17 January

Events

Pre-1600

*38 BC – Octavian divorces his wife Scribonia and marries Livia Drusilla, ending the fragile peace between the Second Triumvirate and Sextus Pompey.
* 1362 – Saint Marcellus' flood kills at least 25,000 people on the shores of the North Sea.
*1377 – Pope Gregory XI reaches Rome, after deciding to move the Papacy back to Rome from Avignon.
*1524 – Giovanni da Verrazzano sets sail westward from Madeira to find a sea route to the Pacific Ocean.
*1562 – France grants religious toleration to the Huguenots in the Edict of Saint-Germain.
*1595 – During the French Wars of Religion, Henry IV of France declares war on Spain.

1601–1900

*1608 – Emperor Susenyos I of Ethiopia surprises an Oromo army at Ebenat; his army reportedly kills 12,000 Oromo at the cost of 400 of his men.
*1648 – England's Long Parliament passes the " Vote of No Addresses", breaking off negotiations with King Charles I and thereby setting the scene for the second phase of the English Civil War.
*1649 – The Second Ormonde Peace creates an alliance between the Irish Royalists and Confederates during the War of the Three Kingdoms. The coalition was then decisively defeated during the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland.
* 1773 – Captain James Cook leads the first expedition to sail south of the Antarctic Circle.
*1781 – American Revolutionary War: Battle of Cowpens: Continental troops under Brigadier General Daniel Morgan defeat British forces under Lieutenant Colonel Banastre Tarleton at the battle in South Carolina.
*1799 – Maltese patriot Dun Mikiel Xerri, along with a number of other patriots, is executed.
*1811 – Mexican War of Independence: In the Battle of Calderón Bridge, a heavily outnumbered Spanish force of 6,000 troops defeats nearly 100,000 Mexican revolutionaries.
*1852 – The United Kingdom signs the Sand River Convention with the South African Republic.
* 1873 – A group of Modoc warriors defeats the United States Army in the First Battle of the Stronghold, part of the Modoc War.
*1885 – A British force defeats a large Dervish army at the Battle of Abu Klea in the Sudan.
*1893 – Lorrin A. Thurston, along with the Citizens' Committee of Public Safety, led the Overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaii and the government of Queen Liliuokalani.
*1899 – The United States takes possession of Wake Island in the Pacific Ocean.

