January 2

Pre-1600

 * 69 – The Roman legions in Germania Superior refuse to swear loyalty to Galba. They rebel and proclaim Vitellius as emperor.
 * 366 – The Alemanni cross the frozen Rhine in large numbers, invading the Roman Empire.
 * 533 – Mercurius becomes Pope John II, the first pope to adopt a new name upon elevation to the papacy.
 * 1492 – Reconquista: The Emirate of Granada, the last Moorish stronghold in Spain, surrenders.

1601–1900

 * 1680 – Trunajaya rebellion: Amangkurat II of Mataram and his bodyguards execute the rebel leader Trunajaya.
 * 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.
 * 1788 – Georgia becomes the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution.
 * 1791 – Big Bottom massacre in the Ohio Country, North America, marking the beginning of the Northwest Indian War.
 * 1818 – The British Institution of Civil Engineers is founded by a group of six engineers; Thomas Telford would later become its first president.
 * 1865 – Uruguayan War: The Siege of Paysandú ends as the Brazilians and Coloradans capture Paysandú, Uruguay.
 * 1900 – American statesman and diplomat John Hay announces the Open Door Policy to promote trade with China.
 * 1900 – Chicago Canal opens.

1901–present

 * 1920 – The second Palmer Raid, ordered by the US Department of Justice, results in 6,000 suspected communists and anarchists being arrested and held without trial.
 * 1921 – World premiere of the science fiction play R.U.R. by the Czech writer Karel Čapek in a theater in Hradec Králové.
 * 1941 – World War II: The Cardiff Blitz severely damages the cathedral in Cardiff, Wales.
 * 1942 – The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) obtains the conviction of 33 members of a German spy ring headed by Fritz Joubert Duquesne in the largest espionage case in United States history; Also known as the Duquesne Spy Ring.
 * 1942 – World War II: Manila is captured by Japanese forces, enabling them to control the Philippines.
 * 1949 – Luis Muñoz Marín is inaugurated as the first democratically elected Governor of Puerto Rico.
 * 1954 – India establishes its highest civilian awards, the Bharat Ratna and the Padma Vibhushan.
 * 1955 – Following the assassination of the Panamanian president José Antonio Remón Cantera, his deputy, José Ramón Guizado, takes power, but is quickly deposed after his involvement in Cantera's death is discovered.
 * 1959 – Luna 1, the first spacecraft to reach the vicinity of the Moon and to orbit the Sun, is launched by the Soviet Union.
 * 1963 – Vietnam War: The Viet Cong wins its first major victory, at the Battle of Ap Bac.
 * 1967 – Ronald Reagan, past movie actor and future President of the United States, is sworn in as Governor of California.
 * 1971 – The second Ibrox disaster kills 66 fans at a Rangers-Celtic association football (soccer) match.
 * 1974 – United States President Richard Nixon signs a bill lowering the maximum U.S. speed limit to 55 mph in order to conserve gasoline during an OPEC embargo.
 * 1975 – At the opening of a new railway line, a bomb blast at Samastipur, Bihar, India, fatally wounds Lalit Narayan Mishra, Minister of Railways.
 * 1975 – The Federal Rules of Evidence are approved by the United States Congress.
 * 1976 – The Gale of January 1976 begins, resulting in coastal flooding around the southern North Sea coasts, affecting countries from Ireland to Yugoslavia and causing at least 82 deaths and US$1.3 billion in damage.
 * 1978 – On the orders of the President of Pakistan, Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, paramilitary forces opened fire on peaceful protesting workers in Multan, Pakistan; it is known as 1978 massacre at Multan Colony Textile Mills.
 * 1981 – One of the largest investigations by a British police force ends when serial killer Peter Sutcliffe, the "Yorkshire Ripper", is arrested in Sheffield, South Yorkshire.
 * 1988 – Condor Flugdienst Flight 3782 crashes near Seferihisar, Turkey, killing 16 people.
 * 1991 – Sharon Pratt Dixon becomes the first African American woman mayor of a major city and first woman Mayor of the District of Columbia.
 * 1993 – Sri Lankan Civil War: The Sri Lanka Navy kill 35–100 civilians on the Jaffna Lagoon.
 * 2004 – Stardust successfully flies past Comet Wild 2, collecting samples that are returned to Earth.
 * 2019 – Adventist Health System and its subsidiaries rebranded to AdventHealth.
 * 2022 – Massive nationwide protests and unrest break out in Kazakhstan over the sudden increase of liquefied petroleum gas prices, leaving over 200 people dead and thousands injured.
 * 2024 – Two aircraft collide on a runway at Haneda Airport in Tokyo, killing 5 and injuring 15.

