January 31Birthdays & History

On this day: January 31 in history

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

1. 314Pope Sylvester I is consecrated, as successor to the late Pope Miltiades.Europe
2. 1208The Battle of Lena takes place between King Sverker the Younger of Sweden and his rival, Prince Erik Knutsson, whose victory puts him on the throne as King Eric X.Europe
3. 1266The Mudéjar of Murcia, who had rebelled against the Crown of Castile during the Mudéjar revolt of 1264–1266, surrender the city to James I of Aragon after a siege lasting a month.Europe
4. 1504The Treaty of Lyon ends the Italian War, confirming French domination of northern Italy, while Spain receives the Kingdom of Naples.Europe
5. 1578Eighty Years' War and Anglo-Spanish War: The Battle of Gembloux is a victory for Spanish forces led by Don John of Austria over a rebel army of Dutch, Flemish, English, Scottish, German, French and Walloons.Europe
6. 1606Gunpowder Plot: Four of the conspirators, including Guy Fawkes, are executed for treason by hanging, drawing and quartering, for plotting against Parliament and King James.Europe
7. 1609Wisselbank of Amsterdam establishedEurope
8. 1703Forty-seven rōnin, under the command of Ōishi Kuranosuke, avenged the death of their master, by killing Kira Yoshinaka.Asia
9. 1747The first venereal diseases clinic opens at London Lock Hospital.Europe
10. 1814Gervasio Antonio de Posadas becomes Supreme Director of the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata (present-day Argentina).Latin America
11. 1846After the Milwaukee Bridge War, the United States towns of Juneautown and Kilbourntown unify to create the City of Milwaukee.North America
12. 1848John C. Frémont is court-martialed for mutiny and disobeying orders.North America
13. 1862Alvan Graham Clark discovers the white dwarf star Sirius B, a companion of Sirius, through an 18.5-inch (47 cm) telescope now located at Northwestern University.North America
14. 1865American Civil War: Confederate General Robert E. Lee becomes general-in-chief of all Confederate armies.North America
15. 1865American Civil War: The United States Congress passes the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, abolishing slavery, and submits it to the states for ratification.North America
16. 1891History of Portugal: The first attempt at a Portuguese republican revolution breaks out in the northern city of Porto.Europe
17. 1900Datu Muhammad Salleh is killed in Kampung Teboh, Tambunan, ending the Mat Salleh Rebellion.Asia
18. 1901Anton Chekhov's Three Sisters premieres at Moscow Art Theatre in Russia.Europe
19. 1915World War I: Germany is the first to make large-scale use of poison gas in warfare in the Battle of Bolimów against Russia.Europe
20. 1917World War I: Kaiser Wilhelm II orders the resumption of unrestricted submarine warfare.Europe
21. 1918A series of accidental collisions due to poor visibility leads to the loss of two Royal Navy submarines with over a hundred lives, and damage to another five British warships.Europe
22. 1918Finnish Civil War: The Suinula massacre, which changes the nature of the war in a more hostile direction, takes place in Kangasala.Europe
23. 1919The Battle of George Square takes place in Glasgow, Scotland, during a campaign for shorter working hours.Europe
24. 1928Leon Trotsky is exiled to Alma-Ata.Asia
25. 1942World War II: Allied forces are defeated by the Japanese at the Battle of Malaya and retreat to Singapore.AsiaAsia
26. 1943World War II: German field marshal Friedrich Paulus surrenders to the Soviets at Stalingrad, followed two days later by the remainder of his Sixth Army, ending one of the war's fiercest battles.Europe
27. 1944World War II: American forces land on Kwajalein Atoll and other islands in the Japanese-held Marshall Islands.North AmericaAsiaOceania
28. 1944World War II: During the Anzio campaign, the 1st Ranger Battalion (Darby's Rangers) is destroyed behind enemy lines in a heavily outnumbered encounter at Battle of Cisterna, Italy.Europe
29. 1945World War II: About 3,000 inmates from the Stutthof concentration camp are forcibly marched into the Baltic Sea at Palmnicken (now Yantarny, Russia) and executed.Europe
30. 1945US Army private Eddie Slovik is executed for desertion, the first such execution of an American soldier since the Civil War.North America
