April 9

Historic Events

2021

Burmese military and security forces commit the Bago massacre, during which at least 82 civilians are killed. ›

2021

Soyuz MS-18 is launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, carrying three members of the Expedition 64 crew to the International Space Station. ›

2020

Soyuz MS-16 is launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, carrying the Expedition 62/63 crew to the International Space Station. ›

2017

The Palm Sunday church bombings at Coptic churches in Tanta and Alexandria, Egypt, take place. ›

2014

A student stabs 20 people at Franklin Regional High School in Murrysville, Pennsylvania. ›

2013

A 6.1–magnitude earthquake strikes Iran killing 32 people and injuring over 850 people. ›

2013

At least 13 people are killed and another three injured after a man goes on a spree shooting in the Serbian village of Velika Ivanča. ›

2011

Six people and the perpetrator are killed and 17 injured in a mass shooting at a shopping mall in Alphen aan den Rijn, Netherlands. ›

2009

In Tbilisi, Georgia, up to 60,000 people protest against the government of Mikheil Saakashvili. ›

2003

Iraq War: Baghdad falls to American forces. ›

1994

Space Shuttle program: Space Shuttle Endeavour is launched on STS-59. ›

1992

A U.S. Federal Court finds former Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega guilty of drug and racketeering charges. He is sentenced to 30 years in prison. ›

1991

Georgia declares independence from the Soviet Union. ›

1990

An IRA bombing in County Down, Northern Ireland, kills three members of the UDR. ›

1990

The Sahtu Dene and Metis Comprehensive Land Claim Agreement is signed for 180,000 square kilometres (69,000 mi2) in the Mackenzie Valley of the western Arctic. ›

1990

An Embraer EMB 120 Brasilia collides in mid-air with a Cessna 172 over Gadsden, Alabama, killing both of the Cessna's occupants. ›

1989

Tbilisi massacre: An anti-Soviet peaceful demonstration and hunger strike in Tbilisi, demanding restoration of Georgian independence, is dispersed by the Soviet Army, resulting in 20 deaths and hundreds of injuries. ›

1981

The U.S. Navy nuclear submarine USS George Washington accidentally collides with the Nissho Maru, a Japanese cargo ship, sinking it and killing two Japanese sailors. ›

1980

The Iraqi regime of Saddam Hussein kills philosopher Muhammad Baqir al-Sadr and his sister Bint al-Huda after three days of torture. ›

1969

The first British-built Concorde 002 makes its maiden flight from Filton to RAF Fairford with Brian Trubshaw as the test pilot. ›

1967

The first Boeing 737 (a 100 series) makes its maiden flight. ›

1960

Dr. Hendrik Verwoerd, Prime Minister of South Africa and architect of apartheid, narrowly survives an assassination attempt by a white farmer, David Pratt in Johannesburg. ›

1959

Project Mercury: NASA announces the selection of the United States' first seven astronauts, whom the news media quickly dub the "Mercury Seven". ›

1957

The Suez Canal in Egypt is cleared and opens to shipping following the Suez Crisis. ›

1952

Hugo Ballivián's government is overthrown by the Bolivian National Revolution, starting a period of agrarian reform, universal suffrage and the nationalization of tin mines ›

1952

Japan Air Lines Flight 301 crashes into Mount Mihara, Izu Ōshima, Japan, killing 37. ›

1948

Jorge Eliécer Gaitán's assassination provokes a violent riot in Bogotá (the Bogotazo), and a further ten years of violence in Colombia. ›

1948

Fighters from the Irgun and Lehi Zionist terror groups attacked Deir Yassin near Jerusalem, killing over 100 Palestinians. ›

1947

The Glazier–Higgins–Woodward tornadoes kill 181 and injure 970 in Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas. ›

1947

The Journey of Reconciliation, the first interracial Freedom Ride begins through the upper South in violation of Jim Crow laws. The riders wanted enforcement of the United States Supreme Court's 1946 Irene Morgan decision that banned racial segregation in interstate travel. ›