Pre-1600

 * 869 – Yōzei, Japanese emperor (d. 949)
 * 1462 – Piero di Cosimo, Italian painter (d. 1522)
 * 1509 – Henry of Stolberg, German nobleman (d. 1572)

1601–1900

 * 1642 – Mehmed IV, Ottoman sultan (d. 1693)
 * 1647 – Nathaniel Bacon, English-American rebel leader (d. 1676)
 * 1699 – Osman III, Ottoman sultan (d. 1757)
 * 1713 – Marie Dumesnil, French actress (d. 1803)
 * 1727 – James Wolfe, English general (d. 1759)
 * 1732 – František Brixi, Czech organist and composer (d. 1771)
 * 1777 – Christian Daniel Rauch, German sculptor and educator (d. 1857)
 * 1803 – Guglielmo Libri Carucci dalla Sommaja, Italian mathematician and academic (d. 1869)
 * 1822 – Rudolf Clausius, Polish-German physicist and mathematician (d. 1888)
 * 1827 – Pyotr Semyonov-Tyan-Shansky, Russian geographer and statistician (d. 1914)
 * 1833 – Frederick A. Johnson, American banker and politician (d. 1893)
 * 1836 – Mendele Mocher Sforim, Russian author (d. 1917)
 * 1836 – Queen Emma of Hawaii (d. 1885)
 * 1837 – Mily Balakirev, Russian pianist and composer (d. 1910)
 * 1857 – M. Carey Thomas, American educator and activist (d. 1935)
 * 1860 – Dugald Campbell Patterson, Canadian engineer (d. 1931)
 * 1860 – William Corless Mills, American historian and curator (d. 1928)
 * 1866 – Gilbert Murray, Australian-English playwright and scholar (d. 1957)
 * 1870 – Ernst Barlach, German sculptor and playwright (d. 1938)
 * 1870 – Tex Rickard, American boxing promoter and businessman (d. 1929)
 * 1873 – Antonie Pannekoek, Dutch astronomer and theorist (d. 1960)
 * 1873 – Thérèse of Lisieux, French nun and saint (d. 1897)
 * 1878 – Jaakko Mäki, Finnish politician (d. 1938)
 * 1878 – Mannathu Padmanabha Pillai, Indian activist, founded the Nair Service Society (d. 1970)
 * 1884 – Ben-Zion Dinur, Russian-Israeli historian and politician, 4th Israeli Minister of Education (d. 1973)
 * 1885 – Gordon Flowerdew, Canadian lieutenant, Victoria Cross recipient (d. 1918)
 * 1886 – Apsley Cherry-Garrard, English explorer and author (d. 1959)
 * 1889 – Bertram Stevens, Australian accountant and politician, 25th Premier of New South Wales (d. 1973)
 * 1891 – Giovanni Michelucci, Italian architect and urban planner, designed the Firenze Santa Maria Novella railway station (d. 1990)
 * 1892 – Seiichiro Kashio, Japanese tennis player (d. 1962)
 * 1895 – Folke Bernadotte, Swedish diplomat (d. 1948)
 * 1896 – Dziga Vertov, Polish-Russian director and screenwriter (d. 1954)
 * 1896 – Lawrence Wackett, Australian commander and engineer (d. 1982)
 * 1897 – Theodore Plucknett, English legal historian (d. 1965)
 * 1900 – Una Ledingham, British physician, known for research on diabetes in pregnancy (d. 1965)

