A coup d'état occurs in Guinea hours after the death of President Lansana Conté.
A U.S. MQ-1 Predator is shot down by an Iraqi MiG-25 in the first combat engagement between a drone and conventional aircraft.
History of Slovenia: In a referendum, 88.5% of Slovenia's overall electorate vote for independence from Yugoslavia.
Voyager, piloted by Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager, lands at Edwards Air Force Base in California becoming the first aircraft to fly non-stop around the world without aerial or ground refueling.
The Immaculate Reception is caught by Franco Harris to win the Pittsburgh Steelers their first ever playoff victory, after defeating the Oakland Raiders.
The first film adaptation of Väinö Linna's novel The Unknown Soldier, directed by Edvin Laine, premieres.
First successful kidney transplant is performed by J. Hartwell Harrison and Joseph Murray.
The transistor is first demonstrated at Bell Laboratories.
World War II: After 15 days of fighting, the Imperial Japanese Army occupies Wake Island.
Colombia becomes a signatory to the Buenos Aires copyright treaty.
World War I: Battle of Magdhaba: Allied forces defeat Turkish forces in the Sinai Peninsula.
World War I: Australian and New Zealand troops arrive in Cairo, Egypt.
World War I: During the Battle of Sarikamish, Ottoman forces mistook one another for Russian troops. The following friendly fire incident leaves 2,000 Ottomans dead and many more wounded.
The Federal Reserve Act is signed into law by President Woodrow Wilson, creating the Federal Reserve System.
The Tampere conference, where Vladimir Lenin and Joseph Stalin meet for the first time, is held in Tampere, Finland.
The opera Hansel and Gretel by Engelbert Humperdinck is first performed.
First day of the Constantinople Conference which resulted in agreement for political reforms in the Balkans.
The novel Emma by Jane Austen is first published.
The Battle of Savenay: A decisive defeat of the royalist counter-revolutionaries in War in the Vendée during the French Revolution.
As part of the Glorious Revolution, King James II of England flees from England to Paris after being deposed in favor of his son-in-law and nephew, William of Orange and his daughter Mary.