Once again, it should be reiterated, that this does not pretend to be a very extensive history of what happened on this day (nor is it the most original - the links can be found down below). If you know something that I am missing, by all means, shoot me an email or leave a comment, and let me know!
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history
Jan 1, 45 B.C.: New Year's Day
In 45 B.C., New Year's Day is celebrated on January 1 for the first time in history as the Julian calendar takes effect.
Soon after becoming Roman dictator, Julius Caesar decided that the traditional Roman calendar was in dire need of reform. Introduced around the seventh century B.C., the Roman calendar attempted to follow the lunar cycle but frequently fell out of phase with the seasons and had to be corrected. In addition, the pontifices, the Roman body charged with overseeing the calendar, often abused its authority by adding days to extend political terms or interfere with elections.
In designing his new calendar, Caesar enlisted the aid of Sosigenes, an Alexandrian astronomer, who advised him to do away with the lunar cycle entirely and follow the solar year, as did the Egyptians. The year was calculated to be 365 and 1/4 days, and Caesar added 67 days to 45 B.C., making 46 B.C. begin on January 1, rather than in March. He also decreed that every four years a day be added to February, thus theoretically keeping his calendar from falling out of step. Shortly before his assassination in 44 B.C., he changed the name of the month Quintilis to Julius (July) after himself. Later, the month of Sextilis was renamed Augustus (August) after his successor.
Celebration of New Year's Day in January fell out of practice during the Middle Ages, and even those who strictly adhered to the Julian calendar did not observe the New Year exactly on January 1. The reason for the latter was that Caesar and Sosigenes failed to calculate the correct value for the solar year as 365.242199 days, not 365.25 days. Thus, an 11-minute-a-year error added seven days by the year 1000, and 10 days by the mid-15th century.
The Roman church became aware of this problem, and in the 1570s Pope Gregory XIII commissioned Jesuit astronomer Christopher Clavius to come up with a new calendar. In 1582, the Gregorian calendar was implemented, omitting 10 days for that year and establishing the new rule that only one of every four centennial years should be a leap year. Since then, people around the world have gathered en masse on January 1 to celebrate the precise arrival of the New Year.
Jan 1, 1803: Haitian independence proclaimed
Two months after his defeat of Napoleon Bonaparte's colonial forces, Jean-Jacques Dessalines proclaims the independence of Saint-Domingue, renaming it Haiti after its original Arawak name.
In 1791, a slave revolt erupted on the French colony, and Toussaint-Louverture, a former slave, took control of the rebels. Gifted with natural military genius, Toussaint organized an effective guerrilla war against the island's colonial population. He found able generals in two other former slaves, Dessalines and Henri Christophe, and in 1795 he made peace with revolutionary France following its abolishment of slavery. Toussaint became governor-general of the colony and in 1801 conquered the Spanish portion of island, freeing the slaves there.
In January 1802, an invasion force ordered by Napoleon landed on Saint-Domingue, and after several months of furious fighting, Toussaint agreed to a cease-fire. He retired to his plantation but in 1803 was arrested and taken to a dungeon in the French Alps, where he was tortured and died in April.
Soon after Toussaint's arrest, Napoleon announced his intention to reintroduce slavery on Haiti, and Dessalines led a new revolt against French rule. With the aid of the British, the rebels scored a major victory against the French force there, and on November 9, 1803, colonial authorities surrendered. In 1804, General Dessalines assumed dictatorial power, and Haiti became the second independent nation in the Americas. Later that year, Dessalines proclaimed himself Emperor Jacques I. He was killed putting down a revolt two years later.
Jan 1, 1959: Cuban dictator Batista falls from power
In the face of a popular revolution spearheaded by Fidel Castro's 26th of July Movement, Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista flees the island nation. As celebration and chaos intermingled in the Cuban capitol of Havana, U.S. policymakers debated how best to deal with the radical Castro and the ominous rumblings of anti-Americanism in Cuba.
The United States government had supported the American-friendly Batista regime since it came to power in 1952. After Fidel Castro, together with a handful of supporters that included the professional revolutionary Che Guevara, landed in Cuba to unseat Batista in December 1956, the U.S. continued to support Batista. Suspicious of what they believed to be Castro's leftist ideology and fearful that his ultimate goals might include attacks on U.S. investments and properties in Cuba, American officials were nearly unanimous in opposing his revolutionary movement.
Cuban support for Castro's revolution, however, spread and grew in the late 1950s, partially due to his personal charisma and nationalistic rhetoric, but also because of the increasingly rampant corruption, brutality, and inefficiency within the Batista government. This reality forced U.S. policymakers to slowly withdraw their support from Batista and begin a search in Cuba for an alternative to both the dictator and Castro.
American efforts to find a "middle road" between Batista and Castro ultimately failed. On January 1, 1959, Batista and a number of his supporters fled Cuba. Tens of thousands of Cubans (and thousands of Cuban-Americans in the United States) joyously celebrated the end of the dictator's regime. Castro's supporters moved quickly to establish their power. Judge Manuel Urrutia was named as provisional president. Castro and his band of guerrilla fighters triumphantly entered Havana on January 7.
In the years that followed, the U.S. attitude toward the new revolutionary government would move from cautiously suspicious to downright hostile. As the Castro government moved toward a closer relationship with the Soviet Union, and Castro declared himself to be a Marxist-Leninist, relations between the U.S. and Cuba collapsed into mutual enmity, which continued only somewhat abated through the following decades.
Jan 1, 1942: United Nations created
On this day, President Franklin D. Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill issue a declaration, signed by representatives of 26 countries, called the "United Nations." The signatories of the declaration vowed to create an international postwar peacekeeping organization.
