Wednesday, January 31, 2007
Thursday, January 31, 2002
Wednesday, January 31, 2001
In the Netherlands a Scottish court convicts a Libyan and acquits another for their part in the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 which crashed into Lockerbie, Scotland, in 1988.
Sega officially announces that they've discontinued their Dreamcast system. They also said that they vowed never to make another video game system ever again and to make only video games.
Dr Harold Shipman is sentenced to life in prison for murder of at least 15 of his patients out of 365 suspected victims.
Tuesday, January 31, 1995
U.S. President
Bill Clinton invokes emergency powers, to extend a $20 billion loan to help
Mexico avert financial collapse.
The United States Coast Guard begins deporting the first of some 14,000 refugees from Haiti.
Saturday, January 31, 1987
The last
Ohrbach's department store closes in New York City after 64 years of operation.
Seatbelt use for drivers and front seat passengers becomes mandatory in the United Kingdom.
Thursday, January 31, 1980
The Spanish Embassy in
Guatemala is
invaded and set on fire, killing 36 people. It is called Spain's own Tehran, similar to the 1979–80 Iran American U.S. Embassy Hostages of Americans.
Wednesday, January 31, 1973
A bomb explodes at the British Yacht Club in West Berlin, killing Irwin Beelitz, a German boat builder.
Anti-British riots take place throughout Ireland. The British Embassy in Dublin is burned to the ground, as are several British-owned businesses.
Tuesday, January 31, 1967
West Germany and Romania establish diplomatic relations.
The United Kingdom ceases all trade with Rhodesia.
Tuesday, January 31, 1961
Thursday, January 31, 1957
Three students on a junior high school playground in Pacoima, California, are among the 8 persons killed following a mid-air collision between a Douglas DC-7 airliner and a Northrop F-89 Scorpion fighter jet, in the skies above the San Fernando Valley section of Los Angeles, US.
Saturday, January 31, 1953
February 1 – The North Sea flood of 1953 kills 1,836 people in the southwestern Netherlands (especially Zeeland), 307 in the United Kingdom in the Irish Sea.
Saturday, January 31, 1948
The British crown colony of the Malayan Union, Penang and Malacca form the Federation of Malaya.Cabinet Memorandum by the Secretary of State for the Colonies (UK). 21 February 1956.
Percival Prattis becomes the first African-American news correspondent allowed in the United States House of Representatives and Senate press galleries.
The Government of the United Kingdom announces the £25 million Tanganyika groundnut scheme for cultivation of peanuts in the Tanganyika Territory.
The lowest air temperature in North America (-63 degrees Celsius) is recorded in
Snag,
Yukon Territory.
Wednesday, January 31, 1945
WWII: American forces land on Kwajalein Atoll and other islands in the Japanese-held Marshall Islands.
Saturday, January 31, 1942
WWII: Battle of Malaya: The last organized Allied forces leave British Malaya, ending the 54-day caign.
While studying photographs taken in January,
Clyde Tombaugh confirms the existence of
Pluto, a heavenly body considered a planet until
2006, when the term planet was officially defined.
Pluto is now considered a Dwarf Planet.
Tuesday, January 31, 1928
British and Belgian troops leave
Cologne.
Estonian Freedom War: The Red Army is expelled from the entire territory of Estonia.
Wednesday, January 31, 1917
WWI: Germany announces its U-boats will engage in unrestricted
submarine warfare.
Wednesday, January 31, 1906
Saturday, January 31, 1891
The Portuguese republican revolution breaks out in the northern city of Porto.
Thursday, January 31, 1878
Thursday, January 31, 1867
Maronite nationalist leader Karam leaves Lebanon aboard a French ship for Algeria.
Tuesday, January 31, 1865
American Civil War: Confederate General
Robert E. Lee becomes general-in-chief.
Wednesday, January 31, 1849
John C. Fremont court-martialed on grounds of mutiny and disobeying orders. Verdict set aside by President, but Fremont retires to California Territory.
Mexican–American War formally ends, making the unincorporated, unorganized California Territory a provisional official possession: The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo is signed, ending the war and ceding to the United States virtually all of what is today the southwest United States. California is never organized by congress as a territory, but passes the requirements directly for statehood in 1850. Some even today claim this treaty did not include Texas, over the annexation of which the quarrel began.
Thursday, January 31, 1788
Tuesday, January 31, 1747
Tuesday, January 31, 1696
Saturday, January 31, 1609
Tuesday, January 31, 1606
Thursday, January 21, 1580 (Julianian calendar)
Tuesday, January 21, 1578 (Julianian calendar)
Tuesday, January 21, 1561 (Julianian calendar)
Sunday, January 21, 1504 (Julianian calendar)
Treaty of Lyon: France cedes Naples to Ferdinand II of Aragon who becomes King of Naples as Ferdinand III.
Tuesday, January 24, 1273 (Julianian calendar)
In Korea, the Sambyeolcho Rebellion against the Goryeo Dynasty (a puppet government of the Yuan Dynasty) ends as rebel forces are defeated by combined Yuan and Goryeo forces.
The 6-year-long battle of Xiangyang ends as the commander of the
Song Dynasty's forces surrender to
Kublai Khan's
Yuan Dynasty. The battle is the first in which firearms are used in combat.
Thursday, January 24, 1208 (Julianian calendar)
Battle of Lena: Inferior Swedish forces defeat the invading Danes and king Sverker the Younger is deposed as king of Sweden. He is succeeded by his rival Erik Knutsson.
Monday, January 30, 366 (Julianian calendar)
Athanasius of Alexandria returns from his fifth exile. He spent four months in his ancestral tomb outside Alexandria.
Buddhist monk Lè Zūn has a vision of golden rays of light shining down on 1,000
Buddha's, resulting in the creation of the
Mogao Caves.
Saturday, January 30, 314 (Julianian calendar)