1901–present

 * 1901 – Bob Marshall, American activist, co-founded The Wilderness Society (d. 1939)
 * 1902 – Dan Keating, Irish Republican Army volunteer (d. 2007)
 * 1903 – Kane Tanaka, Japanese Supercentenarian, Oldest Japanese person ever, Second oldest verified person in world history (d. 2022)
 * 1904 – Walter Heitler, German physicist and chemist (d. 1981)
 * 1905 – Michael Tippett, English composer and conductor (d. 1998)
 * 1905 – Luigi Zampa, Italian director and screenwriter (d. 1991)
 * 1909 – Riccardo Cassin, Italian mountaineer and author (d. 2009)
 * 1909 – Barry Goldwater, American politician, businessman, and author (d. 1998)
 * 1913 – Juanita Jackson Mitchell, American lawyer and activist (d. 1992)
 * 1913 – Anna Lee, English-American actress (d. 2004)
 * 1917 – Vera Zorina, German-Norwegian actress and dancer (d. 2003)
 * 1918 – Willi Graf, German physician and activist (d. 1943)
 * 1919 – Ernest Bender, American Indologist (d. 1996)
 * 1919 – Beatrice Hicks, American engineer (d. 1979)
 * 1920 (probable) – Isaac Asimov, American writer and professor of biochemistry (d. 1992)
 * 1920 – Bob Feerick, American basketball player and coach (d. 1976)
 * 1921 – Glen Harmon, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 2007)
 * 1926 – Gino Marchetti, American football player (d. 2019)
 * 1928 – Dan Rostenkowski, American politician (d. 2010)
 * 1929 – Charles Beaumont, screenwriter and American author of speculative fiction (d. 1967)
 * 1929 – Tellervo Koivisto, Finnish politician, former First Lady of Finland
 * 1931 – Toshiki Kaifu, Japanese lawyer and politician, 76th Prime Minister of Japan (d. 2022)
 * 1934 – John Hollowbread, English footballer, goalkeeper (d. 2007)
 * 1936 – Roger Miller, American singer-songwriter, musician, and actor (d. 1992)
 * 1938 – David Bailey, English photographer and painter
 * 1938 – Lynn Conway, American computer scientist and electrical engineer (d. 2024)
 * 1938 – Robert Smithson, American sculptor and photographer (d. 1973)
 * 1940 – Jim Bakker, American televangelist
 * 1940 – Saud bin Faisal bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, Saudi Arabian economist and politician, Saudi Arabian Minister of Foreign Affairs (d. 2015)
 * 1942 – Thomas Hammarberg, Swedish lawyer and diplomat
 * 1942 – Dennis Hastert, American educator and politician, 59th Speaker of the United States House of Representatives
 * 1943 – Janet Akyüz Mattei, Turkish-American astronomer (d. 2004)
 * 1944 – Charlie Davis, Trinidadian cricketer
 * 1944 – Péter Eötvös, Hungarian composer and conductor (d. 2024)
 * 1944 – Norodom Ranariddh, Cambodian field marshal and politician, 1st Prime Minister of Cambodia (d. 2021)
 * 1947 – Jack Hanna, American zoologist and author
 * 1947 – Calvin Hill, American football player
 * 1947 – David Shapiro, American poet, historian, and critic (d. 2024)
 * 1948 – Judith Miller, American journalist
 * 1948 – Deborah Watling, English actress (d. 2017)
 * 1949 – Christopher Durang, American playwright and screenwriter (d. 2024)
 * 1949 – Iris Marion Young, American political scientist and academic (d. 2006)