On December 22, 1941, Churchill arrived in Washington, D.C., for the Arcadia Conference, a discussion with President Roosevelt about a unified Anglo-American war strategy and a future peace. The attack on Pearl Harbor meant that the U.S. was involved in the war, and it was important for Great Britain and America to create and project a unified front against Axis powers. Toward that end, Churchill and Roosevelt created a combined general staff to coordinate military strategy against both Germany and Japan and to draft a plan for a future joint invasion of the Continent.
Among the most far-reaching achievements of the Arcadia Conference was the United Nations agreement. Led by the United States, Great Britain, and the Soviet Union, the signatories agreed to use all available resources to defeat the Axis powers. It was agreed that no single country would sue for a separate peace with Germany, Italy, or Japan-they would act in concert. Perhaps most important, the signatories promised to pursue the creation of a future international peacekeeping organization dedicated to ensuring "life, liberty, independence, and religious freedom, and to preserve the rights of man and justice."
Jan 1, 1879: E.M. Forster is born
British writer E.M. Forster is born on this day in London. Forster's architect father died when he was two, and Forster was raised by his mother and a great-aunt in an old house called Rooksnest, which later became the model for the country estate portrayed in Howard's End. Forster was teased and tormented mercilessly at the private school he attended as a day student, and remained shy and timid throughout the rest of his life. However, he found intellectual companionship during his university years at King's College, Cambridge, where he joined a secret society of intellectuals called the Apostles.
Forster began contributing essays and stories to the newly formed Independent Review in 1903 and published his first novel, Where Angels Fear to Tread, two years later. Like many of his later books, the novel looked at English discomfort with foreign cultures. Forster traveled widely, visiting Greece, Italy, and India, and later served with the Red Cross in Alexandria, Egypt, from 1915 to 1919.
At home in England, Forster made many close friends among the intellectual and literary "Bloomsbury set," including Virginia Woolf. Forster's fifth novel, A Passage to India, now considered his greatest work, was the last novel that Forster published in his lifetime. The novel explored racism and colonialism through the story of an English tourist who accuses a respected Indian doctor of attacking her. A sixth novel, Maurice, which dealt with homosexuality, was published after his death. In 1946, Forster received an honorary fellowship from his alma mater, which allowed him to live in Cambridge during the rest of his life. He died in 1970, at the age of 91.
Today
Here's a more detailed look at events that transpired on this date throughout history:
153 BC - Roman consuls begin their year in office.
45 BC - The Julian calendar takes effect for the first time.
1 - Origin of Christian Era
69 - Roman garrison of Mainz uprising
89 - Gov Lucius Antonius Saturninus of Germany becomes
emperor of Rome
313 - Start of Roman (Pontifical) Indiction
404 - Last gladiator competition in Rome
630 - The Prophet Muhammad sets out toward Mecca with the
army that captures it bloodlessly.
722 - Hofmeier Charles Martel flees from bishop Willibrord
990 - Russia adopts Julian calendar
1259 - Michael VIII Palaiologos is proclaimed co-emperor of
the Empire of Nicaea with his ward John IV Laskaris.
1430 - Jews of Sicily are no longer required to attend
conversionist services
1438 - Albrecht II von Habsburg becomes king of Hungary
1494 - Juw Dekama elected potentate of Frisia
1502 - Portuguese navigators discover Rio de Janeiro
1504 - King Louis XII loses last bulwark in Naples, Caeta
1515 - Francois, Duke of Angouleme succeeds Louis XII as
Francois I of France
1515 - Jews are expelled from Laibach Austria
1515 - King Francis I of France succeeds to the French
throne.
1527 - Croatian nobles elect Ferdinand I of Austria as king
of Croatia in the Parliament on Cetin.
1573 - Geuzen sets fire to Woudrichem
1583 - 1st day of the Gregorian calendar in Holland &
Flanders
1600 - Scotland begins its numbered year on January 1
instead of 25 March.
1610 - German astronomer Simon Marius 1st discovers the
Jupiter moons, but does not officially report it, Galileo does on July 1 1610
1622 - Papal Chancery adopts Jan 1 as beginning of the year
(was Mar 25)
1651 - Charles II Stuart crowned king of Scotland
1660 - 1st entry in Samuel Pepys' diary
1660 - General Moncks army battles with the Tweed on way to
London
1660 - Thomas Fairfax' New Model-army occupies York
1672 - Jean Racine's "Bajazet," premieres in Paris
1673 - Regular mail delivery begins between NY & Boston
1675 - Don Carlos de Gurrea/Aragon becomes Spanish land
guardian of S Neth
1689 - Pro-James II-earl of Danby occupies York
1700 - Protestant Western Europe (except England) begin
using Gregorian calendar
1700 - Russia begins using the Anno Domini era and no longer
uses the Anno Mundi era of the Byzantine Empire.
1707 - John V succeeds his father Pedro II as king of
Portugal
1739 - J B C Bouvet de Lozier discovers Bouvet Island, near
Antarctica
1770 - Date of action in the opera "Madeleine"
1772 - First traveler's cheques go on sale in London, can be
used in 90 European cities
First US President George WashingtonFirst US President
George Washington 1776 - Gen George Washington hoists Continental Union Flag
1781 - 1,500 soldiers of the 6th Pennsylvania Regiment under
General Anthony Wayne's command rebel against the Continental Army's winter
camp in Morristown, New Jersey as part of the Pennsylvania (Continentals;
Regiment) Mutiny of 1781.
