering a new and shorter route from the Pacific to the Atlantic and Europe. More 

1959, August 14 - The first satellite image of Earth is captured by Explorer 6. 1959.  The crude picture of the earth’s surface and cloud cover was taken from a distance of 17,000 miles from earth. The photo, received in Hawaii, took nearly 40 minutes to transmit. Explorer 6 was launched on August 7, 1959. More

1959, August 21 - Hawaii is admitted to the union becoming the 50th State.

1960, August 1 -  Benin's Independence day. (Previously Dahomey) Effective date of the agreement with France signed on 11 July creating the independent Republic of Dahomey.

1960, August 3, Niger Independence Day - Effective date of the agreement with France signed on 11 July.

1960, August 5 - Burkina Faso Independence Day. Effective date of the agreement with France signed on 11 July and creation of the independent Republic of Upper Volta. On 4 August 1984, it changed its name to Burkina Faso.

1960, August 7 - Ivory Coast Independence Day Effective date of the agreement with France signed on 11 July

1960, August 11 - Chad's Independence day. Effective date of the agreement with France signed on 12 July

1960, August 15 - Republic of the Congo Independence Day -  Effective date of the agreement with France signed on 12 July.

1960, August 17 - Gabon independence day, officially the Gabonese Republic recognized, ending French colonial rule.

1961, August 13 - East Germany begins to seal off around Berlin. First, a wire barrier was constructed and a few days later the wire was replaced by a six-foot-high, 96-mile-long wall of concrete blocks. It hoped this measure would put an end to the mass exodus to Berlin. More

1962, August 4 - Nelson Mandela, Apartheid opponent, was arrested by security police in South Africa. He was tried and sentenced to five years in prison. In 1964, he was retried for sabotage , high treason and conspiracy to overthrow the government He was sentenced to life in prison. A worldwide campaign to free him began in the 1980s and resulted in his release on February 11, 1990, at age 71 after 27 years in prison. In 1993, Mandela shared the Nobel Peace Prize with South Africa's President F.W. de Klerk for their peaceful efforts to bring a nonracial democracy to South Africa. In April 1994, black South Africans voted for the first time in an election that brought Mandela the presidency of South Africa. More

1962, August 6 - Jamaica achieved independence after centuries of British and Spanish rule.

1962, August 31 - Trinidad and Tobago independence day. Effective date of the Trinidad and Tobago Independence Act 1962.

1963, August 5 - The Limited Nuclear Test Ban Treaty was signed by the United States, Great Britain, and the Soviet Union. After Senate approval, the treaty that went into effect on October 10, 1963, banned nuclear weapons testing in the atmosphere, in outer space, and under water. More

1963, August 28 - Martin Luther King Jr. delivers his iconic "I Have a Dream" speech during the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. Over 250,000 persons attended the Civil Rights rally in Washington, D.C. More

1963, August 30 - The hotline between Washington and Moscow came into operation 10 months after the Cuban Missile Crisis. The first implementation used Teletype equipment. It changed to fax machines in 1986 and in 2008 to a secure computer link over which secured messages are exchanged. More

1964, August 2 - The Gulf of Tonkin incident occurs, leading to increased U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War. August 7, 1964 - Following an attack on two U.S. destroyers the U.S. Congress approved the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, granting President Lyndon B. Johnson authority "to take all necessary measures to repel any armed attack against the forces of the United States and to prevent further aggression."

1964, Aug 4 - The bodies of three lynched civil rights workers (James Chaney, Michael Schwerner, and Andrew Goodman) were found in Neshoba County, Mississippi. They had been tortured and murdered by the KKK with help from the deputy sheriff near Philadelphia. M in .after disappearing more than a month before. More

1965, Aug 6 -  The Voting Rights Act of 1965 was signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson. The Act suspended literacy, knowledge and character tests which were designed to keep African Americans from voting in the South. It also authorized the appointment of Federal voting examiners and barred discriminatory poll taxes. Congress renewed the in 1975, 1984 and 1991.

1965, August 9 -  Proclamation of Singapore independence from Malaysia

1965, August 11 – 16: - Six days of riots began in the Watts area of Los Angeles, triggered by an incident between a white member of the California Highway Patrol and an African American motorist. Thirty-four deaths were reported and more than 3,000 people arrested. Damage to property was estimated at $40 million.

1967, August 30 - The U.S. Senate confirms  the appointment of Thurgood Marshall to the U.S. Supreme Court. Marshall became the first African American to be confirmed as a Supreme Court justice. More

1968, August Supreme Court 20 - The Soviet Union led Warsaw Pact troops invade Czechoslovakia to crack down on reformist trends in Prague. Although the Soviet Union's action successfully halted the pace of reform in Czechoslovakia, it had unintended consequences for the unity of the communist bloc. More

1969, August 17 - Hurricane Camille made landfall late in the evening along the Mississippi Gulf Coast near Waveland, MS. Camille is one of only four Category 5 hurricanes ever to make landfall in the continental United States. The combination of winds, surges, and rainfalls caused 256 deaths (143 on the Gulf Coast and 113 in the Virginia floods) and $1.421 billion in damage. Three deaths were reported in Cuba. More 

1969, August18 - The Woodstock three day outdoor music festival celebrates its final night. The audience was estimated at more than 450,000 and it was the largest and most memorable of dozens of outdoor music festivals that took place between 1967 and 1969, an era that began with the Monterey Pops Concert, Monterey, California, on June 16-18, 1967, and ended tragically, with the Altamont Racetrack Concert, at Altamont, California, which was marked by violence.

1969, August 30 - North Vietnam's president, Ho Chi Minh response to President Nixon's letter is received at the White House three days before Ho Chi Minh death in Hanoi from a heart attack on September 2, 1969 at the age of 79. More 

1974, August 7 - French high-wire artist Philippe Petit walks between the Twin Towers at 1,350 feet above ground with no net. More

1974, August 9 – Richard M Nixon resigns the presidency as a result of the Watergate scandal. Facing possible impeachment by Congress, he became the only U.S. President ever to resign. Gerald Ford automatically assumed the presidency, taking the oath of office in the East Room of the White House and becoming the 38th U.S. President. This made him the only person to become the nation's chief executive without being elected to the presidency or the vice presidency. More

1975, August 3 - A  707 passenger flight chartered by the national airline of Morocco, Royal Air Maroc, flying in heavy fog crashed into a mountain on approach to Agadir Inezgane, Airport in Morocco. All 188 passengers and crew on board were killed. The cause of the crash was determined to be pilot error. More

1975, August 8 - The term "Global Warming" is used for the first time in a science publication. The article by geochemist Wallace Broecker of Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Geological Observatory: "Climatic Change: Are We on the Brink of a Pronounced Global Warming?" More

1980, August 14-15 - The Solidarity movement in Poland, led by Lech Walesa, signs the Gdansk Agreement with the communist government, marking a significant milestone in the fight for workers' rights. Solidarity opposed Communist rule and was outlawed the following year. Seven years later, the re-legalization of Solidarity occurred and the government agreed to hold partially free parliamentary elections. Solidarity candidates scored stunning victories, paving the way for the downfall of Communism there. More

1981, August 13 -  President Reagan signs the Economic Recovery Tax Act of 1981 (ERTA), the 185-page that fulfilled his campaign promise to cut taxes. The act helped accelerate economic growth but it is blamed for being a major contributor to the growth of Income inequality in the U.S. which is now at heights not seen for a century. More

1983, August 21 - Filipino opposition leader Benigno S. Aquino, Jr., was assassinated at the Manila airport while leaving his plane. Public outcry ultimately led to the collapse of the government of Ferdinand E. Marcos and the inauguration of Corazon C. Aquino, widow of the slain man, as president.

1985, August 2 -  Delta Air Lines Flight 191 crashes at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport. The National Transportation Safety Board's (NTSB) determined that the cause of the Lockheed L-1011 TriStar airplane crash was wind-shear associated with an intense thunderstorm downdraft that occurred at the north end of the airport along runway 17. Today we know this intense, localized downburst as a microburst, a weather phenomenon that was not well understood at the time of the accident. Of the 163 persons aboard, 134 passengers and crewmembers were killed at the scene in addition to one person hit on the ground. Two passengers died more than 30 days after the accident as a result of their injuries. More

1985, August 12 - Japan Air Lines Flight 123 flight from Tokyo to Osaka, Japan crashes in the area of Mount Takamagahara, 62 miles from Tokyo. The Boeing 747  suffered a severe structural failure and decompression 12 minutes into the flight  and crashed 32 minutes later after flying under minimal control for that time. 520 people died in the accident. All four survivors were seriously injured. The root cause of the explosive decompression was attributed to an improperly executed repair to the airplane's aft pressure bulkhead that was completed several years prior to the accident. The crash of Flight 123 is the deadliest single-aircraft accident in aviation history. More

1986, August 22 - A volcanic eruption under Lake Nyos in Cameroon caused deadly fumes which killed more than 1,500 persons. More

1987, August 16 -  A DC-9 Super 82 on Northwest Flight 255 crashes minutes aftertakeoff at Detroit Metropolitan Airport in Michigan. The flight was headed to California with a Phoenix stopover.  A four-year-old girl was the sole survivor of the accident,156 people died. The crash was caused by pilot error. More 

1987, August 28 - The Ray Brothers’ family home in Arcadia, Florida burns down. It was almost certainly a case of arson fueled by fear and ignorance. The three boys- Ricky, Robert and Randy- were born with hemophilia and were 10, 9 and 8 at the time. They had been diagnosed positive with HIV in 1986 and were not allowed to attend school following their positive test results. Their home was burned to the ground a week after a court ruled the following year that they had every legal right to attend. The Ricky Ray Hemophilia Relief Fund Program act was enacted by the Health and Human Services Department on November 23, 2001 More

1990, August 2 - Iraq invades Kuwait, leading to the Gulf War and international intervention to liberate Kuwait from Iraqi occupation as President George H.W. Bush orders Operation Desert Shield on August 7, 1990, which was in turn followed by the international coalition against Iraq launched as Operation Desert Storm in January 1991. More 

1990, August 12 - The largest-ever Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton is discovered on a cliff near Faith, South Dakota. The 65-million-year-old specimen is dubbed Sue, after its discoverer fossil hunter Susan Hendrickson. South Dakota. More

1991, August 19 - Soviet hardline Communists staged a coup, temporarily removing Mikhail Gorbachev from power. The coup failed within 72 hours as democratic reformer Boris Yeltsin rallied the Russian people. Yeltsin then became the leading power in the country. The Communist Party was soon banned and by December the Soviet Union itself disintegrated. More

1991, August 24 - Ukraine declares independence from the Soviet Union, leading to its dissolution later that year.

1991, August 27 - Moldovia declares its independence from the Soviet Union.

1991, August 31 - Kyrgyzstan Kyrgyzstan declares independence from the Soviet Union and a democratic government is established. 

