1608Emperor Susenyos I of Ethiopia surprises an Oromo army at Ebenat; his army reportedly kills 12,000 Oromo at the cost of 400 of his men.
1648England's Long Parliament passes the "Vote of No Addresses", breaking off negotiations with King Charles I and thereby setting the scene for the second phase of the English Civil War.
1649The Second Ormonde Peace creates an alliance between the Irish Royalists and Confederates during the War of the Three Kingdoms. The coalition was then decisively defeated during the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland.
1773Captain James Cook leads the first expedition to sail south of the Antarctic Circle.
1781American Revolutionary War: Battle of Cowpens: Continental troops under Brigadier General Daniel Morgan defeat British forces under Lieutenant Colonel Banastre Tarleton at the battle in South Carolina.
1799Maltese patriot Dun Mikiel Xerri, along with a number of other patriots, is executed.
1811Mexican War of Independence: In the Battle of Calderón Bridge, a heavily outnumbered Spanish force of 6,000 troops defeats nearly 100,000 Mexican revolutionaries.
1873A group of Modoc warriors defeats the United States Army in the First Battle of the Stronghold, part of the Modoc War.
1885A British force defeats a large Dervish army at the Battle of Abu Klea in the Sudan.
1893Lorrin A. Thurston, along with the Citizens' Committee of Public Safety, led the Overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaii and the government of Queen Liliuokalani.
1899The United States takes possession of Wake Island in the Pacific Ocean.
1903El Yunque National Forest in Puerto Rico becomes part of the United States National Forest System as the Luquillo Forest Reserve.
1904Anton Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard receives its premiere performance at the Moscow Art Theatre.
1920Alcohol Prohibition begins in the United States as the Volstead Act goes into effect.
1941Franco-Thai War: Vichy French forces inflict a decisive defeat over the Royal Thai Navy.
1943World War II: Greek submarine Papanikolis captures the 200-ton sailing vessel Agios Stefanos and mans her with part of her crew.
1944World War II: Allied forces launch the first of four assaults on Monte Cassino with the intention of breaking through the Winter Line and seizing Rome, an effort that would ultimately take four months and cost 105,000 Allied casualties.
1945World War II: The Vistula–Oder Offensive forces German troops out of Warsaw.
1950The Great Brink's Robbery: Eleven thieves steal more than $2 million from an armored car company's offices in Boston.
1950United Nations Security Council Resolution 79 relating to arms control is adopted.
1961U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower delivers a televised farewell address to the nation three days before leaving office, in which he warns against the accumulation of power by the "military–industrial complex" as well as the dangers of massive spending, especially deficit spending.
1961Former Congolese Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba is murdered together with former Minister of Youth and Sports of the Republic of the Congo Maurice Mpolo and former Senator from Kasai Province Joseph Okito in circumstances suggesting the support and complicity of the governments of Belgium and the United States.
1966Palomares incident: A B-52 bomber collides with a KC-135 Stratotanker over Spain, killing seven airmen, and dropping three 70-kiloton nuclear bombs near the town of Palomares and another one into the sea.
1969Black Panther Party members Bunchy Carter and John Huggins are killed during a meeting in Campbell Hall on the campus of UCLA.
1977Capital punishment in the United States resumes after a ten-year hiatus, as convicted murderer Gary Gilmore is executed by firing squad in Utah.
1989Patrick Purdy opens fire at an elementary school in Stockton, California, killing five and wounding 31 others.
1991Gulf War: Operation Desert Storm begins early in the morning as aircraft strike positions across Iraq, it is also the first major combat sortie for the F-117. LCDR Scott Speicher's F/A-18C Hornet from VFA-81 is shot down by a Mig-25 and is the first American casualty of the War. Iraq fires eight Scud missiles into Israel in an unsuccessful bid to provoke Israeli retaliation.
1991Crown Prince Harald of Norway becomes King Harald V, following the death of his father, King Olav V.
1992During a visit to South Korea, Japanese Prime Minister Kiichi Miyazawa apologizes for forcing Korean women into sexual slavery during World War II.
1994The 6.7 Northridge earthquake shakes the Greater Los Angeles Area with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent), leaving 57 people dead and more than 8,700 injured.