1785 - "Daily Universal Register" (Times of
London) publishes 1st issue
1788 - London's Daily Universal Registrar becomes the Times
1788 - Quakers in Pennsylvania emancipate their slaves
1797 - Albany replaces NYC as capital of NY
1798 - Russia appoints 1st Jewish censor to censor Hebrew
books
1800 - Dutch East Indies Company dissolves
1801 - The Irish Parliament votes to join the Kingdom of
Great Britain, forming the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
1801 - The dwarf planet Ceres is discovered by Giuseppe
Piazzi.
1803 - Emperor Gia Long orders all bronze wares of the Tây
Sơn Dynasty to be collected and melted into nine cannons for the Royal Citadel
in Huế, Vietnam.
1804 - Haiti gains independence from France (National Day)
1807 - Curacao is taken by English (until March, 1816)
1808 - African Benevolent Society (education) forms
1808 - Congress prohibits importation of slaves
1808 - Sierra Leone becomes a British colony
1809 - Holland Brigade under brig gen Chasse reaches Madrid
1814 - Field marshal Blucher's troops cross the Rhine at
Kaub
1818 - Official reopening of the White House
1826 - Baron Van der Capellen resigns as governor of
Dutch-Indies
1827 - Dutch Trade Company NHM gets opium monopoly on Java
Abolitionist William Lloyd GarrisonAbolitionist William
Lloyd Garrison 1831 - William Lloyd Garrison publishes 1st issue of
abolitionist journal
1833 - British government demands Falkland islands
1833 - Curacao census: 2,602 whites, 6,531 free people &
5,894 slaves
1834 - German Tolunie goes into effect
1838 - 1st official horse race in South Australia-Adelaide
1840 - 1st recorded bowling match in US, Knickerbocker
Alleys, NYC
1842 - 1st illustrated weekly magazine in US publishes 1st
issue, NYC
1844 - 1st edition of New Rotterdam's Daily (3x per week)
1845 - The Cobble Hill Tunnel in Brooklyn is completed.
1846 - Yucatan declares independence from Mexico
1847 - Michigan is 1st state to abolish capital punishment
1847 - Neth's Haarlem's Current newspaper starts publishing
1848 - Britain takes Mosquito Coast from Nicaragua
1851 - City of Glasgow steamer inaugurates
Philadelphia-Liverpool line
1852 - 1st US public bath opens, in NYC
1852 - National debt of Britain & Ireland is 765,126,582
pounds
1852 - Netherlands begins issuing postage stamps
1853 - 1st practical fire engine (horse-drawn) in US enters
service
1854 - Lincoln University, a black college, chartered
(Oxford, Penn)
1858 - Canada begins using decimal currency system
1860 - Slavery ends of in Neth Indies
1861 - Porfirio Diaz conquers Mexico City
1861 - President Lincoln declares slavery in Confederate
states unlawful
1862 - 1st US income tax (3% of incomes > $600, 5% of
incomes > $10,000)
1862 - Battle of Ft McRee, FL Battle of Port Royal, SC (Port
Royal Ferry)
1863 - 1st homestead under the Homestead Act claimed, near
Beatrice, Nebr
1863 - Battle of Galveston, Texas-Confederates recapture the
city
1863 - Emancipation Proclamation (ending slavery) issued by
Lincoln
Composer Franz SchubertComposer Franz Schubert 1863 - Franz
Schubert's "Missa Solemnis," premieres in Leipzig
1865 - -Apr 26th] Carolinas' campaign
1871 - Belgium disbands salt tax
1873 - Origin of Japanese Era
1874 - New York City annexes the Bronx
1876 - The Reichsbank opens in Berlin.
1877 - England's Queen Victoria proclaimed empress of India
1879 - John Brahms' Violin Concerto in D major premieres in
Leipzig
1880 - Building of Panama Canal, begins
1881 - Dr John H Watson is introduced to Sherlock Holmes
1886 - 1st Tournament of Roses (Pasadena California)
1890 - Eritrea is consolidated into a colony by the Italian
government.
1891 - French troops occupy Nioro, West-Sudan, 3000 killed
1891 - King Pakketvaart sails to Neth Indies
1892 - Ellis Island becomes reception center for new
immigrants
1893 - 1st US college extension courses for credit, Univ of
Chicago
1893 - Japan adopts the Gregorian calendar
1894 - Denmark adopts Mid-European time
1894 - Manchester Ship Canal in England opens to traffic
1895 - Norway adopts Mid-European time
1896 - Wilhelm Röntgen announces his discovery of x-rays
1897 - 1st football game between black colleges-Atlanta U
10, Tuskegee 0
1898 - Brooklyn merges with NY to form present City of NY
1898 - Lightship replaces whistling buoy at mouth of SF Bay
1898 - d'Annunzio's "Sogno d'un mattino di
primavera," premieres in Rome
1899 - Cuba liberated from Spain by US (Natl Day) (US
occupies till 1902)
1899 - Spanish rule ends in Cuba.
1900 - 1st date in John dos Passos' USA trilogy (The 42nd
Parallel)
1900 - British protectorates of Northern & Southern
Nigeria established
1900 - Compulsory education in Netherlands goes into effect
1901 - Australia declares independence from federation of UK
colonies
Physicist and Nobel Laureate Wilhelm RöntgenPhysicist and
Nobel Laureate Wilhelm Röntgen 1901 - Nigeria becomes a British protectorate.
1902 - 1st Rose Bowl game (Pasadena, California) (U of
Mich-49, Sanford-0)
1902 - Nathan Stubblefield makes 1st public demonstration of
radio, Penn
1904 - Neth Indies colony begins opium production
1905 - 9 hour work day for diamond miners
1906 - Dutch law makes driver's license mandatory
1907 - Pres Theodore Roosevelt shakes a record 8,513 hands
in 1 day
1908 - 1st time, ball signifying new year dropped at Times Square
1908 - Jack Hobbs makes his Test debut at the MCG (83 &
28)
1909 - Robert Fowler runs then world record marathon
(2:52:45.4)
1909 - Drilling begins on the Lakeview Gusher.