1998, August 7 - The U.S. Embassies in Nairobi, Kenya and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania are bombed with truck bombs. The terrorist attacks killed 224 people, among them, 12 Americans, and wounded more than 4,500. The U.S. accuses Saudi exile Osama bin Laden, of masterminding the bombings. On August 20, U.S. President Bill Clinton ordered cruise missiles launched against bin Laden’s terrorist training camps in Afghanistan and to a pharmaceutical plant in Sudan, believed to be manufacturing and distributing chemical weapons. More

1998, August 17 - The United States launches cruise missile strikes against suspected Al-Qaeda targets in Afghanistan and Sudan in
retaliation for the 1998 embassy bombings.

1999, August 17 - The catastrophic magnitude 7.6 Izmit earthquake struck the Kocaeli Province of Turkey, causing extensive damage and approximately 17,000 deaths. Named for the quake’s proximity to the northwestern city of İzmit, It is widely remembered as one of the deadliest natural disasters in modern Turkish history. More

2000, August 12 - The Russian nuclear submarine Kursk sinks to the bottom of the Barents Sea while on a naval exercise inside the Arctic Circle. The entire 118-strong crew perished According to the Russian navy, it had not been carrying nuclear warheads. The cause of the disaster remains unknown although it was attributed to an accidental torpedo explosion. The wreck was brought up from the seabed by a Dutch salvage team more than a year after the accident. More

2002, - August 5 - The turret of the Civil War ironclad USS Monitor is lifted out of the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Hatteras N.C. The historic warship sank on December 31 1862 during a storm as it was being towed around Cape Hatteras on its way to Beaufort, North Carolina, to join a fleet being assembled for an attack on Charleston. Many of the sailors were rescued, but 16 of its crew members perished, More

2003, August 14 - A major power blackout affects parts of the northeastern and midwestern United States, as well as Ontario, Canada, leaving millions without electricity. More

2005, August 29 - Hurricane Katrina makes landfall in Louisiana, causing catastrophic damage and flooding in New Orleans and other parts of the Gulf Coast.  Katrina was one of the five deadliest hurricanes to ever strike the United States. Hurricane Katrina was responsible for 1,833 fatalities and approximately $108 billion in damage in 2005 dollars. More

2006, August 24 - The International Astronomical Union (IAU) redefines the definition of a planet, resulting in the demotion of
Pluto to the status of a "dwarf planet."

2008, August 8 - The opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics takes place, marking the first time China hosts the Olympic
Games.

2011, August 5 - NASA's Juno spacecraft launches on a mission to study the planet Jupiter

2011, Aug 5 - Standard & Poor’s credit rating agency downgrades the United States debt from its highest rating of AAA to a lesser AA+ rating, marking the first-ever decline of credit worthiness for the U.S. The agency cited America’s $14 trillion outstanding debt and an ineffective political leadership to address the debt reduction. This downgraded rating remains in effect as of January 1, 2023.

2014, August 9 - The shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, sparks protests and civil unrest, leading to a national conversation on racial tensions and police violence in the United States.

2016, August 5-21 - The Summer Olympics are held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, showcasing athletes from around the world.

2017, August 21 - A total solar eclipse, visible across a large portion of the United States, captivates millions of people.

2019, August 5 - India revokes the special autonomous status of Jammu and Kashmir, escalating tensions between India and Pakistan over the disputed region.

2020, August 4 - A massive explosion at the port of Beirut in Lebanon causes widespread devastation and loss of life.

Note: Sources for the Historical Content shown, include research and reviews of relevant Online History Resources or printed material. When possible, we show a link to a source which provides additional or unique perspective about the event. We do our best to provide accurate information but would appreciate being notified if any incorrect information is found. You may do so by using this link: Feedback

These are some of many widely recognized historic events that occurred during the month of July, listed by year. Dates provided for earlier time events may be approximate. Select another month

46 BC, July 2 - Julius Caesar defeats Pompey the Great at the Battle of Dyrrhachium during the Roman Civil War.

64 CE, 64 July 18 - The Great Fire of Rome begins during the reign of Emperor Nero, lasting for several days and resulting in significant destruction.

365, July 21 - Crete earthquake - An estimated 8.5 magnitude underseas earthquake and resulting Tsunami causes widespread destruction in central and southern Macedonia (Modern Greece), Africa northern Libya, Egypt, where the city of Alexandria was severely damaged, Cyprus, Sicily and Hispania (Spain). On Crete, nearly all towns were destroyed. More  

 711, July 19 - The Umayyad conquest of Hispania begins as Muslim forces under Tariq ibn Ziyad land at Gibraltar. the Islamic Arabs and Moors of Berber descent in northern Africa crossed the Strait of Gibraltar onto the Iberian Peninsula, and in a series of raids they conquered Visigothic Christian Hispania.

 756, July 28 - The Papal States are established as Pepin the Short, King of the Franks, donates land to Pope Stephen II, creating a temporal domain for the papacy.

 939, July 12 - The Battle of Simancas takes place between the Kingdom of León and the Caliphate of Córdoba, resulting in a victory for León and the decline of the Caliphate's power in the region.

 987, July 3 -  Hugh Capet is crowned King of France, marking the beginning of the Capetian dynasty.

1002, July 23 - The Holy Roman Emperor Otto III dies in his palace in Paterno, Italy, at the age of 21.

1009, July 15 - The Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem is destroyed by Fatimid caliph Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah.

1027, July 6 - Pope John XIX crowns Conrad II as the Holy Roman Emperor in Rome.

1054, July 16 - The Great Schism occurs: Michael Cerularius, Patriarch of Constantinople (now called Istanbul) was excommunicated from the Christian church based in Rome, Italy. The resulting split divided the European Christian church into two major branches: the Western Roman Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church. 

1060, July 22 - Henry I of France is crowned King of France in Reims.

1099, July 15 - The First Crusaders launch an assault on Jerusalem, ultimately leading to the capture of the city and the establishment of the Crusader states.

1100, July 31- King William II of England, also known as William Rufus, is killed in a hunting accident in the New Forest.

1203, July 17 - The Siege of Constantinople begins during the Fourth Crusade as Roman Catholic Crusaders, aboard a Venetian fleet, attack the city resulting in the Sack of Constantinople and the installation of Prince Alexius Angelus on the Byzantine throne. More

1209, July 22 - The Massacre at Béziers takes place during the Albigensian Crusade, with Crusaders led by Simon de Montfort sacking the city and killing thousands.

1215, July 15 - The signing of the Magna Carta takes place at Runnymede, England, marking a crucial step towards the limitation of monarchic powers.

1223, July 18 - Louis VIII of France is crowned as the King of France in Reims Cathedral.

1230, July 29 - The Treaty of San Germano is signed between Emperor Frederick II and Pope Gregory IX, ending the Papal-Imperial conflict.

1237, July 28 - The Battle of Posada takes place between the Mongol Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary, resulting in a Hungarian victory.

1242, July 5 - The Battle of Lake Peipus occurs between the Teutonic Knights and the Novgorod Republic, with the Novgorod forces emerging victorious.

1253, July 10 - Mindaugas is crowned as the first and only King of Lithuania, establishing the Kingdom of Lithuania.

1260, July 3 - The Battle of Ain Jalut occurs between the Mongol Empire and the Mamluk Sultanate, resulting in a decisive Mamluk victory and halting the Mongol expansion into the Middle East.

1290, July 18 - The Edict of Expulsion is issued in England, ordering the expulsion of all Jews from the country.

1307, July 22 - King Philip IV of France orders the arrest of the Knights Templar, marking the beginning of their persecution and eventual dissolution.

1392, July 17 - The Joseon Dynasty is established in Korea with the crowning of King Taejo as the first king of Joseon.

1389, July 15 - The Battle of Kosovo takes place between the Ottoman Empire and an alliance of Balkan states led by Serbia, resulting in a costly but inconclusive outcome.

1456, July 5 - The Siege of Belgrade (Nándorfehérvár) by Sultan Mehmet II begins. Hungarian forces led by John Hunyadi a Hungarian nobleman and warlord of Vlach lineage, defended the city, ultimately compelling the wounded Sultan Mehmet II to lift the siege and retreat. The battle had significant consequences, as it stabilized the southern frontiers of the Kingdom of Hungary for more than half a century and delaying the Ottoman advance in Europe.

1499, July 22 - The Swiss Confederation defeats the forces of the Holy Roman Empire at the Battle of Dornach. More

1536, July 9 - Anne Boleyn is executed in England for high treason.

1567, July 24 -  Abdication of Mary, Queen of Scots. After failing to quash a rebellion of Scottish peers, Mary was imprisoned in Loch Leven Castle and forced to abdicate in favor of her one-year-old son. More

1588, July 29 - The Spanish Armada is defeated. The Spanish fleet was led by the Duke of Medina Sidonia and its purpose was to  overthrow Elizabeth I, to reinstate Catholicism in England and to end England's support for the Dutch Republic to prevent attacks by English and Dutch privateers against Spanish interests in the Americas. The English fleet was under the command of Charles Howard, 2nd Baron Howard of Effingham. His second in command was Sir Francis Drake. The Spanish Armada defeat is considered one of England's greatest military achievements. More

1609, July 2 - The Dutch explorer Henry Hudson sails into what is now New York Harbor, later establishing Dutch claims to the region.

1620, July 22 - The Mayflower departs from England on its voyage to North America, carrying the Pilgrims who would establish the Plymouth Colony.

1643, July 2 - The Battle of Adwalton Moor takes place during the English Civil War, resulting in a decisive victoy for the Parliamentarian forces.

1652, July 4 - The Battle of Plymouth takes place during the First Anglo-Dutch War, with the English fleet under Admiral Robert Blake repelling a Dutch attack on Plymouth.

1663, July 3 - King Charles II of England grants a charter establishing the Carolina Colony, named in honor of his father, Charles I.

1664, July 23 - The Siege of New Amsterdam ends when the Dutch surrender to the English, who then rename the settlement New York.

1670, July 30 - The Hudson's Bay Company receives a royal charter from King Charles II, granting it exclusive trading rights in the Hudson Bay region of North America.

1688, July 10 - The Siege of Derry begins during the Williamite War in Ireland, as the predominantly Protestant city resists a Catholic Jacobite army.

1690, July 1 - The Battle of the Boyne takes place in Ireland, resulting in a victory for Protestant King William III over Catholic King James II and securing Protestant rule in Ireland.

1715, July 31 - The Urca de Lima and 9 other treasure ships on their way back to Spain from Havana were all lost in a hurricane off the Atlantic coast. More than 700 seamen, including the Spanish commander, drowned. More than $15 million worth of treasure sank to the bottom of the ocean. Spain managed to recover about $4 million of the treasure. The rest remained on the ocean floor for more than 250 years. More

1718, July 28 - The city of New Orleans is founded by French colonists under the direction of Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville.

1742, July 26 - The Battle of Dettingen occurs during the War of the Austrian Succession, marking the last time a reigning British monarch, King George II, personally leads his troops in battle.

1769, July 16 - Fr. Junípero Serra founds Mission San Diego de Alcalá. This is the first of the California Missions.  Fr. Junipero Sierra founded eight more of the 21 California missions: Carmel, San Antonio, San Gabriel, San Luis Obispo, San Francisco (Mission Dolores). San Juan Capistrano, Santa Clara, and San Buenaventura,  Serra’s missions helped strengthen Spain’s control of Alta California.

