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Events

• 1249 – Andrew of Longjumeau is dispatched by Louis IX of France as his ambassador to meet with Mongol Khagan of the Mongol Empire.
• 1646 – Battle of Great Torrington, Devon – the last major battle of the first English Civil War.
• 1742 – Spencer Compton, Earl of Wilmington, becomes British Prime Minister.
• 1804 – First Barbary War: Stephen Decatur leads a raid to burn the pirate-held frigate .
• 1838 – Weenen Massacre: Hundreds of Voortrekkers along the Blaukraans River, Natal are killed by Zulus.
• 1852 – Studebaker Brothers wagon company, precursor of the automobile manufacturer, is established.
• 1859 – The French Government passes a law to set the A-note above middle C to a frequency of 435 Hz, in an attempt to standardize the pitch.
• 1862 – American Civil War: General Ulysses S. Grant captures Fort Donelson, Tennessee.
• 1866 – Spencer Compton Cavendish, Marquess of Hartington becomes the British Secretary of State for War.
• 1868 – In New York City the Jolly Corks organization is renamed the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.
• 1899 – President Félix Faure of France dies in office.
• 1899 – Knattspyrnufélag Reykjavíkur Iceland's first football club is founded.
• 1918 – The Council of Lithuania unanimously adopts the Act of Independence, declaring Lithuania an independent state.
• 1923 – Howard Carter unseals the burial chamber of Pharaoh Tutankhamun.
• 1934 – Austrian Civil War ends with the defeat of the Social Democrats and the Republican Schutzbund.
• 1934 – Commission of Government is sworn in as form of direct rule for the Dominion of Newfoundland.
• 1936 – Elections bring the Popular Front to power in Spain.
• 1937 – Wallace H. Carothers receives a patent for nylon.
• 1940 – World War II: Altmark Incident: The German tanker Altmark is boarded by sailors from the British destroyer HMS Cossack. 299 British prisoners are freed.
• 1943 – World War II: The Soviet troops reenter Kharkov.
• 1945 – World War II: American forces land on Corregidor island in the Philippines.
• 1947 – Canadians granted Canadian citizenship after 80 years of being British subjects. Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King becomes the first Canadian citizen.
• 1957 – The "Toddlers' Truce", a controversial television close down between 6.00pm and 7.00pm was abolished in the United Kingdom.
• 1959 – Fidel Castro becomes Premier of Cuba after dictator Fulgencio Batista was overthrown on January 1.
• 1961 – Explorer program: Explorer 9 (S-56a) is launched.
• 1968 – In Haleyville, Alabama, the first 9-1-1 emergency telephone system goes into service.
• 1978 – The first computer bulletin board system is created (CBBS in Chicago, Illinois).
• 1983 – The Ash Wednesday bushfires in Victoria and South Australia claim the lives of 75 people.
• 1985 – The founding of Hezbollah.
• 1986 – The Soviet liner Mikhail Lermontov runs aground in the Marlborough Sounds, New Zealand.
• 1987 – The trial of John Demjanjuk, accused of being a Nazi guard dubbed "Ivan the Terrible" in Treblinka extermination camp, starts in Jerusalem.
• 1991 – Nicaraguan Contras leader Enrique Bermúdez is assassinated in Managua.
• 1993 – Western Australia's and Australia's first woman Premier, Carmen Lawrence, is voted out of office.
• 1999 – In Uzbekistan, a bomb explodes and gunfire is heard at the government headquarters in an apparent assassination attempt against President Islom Karimov.
• 1999 – Across Europe, Kurdish rebels take over embassies and hold hostages after Turkey arrested one of their rebel leaders, Abdullah Öcalan.
• 2005 – The Kyoto Protocol comes into force, following its ratification by Russia.
• 2005 – The National Hockey League cancels the entire 2004-2005 regular season and playoffs, becoming the first major sports league in North America to do so over a labor dispute.
• 2006 – The last Mobile Army Surgical Hospital (MASH) is decommissioned by the United States Army.
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