February 9

Historic Events

2025

The Baltic states synchronize their electric power transmission infrastructure with the Continental Europe Synchronous Area (CESA), in objective to disconnect from the Russo-Belarussian agreement to use the IPS/UPS system. ›

2021

Second impeachment trial of Donald Trump begins. ›

2020

Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele has the army soldiers enter the Legislative Assembly to assist in pushing for the approval for a better government security plan, causing a brief political crisis. ›

2018

Winter Olympics: Opening ceremony is performed in Pyeongchang County in South Korea. ›

2001

The Ehime Maru and USS Greeneville collision takes place, killing nine of the thirty-five people on board the Japanese fishery high-school training ship Ehime Maru, leaving the USS Greeneville (SSN-772) with US $2 million in repairs, at Pearl Harbor. ›

1996

The Provisional Irish Republican Army declares the end to its 18-month ceasefire and explodes a large bomb in London's Canary Wharf, killing two people. ›

1996

Copernicium is discovered by Sigurd Hofmann, Victor Ninov et al. ›

1991

Dissolution of the Soviet Union: Voters in Lithuania vote for independence from the Soviet Union. ›

1987

Civil unrest broke out across Palestine. ›

1986

Halley's Comet last appeared in the inner Solar System. ›

1982

Japan Air Lines Flight 350 crashes near Haneda Airport in an attempted pilot mass murder-suicide, killing 24 of the 174 people on board. ›

1978

The Budd Company unveils its first SPV-2000 self-propelled railcar in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. ›

1976

Aeroflot Flight 3739, a Tupolev Tu-104, crashes during takeoff from Irkutsk Airport, killing 24. ›

1975

The Soyuz 17 Soviet spacecraft returns to Earth. ›

1971

The 6.5–6.7 Mw Sylmar earthquake hits the Greater Los Angeles Area with a maximum Mercalli intensity of XI (Extreme), killing 64 and injuring 2,000. ›

1971

Satchel Paige becomes the first Negro league player to be voted into the USA's Baseball Hall of Fame. ›

1971

Apollo program: Apollo 14 returns to Earth after the third human Moon landing. ›

1965

Vietnam War: The United States Marine Corps sends a MIM-23 Hawk missile battalion to South Vietnam, the first American troops in-country without an official advisory or training mission. ›

1964

The Beatles make their first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show, performing before a record-setting audience of 73 million viewers across the United States. ›

1961

The Beatles at the Cavern Club: Lunchtime – The Beatles perform under this name at The Cavern Club for the first time following their return to Liverpool from Hamburg. ›

1959

The R-7 Semyorka, the first intercontinental ballistic missile, becomes operational at Plesetsk, USSR. ›

1951

Korean War: The two-day Geochang massacre begins as a battalion of the 11th Division of the South Korean Army kills 719 unarmed citizens in Geochang, in the South Gyeongsang district of South Korea. ›

1950

Second Red Scare: US Senator Joseph McCarthy accuses the United States Department of State of being filled with Communists. ›

1945

World War II: Battle of the Atlantic: HMS Venturer sinks U-864 off the coast of Fedje, Norway, in a rare instance of submarine-to-submarine combat. ›

1945

World War II: A force of Allied aircraft unsuccessfully attack a German destroyer in Førdefjorden, Norway. ›

1943

World War II: Pacific War: Allied authorities declare Guadalcanal secure after Imperial Japan evacuates its remaining forces from the island, ending the Battle of Guadalcanal. ›

1942

Year-round Daylight saving time (aka War Time) is reinstated in the United States as a wartime measure to help conserve energy resources. ›

1941

World War II: Bombing of Genoa: The Cathedral of San Lorenzo in Genoa, Italy, is struck by a bomb which fails to detonate. ›

1934

The Balkan Entente is formed between Greece, Romania, Yugoslavia, and Turkey. ›

1932

Prohibition law is abolished in Finland after a national referendum, where 70% voted for a repeal of the law. ›

1929

Members of the Việt Nam Quốc Dân Đảng assassinate the labor recruiter Bazin, prompting a crackdown by French colonial authorities. ›

1922

Brazil becomes a member of the Berne Convention copyright treaty. ›

1920

Under the terms of the Svalbard Treaty, international diplomacy recognizes Norwegian sovereignty over Arctic archipelago Svalbard, and designates it as demilitarized. ›

1913

A group of meteors is visible across much of the eastern seaboard of the Americas, leading astronomers to conclude the source had been a small, short-lived natural satellite of the Earth. ›

1907

The Mud March is the first large procession organised by the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies (NUWSS). ›

1904

Russo-Japanese War: Battle of Port Arthur concludes. ›

1900

The Davis Cup competition is established. ›

1895

William G. Morgan creates a game called Mintonette, which soon comes to be referred to as volleyball. ›

1893

Verdi's last opera, Falstaff, premieres at La Scala, Milan. ›

1889

US president Grover Cleveland signs a bill elevating the United States Department of Agriculture to a Cabinet-level agency. ›

1870

US president Ulysses S. Grant signs a joint resolution of Congress establishing the U.S. Weather Bureau. ›

1861

American Civil War: Jefferson Davis is elected the Provisional President of the Confederate States of America by the Provisional Confederate Congress at Montgomery, Alabama. ›

1849

The new Roman Republic is declared. ›

1825

After no candidate receives a majority of electoral votes in the US presidential election of 1824, the United States House of Representatives elects John Quincy Adams as sixth President of the United States in a contingent election. ›

1822

Haiti attacks the newly established Dominican Republic on the other side of the island of Hispaniola. ›

1778

Rhode Island becomes the fourth US state to ratify the Articles of Confederation. ›

1775

American Revolutionary War: The British Parliament declares Massachusetts in rebellion. ›

1654

The Capture of Fort Rocher takes place during the Anglo-Spanish War. ›

1621

Gregory XV becomes Pope, the last Pope elected by acclamation. ›

1555

Bishop of Gloucester John Hooper is burned at the stake. ›

1539

The first recorded race is held on Chester Racecourse, known as the Roodee. ›

1098

A First Crusade army led by Bohemond of Taranto wins a major battle against the Seljuq emir Ridwan of Aleppo during the siege of Antioch. ›

1003

Boleslaus III is restored to authority with armed support from Bolesław I the Brave of Poland. ›

474

Zeno is crowned as co-emperor of the Eastern Roman Empire. ›