1910 - Simpson-Hayward (England) takes 6-43 on debut with
underarm lobs
1911 - Belgian Mining law introduces 9½ hour work day
1911 - South Australia transfers Northern Territory to
federal government
1912 - 1st running of SF's famed "Bay to Breakers"
race (7.63 miles/12.3 km)
26th US President Theodore Roosevelt26th US President
Theodore Roosevelt 1912 - Sun Yat-sen forms Chinese Republic
1912 - The Republic of China is established.
1913 - Post office begins parcel post deliveries
1914 - 1st scheduled airline flight, St Petersburg-Tampa
(Tony Jannus pilot)
1914 - Klaas ter Laan becomes Neth's 1st socialist mayor
(Zaandam)
1914 - Northern & Southern Nigeria united in British
colony of Nigeria
1915 - DW Griffith shows "Clansman" at a sneak
preview
1915 - Jews of Laibach Austria expelled
1916 - 1st football game in Rose Bowl (Washington
State-Brown)
1916 - 1st issue of "Journal of Negro History"
published
1918 - Last day of the Julian calendar in Finland
1919 - Belorussian SSR established
1919 - Edsel Ford succeeds his father, Henry Ford, as
president of the Ford Motor Company.
1920 - The Belorussian Communist Organisation is founded as
a separate party.
1922 - Vancouver, BC starts driving on the right side of
road
Ford Motor Company Founder Henry FordFord Motor Company
Founder Henry Ford 1923 - Union of Socialist Soviet Republics established
1923 - Britain's Railways are grouped into the Big Four:
LNER, GWR, SR, and LMSR.
1924 - Grossdeutsche Volksgemeinschaft/Volkische Block
replaces NSDAP
1925 - Norway's capital Christiania changes name to Oslo
1926 - Flood in Rhine strikes Cologne
1927 - Communist uprising in West Java
1927 - Dodgers announce release of future Hall of Fame Zack
Wheat
1927 - Turkey adopts the Gregorian calendar: December 18,
1926 (Julian), is immediately followed by January 1, 1927 (Gregorian).
1928 - 1st US air-conditioned office building opens, San
Antonio
1928 - Algemeene Vereeniging Radio Omroep (AVRO) begins
broadcasting (Neth)
1929 - Roy Riegels runs 60 yds the wrong way with Rose Bowl
fumble recovery
1930 - Earl Claus von Stauffenberg promoted to 2nd
lieutenant
1930 - Jurgens & Van den Berg merge with Lever Brothers
to form Unilever
1932 - Jacob Cocey Sr chosen as mayor of Massillon Ohio
1932 - Rasse und Siedlungshauptamt publishes Himmler's
wedding laws
1932 - The United States Post Office Department issues a set
of 12 stamps commemorating the 200th anniversary of George Washington's birth.
1934 - Alcatraz officially becomes a federal prison
1934 - Federal Deposit Insurance Corp (US bank guarantor)
effective
1934 - International Telecommunication Union established
1934 - Nazi Germany passes the "Law for the Prevention
of Genetically Diseased Offspring".
1935 - 1st Sugar Bowl & 1st Orange Bowl
1935 - Associated Press inaugurates Wirephoto
1935 - Eastern Airlines hires Eddie Rickenbacker as GM
1935 - Pres Mustapha Kemal Pasha names himself
"Ataturk: Father of Turkey"
1936 - 1st newspaper to microfilm its current issues, NY
Herald Tribune
1937 - Anastasio Somoza becomes president of Nicaragua
1937 - Count Claus von Stauffenberg promoted to captain
1937 - US Army Air Corps physiological research laboratory
completed, Ohio
1937 - Safety glass in vehicle windscreens becomes mandatory
in Great Britain.
1939 - Sydney, Australia, swelters in 45 ˚C (113 ˚F) heat, a
record for the city.
1941 - Netherlands begins taxing wages
1941 - Russian general Zhukov appointed chief of general
staff
1942 - Rose Bowl played in NC due to Japanese threat-Oregon
20, Duke 16
1942 - US & 25 other countries sign a united declaration
against the Axis
1943 - Count Claus von Stauffenberg promoted to lt-colonel
1943 - Negro League star Josh Gibson suffers a nervous
breakdown
1944 - 1st feature-length foreign movie, African Journey,
shown on TV, NYC
1944 - Army defeats Navy 10-7 in football "Arab
Bowl," Oran, North Africa
1944 - Gen Clark replaces Gen Patton as commander of 7th
Army
1945 - France joins the UN
1945 - German air raid on allied airports at
Eindhoven/Saint-Trond/Brussels
1946 - ENIAC, US 1st computer finished by Mauchly/Eckert
1946 - Emperor Hirohito of Japan announces he is not a god
1946 - National Assembly proclaims Hungary a republic
1947 - Benelux agress to work related issues
1947 - Britain nationalizes its coal industry
1947 - WTTG TV channel 5 in Washington, DC (MET) begins
broadcasting
1948 - 1st color newsreel filmed (Pasadena, California)
1948 - Bradman scores 132 in the 1st innings of the 3rd Test
v India
1948 - Britain nationalizes its railways
1948 - General Agreement on Tariffs & Trade effective
1948 - Italy adopts constitution
1948 - Orissa province accedes to India
1948 - British railways are nationalised to form British
Rail.
1948 - After partition, India declines to pay the agreed
share of Rs.550 million in cash balances to Pakistan.