1775, July 3 - George Washington takes command of the Continental Army at Cambridge, Massachusetts.

1775, July 26 - Benjamin Franklin is appointed first Postmaster General by the Continental Congress before the Declaration of Independence was even signed. More

1776, July 4 - The United States declares independence from Great Britain.

1777, July 31 -  The Marquis de Lafayette, a 19-year-old French nobleman, was made a major-general in the American Continental Army. His Masonic membership opened many doors in Philadelphia and Lafayette's advocates included the recently arrived American envoy to France, Benjamin Franklin, urged Congress to accommodate the young Frenchman who had offered to serve without pay.

1779, July 16 - The United States Congress establishes the Badge of Military Merit, later known as the Purple Heart, to honor soldiers wounded in battle.

1788, July 26 - New York ratifies the U.S. Constitution and becomes the 11th of the original 13 states to join the Union.

1789, July 14 - The Bastille is stormed by Paris mob. Many consider this event the start of the French Revolution. It is now commemorated in France as a national holiday. More

1790, July 16 - President George Washington signs the Residence Act bill which approved the creation of a national capital on the Potomac River. The bill declared that the exact location was to be selected by President Washington. The initial shape of the federal district was a square from land donated by Maryland and Virginia, measuring 10 miles (16 km) on each side and totaling 100 square miles (259 km2). More

1796, July 11 - The United States takes possession of Detroit from the British during the American Revolutionary War, in accordance with the terms of the Jay Treaty.

1797, July 7 - The U.S. House of Representatives notifies the Senate of the Impeachment of North Carolina's Senator William Blount for high crimes and misdemeanors. The Senate trial which did not begin until December,1798 ended on January 14, 1799, as the Senate dismissed the case on jurisdictional grounds, leaving many issues unsettled, most importantly the question, "was a senator a civil officer of the United States and therefore liable to impeachment?"  Although the Senate failed to voice its opinion on that matter, its dismissal of the Blount case set a precedent that still holds today—a U.S. senator cannot be impeached. More

1799, July 2 - The Rosetta Stone is found in the Egyptian village of Rosetta, providing a key to deciphering ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs. More

1803, July 4 - The Louisiana Purchase is announced in the United States.

1804, July 11 - Vice President Aaron Burr fatally shoots his long-time political antagonist Alexander Hamilton. Hamilton, a leading Federalist and the chief architect of America’s political economy, died the following day. More

1809, July 2 - Shawnee Chief Tecumseh calls on all Native peoples to unite and resist the growing loss land to the white settlers. proposing that if united,  the various tribes had enough strength to stop the white settlers. More

1810, July 20 - Colombian Declaration of Independence from Spain.

1811, July 5 - Venezuela declares its independence from Spain

1816, July 9 - Argentina declares its independence from Spain

1821, July 28 - Peru declares its independence from Spain.

1838, July 2 -  Enslaved Africans on the Cuban schooner Amistad rise up against their captors and gaining control of the ship, which had been transporting them to a sugar plantation at Puerto Principe, Cuba. More

1840, July 23 - The British North America was approved by the British Parliament. The Act, also known as the Act of Union it was and proclaimed on February 10, 1841, in Montreal. It abolished the legislatures of Lower Canada and Upper Canada and established a new political entity, the Province of Canada to replace them. More

1847, July 24 - Pioneer Day. Completing a treacherous thousand-mile exodus, an ill and exhausted Brigham Young and fellow members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints arrived in Utah’s Great Salt Lake Valley. The Mormon, as they were commonly known, pioneers viewed their arrival as the founding of a Mormon homeland. hence Pioneer Day. More

1847, July 26 - Liberia declaration of Independence. More

1862, July 1 - President Abraham Lincoln signed the first income tax bill, establishing a 3% income tax on annual incomes of $600-$10,000 and a 5% tax on incomes over $10,000.

1863, July 1-3 - The Battle of Gettysburg takes place in Pennsylvania. The loss ended Confederate general Robert E. Lee’s ambitious second quest to invade the North and bring the Civil War to a swift end. With more than 50,000 estimated casualties, the three-day engagement was the bloodiest single battle of the conflict. More

1863, July 7 - Kit Carson begins his campaign against the Navajo that resulted in their removal from the Four Corners area to southeastern New Mexico. More

1866, July 30, The New Orleans Massacre:  a mob of ex-Confederates led an armed attack on a group of Louisiana Republicans and their African American supporters as they convened in the Mechanics Institute Building in New Orleans., site of a reconvened Louisiana Constitutional Convention 38 people were killed and 146 wounded. More

1867, July 1 - Canada Day, formerly known as Dominion Day, is the National Day of Canada. A federal statutory holiday, it celebrates the anniversary of Canadian Confederation which occurred on July 1, 1867, when the three separate colonies of the United Canadas, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick were united into a single dominion within the British Empire called Canada.

1868, July 28 - The 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, passed by the Senate in 1966, is officially adopted, having been ratified by the requisite number of states. The  Amendment granted citizenship to all persons "born or naturalized in the United States," including formerly enslaved people, and provided all citizens with “equal protection under the laws,” extending the provisions of the Bill of Rights to the states. More

1881, July 2 - President James A. Garfield was shot and mortally wounded as he entered a railway station in Washington, D.C. He died on September 19th. More

1881, July 19 - Sitting Bull and his people return to the United States from Canada to surrender. More

1890, July 3 -  Idaho is admitted into the Union becoming the 43rd State. 

1890, July 10 - Wyoming is admitted into the Union becoming the 44th State.

1893, July 1 - President Grover Cleveland undergoes a secret operation on a friend’s yacht to remove a cancerous growth from his mouth. The entire left side of his jaw was removed along with a small portion of his soft palate. Two weeks later, he was fitted with a rubber prosthesis which he wore until his death in 1908. The secrecy was mostly maintained for 24 years until  one of the doctors wrote an article describing what had transpired. More

1898, July 21 - Guam was ceded to the United States by Spain.

1898, July 25 - During the Spanish-American War, the U.S. invaded Puerto Rico, which was then a Spanish colony. In 1917, Puerto Rico became an unincorporated Territory of the U.S. and Puerto Ricans became American citizens. Partial self-government was granted in 1947 allowing citizens to elect their own governor. In 1951, Puerto Ricans wrote their own constitution and elected a non-voting commissioner to represent them in Washington. More

1900, July 19 - Italian King Umberto I was killed in Monza by Italian-American anarchist Gaetano Bresci. He was succeeded by his son, Victor Emmanuel III. More

1903, July 15 - Ernest Pfennig, a Chicago dentist, orders the first Original Model A Ford car. The car is delivered a week later on July 23, 1903. A total of1,750 cars were made from 1903 through 1904 and sold at an average price of $850 More 

1905, July 11 - The Niagara Movement, a group of 59 well know African American businessmen begin their three day meeting on the Canadian side of the Niagara Falls. W. E. B. Du Bois was named general secretary and the group split into various committees. They renounced Booker T. Washington's accommodation policies set forth in his famed "Atlanta Compromise" speech ten years earlier. The Niagara Movement's manifesto is, in the words of Du Bois, "We want full manhood suffrage and we want it now.... We are men! We want to be treated as men. And we shall win." The movement became  a forerunner of the NAACP. More 

1905, July 29 - The secret Taft-Katsura Agreement is signed in which the United States acknowledged Japanese rule over Korea and condoned the Anglo-Japanese alliance of 1902. At the same time, Japan recognized U.S. control of the Philippines. More

1908, July 26 - The Bureau of Investigation, forerunner of the FBI, is established. More

1911, July 24 - American archeologist Hiram Bingham reaches the ruins of Machu Picchu. Although widely credited with being the first westerner to reach the site, other reports indicate other Europeans had seen it before Bingham, but he was the one who revealed it to the world at large. Local Peruvians, including the expedition's guide, Melchor Arteaga knew of the site. Nine years before Bingham's expedition, Agustin Lizárraga, a local farmer searching for new land for agriculture with some family members came upon Machu Pichu and carved an inscription on a wall in the Temple of the Three Windows that said: "Agustín Lizárraga, July 14th 1902". More 

1914, July 28 - World War I outbreak of hostilities between Austria-Hungary and Serbia begin.

1914, July 31 - Treasury Secretary William Gibbs McAdoo closes the New York Stock Exchange to stop the European liquidation of American securities caused by the outbreak of WWI.  After several days of selloffs, about $3 billion (equivalent to $90 billion in 2023) of foreign portfolio investments had been sold. All of the world’s financial markets also closed. The Sock market remained closed for four months opening again on December 12, 1914. Bond trading had restarted on November 28, 1914. The liquidation of European-held securities transformed the United States from a debtor nation to a creditor nation for the first time in its history. More  

1915, July 24 - The  excursion boat S.S. Eastland, known as the "Speed Queen of the Great Lakes rolles over into the Chicago river at the wharf's edge. More than 2,500 passengers and crew members were on board that day – and 844 people lost their lives, including 22 entire families. More

1917, July 2 -  Following King Constantine I abdication, under pressure from the Allies, Greece  ends three years of neutrality by entering World War I alongside Britain, France, Russia and Italy. 

1917, July 17 - British King, George V, declares that he and all his descendants would be going by Windsor. Both in a “House of Windsor” capacity and as an official last name. Before George V picked Windsor, the royals were going by the “House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha.” The change came about because of the strong anti-German sentiment following World War I. In 1960, Queen Elizabeth II and her husband Prince Philip announced the creation of a brand-new last name for their untitled descendants which honored both their families: Mountbatten-Windsor. But did not change the name of the House, which is still the House of Windsor.

1918, July 15 -  The Second Battle of the Marne  was the last major German offensive on the Western Front during the First World War. It lasted a year ending on July 18, 1919.

1918, July 16 - Russia’s last Imperial Family; Former Tsar Nicholas and Alexandra, and their five children, Olga, Tatiana, Maria, Anastasia and Alexey, were murdered by the Bolsheviks. More 

1919, July 27 - The Chicago race riot of 1919 begins. it was a violent racial conflict between white Americans and black Americans that lasted eight days. During the riot, 38 people died, 537 were injured and between 1,000 and 2,000 residents, most of them black, lost their homes. The riot is considered the worst of the scores of riots and civil disturbances across the United States during the "Red Summer" of 1919. More

1921, July 27 - The Insulin hormone is successfully isolated by Canadian doctors Frederick Banting and Charles Best. More

1921, July 28 - Hitler becomes Party Chairman and leader of the Nazis.

