October 9

Historic Events

2024

Hurricane Milton makes landfall in Siesta Key, Florida, as a Category 3 hurricane, causing US$34.3 billion in damage only two weeks after Hurricane Helene impacted the state. ›

2019

Turkey begins its military offensive in north-eastern Syria. ›

2016

The Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army launches its first attack on Myanmar security forces along the Bangladesh–Myanmar border. ›

2012

Pakistani Taliban attempt to assassinate outspoken schoolgirl Malala Yousafzai. ›

2009

First lunar impact of NASA's Lunar Precursor Robotic Program. ›

2007

The Dow Jones Industrial Average reaches its all-time high of 14,164 points before rapidly declining due to the 2008 financial crisis. ›

2006

North Korea conducts its first nuclear test. ›

1995

An Amtrak Sunset Limited train is derailed by saboteurs near Palo Verde, Arizona. ›

1992

The Peekskill meteorite, a 27.7 pounds (12.6 kg) meteorite crashed into a parked car in Peekskill, New York ›

1986

The Phantom of the Opera, eventually the second longest running musical in London, opens at Her Majesty's Theatre. ›

1986

Fox Broadcasting Company (FBC) launches as the fourth US television network. ›

1984

The popular children's television show Thomas The Tank Engine & Friends, based on The Railway Series by the Reverend Wilbert Awdry, premieres on ITV. ›

1983

South Korean President Chun Doo-hwan survives an assassination attempt in Rangoon, Burma, but the blast kills 21 and injures 17 others. ›

1981

President François Mitterrand abolishes capital punishment in France. ›

1980

Pope John Paul II greets the Dalai Lama during a private audience in Vatican City. ›

1970

The Khmer Republic is proclaimed in Cambodia. ›

1969

In Chicago, the National Guard is called in as demonstrations continue over the trial of the "Chicago Eight". ›

1967

A day after his capture, Ernesto "Che" Guevara is executed for attempting to incite a revolution in Bolivia. ›

1966

Vietnam War: the Republic of Korea Army commits the Binh Tai Massacre. ›

1963

In Italy, a large landslide causes a giant wave to overtop the Vajont Dam, killing over 2,000. ›

1962

Uganda becomes an independent Commonwealth realm. ›

1950

The Goyang Geumjeong Cave massacre in Korea begins. ›

1942

Australia's Statute of Westminster Adoption Act 1942 receives royal assent. ›

1941

A coup in Panama declares Ricardo Adolfo de la Guardia Arango the new president. ›

1937

Murder of 9 Catholic priests in Zhengding, China, who protected the local population from the advancing Japanese army. ›

1936

Boulder Dam (later Hoover Dam) begins to generate electricity and transmit it to Los Angeles. ›

1934

An Ustashe assassin kills King Alexander I of Yugoslavia and Louis Barthou, Foreign Minister of France, in Marseille. ›

1919

The Cincinnati Reds win the World Series, resulting in the Black Sox Scandal. ›

1918

The Finnish Parliament elects Prince Frederick Charles of Hesse as King of Finland, but he never accedes to the throne due to Germany's defeat in World War I. ›

1914

World War I: The Siege of Antwerp comes to an end. ›

1913

The steamship SS Volturno catches fire in the mid-Atlantic. ›

1911

An accidental bomb explosion triggers the Wuchang Uprising against the Qing dynasty, beginning the Xinhai Revolution. ›

1900

The Cook Islands become a territory of the United Kingdom. ›

1874

The Universal Postal Union is created by the Treaty of Bern. ›

1873

A meeting at the U.S. Naval Academy establishes the U.S. Naval Institute. ›

1864

American Civil War: Union cavalrymen defeat Confederate forces at Toms Brook, Virginia during Sheridan's Shenandoah Valley campaign. ›

1861

American Civil War: Union troops repel a Confederate attempt to capture Fort Pickens in the Battle of Santa Rosa Island. ›

1847

Slavery is abolished in the Swedish colony of Saint Barthélemy. ›

1834

Opening of the Dublin and Kingstown Railway, the first public railway on the island of Ireland. ›

1831

Ioannis Kapodistrias, the first head of state of independent Greece, is assassinated. ›

1825

Restauration arrives in New York Harbor from Norway, the first organized immigration from Norway to the United States. ›

1820

Guayaquil declares independence from Spain. ›

1812

War of 1812: In a naval engagement on Lake Erie, American forces capture two British ships: HMS Detroit and HMS Caledonia. ›

1806

Prussia begins the War of the Fourth Coalition against France. ›

1804

Hobart, capital of Tasmania, is founded. ›

1799

HMS Lutine sinks with the loss of 240 men and a cargo worth £1,200,000. ›

1790

A severe earthquake in northern Algeria causes severe damage and a tsunami in the Mediterranean Sea and kills three thousand. ›

1779

American Revolutionary War: A combined Franco-American assault on British defenses during the Siege of Savannah is repulsed with heavy casualties. ›

1760

Seven Years' War: Russian and Austrian troops briefly occupy Berlin. ›

1740

Dutch colonists and Javanese natives begin a massacre of the ethnic Chinese population in Batavia, eventually killing at least 10,000. ›

1708

Peter the Great defeats the Swedes at the Battle of Lesnaya. ›

1701

The Collegiate School of Connecticut (later renamed Yale University) is chartered in Old Saybrook, Connecticut. ›

1635

Roger Williams is banished from the Massachusetts Bay Colony after religious and policy disagreements. ›

1604

Kepler's Supernova is the most recent supernova to be observed within the Milky Way. ›

1594

Troops of the Portuguese Empire are defeated on Sri Lanka, bringing an end to the Campaign of Danture. ›

1410

The first known mention of the Prague astronomical clock. ›

1238

James I of Aragon founds the Kingdom of Valencia. ›

768

Carloman I and Charlemagne are crowned kings of the Franks. ›