1995The 6.9 Great Hanshin earthquake shakes the southern Hyōgo Prefecture with a maximum Shindo of 7, leaving 5,502–6,434 people dead, and 251,301–310,000 displaced.
1997Cape Canaveral Air Force Station: A Delta II carrying the GPS IIR-1 satellite explodes 13 seconds after launch, dropping 250 tons of burning rocket remains around the launch pad.
2007The Doomsday Clock is set to five minutes to midnight in response to North Korea's nuclear testing.
2008British Airways Flight 38 crashes short of the runway at Heathrow Airport, injuring 47.
2010Rioting begins between Muslim and Christian groups in Jos, Nigeria, results in at least 200 deaths.
2013Former cyclist Lance Armstrong confesses to his doping in an airing of Oprah's Next Chapter.
2013Shahzad Luqman is murdered by members of Golden Dawn in Petralona, Athens, leading the creation of new measures to combat race-based attacks in Greece.
2016President Barack Obama announces the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, an agreement intended to limit Iran's nuclear program.
2017The search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 is announced to be suspended.
2026Indonesia Air Transport ATR 42 crashed near Mount Bulusaraung in South Sulawesi, after losing contact en route to Makassar.
Nacimientos (260)
1342Philip the Bold, Duke of Burgundy (died 1404)
1429Antonio del Pollaiuolo, Italian artist (diedc. 1498)
1463Frederick III, Elector of Saxony (died 1525)
1463Antoine Duprat, French cardinal (died 1535)
1472Guidobaldo da Montefeltro, Italian captain (died 1508)
1484George Spalatin, German priest and reformer (died 1545)
1501Leonhart Fuchs, German physician and botanist (died 1566)
1504Pope Pius V (died 1572)
1517Henry Grey, Duke of Suffolk, English Duke (died 1554)
1560Gaspard Bauhin, Swiss botanist, physician, and academic (died 1624)
1574Robert Fludd, English physician, astrologer, and mathematician (died 1637)
1593William Backhouse, English alchemist and astrologer (died 1662)
1600Pedro Calderón de la Barca, Spanish playwright and poet (died 1681)
1612Thomas Fairfax, English general and politician (died 1671)
1640Jonathan Singletary Dunham, American settler (died 1724)
1659Antonio Veracini, Italian violinist and composer (died 1745)
1666Antonio Maria Valsalva, Italian anatomist and physician (died 1723)
1686Archibald Bower, Scottish historian and author (died 1766)
1693Melchor de Navarrete, Spanish colonial governor of Cartagena de Indias (Colombia, 1739 – 1742); of Spanish Florida (1749 – 1752); and of Yucatán (Mexico, 1754 – 1758) (died 1761)
1706Benjamin Franklin, American publisher, inventor, and politician, 6th President of Pennsylvania (died 1790)
1712John Stanley, English organist and composer (died 1786)
1719William Vernon, American businessman (died 1806)
1719Johann Elias Schlegel, German poet and critic (died 1749)
1728Johann Gottfried Müthel, German pianist and composer (died 1788)
1732Stanisław August Poniatowski, Polish-Lithuanian king (died 1798)
1734François-Joseph Gossec, French composer and conductor (died 1829)
1761Sir James Hall, 4th Baronet, Scottish geologist and geophysicist (died 1832)
1789August Neander, German historian and theologian (died 1850)
1793Antonio José Martínez, Spanish-American priest, rancher and politician (died 1867)
1814Ellen Wood, English author (died 1887)
1820Anne Brontë, English author and poet (died 1849)
1828Lewis A. Grant, American lawyer and general, Medal of Honor recipient (died 1918)
1828Ede Reményi, Hungarian violinist and composer (died 1898)
1832Henry Martyn Baird, American historian and academic (died 1906)
1834August Weismann, German biologist, zoologist, and geneticist (died 1914)
1850Joaquim Arcoverde de Albuquerque Cavalcanti, Brazilian cardinal (died 1930)
1850Alexander Taneyev, Russian pianist and composer (died 1918)
1851A. B. Frost, American author and illustrator (died 1928)
1853Alva Belmont, American suffragist (died 1933)
1853T. Alexander Harrison, American painter and academic (died 1930)
1857Wilhelm Kienzl, Austrian pianist, composer, and conductor (died 1941)