President of the United States
2021
Outgoing U.S. President Donald Trump is impeached for a second time on a charge of incitement of insurrection following the January 6 United States Capitol attack one week prior..
January-13
Historical Events on January 13
January
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Ministry of Public Health (Thailand)
The Thai Ministry of Public Health confirms the first case of COVID-19 outside China.
2020
2018 Hawaii false missile alert
A false emergency alert warning of an impending missile strike in Hawaii causes widespread panic in the state.
2018
Cruise ship
The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia sinks off the coast of Italy due to the captain Francesco Schettino's negligence and irresponsibility. There are 32 confirmed deaths.
2012
208996 Achlys
208996 Achlys was discovered by Chad Trujillo and Michael E. Brown at Palomar Observatory.
2003
January 2001 El Salvador earthquake
2001
An earthquake hits El Salvador, killing more than 800..
Short 360
A Short 360 aircraft chartered by the Sirte Oil Company crashes off the coast of Brega, Libya, killing 21.
2000
Alfredo Ormando
Alfredo Ormando sets himself on fire in St. Peter's Square, protesting against homophobia.
1998
Space Shuttle program
Space Shuttle program: Endeavour heads for space for the third time as STS-54 launches from the Kennedy Space Center.
1993
Chemical Weapons Convention
The Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) is signed.
1993
Operation Southern Watch
1993
Operation Southern Watch: U.S.A.F., U.S.N., R.A.F. and French Air Force jets attack AAA and SAM sites in Southern Iraq..
January Events
Soviet Union troops attack Lithuanian independence supporters in Vilnius, killing 14 people and wounding around 1,000 others.
1991
Douglas Wilder
Douglas Wilder becomes the first elected African American governor as he takes office as Governor of Virginia in Richmond, Virginia.
1990
Lee Teng-hui
Lee Teng-hui becomes the first native Taiwanese President of the Republic of China.
1988
Aden
A month-long violent struggle begins in Aden, South Yemen between supporters of Ali Nasir Muhammad and Abdul Fattah Ismail, resulting in thousands of casualties.
1986
Awash rail disaster
1985
A passenger train plunges into a ravine in Ethiopia, killing 428 in the worst railroad disaster in Africa..
Air Florida Flight 90
Shortly after takeoff, Air Florida Flight 90, a Boeing 737 jet, crashes into Washington, D.C.'s 14th Street Bridge and falls into the Potomac River, killing 78 including four motorists.
1982
Food and Drug Administration
United States Food and Drug Administration requires all blood donations to be labeled "paid" or "volunteer" donors.
1978
Japan Air Lines Cargo Flight 1045
Japan Air Lines Cargo Flight 1045, a Douglas DC-8 jet, crashes onto the runway during takeoff from Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport, killing five.
1977
Kofi Abrefa Busia
Prime Minister Kofi Abrefa Busia and President Edward Akufo-Addo of Ghana are ousted in a bloodless military coup by Colonel Ignatius Kutu Acheampong.
1972
Johnny Cash
1968
Johnny Cash performs live at Folsom State Prison..
Robert C. Weaver
Robert C. Weaver becomes the first African American Cabinet member when he is appointed United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development.
1966
Violence against Muslims in India
Anti-Muslim riots break out in Calcutta, in response to anti-Hindu riots in East Pakistan. About one hundred people are killed.
1964
Manchester, New Hampshire
In Manchester, New Hampshire, fourteen-year-old Pamela Mason is murdered. Edward Coolidge is tried and convicted of the crime, but the conviction is set aside by the landmark Fourth Amendment case Coolidge v. New Hampshire (1971).
1964
1963 Togolese coup d'état
Coup d'état in Togo results in the assassination of president Sylvanus Olympio.
1963
Moroccan Army of Liberation
1958
The Moroccan Army of Liberation ambushes a Spanish patrol in the Battle of Edchera..
Pravda
An article appears in Pravda accusing some of the most prestigious and prominent doctors, mostly Jews, in the Soviet Union of taking part in a vast plot to poison members of the top Soviet political and military leadership.
1953
First Indochina War
First Indochina War: The Battle of Vĩnh Yên begins.
