On this day: January 29

Events on January 29

• 904 Sergius III is elected pope, after coming out of retirement to take over the papacy from the deposed antipope Christopher. Wikipedia
• 1814 War of the Sixth Coalition: At the Battle of Brienne, both sides' commanders, Napoleon and Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher, were nearly captured. Wikipedia
• 1819 Stamford Raffles lands on the island of Singapore. Wikipedia
• 1845 American poet Edgar Allan Poe's "The Raven" appeared in The Evening Mirror as the newspaper's first publication attributed to Poe. Wikipedia
• 1845 "The Raven" is published in The Evening Mirror in New York, the first publication with the name of the author, Edgar Allan Poe. Wikipedia
• 1861 Kansas is admitted as the 34th U.S. state. Wikipedia
• 1907 Charles Curtis of Kansas, a citizen of the Kaw Nation, became the first Native American U.S. Senator. Wikipedia
• 1907 Charles Curtis of Kansas becomes the first Native American U.S. Senator. Wikipedia
• 1918 Ukrainian–Soviet War: The Bolshevik Red Army, on its way to besiege Kyiv, is met by a small group of military students at the Battle of Kruty. Wikipedia
• 1940 Three trains on the Nishinari Line; present Sakurajima Line, in Osaka, Japan, collide and explode while approaching Ajikawaguchi Station. One hundred and eighty-one people are killed. Wikipedia
• 1943 World War II: The Battle of Rennell Island, the last major naval engagement between the United States Navy and the Imperial Japanese Navy during the Guadalcanal campaign, began. Wikipedia
• 1943 World War II: The first day of the Battle of Rennell Island, USS Chicago (CA-29) is torpedoed and heavily damaged by Japanese bombers. Wikipedia
• 1944 World War II: At least 38 civilians were killed and about a dozen others injured when the Polish village of Koniuchy was attacked by a Soviet partisan unit with a contingent of Jewish partisans. Wikipedia
• 1959 The first Melodifestivalen is held at Cirkus in Stockholm, Sweden. Wikipedia
• 1967 The Mantra-Rock Dance (poster pictured), called the "ultimate high" of the hippie era, took place in San Francisco, featuring Swami Bhaktivedanta, Janis Joplin, the Grateful Dead, and Allen Ginsberg. Wikipedia
• 1973 EgyptAir Flight 741 crashes into the Kyrenia Mountains in Cyprus, killing 37 people. Wikipedia
• 1989 Cold War: Hungary establishes diplomatic relations with South Korea, making it the first Eastern Bloc nation to do so. Wikipedia
• 1991 Gulf War: The Battle of Khafji, the first major ground engagement of the war, as well as its deadliest, begins between Iraq and Saudi Arabia. Wikipedia
• 2001 Thousands of student protesters in Indonesia storm parliament and demand that President Abdurrahman Wahid resign due to alleged involvement in corruption scandals. Wikipedia
• 2002 In his State of the Union address, President George W. Bush describes "regimes that sponsor terror" as an Axis of evil, in which he includes Iraq, Iran and North Korea. Wikipedia
• 2005 The first direct commercial flights from mainland China (from Guangzhou) to Taiwan since 1949 arrived in Taipei. Shortly afterwards, a China Airlines flight lands in Beijing. Wikipedia
• 2009 Governor of Illinois Rod Blagojevich is removed from office following his conviction of several corruption charges, including solicitation of personal benefit in exchange for an appointment to the United States Senate as a replacement for then-U.S. president-elect Barack Obama. Wikipedia
• 2013 SCAT Airlines Flight 760 crashes near the Kazakh city of Almaty, killing 21 people. Wikipedia
• 2014 Rojava conflict: The Afrin Canton declares its autonomy from the Syrian Arab Republic. Wikipedia
• 2020 A plinth breaks between Coral Edge and Riviera in Singapore, Coral Edge closes one platform. Wikipedia
• 2022 Canadian truck drivers and pedestrians gathered to rally and protest on Parliament Hill against Canadian COVID-19 restrictions, which caused traffic and closures around the city. Wikipedia

