On this day: January 29

Events on January 29

• 757 An Lushan, leader of a revolt against the Tang dynasty and emperor of Yan, was assassinated in a plot involving his own son, An Qingxu. Wikipedia
• 904 Sergius III returned from exile to take over the papacy from the deposed antipope Christopher. Wikipedia
• 946 The Abbasid caliph, al-Mustakfi, was deposed, and went on to spend the rest of his life as a prisoner in the caliphal palace. 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
• 1850 Henry Clay introduces the Compromise of 1850 to the U.S. Congress. Wikipedia
• 1856 Queen Victoria introduced the Victoria Cross, originally to recognise acts of valour by British military personnel during the Crimean War. Wikipedia
• 1861 Kansas is admitted as the 34th U.S. state. Wikipedia
• 1886 Karl Benz patents the first successful gasoline-driven automobile. Wikipedia
• 1891 Liliʻuokalani, the last monarch and only queen regnant of the Hawaiian Kingdom, ascended the throne. Wikipedia
• 1907 Charles Curtis of Kansas, a citizen of the Kaw Nation, became the first Native American U.S. Senator. Wikipedia
• 1911 Mexican Revolution: The Magonista rebellion began when Mexican Liberal Party troops captured the town of Mexicali. 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
• 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
• 1967 The Mantra-Rock Dance, 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
• 1991 The first major ground engagement of the Gulf War began with the Iraqi invasion of Khafji, Saudi Arabia, recaptured three days later by Coalition forces. Wikipedia
• 1996 President Jacques Chirac announces a "definitive end" to French nuclear weapons testing. 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
• 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
• 2006 India's Irfan Pathan became the first bowler to take a Test cricket hat-trick in the opening over of a match. Wikipedia
• 2009 The Supreme Constitutional Court of Egypt ruled that people who did not adhere to one of the three government-recognised religions were also eligible to receive government identity documents. Wikipedia
• 2013 Twenty-one people died when SCAT Airlines Flight 760 crashed near Almaty, Kazakhstan. Wikipedia
• 2017 A lone gunman carried out a mass shooting at a mosque in Quebec City, Canada, killing six people and injuring up to nineteen others. 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
• 2025 American Eagle Flight 5342 collided mid-air with a Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk operated by the United States Army and crashed into the Potomac River, killing all 67 people on board both aircraft. 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
• 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
• 1931 Ferenc Mádl, Hungarian academic and politician, 2nd President of Hungary (died 2011) 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

• 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
• 2016 Jacques Rivette, French director, screenwriter, and critic (born 1928) 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

Sources

• Wikipedia — “January 29” — events, births, deaths and observances (text under CC BY-SA 4.0) (checked 2026-10-15)
• Wikipedia — “Selected anniversaries/January 29” — 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 29” 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 29 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.