 * 1952 – Indulis Emsis, Latvian biologist and politician, 9th Prime Minister of Latvia
 * 1952 – Wendy Phillips, American actress
 * 1954 – Henry Bonilla, American broadcaster and politician
 * 1954 – Évelyne Trouillot, Haitian playwright and author
 * 1961 – Gabrielle Carteris, American actress
 * 1961 – Paula Hamilton, English model
 * 1961 – Todd Haynes, American film director, screenwriter, and producer
 * 1961 – Craig James, American football player and sportscaster
 * 1961 – Robert Wexler, American lawyer and politician
 * 1963 – David Cone, American baseball player and sportscaster
 * 1963 – Edgar Martínez, American baseball player
 * 1964 – Chris Welp, German-American basketball player (d. 2015)
 * 1964 – Pernell Whitaker, American boxer (d. 2019)
 * 1965 – Francois Pienaar, South African rugby player
 * 1967 – Tia Carrere, American actress
 * 1967 – Jón Gnarr, Icelandic actor and politician; 20th Mayor of Reykjavík
 * 1968 – Cuba Gooding, Jr., American actor and producer
 * 1968 – Anky van Grunsven, Dutch dressage champion
 * 1969 – István Bagyula, Hungarian pole vaulter
 * 1969 – William Fox-Pitt, English horse rider and journalist
 * 1969 – Róbert Švehla, Slovak ice hockey player
 * 1969 – Christy Turlington, American model
 * 1970 – Eric Whitacre, American composer and conductor
 * 1971 – Taye Diggs, American actor and singer
 * 1971 – Renée Elise Goldsberry, American actress
 * 1972 – Rodney MacDonald, Canadian educator and politician, 26th Premier of Nova Scotia
 * 1972 – Shiraz Minwalla, Indian theoretical physicist and string theorist
 * 1972 – Mattias Norström, Swedish ice hockey player and manager
 * 1974 – Ludmila Formanová, Czech runner
 * 1974 – Juha Lind, Finnish ice hockey player
 * 1974 – Tomáš Řepka, Czech footballer
 * 1975 – Dax Shepard, American actor
 * 1975 – Jeff Suppan, American baseball player
 * 1975 – Reuben Thorne, New Zealand rugby player
 * 1976 – Paz Vega, Spanish actress
 * 1977 – Brian Boucher, American ice hockey player and sportscaster
 * 1977 – Stefan Koubek, Austrian tennis player
 * 1979 – Jonathan Greening, English footballer
 * 1980 – David Gyasi, British actor
 * 1981 – Kirk Hinrich, American basketball player
 * 1981 – Maxi Rodríguez, Argentine footballer
 * 1983 – Kate Bosworth, American actress
 * 1983 – Anthony Carrigan, American actor
 * 1987 – Shelley Hennig, American actress and model
 * 1987 – Robert Milsom, English footballer
 * 1988 – Luke Harangody, American basketball player
 * 1988 – Damien Tussac, French-German rugby player
 * 1991 – Ben Hardy, English actor
 * 1992 – Paulo Gazzaniga, Argentine footballer
 * 1992 – Alexey Marchenko, Russian ice hockey player
 * 1992 – Teemu Pulkkinen, Finnish ice hockey player
 * 1992 – Korbin Sims, Australian-Fijian rugby league player
 * 1993 – Bryson Tiller, American singer and rapper
 * 1994 – Ronald Darby, American football player
 * 1996 – Jonah Bolden, Australian-American basketball player
 * 1998 – Tfue, American online streamer
 * 1998 – Timothy Fosu-Mensah, Dutch footballer
 * 1999 – Georgios Kalaitzakis, Greek basketball player
 * 1999 – Fernando Tatís Jr., American baseball player