Born on January 29

• 1499 Katharina von Bora, wife of Martin Luther; formerly a Roman Catholic nun (died 1552) Wikipedia
• 1688 Emanuel Swedenborg, Swedish astronomer, philosopher, and theologian (died 1772) Wikipedia
• 1737 Thomas Paine, English-American political activist, philosopher, political theorist, and revolutionary (died 1809) Wikipedia
• 1749 Christian VII of Denmark (died 1808) Wikipedia
• 1754 Moses Cleaveland, American general, lawyer, and politician, founded Cleveland, Ohio (died 1806) Wikipedia
• 1782 Daniel Auber, French composer (died 1871) Wikipedia
• 1843 William McKinley, American soldier, lawyer, and politician, 25th President of the United States (died 1901) Wikipedia
• 1860 Anton Chekhov, Russian playwright and short story writer (died 1904) Wikipedia
• 1866 Romain Rolland, French historian, author, and playwright, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1944) Wikipedia
• 1867 Vicente Blasco Ibáñez, Spanish journalist and author (died 1928) Wikipedia
• 1892 Ernst Lubitsch, German American film director, producer, writer, and actor (died 1947) Wikipedia
• 1926 Abdus Salam, Pakistani-British physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1996) Wikipedia
• 1939 Germaine Greer, Australian journalist and author Wikipedia
• 1945 Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta, Malian academic and politician, Prime Minister of Mali (died 2022) Wikipedia
• 1945 Tom Selleck, American actor and businessman Wikipedia
• 1947 Linda B. Buck, American biologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate Wikipedia
• 1953 Teresa Teng, Taiwanese singer (died 1995) Wikipedia
• 1954 Oprah Winfrey, American talk show host, actress, and producer, founded Harpo Productions Wikipedia
• 1970 Paul Ryan, American politician, 62nd Speaker of the United States House of Representatives Wikipedia
• 1970 Heather Graham, American actress Wikipedia
• 1979 Christina Koch, American engineer and astronaut Wikipedia
• 1982 Adam Lambert, American singer, songwriter and actor Wikipedia

Died on January 29

• 757 An Lushan, Chinese general (born 703) Wikipedia
• 1119 Pope Gelasius II (born 1060) Wikipedia
• 1820 George III of the United Kingdom (born 1738) Wikipedia
• 1888 Edward Lear, English poet and illustrator (born 1812) Wikipedia
• 1899 Alfred Sisley, French-English painter (born 1839) Wikipedia
• 1906 Christian IX, King of Denmark (born 1818) Wikipedia
• 1928 Douglas Haig, 1st Earl Haig, Scottish field marshal (born 1861) Wikipedia
• 1934 Fritz Haber, Polish-German chemist and engineer, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1868) Wikipedia
• 1941 Ioannis Metaxas, Greek general and politician, 130th Prime Minister of Greece (born 1871) Wikipedia
• 1956 H. L. Mencken, American journalist and critic (born 1880) Wikipedia
• 1963 Robert Frost, American poet and playwright (born 1874) Wikipedia
• 1969 Allen Dulles, American banker, lawyer, and diplomat, 5th Director of Central Intelligence (born 1893) Wikipedia
• 2012 Oscar Luigi Scalfaro, Italian lawyer and politician, 9th President of Italy (born 1918) Wikipedia
• 2015 Colleen McCullough, Australian neuroscientist, author, and academic (born 1937) Wikipedia

Holidays and observances

• Christian feast day: Aphrahat Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Gildas Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Sabinian of Troyes Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Sulpitius I of Bourges Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Blessed Villana de' Botti Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: January 29 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics) Wikipedia
• Earliest day on which Fat Thursday can fall, while March 4 is the latest; celebrated on Thursday before Ash Wednesday. (Christianity) Wikipedia
• Kansas Day (Kansas, United States) Wikipedia

The events, births, deaths and observances above are from the English Wikipedia article “January 29” and the articles it links to (authors and history), retrieved 2026-10-09 through the Wikimedia “On this day” feed. They are licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0; this selection is shared under the same licence. We picked the 26 events, 22 births and 14 deaths with the widest coverage across Wikipedia's language editions (counted from Wikidata) and sorted them by year; the wording is unchanged apart from removing references to pictures.