January 2

Events

• AD 69 - The Roman legions in Germania Superior refuse to swear loyalty to Galba. They rebel and proclaim Vitellius as emperor.
• 366 - The Alemanni cross the frozen Rhine in large numbers, invading the Roman Empire.
• 533 - Mercurius becomes Pope John II, the first pope to adopt a new name upon elevation to the papacy.
• 1492 - Reconquista: The Emirate of Granada, the last Moorish stronghold in Spain, surrenders.
• 1680 - Trunajaya rebellion: Amangkurat II of Mataram and his bodyguards execute the rebel leader Trunajaya. a month after the rebel leader was captured by the Dutch East India Company.
• 1777 - American Revolutionary War: American forces under the command of George Washington repulsed a British attack at the Battle of the Assunpink Creek near Trenton, New Jersey.
• 1788 - Georgia becomes the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution.
• 1791 - Big Bottom massacre in the Ohio Country, North America, marking the beginning of the Northwest Indian War.
• 1818 - The British Institution of Civil Engineers is founded by a group of six engineers; Thomas Telford would later become its first president.
• 1833 - Captain James Onslow, in the Clio, arrives at Port Egmont to reassert British sovereignty over the Falkland Islands.
• 1865 - Uruguayan War: The Siege of Paysandú ends as the Brazilians and Coloradans capture Paysandú, Uruguay.
• 1900 - American statesman and diplomat John Hay announces the Open Door Policy to promote trade with China.
• 1920 - The second Palmer Raid, ordered by the US Department of Justice, results in 6,000 suspected communists and anarchists being arrested and held without trial.
• 1941 - World War II: German bombing severely damages the Llandaff Cathedral in Cardiff, Wales, United Kingdom.
• 1942 - The Federal Bureau of Investigation obtains the conviction of 33 members of a German spy ring headed by Fritz Joubert Duquesne in the largest espionage case in United States history—the Duquesne Spy Ring.
• 1942 - World War II: Manila is captured by Japanese forces, enabling them to control the Philippines.
• 1949 - Luis Muñoz Marín is inaugurated as the first democratically elected Governor of Puerto Rico.
• 1954 - India establishes its highest civilian awards, the Bharat Ratna and the Padma Vibhushan.
• 1955 - Following the assassination of the Panamanian president José Antonio Remón Cantera, his deputy, José Ramón Guizado, takes power, but is quickly deposed after his involvement in Cantera's death is discovered.
• 1959 - Luna 1, the first spacecraft to reach the vicinity of the Moon and to orbit the Sun, is launched by the Soviet Union.
• 1963 - Vietnam War: The Viet Cong wins its first major victory, at the Battle of Ap Bac.
• 1967 - Ronald Reagan, past movie actor and future President of the United States, is sworn in as Governor of California.
• 1971 - The second Ibrox disaster kills 66 fans at a Rangers-Celtic association football match.
• 1974 - United States President Richard Nixon signs a bill lowering the maximum U.S. speed limit to 55 MPH in order to conserve gasoline during an OPEC embargo.
• 1975 - At the opening of a new railway line, a bomb blast at Samastipur, Bihar, India, fatally wounds Lalit Narayan Mishra, Minister of Railways.
• 1975 - The Federal Rules of Evidence are approved by the United States Congress.
• 1976 - The Gale of January 1976 begins, resulting in coastal flooding around the southern North Sea coasts, affecting countries from Ireland to Yugoslavia and causing at least 82 deaths and US$1.3 billion in damage.
• 1978 - On the orders of the President of Pakistan, Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, paramilitary forces opened fire on peaceful protesting workers in Multan, Pakistan; it is known as 1978 massacre at Multan Colony Textile Mills.
• 1981 - One of the largest investigations by a British police force ends when serial killer Peter Sutcliffe, the "Yorkshire Ripper", is arrested in Sheffield, South Yorkshire.
• 1991 - Sharon Pratt Kelly becomes the first African American woman mayor of a major city and first woman Mayor of the District of Columbia.
• 1993 - Sri Lankan Civil War: The Sri Lanka Navy kill 35–100 civilians on the Jaffna Lagoon.
• 2004 - Stardust successfully flies past Comet Wild 2, collecting samples that are returned to Earth.