1948 - The Constitution of Italy comes into force.
1949 - KPRC TV channel 2 in Houston, TX (NBC) begins
broadcasting
1949 - KTTV TV channel 11 in Los Angeles, CA (MET) begins
broadcasting
1949 - Tokelau (Union) Islands declared part of New Zealand
1950 - Dutch government raises all wages 5%, minimally fl. 5
per week
1950 - Ho Chi Minh begins offensive against French troops in
Indo China
1950 - The state of Ajaigarh is ceded to the Government of
India.
1951 - Massive Chinese/North Korean assault on UN-lines
1952 - Dmitri Shostakovitch completes his 5th string quartet
1953 - Ernest Blochs "Suite Hebraique," premieres
1953 - WBRE TV channel 28 in Wilkes-Barre Scranton, PA (NBC)
1st broadcast
1954 - KSLA TV channel 12 in Shreveport, LA (CBS) begins
broadcasting
1954 - Rose & Cotton Bowl are 1st sport colorcasts
1954 - WWTV TV channel 9 in Cadillac-Traverse City, MI (CBS)
1st broadcast
1954 - Yugoslav parliament chairman/VP Milovan Djilas
criticize communism
Vietnamese Communist Revolutionary Ho Chi MinhVietnamese
Communist Revolutionary Ho Chi Minh 1955 - Bhutan issues its 1st postage stamps
1955 - WEAT (now WPEC) TV channel 12 in West Palm Beach, FL
(CBS) begins
1956 - KHAS TV channel 5 in Hastings, NB (NBC) begins
broadcasting
1956 - KOSA TV channel 7 in Odessa, TX (CBS) begins
broadcasting
1956 - Sudan (Anglo-Egyptian Sudan) declares independence
from Egypt & UK
1956 - WREC (now WREG) TV channel 3 in Memphis, TN (CBS)
begins broadcasting
1956 - A new year event causes panic and stampedes at Yahiko
Shrine, Yahiko, central Niigata, Japan, killing at least 124 people.
1957 - Benjamin Britten's ballet "Prince & the
Pauper," premieres in London
1957 - France returns Saar to becomes the 10th state of
German Federal Rep
1957 - International Geophysical Year begins; ends 6/30/1958
(18-mo year)
1957 - George Town, Penang becomes a city by a royal charter
granted by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.
1957 - An Irish Republican Army (IRA) unit attacks
Brookeborough RUC barracks in one of the most famous incidents of the IRA's
Operation Harvest.
1958 - BOAC Britannia flies London to NY in a record 7h57m
1958 - European Economic Community (Common Market) starts
operation
1958 - Treaties establish European Economic Community
(Common Market)
1958 - WMBD TV channel 31 in Peoria, IL (CBS) begins
broadcasting
Cuban President and Dictator Fulgencio BatistaCuban
President and Dictator Fulgencio Batista 1959 - Cuban Dictator Fulgencio
Batista flees Cuba for the Dominican Republic
1959 - Chad becomes autonomous republic in French Community
1959 - Rohan Kanhai completes 256 v India at Calcutta
1960 - Bank of France issues new franc, worth 100 times the
value of existing francs
1960 - Cameroon (French Cameroon) gains independence from
France
1960 - Johnny Cash plays 1st of many free concerts behind
bars
1960 - Montserrat adopts constitution
1961 - Briggs Stadium is renamed Tigers Stadium
1961 - Houston Oilers beat LA Chargers 24-16 in AFL
championship game
1961 - Largest check issued, Natl Bank of Chicago to Sears
($960.242 billion)
1961 - Russia introduces a new ruble worth $1.11
1962 - Beatles' Decca audition is unsuccessful
1962 - Rwanda granted internal self-government by Belgium
1962 - Western Samoa gains independence from New Zealand
Susuga Malietoa Tanumafili II becomes co-chief of Western Samoa
1962 - United States Navy SEALs established.
Country Singer Johnny CashCountry Singer Johnny Cash 1963 -
G Woods succeeds Eugene Black as president of the World Bank
1963 - WTEV (now WLNE) TV channel 6 in Providence RI begins
broadcasting
1964 - Federation of Rhodesia & Nyasaland dissolved
1964 - KNMT TV channel 12 in Walker, MN (CBS) begins
broadcasting
1964 - KTVS TV channel 3 in Sterling, CO (CBS) begins
broadcasting
1965 - International Cooperation Year begins
1965 - Palestinian al-Fatah organization forms
1965 - The People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan is
founded in Kabul.
