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Events

• 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.
• 1863 – The New Apostolic Church, a Christian and chiliastic church, established in Hamburg, Germany.
• 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, is 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• 1966 – A military coup takes place in Upper Volta (later Burkina Faso), dissolving the National Parliament and leading to a new national constitution.
• 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.
• 1974 – Serial killer Ted Bundy murders his first known victim when he entered the basement bedroom of 18-year-old Joni Lenz and suffocated her.
• 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.
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