January 22
Events
Pre-1600
- 613 - Eight-month-old Heraclius Constantine is crowned as co-emperor by his father Heraclius at Constantinople.
- 871 - Battle of Basing: The West Saxons led by King Æthelred I are defeated by the Danelaw Vikings at Basing.
- 1506 - The first contingent of 150 Swiss Guards arrives at the Vatican.
- 1517 - The Ottoman Empire under Selim I defeats the Mamluk Sultanate and captures present-day Egypt at the Battle of Ridaniya.
- 1555 - The Ava Kingdom falls to the Taungoo Dynasty in what is now Myanmar.
1601–1900
- 1689 - The Convention Parliament convenes to determine whether James II and VII, the last Roman Catholic monarch of England, Ireland and Scotland, had vacated the thrones of England and Ireland when he fled to France in 1688.
- 1808 - The Portuguese royal family arrives in Brazil after fleeing the French army's invasion of Portugal two months earlier.
- 1849 - Second Anglo-Sikh War: The Siege of Multan ends after nine months when the last Sikh defenders of Multan, Punjab, surrender.
- 1863 - The January Uprising breaks out in Poland, Lithuania and Belarus. The aim of the national movement is to regain Polish–Lithuanian–Ruthenian Commonwealth from occupation by Russia.
- 1879 - Anglo-Zulu War: the Battle of Isandlwana results in a Zulu victory.
- 1879 - Anglo-Zulu War: the Battle of Rorke's Drift, just some away from Isandlwana, results in a British victory.
- 1890 - The United Mine Workers of America is founded in Columbus, Ohio.
1901–present
- 1901 - Edward VII is proclaimed King of the United Kingdom after the death of his mother, Queen Victoria.
- 1905 - Bloody Sunday occurs in Saint Petersburg, beginning the 1905 revolution.
- 1906 - runs aground on rocks on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, killing more than 130.
- 1915 - Over 600 people are killed in Guadalajara, Mexico, when a train plunges off the tracks into a deep canyon.
- 1917 - American entry into World War I: President Woodrow Wilson of the still-neutral United States calls for "peace without victory" in Europe.
- 1919 - Act Zluky is signed, unifying the Ukrainian People's Republic and the West Ukrainian National Republic.
- 1924 - Ramsay MacDonald becomes the first Labour Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
- 1927 - Teddy Wakelam gives the first live radio commentary of a football match, between Arsenal F.C. and Sheffield United at Highbury.
- 1941 - World War II: British and Commonwealth troops capture Tobruk from Italian forces during Operation Compass.
- 1943 - World War II: Australian and American forces defeat Japanese army and navy units in the bitterly fought Battle of Buna–Gona.
- 1944 - World War II: The Allies commence Operation Shingle, an assault on Anzio and Nettuno, Italy.
- 1946 - In Iran, Qazi Muhammad declares the independent people's Republic of Mahabad at Chahar Cheragh Square in the Kurdish city of Mahabad; he becomes the new president and Haji Baba Sheikh becomes the prime minister.
- 1946 - Creation of the Central Intelligence Group, forerunner of the Central Intelligence Agency.
- 1947 - KTLA, the first commercial television station west of the Mississippi River, begins operation in Hollywood.
- 1957 - Israel withdraws from the Sinai Peninsula.
- 1963 - The Élysée Treaty of cooperation between France and West Germany is signed by Charles de Gaulle and Konrad Adenauer.
- 1967 - Between dozens and hundreds of anti-Somocista demonstrators are killed by the Nicaraguan National Guard in Managua.
- 1968 - Apollo Program: Apollo 5 lifts off carrying the first Lunar module into space.
- 1968 - Operation Igloo White, a US electronic surveillance system to stop communist infiltration into South Vietnam begins installation.
- 1970 - The Boeing 747, the world's first "jumbo jet", enters commercial service for launch customer Pan American Airways with its maiden voyage from New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport to London Heathrow Airport.
- 1971 - The Singapore Declaration, one of the two most important documents to the uncodified constitution of the Commonwealth of Nations, is issued.
- 1973 - The Supreme Court of the United States delivers its decisions in Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton, legalizing elective abortion in all fifty states. This decision is subsequently overturned in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization in 2022.
- 1973 - The crew of Apollo 17 addresses a joint session of Congress after the completion of the final Apollo Moon landing mission.
- 1973 - A chartered Boeing 707 explodes in flames upon landing at Kano Airport, Nigeria, killing 176.
- 1973 - In a bout for the world heavyweight boxing championship in Kingston, Jamaica, challenger George Foreman knocks down champion Joe Frazier six times in the first two rounds before the fight is stopped by referee Arthur Mercante Sr..
- 1987 - Philippine security forces open fire on a crowd of 10,000–15,000 demonstrators at Malacañang Palace, Manila, killing 13.