1966 - 12 day transit worker strike shuts down NYC subway
1966 - Milt coup by Col Jean-Bédell Bokassa in Central
African Republic
1966 - Simon & Garfunkel's "Sounds of Silence"
reaches #1
1966 - All US cigarette packs have to carry "Caution
Cigarette smoking may be hazardous to your health"
1967 - CRU becomes the CAFA & turns over the Grey Cup
trophy to the CFL
1967 - Day's play in the Calcutta Test v W Indies cancelled
by riots
1967 - FCC requires AM-FM sister stations to be at least 50%
different
1967 - Green Bay Packers beat Dallas Cowboys 34-27 in NFL
championship game
1967 - KC Chiefs beat Buffalo Bills 31-7 in AFL championship
game
1967 - St Helena adopts constitution
1967 - Tonga revises constitution
1967 - WABW TV channel 14 in Pelham, GA (PBS) begins
broadcasting
1968 - ABC radio splits into 4 networks (Info,
Entertainment, Contemp & FM)
Motorcycle Daredevil Evel KnievelMotorcycle Daredevil Evel
Knievel 1968 - Evel Knievel fails in his attempt to jump Caesar's Palace
Fountain
1968 - Netherlands gets color TV
1968 - WDCO TV channel 15 in Cochran, GA (PBS) begins
broadcasting
1969 - Jack Kent Cooke, owner of NHL's LA Kings, fines each
player $100 for "NOT" arguing with the referee
1970 - "The Epoch" (Time 0 for UNIX systems,
Midnight GMT)
1970 - Afro-American Historical Calendar Series Established
1970 - Charles "Chub" Feeney becomes president of
baseball's National League
1970 - Neth Christian Workers Union (NCW) forms
1970 - Revised calendar for Western (RC) Church goes into
effect
1971 - Cigarette advertisements banned on TV
1972 - "Company" closes at Alvin Theater NYC after
690 performances
1972 - "On the Town" closes at Imperial Theater
NYC after 65 performances
1972 - "Promises Promises" closes at Shubert
Theater NYC after 1281 perfs
1972 - China PR performs nuclear test at Lop Nor PRC
1972 - International Book Year begins
1972 - KDSD TV channel 16 in Aberdeen, SD (PBS) begins
broadcasting
1973 - 47th Australian Women's Tennis: Margaret Court beats
Goolagong (64 75)
1973 - Britain, Ireland & Denmark become 7th-9th members
of Common Market
1973 - West African Economic Community formed (Benin, Ivory
Coast, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Senegal, Upper Volta)
1974 - Lee MacPhail takes over as AL president, succeeding
Joe Cronin
1974 - NBC radio begins on the hour news 24 hours a day
(following CBS lead)
1974 - World Population Year begins
1975 - Haldeman, Ehrlichman, Mitchell & Mardian
convicted of Watergate crime
1975 - International Women's Year begins
1975 - Sweden adopts constitution
1976 - "Musical Jubilee" closes at St James
Theater NYC after 92 performances
1976 - Liberty Bell moves to new home behind Independence
Hall
1976 - NBC replaces the peacock logo
1976 - Venezuela nationalizes oil fields
1977 - 1st woman formally ordained an Episcopal priest
(Jacqueline Means)
1977 - Belgium reapportions 2,359 communities into 596
1977 - Czech intellects begin Human Rights Group Chapter 77
1977 - Tony Dorsett runs for record 202 yards in the Sugar
Bowl
1978 - "Your Arm's Too Short..." closes at Lyceum
NYC after 429 perfs
1978 - Air India B747 explodes near Bombay killing 213
1978 - Pres Ford signs 1st major revision of copyright law
since 1909
1979 - International Year of the Child begins
1979 - Jura, 26th canton of Switzerland, established
1979 - US & China (Peoples Republic) begin diplomatic
relations
1980 - 54th Australian Womens Tennis: Barbara Jordan beats S
Walsh (63 63)
1980 - Alabama beats Arkansas in Sugar Bowl for college
football championship
1980 - Chrysler UK renamed Talbot
1980 - International Decade of Water & Sanitation begins
1980 - Mob storms Russian embassy in Teheran
1980 - Premier Adbou Diouf becomes president of Senegal
1980 - Sweden changes order of succession to throne
1980 - Victoria is crowned princess of Sweden.
1981 - Georgia beats Notre Dame in Sugar Bowl for college
football title
1981 - Greece is 10th country to join European Economic
Community
1981 - International Year for the Disabled begins
1981 - Palau (Trust Territory of Pacific Is) becomes
self-governing
1981 - Roger Smith becomes CEO of General Motors
1982 - 30 Something stars Ken Olin & Patricia Wettig
meet, later they marry
1982 - Clemson wins the Orange Bowl for college football
championship
1982 - Javier Perez de Cuellar becomes sec-gen of UN
1982 - MTA launches a 5 year plan to upgrade the NYC subway
system
264th Pope John Paul II264th Pope John Paul II 1982 - Pope
John Paul II prays for an end to martial law in Poland
1982 - TA launches 5 year capital program to overhaul NYC
subway system
1983 - PGA inaugurates all-exempt tour
1983 - Penn State beats Georgia in Sugar Bowl for college
football title
1983 - World Communications Year begins
1983 - TCP/IP protocols become the only approved protocol on
the ARPANET, replacing the earlier NCP protocol
1984 - AT&T's 22 owned Bell system companies divests
into 8 companies
1984 - Brunei becomes independent of UK
1984 - NYC transit fare rises from 75 cents to 90 cents
1985 - International Youth Year begins
1985 - US's 1st manadatory seat belt law goes into effect
(NY)
1985 - VH-1 made its broadcasting debut
1985 - The Internet's Domain Name System is created.
1985 - The first British mobile phone call is made by Ernie
Wise to Vodafone.
