January 22nd in History

1506 - The first contingent of 150 Swiss Guards arrives at the Vatican.

1689 - The Convention Parliament convenes to determine if James II and VII, the last Roman Catholic monarch of England, Ireland and Scotland, had vacated the thrones when he fled to France in 1688.


1849 - Second Anglo-Sikh War: The Siege of Multan ends after nine months when the last Sikh defenders of Multan, Punjab, surrender.

1863 - The January Uprising breaks out in Poland, Lithuania and Belarus. The aim of the national movement is to regain Polish-Lithuanian-Ruthenian Commonwealth from occupation by Russia.


1879 - Anglo-Zulu War: Battle of Isandlwana – Zulu troops defeat British troops.

1879 - Anglo-Zulu War: Battle of Rorke's Drift – 139 British soldiers successfully defend their garrison against an intense assault by four to five thousand Zulu warriors.

1901 - Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom dies in Osborne House on the Isle of Wight aged 81. She reigned 63 years, seven months and two days. The longest-reigning British monarch and the longest-reigning Queen regnant in world history


1901 - Edward VII is proclaimed King of the  United Kingdom

1905 - Bloody Sunday in St. Petersburg, beginning of the 1905 revolution.

1917 - World War I: President Woodrow Wilson of the still-neutral United States calls for "peace without victory" in Europe.

1924 - Ramsay MacDonald becomes the first Labour Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.

1944 - World War II: The Allies commence Operation Shingle, an assault on Anzio, Italy.

1962 - The Organization of American States suspends Cuba's membership.

1968 - Apollo 5 lifts off carrying the first Lunar module into space.

1970 - The Boeing 747, the world's first "jumbo jet", enters commercial service for launch customer Pan American Airways with its maiden voyage from John F. Kennedy International Airport to London Heathrow Airport.

1991 - Gulf War: Three SCUDs and one Patriot missile hit Ramat Gan in Israel, injuring 96 people. Three elderly people die of heart attacks.

1995 - Israeli-Palestinian conflict: Beit Lid massacre – In central Israel, near Netanya, two suicide bombers from the Gaza Strip blow themselves up at a military transit point killing 19 Israelis.

2006 - Evo Morales is inaugurated as President of Bolivia, becoming the country's first indigenous President.

Famous Birthdays

1440 - Tsar Ivan III of Russia


1796 - Karl Claus, chemist

1797 - Maria Leopoldina of Austria, Empress of Brazil

1831 - Prince Christian of Schleswig-Holstein

1909 - U Thant, 3rd United Nations Secretary General

1920 - Sir Alf Ramsey, football manager


1936 - Ong Teng Cheong, 5th President of Singapore

1955 - Thomas David Jones, astronaut

1965 - Steven Adler, drummer

1974 - Cameron McConville, racing driver

1980 - Christopher Masterson, actor

1983 - Shaun Cody, football player

1990 - Alizé Cornet, tennis player