January 21
Events
Pre-1600
- 763 - Following the Battle of Bakhamra between Alids and Abbasids near Kufa, the Alid rebellion ends with the death of Ibrahim, brother of Isa ibn Musa.
- 1525 - The Swiss Anabaptist Movement is founded when Conrad Grebel, Felix Manz, George Blaurock, and about a dozen others baptize each other in the home of Manz's mother in Zürich, breaking a thousand-year tradition of church-state union.
- 1535 - Following the Affair of the Placards, the French king leads an anti-Protestant procession through Paris.
1601–1900
- 1720 - Sweden and Prussia sign the Treaty of Stockholm.
- 1749 - The Teatro Filarmonico in Verona is destroyed by fire, as a result of a torch being left behind in the box of a nobleman after a performance. It is rebuilt in 1754.
- 1774 - Abdul Hamid I becomes Sultan of the Ottoman Empire and Caliph of Islam.
- 1789 - The first American novel, The Power of Sympathy or the Triumph of Nature Founded in Truth by William Hill Brown, is printed in Boston.
- 1793 - After being found guilty of treason by the French National Convention, Louis XVI of France is executed by guillotine.
- 1824 - The Ashantis defeat British forces in the Gold Coast during the First Anglo-Ashanti War.
- 1854 - The sinks off Lambay Island on her maiden voyage from Liverpool to Australia with great loss of life.
- 1893 - The Tati Concessions Land, formerly part of Matabeleland, is formally annexed to the Bechuanaland Protectorate, now Botswana.
1901–present
- 1908 - New York City passes the Sullivan Ordinance, making it illegal for women to smoke in public, only to have the measure vetoed by the mayor.
- 1911 - The first Monte Carlo Rally takes place.
- 1915 - Kiwanis International is founded in Detroit.
- 1919 - A revolutionary Irish parliament is founded and declares the independence of the Irish Republic. One of the first engagements of the Irish War of Independence takes place.
- 1925 - Albania declares itself a republic.
- 1931 - Sir Isaac Isaacs is sworn in as the first Australian-born Governor-General of Australia.
- 1932 - Finland and the Soviet Union sign a non-aggression treaty.
- 1941 - Sparked by the murder of a German officer in Bucharest, Romania, the day before, members of the Iron Guard engage in a rebellion and pogrom killing 125 Jews.
- 1942 - The Jewish resistance organization, Fareynikte Partizaner Organizatsye, based in the Vilna Ghetto is established.
- 1945 - The Trade Union Council of Transcarpathian Ukraine is founded in Mukachevo.
- 1948 - The Flag of Quebec is adopted and flown for the first time over the National Assembly of Quebec. The day is marked annually as Québec Flag Day.
- 1950 - American lawyer and government official Alger Hiss is convicted of perjury.
- 1951 - The catastrophic eruption of Mount Lamington in Papua New Guinea claims 2,942 lives.
- 1954 - The first nuclear-powered submarine, the, is launched in Groton, Connecticut by Mamie Eisenhower, the First Lady of the United States.
- 1960 - Little Joe 1B, a Mercury spacecraft, lifts off from Wallops Island, Virginia, with Miss Sam, a female rhesus monkey, on board.
- 1960 - Avianca Flight 671 crashes at Montego Bay, Jamaica airport, killing 37 people.
- 1960 - A coal mine collapses at Holly Country, South Africa, killing 435 miners.
- 1963 - The Chicago North Shore and Milwaukee Railroad ends operation.
- 1968 - Vietnam War, Battle of Khe Sanh: One of the most publicized and controversial battles of the war begins.
- 1968 - A B-52 bomber crashes near Thule Air Base, contaminating the area after its nuclear payload ruptures. One of the four bombs remains unaccounted for after the cleanup operation is complete.
- 1971 - The current Emley Moor transmitting station, the tallest free-standing structure in the United Kingdom, begins transmitting UHF broadcasts.
- 1976 - Commercial service of Concorde begins with the London-Bahrain and Paris-Rio routes.
- 1980 - Iran Air Flight 291 crashes in the Alborz Mountains while on approach to Mehrabad International Airport in Tehran, Iran, killing 128 people.
- 1981 - Production of the DeLorean sports car begins in Dunmurry, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom.
- 1985 - Galaxy Airlines Flight 203 crashes near Reno–Tahoe International Airport in Reno, Nevada, killing 70 people.
- 1986 – Conservative protestors attack a mock shanty town that had been erected on the Green at Dartmouth College as part of anti-apartheid protests.