1947

United Nations Security Council Resolution 22 relating to Corfu Channel incident is adopted. ›

1946

About 500 postal workers in Tel Aviv and Jaffa went on strike. ›

1945

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Lutheran pastor and anti-Nazi dissident, is executed by the Nazi regime. ›

1945

World War II: The German heavy cruiser Admiral Scheer is sunk by the Royal Air Force. ›

1945

World War II: The Battle of Königsberg, in East Prussia, ends. ›

1945

The United States Atomic Energy Commission is formed. ›

1942

World War II: The Battle of Bataan ends and the Bataan Death March begins. ›

1942

World War II: An Indian Ocean raid by Japan's 1st Air Fleet sinks the British aircraft carrier HMS Hermes and the Australian destroyer HMAS Vampire. ›

1940

World War II: Operation Weserübung: Germany invades Denmark and Norway. ›

1940

Vidkun Quisling seizes power in Norway. ›

1939

African-American singer Marian Anderson gives a concert at the Lincoln Memorial after being denied the use of Constitution Hall by the Daughters of the American Revolution. ›

1937

The Kamikaze arrives at Croydon Airport in London. It is the first Japanese-built aircraft to fly to Europe. ›

1918

World War I: The Battle of the Lys: The Portuguese Expeditionary Corps is crushed by the German forces during what is called the Spring Offensive on the Belgian region of Flanders. ›

1917

World War I: The Battle of Arras: The battle begins with Canadian Corps executing a massive assault on Vimy Ridge. ›

1909

The U.S. Congress passes the Payne–Aldrich Tariff Act. ›

1865

American Civil War: Robert E. Lee surrenders the Army of Northern Virginia (26,765 troops) to Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House, Virginia, effectively ending the war. ›

1860

On his phonautograph machine, Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville makes the first known recording of an audible human voice. ›

1784

The Treaty of Paris, ratified by the United States Congress on January 14, 1784, is ratified by King George III of the Kingdom of Great Britain, ending the American Revolutionary War. Copies of the ratified documents are exchanged on May 12, 1784. ›

1682

Robert Cavelier de La Salle discovers the mouth of the Mississippi River, claims it for France and names it Louisiana. ›

1609

Eighty Years' War: Spain and the Dutch Republic sign the Treaty of Antwerp to initiate twelve years of truce. ›

1609

Philip III of Spain issues the decree of the "Expulsion of the Moriscos". ›

1511

Resettled Shiite Muslims rise up in the Şahkulu rebellion under the leadership of Şahkulu against the Ottoman Empire. ›

1454

The Treaty of Lodi is signed, establishing a balance of power among northern Italian city-states for almost 50 years. ›

1438

The Council of Ferrara begins with its first session in presence of the Patriarch of Constantinople, representatives of the Patriarchal Sees of Antioch, Alexandria and Jerusalem and Pope Eugene IV presiding. ›

1388

Despite being outnumbered 16:1, forces of the Old Swiss Confederacy are victorious over the Archduchy of Austria in the Battle of Näfels. ›

1387

The Byzantine city of Thessalonike surrenders to the Ottomans, though rule reverts back to the Byzantines after the battle of Ankara. ›

1288

Mongol invasions of Vietnam: Yuan forces are defeated by Trần forces in the Battle of Bach Dang in present-day northern Vietnam. ›

1241

Battle of Liegnitz: Mongol forces defeat the Polish and German armies. ›

537

Siege of Rome: The Byzantine general Belisarius receives his promised reinforcements, 1,600 cavalry, mostly of Hunnic or Slavic origin and expert bowmen. Despite shortages, he starts raids against the Gothic camps and Vitiges but is forced into a stalemate. ›

475

Byzantine Emperor Basiliscus issues a circular letter (Enkyklikon) to the bishops of his empire, supporting the Monophysite christological position. ›

193

The distinguished soldier Septimius Severus is proclaimed emperor by the army in Illyricum. ›