What happened today
1976
Famous birthdays
1929
Get history's greatest tales
Subscribe to our HistoryNet Now! newsletter for a blast from the past each week in your inbox.
more events on January 15
-
2001
Wikipedia goes online.
-
1992
Slovenia and Croatia’s independence from the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia is recognized by the international community.
-
1991
Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II approves Australia instituting its own Victoria Cross honors system, the first county in the British Commonwealth permitted to do so.
-
UN deadline for Iraq to withdraw its forces from occupied Kuwait passes, setting the stage for Operation Desert Storm.
-
1982
Prince Alexander of Yugoslavia.
-
1976
Sara Jane Moore sentenced to life in prison for her failed attempt to assassinate US President Gerald Ford.
-
1975
The Alvor Agreement is signed, ending the Angolan War of independence and granting the country independence from Portugal.
-
1973
Four of six remaining Watergate defendants plead guilty.
-
US President Richard Nixon announces the suspension of offensive action by US troops in Vietnam.
-
1967
Some 462 Yale faculty members call for an end to the bombing in North Vietnam.
-
1965
Sir Winston Churchill suffers a severe stroke.
-
1949
Chinese Communists occupy Tientsin after a 27-hour battle with Nationalist forces.
-
1948
Ronnie Van Zant, singer, songwriter; founding member of Lynyrd Skynyrd band.
-
1945
Princess Michael of Kent (Baroness Marie Christine Anna Agnes Hedwig Ida von Reibnitz), married to Prince Michael of Kent, grandson of Britain’s King George V.
-
1944
The U.S. Fifth Army successfully breaks the German Winter Line in Italy with the capture of Mount Trocchio.