On This Day — 31 January
2000s
2025
Med Jets Flight 056 crashes near Roosevelt Mall in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, killing 8 people and injuring 23.
Med Jets Flight 056
2023
The last Boeing 747, the first wide-body airliner, is delivered to Atlas Air and operated for ApexLogistics. The aircraft was registered as N863GT and named "Empower".
Boeing 747
2022
Sue Gray, a senior civil servant in the United Kingdom, publishes an initial version of her report on the Downing Street Partygate controversy.
Sue Gray, Baroness Gray of Tottenham
2020
The United Kingdom's membership within the European Union ceases in accordance with Article 50, after 47 years of being a member state.
United Kingdom
2019
Abdullah of Pahang is sworn in as the 16th Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia.
Abdullah of Pahang
2009
At least 113 people are killed in Kenya and over 200 injured following an oil spillage ignition in Molo, days after a massive fire at a Nakumatt supermarket in Nairobi killed at least 25 people.
Kenya
2007
Emergency officials in Boston mistakenly identify battery-powered LED placards depicting characters from Aqua Teen Hunger Force as Improvised explosive devices (IEDs), causing a panic.
Aqua Teen Hunger Force
2003
The Waterfall rail accident occurs near Waterfall, New South Wales, Australia.
Waterfall rail accident
2001
In the Netherlands, a Scottish court convicts Libyan Abdelbaset al-Megrahi and acquits another Libyan citizen for their part in the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland in 1988.
Libya
2001
Two Japan Airlines planes nearly collide over Suruga Bay in Japan.
Japan Airlines
2000
Alaska Airlines Flight 261 crash: An MD-83, experiencing horizontal stabilizer problems, crashes in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Point Mugu, California, killing all 88 aboard.
Alaska Airlines Flight 261
1900s
1996
An explosives-filled truck rams into the gates of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka in Colombo, killing at least 86 people and injuring 1,400.
Colombo Central Bank bombing
1988
Doug Williams becomes the first African American quarterback to play in a Super Bowl and leads the Washington Redskins to victory in Super Bowl XXII.
Doug Williams (quarterback)
1978
The Crown of St. Stephen (also known as the Holy Crown of Hungary) goes on public display after being returned to Hungary from the United States, where it was held after World War II.
Holy Crown of Hungary
1971
Apollo program: Apollo 14: Astronauts Alan Shepard, Stuart Roosa, and Edgar Mitchell, aboard a Saturn V, lift off for a mission to the Fra Mauro Highlands on the Moon.
Apollo program
1971
The Winter Soldier Investigation, organized by the Vietnam Veterans Against the War to publicize alleged war crimes and atrocities by Americans and allies in Vietnam, begins in Detroit.
Winter Soldier Investigation
1968
Vietnam War: Viet Cong guerrillas attack the United States embassy in Saigon, and other attacks, in the early morning hours, later grouped together as the Tet Offensive.
Vietnam War
1966
The Soviet Union launches the unmanned Luna 9 spacecraft as part of the Luna program.
Soviet Union
1961
Project Mercury: Mercury-Redstone 2: The chimpanzee Ham travels into outer space.
Project Mercury
1958
Cold War: Space Race: The Explorer 1, the first successful American satellite, detects the Van Allen radiation belt.
Space Race
1957
Eight people (five total crew from two aircraft and three on the ground) in Pacoima, California are killed following the mid-air collision between a Douglas DC-7 airliner and a Northrop F-89 Scorpion fighter jet.
Pacoima, Los Angeles
1953
A North Sea flood causes over 1,800 deaths in the Netherlands and over 300 in the United Kingdom.
North Sea flood of 1953
1951
United Nations Security Council Resolution 90 relating to the Korean War is adopted.
United Nations Security Council Resolution 90
1949
These Are My Children, the first television daytime soap opera, is broadcast by the NBC station in Chicago, United States.
These Are My Children
1946
Cold War: Yugoslavia's new constitution, modeling that of the Soviet Union, establishes six constituent republics (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Slovenia).
Cold War
1946
The Democratic Republic of Vietnam introduces the đồng to replace the French Indochinese piastre at par.
North Vietnam
1945
US Army private Eddie Slovik is executed for desertion, the first such execution of an American soldier since the Civil War.
Eddie Slovik
1945
World War II: About 3,000 inmates from the Stutthof concentration camp are forcibly marched into the Baltic Sea at Palmnicken (now Yantarny, Russia) and executed.
