31 January on the globe: what happened in the world on this day, and who was born

Pope Sylvester I is consecrated, as successor to the late Pope Miltiades.

The Battle of Lena takes place between King Sverker the Younger of Sweden and his rival, Prince Erik Knutsson, whose victory puts him on the throne as King Eric X.

The Mudéjar of Murcia, who had rebelled against the Crown of Castile during the Mudéjar revolt of 1264–1266, surrender the city to James I of Aragon after a siege lasting a month.

The Treaty of Lyon ends the Italian War, confirming French domination of northern Italy, while Spain receives the Kingdom of Naples.

Eighty Years' War and Anglo-Spanish War: The Battle of Gembloux is a victory for Spanish forces led by Don John of Austria over a rebel army of Dutch, Flemish, English, Scottish, German, French and Walloons.

Gunpowder Plot: Four of the conspirators, including Guy Fawkes, are executed for treason by hanging, drawing and quartering, for plotting against Parliament and King James.

Wisselbank of Amsterdam established

Forty-seven rōnin, under the command of Ōishi Kuranosuke, avenged the death of their master, by killing Kira Yoshinaka.

The first venereal diseases clinic opens at London Lock Hospital.

Gervasio Antonio de Posadas becomes Supreme Director of the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata (present-day Argentina).

Mexican soldiers and Texan militiamen marched into Nacogdoches, Texas, to end the Fredonian Rebellion.

After the Milwaukee Bridge War, the United States towns of Juneautown and Kilbourntown unify to create the City of Milwaukee.

John C. Frémont is court-martialed for mutiny and disobeying orders.

Ute Wars: On behalf of Utah territorial governor Brigham Young, militia leader Daniel H. Wells drafted an order for the Utah Territorial Militia to exterminate Timpanogos men deemed hostile, leading to the Provo River Massacre.

Alvan Graham Clark discovers the white dwarf star Sirius B, a companion of Sirius, through an 18.5-inch (47 cm) telescope now located at Northwestern University.

American Civil War: Confederate General Robert E. Lee becomes general-in-chief of all Confederate armies.

American Civil War: The United States Congress passes the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, abolishing slavery, and submits it to the states for ratification.

History of Portugal: The first attempt at a Portuguese republican revolution breaks out in the northern city of Porto.

Datu Muhammad Salleh is killed in Kampung Teboh, Tambunan, ending the Mat Salleh Rebellion.

Anton Chekhov's Three Sisters premieres at Moscow Art Theatre in Russia.

World War I: Germany is the first to make large-scale use of poison gas in warfare in the Battle of Bolimów against Russia.

World War I: Kaiser Wilhelm II orders the resumption of unrestricted submarine warfare.

A series of accidental collisions due to poor visibility leads to the loss of two Royal Navy submarines with over a hundred lives, and damage to another five British warships.

Finnish Civil War: The Suinula massacre, which changes the nature of the war in a more hostile direction, takes place in Kangasala.

The Battle of George Square takes place in Glasgow, Scotland, during a campaign for shorter working hours.

Leon Trotsky is exiled to Alma-Ata.

World War II: Allied forces are defeated by the Japanese at the Battle of Malaya and retreat to Singapore.

World War II: German field marshal Friedrich Paulus surrenders to the Soviets at Stalingrad, followed two days later by the remainder of his Sixth Army, ending one of the war's fiercest battles.

World War II: American forces land on Kwajalein Atoll and other islands in the Japanese-held Marshall Islands.

World War II: During the Anzio campaign, the 1st Ranger Battalion (Darby's Rangers) is destroyed behind enemy lines in a heavily outnumbered encounter at Battle of Cisterna, Italy.

US Army private Eddie Slovik is executed for desertion, the first such execution of an American soldier since the Civil War.

World War II: About 3,000 inmates from the Stutthof concentration camp are forcibly marched into the Baltic Sea at Palmnicken (now Yantarny, Russia) and executed.

World War II: The end of fighting in the Battle of Hill 170 during the Burma Campaign, in which the British 3 Commando Brigade repulsed a Japanese counterattack on their positions and precipitated a general retirement from the Arakan Peninsula.

Cold War: Yugoslavia's new constitution, modeling that of the Soviet Union, establishes six constituent republics (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Slovenia).

The Democratic Republic of Vietnam introduces the đồng to replace the French Indochinese piastre at par.

These Are My Children, the first television daytime soap opera, is broadcast by the NBC station in Chicago, United States.

United Nations Security Council Resolution 90 relating to the Korean War is adopted.

A North Sea flood causes over 1,800 deaths in the Netherlands and over 300 in the United Kingdom.

Eight people (five total crew from two aircraft and three on the ground) in Pacoima, California are killed following the mid-air collision between a Douglas DC-7 airliner and a Northrop F-89 Scorpion fighter jet.

Cold War: Space Race: The Explorer 1, the first successful American satellite, detects the Van Allen radiation belt.

Project Mercury: Mercury-Redstone 2: The chimpanzee Ham travels into outer space.

The Soviet Union launches the unmanned Luna 9 spacecraft as part of the Luna program.

Vietnam War: Viet Cong guerrillas attack the United States embassy in Saigon, and other attacks, in the early morning hours, later grouped together as the Tet Offensive.

Apollo program: Apollo 14: Astronauts Alan Shepard, Stuart Roosa, and Edgar Mitchell, aboard a Saturn V, lift off for a mission to the Fra Mauro Highlands on the Moon.