Pre-1600

 * 951 – Liu Chengyou, Emperor Yin of the Later Han (b. 931)
 * 951 – Su Fengji, Chinese official and chancellor
 * 1096 – William de St-Calais, Bishop of Durham and chief counsellor of William II of England
 * 1169 – Bertrand de Blanchefort, sixth Grand Master of the Knights Templar (b. c. 1109)
 * 1184 – Theodora Komnene, Duchess of Austria, daughter of Andronikos Komnenos
 * 1298 – Lodomer, Hungarian prelate, Archbishop of Esztergom
 * 1470 – Heinrich Reuß von Plauen, Grand Master of the Teutonic Order
 * 1512 – Svante Nilsson, Sweden politician (b. 1460)
 * 1514 – William Smyth, English bishop and academic (b. 1460)
 * 1543 – Francesco Canova da Milano, Italian composer (b. 1497)
 * 1557 – Pontormo, Italian painter and educator (b. 1494)

1601–1900

 * 1613 – Salima Sultan Begum, Empress of the Mughal Empire (b. 1539)
 * 1614 – Luisa Carvajal y Mendoza, Spanish mystical poet and Catholic martyr (b. 1566)
 * 1726 – Domenico Zipoli, Italian organist and composer (b. 1688)
 * 1763 – John Carteret, 2nd Earl Granville, English statesman (b. 1690)
 * 1850 – Manuel de la Peña y Peña, Mexican lawyer and 20th President (1847) (b. 1789)
 * 1861 – Frederick William IV of Prussia (b. 1795)
 * 1892 – George Biddell Airy, English mathematician and astronomer (b. 1801)