- 1997 - The U.S. House of Representatives votes 395–28 to reprimand Newt Gingrich for ethics violations, making him the first Speaker of the House to be so disciplined.
- 1999 - War on drugs: In one of the largest drug busts in American history, the United States Coast Guard intercepts a ship with over of cocaine on board.
- 2000 - Ecuador: After the Ecuadorian Congress is seized by indigenous organizations, Col. Lucio Gutiérrez, Carlos Solorzano and Antonio Vargas depose President Jamil Mahuad. Gutierrez is later replaced by Gen. Carlos Mendoza, who resigns and allows Vice-President Gustavo Noboa to succeed Mahuad.
- 2003 - A 7.6 magnitude earthquake strikes the Mexican state of Colima, killing 29 and leaving approximately 10,000 people homeless.
- 2004 - NASA's MER-A ceases communication with mission control. The problem lies in the management of its flash memory and is fixed remotely from Earth on February 6.
- 2005 - In Belmopan, Belize, the unrest over the government's new taxes erupts into riots.
- 2009 - Israel withdraws from the Gaza Strip, officially ending a three-week war it had with Hamas. However, intermittent fire by both sides continues in the weeks to follow.
- 2011 - Anti-government demonstrations take place in Tirana, Albania. Four people die from gunshots, allegedly fired from armed police protecting the Prime Minister's office.
- 2014 - Rojava conflict: The Jazira Canton declares its autonomy from the Syrian Arab Republic.
- 2017 - Over 400 cities across America and 160+ countries worldwide participate in a large-scale women's march, including in Portland, on Donald Trump's first full day as President of the United States.
- 2023 - Huu Can Tran, 72, opens fire in a dance studio in Monterey Park, California, killing eleven people and injuring nine others before later committing suicide. It is the worst mass shooting in Los Angeles County since the 2008 Covina massacre.
- 2025 - A fire at the Grand Kartal Hotel in the Kartalkaya ski resort in Bolu Province, Turkey, results in 78 people dead and 51 injured.
Births
Pre-1600
- 1264 - Alexander, Prince of Scotland
- 1277 - Galeazzo I Visconti, lord of Milan
- 1338 - Charles V of France
- 1493 - Giovanni Poggio, Italian cardinal and diplomat
- 1598 - Matsudaira Tadamasa, Japanese samurai and daimyō
1601–1900
- 1612 - Henry Casimir I of Nassau-Dietz, count of Nassau-Dietz
- 1636 - Melchiorre Cafà, Maltese Baroque sculptor
- 1655 - Antonio Molinari, Italian painter
- 1659 - Adriaen van der Werff, Dutch painter
- 1675 - Duchess Sibylle of Saxe-Lauenburg, Margravine of Baden-Baden
- 1714 - Anna Morandi Manzolini, Italian anatomist
- 1717 - Antonio María de Bucareli y Ursúa, Spanish military officer and governor of Cuba
- 1721 - James Murray, Scottish-English general and politician, Governor of Minorca
- 1732 - Frederick II Eugene, Duke of Württemberg, son of Karl Alexander, Duke of Württemberg, and Princess Maria Augusta of Thurn and Taxis
- 1738 - Ethan Allen, American general
- 1741 - Chaim of Volozhin, Orthodox rabbi
- 1763 - Augustin Robespierre, younger brother of French Revolutionary leader Maximilien Robespierre
- 1775 - Manuel Garcia, Spanish opera singer and composer
- 1784 - Peter De Wint, English painter
- 1788 - William Henry Smyth, Royal Navy officer, hydrographer, astronomer and numismatist
- 1796 - Princess Marie of Hesse-Kassel, consort of George, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz
- 1797 - Joseph Méry, French author and journalist
- 1800 - Theodor Fliedner, German Lutheran minister
- 1801 - John Batman, Australian entrepreneur and explorer
- 1804 - Moritz von Schwind, Austrian painter
- 1808 - Juan Crisóstomo Torrico, 16th President of Peru
- 1810 - Pierre Louis Charles de Failly, French general
- 1811 - James Hamilton, 1st Duke of Abercorn, British statesman
- 1813 - John C. Frémont, American general, explorer, and politician, 5th Territorial Governor of Arizona