The Winter Soldier Investigation, organized by the Vietnam Veterans Against the War to publicize alleged war crimes and atrocities by Americans and allies in Vietnam, begins in Detroit.

The Crown of St. Stephen (also known as the Holy Crown of Hungary) goes on public display after being returned to Hungary from the United States, where it was held after World War II.

Doug Williams becomes the first African American quarterback to play in a Super Bowl and leads the Washington Redskins to victory in Super Bowl XXII.

An explosives-filled truck rams into the gates of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka in Colombo, killing at least 86 people and injuring 1,400.

Final Fantasy VII, the first video game in the Final Fantasy franchise to use 3-D computer graphics, was released.

Alaska Airlines Flight 261 crash: An MD-83, experiencing horizontal stabilizer problems, crashes in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Point Mugu, California, killing all 88 aboard.

In the Netherlands, a Scottish court convicts Libyan Abdelbaset al-Megrahi and acquits another Libyan citizen for their part in the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland in 1988.

Two Japan Airlines planes nearly collide over Suruga Bay in Japan.

The Waterfall rail accident occurs near Waterfall, New South Wales, Australia.

Emergency officials in Boston mistakenly identify battery-powered LED placards depicting characters from Aqua Teen Hunger Force as Improvised explosive devices (IEDs), causing a panic.

At least 113 people are killed in Kenya and over 200 injured following an oil spillage ignition in Molo, days after a massive fire at a Nakumatt supermarket in Nairobi killed at least 25 people.

A gas leak underneath the Pemex Executive Tower in Mexico City caused an explosion that killed at least 37 people and injured another 121.

Abdullah of Pahang is sworn in as the 16th Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia.

The United Kingdom's membership within the European Union ceases in accordance with Article 50, after 47 years of being a member state.

Sue Gray, a senior civil servant in the United Kingdom, publishes an initial version of her report on the Downing Street Partygate controversy.

The last Boeing 747, the first wide-body airliner, is delivered to Atlas Air and operated for ApexLogistics. The aircraft was registered as N863GT and named "Empower".

Med Jets Flight 056 crashes near Roosevelt Mall in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, killing 8 people and injuring 23.

Franz Schubert, Austrian pianist and composer (died 1828)

Justin Timberlake, American singer-songwriter, dancer, and actor

Kenzaburō Ōe, Japanese author and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 2023)

Beatrix of the Netherlands

Norman Mailer, American journalist and author (died 2007)

Preity Zinta, Indian actress, producer, and television host

Tokugawa Ieyasu, Japanese shōgun (died 1616)

Irving Langmuir, American chemist and physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1957)

Alva Myrdal, Swedish sociologist and politician, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1986)

Rudolf Mössbauer, German physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 2011)

Theodor Heuss, German journalist and politician, 1st President of the Federal Republic of Germany (died 1963)

Kerry Washington, American actress

Philip Glass, American composer

Julián Alvarez, Argentine footballer

Theodore William Richards, American chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1928)

Jean Simmons, English-American actress (died 2010)

John Lydon, English singer-songwriter

Portia de Rossi, Australian-American actress

Suzanne Pleshette, American actress (died 2008)

Fabio Quagliarella, Italian footballer

Jackie Robinson, American baseball player and sportscaster (died 1972)

Guido van Rossum, Dutch programmer, creator of the Python programming language

Tallulah Bankhead, American actress (died 1968)

Minnie Driver, English singer-songwriter and actress

Jonathan Banks, American actor

James Adomian, American comedian, actor, and screenwriter

Henry, King of Portugal (died 1580)

Carol Channing, American actress, singer, and dancer (died 2019)

Mario Lanza, American tenor and actor (died 1959)

Mammad Amin Rasulzade, Azerbaijani scholar and politician, 1st President of The Democratic Republic of Azerbaijan (died 1955)

Hans Egede, Norwegian missionary and explorer (died 1758)

Zane Grey, American author (died 1939)

Eddie Cantor, American singer-songwriter, actor, and dancer (died 1964)

Anthony LaPaglia, Australian actor and producer

Daniel Tammet, English author and educator

Louis de Montfort, French priest and saint (died 1716)

Traianos Dellas, Greek footballer and manager

André-Jacques Garnerin, French balloonist and the inventor of the frameless parachute (died 1823)

Rodolphe Töpffer, Swiss teacher, author, painter, cartoonist, and caricaturist (died 1846)

Ken Wilber, American sociologist, philosopher, and author

Fatou Bensouda, Gambian lawyer and judge

Patricia Velásquez, Venezuelan model and actress

Kelly Lynch, American model and actress

Arnaut Danjuma, Dutch footballer

Joanne Dru, American actress (died 1996)

Daniela Bianchi, Italian actress

Joseph Kosuth, American sculptor and theorist

John O'Hara, American author, playwright, and screenwriter (died 1970)

Alan Lomax, American historian, author, and scholar (died 2002)

John Agar, American actor (died 2002)

Jessica Walter, American actress (died 2021)

Dexter Fletcher, English actor and director

Gouverneur Morris, American lawyer, politician, and diplomat, United States Ambassador to France (died 1816)

Derek Jarman, English director, stage designer, and author (died 1994)

Željko Šturanović, Montenegrin politician, 31st Prime Minister of Montenegro (died 2014)

Adam Federici, Australian footballer

Walter Dix, American sprinter

Joel Courtney, American actor

Miyeon, South Korean singer and actress

Virginia Ruzici, Romanian tennis player and manager