1924, July 6 - The German psychiatrist Hans Berger records the first EEG (Electroencephalogram) reading from a human by placing electrodes on the brain of a 17-year-old boy to capture its electrical activity. This marked the advent of a new era for neuroscience. More

1925, July 21 - The "Scopes Monkey trial", formally The State of Tennessee v. John Thomas Scopes, which had started on July 10. comes to an end. The trial publicized the Fundamentalist–Modernist controversy, which set Modernists, who said evolution was not inconsistent with religion, against Fundamentalists. The trial was deliberately staged in order to attract publicity to the small town of Dayton, Tennessee, where it was held. Scopes was found guilty and was fined $100 (equivalent to $1,700 in 2023), but the verdict was overturned on a technicality. More

1930, July 7 - Construction work  for the Hoover Dam begins after the appropriations were approved. The dam was dedicated in 1935 and the hydroelectric generators went online in 1937.  The Hoover Dam was built for a cost of $49 million (approximately $760 million adjusted for inflation). The power plant and generators cost an additional $71 million. The sale of electrical power generated by the dam paid back its construction cost, with interest, by 1987. More

1932, July 28 - The Bonus Army,  a group of 43,000 demonstrators – 17,000 veterans of U.S. involvement in World War I, their families, and affiliated groups gathered in Washington, D.C., to demand early cash redemption of their service bonus certificates. They were forcibly disbanded by the U.S. Army in Washington, D.C. 

1933, July 22 - Wiley Post completes a solo flight around the world in the Lockheed 5C Vega Winnie Mae. This record-breaking flight demonstrated several significant new aviation technologies. More

1936, July 17 - The Spanish Civil War begins.  In a matter of days, a well-planned military uprising splits the county in half, with one zone controlled by the government (known as Republicans, Loyalists, or Reds), and the other by the rebels (also referred to as Nationalists, Fascists, or Whites)  An estimated half million people perished during the civil war which lasted until 1939. Franco ruled Spain as a dictator for almost 40 years until his death in 1975.  More 

1937, June 2 - Amelia Earhart and Navigator Fred Noonan disappear on Round-the-World Flight. Earhart and Noonan never found Howland Island and they were declared lost at sea on July 19, 1937 following a massive sea and air search. More

1940, July 10 - The Battle of Britain begins as Nazi Germany launches air attacks on southern England. More

1941, July 7 - The Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union, code-named Operation Barbarossa, begins.

1941, July 26 - U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt issues Executive Order 8832, freezing Japanese assets in the United States and eleven days later, on August 1, declares an embargo on oil and gasoline exports to Japan, bringing commercial relations between the nations to an effective end. On December 7 the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. More at: WWII Museum and the The Independent Institute   

1942, July 28 - Stalin Issues Order No. 227: “Not a Step Back” The order, intended to galvanize the morale of the hard-pressed Red Army under German attack. More

1943, July 10 - American and British forces invade Sicily by air and sea. 

1943, July 12 - Battle of Kursk: Russia stops the German advance. More

1943, July 19,  Approximately 700 United States planes of the USAAF flew over Rome and dropped 9.000 bombs on the city. This raid was intended to only damage the freight yard and the steel factory in the San Lorenzo district of Rome, but it also struck apartments and the Papal Basilica, killing 1500 people. More

1943, July 24 - Operation Gomorrah begins. 791 British bombers took off under cover of darkness tow. ard Hamburg, Germany. The air fleet was composed of British Lancaster, Stirling, Wellington, and Halifax bombers flying in six waves. Each wave had between 100 to 120 aircraft hoping to concentrate as much destruction as possible.  More

1943, July 25 - Mussolini is deposed. The Fascist Grand Council ousted Mussolini from office and placed him under arrest two weeks after the Allied attack on Sicily. King Victor Emmanuel of Italy then ordered Marshal Pietro Badoglio to form a new government.

1943, July 28 - During World War II, a firestorm killed 42,000 civilians in Hamburg, Germany. after 2,326 tons of bombs and incendiaries were dropped by the Allies. 

1944, July 20 - German military leaders attempt to assassinate Adolf Hitler and take control of the government. Their plot fails. More

1945, July 16 - The first atomic bomb “ nicknamed “Gadget,” is successfully tested at the Trinity Site in Alamogordo, New Mexico. Gadget detonated with between 15 and 20 kilotons of force, slightly more than the Little Boy bomb dropped on Hiroshima. The Atomic Age had begun. More

1945, July 17 - The Potsdam Conference begins. Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill (replaced on July 26 by Prime Minister Clement Attlee), and U.S. President Harry Truman— start a multi day meeting in Potsdam, Germany, to negotiate terms for the end of World War II. During the conference, President Truman informed the Soviet leader that the United States had successfully detonated the first atomic bomb on July 16, 1945. Reportedly, Stalin, was already well-informed about the U.S. nuclear program thanks to the Soviet intelligence network. More 

1945, July 28 - A United States B-25 Mitchell bomber, on its way to LaGuardia Airport crashes into the the N.Y. Empire building near the 79th floor. The two pilots and one passenger aboard and 11 people in the building perished. More near the 

1945, July 30 - The USS Indianapolis is torpedoed by a Japanese submarine and sinks within minutes. Only 316 of the 1,196 men on board survived. The Indianapolis had just completed its major mission; the delivery to Tinian Island in the South Pacific of a key components of the atomic bomb that would be dropped a week later at Hiroshima. More

1947, July 18 - President Harry Truman signs the second Presidential Succession Act. The original act of 1792 had placed the Senate president pro tempore and Speaker of the House in the line of succession, but in 1886 Congress had removed them. The 1947 Executive order reinserted those officials but placed the Speaker ahead of the president pro tempore. In 1965, Senator Birch Bayh of Indiana and Representative Emanuel Celler of New York introduced joint resolutions in the Senate and House of Representatives aimed at clarifying and defining in the Constitution, the rules on Presidential succession and inability. Congress approved the 25th Amendment on 1965. The states completed ratification by February 10, 1967, and President Lyndon Johnson certified the amendment on February 23, 1967.

1947, July 26 - President Harry Truman signs The National Security Act of 1947 . The Act mandated a major reorganization of the foreign policy and military establishments of the U.S. Government and created many of the institutions that Presidents found useful when formulating and implementing foreign policy, including the National Security Council (NSC).

1948, July 20 - The second peacetime draft began with passage of the Selective Service Act of 1948 after the STSA expired. The new law required all men of age 18 to 26 to register. It also created the system for the "Doctor Draft", aimed at inducting health professionals into military service. More

1948, July 26 - President Harry S. Truman signs executive order 9981 banning segregation in the Armed Forces. More

1949, July 27 - The First test flight of the de Havilland DH 106 Comet, takes place. The Havilland, developed and manufactured by de Havilland in the United Kingdom, went on to become the world's first commercial passenger jet aircraft to reach production.
passenger cabin and was commercially promising at its debut in 1952. Within a year, three Comets were lost  after suffering catastrophic mishaps mid-flight. As a result, the Comet was extensively redesigned, with structural reinforcements and other changes. More  

1951,  July 27 - The Korean War armistice is signed, ending three years of fighting and establishing a demilitarized zone between North and South Korea. 1951. No peace treaty is signed .

1952, July 23 - The Egyptian army led by by Mohamed Naguib and Gamal Abdel Nasser launched a revolution toppling King Farouk in a coup d'état by the Free Officers Movement and, changing Egypt from a monarchy to a republic. The Revolution ushered in a wave of revolutionary politics in the Arab World, and contributed to the escalation of decolonization and the development of Third World solidarity during the Cold War. More

1952, July 25 - Puerto Rico becomes a U.S. commonwealth.

1953, July 26 - Fidel Castro's revolutionary "26th of July Movement." begins and culminates by overthrowing dictator Fulgencio
Batista in 1959. Although he once declared that Cuba would never again be ruled by a dictator, Castro's government became a Communist dictatorship.

1953, July 27 - The Korean War ended with the signing of an armistice by U.S. and North Korean delegates at Panmunjom, Korea. It brought an end to the hostilities that lasted just over three years and killed 2.5 million people. More

1955, July 17 -  Disneyland opens for its first guests.; a special 'International Press Preview' event, which was only open to invited guests. More

1956, July 26 - Egyptian president Gamal Abdel Nasser nationalizes the foreign-owned Suez Canal Company, which administered the canal and was owned primarily by British and French shareholders. On October 29, Israel invades the Egyptian Sinai.  and on November 5, Britain and France landed paratroopers along the Suez Canal. Political pressure from the United States, the Soviet Union, and the United Nations led to a withdrawal by the three invaders. The episode humiliated the United Kingdom and France and strengthened Nasser. It later became clear that Israel, France and Britain had conspired to plan the invasion. More 

1956, July 30 - Two years after pushing to have the phrase “under God” inserted into the pledge of allegiance, President Dwight D. Eisenhower signs a law officially declaring “In God We Trust” to be the nation’s official motto. The law, also mandated that the phrase be printed on all American paper currency. The phrase had been placed on U.S. coins since the Civil War. 

1958, July 29 - President Eisenhower signs into law the bill passed by the U. S. Congress establishing NASA. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration began operations on October 1, 1958. More

1960, July 1 - The Somali republic was formed on July 1, 1960, as a unification of the Trust Territory of Italian Somaliland, and British Somaliland. The independence day of Somalia is a national holiday observed annually in Somalia and the diaspora worldwide.

1962, July 1 - Rwanda gains independence from Belgium. Independence Day in Rwanda is a somewhat muted affair. Kwibohora, (July 4) is celebrated as Rwanda Liberation Day. On this day in 1994 the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) secured the capital of Kigali and ended the 1994 Genocide Against the Tutsi in Rwanda.

1962, July 1 - Burundi gains its freedom from Belgium.

1962, July 10 - The U.S. Patent Office issued Patent No. 3,043,625 to “Nils Ivar Bohlin, Goteborg, (Volvo) for the three-point seatbelt. Volvo was so convinced of its safety potential safety that it made the patent available for other manufacturers, and motorists, to benefit from.

1964, July 2 - U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act into law, outlawing discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. More

1964, July 6 - Malawi Independence Day.

1964, July 23 - President de Gaulle proposes at a news conference in the Salle des Fetes of the Elysee Palace, that the United States, the Soviet Union, Communist China and France agree to get out and stay out of the Indochinese peninsula as a means of ending the fighting in Laos and South Vietnam. He also proposes, once the fighting had ended, a massive program of economic and technical aid to the peoples of North and South Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia. More

1964, July 29 -  Ranger 7, an unmanned U.S. lunar probe reaches the Moon and takes the first close-up images of earths' satellite. During its final 17 minutes of flight, it sent back 4,316 images of the lunar surface. The last image taken 2.3 seconds before impact had a resolution of just half-a-meter.  More

1965, July 26 - Maldives Independence Day

1965, July 29 - The 1st Brigade, 101st Airborne Division, arrives in Vietnam Cam Ranh Bay. The 101st fought in 45 operations spanning seven years. Seventeen members of the 101st Airborne received the Congressional Medal of Honor for their conduct in combat in this conflict. The unit officially came home to Fort Campbell on April 6, 1972. The 101st Airborne suffered heavy casualties during the Vietnam War, 4,011 were killed in action, and 18,259 were wounded. This was over twice the amount of soldiers lost from their unit during WWII. More

1965, July 30 - Medicare is signed into law by President Lyndon Johnson at the Truman Library in Independence, Missouri. His gesture drew attention to the 20 years it had taken Congress to enact government health insurance for senior citizens after Harry Truman had proposed it. In fact, Medicare’s history dated back even further. More

1969, July 20 - American astronauts Neil Armstrong and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin land the Apollo 11 mission Lunar Module “Eagle” in the Sea of Tranquility and become the first humans to walk on the moon. More

1971, July 1 - The Twenty-Sixth Amendment to the Constitution is ratified, lowering the voting age from 21 to 18.