1901–present

*1903 – El Yunque National Forest in Puerto Rico becomes part of the United States National Forest System as the Luquillo Forest Reserve.
*1904 – Anton Chekhov's ''The Cherry Orchard'' receives its premiere performance at the Moscow Art Theatre.
*1912 – British polar explorer Captain Robert Falcon Scott reaches the South Pole, one month after Roald Amundsen.
*1915 – Russia defeats Ottoman Turkey in the Battle of Sarikamish during the Caucasus Campaign of World War I.
* 1917 – The United States pays Denmark 25 million for the Virgin Islands.
*1918 – Finnish Civil War: The first serious battles take place between the Red Guards and the White Guard.
*1920 – Alcohol Prohibition begins in the United States as the Volstead Act goes into effect.
*1941 – Franco-Thai War: Vichy French forces inflict a decisive defeat over the Royal Thai Navy.
*1943 – World War II: Greek submarine Papanikolis captures the 200-ton sailing vessel ''Agios Stefanos'' and mans her with part of her crew.
*1944 – World War II: Allied forces launch the first of four assaults on Monte Cassino with the intention of breaking through the Winter Line and seizing Rome, an effort that would ultimately take four months and cost 105,000 Allied casualties.
*1945 – World War II: The Vistula–Oder Offensive forces German troops out of Warsaw.
* 1945 – The ''SS-Totenkopfverbände'' begin the evacuation of the Auschwitz concentration camp as the Red Army closes in.
* 1945 – Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg is taken into Soviet custody while in Hungary; he is never publicly seen again.
*1946 – The UN Security Council holds its first session.
*1948 – The Renville Agreement between the Netherlands and Indonesia is ratified.
*1950 – The Great Brink's Robbery: Eleven thieves steal more than $2 million from an armored car company's offices in Boston.
* 1950 – United Nations Security Council Resolution 79 relating to arms control is adopted.
*1961 – U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower delivers a televised farewell address to the nation three days before leaving office, in which he warns against the accumulation of power by the "military–industrial complex" as well as the dangers of massive spending, especially deficit spending.
* 1961 – Former Congolese Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba is murdered in circumstances suggesting the support and complicity of the governments of Belgium and the United States.
*1966 – Palomares incident: A B-52 bomber collides with a KC-135 Stratotanker over Spain, killing seven airmen, and dropping three 70-kiloton nuclear bombs near the town of Palomares and another one into the sea.
*1969 – Black Panther Party members Bunchy Carter and John Huggins are killed during a meeting in Campbell Hall on the campus of UCLA.
*1977 – Capital punishment in the United States resumes after a ten-year hiatus, as convicted murderer Gary Gilmore is executed by firing squad in Utah.
*1981 – President of the Philippines Ferdinand Marcos lifts martial law eight years and five months after declaring it.
*1991 – Gulf War: Operation Desert Storm begins early in the morning as aircraft strike positions across Iraq, it is also the first major combat sortie for the F-117. LCDR Scott Speicher's F/A-18C Hornet from VFA-81 is shot down by a Mig-25 and is the first American casualty of the War. Iraq fires eight Scud missiles into Israel in an unsuccessful bid to provoke Israeli retaliation.
* 1991 – Crown prince Harald V of Norway becomes King Harald V, following the death of his father, King Olav V.
*1992 – During a visit to South Korea, Japanese Prime Minister Kiichi Miyazawa apologizes for forcing Korean women into sexual slavery during World War II.
*1994 – The 6.7 Northridge earthquake shakes the Greater Los Angeles Area with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (''Violent''), leaving 57 people dead and more than 8,700 injured.
*1995 – The 6.9 Great Hanshin earthquake shakes the southern Hyōgo Prefecture with a maximum Shindo of VII, leaving 5,502–6,434 people dead, and 251,301–310,000 displaced.
*1996 – The Czech Republic applies for membership in the European Union.
*1997 – Cape Canaveral Air Force Station: A Delta II carrying the GPS IIR-1 satellite explodes 13 seconds after launch, dropping 250 tons of burning rocket remains around the launch pad.
*1998 – Clinton–Lewinsky scandal: Matt Drudge breaks the story of the Bill Clinton– Monica Lewinsky affair on his '' Drudge Report'' website.
*2002 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, displacing an estimated 400,000 people.
*2007 – The Doomsday Clock is set to five minutes to midnight in response to North Korea's nuclear testing.
*2010 – Rioting begins between Muslim and Christian groups in Jos, Nigeria, results in at least 200 deaths.
*2013 – Former cyclist Lance Armstrong confesses to his doping in an airing of ''Oprah's Next Chapter''.
*2016 – President Barack Obama announces the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.
*2017 – The search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 is announced to be suspended.

Births

Pre-1600

* 1342 – Philip II, Duke of Burgundy (d. 1404)
*1429 – Antonio del Pollaiuolo, Italian artist (d.c. 1498)
* 1463 – Frederick III, Elector of Saxony (d. 1525)
* 1463 – Antoine Duprat, French cardinal (d. 1535)
*1472 – Guidobaldo da Montefeltro, Italian captain (d. 1508)
* 1484 – George Spalatin, German priest and reformer (d. 1545)
* 1501 – Leonhart Fuchs, German physician and botanist (d. 1566)
*1504 – Pope Pius V (d. 1572)
*1517 – Henry Grey, 1st Duke of Suffolk, English Duke (d. 1554)
*1560 – Gaspard Bauhin, Swiss botanist, physician, and academic (d. 1624)
*1574 – Robert Fludd, English physician, astrologer, and mathematician (d. 1637)
*1593 – William Backhouse, English alchemist and astrologer (d. 1662)
* 1600 – Pedro Calderón de la Barca, Spanish playwright and poet (d. 1681)

