On this day: January 22

Events on January 22

• 565 Eutychius of Constantinople was arrested after he refused Byzantine emperor Justinian I's order to adopt the tenets of the Aphthartodocetae, a sect of non-Chalcedonian Christians. Wikipedia
• 1273 Muhammad II became Sultan of Granada after his father's death in a riding accident. Wikipedia
• 1506 The first contingent of 150 Swiss Guards arrives at the Vatican. Wikipedia
• 1689 The Convention Parliament met to decide the fate of the throne after James II, the last Catholic monarch of England, fled to France following the Glorious Revolution. Wikipedia
• 1863 The January Uprising breaks out in Poland, Lithuania and Belarus. The aim of the national movement is to regain Polish–Lithuanian–Ruthenian Commonwealth from occupation by Russia. Wikipedia
• 1879 Anglo-Zulu War: The Zulu forces of King Cetshwayo achieved a decisive victory at the Battle of Isandlwana. Wikipedia
• 1879 Anglo-Zulu War: the Battle of Rorke's Drift, just some 15 km (9.3 mi) away from Isandlwana, results in a British victory. Wikipedia
• 1905 Bloody Sunday occurs in Saint Petersburg, beginning the 1905 revolution. Wikipedia
• 1906 The SS Valencia was wrecked off the coast of Vancouver Island, Canada, in a location so treacherous it was known as the Graveyard of the Pacific. Wikipedia
• 1924 Ramsay MacDonald took office as the first prime minister of the United Kingdom from the Labour Party. Wikipedia
• 1943 World War II: The Battle of Buna–Gona on New Guinea ended with an Allied victory after two months of fighting in which the Japanese fought with a resolve and tenacity not previously encountered. Wikipedia
• 1944 World War II: The Allies commence Operation Shingle, an assault on Anzio and Nettuno, Italy. Wikipedia
• 1946 Creation of the Central Intelligence Group, forerunner of the Central Intelligence Agency. Wikipedia
• 1946 In Iran, Qazi Muhammad declares the independent people's Republic of Mahabad at Chahar Cheragh Square in the Kurdish city of Mahabad; he becomes the new president and Haji Baba Sheikh becomes the prime minister. Wikipedia
• 1957 New York City police arrested George Metesky, better known as the "Mad Bomber", for planting over 30 bombs over 16 years throughout the city. Wikipedia
• 1963 The Élysée Treaty of cooperation between France and West Germany is signed by Charles de Gaulle and Konrad Adenauer. Wikipedia
• 1968 Apollo 5, the first flight of NASA's Lunar Module, lifted off from Cape Kennedy Air Force Station. Wikipedia
• 1969 Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev survived what was seen as an assassination attempt, an incident that was not revealed to the public until after the fall of the Soviet Union. Wikipedia
• 1970 The Boeing 747, the world's first wide-body commercial airliner, entered service for Pan Am on the New York–London route. Wikipedia
• 1973 The U.S. Supreme Court's landmark decision in Roe v. Wade struck down laws restricting abortion during the first two trimesters of pregnancy. Wikipedia
• 1979 After surrounding Mutukula the previous day, Tanzanian forces attacked the town and caused Ugandan forces to flee. Wikipedia
• 1984 During Super Bowl XVIII, Apple Computer introduced the Macintosh, the first successful personal computer to use a graphical user interface, with the television commercial "1984". Wikipedia
• 1987 After being convicted of receiving bribes, Pennsylvania state treasurer R. Budd Dwyer shot and killed himself in front of television cameras during a press conference. Wikipedia
• 2006 Evo Morales was inaugurated as President of Bolivia, becoming the country's first indigenous president. Wikipedia
• 2009 U.S. President Barack Obama signs an executive order to close the Guantanamo Bay detention camp; congressional opposition will prevent it being implemented. Wikipedia
• 2012 Croatia held a referendum in which it voted to become a member of the European Union. Wikipedia

