661 – Rashidun Caliphate, then the largest empire in history, ends with death of Ali. Succeeded by the Umayyad Caliphate
1186 – Henry VI, the son and heir of the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick I, marries Constance of Sicily.
1302 – Dante becomes a Florentine political exile
1343 – Pope Clement VI issues the papal bull Unigenitus to justify the power of the pope and the use of indulgences. Nearly 200 years later, Martin Luther would protest this.
1556 – Willem of Orange becomes a Knight of the Order of the Golden Fleece
1593 – The Vatican opens the seven-year trial of scholar Giordano Bruno.
1606 – Gunpowder Plot: The trial of Guy Fawkes and other conspirators begins, ending with their execution on January 31.
1756 – Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Austria, musical prodigy/composer (Figaro), (d. 1791) Born
1776 – American Revolutionary War: Henry Knox’s “noble train of artillery” arrives in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
1825 – The U.S. Congress approves Indian Territory (in what is present-day Oklahoma), clearing the way for forced relocation of the Eastern Indians on the “Trail of Tears”.
1880 – Thomas Edison receives the patent on the incandescent lamp, the first light bulb.
1832 – Lewis Carroll, [Charles Lutwidge Dodgson], Halton, Cheshire, author (Alice in Wonderland), (d. 1898) Born
1870 – After accepting 15th amendment, Virginia is readmitted to Union
1888 – The National Geographic Society is founded in Washington, D.C.
1894 – 1st college basketball game, University of Chicago beats Chicago YMCA 19-11
1901 – Art Rooney, American football player and coach, founded the Pittsburgh Steelers (d. 1988) was birthed.
1908 – William Randolph Hearst, Jr., American journalist and publisher (d. 1993) was birthed.
1915 – US Marines occupy Haiti
1924 – Lenin placed in Mausoleum in Red Square, Moscow
1926 – US Senate agrees to join World Court
1941 – Peruvian agent Rivera-Schreiber warns of Japanese assault on Pearl Harbor (11 months before attack. He was not the only one…)
1943 – World War II: The VIII Bomber Command dispatched ninety-one B-17s and B-24s to attack the U-Boat construction yards at Wilhelmshaven, Germany. This was the first American bombing attack on Germany of the war.
1944 – World War II: The 900-day Siege of Leningrad is lifted.
1945 – World War II: The Red Army liberates the remained inmates of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp built by the Nazi Germans on the territory of Poland.
1948 – 1st tape recorder sold
1951 – Brian Downey, Irish drummer and songwriter (Thin Lizzy) was born.
1951 – Nuclear testing at the Nevada Test Site begins with a one-kiloton bomb dropped on Frenchman Flat.
1954 – Ed Schultz, American talk show host was birthed.
1955 – John Roberts, American jurist, 17th Chief Justice of the United States was born.
1956 – Elvis Presley’s releases the single “Heartbreak Hotel”
1957 – Janick Gers, English guitarist and songwriter (Iron Maiden, White Spirit, Gogmagog, and Gillan) was born.
1959 – Keith Olbermann, American journalist and author was birthed.
1964 – Bridget Fonda, actress (Scandal, Single White Female), Duaghter of Peter Fonda, born in Los Angeles, California
1965 – 1st ground station-to-aircraft radio communication via satellite
1967 – Astronauts Gus Grissom, Edward White and Roger Chaffee are killed in a fire during a test of their Apollo 1 spacecraft at the Kennedy Space Center, Florida.
1967 – The United States, United Kingdom, and Soviet Union sign the Outer Space Treaty in Washington, D.C., banning deployment of nuclear weapons in space, and limiting use of the Moon and other celestial bodies to peaceful purposes.
1968 – Mike Patton, American singer-songwriter, producer, and actor (Faith No More, Mr. Bungle, Fantômas, Tomahawk, and Lovage) was born.
1969 – Patton Oswalt, American comedian and actor was born.
1972 – Mahalia Jackson, gospel singer (He Got the Whole World), dies at 60
1973 – The Paris Peace Accords officially end the Vietnam War. Colonel William Nolde is killed in action becoming the conflict’s last recorded American combat casualty.
1980 – Robert Mugabe returns to Rhodesia after 5 years in exile
1980 – Through cooperation between the U.S. and Canadian governments, six American diplomats secretly escape hostilities in Iran in the culmination of the Canadian Caper.
1981 – Jonny Lang, blues musician – Born
1983 – Paul “Bear” Bryant, US football coach (Alabama), dies at 69
1983 – World’s longest underwater tunnel (53.90 km) opens, Honshu-Hokkaid
1984 – Pop singer Michael Jackson suffers second degree burns to his scalp during the filming of a Pepsi commercial in the Shrine Auditorium.
1986 – L Ron Hubbard, novelist/founder (Church of Scientology), dies at 74
1992 – Mike Tyson goes on trial for rape (he is found guilty)
1992 – Presidential candidate Bill Clinton (D) & Genifer Flowers accuse each other of lying over her assertion they had a 12-year affair
1993 – André the Giant, WWF wrestler, dies of congestive heart failure at 49
1996 – Germany first observes International Holocaust Remembrance Day.
1996 – Colonel Ibrahim Baré Maïnassara deposes the first democratically elected president of Niger, Mahamane Ousmane, in a military coup.
2003 – The first selections for the National Recording Registry are announced by the Library of Congress.
2004 – Jack Paar, American television show host (b. 1918) Dies
2006 – Western Union discontinues its Telegram and Commercial Messaging services.
2009 – John Updike, American Novelist (b. 1932) dies
2010 – The 2009 Honduran constitutional crisis ends when Porfirio Lobo Sosa becomes the new President of Honduras.
2010 – Howard Zinn, American historian, author, and activist, (Jack Blood Show Guest) (b. 1922) died.
2010 – J. D. Salinger, American novelist (Catcher in the Rye) (b. 1919) Dies
2011 – Arab Spring: The Yemeni Revolution begins as over 16,000 protestors demonstrate in Sana’a.
2013 – In Port Said, Egypt, protests result in 7 people being killed and 630 are injured
2014 – Pete Seeger, American folk singer (Weaver, Goodnight Irene) and activist, helped create the modern American folk music movement, dies at 94