1951
HMS Truculent (P315)
British submarine HMS Truculent collides with an oil tanker in the Thames Estuary, killing 64 men.
1950
China–Finland relations
Finland forms diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of China.
1950
Henry Ford
1942
Henry Ford patents a soybean car, which is 30% lighter than a regular car..
World War II
World War II: First use of an aircraft ejection seat by a German test pilot in a Heinkel He 280 jet fighter.
1942
Black Friday bushfires
The Black Friday bushfires burn 20,000 square kilometres (7,700 sq mi) of land in Australia, claiming the lives of 71 people.
1939
1935 Saar status referendum
A plebiscite in Saarland shows that 90.3% of those voting wish to no more being a "region occupied and governed by the United Kingdom and France".
1935
Reichstag Bloodbath
The Reichstag Bloodbath of January 13, 1920, the bloodiest demonstration in German history.
1920
1915 Avezzano earthquake
1915
The 6.7 Mw Avezzano earthquake shakes the Province of L'Aquila in Italy with a maximum Mercalli intensity of XI (Extreme), killing between 29,978 and 32,610..
Rhoads Opera House fire
The Rhoads Opera House fire in Boyertown, Pennsylvania kills 171 people.
1908
Czech nationalism
To combat Czech nationalism, Emperor Franz Joseph decrees German will be language of the Austro-Hungarian Armed Forces.
1900
Émile Zola
Émile Zola's J'accuse…! exposes the Dreyfus affair.
1898
First Italo-Ethiopian War
First Italo-Ethiopian War: The war's opening battle, the Battle of Coatit, occurs; it is an Italian victory.
1895
Independent Labour Party
1893
The Independent Labour Party of the United Kingdom holds its first meeting..
United States Marine Corps
U.S. Marines land in Honolulu, Hawaii from the USS Boston to prevent the queen from abrogating the Bayonet Constitution.
1893
National Geographic Society
The National Geographic Society is founded in Washington, D.C.
1888
Colony of Vancouver Island
Establishment of the Colony of Vancouver Island.
1849
Battle of Chillianwala
Second Anglo-Sikh War: Battle of Chillianwala: British forces retreat from the Sikhs.
1849
Treaty of Cahuenga
1847
The Treaty of Cahuenga ends the Mexican–American War in California..
William Brydon
Dr. William Brydon, an assistant surgeon in the British East India Company Army during the First Anglo-Afghan War, becomes famous for being the sole survivor of an army of 4,500 men and 12,000 camp followers when he reaches the safety of a garrison in Jalalabad, Afghanistan.
1842
Lexington (steamship)
The steamship Lexington burns and sinks four miles off the coast of Long Island with the loss of 139 lives.
1840
Andrew Jackson
United States President Andrew Jackson writes to Vice President elect Martin Van Buren expressing his opposition to South Carolina's defiance of federal authority in the Nullification Crisis.
1833
Flag of Greece
The design of the Greek flag is adopted by the First National Assembly at Epidaurus.
1822
War of 1812
1815
War of 1812: British troops capture Fort Peter in St. Marys, Georgia, the only battle of the war to take place in the state..
French Revolutionary Wars
French Revolutionary Wars: A naval battle between a French ship of the line and two British frigates off the coast of Brittany ends with the French vessel running aground, resulting in over 900 deaths.
1797
Nicolas Jean Hugou de Basseville
Nicolas Jean Hugon de Bassville, representative of Revolutionary France, is lynched by a mob in Rome.
1793
Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey
Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey, is sentenced to death for treason, on the grounds of having quartered his arms to make them similar to those of the King, Henry VIII of England.
1547
Sicut dudum
Sicut Dudum, forbidding the enslavement by the Spanish of the Guanche natives in Canary Islands who had converted, or were converting to, Christianity, is promulgated by Pope Eugene IV.
1435
Nika riots
532
The Nika riots break out, during the racing season at the Hippodrome in Constantinople, as a result of discontent with the rule of the Emperor Justinian I..
Augustus
Octavian transfers the state to the free disposal of the Roman Senate and the people. He receives Spain, Gaul, and Syria as his province for ten years.
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