1971,  July 30 - Japanese Air Force, Fighter Jet collides with a passenger plane, Boeing 727 operated by All Nippon Airways (ANA).  causing both aircraft to crash. All 162 people aboard the airliner were killed, while the Sabre pilot, a trainee with the JASDF, freed himself from his airplane after the collision and parachuted to safety. More

1973, July 10 - The Bahamas gains its independence by the United Kingdom Government, Order in Council.  This date is now celebrated as the country's Independence Day.

1973, July 31 - Delta Air Lines DC-9 Flight 723, on approach to Boston, Massachusetts slams into a seawall at the foot of the runway, spewing burning wreckage across the airport and killing 88 of the 89 people on board. The lone survivor was Leopold Chouinard, who clung to life despite severe injuries but, tragically, died in the hospital four months after the crash. More

1975, July 5 - Cape Verde Independence Day from Portugal - Effective date of the Agreement Between Portugal and Partido Africano para a Independência da Guiné e Cabo Verde (PAIGC) signed on 18 December 1974.[

1975, July 5 - Guinea-Bissau Independence Day - Declaration of independence during the Guinea-Bissau War of Independence.[52]

1975, July 6 - Comoros Independence Day from France. Unilateral declaration of independence by the Chamber of Deputies of Comoros following the 1974 Comorian independence referendum.[

1976, July 4 - The United States celebrates its bicentennial with a day of parades, concerts, and fireworks.

1976, July 20 - Viking 1 Lands on Mars' on the western slope of Chryse Planitia (the Plains of Gold). Viking 1 found a place in history when it became the first U.S. mission to land a spacecraft safely on the surface of Mars and return images of the surface. More

1976, July 28 - A 7.8 earthquake razes the Chinese city of Tangshan located about 68 miles east of Beijing. The official death toll,  reported was 242,000 persons, but it may have been twice as high. At least 700,000 more people were injured and the property damage was extensive. More

1978, July 25 - Louise Brown gives birth to the world’s first "test-tube baby", in Oldham, northwest England. More 

1979, July 12 - Kiribati Independence Day

1980, July 30 - Vanuatu, achieves independence from the United Kingdom and France under Prime Minister Walter Lini.

1982, July 9 - Pan Am Flight 759, a Boeing 727 flight from Miami to San Diego, with stops in New Orleans and Las Vegas. crashed in the New Orleans suburb of Kenner after being forced down shortly after takeoff due to wind shear which the pilots were not informed about prior to takeoff. All 145 on board, as well as 8 people on the ground, were killed. More

1985, July 10 - French secret service agents planted two bombs and sank the Greenpeace Flagship The Rainbow Warrior. One crew member was killed. More

1985, July 13 - Live Aid, a global rock concert for famine relief in Ethiopia, is held in London and Philadelphia.

1988, July 3 - The U.S. cruiser USS Vincennes shoots down the Iranian passenger jet, Iran Air 655, with a surface-to-air missile, killing 290 people. More

1990, July 27 - The Jamaat al Muslimeen attempted coup d'état in Trinidad and Tobago.

1994, July 4 - Rwandan Patriotic Front troops capture the Rwandan capital of Kigali, ending the Rwandan Genocide.

1994, July 12 - Germany's Constitutional Court ended the ban on sending German troops to fight outside the country which  had been in effect since the end of World War II. The ruling allowed German troops to join in United Nations and NATO
peace-keeping missions. On July 14, German military units marched in Bastille Day celebrations in Paris, the first appearance of German troops there since World War II.

1995, July 23 - Alan Hale and Thomas Bopp separately discover the Comet Hale–Bopp. The comet becomes visible to the naked eye a year later and stays visible for a record 18 months, due to its massive nucleus size. This is twice as long as the Great Comet of 1811, the previous record holder. Accordingly, Hale–Bopp was dubbed the great comet of 1997. Sadly, 39 people who were part of the "Heaven's Gate" cult in San Diego committed mass suicide as the comet came close to Earth. More 

1996, July 5 - Dolly, the most famous sheep of all time is born in the lab from DNA taken from an adult sheep’s mammary gland. She was the first mammal to be cloned from an adult cell, rather than an embryo. A major scientific achievement which also raised ethical concerns. More

1996, July 17 - TWA Flight 800 departed Kennedy International Airport in New York bound for Paris but exploded in mid-air 12 minutes after takeoff.  All 212 passengers and 17 crew members on board were killed. Although it could not be determined with certainty, the likely ignition source was a short circuit.  Problems with the aircraft's wiring were found, including evidence of arcing in the fuel quantity indication system (FQIS) wiring that enters the tank. More

1997, July 1 - Britain returns Hong Kong to China, ending over 150 years of British rule. More

2000, July 25 - Air France Flight 4590, a Concorde passenger jet on an international charter flight from Paris to New York, crashes shortly after takeoff,. All 109 people on board and four on the ground were killed. It was the only fatal Concorde accident during its 27-year operational history. More

2005, July 7 - A series of coordinated terrorist attacks in London, England, kill 52 people and injure over 700.

2009, July 7 - The United Nations declares a famine in parts of southern Somalia, the first time the term has been used in almost 20 years.

2011, July 9 - South Sudan gains independence from Sudan ending a decades-long civil war and becoming the world's newest country.

2011, July 21 - The Space Shuttle Atlantis completes STS-135, its 33rd and final mission landing on Runway 15 at Kennedy Space Center's Shuttle Landing Facility. More

2013,  July 3 - Egypt's first democratically elected president, Mohamed Morsi, is overthrown in a military coup.

2014, July 17 -  Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 shot down over Ukraine by a Russian-made surface-to-air missile, fired by Moscow-backed separatists. In January of 2023, the European Court of Human Rights confirmed Russia's involvement in the downing of flight MH17. More

2015, July 14 - Iran and six world powers reach a historic nuclear deal in Vienna, Austria.to limit Iran's nuclear program in exchange for lifting economic sanctions.

2016, July 14 - Terrorist Attack in the city of Nice kills 86 people and injures 434 others. More

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On June 14 , 1777, the Second Continental Congress issued a resolution adopting the Flag of the United States. It wasn't until 1949, that Congress approved the national observance, and President Harry Truman signed it into law.

There have been twenty-seven official versions of the flag to date. The current version of the flag dates to August 21, 1959, after Hawaii became the fiftieth state. More

These are some of many widely recognized historic events that occurred during the month of June, listed by year. Dates provided for earlier time events may be approximate. Select another month

323 BCE, June 10 - Death of Alexander the Great: The renowned military leader and conqueror, Alexander the Great, dies in Babylon at the age of 32. More

632 CE, June 8 - Death of Prophet Muhammad: The founder of Islam, Prophet Muhammad, passes away in Medina, Saudi Arabia, marking a significant event in the history of the Islamic faith.

763 CE, June 15 - The Assyrian solar eclipse, also known as the Bur-Sagale eclipse, is recorded in Assyrian eponym lists that most likely dates to the tenth year of the reign of king Ashur-dan III. The eclipse is identified as the  one that occurred on 15 June 763 BC in the proleptic Julian calendar and helped and was helpful to understand the chronology of Mesopotamian history and correlate it to certain events mentioned in the Old Testament. More

793 CE, June 8 - The Viking raid on the monastery of Lindisfarne, the sacred heart of the Northumbrian kingdom in England occurs, highlighting the  Viking expansion, and incursions throughout Europe. More 

930, CE, Iceland's first parliament, the Althing (Icelandic: Alþingi), was established in Thingvellir National Park . A flag still stands in the exact spot today in commemoration. More

987 CE, June 1 - Coronation of Hugh Capet: Hugh Capet is crowned as the King of the Franks, marking the beginning of the Capetian dynasty and the consolidation of power in France.

1005, June 29 - The Battle of Lechfeld takes place between the East Frankish (German) forces under Henry II and the invading Hungarian armies, resulting in a decisive victory for the East Frankish forces.

1014, June 23 - The Battle of Clontarf occurs in Ireland, where the forces of Brian Boru, the High King of Ireland, defeat the Viking invaders.

1065, June 28 - Westminster Abbey is consecrated in London, England, becoming the site of coronations and burials for English monarchs.

1071, June 29 - The Battle of Manzikert takes place, where the Seljuk Turks defeat the Byzantine Empire, leading to the gradual decline of Byzantine power in Anatolia.

1099, June 7 - The Crusaders begin the Siege of Jerusalem, a pivotal event during the First Crusade that eventually leads to the capture of the city. On June 15, the Crusaders enter Jerusalem and establish the Kingdom of Jerusalem, marking the culmination of the First Crusade.

1108, June 1 - Louis VI is crowned as the King of France.

1119, June 24 - The Order of the Knights Templar is founded in Jerusalem.

1139, June 24 - The Battle of Ourique takes place, where Afonso Henriques defeats the Almoravids and establishes the Kingdom of Portugal.

1153, June 6 - The Treaty of Wallingford is signed, ending the civil war in England between King Stephen and Empress Matilda, and establishing Henry II as the undisputed king.

1162, June 18 - Thomas Becket, the Archbishop of Canterbury, is formally canonized as a saint by Pope Alexander III.

1178, June 18 - Five monks in Canterbury, England, observe an unusual phenomenon on the moon; a meteor event,now known as the "Canterbury Tales"
 
1184, June 16 - The Battle of Fimreite takes place in Norway, where King Sverre Sigurdsson defeats the forces of Magnus Erlingsson, securing his rule.

1191, June 8 - Richard I of England (Richard the Lionheart) arrives in Acre, beginning his involvement in the Third Crusade.

1215, June 15 - King John of England signs the Magna Carta and authenticates it with a wax seal. The Magna Carta was the product of political crisis and an uprising of the leading men of England. It was the first document to put into writing the principle that the king and his government was not above the law and placed limits of royal authority by establishing law as a power in itself. More 

1314, June 23 - The Battle of Bannockburn begins between the army of Robert the Bruce, King of Scots, and the army of King Edward II of England. It was a decisive engagement in #ref44589" class="md-crosslink" data-show-preview="true" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: var(--link-color); text-decoration: var(--link-decoration);">Scottish history whereby the Scots defeated the English, regained their independence, and established Robert the Bruce as Robert I. a major turning point in the war, which ended 14 years later with the de jure restoration of Scottish independence under the Treaty of Edinburgh–Northampton. More

1381, June 14 - Peasants' Revolt begins in England. More

1494, June 7 - Spain and Portugal sign the Treaty of Tordesillas, dividing the New World between them.

1519, June 28 - Charles I of Spain, crowned Holy Roman Emperor, becomes Charles V. Becoming one of the most powerful European rulers of all times. he reign over territories in Europe and the Americas. His goal as Holy Roman Emperor was to unite Europe, but instead, his reign was filled with war and conflict. More

1520,  June 30 - the Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés forces fight their way out of Tenochtitlan suffering severe loses as the Aztecs revolt against their rule. Many Spanish soldiers drowned in Lake Texcoco. The exit is known as the "Noche Triste" or “the Night of Sadness".

