9 July 2023 (MIA)

– International Small Arms Destruction Day

455 – The military commander Avitus is proclaimed Emperor of the Western Roman Empire.

491 – Odoacer makes a night assault with his Heruli guardsmen, engaging Theoderic the Great in Ad Pinetam. Both sides suffer heavy losses, but in the end Theodoric forces Odoacer back into Ravenna.

660 – Korean forces under general Kim Yu-shin of Silla defeat the army of Baekje in the Battle of Hwangsanbeol.

869 – A magnitude 8.6 Ms earthquake and subsequent tsunami strikes the area around Sendai in the northern part of Honshu, Japan.

1357 – Emperor Charles IV assists in laying the foundation stone of Charles Bridge in Prague.

1386 – The Old Swiss Confederacy makes great strides in establishing control over its territory by soundly defeating the Archduchy of Austria in the Battle of Sempach.

1540 – King Henry VIII of England annuls his marriage to his fourth wife, Anne of Cleves.

1572 – Nineteen Catholics suffer martyrdom for their beliefs in the Dutch town of Gorkum.

1609 – Bohemia is granted freedom of religion through the Letter of Majesty by the Holy Roman Emperor, Rudolf II.

1701 – A Bourbon force under Nicolas Catinat withdraws from a smaller Habsburg force under Prince Eugene of Savoy in the Battle of Carpi.

1745 – French victory in the Battle of Melle allows them to capture Ghent in the days after.

1755 – The Braddock Expedition is soundly defeated by a smaller French and native American force in its attempt to capture Fort Duquesne in what is now downtown Pittsburgh.

1776 – George Washington orders the Declaration of Independence to be read out to members of the Continental Army in Manhattan, while thousands of British troops on Staten Island prepare for the Battle of Long Island.

1789 – In Versailles, the National Assembly reconstitutes itself as the National Constituent Assembly and begins preparations for a French constitution.

1790 – The Swedish Navy captures one third of the Russian Baltic fleet.

1793 – The Act Against Slavery in Upper Canada bans the importation of slaves and will free those who are born into slavery after the passage of the Act at 25 years of age.

1807 – The Treaties of Tilsit are signed by Napoleon I of France and Alexander I of Russia.

1810 – Napoleon annexes the Kingdom of Holland as part of the First French Empire.

1811 – Explorer David Thompson posts a sign near what is now Sacajawea State Park in Washington state, claiming the Columbia District for the United Kingdom.

1815 – Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord becomes the first Prime Minister of France.

1816 – Argentina declares independence from Spain.

1821 – Four hundred and seventy prominent Cypriots including Archbishop Kyprianos are executed in response to Cypriot aid to the Greek War of Independence

1850 – U.S. President Zachary Taylor dies after eating raw fruit and iced milk, to be succeeded by Millard Fillmore.

1850 – Persian prophet Báb is executed in Tabriz, Persia.

1863 – The Siege of Port Hudson ends, giving the Union complete control of the Mississippi River.

1864 – Franz Muller commits the first known murder on a British train.

1868 – The 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution is ratified, guaranteeing African Americans full citizenship and all persons in the United States due process of law.

1873 – The railroad line Thessaloniki – Skopje was established 50 years after the first railroad was put into operation.

1875 – The Herzegovina Uprising against Ottoman rule begins, which would last until 1878 and have far-reaching implications throughout the Balkans.

1877 – The inaugural Wimbledon Championships begins.

1896 – William Jennings Bryan delivers his Cross of Gold speech advocating bimetallism at the 1896 Democratic National Convention in Chicago.

1900 – The Federation of Australia is given royal assent.

1900 – The Governor of Shanxi province in North China orders the execution of 45 foreign Christian missionaries and local church members, including children.

1903 – Future Soviet leader Joseph Stalin is exiled to Siberia for three years.

1918 – In Nashville, Tennessee, an inbound local train collides with an outbound express, killing 101 and injuring 171 people, making it the deadliest rail accident in United States history.

1922 – Johnny Weissmuller swims the 100 meters freestyle in 58.6 seconds breaking the world swimming record and the ‘minute barrier’.

1932 – The state of São Paulo revolts against the Brazilian Federal Government, starting the Constitutionalist Revolution.

1937 – The silent film archives of Fox Film Corporation are destroyed by the 1937 Fox vault fire.

1942 – Cvetan Dimov, Macedonian national hero was killed by Bulgarian fascists in Skopje. He was born on March 5, 1909.

1943 – The Allied invasion of Sicily soon causes the downfall of Mussolini and forces Hitler to break off the Battle of Kursk.

1944 – Operation Charnwood gives British and Canadian forces control of Caen north of the Odon and Orne rivers, as well as the Carpiquet airfield.

1944 – American forces take Saipan, bringing the Japanese archipelago within range of B-29 raids, and causing the downfall of the Tojo government.

1944 – Finland wins the Battle of Tali-Ihantala, the largest battle ever fought in northern Europe. The Red Army withdraws its troops from Ihantala and digs into a defensive position, thus ending the Vyborg–Petrozavodsk Offensive.

1955 – The Russell–Einstein Manifesto calls for a reduction of the risk of nuclear warfare.

1956 – The 7.7 Mw Amorgos earthquake triggers a destructive tsunami that affects the Aegean Sea. The mainshock was followed minutes later by a damaging M7.2 aftershock. Fifty-three people were killed and 100 were injured.

1958 – A 7.8 Mw strike-slip earthquake in Alaska causes a landslide that produces a megatsunami. The runup from the waves reached 525 m (1,722 ft) on the rim of Lituya Bay. Due to the remote location, only five people were killed.

1961 – Turkish voters approve the Turkish Constitution of 1961 in a referendum.

1962 – Starfish Prime tests the effects of a nuclear test at orbital altitudes.

1962 – Andy Warhol’s Campbell’s Soup Cans exhibition opens at the Ferus Gallery in Los Angeles.

1972 – The Troubles: In Belfast, British Army snipers shoot five civilians dead in the Springhill Massacre.

1979 – A car bomb destroys a Renault motor car owned by the famed “Nazi hunters” Serge and Beate Klarsfeld at their home in France. A note purportedly from ODESSA claims responsibility.

1981 – Donkey Kong, a video game created by Nintendo, is released. The game marks the debut of Nintendo’s future mascot, Mario.

1982 – Pan Am Flight 759 crashes in Kenner, Louisiana killing all 145 people on board and eight others on the ground.

1986 – The Parliament of New Zealand passes the Homosexual Law Reform Act legalising homosexuality in New Zealand.

1992 – Hans Em died, the oldest member of the Macedonian Academy of Science and Arts. He participated at the WWII from 1941. Born in Maribor, on June 6, 1898.

1993 – The Parliament of Canada passes the Nunavut Act leading to the 1999 creation of Nunavut, dividing the Northwest Territories into arctic (Inuit) and sub-arctic (Dene) lands based on a plebiscite.

1995 – The Navaly church bombing is carried out by the Sri Lanka Air Force killing 125 Tamil civilian refugees.

1999 – Days of student protests begin after Iranian police and hardliners attack a student dormitory at the University of Tehran.

2006 – At least 122 people are killed after a Sibir Airlines Airbus A310 passenger jet, carrying 200 passengers veers off the runway while landing in wet conditions at Irkutsk Airport in Siberia.

2011 – South Sudan gains independence and secedes from Sudan.

2014 – A gunman kills six people including four children near Spring, Texas.