Born on January 22

• 1263 Ibn Taymiyyah, Syrian scholar and theologian (died 1328) Wikipedia
• 1440 Ivan III of Russia (died 1505) Wikipedia
• 1561 Francis Bacon, English philosopher and politician, Attorney General for England and Wales (died 1626) Wikipedia
• 1592 Pierre Gassendi, French mathematician, astronomer, and philosopher (died 1655) Wikipedia
• 1729 Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, German philosopher and author (died 1781) Wikipedia
• 1788 Lord Byron, English poet and playwright (died 1824) Wikipedia
• 1849 August Strindberg, Swedish novelist, poet, and playwright (died 1912) Wikipedia
• 1875 D. W. Griffith, American director, producer, and screenwriter (died 1948) Wikipedia
• 1879 Francis Picabia, French painter and poet (died 1953) Wikipedia
• 1891 Antonio Gramsci, Italian philosopher and politician (died 1937) Wikipedia
• 1898 Sergei Eisenstein, Russian director and screenwriter (died 1948) Wikipedia
• 1906 Robert E. Howard, American author and poet (died 1936) Wikipedia
• 1908 Lev Landau, Azerbaijani-Russian physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1968) Wikipedia
• 1909 U Thant, Burmese educator and diplomat, 3rd United Nations Secretary-General (died 1974) Wikipedia
• 1911 Bruno Kreisky, Austrian lawyer and politician, 22nd Chancellor of Austria (died 1990) Wikipedia
• 1931 Sam Cooke, American singer-songwriter (died 1964) Wikipedia
• 1936 Alan J. Heeger, American physicist and chemist, Nobel Prize laureate Wikipedia
• 1940 John Hurt, English actor (died 2017) Wikipedia
• 1953 Jim Jarmusch, American director and screenwriter Wikipedia
• 1965 Diane Lane, American actress Wikipedia
• 1977 Hidetoshi Nakata, Japanese footballer Wikipedia
• 2007 Pau Cubarsí, Spanish footballer Wikipedia

Died on January 22

• 1666 Shah Jahan, Mughal emperor (born 1592) Wikipedia
• 1840 Johann Friedrich Blumenbach, German physician, physiologist, and anthropologist (born 1752) Wikipedia
• 1901 Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom (born 1819) Wikipedia
• 1922 Pope Benedict XV (born 1854) Wikipedia
• 1922 Fredrik Bajer, Danish educator and politician, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1837) Wikipedia
• 1945 Else Lasker-Schüler, German poet and playwright (born 1869) Wikipedia
• 1959 Mike Hawthorn, English racing driver (born 1929) Wikipedia
• 1973 Lyndon B. Johnson, American lieutenant and politician, 36th President of the United States (born 1908) Wikipedia
• 1993 Kōbō Abe, Japanese playwright and photographer (born 1924) Wikipedia
• 2008 Heath Ledger, Australian actor and director (born 1979) Wikipedia
• 2010 Jean Simmons, English-American actress (born 1929) Wikipedia
• 2018 Ursula K. Le Guin, American sci-fi and fantasy novelist (born 1929) Wikipedia
• 2021 Hank Aaron, American baseball player (born 1934) Wikipedia
• 2022 Thích Nhất Hạnh, Vietnamese Thiền Buddhist monk, peace activist, and founder of the Plum Village Tradition (born 1926) Wikipedia

Holidays and observances

• Christian feast day: Anastasius of Persia Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Gaudentius of Novara Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: László Batthyány-Strattmann Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Laura Vicuna Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Vincent Pallotti Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Vincent of Saragossa Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Vincent, Orontius, and Victor Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Blessed William Joseph Chaminade Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: January 22 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics) Wikipedia
• Day of Unity of Ukraine (Ukraine) Wikipedia
• Grandfather's Day (Poland) Wikipedia

Sources

• Wikipedia — “January 22” — events, births, deaths and observances (text under CC BY-SA 4.0) (checked 2026-10-15)
• Wikipedia — “Selected anniversaries/January 22” — the anniversaries editors chose for the date and the article each one is about (checked 2026-10-15)
• Wikidata — in how many language editions each entry's own article exists, used to fill the lists (CC0) (checked 2026-10-15)
• vacanza/holidays (open-source holiday rules, MIT licence) — holiday rules used to build the lists (checked 2026-10-15)

The events, births, deaths and observances above are from the English Wikipedia article “January 22” and the articles it links to (authors and history), retrieved 2026-10-15 through the Wikimedia “On this day” feed. They are licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0; this selection is shared under the same licence. Every anniversary that Wikipedia's editors selected for January 22 stays on the list; the remaining places, up to 26 events, 22 births and 14 deaths, go to the entries whose own article — about the event itself, or else the person or thing it is about — appears in the most language editions (counted from Wikidata); an article about a person or thing, which covers far more than one day, counts half. An entry with no article of its own counts, also at half, by the least covered article it links, and one that links only places counts for nothing. Each list runs by year, and the wording is unchanged apart from removing references to pictures, audio and video.