- 1813 - Giuseppe Montanelli, Italian statesman and author
- 1814 - Johann Georg Theodor Grässe, German bibliographer and historian
- 1815 - Horace Wells, American dentist
- 1820 - Joseph Wolf, German ornithologist and illustrator
- 1820 - Egide Walschaerts, Belgian mechanical engineer
- 1824 - Stonewall Jackson, American general
- 1827 - Ivan Mikheevich Pervushin, Russian mathematician and theorist
- 1829 - Oscar II of Sweden
- 1831 - George Kerferd, English-Australian politician, 10th Premier of Victoria
- 1839 - Caterina Volpicelli, Italian Roman Catholic nun
- 1840 - Sophia Jex-Blake, English physician and feminist
- 1841 - Édouard Schuré, French philosopher and author
- 1843 - Émile Levassor, French engineer
- 1845 - Harriet Backer, Norwegian painter
- 1846 - Pieter Hendrik Schoute, Dutch mathematician and academic
- 1846 - Albert Lavignac, French music scholar
- 1847 - Joseph Achille Le Bel, French chemist
- 1848 - Henri Duparc, French soldier and composer
- 1851 - Giuseppe Allamano, Italian Roman Catholic priest
- 1854 - Karl Julius Beloch, German classical and economic historian
- 1854 - Eusapia Palladino, Italian spiritualist
- 1855 - Princess Maria Luisa of Bourbon-Two Sicilies, the youngest daughter of King Ferdinand II of the Two Sicilies
- 1860 - Karl Staaff, Swedish lawyer and politician, 11th Prime Minister of Sweden
- 1864 - Israel Zangwill, British author
- 1865 - Heinrich Albers-Schonberg, German gynecologist and radiologist
- 1867 - Ludwig Thoma, German paramedic and author
- 1867 - Maxime Weygand, Belgian-French general
- 1868 - Felix Hoffmann, German chemist
- 1869 - Grigori Rasputin, Russian mystic
- 1871 - Olga Preobrajenska, Russian ballerina
- 1873 - Arturo Labriola, Italian revolutionary syndicalist
- 1874 - René-Louis Baire, French mathematician
- 1875 - Paul E. Kahle, German orientalist
- 1877 - Baldassarre Negroni, Italian director and screenwriter
- 1878 - Vahan Tekeyan, Armenian poet and activist
- 1880 - George Van Biesbroeck, Belgian–American astronomer
- 1881 - Ernst Fast, Swedish runner
- 1881 - André Godard, French archaeologist, architect and historian
- 1881 - Ivan Ribar, Yugoslav politician
- 1882 - Pavel Florensky, Russian mathematician and theologian
- 1882 - Francis Gailey, Australian-American swimmer
- 1883 - Olav Aukrust, Norwegian poet and educator
- 1883 - Oskar Baum, Bohemian writer
- 1883 - Mathias Hynes, British tug of war competitor
- 1885 - Duncan Grant, British painter and designer
- 1885 - Umberto Nobile, Italian engineer and explorer
- 1885 - Harold A. Wilson, English runner
- 1886 - John M. Stahl, American director and producer
- 1887 - Wolfgang Köhler, German psychologist and phenomenologist
- 1887 - Ernest Holmes, American New Thought writer
- 1887 - Georges Vézina, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1889 - Pitirim Sorokin, American sociologist and political activist
- 1889 - Edith Tolkien, wife and muse of J. R. R. Tolkien
- 1891 - Albert Battel, German Army lieutenant and lawyer
- 1891 - Francisco Lázaro, Portuguese marathon runner
- 1895 - Cristóbal Balenciaga, Spanish fashion designer, founded Balenciaga
- 1895 - Daniel Chalonge, French astrophysicist and astronomer
- 1895 - Noe Itō, Japanese anarchist, author and feminist
- 1896 - Guy Gilpatric, American pilot and journalist
- 1896 - Paula Hitler, younger sister of Adolf Hitler
- 1896 - J. Carrol Naish, American actor
- 1896 - Masa Perttilä, Finnish wrestler
- 1897 - René Iché, French sculptor
- 1898 - Rudolph Maté, Polish-Hungarian-American cinematographer, producer and director
- 1898 - Ahmad Shah Qajar, Shah of Persia
- 1898 - Eduard Zintl, German chemist
- 1899 - John Bodkin Adams, British general practitioner and convict
- 1899 - Gyula Mándi, Hungarian footballer and manager
- 1899 - Alexander Tcherepnin, Russian-American pianist and composer
- 1900 - Elof Ahrle, Swedish actor and director
- 1900 - Anselm Franz, Austrian engineer
- 1900 - Fernando Quiroga Palacios, Spanish Cardinal