  Births

• 869 - Yōzei, Japanese emperor
• 1462 - Piero di Cosimo, Italian painter
• 1509 - Henry of Stolberg, German nobleman
• 1642 - Mehmed IV, Ottoman sultan
• 1647 - Nathaniel Bacon, English-American rebel leader
• 1699 - Osman III, Ottoman sultan
• 1713 - Marie Dumesnil, French actress
• 1727 - James Wolfe, English general
• 1732 - František Brixi, Czech organist and composer
• 1777 - Christian Daniel Rauch, German sculptor and educator
• 1803 - Guglielmo Libri Carucci dalla Sommaja, Italian mathematician and academic
• 1822 - Rudolf Clausius, Polish-German physicist and mathematician
• 1827 - Pyotr Semyonov-Tyan-Shansky, Russian geographer and statistician
• 1833 - Frederick A. Johnson, American banker and politician
• 1836 - Mendele Mocher Sforim, Russian author
• 1836 - Queen Emma of Hawaii
• 1837 - Mily Balakirev, Russian pianist and composer
• 1857 - M. Carey Thomas, American educator and activist
• 1860 - Dugald Campbell Patterson, Canadian engineer
• 1860 - William Corless Mills, American historian and curator
• 1866 - Gilbert Murray, Australian-English playwright and scholar
• 1870 - Ernst Barlach, German sculptor and playwright
• 1870 - Tex Rickard, American boxing promoter and businessman
• 1873 - Antonie Pannekoek, Dutch astronomer and theorist
• 1873 - Thérèse of Lisieux, French nun and saint
• 1878 - Mannathu Padmanabha Pillai, Indian activist, founded the Nair Service Society
• 1884 - Ben-Zion Dinur, Russian-Israeli historian and politician, 4th Israeli Minister of Education
• 1885 - Gordon Flowerdew, Canadian lieutenant, Victoria Cross recipient
• 1886 - Apsley Cherry-Garrard, English explorer and author
• 1889 - Bertram Stevens, Australian accountant and politician, 25th Premier of New South Wales
• 1891 - Giovanni Michelucci, Italian architect and urban planner, designed the Firenze Santa Maria Novella railway station
• 1892 - Seiichiro Kashio, Japanese tennis player
• 1892 - Artur Rodziński, Polish-American conductor
• 1895 - Folke Bernadotte, Swedish diplomat
• 1896 - Dziga Vertov, Polish-Russian director and screenwriter
• 1896 - Lawrence Wackett, Australian commander and engineer
• 1897 - Theodore Plucknett, English legal historian
• 1900 - Una Ledingham, British physician, known for research on diabetes in pregnancy
• 1901 - Bob Marshall, American activist, co-founded The Wilderness Society
• 1902 - Dan Keating, Irish Republican Army volunteer
• 1903 - Kane Tanaka, Japanese supercentenarian, oldest verified living person
• 1904 - Walter Heitler, German physicist and chemist
• 1905 - Luigi Zampa, Italian director and screenwriter
• 1905 - Michael Tippett, English composer and conductor
• 1909 - Barry Goldwater, American politician, businessman, and author
• 1909 - Riccardo Cassin, Italian mountaineer and author
• 1913 - Anna Lee, English-American actress
• 1913 - Juanita Jackson Mitchell, American lawyer and activist
• 1917 - Vera Zorina, German-Norwegian actress and dancer
• 1918 - Willi Graf, German physician and activist
• 1919 - Beatrice Hicks, American engineer
• 1920 - Isaac Asimov, American writer and professor of biochemistry
• 1921 - Glen Harmon, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1926 - Gino Marchetti, American football player
• 1928 - Dan Rostenkowski, American politician
• 1929 - Tellervo Koivisto, Finnish politician, former First Lady of Finland