1986 - Aruba becomes independent from neighbor island
Curacao
1986 - Barbra Striesand & Jon Peters relationship breaks
up
1986 - International Peace Year begins
1986 - NYC transit fare rises from 90 cents to $1.00
1986 - Oklahoma wins Orange Bowl for college football
championship
1986 - Spain & Portugal are 11th & 12th to join
European Economic Community
1986 - Iowa's All-American running back, Ronnie Harmon,
fumbles the ball 4 times in his last game-the Rose Bowl
1987 - 60 bodies recovered in Dupont Plaza Hotel fire in
Puerto Rico
1987 - China's rudimentary civil code in effect
1987 - International Year of Shelter for Homeless begins
1988 - Czech born tennis star Hana Mandikova becomes an
Australian Citizen
1988 - Miami beats Oklahoma for college football
championship
1988 - Year of the Reader begins
1989 - NYC transit fare rises from $1.00 to $1.15
1989 - Year of the Young Reader begins
1990 - David Dinkins sworn in as 1st black mayor of NYC
1990 - Mitsuko Nishiwaki beats Nakano to become Japan Women
wrestling champ
1990 - NYC MTA stops token redemption at subway stations
1990 - Sports News Network begins operation on cable TV
1990 - FCC implements "SYNDEX" giving independent
stations more rights over cable TV outlets for exclusive syndicated programs
1991 - 5% sales tax on consumer goods & services goes
into effect in USSR
1991 - Iraq rejects peace proposal from Egyptian Pres Hosi
Mubarak
1991 - Les Miserables opens at Festival Theatre, Adelaide
1992 - Bush is 1st US president to address Australian
Parliament
1992 - Curacao becomes 1st in Dutch Antilles to have
compulsory education
1992 - Europe breaks down trade barriers
1992 - International Space Year begins
1992 - NYC transit fare increases from $1.15 to $1.25
1993 - 12 member European Economic Community set up vast
free trade zone
1993 - Blockbuster Bowl 3: Stanford beats Penn State, 24-3
1993 - Cigarette advertisements are banned in NYC's MTA
1993 - Czechoslovakia separates into Czech Republic
(Bohemia) & Slovakia
1994 - "Flying Karamzov Brothers" closes at Helen
Hayes NYC after 50 perfs
1994 - "Grand Night after Singing" closes at
Criterion NYC after 52 perfs
1994 - Aleksandr Popov swims world record 100m free style
(47.83)
1994 - Carquest Bowl 4: Boston College beats Virginia, 32-13
Radio shock jock Howard SternRadio shock jock Howard Stern
1994 - Howard Stern's New Year's Eve Beauty Pageant
1994 - International Year of Family
1994 - Jacobs Field opens with "Gateway's New Year's
Eve Countdown to '94"
1994 - North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) goes into
effect
1994 - The Zapatista Army of National Liberation initiates
twelve days of armed conflict in the Mexican State of Chiapas.
1995 - "Glass Menagerie" closes at Criterion
Theater NYC after 57 perfs
1995 - "Shadow Box" closes at Circle in Sq Theater
NYC after 49 performances
1995 - Austria, Finland & Sweden act to join European
Union
1995 - Centennial of Canadian Mounties presence in Canada's
Yukon Territory
1995 - Fernando Henrique Cardoso installed as president of
Brazil
1995 - International Year of Tolerance
1995 - Last "Far Side" by cartoonist Gary Larson
(started 1980)
1995 - Raman Lamba & Ravi Sehgal score 464 for 1st
wicket for Delhi
1995 - for"Tuna Christmas" closes at Booth Theater
NYC 20 performances
1995 - The Draupner wave in the North Sea in Norway is
detected, confirming the existence of freak waves.
Cartoonist Gary LarsonCartoonist Gary Larson 1996 - After 27
years, Betty Rubble debuts as a Flintstone vitamin
1996 - Curacao gains limited form of self rule (Status
Aparte)
1997 - The Republic of Zaïre officially joins the World
Trade Organization, as Zaïre.
1998 - All California bars, clubs & card rooms must be
smoke-free
1998 - Mongolia switches from a 46 hour to 40 hour work week
1998 - US Census Bureau estimates population at 268,921,733
1998 - Russia begins to circulate new rubles to stem
inflation and promote confidence.
1998 - The European Central Bank is established.
1999 - International Year of Elderly
1999 - The Euro currency is introduced.
2000 - Gisbourne, New Zealand population 32,754 is first
city in the world to welcome in the new millennium
2002 - The Open Skies mutual surveillance treaty, initially
signed in 1992, officially comes into force.
2002 - Euro banknotes and coins become legal tender in
twelve of the European Union's member states.
2002 - Taiwan officially joins the World Trade Organization,
as Chinese Taipei.
2004 - In a vote of confidence, General Pervez Musharraf
wins 658 out of 1,170 votes in the Electoral College of Pakistan, and according
to Article 41(8) of the Constitution of Pakistan, was "deemed to be
elected" to the office of President until October 2007.
2006 - Sydney, Australia swelters through its hottest New
Years Day on record. The thermometre peaked at 45 degrees celsius, sparking
bushfires and power outages.
2007 - Bulgaria and Romania officially join the European
Union. Also, Bulgarian, Romanian, and Irish become official languages of the
European Union, joining 20 other official languages.
2007 - Slovenia officially adopts the Euro currency and
becomes the thirteenth Eurozone country.
2007 - Adam Air Flight 574 disappears over Indonesia with
102 people on board.
2008 - A New Hampshire law legalizing civil unions for
same-sex couples comes into effect.
2008 - Malta and Cyprus officially adopt the Euro currency
and become the fourteenth and fifteenth Eurozone countries.
2009 - Slovakia officially adopts the Euro currency and
becomes the sixteenth Eurozone country.
2009 - 61 die in nightclub fire in Bangkok, Thailand.
2009 - The government of the Republic of China adopts Hanyu
Pinyin as its official Chinese romanization (before this time, the most
commonly used was Tongyong Pinyin.
