What Happened On January 13

10 odd things that happened on January 13

• 
  1949 First ever

  In the first recorded instance of strike action by Catholic laity against the clergy, gravediggers at Calvary Cemetery in Queens, New York City, went on strike.

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  Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

• 
  1842 First ever

  First Anglo-Afghan War: William Brydon, an assistant surgeon in the British Army, was the sole European of the 14,000 people retreating from Kabul to Jalalabad who evaded capture or death.

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  Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

• 
  1435 Oddly true

  Pope Eugene IV promulgated the papal bull Sicut dudum, forbidding the enslavement of the native Guanche of the Canary Islands by the Spanish.

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  Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

• 
  1895 First ever

  First Italo-Ethiopian War: The war's opening battle, the Battle of Coatit, occurs; it is an Italian victory.

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  Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

• 
  1893 First ever

  The Independent Labour Party of the United Kingdom holds its first meeting.

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  Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

• 
  1842 First ever

  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.

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  Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

• 
  1822 First ever

  The design of the Greek flag is adopted by the First National Assembly at Epidaurus.

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  Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

• 
  532 Oddly true

  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.

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  Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

• 
  2001 First ever

  The first of two large earthquakes in the span of a month struck El Salvador, killing at least 944 people and destroying over 100,000 homes.

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  Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

• 
  1972 First ever

  Bernice Gera won a sex-discrimination lawsuit against the National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues, allowing her to become the first female professional baseball umpire.

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  Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Observed today

• Christian feast day: Blessed Veronica of Milan
• Christian feast day: Elian
• Christian feast day: Hilary of Poitiers
• Christian feast day: Mungo
• Christian feast day: St. Knut's Day or Tjugondag Knut, the last day of Christmas. (Sweden and Finland)
• Christian feast day: January 13 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
• Constitution Day (Mongolia)
• Democracy Day (Cape Verde)
• Gluten-free diet day
• Liberation Day (Togo)
• Old New Year's Eve (Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, Serbia, Montenegro, Republic of Srpska, North Macedonia), and its related observances: Malanka (Ukraine, Russia, Belarus)
• Sidereal winter solstice's eve celebrations in South and Southeast Asian cultures; the last day of the six-month Dakshinayana period (see January 14): Bhogi (Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu)
• Sidereal winter solstice's eve celebrations in South and Southeast Asian cultures; the last day of the six-month Dakshinayana period (see January 14): Lohri (Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh)
• Sidereal winter solstice's eve celebrations in South and Southeast Asian cultures; the last day of the six-month Dakshinayana period (see January 14): Uruka (Assam)
• Stephen Foster Memorial Day (United States)
• Yennayer (Berbers)