1901–present

 * 1904 – James Longstreet, American general and diplomat (b. 1821)
 * 1913 – Léon Teisserenc de Bort, French meteorologist (b. 1855)
 * 1915 – Karl Goldmark, Hungarian violinist and composer (b. 1830)
 * 1917 – Léon Flameng, French cyclist (b. 1877)
 * 1920 – Paul Adam, French author (b. 1862)
 * 1924 – Sabine Baring-Gould, English author and scholar (b. 1834)
 * 1939 – Roman Dmowski, Polish politician, Polish Minister of Foreign Affairs (b. 1864)
 * 1941 – Mischa Levitzki, Russian-American pianist and composer (b. 1898)
 * 1946 – Joe Darling, Australian cricketer and politician (b. 1870)
 * 1950 – James Dooley, Irish-Australian politician, 21st Premier of New South Wales (b. 1877)
 * 1951 – William Campion, English colonel and politician, 21st Governor of Western Australia (b. 1870)
 * 1951 – Edith New, English militant suffragette (b. 1877)
 * 1953 – Guccio Gucci, Italian businessman and fashion designer, founder of Gucci (b. 1881)
 * 1960 – Paul Sauvé, Canadian lawyer and politician, 17th Premier of Quebec (b. 1907)
 * 1963 – Dick Powell, American actor, singer, and director (b. 1904)
 * 1963 – Jack Carson, Canadian-American actor (b. 1910)
 * 1974 – Tex Ritter, American actor (b. 1905)
 * 1975 – Siraj Sikder, Bangladesh revolutionary leader (b. 1944)
 * 1977 – Erroll Garner, American pianist and composer (b. 1921)
 * 1986 – Una Merkel, American actress (b. 1903)
 * 1987 – Harekrushna Mahatab, Indian journalist and politician, 1st Chief Minister of Odisha (b. 1899)
 * 1989 – Safdar Hashmi, Indian actor, director, and playwright (b. 1954)
 * 1990 – Alan Hale Jr., American film and television actor (b. 1921)
 * 1990 – Evangelos Averoff, Greek historian and politician, Greek Minister for National Defence (b. 1910)
 * 1994 – Dixy Lee Ray, American biologist and politician; 17th Governor of Washington (b. 1914)
 * 1994 – Pierre-Paul Schweitzer, French lawyer and businessman (b. 1915)
 * 1995 – Nancy Kelly, American actress (b. 1921)
 * 1995 – Siad Barre, Somalian general and politician; 3rd President of Somalia (b. 1919)
 * 1999 – Rolf Liebermann, Swiss-French composer and manager (b. 1910)
 * 1999 – Sebastian Haffner, German journalist and author (b. 1907)
 * 2000 – Elmo Zumwalt, American admiral (b. 1920)
 * 2000 – Patrick O'Brian, English author and translator (b. 1914)
 * 2001 – William P. Rogers, American lieutenant, lawyer, and politician, 55th United States Secretary of State (b. 1913)
 * 2005 – Maclyn McCarty, American geneticist and physician (b. 1911)
 * 2006 – Cecilia Muñoz-Palma, Filipino lawyer and jurist (b. 1913)
 * 2006 – Osa Massen, Danish-American actress (b. 1914)
 * 2007 – A. Richard Newton, Australian-American engineer and academic (b. 1951)
 * 2007 – Elizabeth Fox-Genovese, American historian and author (b. 1941)
 * 2007 – Teddy Kollek, Hungarian-Israeli politician, Mayor of Jerusalem (b. 1911)
 * 2008 – George MacDonald Fraser, Scottish journalist and author (b. 1925)
 * 2008 – Lee S. Dreyfus, American politician, Governor of Wisconsin (b. 1926)
 * 2009 – Inger Christensen, Danish poet and author (b. 1935)
 * 2010 – David R. Ross, Scottish historian and author (b. 1958)
 * 2011 – Anne Francis, American actress (b. 1930)
 * 2011 – Bali Ram Bhagat, Indian politician; 16th Governor of Rajasthan (b. 1922)
 * 2011 – Pete Postlethwaite, English actor (b. 1946)
 * 2012 – Gordon Hirabayashi, American-Canadian sociologist and academic (b. 1918)
 * 2012 – Silvana Gallardo, American actress and producer (b. 1953)
 * 2012 – William P. Carey, American businessman and philanthropist, founded W. P. Carey (b. 1930)
 * 2013 – Gerda Lerner, Austrian-American historian, author, and academic (b. 1920)
 * 2013 – Teresa Torańska, Polish journalist and author (b. 1944)
 * 2014 – Bernard Glasser, American director and producer (b. 1924)
 * 2014 – Elizabeth Jane Howard, English author and screenwriter (b. 1923)
 * 2015 – Tihomir Novakov, Serbian-American physicist and academic (b. 1929)
 * 2016 – Ardhendu Bhushan Bardhan, Indian lawyer and politician (b. 1924)
 * 2016 – Frances Cress Welsing, American psychiatrist and author (b. 1935)
 * 2016 – Nimr al-Nimr, Saudi Arabian religious leader (b. 1959)
 * 2016 – Gisela Mota Ocampo, mayor of Temixco, Morelos, Mexico, assassinated (b. 1982)
 * 2017 – Jean Vuarnet, French ski racer (b. 1933)
 * 2017 – John Berger, English art critic, novelist and painter (b. 1926)
 * 2018 – Guida Maria, Portuguese actress (b. 1950)
 * 2018 – Thomas S. Monson, American religious leader, 16th president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (b. 1927)
 * 2019 – Daryl Dragon, American musician (b. 1942)
 * 2019 – Bob Einstein, American actor and comedian (b. 1942)
 * 2019 – Gene Okerlund, American wrestling announcer (b. 1942)
 * 2022 – Richard Leakey, Kenyan paleontologist and politician (b. 1944)
 * 2023 – Ken Block, American rally driver (b. 1967)
 * 2024 – Rizal Ramli, Indonesian politician (b. 1954)

Holidays and observances

 * Ancestry Day (Haiti)
 * Berchtold's Day (Switzerland)
 * Christian feast day:
 * Basil the Great (Catholic Church and Church of England)
 * Gregory of Nazianzus (Catholic Church)
 * Macarius of Alexandria
 * Seraphim of Sarov (Eastern Orthodox Church)
 * Vedanayagam Samuel Azariah (Episcopal Church)
 * January 2 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
 * Kaapse Klopse (Cape Town, South Africa)
 * The first day of Blacks and Whites' Carnival, celebrated until January 7 (Colombia)
 * The ninth of the Twelve Days of Christmas (Western Christianity)