On This Day
What Happened on December 31 in History
9 events that happened on December 31, oldest first. Every entry is written in our own words and links to its source.
Colonial America and the Revolution
1600 (Old Style date)
Queen Elizabeth I grants a royal charter to the English East India Company.
The charter gave a group of London merchants a monopoly on English trade east of the Cape of Good Hope. The company grew into a commercial and military power that came to rule much of India.
Source: history.com
1775
American forces are defeated in a snowstorm assault on Quebec City.
General Richard Montgomery was killed and Benedict Arnold was wounded as the Continental Army tried to take the city from the British. More than 400 Americans were captured, ending hopes of bringing Canada into the Revolution.
Source: history.com; battlefields.org
The Young Republic and the Civil War Era
1862
The Battle of Stones River begins near Murfreesboro, Tennessee.
Confederate General Braxton Bragg attacked William Rosecrans's Union army at dawn and drove back its right flank. After fighting that lasted into January 2, Bragg withdrew, and the Union claimed a costly victory.
Source: battlefields.org
1879
Thomas Edison shows off his incandescent electric lighting to the public at Menlo Park.
Edison invited the public to his New Jersey laboratory complex, where buildings and grounds were lit with his new lamps. The New Year's Eve showing launched a campaign to link his name with electric light.
Source: history.com; pbs.org
The Early 1900s and the World Wars
1907
A lighted ball is dropped from a flagpole in Times Square for the first time on New Year's Eve.
The New York Times arranged the ball drop atop its new headquarters at One Times Square to welcome 1908. The ritual became one of the best-known New Year's traditions in the United States.
Source: npr.org; history.com
The Cold War
1946
President Harry Truman proclaims the end of hostilities in World War II.
Proclamation 2714 declared that hostilities had ceased as of noon that day, ending many wartime emergency powers. A formal state of war still existed until Congress and later treaties ended it.
Source: trumanlibrary.gov; presidency.ucsb.edu
1968
The Soviet Tu-144 makes the first flight of a supersonic airliner.
The Tupolev jet took to the air a few months before the Anglo-French Concorde, and its resemblance to that design earned it the nickname Concordski. It later entered limited passenger service.
Source: history.com
The Modern Era
1992
Czechoslovakia peacefully dissolves at midnight into two independent states.
In what became known as the Velvet Divorce, the federation ended without violence. The Czech Republic and Slovakia began their existence as separate countries on January 1, 1993.
Source: history.state.gov; press.umich.edu
1999
Boris Yeltsin resigns as Russia's president and names Vladimir Putin acting president.
Yeltsin announced his surprise departure in a televised address months before his term was due to end. Putin, then prime minister, took over at once and won the presidential election in March 2000.