February 9Birthdays & History

On this day: February 9 in history

Oldest first. Tap a year to see it on the World Chronicle timeline.

1. 474Zeno is crowned as co-emperor of the Eastern Roman Empire.Europe
2. 1003Boleslaus III is restored to authority with armed support from Bolesław I the Brave of Poland.Europe
3. 1098A First Crusade army led by Bohemond of Taranto wins a major battle against the Seljuq emir Ridwan of Aleppo during the siege of Antioch.Middle East
4. 1539The first recorded race is held on Chester Racecourse, known as the Roodee.Europe
5. 1555Bishop of Gloucester John Hooper is burned at the stake.Europe
6. 1621Gregory XV becomes Pope, the last Pope elected by acclamation.Europe
7. 1654The Capture of Fort Rocher takes place during the Anglo-Spanish War.Europe
8. 1775American Revolutionary War: The British Parliament declares Massachusetts in rebellion.North AmericaEurope
9. 1778Rhode Island becomes the fourth US state to ratify the Articles of Confederation.North America
10. 1822Haiti attacks the newly established Dominican Republic on the other side of the island of Hispaniola.Latin America
11. 1825After 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.North America
12. 1849The new Roman Republic is declared.Europe
13. 1861American Civil War: Jefferson Davis is elected the Provisional President of the Confederate States of America by the Provisional Confederate Congress at Montgomery, Alabama.North America
14. 1870US president Ulysses S. Grant signs a joint resolution of Congress establishing the U.S. Weather Bureau.North America
15. 1889US president Grover Cleveland signs a bill elevating the United States Department of Agriculture to a Cabinet-level agency.North America
16. 1893Verdi's last opera, Falstaff, premieres at La Scala, Milan.Europe
17. 1895William G. Morgan creates a game called Mintonette, which soon comes to be referred to as volleyball.North America
18. 1900The Davis Cup competition is established.North America
19. 1904Russo-Japanese War: Battle of Port Arthur concludes.Asia
20. 1907The Mud March is the first large procession organised by the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies (NUWSS).Europe
21. 1913A 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.North AmericaLatin America
22. 1920Under the terms of the Svalbard Treaty, international diplomacy recognizes Norwegian sovereignty over Arctic archipelago Svalbard, and designates it as demilitarized.Europe
23. 1922Brazil becomes a member of the Berne Convention copyright treaty.Latin America
24. 1929Members of the Việt Nam Quốc Dân Đảng assassinate the labor recruiter Bazin, prompting a crackdown by French colonial authorities.Europe
25. 1932Prohibition law is abolished in Finland after a national referendum, where 70% voted for a repeal of the law.Europe
26. 1934The Balkan Entente is formed between Greece, Romania, Yugoslavia, and Turkey.EuropeMiddle East
27. 1941World War II: Bombing of Genoa: The Cathedral of San Lorenzo in Genoa, Italy, is struck by a bomb which fails to detonate.Europe
28. 1942Year-round Daylight saving time (aka War Time) is reinstated in the United States as a wartime measure to help conserve energy resources.North America
29. 1943World War II: Pacific War: Allied authorities declare Guadalcanal secure after Imperial Japan evacuates its remaining forces from the island, ending the Battle of Guadalcanal.OceaniaAsia
30. 1945World 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.Europe
31. 1945World War II: A force of Allied aircraft unsuccessfully attack a German destroyer in Førdefjorden, Norway.Europe
32. 1950Second Red Scare: US Senator Joseph McCarthy accuses the United States Department of State of being filled with Communists.North America
33. 1951Korean 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.Asia
34. 1959The R-7 Semyorka, the first intercontinental ballistic missile, becomes operational at Plesetsk, USSR.Europe
35. 1961The 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.Europe
36. 1964The Beatles make their first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show, performing before a record-setting audience of 73 million viewers across the United States.North America
37. 1965Vietnam 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.AsiaNorth America
38. 1971Satchel Paige becomes the first Negro league player to be voted into the USA's Baseball Hall of Fame.North America
39. 1971The 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.North America
40. 1971Apollo program: Apollo 14 returns to Earth after the third human Moon landing.North America
41. 1975The Soyuz 17 Soviet spacecraft returns to Earth.Europe
42. 1976Aeroflot Flight 3739, a Tupolev Tu-104, crashes during takeoff from Irkutsk Airport, killing 24.Europe
43. 1978The Budd Company unveils its first SPV-2000 self-propelled railcar in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.North America
44. 1982Japan Air Lines Flight 350 crashes near Haneda Airport in an attempted pilot mass murder-suicide, killing 24 of the 174 people on board.Asia
45. 1986Halley's Comet last appeared in the inner Solar System.World
46. 1987Civil unrest broke out across Palestine.Middle East
47. 1991Dissolution of the Soviet Union: Voters in Lithuania vote for independence from the Soviet Union.Europe
48. 1996Copernicium is discovered by Sigurd Hofmann, Victor Ninov et al.Europe
49. 1996The 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.Europe
50. 2001The 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.AsiaNorth America
51. 2016Two passenger trains collide in the German town of Bad Aibling in the state of Bavaria. Twelve people die and 85 others are injured.Europe
52. 2018Winter Olympics: Opening ceremony is performed in Pyeongchang County in South Korea.Asia
53. 2020Salvadoran 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.Latin America
54. 2021Second impeachment trial of Donald Trump begins.North America
55. 2025The 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.Europe

Source: Wikipedia "February 9" / CC BY-SA 4.0