31. 1945World War II: The end of fighting in the Battle of Hill 170 during the Burma Campaign, in which the British 3 Commando Brigade repulsed a Japanese counterattack on their positions and precipitated a general retirement from the Arakan Peninsula.AsiaEuropeAsia
32. 1946The Democratic Republic of Vietnam introduces the đồng to replace the French Indochinese piastre at par.AsiaEurope
33. 1946Cold War: Yugoslavia's new constitution, modeling that of the Soviet Union, establishes six constituent republics (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Slovenia).Europe
34. 1949These Are My Children, the first television daytime soap opera, is broadcast by the NBC station in Chicago, United States.North America
35. 1951United Nations Security Council Resolution 90 relating to the Korean War is adopted.Asia
36. 1953A North Sea flood causes over 1,800 deaths in the Netherlands and over 300 in the United Kingdom.Europe
37. 1957Eight people (five total crew from two aircraft and three on the ground) in Pacoima, California are killed following the mid-air collision between a Douglas DC-7 airliner and a Northrop F-89 Scorpion fighter jet.North America
38. 1958Cold War: Space Race: The Explorer 1, the first successful American satellite, detects the Van Allen radiation belt.North America
39. 1961Project Mercury: Mercury-Redstone 2: The chimpanzee Ham travels into outer space.North America
40. 1966The Soviet Union launches the unmanned Luna 9 spacecraft as part of the Luna program.Europe
41. 1968Vietnam War: Viet Cong guerrillas attack the United States embassy in Saigon, and other attacks, in the early morning hours, later grouped together as the Tet Offensive.AsiaNorth America
42. 1971Apollo program: Apollo 14: Astronauts Alan Shepard, Stuart Roosa, and Edgar Mitchell, aboard a Saturn V, lift off for a mission to the Fra Mauro Highlands on the Moon.North America
43. 1971The Winter Soldier Investigation, organized by the Vietnam Veterans Against the War to publicize alleged war crimes and atrocities by Americans and allies in Vietnam, begins in Detroit.AsiaNorth America
44. 1978The Crown of St. Stephen (also known as the Holy Crown of Hungary) goes on public display after being returned to Hungary from the United States, where it was held after World War II.EuropeNorth America
45. 1988Doug Williams becomes the first African American quarterback to play in a Super Bowl and leads the Washington Redskins to victory in Super Bowl XXII.AfricaNorth America
46. 1996An explosives-filled truck rams into the gates of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka in Colombo, killing at least 86 people and injuring 1,400.Asia
47. 2000Alaska Airlines Flight 261 crash: An MD-83, experiencing horizontal stabilizer problems, crashes in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Point Mugu, California, killing all 88 aboard.North America
48. 2001In the Netherlands, a Scottish court convicts Libyan Abdelbaset al-Megrahi and acquits another Libyan citizen for their part in the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland in 1988.EuropeAfrica
49. 2001Two Japan Airlines planes nearly collide over Suruga Bay in Japan.Asia
50. 2003The Waterfall rail accident occurs near Waterfall, New South Wales, Australia.EuropeOceania
51. 2007Emergency officials in Boston mistakenly identify battery-powered LED placards depicting characters from Aqua Teen Hunger Force as Improvised explosive devices (IEDs), causing a panic.North America
52. 2009At least 113 people are killed in Kenya and over 200 injured following an oil spillage ignition in Molo, days after a massive fire at a Nakumatt supermarket in Nairobi killed at least 25 people.Africa
53. 2019Abdullah of Pahang is sworn in as the 16th Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia.Asia
54. 2020The United Kingdom's membership within the European Union ceases in accordance with Article 50, after 47 years of being a member state.Europe
55. 2022Sue Gray, a senior civil servant in the United Kingdom, publishes an initial version of her report on the Downing Street Partygate controversy.Europe
56. 2023The last Boeing 747, the first wide-body airliner, is delivered to Atlas Air and operated for ApexLogistics. The aircraft was registered as N863GT and named "Empower".North America
57. 2025Med Jets Flight 056 crashes near Roosevelt Mall in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, killing 8 people and injuring 23.North America

Source: Wikipedia "January 31" / CC BY-SA 4.0