| | 660 BC - Traditional founding date of Japan by Emperor Jimmu. |
| | 731 - Gregory II ends his reign as Pope. |
| | 824 - Paschal I ends his reign as Pope. |
| | 1531 - Henry VIII of England recognized as supreme head of the Church of England. |
| | 1752 - Pennsylvania Hospital, 1st hospital in the United States, opens. |
| | 1790 - Religious Society of Friends, also known as Quakers, petitions U.S. Congress for abolition of slavery. It failed. |
| | 1794 - First session of United States Senate open to the public. |
| | 1808 - Anthracite coal first burned as fuel, experimentally. |
| | 1809 - Robert Fulton patents the steamboat |
| | 1812 - Massachusetts governor Elbridge Gerry gerrymanders for the first time. |
| | 1814 - Norway's independence is proclaimed, marking the ultimate end of the Kalmar Union. |
| | 1826 - University College London is founded under the name University of London. |
| | 1837 - American Physiological Society organizes in Boston, Massachusetts. |
| | 1840 - Gaetano Donizetti's opera La Fille du Régiment receives its first performance in Paris. |
| | 1843 - Giuseppe Verdi's opera I Lombardi receives its first performance in Milan. |
| | 1855 - Kassa Hailu is crowned Tewodros II, Emperor of Ethiopia, by Abuna Salama III in a ceremony at the church of Derasge Maryam. |
| | 1858 - The Blessed Virgin Mary reputedly appears to Saint Bernadette Soubirous of Lourdes. |
| | 1861 - American Civil War: United States House of Representatives unanimously passes a resolution guaranteeing noninterference with slavery in any state. |
| | 1873 - King Amadeus I of Spain abdicates. |
| | 1889 - Meiji constitution of Japan adopted; 1st Diet of Japan convenes in 1890. |
| | 1895 - The lowest ever UK temperature of -27.2°C was recorded at Braemar in Aberdeenshire. This record was equalled on 10 January 1982 and again on 30 December 1995. |
| | 1902 - Police assault universal suffrage demonstrators in Brussels. |
| | 1903 - Anton Bruckner's 9th Symphony receives its first performance in Vienna. |
| | 1905 - Pope Pius X publishes the encyclical Vehementer nos. |
| | 1916 - Emma Goldman arrested for lecturing on birth control. |
| | 1919 - Friedrich Ebert (SPD), elected President of Germany. |
| | 1929 - Italy and the Vatican sign the Lateran Treaty. |
| | 1937 - A sit-down strike ends when General Motors recognizes the United Auto Workers Union. |
| | 1938 - BBC Television produces the world's first ever science fiction television programme, an adaptation of a section of the Karel Capek play R.U.R. (The play which coined the term "robot"). |
| | 1941 - First Gold record presented to Glenn Miller for "Chattanooga Choo Choo". |
| | 1943 - General Dwight Eisenhower selected to command the allied armies in Europe. |
| | 1948 - John Costello succeeds Éamon de Valera as Taoiseach of Ireland. |
| | 1953 - President Dwight Eisenhower refuses clemency appeal for Ethel and Julius Rosenberg. |
| | 1953 - The Soviet Union breaks off diplomatic relations with Israel. |
| | 1961 - Trial of Adolf Eichmann begins in Jerusalem. |
| | 1963 - The Beatles tape 10 tracks for their first album, including "Please, Please Me". |
| | 1964 - At the Washington, DC Coliseum, The Beatles have their 1st live appearance in the United States. |
| | 1964 - Greeks and Turks begin fighting in Limassol, Cyprus. |
| | 1964 - The Republic of China (Taiwan) breaks off diplomatic relations with France. |
| | 1968 - Israeli-Jordanian border clashes. |
| | 1971 - Eighty-seven countries, including the US, UK, and USSR, sign the Seabed Treaty outlawing nuclear weapons in international waters. |
| | 1973 - Vietnam War: First release of American prisoners of war from Vietnam takes place. |
| | 1978 - Censorship: the People's Republic of China lifts a ban on works by Aristotle, Shakespeare and Dickens. |
| | 1979 - Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini seizes power in Iran. |
| | 1981 - 100,000 gallons (380 m³) of radioactive coolant leak into the containment building of TVA Sequoyah 1 nuclear plant in Tennessee, contaminating 8 workers. |
| | 1987 - Philippines constitution goes into effect. |
| | 1990 - Nelson Mandela, a political prisoner for 27 years, is freed from Victor Verster prison outside Cape Town, South Africa. |
| | 1990 - Mike Tyson lost the heavyweight crown by being knocked out by Buster Douglas |
| | 1991 - UNPO, the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization, forms in The Hague, Netherlands. |
| | 2006 - U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney accidentally shoots Harry Whittington while hunting. |