| | 46 BC - Titus Labienus bloodily defeats Julius Caesar in the Battle of Ruspina. |
| | 871 - Battle of Reading - Ethelred of Wessex fights, and is defeated by, a Danish invasion army. |
| | 1493 - Christopher Columbus leaves the New World, ending his first journey. |
| | 1642 - English Civil War: King Charles I of England attacks Parliament. |
| | 1698 - Most of the Palace of Whitehall in London, the main residence of the English monarchs, is destroyed by fire. |
| | 1717 - The Netherlands, England, and France sign the Triple Alliance. |
| | 1762 - England declares war on Spain and Naples. |
| | 1847 - Samuel Colt sells his first revolver pistol to the United States government. |
| | 1854 - The McDonald Islands are discovered by Captain William McDonald aboard the Samarang. |
| | 1865 - The New York Stock Exchange opens its first permanent headquarters at 10-12 Broad near Wall Street in New York City. |
| | 1884 - The Fabian Society is founded in London. |
| | 1885 - The first successful appendectomy is performed by Dr. William W. Grant on Mary Gartside. |
| | 1896 - Utah is admitted as the 45th U.S. state. |
| | 1912 - The Scout Association is incorporated throughout the British Commonwealth by Royal Charter. |
| | 1936 - Mickey's Polo Team, a short animated film featuring Charlie Chaplin, Oliver Hardy, Stan Laurel, and Harpo Marx in a polo match against various Disney characters, is first released. |
| | 1936 - Billboard magazine publishes its first pop music charts. |
| | 1941 - The animated short Elmer's Pet Rabbit is released. It marks the second appearance of Bugs Bunny and the first to have his name on a title card. |
| | 1944 - World War II: The Battle of Monte Cassino begins. |
| | 1948 - Burma gains its independence from the United Kingdom. |
| | 1951 - Korean War: Chinese and North Korean forces capture Seoul. |
| | 1957 - After 69 years the last issue of Collier's Weekly magazine is published. |
| | 1958 - Sputnik 1 falls to Earth from its orbit (launched on October 4, 1957). |
| | 1959 - Luna 1 becomes the first spacecraft to reach the vicinity of the Moon. |
| | 1962 - New York City introduces a train that operates without a crew on-board. |
| | 1965 - United States President Lyndon B. Johnson proclaims his "Great Society" during his State of the Union address. |
| | 1970 - The Beatles record as a band for the last time. |
| | 1972 - Rose Heilbron becomes the first woman judge to sit at the Old Bailey in London. |
| | 1974 - United States President Richard Nixon refuses to hand over materials subpoenaed by the Senate Watergate Committee. |
| | 1987 - An Amtrak train en route to Boston from Washington, DC, collides with Conrail engines, killing 16 people (Chase, Maryland rail wreck). |
| | 1989 - Second Gulf of Sidra incident: a pair of Libyan MiG-23 "Floggers" are shot down by a pair of US Navy F-14 Tomcats during an air-to-air confrontation. |
| | 1990 - A crowded passenger train collides with a standing freight train in Pakistan's Sindh province, killing 300 people. |
| | 1998 - Wilaya of Relizane massacres in Algeria; over 170 are killed in three remote villages. |
| | 1999 - Former professional wrestler Jesse Ventura is sworn in as governor of Minnesota. |
| | 1999 - Gunmen open fire on Shiite Muslims worshipping in an Islamabad mosque, killing 16 people and injuring 25. |
| | 2001 - RuneScape (Now known as RuneScape Classic) was released. |
| | 2004 - Dr. Mikhail Saakashvili is elected the President of Georgia. |
| | 2004 - Spirit, a NASA Mars Rover, lands successfully on Mars at 04:35 UTC. |
| | 2004 - Leicester City footballers Paul Dickov, Keith Gillespie, and Frank Sinclair are arrested in Spain over sexual assault allegations. The charges were later dropped. |
| | 2006 - Prime Minister Ariel Sharon of Israel suffers a second, apparently more serious stroke. His authority is transferred to Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. |
| | 2006 - Many American media outlets erroneously report that 12 miners have been found alive in the Sago Mine Disaster. |
| | 2006 - Sheikh Maktoum bin Rashid Al Maktoum Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai died in Australia's, Gold Coast of a heart attack. |