• 2021Outgoing 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. Wikipedia →
• 2020The Thai Ministry of Public Health confirms the first case of COVID-19 outside China. Wikipedia →
• 2018A false emergency alert warning of an impending missile strike in Hawaii causes widespread panic in the state. Wikipedia →
• 2012The 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. Wikipedia →
• 2004Uzbekistan Airways Flight 1154 crashes while landing at Tashkent International Airport, killing 37. Wikipedia →
• 2003208996 Achlys was discovered by Chad Trujillo and Michael E. Brown at Palomar Observatory. Wikipedia →
• 2001An earthquake hits El Salvador, killing more than 800. Wikipedia →
• 2000A Short 360 aircraft chartered by the Sirte Oil Company crashes off the coast of Brega, Libya, killing 21. Wikipedia →
• 1998Alfredo Ormando sets himself on fire in St. Peter's Square, protesting against homophobia. Wikipedia →
• 1993Space Shuttle program: Endeavour heads for space for the third time as STS-54 launches from the Kennedy Space Center. Wikipedia →
• 1993The Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) is signed. Wikipedia →
• 1993Operation 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. Wikipedia →
• 1991Soviet Union troops attack Lithuanian independence supporters in Vilnius, killing 14 people and wounding around 1,000 others. Wikipedia →
• 1990Douglas Wilder becomes the first elected African American governor as he takes office as Governor of Virginia in Richmond, Virginia. Wikipedia →
• 1988Lee Teng-hui becomes the first native Taiwanese President of the Republic of China. Wikipedia →
• 1986A month-long violent struggle begins in Aden, South Yemen between supporters of Ali Nasir Muhammad and Abdul Fattah Ismail, resulting in thousands of casualties. Wikipedia →
• 1985A passenger train plunges into a ravine in Ethiopia, killing 428 in the worst railroad disaster in Africa. Wikipedia →
• 1982Shortly 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. Wikipedia →
• 1978United States Food and Drug Administration requires all blood donations to be labeled "paid" or "volunteer" donors. Wikipedia →
• 1977Japan Air Lines Cargo Flight 1045, a Douglas DC-8 jet, crashes onto the runway during takeoff from Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport, killing five. Wikipedia →
• 1972Prime Minister Kofi Abrefa Busia and President Edward Akufo-Addo of Ghana are ousted in a bloodless military coup by Colonel Ignatius Kutu Acheampong. Wikipedia →
• 1968Johnny Cash performs live at Folsom State Prison. Wikipedia →
• 1966Robert C. Weaver becomes the first African American Cabinet member when he is appointed United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development. Wikipedia →
• 1964Anti-Muslim riots break out in Calcutta, in response to anti-Hindu riots in East Pakistan. About one hundred people are killed. Wikipedia →
• 1964In 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). Wikipedia →
• 1963Coup d'état in Togo results in the assassination of president Sylvanus Olympio. Wikipedia →
• 1958The Moroccan Army of Liberation ambushes a Spanish patrol in the Battle of Edchera. Wikipedia →
• 1953An 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. Wikipedia →
• 1951First Indochina War: The Battle of Vĩnh Yên begins. Wikipedia →
• 1950British submarine HMS Truculent collides with an oil tanker in the Thames Estuary, killing 64 men. Wikipedia →
• 1950Finland forms diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of China. Wikipedia →
• 1942Henry Ford patents a soybean car, which is 30% lighter than a regular car. Wikipedia →
• 1942World War II: First use of an aircraft ejection seat by a German test pilot in a Heinkel He 280 jet fighter. Wikipedia →
• 1939The Black Friday bushfires burn 20,000 square kilometres (7,700 sq mi) of land in Australia, claiming the lives of 71 people. Wikipedia →
• 1935A 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". Wikipedia →
• 1920The Reichstag Bloodbath of January 13, 1920, the bloodiest demonstration in German history. Wikipedia →
• 1915The 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. Wikipedia →
• 1908The Rhoads Opera House fire in Boyertown, Pennsylvania kills 171 people. Wikipedia →
• 1900To combat Czech nationalism, Emperor Franz Joseph decrees German will be language of the Austro-Hungarian Armed Forces. Wikipedia →
• 1898Émile Zola's J'accuse…! exposes the Dreyfus affair. Wikipedia →
• 1895First Italo-Ethiopian War: The war's opening battle, the Battle of Coatit, occurs; it is an Italian victory. Wikipedia →
• 1893The Independent Labour Party of the United Kingdom holds its first meeting. Wikipedia →
• 1893U.S. Marines land in Honolulu, Hawaii from the USS Boston to prevent the queen from abrogating the Bayonet Constitution. Wikipedia →
• 1888The National Geographic Society is founded in Washington, D.C. Wikipedia →
• 1849Establishment of the Colony of Vancouver Island. Wikipedia →
• 1849Second Anglo-Sikh War: Battle of Chillianwala: British forces retreat from the Sikhs. Wikipedia →
• 1847The Treaty of Cahuenga ends the Mexican–American War in California. Wikipedia →
• 1842Dr. 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. Wikipedia →
• 1840The steamship Lexington burns and sinks four miles off the coast of Long Island with the loss of 139 lives. Wikipedia →
• 1833United 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. Wikipedia →
• 1822The design of the Greek flag is adopted by the First National Assembly at Epidaurus. Wikipedia →
• 1815War of 1812: British troops capture Fort Peter in St. Marys, Georgia, the only battle of the war to take place in the state. Wikipedia →
• 1797French 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. Wikipedia →
• 1793Nicolas Jean Hugon de Bassville, representative of Revolutionary France, is lynched by a mob in Rome. Wikipedia →
• 1547Henry 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. Wikipedia →
• 1435Sicut 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. Wikipedia →
• 532The 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. Wikipedia →
• 27 BCOctavian 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. Wikipedia →