January 3Birthdays & History

On this day: January 3 in history

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

1. 69The Roman legions on the Rhine refuse to declare their allegiance to Galba, instead proclaiming their legate, Aulus Vitellius, as emperor.Europe
2. 250Emperor Decius orders everyone in the Roman Empire (except Jews) to make sacrifices to the Roman gods.Europe
3. 1521Pope Leo X excommunicates Martin Luther in the papal bull Decet Romanum Pontificem.Europe
4. 1653By the Coonan Cross Oath, the Eastern Church in India cuts itself off from colonial Portuguese tutelage.AsiaEurope
5. 1749Benning Wentworth issues the first of the New Hampshire Grants, leading to the establishment of Vermont.North America
6. 1749The first issue of Berlingske, Denmark's oldest continually operating newspaper, is published.Europe
7. 1777American Revolutionary War: American forces under General George Washington defeat British forces at the Battle of Princeton, helping boost patriot morale.North AmericaEurope
8. 1815Austria, the United Kingdom, and France form a secret defensive alliance against Prussia and Russia.Europe
9. 1833Captain James Onslow, in the Clio, reasserts British sovereignty over the Falkland Islands.EuropeLatin America
10. 1848Joseph Jenkins Roberts is sworn in as the first president of Liberia.Africa
11. 1861American Civil War: Delaware votes not to secede from the United States.North America
12. 1868Meiji Restoration in Japan: The Tokugawa shogunate is abolished; agents of Satsuma and Chōshū seize power.Asia
13. 1870Construction work begins on the Brooklyn Bridge in New York, United States.North America
14. 1871In the Battle of Bapaume, an engagement in the Franco-Prussian War, General Louis Faidherbe's forces bring about a Prussian retreat.Europe
15. 1885Sino-French War: Beginning of the Battle of Núi Bop.Europe
16. 1911A gun battle in the East End of London leaves two dead. It sparked a political row over the involvement of then-Home Secretary Winston Churchill.Europe
17. 1911A magnitude 7.7 earthquake destroys the city of Almaty in Russian Turkestan.Europe
18. 1913First Balkan War: Greece completes its capture of the eastern Aegean island of Chios, as the last Ottoman forces on the island surrender.EuropeMiddle East
19. 1913An Atlantic coast storm sets the lowest confirmed barometric pressure reading (955.0 mb (28.20 inHg)) for a non-tropical system in the continental United States.North America
20. 1920Over 640 are killed after a magnitude 6.4 earthquake strikes the Mexican states Puebla and Veracruz.Latin America
21. 1933Minnie D. Craig becomes the first woman elected as Speaker of the North Dakota House of Representatives, the first woman to hold a Speaker position anywhere in the United States.North America
22. 1944World War II: US flying ace Major Greg "Pappy" Boyington is shot down in his Vought F4U Corsair by Captain Masajiro Kawato flying a Mitsubishi A6M Zero.North AmericaAsia
23. 1946Popular Canadian American jockey George Woolf suffers a concussion during a freak racing accident; he dies from the injury the following day. The annual George Woolf Memorial Jockey Award is created to honor him.North America
24. 1947Proceedings of the U.S. Congress are televised for the first time.North America
25. 1949The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, the central bank of the Philippines, is established.Asia
26. 1953Frances P. Bolton and her son, Oliver from Ohio, become the first mother and son to serve simultaneously in the U.S. Congress.North America
27. 1956A fire damages the top part of the Eiffel Tower.Europe
28. 1957The Hamilton Watch Company introduces the first electric watch.North America
29. 1958The West Indies Federation is formed.Latin America
30. 1959Alaska is admitted as the 49th U.S. state.North America
31. 1961Aero Flight 311 crashes into the forest in Kvevlax, Finland, killing 25 people.Europe
32. 1961Cold War: After a series of economic retaliations against one another, the United States severs diplomatic relations with Cuba.North AmericaLatin America
33. 1961The SL-1 nuclear reactor, near Idaho Falls, Idaho, is destroyed by a steam explosion in the only reactor incident in the United States to cause immediate fatalities.North America
34. 1961A protest by agricultural workers in Baixa de Cassanje, Portuguese Angola, turns into a revolt, opening the Angolan War of Independence, the first of the Portuguese Colonial Wars.EuropeAfrica
35. 1962Pope John XXIII excommunicates Fidel Castro.Europe
36. 1976The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, adopted by the United Nations General Assembly, comes into force.World
37. 1977Apple Computer is incorporated.North America
38. 1987Varig Flight 797 crashes near Akouré in the Ivory Coast, resulting in 50 deaths.Africa
39. 1990United States invasion of Panama: Manuel Noriega, former leader of Panama, surrenders to American forces.North AmericaLatin America
40. 1992CommutAir Flight 4821 crashes on approach to Adirondack Regional Airport, in Saranac Lake, New York, killing two people.North America
41. 1993In Moscow, Russia, George H. W. Bush and Boris Yeltsin sign the second Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START).Europe
42. 1994Baikal Airlines Flight 130 crashes near Mamoney, Irkutsk, Russia, resulting in 125 deaths.Europe
43. 1999The Mars Polar Lander is launched by NASA.North America
44. 2002Israeli–Palestinian conflict: Israeli forces seize the Palestinian freighter Karine A in the Red Sea, finding 50 tons of weapons.Middle East
45. 2004Flash Airlines Flight 604 crashes into the Red Sea, resulting in 148 deaths, making it one of the deadliest aviation accidents in Egyptian history.Middle East
46. 2009The first block of the blockchain of the decentralized payment system Bitcoin, called the Genesis block, is established by the creator of the system, Satoshi Nakamoto.World
47. 2015Boko Haram militants destroy the entire town of Baga in north-east Nigeria, starting the Baga massacre and killing as many as 2,000 people.Africa
48. 2016In response to the execution of Nimr al-Nimr, Iran ends its diplomatic relations with Saudi Arabia.Middle East
49. 2018For the first time in history, all five major storm surge gates in the Netherlands are closed simultaneously in the wake of a storm.Europe
50. 2019Chang'e 4 makes the first soft landing on the far side of the Moon, deploying the Yutu-2 lunar rover.Asia
51. 2020Iranian General Qasem Soleimani is killed by an American airstrike near Baghdad International Airport, igniting global concerns of a potential armed conflict.Middle EastNorth America
52. 2023Singapore's Jurong Bird Park permanently closes.Asia
53. 2024At least 91 people are killed in bombings in Kerman, Iran, during a ceremony commemorating the assassination of Iranian General Qasem Soleimani four years earlier.Middle East
54. 2026The United States conducts airstrikes across northern Venezuela, including the capital Caracas and captures Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro and first lady Cilia Flores.North AmericaLatin America

Source: Wikipedia "January 3" / CC BY-SA 4.0