• 1249 - Andrew of Longjumeau is dispatched by Louis IX of France as his ambassador to meet with the Khan of the Mongols.
• 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 USS Philadelphia.
• 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 (BPOE).
• 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 USSR reconquers 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 closedown 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 in Australia's worst ever fires.
• 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.
• 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.

Births