2010 - Suicide car bomb detonates at a volleyball tournament
in Lakki Marwat, Pakistan, killing 105 and injuring 100
2013 - 13 FARC members are killed by an airstrike by the
Columbian military
2013 - 13 Boko Harem members are killed by Nigeria’s
military in Maiduguri
2013 - 60 people are killed and 200 are injured after a
stampede following New Year celebrations
2013 - 18 people are killed and 16 wounded after a bus and
mini-bus collision in Thiès, Senegal
2013 - 10 people are killed and 120 are injured in a
stampede in Luanda, Angola
2013 - US bi-partisan deal temporarily avoids the fiscal
cliff
2013 - Magnus Carlsen breaks Garry Kasparov's chess FIDE
rating, reaching 2,861
2304 - Mid-CALENDAR day
6000 - 1st reversible date since 11/11/1999
0404 - The last gladiator competition was held in Rome. 1622 - The Papal Chancery adopted January 1st as the beginning of the New Year (instead of March 25th). 1772 - The first traveler's checks were issued in London. 1785 - London's oldest daily paper "The Daily Universal Register" (later renamed "The Times" in 1788) was first published. 1797 - Albany became the capital of New York state, replacing New York City. 1801 - The Act of Union of England and Ireland came into force. 1801 - Italian astronomer Giuseppe Piazzi became the first person to discover an asteroid. He named it Ceres. 1804 - Haiti gained its independence. 1808 - The U.S. prohibited import of slaves from Africa. 1840 - The first recorded bowling match was recorded in the U.S. 1863 - U.S. President Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, which declared that all slaves in the rebel states were free. 1887 - Queen Victoria was proclaimed empress of India in Delhi. 1892 - Ellis Island Immigrant Station formally opened in New York. 1892 - Brooklyn and New York merged to form the single city of New York. 1894 - The Manchester Ship Canal was officially opened to traffic. 1898 - Manhattan, the Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Island were consolidated into New York City. 1900 - Hawaii asked for a delegate to the Republican national convention. 1900 - Nigeria became a British protectorate with Frederick Lagard as the high commissioner. 1901 - The Commonwealth of Australia was founded. Lord Hopetoun officially assumed the duties as the first Governor-General. 1902 - The first Tournament of Roses (later the Rose Bowl) collegiate football game was played in Pasadena, CA. 1909 - The first payments of old-age pensions were made in Britain. People over 70 received five shillings a week. 1913 - The post office began parcel post deliveries. 1924 - Frank B. Cooney received a patent for ink paste. 1926 - The Rose Bowl was carried coast to coast on network radio for the first time. 1930 - "The Cuckoo Hour" was heard for the first time on the NBC-Blue Network, which later became ABC Radio. 1934 - Alcatraz Island officially became a Federal Prison. 1934 - The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) began operation. 1936 - The "New York Herald Tribune" began microfilming its current issues. 1937 - The First Cotton Bowl football game was played in Dallas, TX. Texas Christian University (T.C.U.) beat Marquette, 16-6. 1939 - The Hewlett-Packard partnership was formed. 1942 - U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill issued a declaration called the "United Nations." It was signed by 26 countries that vowed to create an international postwar World War II peacekeeping organization. 1945 - France was admitted to the United Nations. 1956 - Sudan gained its independence. 1958 - The European Economic Community (EEC) started operations. 1959 - Fidel Castro overthrew the government of Fulgencio Batista, and seized power in Cuba. 1968 - Evel Knievel, stunt performing daredevil, lost control of his motorcycle midway through a jump of 141 feet over the ornamental fountains in front of Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas. 1971 - Tobacco ads representing $20 million dollars in advertising were banned from TV and radio broadcast. 1973 - Britain, Ireland, Denmark and Norway joined the EEC. 1975 - The magazine "Popular Electronics" announced the invention of a person computer called Altair. MITS, using an Intel microprocessor, developed the computer. 1979 - The United States and China held celebrations in Washington, DC, and Beijing to mark the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries. 1981 - Greece joined the European Community. 1984 - AT&T was broken up into 22 Bell System companies under terms of an antitrust agreement with the U.S. Federal government. 1986 - Spain and Portugal joined the European Community (EC). 1987 - A pro-democracy rally took place in Beijing's Tiananmen Square (China). 1990 - David Dinkins was sworn in as New York City's first black mayor. 1992 - The ESPN Radio Network was officially launched. 1993 - Czechoslovakia split into two separate states, the Czech Republic and Slovakia. The peaceful division had been engineered in 1992. 1994 - Bill Gates, Chief Executive Officer of Microsoft and Melinda French were married. 1994 - The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) went into effect. 1995 - Frederick West, an alleged killer of 12 women and girls, was found hanged in his jail cell in Winston Green prison, in Birmingham. West had been under almost continuous watch since his arrest in 1994, but security had reportedly been relaxed in the months preceding the apparent suicide. 1995 - The World Trade Organization came into existence. The group of 125 nations monitors global trade. 1998 - A new anti-smoking law went into effect in California. The law prohibiting people from lighting up in bars. 1999 - The euro became currency for 11 Member States of the European Union. Coins and notes were not available until January 1, 2002. 1999 - In California, a law went into effect that defined "invasion of privacy as trespassing with the intent to capture audio or video images of a celebrity or crime victim engaging in a personal of family activity." 2001 - The "Texas 7," rented space in an RV park in Woodland Park, CO.
1863 Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation. 1908 The ball signifying the New Year was dropped for the first time at Times Square in New York City. 1914 The world's first airline, St. Petersburg Tampa Airboat Line, starts operation in St. Petersburg, Florida. 1959 Fidel Castro and his revolutionaries took over Cuba and toppled Fulgencio Batista's regime. 1975 John Mitchell, H. R. Haldeman, and John Ehrlichman were convicted of obstruction of justice in the Watergate affair. 1993 Czechoslovakia peacefully split into the Czech Republic and Slovakia. 1994 The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) went into effect. 2002 Euro coins and notes went into circulation in twelve European nations.
The following links are to web sites that were used to complete this blog entry:
http://www.historyorb.com/today/events.php
http://on-this-day.com/onthisday/thedays/alldays/jan01.htm
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history
http://www.infoplease.com/dayinhistory
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