Year 38 » Octavian divorces his wife Scribonia and marries Livia Drusilla, ending the fragile peace between the Second Triumvirate and Sextus Pompey.
Year 395 » Emperor Theodosius I dies in Milan, the Roman Empire is re-divided into an eastern and a western half. The Byzantine Empire or Eastern Roman Empire is centered in Constantinople under Arcadius, son of Theodosius, and the Western Roman Empire in Mediolanum
Year 1287 » King Alfonso III of Aragon invades Minorca.
Year 1377 » Pope Gregory XI moves the Papacy back to Rome from Avignon.
Year 1524 » Giovanni da Verrazzano sets sail westward from Madeira to find a sea route to the Pacific Ocean.
Year 1562 » France recognizes the Huguenots by the Edict of Saint-Germain.
Year 1595 » Henry IV of France declares war on Spain.
Year 1608 » Emperor of Ethiopia Emperor Susenyos of Ethiopia Susenyos surprises an Oromo people Oromo army at Ebenat; his army reportedly kills 12,000 Oromo at the cost of 400 of his men.
Year 1773 » Captain James Cook and his crew become the first Europeans to sail below the Antarctic Circle.
Year 1781 » American 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.
Year 1799 » Malta known as Maltese patriot Dun Mikiel Xerri, along with a number of other patriots, is executed.
Year 1811 » Mexican War of Independence: In the Battle of Calderón Bridge, a heavily outnumbered History of Spain (1814–73) named Spanish force of 6,000 troops defeats nearly 100,000 Mexican revolutionaries.
Year 1852 » The United Kingdom recognizes the independence of the Boer colonies of the South African Republic or Transvaal.
Year 1873 » A group of Modoc people or Modoc warriors defeats the United States Army in the First Battle of the Stronghold, part of the Modoc War.
Year 1885 » A British force defeats a large Dervish army at the Battle of Abu Klea in the Sudan.
Year 1899 » The United States takes possession of Wake Island in the Pacific Ocean.
Year 1903 » El Yunque National Forest in Puerto Rico becomes part of the United States National Forest System as the Luquillo Forest Reserve.
Year 1912 » Captain Robert Falcon Scott Terra Nova Expedition or reaches the South Pole, one month after Roald Amundsen.
Year 1913 » Raymond Poincaré is elected President of France.
Year 1917 » The United States pays Denmark $25 million for the U.S. Virgin Islands known as Virgin Islands.
Year 1918 » Finnish Civil War: The first serious battles take place between the Red Guards (Finland) known as Red Guards and the White Guard (Finland) called White Guard.
Year 1929 » Popeye e.g Popeye the Sailor Man, a cartoon character created by E. C. Segar called Elzie Segar, first appears in the Thimble Theatre comic strip.
Year 1929 » Inayatullah Khan, king of the Emirate of Afghanistan abdicates the throne after only three days.
Year 1941 » Franco-Thai War: Vichy France called French forces Battle of Ko Chang known as inflict a decisive defeat over the Royal Thai Navy.
Year 1943 » World War II: Greek submarine Papanikolis (Y-2) called Greek submarine Papanikolis captures the 200-ton sailing vessel 'Agios Stefanos' and mans her with part of her crew.
Year 1944 » World War II: Allies of World War II e.g Allied forces launch the first of Battle of Monte Cassino or 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
Year 1945 » World War II: Soviet Union e.g Soviet forces capture the almost completely destroyed Polish city of Warsaw.
Year 1945 » The Nazi Germany e.g Nazis begin the evacuation of the Auschwitz concentration camp as Soviet forces close in.
Year 1945 » Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg is taken into Soviet Union known as Soviet custody while in Hungary; he is never publicly seen again.
Year 1946 » The UN Security Council holds its first session.
Year 1949 » 'The Goldbergs (broadcast series) or The Goldbergs', the first Situation comedy or sitcom on American television, airs for the first time.
Year 1961 » Former Republic of the Congo (Léopoldville) called Congolese Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba is murdered in circumstances suggesting the support and complicity of the governments of Belgium and the United States.
Year 1966 » 1966 Palomares B-52 crash Palomares incident: A B-52 Stratofortress B-52 bomber collides with a KC-135 Stratotanker over Spain, killing seven airmen, and dropping three 70-kiloton B28 nuclear bomb nuclear bombs near the town of Palomares, Almería Palomare
Year 1969 » Black Panther Party members Bunchy Carter and John Huggins are killed during a meeting in Campbell Hall on the campus of UCLA.
Year 1969 » Marinella releases 'Stalia – Stalia'.
Year 1977 » Convicted murderer Gary Gilmore is executed by a firing squad in Utah, ending a ten-year moratorium on capital punishment in the United States.
Year 1981 » President of the Philippines Ferdinand Marcos lifts Martial law in the Philippines called martial law eight years and five months after declaring it.
Year 1982 » "Cold Sunday": in numerous cities in the United States temperatures fall to their lowest levels in over 100 years.
Year 1991 » Harald V of Norway Harald V becomes Monarchy of Norway King of Norway on the death of his father, Olav V of Norway Olav V.
Year 1991 » Gulf War: Operation Desert Storm begins early in the morning. Iraq fires 8 Scud missiles into Israel in an unsuccessful bid to provoke Israeli retaliation.
Year 1992 » During a visit to South Korea, Prime Minister of Japan or Japanese Prime Minister Kiichi Miyazawa apologizes for forcing Korean women into Comfort women or sexual slavery during World War II.
Year 1994 » 1994 Northridge earthquake: A magnitude 6.7 earthquake hits Northridge, California.
Year 1995 » The Great Hanshin earthquake: A magnitude 7.3 earthquake occurs near Kobe, Japan, causing extensive property damage and killing 6,434 people.
Year 1996 » The Czech Republic applies for membership of the European Union.
Year 1997 » A Delta 2 carrying a Global Positioning System or GPS2R satellite explodes 13 seconds after launch, dropping 250 tons of burning rocket remains around the launch pad.
Year 1998 » Lewinsky scandal: Matt Drudge breaks the story of the Bill Clinton–Monica Lewinsky affair on his website 'The Drudge Report'.
Year 2001 » U.S. President Bill Clinton posthumously promotes William Clark (explorer) named William Clark from Lieutenant to Captain (U.S. Army) called Captain.
Year 2002 » Mount Nyiragongo erupts in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, displacing an estimated 400,000 people.
Year 2007 » The Doomsday Clock is set to five minutes to midnight in response to North Korea nuclear testing.
Year 2008 » British Airways Flight 38 crash lands just short of London Heathrow Airport in England with no fatalities. It is the first complete Write-off known as hull loss of a Boeing 777.
Year 2010 » 2010 Jos riots or Rioting begins between Muslim and Christian groups in Jos, Nigeria, resulting in at least 200 deaths.