1601–1900

* 1612 – Thomas Fairfax, English general and politician (d. 1671)
*1640 – Jonathan Singletary Dunham, American settler (d. 1724)
* 1659 – Antonio Veracini, Italian violinist and composer (d. 1745)
*1666 – Antonio Maria Valsalva, Italian anatomist and physician (d. 1723)
* 1686 – Archibald Bower, Scottish historian and author (d. 1766)
*1706 – Benjamin Franklin, American publisher, inventor, and politician, 6th President of Pennsylvania (d. 1790)
*1712 – John Stanley, English organist and composer (d. 1786)
*1719 – William Vernon, American businessman (d. 1806)
* 1728 – Johann Gottfried Müthel, German pianist and composer (d. 1788)
*1732 – Stanisław August Poniatowski, Polish-Lithuanian king (d. 1798)
* 1734 – François-Joseph Gossec, French composer and conductor (d. 1829)
* 1761 – Sir James Hall, 4th Baronet, Scottish geologist and geophysicist (d. 1832)
*1789 – August Neander, German historian and theologian (d. 1850)
* 1793 – Antonio José Martínez, Spanish-American priest, rancher and politician (d. 1867)
*1814 – Ellen Wood, English author (d. 1887)
* 1820 – Anne Brontë, English author and poet (d. 1849)
* 1828 – Lewis A. Grant, American lawyer and general, Medal of Honor recipient (d. 1918)
* 1828 – Ede Reményi, Hungarian violinist and composer (d. 1898)
*1832 – Henry Martyn Baird, American historian and academic (d. 1906)
*1834 – August Weismann, German biologist, zoologist, and geneticist (d. 1914)
* 1850 – Joaquim Arcoverde de Albuquerque Cavalcanti, Brazilian cardinal (d. 1930)
* 1850 – Alexander Taneyev, Russian pianist and composer (d. 1918)
* 1851 – A. B. Frost, American author and illustrator (d. 1928)
* 1853 – Alva Belmont, American suffragist (d. 1933)
* 1853 – T. Alexander Harrison, American painter and academic (d. 1930)
*1857 – Wilhelm Kienzl, Austrian pianist, composer, and conductor (d. 1941)
* 1857 – Eugene Augustin Lauste, French-American engineer (d. 1935)
* 1858 – Tomás Carrasquilla, Colombian author (d. 1940)
*1860 – Douglas Hyde, Irish academic and politician, 1st President of Ireland (d. 1949)
* 1863 – David Lloyd George, Welsh lawyer and politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1945)
* 1863 – Konstantin Stanislavski, Russian actor and director (d. 1938)
*1865 – Sir Charles Fergusson, 7th Baronet, English general and politician, 3rd Governor-General of New Zealand (d. 1951)
* 1867 – Carl Laemmle, German-born American film producer, co-founded Universal Studios (d. 1939)
* 1867 – Sir Alfred Rawlinson, 3rd Baronet, English colonel, pilot, and polo player (d. 1934)
* 1871 – David Beatty, 1st Earl Beatty, English admiral (d. 1936)
* 1871 – Nicolae Iorga, Romanian historian and politician, 34th Prime Minister of Romania (d. 1940)
*1875 – Florencio Sánchez, Uruguayan journalist and playwright (d. 1910)
*1876 – Frank Hague, American lawyer and politician, 30th Mayor of Jersey City (d. 1956)
* 1877 – Marie Zdeňka Baborová-Čiháková, Czech botanist and zoologist (d. 1937)
* 1877 – May Gibbs, English-Australian author and illustrator (d. 1969)
*1880 – Mack Sennett, Canadian-American actor, director, and producer (d. 1960)
* 1881 – Antoni Łomnicki, Polish mathematician and academic (d. 1941)
* 1881 – Harry Price, English psychologist and author (d. 1948)
*1882 – Noah Beery, Sr., American actor (d. 1946)
*1883 – Compton Mackenzie, English-Scottish author, poet, and playwright (d. 1972)
* 1886 – Glenn L. Martin, American pilot and businessman, founded the Glenn L. Martin Company (d. 1955)
*1887 – Ola Raknes, Norwegian psychoanalyst and philologist (d. 1975)
* 1888 – Babu Gulabrai, Indian philosopher and author (d. 1963)
* 1897 – Marcel Petiot, French physician and serial killer (d. 1946)
*1898 – Lela Mevorah, Serbian librarian (d. 1972)
*1899 – Al Capone, American mob boss (d. 1947)
* 1899 – Robert Maynard Hutchins, American philosopher and academic (d. 1977)
* 1899 – Nevil Shute, English engineer and author (d. 1960)

1901–present

*1901 – Aron Gurwitsch, Lithuanian-American philosopher and author (d. 1973)
*1904 – Hem Vejakorn, Thai painter and illustrator (d. 1969)
*1905 – Ray Cunningham, American baseball player (d. 2005)
* 1905 – Peggy Gilbert, American saxophonist and bandleader (d. 2007)
* 1905 – Eduard Oja, Estonian composer, conductor, educator, and critic (d. 1950)
* 1905 – Guillermo Stábile, Argentinian footballer and manager (d. 1966)
* 1905 – Jan Zahradníček, Czech poet and translator (d. 1960)
* 1907 – Henk Badings, Indonesian-Dutch composer and engineer (d. 1987)
* 1907 – Alfred Wainwright, British fellwalker, guidebook author and illustrator (d. 1991)
* 1908 – Cus D'Amato, American boxing manager and trainer (d. 1985)
*1911 – Busher Jackson, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 1966)
* 1911 – John S. McCain Jr., American admiral (d. 1981)
* 1911 – George Stigler, American economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1991)
*1914 – Anacleto Angelini, Italian-Chilean businessman (d. 2007)
* 1914 – Irving Brecher, American director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2008)
* 1914 – Paul Royle

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