• 1931 - Toshiki Kaifu, Japanese lawyer and politician, 76th Prime Minister of Japan
• 1934 - John Hollowbread, English footballer, goalkeeper
• 1936 - Roger Miller, American singer-songwriter, musician, and actor
• 1938 - David Bailey, English photographer and painter
• 1938 - Lynn Conway, American computer scientist and electrical engineer
• 1938 - Robert Smithson, American sculptor and photographer
• 1940 - Jim Bakker, American televangelist
• 1940 - Saud bin Faisal bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, Saudi Arabian economist and politician, Saudi Arabian Minister of Foreign Affairs
• 1942 - Dennis Hastert, American educator and politician, 59th Speaker of the United States House of Representatives
• 1942 - Thomas Hammarberg, Swedish lawyer and diplomat
• 1943 - Janet Akyüz Mattei, Turkish-American astronomer
• 1944 - Charlie Davis, Trinidadian cricketer
• 1944 - Norodom Ranariddh, Cambodian field marshal and politician, 1st Prime Minister of Cambodia
• 1944 - Péter Eötvös, Hungarian composer and conductor
• 1947 - Calvin Hill, American football player
• 1947 - David Shapiro, American poet, historian, and critic
• 1947 - Jack Hanna, American zoologist and author
• 1949 - Christopher Durang, American playwright and screenwriter
• 1949 - Iris Marion Young, American political scientist and academic
• 1952 - Indulis Emsis, Latvian biologist and politician, 9th Prime Minister of Latvia
• 1954 - Henry Bonilla, American broadcaster and politician
• 1954 - Évelyne Trouillot, Haitian playwright and author
• 1959 - Kirti Azad, Indian cricketer and politician
• 1961 - Craig James, American football player and sportscaster
• 1961 - Gabrielle Carteris, American actress
• 1961 - Paula Hamilton, English model
• 1961 - Robert Wexler, American lawyer and politician
• 1963 - David Cone, American baseball player and sportscaster
• 1963 - Edgar Martínez, American baseball player
• 1964 - Pernell Whitaker, American boxer
• 1965 - Francois Pienaar, South African rugby player
• 1967 - Jón Gnarr, Icelandic actor and politician; 20th Mayor of Reykjavik City
• 1967 - Tia Carrere, American actress
• 1968 - Anky van Grunsven, Dutch dressage champion
• 1968 - Cuba Gooding, Jr., American actor and producer
• 1969 - Christy Turlington, American model
• 1969 - István Bagyula, Hungarian pole vaulter
• 1969 - William Fox-Pitt, English horse rider and journalist
• 1970 - Eric Whitacre, American composer and conductor
• 1971 - Renée Elise Goldsberry, American actress
• 1971 - Taye Diggs, American actor and singer
• 1972 - Mattias Norström, Swedish ice hockey player and manager
• 1972 - Rodney MacDonald, Canadian educator and politician, 26th Premier of Nova Scotia
• 1972 - Shiraz Minwalla, Indian theoretical physicist and string theorist
• 1974 - Ludmila Formanová, Czech runner
• 1974 - Tomáš Řepka, Czech footballer
• 1975 - Reuben Thorne, New Zealand rugby player
• 1977 - Brian Boucher, American ice hockey player and sportscaster
• 1977 - Stefan Koubek, Austrian tennis player
• 1979 - Jonathan Greening English footballer
• 1981 - Maxi Rodríguez, Argentinian footballer
• 1983 - Kate Bosworth, American actress
• 1987 - Robert Milsom, English footballer
• 1988 - Damien Tussac, French-German rugby player
• 1992 - Korbin Sims, Australian-Fijian rugby league player
• 1992 - Paulo Gazzaniga, Argentinian footballer, goalkeeper
• 1998 - Timothy Fosu-Mensah, Dutch footballer

