| | 250 - Emperor Decius begins a widespread persecution of Christians in Rome. Pope Fabian is martyred. Afterwards the Donatist controversy over readmitting lapsed Christians disaffects many in North Africa. |
| | 1156 - According to legend, freeholder Lalli slays English crusader Bishop Henry with an axe on the ice of the lake Köyliönjärvi in Finland. |
| | 1265 - In Westminster, the first English parliament conducts its first meeting in the Palace of Westminster, now also known as the "Houses of Parliament". |
| | 1320 - Dante - Quaestio de Aqua et Terra. |
| | 1320 - Duke Wladyslaw Lokietek becomes king of Poland. |
| | 1356 - Edward Balliol resigns as King of Scotland. |
| | 1523 - Christian II is forced to abdicate as King of Denmark and Norway. |
| | 1576 - The Mexican city of León is founded by order of the viceroy Don Martín Enríquez de Almanza. |
| | 1649 - Charles I of England goes on trial for treason and other "high crimes" |
| | 1667 - Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth cedes Kiev, Smolensk, and left-bank Ukraine to Imperial Russia in the treaty of Andrusovo. |
| | 1783 - The Kingdom of Great Britain signs a peace treaty with France and Spain, officially ending hostilities in the Revolutionary War. |
| | 1801 - John Marshall is appointed the Chief Justice of the United States. |
| | 1839 - In the Battle of Yungay, Chile defeats a Peruvian and Bolivian alliance. |
| | 1840 - Dumont D'Urville discovers Adélie Land, Antarctica. |
| | 1840 - Willem II becomes King of the Netherlands. |
| | 1841 - Hong Kong Island occupied by the British Empire. |
| | 1885 - L.A. Thompson patents the roller coaster. |
| | 1887 - The United States Senate allows the Navy to lease Pearl Harbor as a naval base. |
| | 1892 - At the YMCA in Springfield, Massachusetts, the first official basketball game is played. |
| | 1920 - American Civil Liberties Union founded. |
| | 1921 - The first Constitution of Turkey was adopted, which made fundamental changes in the source and exercise of sovereignty by consecrating the principle of national sovereignty. |
| | 1929 - In Old Arizona, the first full-length talking film filmed outdoors, is released. |
| | 1936 - Edward VIII becomes King of the United Kingdom. |
| | 1937 - Franklin D. Roosevelt is inaugurated for a second term as President of the United States. This is the first inauguration scheduled on January 20, following adoption of the 20th Amendment. Previous inaugurations were scheduled on March 4. |
| | 1942 - World War II: Nazis at the Wannsee conference in Berlin decide the "final solution to the Jewish problem". |
| | 1944 - World War II: The Royal Air Force drops 2,300 tons of bombs on Berlin. |
| | 1945 - Hungary drops out of the Second World War, agreeing an armistice with the Allies. |
| | 1952 - Edgar Faure becomes Prime Minister of France. |
| | 1954 - The National Negro Network is established with 40 charter member radio stations. |
| | 1960 - Hendrik Verwoerd announced a plebiscite on whether South Africa should become a Republic. |
| | 1964 - Meet the Beatles, the first Beatles album in the United States, is released. |
| | 1969 - The first pulsar is discovered, in the Crab Nebula. |
| | 1977 - Jimmy Carter becomes the 39th president of the United States. |
| | 1981 - Iran releases 52 American hostages twenty minutes after Ronald Reagan is inaugurated as U.S. President. |
| | 1986 - Martin Luther King, Jr., day was celebrated as a federal holiday for the first time. |
| | 1986 - The United Kingdom and France announce plans to construct the Channel Tunnel. |
| | 1987 - Church of England envoy Terry Waite is kidnapped in Lebanon. |
| | 1989 - George H. W. Bush is inaugurated as the 41st President of the United States. |
| | 1990 - Black January - bloody crackdown of Azerbaijani peaceful pro-independence demonstrations by Soviet army in Baku. |
| | 1991 - Sudan's government imposes Islamic law nationwide, worsening the civil war between the country's Muslim north and Christian south. |
| | 1993 - Bill Clinton is inaugurated the 42nd President of the United States. |
| | 1996 - Yasser Arafat is elected president of the Palestinian Authority. |
| | 1999 - The China News Service announces new government restrictions on Internet use aimed especially at Internet bars. |
| | 2001 - Philippine president Joseph Estrada is ousted in the EDSA II Revolution, succeeded by Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. |
| | 2001 - George W. Bush inaugurated President of the United States |
| | 2005 - Ireland completes metrication. |