1523, June 6 - Sweden National Day. Celebrates the election of King Gustav Vasa and the new constitutions of  1809 and 1974. The election of King Gustav Vasa was the de facto end of the Kalmar Union and has been seen as a formal declaration of independence.

1647,  June 10 - The Puritan-led English Parliament during the republican Commonwealth, passed an ordinance which declared the celebration of Christmas to be a punishable offence. Although many people continued to celebrate Christmas in private, Christmas effectively ceased to be celebrated in the great majority of churches overtime. It wasn't until the restoration of the monarchy in 1660 that Christmas Day celebrations were brought back. In Scotland Celebrating Christmas was still deeply frowned upon for centuries. In fact, the 25th December only became a public holiday in Scotland in 1958. More  

1665, June 7 - The first recorded victims of the Great Plague of London die - 

1676, June 1 - The battle at Öland takes in the Baltic Sea, off the east coast of Öland during the Scanian War, resulting in the defeat of the Swedish navy by the allied Danish-Dutch forces. More 

1692, June 7 - Jamaica's Port Royal is consumed by an earthquake causing two thirds of the town to sink into the sea and destroying  every building or other substantial structure in the Island, A series of fires and hurricanes followed and the town was never restored to its former British naval station glory and remains as a small fishing village today. Two thousand people died immediately and an additional 3000 died of injuries and disease shortly after. More 

1692, June 10 - Bridget Bishop, is executed on Proctor's Ledge at Gallows Hill in Salem, becoming the first person to be executed during the Salem witch trials. More

1752, June 10 - Benjamin Franklin’s famous kite-in-a-thunderstorm experiment is said to have taken place on this day in 1752. More 

1772, June 10 - Rhode Islanders, led by merchant John Brown, board and set fire to the revenue cutter HMS Gaspee in Narragansett Bay whereupon her powder magazine exploded. Efforts of the British authorities to learn the names of the culprits were unsuccessful since the public sentiment was in accord with the venture, despite the sizable reward that had been offered. More 

1775, June 14 - The U.S. Army is officially born as the Second Continental Congress founds a united army to bring the 13 colonies together in the fight for independence from Great Britain. The Army was founded just months into the American Revolutionary War and predates the signing of the Declaration of Independence bymore than a year. More 

1775, June 15 - The Continental Congress votes to appoint George Washington, the commander of the colonies' first official army. and he accepts the assignment and signs his commission. More

1775, June 18 - The Battle of Bunker Hill takes place near Boston, Mass, in the early stages of the American Revolutionary War.

1775, June 22 - The Continental Congress approves the first release of  $1 million in bills of credit (paper currency) to help fund the American Revolutionary War. Another $1 million was authorized in July. By the end of 1775, Congress had authorized a total of $6 million bills of credit.  The currency quickly lost value, partly because it was not backed by a physical asset like gold or silver, but also due to the fact that too many bills were printed. The loss in value inspired the term "not worth a continental". More

1776, June 11 -  The Continental Congress creates a committee to draft the  Declaration of Independence. The committee members were: Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, and Robert R. Livingston. More

1777, June 13 - Marquis De Lafayette accompanied by Baron De Kalb arrive on North Island, Georgetown County, S.C.  to serve alongside General Washington. Lafayette was 19 at the time. He and George Washington went on to develop a strong bond. More

1777, June 14 - The Second Continental Congress issues a resolution adopting the Flag of the United States. It wasn't until 1949, that Congress approved the national observance, and President Harry Truman signed it into law. There have been twenty-seven official versions of the flag to date. The current version of the flag dates to August 21, 1959, after Hawaii became the fiftieth state. More 

1783, June 5 - The first sustained flight occurred as a hot-air balloon was launched at Annonay, France, by brothers Joseph and Jacques Montgolfier, reaching an altitude of about 6,000 feet.

1783, June 8 - The Iceland Laki volcanic eruption starts, lasting eight months. Haze from the eruption was reported from Iceland to Syria. The long eruption caused the death of 10,000 or  bout one-quarter of the human residents by famine. It also caused widespread famines throughout Asia and Europe. In Iceland, the haze lead to the loss of most of the island's livestock from eating fluorine contaminated grass), and crop failure cused by acid rain. More

1788, June 21 -  New Hampshire ratifies the U.S. Constitution and becomes the 9th State and last necessary state of the original 13 colonies to ratify the U.S. Constitution. More

1788, June 21 - The  Constitution became the official framework of the government of the United States of America when New Hampshire became the ninth of 13 states to ratify it, thus replacing the post-Revolutionary War Articles of Confederation. More

1788, June 25 - Virginia ratifies the U.S Constitution and becomes the 10th State. More

1792, June 1 - Kentucky was admitted to the U.S and becomes the 15th State. More

1796, June 1 - Tennessee was admitted to the U.S and becomes the 16th State. More

1812, June 18 - The War of 1812 begins. President James Madison signed into law a resolution passed by Congress declaring war with Great Britain. The War of 1812 ended December 24, 1814 when the two nations met in Belgium and signed the Treaty of Ghent. ending the war and restoring the previously recognized boundaries between the United States and British territory in North America. The Senate unanimously ratified the Treaty of Ghent on February 16, 1815. More

1815, June 18 - Napoleon Bonaparte is defeated at the Battle of Waterloo, ending the Napoleonic Wars. More

1836, June 15 - Arkansas was admitted to the U.S and becomes the 25th State. More

1837, June 20 - Queen Victoria ascends to the British throne at the age of 18. More 

1846, June 14 - The capture of Retired Mexican General Vallejo at  his home in Sonoma by ragtag group of about 30 armed Americans, marks the start of the short lived, California Republic or Bear Flag Republic, an unrecognized breakaway from Mexico, that for 25 days militarily controlled an area in and around what is now Sonoma County in California, north of San Francisco. Three weeks later, on July 5, 1846, the Republic's military of 100 to 200 men was subsumed into the California Battalion commanded by Captain John C. Frémont, who had encouraged the revolt. The battalion officially became the U.S. Army’s California Battalion, and went on to fight — this time officially, in the battle for California. More

1846, June 15 - The Oregon Treaty is signed, establishing the U.S.-Canadian border at the 49th parallel. Tribes are not consulted as the 49th Parallel becomes the boundary. Many Native people on either side of the line wake up in a different country, living under different laws than those they knew the night before. More 

1858, June 16 - Senatorial candidate Abraham Lincoln addresses more than 1,000 delegates at the Illinois Republican Convention in Springfield, delivering a warning that the nation was facing a crisis that could destroy the Union. Paraphrasing a passage from the New Testament: “a house divided against itself cannot stand.” The issue dividing the nation was slavery and the extent of federal power over individual states’ rights. More

1863, June 20 - West Virginia is admitted to the U.S and becomes the 35th State. More

1864, June 15 - Arlington officially becomes a national cemetery by order of Secretary of War Edwin Stanton. The original cemetery was 200 acres, and  as of early 2020, has grown to 639 acres. Arlington became a segregated cemetery, just like all national cemeteries at the time, and remained segregated by race and rank until 1948, when President Harry S. Truman desegregated the military. Approximately 400,000 veterans and their eligible dependents are buried at Arlington National Cemetery. Service members from every one of America’s major wars, from the Revolutionary War to today's conflicts, are interred at ANC. More 

1864, June 27 - Colorado Territory Governor, John Evans issues a proclamation commanding all “Friendly” Native Americans of the Cheyenne and Arapaho to go to Fort Lyon to receive supplies and to find safety. Unfortunately, this was in direct conflict with the standing order at all Forts within the Territory of Colorado that all members of the Military should shoot and kill any Native American that approached a Fort and with a second proclamation issued the following day by Evans inviting white settlers to indiscriminately “kill and destroy all…hostile Indians. These duplicitous political maneuverings led to the November 29 Sand Creek Massacre, when over the course of eight hours the American troops killed around 230 Cheyenne and Arapaho people composed mostly of women, children, and the elderly who had been directed by the American Military to camp there. More 

1865, June 19 - Union General Gordon Granger announces in Galveston, Texas, that all slaves in Texas are free, an event, now celebrated as "Juneteenth". More

1866, June 7 -  Chief Seattle (Si’ahl) passes away (1780-1866), thirteen years after the city was named for him. He was buried in the Suquamish Tribal Cemetery, not far from Seattle. The name “Seattle” is an Anglicization of Si'ahl. Chief Seattle's mother Sholeetsa, was Duwamish (dxʷdəwʔabš} and his father Shweabe was chief of the the Suquamish Tribe. It is said that Si’ahl was born at his mother's Duwamish village of Stukw on the Black River, in what is now the city of Kent. More

1866, June 16 - The House  passes the Joint Resolution proposing the 14th Amendment to the Constitution and submits it to the states. On July 28, 1868, the 14th amendment was declared, in a certificate of the Secretary of State, ratified by the necessary 28 of the 37 States, and became part of the supreme law of the land. More

1867, June 19 - Maximilian was executed on a hill outside Querétaro, bringing an end to France's short lived Mexican empire. More
 
1872, June 6 -  Pioneering feminist, Susan B. Anthony, was fined for voting in a presidential election at Rochester, New York. More 

1876, June 4 - A train named the Transcontinental Express arrives in San Francisco 83 hours and 39 minutes after it left New York City. More

1876, June 25 - The Battle of the Little Bighorn, known to the Lakota and other Plains Indians as the Battle of the Greasy Grass, takes place in southern Montana. The battle was fought along the ridges and steep bluffs of the Little Bighorn River, in south-central Montana , between warriors of the Lakota Sioux, Northern Cheyenne, and Arapaho tribes, led by Sitting Bull, battling the 7th Regiment of the US Cavalry, led by Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer along with their Crow, and Arikara scouts.  More 

1877, June 14 - Henry Flipper, at age 21,  becomes the first African American graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point. More

1885, June 17- The disassembled Statue of Liberty arrives in New York aboard the French steamer Isere . The statue, a gift from the people of France, was designed by French sculptor Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi and its metal framework was built by Gustave Eiffel. The statue was dedicated on October 28, 1886 and has became known around the world as an enduring symbol of freedom and democracy. More 

1886, June 6 - The Great Seattle Fire, the most destructive fire in the history of Seattle, destroyed the entire central business district of Seattle, Washington and part of the Water Front. The fire was accidentally started by an overheated glue pot in a carpentry shop, lasted less than a day, burning through the afternoon and into the night. Seattle quickly reacted, wooden buildings were banned and rebuilt using brick buildings that sat 20 feet (6.1 m) above the original street level. Its population swelled during reconstruction, becoming the largest city in the newly admitted state of Washington. More

1893, June 7 - Gandhi 's first act of civil disobedience took place in South Africa when he went there to work  for an Indian company after studying to become a lawyer in England. When railroad officials made Gandhi sit in a third-class coach even though he had purchased a first-class ticket, Gandhi refused and police forced him off the train. This event changed his life. More

1896, June 4 - Henry Ford, the founder of Ford Motor Company takes his first car for a spin on the city of Detroit. More 

1896, June 15 - The Meiji Great Sanriku Tsunami hits the pacific coast of the north-eastern Japan, called as the Sanriku Region. The highest tsunami run-up height was 125 feet (38 m) at Ryori Shirahama in Iwate Prefecture.  The death toll was 22,000. The economic damage amounted to about 10% of the  then national budget. After this tsunami, several villages were relocated to higher ground. More

1898, June 12 - The Philippines declares its independence from Spain after being a Spanish colony since 1565. Later that year, the Treaty of Paris ended the Spanish-American War and Spain ceded the Philippines to the US, the islands were occupied by U.S. forces. and the Philippines became an American colony until after World War II. More 

1900, June 1 - The Boxer Rebellion begins in China. An uprising against against the spread of Western and Japanese influence including western religion begun by peasants but was eventually supported by the government. The Boxer Rebellion was put down by the Eight-Nation Alliance of the United States, the United Kingdom, Russia, France, Japan, Germany, Italy, and Austria-Hungary. More

1903, June 16 - The Ford Motor Company was officially incorporated. Founder Henry Ford and 12 investors launched his venture in a converted factory on Mack Avenue in Detroit. It was his third attempt at establishing an automotive business. At the time, the company could only produce a few cars a day. More 

1903, June 30 - Einstein publishes his Special Theory of Relativity, which describes his revolutionary ideas about light, time and energy. He revisited the theory in a 1912 manuscript when he was asked to write several book chapters. The outbreak of World War I in 1914 delayed publication, and when the project resumed, Einstein considered this manuscript outdated and it was never published. More 

1905, June 7 - Norway Union Dissolution and Independence Day from Sweden. (National Day, commemorating the Independence from Denmark and the Constitution of Norway is celebrated  on17 May 17, 1814).

