1978January 1 – Air India Flight 855, a Boeing 747 passenger jet, crashes off the coast of Bombay, killing 213. January 5 – Bülent Ecevit, of CHP, forms the new government of Turkey (42nd government). January 6 – The Holy Crown of Hungary (also known as Stephen of Hungary Crown) is returned to Hungary from the United States, where it was held since World War II. January 10 – Pedro Joaquín Chamorro Cardenal, a critic of the Nicaraguan government, is assassinated; riots erupt against Somoza's government.
1946January 1946 January 6 – The first general election ever in Vietnam is held. January 7 – The Allies of World War II recognize the Austrian republic with its 1937 borders, and divide the country into four occupation zones. January 10 The first meeting of the United Nations is held, at Methodist Central Hall Westminster in London. Project Diana bounces radar waves off the Moon, measuring the exact distance between the Earth and the Moon, and proves that communication is possible between Earth and outer space, effectively opening the Space Age.
1949January 1949 January 1 – A United Nations-sponsored ceasefire brings an end to the Indo-Pakistani War of 1947. The war results in a stalemate and the division of Kashmir, which still continues as of 2023. January 2 – Luis Muñoz Marín becomes the first democratically elected Governor of Puerto Rico. January 11 – The first "networked" television broadcasts take place, as KDKA-TV in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania goes on the air, connecting east coast and mid-west programming in the United States.
1956January 1956 January 1 – The Anglo-Egyptian Condominium ends in Sudan. January 8 – Operation Auca: Five U.S. evangelical Christian missionaries, Nate Saint, Roger Youderian, Ed McCully, Jim Elliot and Pete Fleming, are killed for trespassing by the Huaorani people of Ecuador, shortly after making contact with them. January 16 – Egyptian leader Gamal Abdel Nasser vows to reconquer Palestine. January 25–26 – Finnish troops reoccupy Porkkala, after Soviet troops vacate its military base. Civilians can return February 4.
1951January 4 – Korean War: Third Battle of Seoul – Chinese and North Korean forces capture Seoul for the second time (having lost the Second Battle of Seoul in September 1950). January 9 – The Government of the United Kingdom announces abandonment of the Tanganyika groundnut scheme for the cultivation of peanuts in the Tanganyika Territory, with the writing off of £36.5M debt. January 15 – In a court in West Germany, Ilse Koch, The "Witch of Buchenwald", wife of the commandant of the Buchenwald concentration camp, is sentenced to life imprisonment.
1940A calendar from 1940 according to the Gregorian calendar, factoring in the dates of Easter and related holidays, cannot be used again until the year 5280. Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January 1940 January 4 – WWII: Luftwaffe Colonel Hermann Göring assumes control of most war industries in Germany. January 6 – WWII: Winter War – General Semyon Timoshenko takes command of all Soviet forces. January 7 – WWII: Winter War: Battle of Raate Road – Outnumbered Finnish troops decisively defeat Soviet forces.
1948January 1948 January 1 The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) is inaugurated. The Constitution of New Jersey (later subject to amendment) goes into effect. The railways of Britain are nationalized, to form British Railways. January 4 – Burma gains its independence from the United Kingdom, becoming an independent republic, named the 'Union of Burma', with Sao Shwe Thaik as its first President and U Nu its first Prime Minister. January 5 – In the United States: Warner Brothers shows the first color newsreel (Tournament of Roses Parade and the Rose Bowl Game).
1954January 1954 January 1 – The Soviet Union ceases to demand war reparations from West Germany. January 3 – The Italian broadcaster RAI officially begins transmitting. January 7 – Georgetown-IBM experiment: The first public demonstration of a machine translation system is held in New York, at the head office of IBM. January 10 – BOAC Flight 781, a de Havilland Comet jet plane, disintegrates in mid-air due to metal fatigue, and crashes in the Mediterranean near Elba; all 35 people on board are killed.
1950January 1950 January 1 – The International Police Association (IPA) – the largest police organization in the world – is formed. January 5 – Sverdlovsk plane crash: Aeroflot Lisunov Li-2 crashes in a snowstorm. All 19 aboard are killed, including almost the entire national ice hockey team (VVS Moscow) of the Soviet Air Force – 11 players, as well as a team doctor and a masseur. January 6 – The UK recognizes the People's Republic of China; the Republic of China severs diplomatic relations with Britain in response.
January 2541 – After a night of negotiation, Claudius is accepted as Roman emperor by the Senate. 750 – In the Battle of the Zab, the Abbasid rebels defeat the Umayyad Caliphate, leading to the overthrow of the dynasty. 1348 – A strong earthquake strikes the South Alpine region of Friuli in modern Italy, causing considerable damage to buildings as far away as Rome. 1494 – Alfonso II becomes King of Naples. 1515 – Coronation of Francis I of France takes place at Reims Cathedral, where the new monarch is anointed with the oil of Clovis and girt with the sword of Charlemagne.
