16481648 has been suggested as possibly the last year in which the overall human population declined, coming towards the end of a broader period of global instability which included the collapse of the Ming dynasty and the Thirty Years' War, the latter of which ended in 1648 with the Peace of Westphalia. January 15 – Manchu invaders of China's Fujian province capture Spanish Dominican priest Francisco Fernández de Capillas, torture him and then behead him.
1814January 1 – War of the Sixth Coalition – The Royal Prussian Army led by Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher crosses the Rhine. January 3 War of the Sixth Coalition – Siege of Cattaro: French garrison surrenders to the British after ten days of bombardment. War of the Sixth Coalition – Siege of Metz: Allied armies lay siege to the French city and fortress of Metz. January 5 – Mexican War of Independence – Battle of Puruarán: Spanish Royalists defeat Mexican Rebels.
1813January 18–January 23 – War of 1812: The Battle of Frenchtown is fought in modern-day Monroe, Michigan between the United States and a British and Native American alliance. January 24 – The Philharmonic Society (later the Royal Philharmonic Society) is founded in London. January 28 – Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice is published anonymously in London. January 31 – The Assembly of the Year XIII is inaugurated in Buenos Aires.
1791January 1 – Austrian composer Joseph Haydn arrives in England, to perform a series of concerts. January 2 – Northwest Indian War: Big Bottom Massacre – The war begins in the Ohio Country, with this massacre. January 12 – Holy Roman troops reenter Liège, heralding the end of the Liège Revolution, and the restoration of its Prince-Bishops. January 25 – The British Parliament passes the Constitutional Act 1791, splitting the old province of Quebec into Upper and Lower Canada.
1690January 2 – The Ottoman Empire defeats Serbian rebels and Austrian troops in battle at Kaçanik Gorge, prompting more than 30,000 Serb refugees to flee northward from Kosovo, Macedonia and Sandžak to the Austrian Empire. January 6 – At the age of 11 years old, Prince Joseph, son of Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor, is named as "King of the Romans", the next in line to become the Emperor. January 7 – The first recorded full peal is rung, at St Sepulchre-without-Newgate in the City of London, marking a new era in change ringing.
August 948 BC – Caesar's Civil War: Battle of Pharsalus: Julius Caesar decisively defeats Pompey at Pharsalus and Pompey flees to Egypt. 378 – Gothic War: Battle of Adrianople: A large Roman army led by Emperor Valens is defeated by the Visigoths. Valens is killed along with over half of his army. 1173 – Construction of the campanile of the Cathedral of Pisa (now known as the Leaning Tower of Pisa) begins; it will take two centuries to complete. 1329 – Quilon, the first Indian Christian Diocese, is erected by Pope John XXII; the French-born Jordanus is appointed the first Bishop.