1910, June 15th - The British Terra Nova Expedition led by Captain Robert Falcon Scott, sails from Cardiff, Wales for Antarctica. Scott wanted to continue the scientific work that he had begun when leading the Discovery Expedition from 1901 to 1904, and wanted to be the first to reach the geographic South Pole. He and four companions attained the pole on 17 January 1912, where they found that a Norwegian team led by Roald Amundsen had preceded them by 34 days. Scott's party of five died on the return journey from the pole. More 

1913, June 7 - The first successful ascent of Denali takes place. Four men stood on the top of Denali, the highest peak in North America, for the first time. Walter Harper, Harry Karstens, Hudson Stuck and Robert Tatum made history. More

1914,  June 28 - Archduke Francis Ferdinand, Crown Prince of Austria and his wife were assassinated at Sarajevo, touching off a conflict between the Austro-Hungarian government and Serbia that escalated into World War I. More

1916, June 3 - U.S. President Woodrow Wilson signs the National Defense Act which authorized an expanded Army of 175,000, and an enlarged National Guard of 450,000 and brought the states’ militias more under federal control and gave the president authority, in case of war or national emergency, to mobilize the National Guard for the duration of the emergency.

1917, June 15 - The United States Congress passes the Espionage Act, building on the 1911, Defense Secrets Act, with important new elements added. More

1917, June 26 - The first American troops arrive in Europe. However, the American Expeditionary Forces (AEF) did not fully participate at the front until October, when the First Division, one of the best-trained divisions of the AEF, entered the trenches at Nancy, France. More

1919, June 4 - The 19th amendment granting women the right to vote is passed by Congress. The amendment passed its final hurdle of obtaining the agreement of three-fourths of the states when Tennessee became the 36th state to ratify the amendment on August 18, 1920.  U.S. Secretary of State Bainbridge Colby certifies the 19th Amendment on August 26, 1920, giving women the Constitutional right to vote. It had been first proposed in Congress, forty two years earlier in1878, More

1919, June 28 - The signing of the Treaty of Versailles formally ended World War I. According to the terms, Germany was assessed sole blame for the war, it had to pay reparations of $15 Billion. It was also forced to give up Alsace-Lorraine and all overseas colonies. The treaty also prohibited German rearmament.

1922, June 14 - Warren G. Harding became the first U.S. President to broadcast a message over the radio. 

1923, June 27 - The first successful aerial refueling takes place when a DH-4B carrying Lts. Virgil Hine and Frank W. Seifert passed gasoline through a hose to another DH-4B flying beneath it carrying Lts Lowell H. Smith and John P. Richter. More

1924, June 2 - The government of the United States confers citizenship on all Native Americans born within the territorial limits of the country. The right to vote, however, was governed by state law; until 1957, some states barred Native Americans from voting. More

1934, June 30 - Germany, Chancellor and Nazi leader Adolf Hitler orders a political purge intended to consolidate his power and alleviate the concerns of the German military about the role of Ernst Röhm and the Sturmabteilung (SA), the Nazis' paramilitary organization, known colloquially as "Brownshirts". The purge resulted in the killing of hundreds of Nazis whom he believed had the potential to become political enemies including Röhm. The actions became known as the "Night of the Long Knives". The bloody purge was followed by "Gleichschaltung" the process of Nazification by which Adolf Hitler — leader of the Nazi Party in Germany — successively established a system of totalitarian control and coordination over all aspects of German society "from the economy and trade associations to the media, culture and education" More

1938, June 25 - Fair Labor Standards Act is passed, setting the first minimum wage in the U.S. at 25 cents per hour.

1940, June 10 -  Norway surrenders to Nazi Germany, two months after Germany attacked Denmark and Norway on April 9, 1940. On that same day, Denmark surrendered and was occupied. The Norwegians resisted for two months but surrendered on June 9, 1940.

1940, June 10 - Italy declares war against France and Great Britain. The Italian entry into the war widened its scope considerably in Africa and the Mediterranean Sea.

1941, June 22 -  Nazi Germany Invades the Soviet Union during the Second World War . The Invasion, named Barbarossa, was the largest land offensive in human history, with over 10 million combatants taking part.

1942, June 4 - The battle of Midway -  Early on the morning of June 4, aircraft from four Japanese aircraft carriers attacked and severely damaged the US base on Midway. Unbeknownst to the Japanese, the US carrier forces were just to the east of the island and ready for battle. More

1942, June 11 - Eisenhower is appointed by Army Chief of Staff Marshall to oversee all U.S. operations in Europe. 14 days later, on June 25, 1942, Eisenhower arrived at U.S. headquarters in London and took command.

1944, June 4 - Rome was liberated by the U.S. 5th Army, led by General Mark Clark.

1944, June 6 - Allied forces launch the D-Day invasion of Normandy, France, during World War II - Over 160,000 Allied troops landed on the beaches of Normandy along a 50-mile stretch of heavily-fortified French coastline to fight Nazi Germany. Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower called the operation a crusade in which, “we will accept nothing less than full victory.” By day’s end, the Allies gained a foot-hold in Continental Europe. The cost in lives on D-Day was high; more than 9,000 Allied Soldiers were killed or wounded. More

1944, June 17 - Iceland National Day. Effective date of the dissolution of the Danish–Icelandic Act of Union following the 1944 Icelandic constitutional referendum.

1944, June 22 - The American forces secured Okinawa. The battle for Okinawa drug out over nearly three months and included some of the worst kamikaze attacks of the warThe United States sustained over 49,000 casualties including more than 12,500 men killed or missing. More

1944, June 24 - President Franklin D. Roosevelt Signs the G.I. Bill. More 

1945, June 26 - The United Nations Charter was signed by 50 nations in San Francisco. The United Nations Charter was ratified on October 24, 1945. More

1948, June 24 - Joseph Stalin, the Soviet leader, imposes the Berlin Blockade cutting off all land and river transit between West Berlin and West Germany. 

1948, June 26 - In response to the Soviet blockade, the  U.S. and Great Britain begin an emergency airlift of food and fuel to West Berlin to relieve two million isolated West Berliners. The Russians blockade of Berlin ended on May 12, 1949. More

1950, June 25 - North Korea invades South Korea following clashes along the border. North Korea was supported by China and the Soviet Union. Two days later, on June 27, President Harry S. Truman orders U.S. air and naval forces to South Korea to aid the democratic nation in repulsing the invasion and in support of a U.N. resolution calling for an end to hostilities. The fighting ended with an armistice on 27 July 1953, formally dividing the country at the 38th parallel into North and South Korea. The Korean War was among the most destructive conflicts of the modern era, with approximately 3 million war fatalities including over 36,000 Americans. More

1951, June 14 - The first UNIVAC, acquired by the United States Census Bureau is dedicated. The UNIVAC I (Universal Automatic Computer I) was the first general-purpose electronic digital computer for business application produced in the U.S. Its design was started by J. Presper Eckert and John Mauchly, the inventors of the ENIAC who owned EMCC. The company was acquired by Remington Rand which completed the work. (Remington Rand later became part of Sperry, now Unisys) More

1953, June 10 - President Eisenhower rejects isolationism in the Cold War.  More

1953, June 19 - Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were executed by electrocution at Sing Sing Prison in New York. They had been found guilty of providing vital information on the atomic bomb to the Soviet Union. More 

1954, June 13 - The words "under God" are added to the Pledge of Allegiance. The phrase was added by an Act of Congress and signed into law by President Dwight D. Eisenhower. The original Pledge of Allegiance was written by Francis Bellamy a Baptist minister, in August 1892. Bellamy had hoped that the pledge would be used by citizens in any country. The Pledge was published in the September 8th issue of The Youth's Companion. The addition of the words "under God" was intended to distinguish the United States from atheistic communism during the Cold War and to emphasize the religious heritage of the United States. 

1954, June 27 - Guatemalan President Jacobo Arbenz Guzman resigns after pressure from a clandestine CIA operation approved by U.S. President Dwight Eisenhower, leading to a military take over led by Colonel Castillo Armas. More

1956, June 25 - Detroit built the last Packard that was actually designed by Packard. More

1960, June 26 - Madagascar Independence Day from France.

1960, June 30 - Democratic Republic of the Congo Independence Day

1961, The Antarctic Treaty goes into effect to regulate international relations with respect to Antarctica, "all land and ice shelves south of 60°S latitude parallel". The 12 original signatories were Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Chile, France, Japan, New Zealand, Norway, South Africa, the USSR, the United Kingdom and the United States.

1962, June 1 - Samoa Independence Day. While independence was achieved at the beginning of January, Samoa celebrates its independence day on June 1.

1963, June 11 -  Black students Vivian Malone and James Hood registered for classes at The University of Alabama despite then-Gov. George C. Wallace’s unsuccessful attempt to block their enrollment. More

1963, June 16 - Soviet cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova becomes the first woman in space. Valentina Tereshkova became the first woman to travel to space when, as part of the Vostok 6 mission. During her Vostok 6 solo mission, she orbited Earth 48 times and spent almost three days in space (two days, 23 hours, and 12 minutes). Tereshkova remains the only female astronaut or cosmonaut to make a solo space journey, the youngest woman to fly to space and the first civilian to journey to space. More

1963, June 20 - The U.S. and Soviet representatives signed the "Memorandum of Understanding Between the United States of America and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics Regarding the Establishment of a Direct Communications Link." (The Hot line) More

1965, June 3 - Major Edward H. White II steps out of the Gemini capsule, becoming the first American astronaut to walk in space. On March 18, 1965, Soviet cosmonaut Aleksei A. Leonov was the first man ever to walk in space. 

