January 2 - Events

Events

• 366 – The Alamanni cross the frozen Rhine River in large numbers, invading the Roman Empire.
• 533 – Mercurius becomes Pope John II, the first pope to adopt a new name upon elevation to the papacy.
• 1492 – Reconquista: the emirate of Granada, the last Moorish stronghold in Spain, surrenders.
• 1777 – American Revolutionary War: American forces under the command of George Washington repulsed a British attack at the Battle of the Assunpink Creek near Trenton, New Jersey.
• 1788 – Georgia becomes the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution.
• 1791 – Big Bottom massacre in the Ohio Country, marking the beginning of the Northwest Indian War.
• 1818 – The British Institution of Civil Engineers is founded.
• 1833 – Re-establishment of British rule on the Falkland Islands.
• 1860 – The discovery of the planet Vulcan is announced at a meeting of the French Academy of Sciences in Paris, France.
• 1871 – Amadeus I becomes King of Spain.
• 1900 – John Hay announces the Open Door Policy to promote trade with China.
• 1905 – Russo-Japanese War: The Russian garrison surrenders at Port Arthur, China.
• 1911 – A gun battle in the East End of London left two dead and sparked a political row over the involvement of then-Home Secretary Winston Churchill.
• 1920 – The second Palmer Raid takes place with another 6,000 suspected communists and anarchists arrested and held without trial. These raids take place in several U.S. cities.
• 1927 – Angered by the anti-clerical provisions of the Mexican Constitution of 1917, Catholic rebels in Mexico rebelled against the government.
• 1935 – Bruno Hauptmann goes on trial for the murder of Charles Lindbergh, Jr., infant son of aviator Charles Lindbergh.
• 1941 – World War II: German bombing severely damages the Llandaff Cathedral in Cardiff, Wales, United Kingdom.
• 1942 – The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) convicts 33 members of a German spy ring headed by Fritz Joubert Duquesne in the largest espionage case in United States history—the Duquesne Spy Ring.
• 1942 – World War II: Manila, Philippines is captured by Japanese forces.
• 1945 – World War II: Nuremberg, Germany (in German, Nürnberg) is severely bombed by Allied forces.
• 1949 – Luis Muñoz Marín becomes the first democratically elected Governor of Puerto Rico.
• 1955 – Panamanian president José Antonio Remón Cantera is assassinated.
• 1959 – Luna 1, the first spacecraft to reach the vicinity of the Moon and to orbit the Sun, is launched by the Soviet Union.
• 1971 – The second Ibrox disaster kills 66 fans at a Rangers-Celtic association football (soccer) match.
• 1974 – President Richard Nixon signs a bill lowering the maximum U.S. speed limit to 55 MPH in order to conserve gasoline during an OPEC embargo.
• 1992 – Leaders of armed opposition declare the President Zviad Gamsakhurdia deposed during a military coup in Georgia.
• 1999 – A brutal snowstorm smashes into the Midwestern United States, causing 14 inches (359 mm) of snow in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and 19 inches (487 mm) in Chicago, Illinois, where temperatures plunge to -13 °F (-25 °C); 68 deaths are reported.
• 2001 – Sila María Calderón becomes the first female Governor of Puerto Rico.
• 2002 – Eduardo Duhalde is appointed interim President of Argentina by the Legislative Assembly.
• 2004 – Stardust successfully flies past Comet Wild 2, collecting samples that are returned to Earth.
• 2006 – An explosion in a coal mine in Sago, West Virginia traps and kills 12 miners, while leaving one miner in critical condition.