July 9 - Events

Events

• 455 – Roman military commander Avitus is proclaimed Emperor of the Western Roman Empire.
• 1357 – Emperor Charles IV assists in laying the foundation stone of Charles Bridge in Prague.
• 1540 – King Henry VIII of England annuls his marriage to his fourth wife, Anne of Cleves.
• 1541 – Estevão da Gama departs Massawa, leaving behind 400 matchlock men and 150 slaves under his brother Christovão da Gama, with orders to help the Emperor of Ethiopia defeat Ahmad ibn Ibrihim al-Ghazi who had invaded his Empire.
• 1755 – French and Indian War: Braddock Expedition – British troops and colonial militiamen are ambushed and suffer a devastating defeat by French and Native American forces.
• 1789 – In Versailles, the National Assembly reconstitutes itself as the National Constituent Assembly and begins preparations for a French constitution.
• 1790 – Russo-Swedish War: Second Battle of Svensksund – in the Baltic Sea, the Swedish Navy captures one third of the Russian fleet.
• 1793 – The Act Against Slavery is passed in Upper Canada and the importation of slaves into Lower Canada is prohibited.
• 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.
• 1815 – Talleyrand becomes Prime Minister of France.
• 1816 – Argentina declares independence from Spain.
• 1846 – The territory of the District of Columbia south of the Potomac River (39 mi² or about 100 km²) is returned to Virginia through an Act of Congress.
• 1850 – U.S. President Zachary Taylor dies and Millard Fillmore becomes the 13th President of the United States.
• 1850 – The Persian prophet Báb is executed in Tabriz, Persia.
• 1863 – American Civil War: the Siege of Port Hudson ends.
• 1867 – An unsuccessful expedition led by E.D. Young sets out to search for Dr David Livingstone (Scottish missionary and explorer).
• 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.
• 1900 – Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom gives royal assent to an Act creating the Commonwealth of Australia thus uniting separate colonies on the continent under one federal government.
• 1918 – Great train wreck of 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
• 1943 – World War II: Operation Husky – Allied forces perform an amphibious invasion of Sicily.
• 1944 – World War II: Battle of Normandy – British and Canadian forces capture Caen, France.
• 1944 – World War II: Battle of Saipan – American forces take Saipan in the Mariana Islands.
• 1944 – World War II: Battle of Tali-Ihantala – Finland wins the Battle of Tali-Ihantala, the largest battle ever fought in northern Europe. TheRed Army withdraws its troops from Ihantala and digs into defensive position, thus ending the Vyborg–Petrozavodsk Offensive.
• 1947 – The engagement of Britain's Princess Elizabeth to Lt. Philip Mountbatten is announced.
• 1948 – Pakistan issues its first set of Postage stamps, bearing images of the Constituent Assembly, the Jinnah International Airport(Quaid-e-Azam International Airport), and the Shahi Fort.
• 1955 – The Russell-Einstein Manifesto is released by Bertrand Russell in London.
• 1958 – Lituya Bay is hit by a mega-tsunami. The wave is recorded at 524 meters high, the largest in recorded history.
• 1962 – The Starfish Prime high-altitude nuclear test is conducted by the United States of America.
• 1962 – Andy Warhol's Campbell's Soup Cans exhibition opens at the Ferus Gallery in Los Angeles.
• 1979 – A car bomb destroys a Renault motor car owned by famed "Nazi hunters" Serge and Beate Klarsfeld at their home in France. A note purportedly from ODESSA claims responsibility.
• 1982 – Pan Am Flight 759 crashes in Kenner, Louisiana killing all 145 people on board and eight others on the ground.
• 1986 – The New Zealand Parliament passes the Homosexual Law Reform Act legalising homosexuality in New Zealand.
• 1989 – Two bombs explode in Mecca killing one pilgrim and wounding 16 others.
• 1991 – South Africa is readmitted into the Olympic movement after 30 years of exclusion.
• 1995 – The Navaly church bombing is carried out by the Sri Lankan 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.
• 2002 – The African Union is established in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Its first chairman is Thabo Mbeki, President of South Africa.
• 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.