This is a list of selected January 2 anniversaries that appear in the "On this day" section of the Main Page. To suggest a new item, in most cases, you can be bold and edit this page. Please read the selected anniversaries guidelines before making your edit. However, if your addition might be controversial or on a day that is or will soon be on the Main Page, please post your suggestion on the talk page instead.
Please note that the events listed on the Main Page are chosen based more on relative article quality and to maintain a mix of topics, not based solely on how important or significant their subjects are. Only four to five events are posted at a time and thus not everything that is "most important and significant" can be listed. In addition, an event is generally not posted this year if it is also the subject of the scheduled featured article or picture of the day.
To report an error when this appears on the Main Page, see Main Page errors. Please remember that this list defers to the supporting articles, so it is best to achieve consensus and make any necessary changes there first.
Images
Use only ONE image at a time
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"The Capitulation of Granada" -
Luis Muñoz Marín -
Fritz Joubert Duquesne -
US Attorney General Alexander Mitchell Palmer -
Ronald Reagan in 1969 -
A. Mitchell Palmer
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Comet Wild 2
Ineligible
| Blurb | Reason |
|---|---|
| 366 – The Alemanni, an alliance of west Germanic tribes, crossed the frozen Rhine in large numbers to invade the Roman Empire. | date not cited, may not be an appropriate date to feature the article |
| 533 – Mercurius became Pope John II, the first pope to adopt a regnal name upon elevation to the papacy. | stubby |
| 1492 – The Reconquista ended when the forces of Queen Isabella I of Castile and King Ferdinand II of Aragon defeated the armies of Abu 'abd-Allah Muhammad XII of Granada, the last of the Moorish rulers. | unreferenced section |
| 1860 – French mathematician Urbain Le Verrier announced the "discovery" of the planet Vulcan at a meeting at the French Academy of Sciences in Paris. | refimprove section |
| 1905 – Russo-Japanese War: The Siege of Port Arthur ended when the Russian fleet surrendered to Japanese forces at Port Arthur, a deep-water port and Russian naval base in present-day Lüshunkou, China. | refimprove |
| 1949 – Luis Muñoz Marín became the first democratically elected Governor of Puerto Rico. | refimprove section |
| 1959 – The Soviet spacecraft Luna 1, the first spacecraft to reach the vicinity of the Moon, was launched by the Vostok rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome near Tyuratam, Kazakh SSR. | refimprove, no epoch |
| 1971 – At Ibrox Park in Glasgow, Scotland, 66 people were killed in a stampede during an Old Firm football match. | refimprove section |
| 1975 – Lalit Narayan Mishra, the Indian Minister of Railways, was assassinated in a bomb blast at Samastipur, Bihar. | refimprove |
| 1981 – English serial killer Peter Sutcliffe, the "Yorkshire Ripper", was arrested in Sheffield, ending one of the largest police investigations in British history. | unreferenced section |
| 1991 – Sharon Pratt Dixon was sworn in as mayor of Washington, D.C., thus becoming the first African American woman to lead a major American city. | lots of CN tags |
| 2006 – An explosion at a coal mine in Sago, West Virginia, US, trapped 13 miners for nearly two days, leaving only one survivor. | refimprove |
Eligible
- 1777 – American Revolutionary War: American forces under the command of George Washington repulsed a British attack at the Battle of the Assunpink Creek near Trenton, New Jersey.
- 1920 – Under the leadership of U.S. Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer, Department of Justice agents launched a series of raids against radical leftists and anarchists across 30 cities in 23 states.
- 1942 – In the largest espionage case in American history, over 30 members of a German spy ring led by former South African Boer soldier and adventurer Fritz Joubert Duquesne were convicted following an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
- 1944 – World War II: The United States and Australia successfully landed 13,000 troops on Papua New Guinea in an attempt to cut off a Japanese retreat.
- 1963 – Vietnam War: The Viet Cong won its first major victory in the Battle of Ap Bac.
- 1976 – The Gale of January 1976 began, which resulted in coastal flooding around the southern North Sea coasts, leading to at least 82 deaths.
- 2016 - Nimr al-Nimr, a prominent Shia cleric in Saudi Arabia, was executed by Saudi government along with 46 others.
- Born/died this day:
Notes
- Washington's crossing of the Delaware/Battle of Trenton appears on December 25 and Battle of Princeton appears on January 3, so Battle of Assunpink Creek should not appear if either of the two are used
January 2: Feast day of Gregory of Nazianzus (Roman Catholic Church)
- 1680 – Trunajaya rebellion: Amangkurat II of Mataram of Java and his bodyguards stabbed Trunajaya to death a week after the rebel leader surrendered to the Dutch.
- 1865 – Uruguayan War: Brazilian and Colorado Party forces captured the city of Paysandú from its Uruguayan defenders.
- 1941 – Second World War: Llandaff Cathedral (pictured) in Cardiff, Wales, was severely damaged by German bombing during the Cardiff Blitz.
- 1967 – Former actor Ronald Reagan began his career in government when he was sworn in as the 33rd Governor of California.
- 2004 – The Stardust space probe flew by the comet Wild 2 and collected particle samples from its coma, which were later returned to Earth.
William de St-Calais (d. 1096) · Queen Emma of Hawaii (b. 1836) · Beatrice Hicks (b. 1919)