  Deaths

• 951 - Liu Chengyou, Emperor Yin of the Later Han
• 951 - Su Fengji, Chinese official and chancellor
• 1096 - William de St-Calais, Bishop of Durham and chief counsellor of William II of England
• 1169 - Bertrand de Blanchefort, sixth Grand Master of the Knights Templar
• 1184 - Theodora Komnene, Duchess of Austria, daughter of Andronikos Komnenos
• 1298 - Lodomer, Hungarian prelate, Archbishop of Esztergom
• 1470 - Heinrich Reuß von Plauen, Grand Master of the Teutonic Order
• 1512 - Svante Nilsson, Sweden politician
• 1514 - William Smyth, English bishop and academic
• 1543 - Francesco Canova da Milano, Italian composer
• 1557 - Pontormo, Italian painter and educator
• 1613 - Salima Sultan Begum, Empress of the Mughal Empire
• 1614 - Luisa Carvajal y Mendoza, Spanish mystical poet and Catholic martyr
• 1726 - Domenico Zipoli, Italian organist and composer
• 1763 - John Carteret, 2nd Earl Granville, English statesman
• 1850 - Manuel de la Peña y Peña, Mexican lawyer and 20th President
• 1861 - Frederick William IV of Prussia
• 1892 - George Biddell Airy, English mathematician and astronomer
• 1904 - James Longstreet, American general and diplomat
• 1913 - Léon Teisserenc de Bort, French meteorologist
• 1915 - Karl Goldmark, Hungarian violinist and composer
• 1917 - Léon Flameng, French cyclist
• 1920 - Paul Adam, French author
• 1924 - Sabine Baring-Gould, English author and scholar
• 1939 - Roman Dmowski, Polish politician, Polish Minister of Foreign Affairs
• 1941 - Mischa Levitzki, Russian-American pianist and composer
• 1946 - Joe Darling, Australian cricketer and politician
• 1950 - James Dooley, Irish-Australian politician, 21st Premier of New South Wales
• 1951 - William Campion, English colonel and politician, 21st Governor of Western Australia
• 1953 - Guccio Gucci, Italian businessman and fashion designer, founder of Gucci
• 1960 - Paul Sauvé, Canadian lawyer and politician, 17th Premier of Quebec
• 1963 - Dick Powell, American actor, singer, and director
• 1963 - Jack Carson, Canadian-American actor
• 1974 - Tex Ritter, American actor
• 1975 - Siraj Sikder, Bangladesh revolutionary leader
• 1977 - Erroll Garner, American pianist and composer
• 1986 - Una Merkel, American actress
• 1987 - Harekrushna Mahatab, Indian journalist and politician, 1st Chief Minister of Odisha
• 1989 - Safdar Hashmi, Indian actor, director, and playwright
• 1990 - Alan Hale Jr., American film and television actor
• 1990 - Evangelos Averoff, Greek historian and politician, Greek Minister for National Defence
• 1994 - Dixy Lee Ray, American biologist and politician; 17th Governor of Washington
• 1994 - Pierre-Paul Schweitzer, French lawyer and businessman
• 1995 - Nancy Kelly, American actress
• 1995 - Siad Barre, Somalian general and politician; 3rd President of Somalia
• 1999 - Rolf Liebermann, Swiss-French composer and manager
• 1999 - Sebastian Haffner, German journalist and author
• 2000 - Elmo Zumwalt, American admiral
• 2000 - Patrick O'Brian, English author and translator
• 2001 - William P. Rogers, American lieutenant, lawyer, and politician, 55th United States Secretary of State
• 2005 - Maclyn McCarty, American geneticist and physician
• 2006 - Cecilia Muñoz-Palma, Filipino lawyer and jurist
• 2006 - Osa Massen, Danish-American actress
• 2007 - A. Richard Newton, Australian-American engineer and academic
• 2007 - Elizabeth Fox-Genovese, American historian and author
• 2007 - Teddy Kollek, Hungarian-Israeli politician, Mayor of Jerusalem
• 2008 - George MacDonald Fraser, Scottish journalist and author
• 2008 - Lee S. Dreyfus, American sailor, academic, and politician, 40th Governor of Wisconsin
• 2009 - Inger Christensen, Danish poet and author
• 2009 - Dnyaneshwar Agashe, Indian businessman and cricketer
• 2010 - David R. Ross, Scottish historian and author
• 2011 - Anne Francis, American actress
• 2011 - Bali Ram Bhagat, Indian politician; 16th Governor of Rajasthan
• 2011 - Pete Postlethwaite, English actor
• 2012 - Gordon Hirabayashi, American-Canadian sociologist and academic
• 2012 - Silvana Gallardo, American actress and producer
• 2012 - William P. Carey, American businessman and philanthropist, founded W. P. Carey
• 2013 - Gerda Lerner, Austrian-American historian, author, and academic
• 2013 - Teresa Torańska, Polish journalist and author
• 2014 - Bernard Glasser, American director and producer
• 2014 - Elizabeth Jane Howard, English author and screenwriter
• 2015 - Tihomir Novakov, Serbian-American physicist and academic
• 2016 - Ardhendu Bhushan Bardhan, Indian lawyer and politician
• 2016 - Frances Cress Welsing, American psychiatrist and author
• 2016 - Nimr al-Nimr, Saudi Arabian religious leader
• 2016 - Gisela Mota Ocampo, mayor of Temixco, Morelos, Mexico, assassinated
• 2017 - Jean Vuarnet, French ski racer
• 2017 - John Berger, English art critic, novelist and painter
• 2018 - Guida Maria, Portuguese actress
• 2018 - Thomas S. Monson, American religious leader, 16th president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
• 2019 - Daryl Dragon, American musician
• 2019 - Bob Einstein, American actor and comedian
• 2019 - Gene Okerlund, American wrestling announcer

  Holidays and observances

• Ancestry Day
• Berchtold's Day
• Carnival Day
• Christian feast day:
• *Basil the Great
• *Defendens of Thebes
• *Earliest day on which the Feast of the Holy Name of Jesus is observed, while January 5 is the latest; celebrated on Sunday between January 2 and 5.
• *Gregory of Nazianzus
• *Johann Konrad Wilhelm Löhe
• *Macarius of Alexandria
• *Seraphim of Sarov
• *Vedanayagam Samuel Azariah
• *January 2
• Nyinlong
• The first day of Blacks and Whites' Carnival, celebrated until January 7.
• The first day of the Carnival of Riosucio, celebrated until January 8 every 2 years.
• The ninth of the Twelve Days of Christmas
• The second day of New Year :
• *New Year Holiday, if it is a Sunday, the day moves to January 3
• *Kaapse Klopse
• Victory of Armed Forces Day