1077 – German King Henry IV is absolved by Holy Roman Emperor Pope Gregory VII and invited back to the Church after his penitent Walk to Canossa
1099 – 1st Crusaders begins siege of Hosn-el-Akrad Syria
1495 – Pope Alexander VI (Roderic Llançol i de Borgia) gives his son Cesare as hostage to Charles VIII of France
1521 – The Diet of Worms began, at which Protestant reformer Luther was declared an outlaw by the Roman Catholic church.
1547 – England’s King Henry VIII died. He was succeeded by his 9 year-old son, Edward VI.
1573 – Articles of Warsaw Confederation are signed, sanctioning freedom of religion in Poland.
1624 – Sir Thomas Warner founds the first English colony in the Caribbean, on Saint Kitts.
1813 – Jane Austen’s novel, Pride and Prejudice, is published. It is one of the best-known works of English literature and it was sold about 20 million times.
1871 – France surrendered in the Franco-Prussian War.
1887 – In a snowstorm at Fort Keogh, Montana, the world’s largest snowflakes are reported, being 15 inches (38 cm) wide and 8 inches (20 cm) thick.
1887 – Work begins on the Eiffel Tower in Paris
1909 – The United States ended direct control over Cuba, for the second time.
1915 – The Coast Guard was created by an act of the U.S. Congress to fight contraband trade and aid distressed vessels at sea.
1915 – US President Woodrow Wilson refuses to prohibit immigration of illiterates
1916 – Louis D. Brandeis was appointed by President Wilson to the U.S. Supreme Court, becoming its first Jewish member.
1932 – 1st US state unemployment insurance act enacted (Wisconsin)
1933 – The name “Pakistan” is coined by Choudhry Rahmat Ali and gradually accepted by Muslims in the Indian sub-continent who use it to push for a separate Muslim homeland in South Asia
1935 – Iceland became the first country to introduce legalized abortion.
1953 – 19-year old Derek Bentley is hanged in Wandsworth Prison, London, controversially convicted of the murder of a police officer. He was pardoned on 30th July 1998.
1958 – The Lego brick is patented. The Lego company has since produced 500 billion Lego elements, amounting to 10 lego towers from Earth to the Moon.
1972 – The Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association place “special emphasis on the necessity for a peaceful incident-free day” at the next march on 30 January in an effort to avoid violence
1981 – Olympic Glory tanker at Galveston Bay, Texas, spills 1 million gallons of oil in a ship collision
1982 – Italian anti-terrorism forces rescued U.S. Brigadier General James L. Dozier. 42 days before he had been kidnapped by the Red Brigades.
1985 – USA for Africa record “We Are the World”. Over 20 million copies of the charity single were sold.
1986 – Space Shuttle Challenger explodes 73 seconds after liftoff from Cape Canaveral, with all 7 crew members killed, including Christa McAuliffe who was to be the first teacher in space
1988 – Canada’s Supreme court declares anti-abortion law unconstitutional
1991 – Dictator Siad Barre flees Somalia ending 22 year rule
1998 – In Manilla, Philippines, gunmen held at least 400 children and teachers for several hours at an elementary school.
2010 – Five murderers of Bangladeshi President Sheikh Mujibur Rahman hanged: Lieutenant Colonel Syed Faruq Rahman, Lieutenant Colonel Sultan Shahriar Rashid Khan, Major AKM Mohiuddin Ahmed, Major Bazlul Huda and Lieutenant Colonel Mohiuddin Ahmed
2011 – Hundreds of thousands of protesters fill the Egyptian’s streets against the Hosni Mubarak’s regime in demonstrations referred to as the “Friday of Anger”
2012 – Death toll from coordinated bombing attacks in Kano, Nigeria, reaches 185
2017 – US President Donald Trump and Australian PM Malcolm Turnbull have a contentious phone call over deal for US to take 1,250 refugees
2019 – Draft framework for peace agreement to end 17-year conflict in Afghanistan agreed by US and Afghan negotiators
REFERENCE: history.net, onthisday.com, thepeopleshistory.com, timeanddate.com, scopesys.com, on-this-day.com
