| 54 | BC | Caesar dines with Cicero at Puteoli |
| 0 | | Feast of St. Clement of Ohrid, Patron of the Bulgarian Empire [Julian] |
| 0 | BC | Rites honoring the Roman deities Tiberinus and Gaia, the River and the Earth |
| 395 | | Battle of Canhe Slope: The Later Yan Kingdom is defeated by its former vassal the Northern Wei |
| 1775 | | Battle of Great Bridge: Virginia Patriots defeat a small British column, causing crown supporters to flee the state |
| 1776 | | Washington's army retreats across the Delaware from NJ to Penna |
| 1794 | | Second Great Fire of New Orleans: 212 buildings destroyed |
| 1830 | | U.S. Army Adjutant General Order No. 72 ends the daily ration of one gill of whiskey to enlisted men, substituting an issue of coffee and sugar. |
| 1863 | | Church fire in Santiago de Chile, 2,000 die |
| 1863 | | Lincoln announces plan for Reconstruction of the South |
| 1907 | | Accession of King Gustaf V of Sweden (1907-1950) |
| 1914 | | Battle of the Falkland Islands: British battlecruisers annihilated von Spee's German cruiser squadron |
| 1936 | | Anastasio Somoza elected President of Nicaragua, initiating 20 years of direct or indirect dictatorial rule -- Learn More |
| 1938 | | Lauvrenti Beria follows Nikolai Yezkhov as head of Russian secret police |
| 1941 | | Japanese troops land in Malaya, attack Hong Kong, invade Siam and the Dutch East Indies, bomb the Philippines, and capture the USS Wake (PR 3) in Shanghai [Int'l Date Line affects these events, which occurred simultaneously with the attack on Pearl Harobor dated the 7th] |
| 1941 | | Japanese forces bomb Wake I. and land n Guam |
| 1941 | | "Force Z" (HMSs 'Prince of Wales' & 'Repulse') sails from Singapore |
| 1941 | | Aussie inf coy lands on western Timor, in the Netherlands East Indies |
| 1941 | | Britain declares war on Japan |
| 1941 | | FDR asks Congress for a declaration of war on Japan, which is done by virtually unanimous vote of both houses -- Learn More |
| 1942 | | Papua: Japanese troops withdrawing from Gona sustain heavy losses |
| 1942 | | Papua: U.S. a/c defeat Japanese attempt to land troops at Buna |
| 1943 | | Japanese air raids on British airfields in Assam |
| 1943 | | New Guinea: Australian troops capture Wareo |
| 1943 | | U.S. fast battleship task force bombards Japanese positions on Nauru |
| 1944 | | Iwo Jima: U.S. bombers and carrier aircraft begin a 72 day pre-invasion bombardment |
| 1944 | | Italian troops storm Monte Lungo, in the first action by the Italian Liberation Army against the Axis |
| 1952 | | French troops fire on demonstrators at Casablanca, 50 die |
| 1966 | | US & USSR sign treaty to prohibit nuclear weapons in outer space |
| 1971 | | Bangladesh War for Independence/Indo-Pakistani War: The Indian Navy bombards port facilities and military installations at Karachi. |
| 1982 | | Suriname army leader Desiré Delano Bouterse murders 15 opponents |
| 563 | BC | Siddhartha Gautama, The Buddha, d. c. 483 BC |
| 65 | BC | Quintus Horatius Flaccus - Horace, soldier, poet, d. 8 BC -- Learn More |
| 1412 | | Astorre II Manfredi, Condottiero, Lord of Imola (1439-1468) and of Faenza (1443-1468). |
| 1542 | | Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots (legally from Dec 12, 1542, effective 1560-1567), deposed, d. 1587 |
| 1626 | | Queen Christina of Sweden (1632-1654), abdicated, d. 1689 |
| 1708 | | Francis I, Holy Roman Emperor (1745-1765) |
| 1765 | | Eli Whitney, inventor of the cotton gin, interchangable parts, etc., d. 1825 |
| 1822 | | Luther Prentice Bradley, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1910 |
| 1828 | | Clinton Bowen Fisk, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1890 |
| 1828 | | Robert Bullock, Brig Gen, C.S.A., d. 1905 |
| 1865 | | Jean Sibelius, nationalist composer ("Finlandia"), d. 1957 |
| 1900 | | Sun Li-jen, Chinese Nationalist general -- "The Rommel of the East," d. 1990, after many years under house arrest |
| 1926 | | Joachim Fest, historian ("Hitler"), d. 2006 |
| 1933 | | The Fleet Marine Force is formed |
| 899 | | Arnulf of Carinthia, c. 49, King of East Francia (887-899), disputed King of Italy (894-899), disputed Holy Roman Emperor (896-899) |
| 1495 | | King Alfonso II of Naples (Jan 25, 1494-Feb 22, 1495), 47, abdicated |
| 1744 | | Marie Anne de Mailly-Nesle, 27, duchesse de Châteauroux, one of four sisters who became mistresses of King Louis XV of France, d. 1744 |
| 1788 | | Pierre Andre de Suffren, le Bailli de Suffren, Knight of Malta, French admiral, at 59 |
| 1793 | | Jeanne Bécu, comtesse du Barry -- Madame du Barry, 50, sometime mistress to Louis XV, guillotined |
| 1914 | | Maximilian von Spee, 53, admiral, with two of his sons and c. 2,000 other German seamen -- Learn More |
| 1978 | | Golda Meir, prime minister of Israel (1969-1974), in Jerusalem at 80 |
| 2016 | | John Glenn, 95, Marine airman, senator, astronaut |