January 4 Historical Events

The following events took place on January 4. The list is arranged in chronological order.

Found 44 events. Showing 1 - 30.

• 46 BCE
  Julius Caesar defeats Titus Labienus in the Battle of Ruspina.
• 871
  Battle of Reading: Æthelred of Wessex fights, and is defeated by, a Danish invasion army.
• 1490
  Anne of Brittany announces that all those who would ally with the King of France will be considered guilty of the crime of lèse-majesté.
• 1642
  King Charles I of England sends soldiers to arrest members of Parliament, commencing England’s slide into civil war.
• 1649
  English Civil War: The Rump Parliament votes to put Charles I on trial.
• 1717
  The Netherlands, Great Britain, and France sign the Triple Alliance.
• 1762
  Great Britain declares war on Spain and Naples.
• 1798
  Constantine Hangerli arrives in Bucharest, Wallachia, as its new Prince, invested by the Ottoman Empire.
• 1847
  Samuel Colt sells his first revolver pistol to the United States government.
• 1853
  After having been kidnapped and sold into slavery in the American South, Solomon Northrup regains his freedom; his memoir 12 Years a Slave later becomes a national bestseller.
• 1854
  The McDonald Islands are discovered by Captain William McDonald aboard the Samarang.
• 1863
  The New Apostolic Church, a Christian and chiliastic church, is established in Hamburg, Germany.
• 1865
  The New York Stock Exchange opens its first permanent headquarters at 10-12 Broad near Wall Street in New York City.
• 1878
  Sofia is emancipated from Ottoman rule.
• 1884
  The Fabian Society is founded in London, England, United Kingdom.

• 1889
  The Oklahoma Land Run opens 2 million acres of unused Oklahoma Territory to first serve first come settlers on April 22.
• 1896
  Utah is admitted as the 45th U.S. state.
• 1903
  Topsy, an elephant, is electrocuted by the owners of Luna Park, Coney Island. Thomas Edison’s movie company shoots the film Electrocuting an Elephant of the execution.
• 1912
  The Scout Association is incorporated throughout the British Empire by royal charter.
• 1944
  World War II: Operation Carpetbagger, involving the dropping of arms and supplies to resistance fighters in Europe, begins.
• 1948
  Burma gains its independence from the United Kingdom.
• 1951
  Korean War: Chinese and North Korean forces capture Seoul.
• 1955
  The Greek National Radical Union is formed by Konstantinos Karamanlis.
• 1958
  Sputnik 1 falls to Earth from orbit.
• 1959
  Luna 1 becomes the first spacecraft to reach the vicinity of the Moon.
• 1965
  United States President Lyndon B. Johnson proclaims his “Great Society” during his State of the Union address.
• 1966
  A military coup takes place in Upper Volta (later Burkina Faso), dissolving the National Parliament and leading to a new national constitution.
• 1970
  A magnitude 7.7 earthquake strikes Tonghai County, China, killing at least 15,000 people.
• 1972
  Rose Heilbron becomes the first female judge to sit at the Old Bailey in London, England.
• 1974
  United States President Richard Nixon refuses to hand over materials subpoenaed by the Senate Watergate Committee.