Stutthof concentration camp
1945
World War II: The end of fighting in the Battle of Hill 170 during the Burma Campaign, in which the British 3 Commando Brigade repulsed a Japanese counterattack on their positions and precipitated a general retirement from the Arakan Peninsula.
Battle of Hill 170
1944
World War II: American forces land on Kwajalein Atoll and other islands in the Japanese-held Marshall Islands.
Kwajalein Atoll
1944
World War II: During the Anzio campaign, the 1st Ranger Battalion (Darby's Rangers) is destroyed behind enemy lines in a heavily outnumbered encounter at Battle of Cisterna, Italy.
Battle of Anzio
1943
World War II: German field marshal Friedrich Paulus surrenders to the Soviets at Stalingrad, followed two days later by the remainder of his Sixth Army, ending one of the war's fiercest battles.
Friedrich Paulus
1942
World War II: Allied forces are defeated by the Japanese at the Battle of Malaya and retreat to Singapore.
World War II
1928
Leon Trotsky is exiled to Alma-Ata.
Leon Trotsky
1919
The Battle of George Square takes place in Glasgow, Scotland, during a campaign for shorter working hours.
Battle of George Square
1918
A series of accidental collisions due to poor visibility leads to the loss of two Royal Navy submarines with over a hundred lives, and damage to another five British warships.
Battle of May Island
1918
Finnish Civil War: The Suinula massacre, which changes the nature of the war in a more hostile direction, takes place in Kangasala.
Finnish Civil War
1917
World War I: Kaiser Wilhelm II orders the resumption of unrestricted submarine warfare.
Wilhelm II
1915
World War I: Germany is the first to make large-scale use of poison gas in warfare in the Battle of Bolimów against Russia.
World War I
1901
Anton Chekhov's Three Sisters premieres at Moscow Art Theatre in Russia.
Anton Chekhov
1900
Datu Muhammad Salleh is killed in Kampung Teboh, Tambunan, ending the Mat Salleh Rebellion.
Mat Salleh Rebellion
1800s
1891
History of Portugal: The first attempt at a Portuguese republican revolution breaks out in the northern city of Porto.
History of Portugal (1834–1910)
1865
American Civil War: The United States Congress passes the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, abolishing slavery, and submits it to the states for ratification.
American Civil War
1865
American Civil War: Confederate General Robert E. Lee becomes general-in-chief of all Confederate armies.
Confederate States of America
1862
Alvan Graham Clark discovers the white dwarf star Sirius B, a companion of Sirius, through an 18.5-inch (47 cm) telescope now located at Northwestern University.
Alvan Graham Clark
1848
John C. Frémont is court-martialed for mutiny and disobeying orders.
John C. Frémont
1846
After the Milwaukee Bridge War, the United States towns of Juneautown and Kilbourntown unify to create the City of Milwaukee.
Milwaukee Bridge War
1814
Gervasio Antonio de Posadas becomes Supreme Director of the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata (present-day Argentina).
Gervasio Antonio de Posadas
Before 1800
1747
The first venereal diseases clinic opens at London Lock Hospital.
Sexually transmitted infection
1703
Forty-seven rōnin, under the command of Ōishi Kuranosuke, avenged the death of their master, by killing Kira Yoshinaka.
Forty-seven rōnin
1609
Wisselbank of Amsterdam established
Bank of Amsterdam
1606
Gunpowder Plot: Four of the conspirators, including Guy Fawkes, are executed for treason by hanging, drawing and quartering, for plotting against Parliament and King James.
Gunpowder Plot
1578
Eighty Years' War and Anglo-Spanish War: The Battle of Gembloux is a victory for Spanish forces led by Don John of Austria over a rebel army of Dutch, Flemish, English, Scottish, German, French and Walloons.
Eighty Years' War
1504
The Treaty of Lyon ends the Italian War, confirming French domination of northern Italy, while Spain receives the Kingdom of Naples.
Italian Wars of 1499–1504
1266
The Mudéjar of Murcia, who had rebelled against the Crown of Castile during the Mudéjar revolt of 1264–1266, surrender the city to James I of Aragon after a siege lasting a month.
Mudéjar
1208
The Battle of Lena takes place between King Sverker II of Sweden and his rival, Prince Eric, whose victory puts him on the throne as King Eric X of Sweden.
Battle of Lena
314
Pope Sylvester I is consecrated, as successor to the late Pope Miltiades.
Pope Sylvester I