Events

• 1066 – Following the death of Edward the Confessor on the previous day, the Witan meets to confirm Harold Godwinson as the new King of England; Harold is crowned the same day, sparking a succession crisis that will eventually lead to the Norman conquest of England.
• 1322 – Stephen Uroš III is crowned King of Serbia, having defeated his half-brother Stefan Konstantin in battle. His son is crowned “young king” in the same ceremony.
• 1492 – The Catholic Monarchs Ferdinand and Isabella enter Granada at the conclusion of the Granada War.
• 1579 – The Union of Arras unites the southern Netherlands under the Duke of Parma (Ottavio Farnese), governor in the name of King Philip II of Spain.
• 1641 – Arauco War: The first Parliament of Quillín is celebrated, putting a temporary hold on hostilities between Mapuches and Spanish in Chile.
• 1661 – English Restoration: The Fifth Monarchists unsuccessfully attempt to seize control of London, England.
  • The revolt is suppressed after a few days.
• 1781 – In the Battle of Jersey, the British defeat the last attempt by France to invade Jersey in the Channel Islands.
• 1809 – Combined British, Portuguese and colonial Brazilian forces begin the Invasion of Cayenne during the Napoleonic Wars.
• 1838 – Alfred Vail and colleagues demonstrate a telegraph system using dots and dashes (this is the forerunner of Morse code).
• 1847 – Samuel Colt obtains his first contract for the sale of revolver pistols to the United States government.
• 1900 – Second Boer War: Having already besieged the fortress at Ladysmith, Boer forces attack it, but are driven back by British defenders.
• 1929 – King Alexander of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes suspends his country’s constitution (the January 6th Dictatorship).
• 1941 – United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt delivers his Four Freedoms speech in the State of the Union address.
• 1951 – Korean War: Beginning of the Ganghwa massacre, in the course of which an estimated 200-1,300 South Korean communist sympathizers are slaughtered.
• 1967 – Vietnam War: United States Marine Corps and ARVN troops launch “Operation Deckhouse Five” in the Mekong River delta.
• 1992 – President of Georgia Zviad Gamsakhurdia flees the country as a result of the military coup.
• 1993 – Indian Border Security Force units kill 55 Kashmiri civilians in Sopore, Jammu and Kashmir, in revenge after militants ambushed a BSF patrol.
• Armed Forces Day (Iraq).

People (Births)

• 1898 – James Fitzmaurice, Irish soldier and pilot (d. 1965).
• 1915 – Don Edwards, American soldier, lawyer, and politician (d. 2015).
• 1923 – Vladimir Kazantsev, Russian runner (d. 2007).
• 1924 – Kim Dae-jung, South Korean soldier and politician, 8th President of South Korea, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2009).
• 1939 – Murray Rose, English-Australian swimmer and sportscaster (d. 2012).
• 1948 – Guy Gardner, American colonel and astronaut.
• 1963 – Paul Kipkoech, Kenyan runner (d. 1995).

People (Deaths)

• 1711 – Philips van Almonde, Dutch admiral (b. 1646).
• 1813 – Louis Baraguey d’Hilliers, French general (b. 1764).
• 1852 – Louis Braille, French educator, invented Braille (b. 1809).
• 1913 – Frederick Hitch, English soldier, Victoria Cross recipient (b. 1856).
• 1919 – Theodore Roosevelt, American colonel and politician, 26th President of the United States (b. 1858).
• 1921 – Devil Anse Hatfield, American guerrilla leader (b. 1839).
• 1928 – Alvin Kraenzlein, American hurdler and long jumper (b. 1876).
• 1972 – Chen Yi, Chinese general and politician, 2nd Foreign Minister of the People’s Republic of China (b. 1901).
• 2012 – Spike Pola, Australian footballer and soldier (b. 1914).
• 2014 – Marina Ginestà, French Resistance soldier and photographer (b. 1919).
• 2015 – Arthur Jackson, American lieutenant and target shooter (b. 1918).
• 2019 – José Ramón Fernández, Cuban revolution leader (b. 1923).