15 January in history
10 events that happened on 15 January, from 69 to 1973.
✦ Anniversary of the day
1559 CE 467 years ago
Elizabeth I is crowned at Westminster Abbey
Elizabeth, daughter of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, was crowned on a date chosen by her astrologer John Dee. Her 44-year reign saw a Protestant settlement, the Armada's defeat and a flowering of literature.
1582 CE 444 years ago
Truce of Jam Zapolski ends Russia's war with Poland-Lithuania
Ivan the Terrible gave up his conquests in Livonia to Stefan Batory's Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. The truce ended Russia's long attempt to win a foothold on the Baltic.
1759 CE 267 years ago
British Museum opens to the public
Founded on the collections of the physician Sir Hans Sloane, the British Museum opened in Montagu House, Bloomsbury. It was one of the first national museums open to all 'studious and curious persons'.
1777 CE 249 years ago
Vermont declares itself an independent republic
Settlers in the New Hampshire Grants declared independence as New Connecticut, renamed Vermont that summer. The republic outlawed adult slavery and joined the United States as the 14th state in 1791.
1870 CE 156 years ago
Thomas Nast's cartoon links the Democrats with a donkey
Nast's cartoon 'A Live Jackass Kicking a Dead Lion' in Harper's Weekly portrayed anti-war Democrats as a donkey. The donkey later became the accepted symbol of the Democratic Party.
1919 CE 107 years ago
Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht murdered in Berlin
After the defeat of the Spartacist uprising, the two communist leaders were seized and killed by Freikorps soldiers. The murders deepened the bitter split on the German left.
1929 CE 97 years ago
Martin Luther King Jr. is born in Atlanta
Born Michael King Jr., the son of a Baptist minister, he became the leading voice of the American civil rights movement. He received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964 and was assassinated in 1968.
1943 CE 83 years ago
The Pentagon is completed in Arlington, Virginia
Built in just 16 months, the five-sided headquarters of the US War Department was dedicated. With some 6.5 million square feet of floor space, it was the world's largest office building.
1973 CE 53 years ago
Nixon suspends offensive action against North Vietnam
Citing progress in the Paris peace talks, Richard Nixon halted US bombing and mining of North Vietnam. The Paris Peace Accords, signed twelve days later, ended direct American involvement in the war.
Born on 15 January 8
Died on 15 January 2
Dates as the sources give them: in the Julian calendar before 1582, and in some countries for longer (Britain until 1752, Russia until 1918). Only people whose day of birth or death the records agree on are listed.