On this day: January 3

Events on January 3

• 250 Decius ordered all people in the Roman Empire (except Jews) to perform a sacrifice to the Roman gods, resulting in widespread persecution of Christians. Wikipedia
• 250 Emperor Decius orders everyone in the Roman Empire (except Jews) to make sacrifices to the Roman gods. Wikipedia
• 1521 Pope Leo X issued the papal bull Decet Romanum Pontificem, excommunicating Martin Luther for refusing to retract 41 alleged errors found in his 95 Theses and other writings. Wikipedia
• 1521 Pope Leo X excommunicates Martin Luther in the papal bull Decet Romanum Pontificem. Wikipedia
• 1749 Benning Wentworth issues the first of the New Hampshire Grants, leading to the establishment of Vermont. Wikipedia
• 1777 American Revolutionary War: American forces commanded by George Washington defeated British troops at the Battle of Princeton. Wikipedia
• 1777 American Revolutionary War: American forces under General George Washington defeat British forces at the Battle of Princeton, helping boost patriot morale. Wikipedia
• 1861 American Civil War: Delaware votes not to secede from the United States. Wikipedia
• 1911 A gun battle in the East End of London left two dead and sparked a political row over the operational involvement of Winston Churchill, then Home Secretary. Wikipedia
• 1911 A gun battle in the East End of London leaves two dead. It sparked a political row over the involvement of then-Home Secretary Winston Churchill. Wikipedia
• 1941 Second World War: As part of Operation Compass, Australian and United Kingdom forces attacked Italian forces at the Battle of Bardia in Egypt. Wikipedia
• 1944 World War II: US flying ace Major Greg "Pappy" Boyington is shot down in his Vought F4U Corsair by Captain Masajiro Kawato flying a Mitsubishi A6M Zero. Wikipedia
• 1949 The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, the central bank of the Philippines, is established. Wikipedia
• 1953 Frances P. Bolton and her son, Oliver from Ohio, become the first mother and son to serve simultaneously in the U.S. Congress. Wikipedia
• 1959 Alaska is admitted as the 49th U.S. state. Wikipedia
• 1961 Cold War: After a series of economic retaliations against one another, the United States severs diplomatic relations with Cuba. Wikipedia
• 1962 Pope John XXIII excommunicates Fidel Castro. Wikipedia
• 1987 Varig Flight 797 crashes near Akouré in the Ivory Coast, resulting in 50 deaths. Wikipedia
• 1990 United States invasion of Panama: Manuel Noriega, former leader of Panama, surrenders to American forces. Wikipedia
• 1993 In Moscow, Russia, George H. W. Bush and Boris Yeltsin sign the second Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START). Wikipedia
• 2002 Israeli–Palestinian conflict: Israeli forces seize the Palestinian freighter Karine A in the Red Sea, finding 50 tons of weapons. Wikipedia
• 2004 Flash Airlines Flight 604 crashes into the Red Sea, resulting in 148 deaths, making it one of the deadliest aviation accidents in Egyptian history. Wikipedia
• 2015 Boko Haram militants destroy the entire town of Baga in north-east Nigeria, starting the Baga massacre and killing as many as 2,000 people. Wikipedia
• 2020 Iranian General Qasem Soleimani is killed by an American airstrike near Baghdad International Airport, igniting global concerns of a potential armed conflict. Wikipedia
• 2026 The United States launches a military operation in Venezuela, capturing president Nicolás Maduro and his wife. Wikipedia
• 2026 The United States conducts airstrikes across northern Venezuela, including the capital Caracas and captures Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro and first lady Cilia Flores. Wikipedia

Born on January 3

• 106 BC Cicero, Roman philosopher, lawyer, and politician (died 43 BC) Wikipedia
• 1698 Pietro Metastasio, Italian poet and songwriter (died 1782) Wikipedia
• 1876 Wilhelm Pieck, German carpenter and politician, 1st President of the German Democratic Republic (died 1960) Wikipedia
• 1883 Clement Attlee, English soldier, lawyer, and politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (died 1967) Wikipedia
• 1887 August Macke, German-French painter (died 1914) Wikipedia
• 1892 J.R.R. Tolkien, English writer, poet, and philologist (died 1973) Wikipedia
• 1901 Ngô Đình Diệm, Vietnamese lawyer and politician, 1st President of the Republic of Vietnam (died 1963) Wikipedia
• 1907 Ray Milland, Welsh-American actor and director (died 1986) Wikipedia
• 1917 Albert Mol, Dutch author and actor (died 2004)[better source needed] Wikipedia
• 1926 George Martin, English composer, conductor, and producer (died 2016) Wikipedia
• 1929 Gordon Moore, American businessman, co-founder of Intel Corporation (died 2023) Wikipedia
• 1929 Sergio Leone, Italian director, producer, and screenwriter (died 1989) Wikipedia
• 1946 John Paul Jones, English bass player, songwriter, and producer Wikipedia
• 1950 Vesna Vulović, Serbian plane crash survivor and Guinness World Record holder (died 2016) Wikipedia
• 1956 Mel Gibson, American-Australian actor, director, producer, and screenwriter Wikipedia
• 1969 Michael Schumacher, German racing driver Wikipedia
• 1980 Eli Crane, U.S. representative for Arizona's 2nd congressional district Wikipedia
• 1988 Jonny Evans, Northern Irish footballer Wikipedia
• 1990 Yoichiro Kakitani, Japanese footballer Wikipedia
• 1995 Jisoo, South Korean singer and actress Wikipedia
• 1996 Florence Pugh, English actress Wikipedia
• 2003 Greta Thunberg, Swedish environmental activist Wikipedia

Died on January 3

• 236 Anterus, pope of the Catholic Church Wikipedia
• 1322 Philip V, king of France (born 1292) Wikipedia
• 1437 Catherine of Valois, Queen Consort of Henry V (born 1401) Wikipedia
• 1501 Ali-Shir Nava'i, Turkic poet, linguist, and mystic (born 1441) Wikipedia
• 1903 Alois Hitler, Austrian civil servant (born 1837) Wikipedia
• 1923 Jaroslav Hašek, Czech journalist and author (born 1883) Wikipedia
• 1931 Joseph Joffre, French general (born 1852) Wikipedia
• 1933 Wilhelm Cuno, German lawyer and politician, Chancellor of Germany (born 1876) Wikipedia
• 1945 Edgar Cayce, American psychic and author (born 1877) Wikipedia
• 1956 Joseph Wirth, German educator and politician, Chancellor of Germany (born 1879) Wikipedia
• 1967 Jack Ruby, American businessman and murderer (born 1911) Wikipedia
• 2009 Pat Hingle, American actor (born 1923) Wikipedia
• 2019 Herb Kelleher, American businessman, co-founder of Southwest Airlines (born 1931) Wikipedia
• 2020 Qasem Soleimani, Iranian major general, commander of the Iranian Quds Force (born 1957) Wikipedia

Holidays and observances

• Christian feast day: Daniel of Padua Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Genevieve Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Holy Name of Jesus Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Kuriakose Elias Chavara (Syro-Malabar Catholic Church) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Pope Anterus Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: January 3 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics) Wikipedia
• Tamaseseri Festival (Hakozaki Shrine, Fukuoka, Japan) Wikipedia
• The tenth of the Twelve Days of Christmas (Western Christianity) Wikipedia

The events, births, deaths and observances above are from the English Wikipedia article “January 3” 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.