January 29Birthdays & History

On this day: January 29 in history

Oldest first. Tap a year to see it on the World Chronicle timeline.

1. 904Sergius III is elected pope, after coming out of retirement to take over the papacy from the deposed antipope Christopher.Europe
2. 946Caliph al-Mustakfi is blinded and deposed by Mu'izz al-Dawla, ruler of the Buyid Empire. He is succeeded by al-Muti as caliph of the Abbasid Caliphate.Middle East
3. 1814War of the Sixth Coalition: France engages Russia and Prussia in the Battle of Brienne.Europe
4. 1819Stamford Raffles lands on the island of Singapore.Asia
5. 1845"The Raven" is published in The Evening Mirror in New York, the first publication with the name of the author, Edgar Allan Poe.North America
6. 1850Henry Clay introduces the Compromise of 1850 to the U.S. Congress.North America
7. 1856Queen Victoria issues a Warrant under the Royal sign-manual that establishes the Victoria Cross to recognise acts of valour by British military personnel during the Crimean War.Europe
8. 1861Kansas is admitted as the 34th U.S. state.North America
9. 1863The Bear River Massacre: A detachment of California Volunteers led by Colonel Patrick Edward Connor engage the Shoshone at Bear River, Washington Territory, killing hundreds of men, women and children.North America
10. 1886Karl Benz patents the first successful gasoline-driven automobile.Europe
11. 1891Liliʻuokalani is proclaimed the last monarch and only queen regnant of the Kingdom of Hawaii.North America
12. 1907Charles Curtis of Kansas becomes the first Native American U.S. Senator.North America
13. 1911Mexican Revolution: Mexicali is captured by the Mexican Liberal Party, igniting the Magonista rebellion of 1911.Latin America
14. 1918Ukrainian–Soviet War: The Bolshevik Red Army, on its way to besiege Kyiv, is met by a small group of military students at the Battle of Kruty.Europe
15. 1918Ukrainian–Soviet War: An armed uprising organized by the Bolsheviks in anticipation of the encroaching Red Army begins at the Kiev Arsenal, which will be put down six days later.Europe
16. 1936The first inductees into the Baseball Hall of Fame are announced.North America
17. 1940Three trains on the Nishinari Line; present Sakurajima Line, in Osaka, Japan, collide and explode while approaching Ajikawaguchi Station. One hundred and eighty-one people are killed.Asia
18. 1943World War II: The first day of the Battle of Rennell Island, USS Chicago (CA-29) is torpedoed and heavily damaged by Japanese bombers.North AmericaAsia
19. 1944World War II: In Bologna, Italy, the Anatomical theatre of the Archiginnasio is completely destroyed in an air-raid.Europe
20. 1944World War II: Approximately 38 people are killed and about a dozen injured when the Polish village of Koniuchy (present-day Kaniūkai, Lithuania) is attacked by Soviet partisan units.Europe
21. 1959The first Melodifestivalen is held at Cirkus in Stockholm, Sweden.Europe
22. 1971The last of its many UFO sightings is made at Pudasjärvi, Finland.Europe
23. 1973EgyptAir Flight 741 crashes into the Kyrenia Mountains in Cyprus, killing 37 people.Middle East
24. 1983Singapore cable car crash: Panamanian-registered oil rig, Eniwetok, strikes the cables of the Singapore Cable Car system linking the mainland and Sentosa Island, causing two cabins to fall into the water and killing seven people and leaving thirteen others trapped for hours.AsiaLatin America
25. 1989Cold War: Hungary establishes diplomatic relations with South Korea, making it the first Eastern Bloc nation to do so.EuropeAsia
26. 1991Gulf War: The Battle of Khafji, the first major ground engagement of the war, as well as its deadliest, begins between Iraq and Saudi Arabia.Middle East
27. 1996President Jacques Chirac announces a "definitive end" to French nuclear weapons testing.Europe
28. 2001Thousands of student protesters in Indonesia storm parliament and demand that President Abdurrahman Wahid resign due to alleged involvement in corruption scandals.Asia
29. 2002In his State of the Union address, President George W. Bush describes "regimes that sponsor terror" as an Axis of evil, in which he includes Iraq, Iran and North Korea.Middle EastAsia
30. 2005The first direct commercial flights from mainland China (from Guangzhou) to Taiwan since 1949 arrived in Taipei. Shortly afterwards, a China Airlines flight lands in Beijing.Asia
31. 2008An Egyptian court rules that people who do not adhere to one of the three government-recognised religions, while not allowed to list any belief outside of those three, are still eligible to receive government identity documents.Middle East
32. 2009Governor of Illinois Rod Blagojevich is removed from office following his conviction of several corruption charges, including solicitation of personal benefit in exchange for an appointment to the United States Senate as a replacement for then-U.S. president-elect Barack Obama.North America
33. 2013SCAT Airlines Flight 760 crashes near the Kazakh city of Almaty, killing 21 people.Asia
34. 2014Rojava conflict: The Afrin Canton declares its autonomy from the Syrian Arab Republic.AsiaMiddle East
35. 2017A gunman opens fire at the Islamic Cultural Centre of Quebec City, killing six people and wounding 19 others in a spree shooting.North America
36. 2022Canadian truck drivers and pedestrians gathered to rally and protest on Parliament Hill against Canadian COVID-19 restrictions, which caused traffic and closures around the city.North America
37. 2025A chartered Beechcraft 1900 crashes near the Unity oilfield in South Sudan, killing 20 people.Africa
38. 2025American Eagle Flight 5342 collided mid-air with a Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk operated by the United States Army and crashed into the Potomac River, killing all 67 people on board both aircraft.North America

Source: Wikipedia "January 29" / CC BY-SA 4.0