History of 31 January
- 1945 – 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.
- 1945 – 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.
- 1946 – 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).
- 1946 – The Democratic Republic of Vietnam introduces the đồng to replace the French Indochinese piastre at par.
- 1949 – These Are My Children, the first television daytime soap opera, is broadcast by the NBC station in Chicago.
- 1950 – Cold War: U.S. President Harry S. Truman announces a program to develop the hydrogen bomb.
- 1951 – United Nations Security Council Resolution 90 relating to the Korean War is adopted.
- 1953 – A North Sea flood causes over 1,800 deaths in the Netherlands and over 300 in the United Kingdom
- 1957 – Eight people (5 total crew from 2 aircraft and 3 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.
- 1958 – Cold War: Space Race: The first successful American satellite detects the Van Allen radiation belt.
- 1961 – Project Mercury: Mercury-Redstone 2: Ham the Chimp travels into outer space.
- 1966 – The Soviet Union launches the unmanned Luna 9 spacecraft as part of the Luna program.
- 1968 – 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.
- 1968 – Nauru gains independence from Australia.
- 1971 – 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.
- 1971 – The Winter Soldier Investigation, organized by the Vietnam Veterans Against the War to publicize war crimes and atrocities by Americans and allies in Vietnam, begins in Detroit.
- 1996 – 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.
- 2000 – 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.
- 2001 – 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.
- 2009 – In Kenya, at least 113 people are killed 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.
- 2012 – The Toyota Corolla is known as the best-selling car of all time. Selling over 37.5 million units.
- 2018 – Blue moon and a total lunar eclipse
Celebrating Birthday’s Today
- 1981 – Julio Arca, the Argentinian footballer
- 1981 – Mark Cameron, Australian cricketer
- 1981 – Justin Timberlake, American singer-songwriter, dancer, and actor
- 1982 – Maret Ani, an Estonian tennis player
- 1982 – Yuniesky Betancourt, Cuban baseball player
- 1982 – Andreas Görlitz, German footballer
- 1982 – Salvatore Masiello, Italian footballer
- 1982 – Allan McGregor, Scottish footballer
- 1982 – Jānis Sprukts, Latvian ice hockey player
- 1982 – Yukimi Nagano, Swedish singer-songwriter
- 1982 – Brad Thompson, American baseball player
- 1983 – James Sutton, English actor
- 1983 – Fabio Quagliarella, Italian footballer
- 1984 – Vernon Davis, American football player
- 1984 – Josh Johnson, Canadian-American baseball player
- 1984 – Jeremy Wariner, American runner
- 1984 – Alessandro Zanni, Italian rugby player
- 1985 – Adam Federici, Australian footballer
- 1985 – Mario Williams, American football player
- 1986 – Megan Ellison, American film producer, founded Annapurna Pictures
- 1986 – George Elokobi, Cameroonian footballer
- 1986 – Yves Ma-Kalambay, Belgian footballer
- 1986 – Pauline Parmentier, a French tennis player
- 1987 – Marcus Mumford, American-English singer-songwriter
- 1988 – Justine Ozga, a German tennis player
- 1988 – Brett Pitman, English footballer
- 1988 – Taijo Teniste, Estonian footballer
- 1988 – Kyle Kulinski, American talk show host
- 1990 – Jacopo Fortunato, Italian footballer
- 1990 – Jacob Markström, Swedish ice hockey player
- 1990 – Kota Yabu, Japanese idol, singer-songwriter, model, actor
- 1994 – Kenneth Zohore, Danish footballer
- 1995 – Sten Olmre, Estonian basketball player