January 31

Historic Events

2025

Med Jets Flight 056 crashes near Roosevelt Mall in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, killing 8 people and injuring 23. ›

2023

The 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". ›

2022

Sue Gray, a senior civil servant in the United Kingdom, publishes an initial version of her report on the Downing Street Partygate controversy. ›

2020

The United Kingdom's membership within the European Union ceases in accordance with Article 50, after 47 years of being a member state. ›

2019

Abdullah of Pahang is sworn in as the 16th Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia. ›

2009

At 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. ›

2007

Emergency officials in Boston mistakenly identify battery-powered LED placards depicting characters from Aqua Teen Hunger Force as Improvised explosive devices (IEDs), causing a panic. ›

2003

The Waterfall rail accident occurs near Waterfall, New South Wales, Australia. ›

2001

In 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. ›

2001

Two Japan Airlines planes nearly collide over Suruga Bay in Japan. ›

2000

Alaska 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. ›

1996

An 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. ›

1988

Doug Williams becomes the first African American quarterback to play in a Super Bowl and leads the Washington Redskins to victory in Super Bowl XXII. ›

1978

The 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. ›

1971

Apollo 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. ›

1971

The 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. ›

1968

Vietnam 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. ›

1966

The Soviet Union launches the unmanned Luna 9 spacecraft as part of the Luna program. ›

1961

Project Mercury: Mercury-Redstone 2: The chimpanzee Ham travels into outer space. ›

1958

Cold War: Space Race: The Explorer 1, the first successful American satellite, detects the Van Allen radiation belt. ›

1957

Eight 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. ›

1953

A North Sea flood causes over 1,800 deaths in the Netherlands and over 300 in the United Kingdom. ›

1951

United Nations Security Council Resolution 90 relating to the Korean War is adopted. ›

1949

These Are My Children, the first television daytime soap opera, is broadcast by the NBC station in Chicago, United States. ›

1946

Cold War: Yugoslavia's new constitution, modeling that of the Soviet Union, establishes six constituent republics (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Slovenia). ›

1946

The Democratic Republic of Vietnam introduces the đồng to replace the French Indochinese piastre at par. ›

1945

US Army private Eddie Slovik is executed for desertion, the first such execution of an American soldier since the Civil War. ›

1945

World 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. ›

1945

World 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. ›

1944

World War II: American forces land on Kwajalein Atoll and other islands in the Japanese-held Marshall Islands. ›

1944

World 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. ›

1943

World 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. ›

1942

World War II: Allied forces are defeated by the Japanese at the Battle of Malaya and retreat to Singapore. ›

1928

Leon Trotsky is exiled to Alma-Ata. ›

1919

The Battle of George Square takes place in Glasgow, Scotland, during a campaign for shorter working hours. ›

1918

A 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. ›

1918

Finnish Civil War: The Suinula massacre, which changes the nature of the war in a more hostile direction, takes place in Kangasala. ›

1917

World War I: Kaiser Wilhelm II orders the resumption of unrestricted submarine warfare. ›

1915

World War I: Germany is the first to make large-scale use of poison gas in warfare in the Battle of Bolimów against Russia. ›

1901

Anton Chekhov's Three Sisters premieres at Moscow Art Theatre in Russia. ›

1900

Datu Muhammad Salleh is killed in Kampung Teboh, Tambunan, ending the Mat Salleh Rebellion. ›

1891

History of Portugal: The first attempt at a Portuguese republican revolution breaks out in the northern city of Porto. ›

1865

American 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. ›

1865

American Civil War: Confederate General Robert E. Lee becomes general-in-chief of all Confederate armies. ›

1862

Alvan 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. ›

1848

John C. Frémont is court-martialed for mutiny and disobeying orders. ›

1846

After the Milwaukee Bridge War, the United States towns of Juneautown and Kilbourntown unify to create the City of Milwaukee. ›

1814

Gervasio Antonio de Posadas becomes Supreme Director of the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata (present-day Argentina). ›

1747

The first venereal diseases clinic opens at London Lock Hospital. ›

1703

Forty-seven rōnin, under the command of Ōishi Kuranosuke, avenged the death of their master, by killing Kira Yoshinaka. ›

1609

Wisselbank of Amsterdam established ›

1606

Gunpowder Plot: Four of the conspirators, including Guy Fawkes, are executed for treason by hanging, drawing and quartering, for plotting against Parliament and King James. ›

1578

Eighty 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. ›

1504

The Treaty of Lyon ends the Italian War, confirming French domination of northern Italy, while Spain receives the Kingdom of Naples. ›

1266

The 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. ›

1208

The 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. ›

314

Pope Sylvester I is consecrated, as successor to the late Pope Miltiades. ›