1965, June 7 - The U.S. Supreme Court struck down a Connecticut law banning contraception. With tis decision, the Supreme Court guaranteed the right to privacy, including freedom from government intrusion into matters of birth control.

1966, June 13 - the U.S. Supreme Court hands down its decision in Miranda v. Arizona establishing the principle that all criminal suspects must be informed of their specific legal rights before interrogation.  Now considered standard police procedure. This decision was based on a case in which a defendant, Ernesto Miranda, was accused of robbery, kidnapping, and rape. During police interrogation, he confessed to the crimes.

1967, June 5-10 - The Six-Day War takes place between Israel and Arab neighbors Egypt, Jordan, and Syria. The Six-Day War began as Israel launched a series of preemptive surprise  airstrikes against Egyptian airfields and other facilities, launching its war effort. Egyptian forces were caught by surprise, and nearly all of Egypt's military aerial assets were destroyed, giving Israel air supremacy. Simultaneously, the Israeli military launched a ground offensive into Egypt's Sinai Peninsula as well as the Egyptian-occupied Gaza Strip. The war ended with Israel in control of the Gaza Strip, the Sinai Peninsula, the West Bank, and Jerusalem.  More

1967, June 8 - The USS Liberty is attacked by Israeli Air Force jet fighter aircraft and Israeli Navy motor torpedo boats during the Six-Day War. The USS Liberty was in international waters north of the Sinai Peninsula. The intelligence ship, was well-marked as an American vessel and only lightly armed. The Israeli attack killed 34 US sailors, and wounded 171 in the two-hour attack. More:  USS Liberty Veterans Association and CIA Statement  

1967, June 13 Thurgood Marshall, then-Solicitor General, becomes the first Black American to be nominated to the U.S. Supreme  Court. He was nominated by President Lyndon B. Johnson, saying it was “the right thing to do, the right time to do it, the right man and the right place.” Marshall's pursuit for a legal career began with disappointment as the University of Maryland Law School, refused to open its doors to Black students. He wound up graduating first in his class at Howard University Law School. One of his first victories came against the University of Maryland, which had rejected a Black applicant on the basis of race alone. More

1968, June 5 - Presidential candidate  Robert Francis Kennedy was fatally shot on June 5, 1968 at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, California shortly after claiming victory in that state's crucial Democratic primary. He was 42 years old. More

1971, June, 13 - The New York Times began publication of the Pentagon Papers, a collection of top secret documents exposing U.S. strategy in the Vietnam War. More 

1971, June 30 - The three cosmonauts aboard the Soyuz 11, Georgy Dobrovolsky, Vladislav Volkov, and Viktor Patsayev, perished in space when the capsule depressurized during preparations for re-entry. They are the only humans known to have died in space.  More

1972, June 17 - Five men are arrested for breaking into the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate complex in Washington, D.C., leading to the Watergate scandal and the resignation of U.S. President Richard Nixon. More 

1972, June 18 - British European Airways Flight 548 passenger flight from London Heathrow to Brussels crashes near Staines, England, shortly after take-off killing all 118 people on board.  As of 2024, it remains the deadliest air accident (as opposed to terrorist incidents) in the United Kingdom. The aircraft suffered a deep stall in the third minute of its flight and crashed to the ground, narrowly missing a busy main road. More 

1972, June 23 - Title IX of the education amendments of 1972 is enacted into law in the United States. Title IX prohibits federally funded educational institutions from discriminating against students or employees based on sex. More

1972, June 29 - The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that capital punishment was a violation of the Eighth Amendment prohibiting "cruel and unusual punishment." The decision spared the lives of 600 individuals then sitting on death row. Four years later, in another ruling, the Court reversed itself and determined the death penalty was not cruel and unusual punishment. On October 4, 1976, the ban was lifted on the death penalty in cases involving murder.

1974 - June 1 - Cincinnati surgeon Henry J. Heimlich publishes, hirs stop-choking technique in the medical journal Emergency Medicine. The technique called, the Heimlich maneuver after its introduction,  involved thrusting inward and upward on the abdomen of choking victims and It quickly became a go-to method for saving those lives. The technique was renamed the "abdominal thrust" after the  American Red Cross introduced back blows to its official guidelines on treating choking in 2006 and Dr Heimlich disagreed that back blows should be used and asked that his name be removed from the guidelines. , 

1975, June 25 - Mozambique Independence Day from Portugal

1976, June 29 - Seychelles Independence Day.

1977, June 27 - Djibouti Independence Day from France

1979, June 18 - Jimmy Carter and Leonid Brezhnev sign the SALT-II nuclear treaty. The US Senate chose not to ratify the treaty in response to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, which took place later that year. The Supreme Soviet did not ratify it either. More

1982, June 30 - Deadline for ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment to the Constitution passes without the necessary
votes.

1982, June 14 - The Falklands War ends as the large Argentine garrison at Port Stanley surrenders to the British military. The Falkland Islands War was fought for the control of the Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas) and its dependencies, a territory long disputed by the warring nations. More

1985, June 14 - TWA Flight 847 is hijacked by Mohammed Ali Hamadei and a second terrorist brandishing grenades and pistols during a routine flight from Athens to Rome. More 

1985, June 27 - The iconic Route 66 is decertified, after 59 years of existence, by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials and votes to remove all its highway signs.  Route 66 stretched 2,200 miles from Chicago to Santa Monica in California More

1986, June 4 - Jonathan Pollard pleads guilty to espionage for selling top-secret U.S. military intelligence information to Israel.  More

1987, June 12 - In a speech in Berlin, President Reagan challenges Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev to ―tear down this wall‖ and open Eastern Europe to political and economic reform. More

1989, June 4 - Chinese military cracks down on pro-democracy protesters in Tiananmen Square, Beijing. More

1990, June 1 - George H.W. Bush and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev sign a bilateral agreement on Destruction and Non-production of Chemical Weapons and on Measures to Facilitate the Multilateral Convention on Banning Chemical Weapons"  The agreement was signed during a summit meeting in Washington D.C, The historic treaty called for an 80 percent reduction of their chemical weapon stockpiles under the oversight of inspectors from both countries. The agreement was intended to be the first step towards a global ban . By 1993, 150 other nations had joined the superpowers to sign a comprehensive treaty banning chemical weapons.

1990, June 21 - A 7.7M Earthquake in Iran, near the Caspian Sea, kills an estimated 50,000 people and injures another 135,000, leaving more than 500,000 homeless and destroying three cities (Rudbar, Manjil, and Lowshan) and 700 villages.

1990, June 25 - The U.S. Supreme Court ruled (5-4) that it was unconstitutional for any state to require, without providing other options, for a minor to notify both parents before obtaining an abortion.

1991, June 12 - Boris Yeltsin is elected the first democratically elected President of Russia.

1991, June 25 -  The Republics of Croatia and Slovenia declared their independence from Yugoslavia. Ethnic rivalries between Serbians and Croatians quickly erupted. About 200,000 were missing and presumed dead and over two million people became refugees.

1991, June, last Saturday - Day of Hungarian Freedom. Celebrates the restoration of Hungary's sovereignty after the withdrawal of Soviet troops in June 1991

1992, June 12 - Russia Day. The day commemorates the adoption of the Declaration of State Sovereignty of the Russian Soviet. It has been celebrated annually on 12 June since 1992. 

1993, June 26 - President Clinton orders missile attack against Iraq in retaliation for alleged plot to assassinate former President Bush.

1994, June 11 -  After 49 years, the Soviet military occupation of East Germany ended. At one time there had been 337,800 Soviet troops stationed in Germany. Over 300,000 Russians died during World War II in the Battle for Berlin.

1995, June 29 -  Two days after launch, U.S. space shuttle Atlantis, docks at Mir’s Kristall module as the two spacecraft flew 250 miles above the Lake Baikal region of eastern Russia, forming the world’s heaviest spacecraft up to that time – nearly half a million pounds. More 

1996, June 25 -  A tanker truck loaded with 25,000 pounds of explosives bomb is detonated near the Khobar Tower housing complex in Dhahran during the night, Saudi Arabia, killing 19 Airmen and injuring more than 400 U.S. and international military members and civilians. The towers housed coalition forces supporting Operation Southern Watch, a no-fly zone operation in Southern Iraq. More

1997, June 2 - Timothy McVeigh was convicted of the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, one of the deadliest acts of terrorism in American history. He was executed on June 11, 2001 for his crimes. More

1997, June 30 - In Hong Kong, the flag of the British Crown Colony was officially lowered at midnight and replaced by a new flag representing China's sovereignty and the official transfer of power.

2001, June 11 - Timothy McVeigh, responsible for the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, is executed by lethal injection. More

2004, June 28 - The U.S. returns sovereignty to an interim government in Iraq, but maintains roughly 135,000 troops in the country to fight a growing insurgency.

2006, June 19 -  Construction of the  Svalbard Global Seed Vault begins. The secure facility is built into the side of a mountain on Spitsbergen, the largest of the Svalbard islands, a Norwegian archipelago in the Arctic Ocean. The vault is intended to safeguard the seeds of the world’s food plants in the event of a global crisis. The vault was formally open with its first consignment of seeds on February 26, 2008. More

2009, June 11 - The World Health Organization (WHO) declares H1N1 swine flu to be a global pandemic, the first such incident in over forty years. The swine flu pandemic was the third recent flu pandemic involving the H1N1 virus; the first being the 1918 –1920 Spanish flu pandemic and the second being the 1977 Russian flu. There were 491,382 lab-confirmed) cases Some studies estimated that the number of cases including asymptomatic and mild cases was about 700 million to 1.4 billion people.  ( 11 to 21 percent of the global population of 6.8 billion at the time. Lab confirmed deaths were 18,449 with estimated excess deaths of 284,000 - More

2013, June 6 - Edward Snowden, a former CIA employee, reveals thousands of classified NSA documents to journalists Glenn Greenwald, Laura Poitras, Barton Gellman, and Ewen MacAskill. Snowden came to international attention after stories based on the material appeared in The Guardian, The Washington Post, and other publications. Later in June, Edward Snowden, comes forward and admits that he is the source of the recent NSA leaks. On September 2, 2020, a U.S. federal court ruled in United States v. Moalin that the U.S. intelligence's mass surveillance program exposed by Snowden was illegal and possibly unconstitutional. More at Business Insider and NPR

2015, June 26 - The U.S. Supreme Court legalizes same-sex marriage nationwide. More

2015, June 27 - Activist Bree Newsome removes the Confederate battle flag from a flagpole on the South Carolina Statehouse grounds. More 

2016, June 22 - The United Kingdom votes in a referendum to withdraw from the European Union, with 51.9 percent supporting Britain's exit (“Brexit”) and 48.1 percent opposing the move. it marked the first time a country had decided to leave the organization. The withdrawal process commenced following the referendum and the subsequent notification to the European Council on 29 March 2017. The actual withdraw was completed on 1 February 2020

Although the UK's withdrawal from the European Union took place on 1 February 2020, the Withdrawal Agreement came into force thenceforth, which regulated the orderly withdrawal of the UK from the EU while maintaining the application of the acquis communaitaire in their relations until 31 December 2020. More

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