• 46 BC - Titus Labienus defeats Julius Caesar in the Battle of Ruspina.
• 871 - Battle of Reading: Ethelred of Wessex fights, and is defeated by, a Danish invasion army.
• 1490 - Anna of Brittany announces that all those who would ally with the king of France will be considered guilty of the crime of lese-majesty.
• 1493 - Christopher Columbus leaves the New World, ending his first journey.
• 1642 - King Charles I of England sends soldiers to arrest members of Parliament, commencing England's slide into civil war.
• 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.
• 1878 - Sofia is emancipated from Ottoman rule.
• 1884 - The Fabian Society is founded in London.
• 1885 - The first successful appendectomy is performed by William W. Grant on Mary Gartside.
• 1896 - Utah is admitted as the 45th U.S. state.
• 1903 - Topsy, an elephant, was electrocuted by Thomas Edison during the War of Currents campaign.
• 1912 - The Scout Association is incorporated throughout the British Commonwealth by Royal Charter.
• 1944 - World War II: Operation Carpetbagger, involving the dropping of arms and supplies to resistance fighters in Europe, begins.
• 1944 - World War II: The Battle of Monte Cassino begins.
• 1948 - Burma regains its independence from the United Kingdom.
• 1951 - Korean War: Chinese and North Korean forces capture Seoul.
• 1958 - Sputnik 1 falls to Earth from its orbit (it was 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.
• 1972 - Rose Heilbron becomes the first female 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.
• 1975 - Elizabeth Ann Seton becomes the first American-born saint.
• 1987 - The Chase, Maryland rail wreck: An Amtrak train en route to Boston, Massachusetts from Washington, D.C., collides with Conrail engines in Chase, Maryland, killing 16 people.
• 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.
• 1998 - Wilaya of Relizane massacres in Algeria: over 170 are killed in three remote villages.
• 1998 - A massive ice storm hits eastern Canada and the northeastern United States, continuing through January 10 and causing widespread destruction.
• 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.
• 2004 - Spirit, a NASA Mars Rover, lands successfully on Mars at 04:35 UTC.
• 2006 - Prime Minister Ariel Sharon of Israel suffers a second, apparently more serious stroke. His authority is transferred to acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.
• 2007 - The 110th United States Congress convenes, electing Nancy Pelosi as the first female Speaker of the House in U.S. history.

Births