- 1992 - Space Shuttle program: The space shuttle Discovery launches on STS-42 carrying Dr. Roberta Bondar, who becomes the first Canadian woman and the first neurologist in space.
- 1995 - Israeli–Palestinian conflict: Beit Lid suicide bombing: In central Israel, near Netanya, two Gazans blow themselves up at a military transit point, killing 19 Israeli soldiers.
- 1998 - Space Shuttle program: space shuttle Endeavour launches on STS-89 to dock with the Russian space station Mir.
- 1999 - Australian missionary Graham Staines and his two sons are burned alive by radical Hindus while sleeping in their car in Eastern India.
- 2006 - Evo Morales is inaugurated as President of Bolivia, becoming the country's first indigenous president.
- 2007 - At least 88 people are killed when two car bombs explode in the Bab Al-Sharqi market in central Baghdad, Iraq.
- 2009 - U.S. President Barack Obama signs an executive order to close the Guantanamo Bay detention camp; congressional opposition will prevent it being implemented.
- 2024 - Ram Mandir is inaugurated by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh after 500 years of dispute.
Births
Pre-1600
- 1263 - Ibn Taymiyyah, Syrian scholar and theologian
- 1440 - Ivan III of Russia
- 1522 - Charles II de Valois, Duke of Orléans,
- 1552 - Walter Raleigh, English poet, soldier, courtier, and explorer
- 1561 - Francis Bacon, English philosopher and politician, Attorney General for England and Wales
- 1570 - Sir Robert Cotton, 1st Baronet, of Connington, English historian and politician, founded the Cotton library
- 1573 - John Donne, English poet and cleric in the Church of England, wrote the Holy Sonnets
- 1592 - Pierre Gassendi, French mathematician, astronomer, and philosopher
1601–1900
- 1645 - William Kidd, Scottish sailor and pirate hunter ;
- 1654 - Richard Blackmore, English physician and poet
- 1690 - Nicolas Lancret, French painter
- 1729 - Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, German philosopher and author
- 1733 - Philip Carteret, English admiral and explorer
- 1740 - Noah Phelps, American soldier, lawyer, and judge
- 1781 - François Habeneck, French violinist and conductor
- 1788 - Lord Byron, English poet and playwright
- 1792 - Lady Lucy Whitmore, English noblewoman, hymn writer
- 1796 - Karl Ernst Claus, Estonian-Russian chemist, botanist, and academic
- 1797 - Maria Leopoldina of Austria
- 1799 - Ludger Duvernay, Canadian journalist, publisher, and politician
- 1802 - Richard Upjohn, English-American architect
- 1828 - Dayrolles Eveleigh-de-Moleyns, 4th Baron Ventry, Irish hereditary peer
- 1831 - Prince Christian of Schleswig-Holstein
- 1840 - Ernest Wilberforce, English bishop
- 1849 - August Strindberg, Swedish novelist, poet, and playwright
- 1858 - Beatrice Webb, English sociologist and economist
- 1861 - George Fuller, Australian politician, 22nd Premier of New South Wales
- 1865 - Wilbur Scoville, American chemist and pharmacist
- 1867 - Gisela Januszewska, Jewish-Austrian physician
- 1869 - José Vicente de Freitas, Portuguese colonel and politician, 97th Prime Minister of Portugal
- 1874 - Edward Harkness, American philanthropist
- 1874 - Jay Hughes, American baseball player and coach
- 1875 - D. W. Griffith, American director, producer, and screenwriter
- 1877 - Tom Jones, American baseball player and manager
- 1879 - Francis Picabia, French painter and poet
- 1880 - Bill O'Neill, Canadian-American baseball player
- 1880 - Frigyes Riesz, Hungarian mathematician and academic
- 1881 - Ira Thomas, American baseball player and manager
- 1886 - John J. Becker, American pianist, composer, and conductor
- 1887 - Helen Hoyt, American poet and author
- 1889 - Henri Pélissier, French cyclist
- 1889 - Amos Strunk, American baseball player and manager
- 1890 - Fred M. Vinson, American judge and politician, 13th Chief Justice of the United States
- 1891 - Antonio Gramsci, Italian philosopher and politician
- 1892 - Marcel Dassault, French businessman, founded Dassault Aviation
- 1893 - Conrad Veidt, German-American actor, director, and producer
- 1897 - Rosa Ponselle, American operatic soprano
- 1897 - Dilipkumar Roy, a Bengali Indian musician, musicologist, novelist, poet and essayist.
- 1898 - Ross Barnett, American lawyer and politician, 52nd Governor of Mississippi
- 1898 - Sergei Eisenstein, Russian director and screenwriter
- 1898 - Denise Legeay, French actress
- 1899 - Martti Haavio, Finnish poet and mythologist
- 1900 - Ernst Busch, German actor and singer
- 1900 - James Hamilton Doggart, English ophthalmic surgeon