August 9 - Events

Events

• 586 BC – Solomon's Temple is totally destroyed by the Babylonians under King Nebuchadnezzar.
• 48 BC – Caesar's Civil War: Battle of Pharsalus – Julius Caesar decisively defeats Pompey at Pharsalus and Pompey flees to Egypt.
• 70 – Jewish revolts against the Romans caused the Roman General Titus, later who became Caesar, to besiege the city. The second Temple was completely destroyed by fire on the 9th of Av, 70 AD.
• 378 – Gothic War: Battle of Adrianople – A large Roman army led by Emperor Valens is defeated by the Visigoths in present-day Turkey. Valens is killed along with over half of his army.
• 681 – Bulgaria is founded as a Khanate on the south bank of the Danube after defeating the Byzantine armies of Emperor Constantine IV south of the Danube delta.
• 1173 – Construction of the campanile of the cathedral of Pisa (now known as the Leaning Tower of Pisa) begins; it will take two centuries to complete.
• 1329 – The Roman Catholic Diocese of Quilon, the first Indian Christian Diocese, is erected by Pope John XXII; the French-born Jordanus is appointed the first Bishop.
• 1483 – Opening of the Sistine Chapel in Rome with the celebration of a Mass.
• 1810 – Napoleon I annexes two departments of the Kingdom of Westphalia into the French Empire.
• 1814 – American Indian Wars: the Creek sign the Treaty of Fort Jackson, giving up huge parts of Alabama and Georgia.
• 1842 – The Webster–Ashburton Treaty is signed, establishing the Canada–United States border east of the Rocky Mountains.
• 1854 – Henry David Thoreau publishes Walden.
• 1862 – American Civil War: Battle of Cedar Mountain – At Cedar Mountain, Virginia, Confederate General Stonewall Jackson narrowly defeats Union forces under General John Pope.
• 1877 – American Indian Wars: Battle of the Big Hole – A small band of Nez Percé Indians clash with the United States Army
• 1892 – Thomas Edison receives a patent for a two-way telegraph.
• 1902 – Edward VII and Alexandra of Denmark are crowned King and Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.
• 1907 – The first Boy Scout encampment concludes at Brownsea Island in southern England, United Kingdom.
• 1918 – World War I: The Flight over Vienna mission, when a dozen Italian Servizio Aeronautico single-engined military aircraft drop leaflets over the main capital of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, demanding that both Austrian hostilities against Italy be ended, and for Austria to end its alliance with the German Empire.
• 1925 – A train robbery takes place in Kakori, near Lucknow, India
• 1930 – Betty Boop makes her cartoon debut in Dizzy Dishes.
• 1936 – Summer Olympic Games: Games of the XI Olympiad – Jesse Owens wins his fourth gold medal at the games becoming the first American to win four medals in one Olympiad.
• 1942 – Indian leader Mohanda Gandhi is arrested in Bombay by British forces, launching the Quit India Movement.
• 1942 – World War II: Battle of Savo Island – Allied naval forces protecting their amphibious forces during the initial stages of the Battle of Guadalcanal are surprised and defeated by an Imperial Japanese Navy cruiser force.
• 1944 – The United States Forest Service and the Wartime Advertising Council release posters featuring Smokey Bear for the first time.
• 1944 – Continuation War: The Vyborg–Petrozavodsk Offensive, the largest offensive launched by Soviet Union against Finland during World War II, ends to a strategic stalemate. Both Finnish and Soviet troops at the Finnish front dug to defensive positions, and the front remains stable until the end of the war.
• 1945 – World War II: Nagasaki, Japan is devastated when an atomic bomb, Fat Man, is dropped by the United States B-29 Bockscar. 39,000 people are killed outright.
• 1945 – World War II: The Soviet Union declares war on Japan and begins the Manchurian Strategic Offensive Operation.
• 1965 – Singapore is expelled from Malaysia and becomes the first and only country to date to gain independence unwillingly.
• 1965 – A fire at a Titan missile base near Searcy, Arkansas kills 53 construction workers.
• 1969 – Followers led by Charles Manson murder pregnant actress Sharon Tate (wife of Roman Polanski), coffee heiress Abigail Folger, Polish actor Wojciech Frykowski, men's hairstylist Jay Sebring and recent high-school graduate Steven Parent.
• 1971 – The Troubles: The British security forces in Northern Ireland launch Operation Demetrius. Hundreds of people are arrested and interned, thousands are displaced, and 24 are killed in the violence that follows. Its introduction, and the abuse of those interned, leads to numerous protests.
• 1974 – As a direct result of the Watergate scandal, Richard Nixon becomes the first President of the United States to resign from office. His Vice President, Gerald Ford, becomes president.
• 1993 – The Liberal Democratic Party of Japan loses a 38-year hold on national leadership.
• 1995 – In a first of its over-hyped kind, Netscape went public in a historic IPO. This set precedent for the dot-com technology bubble for the next 5 years.
• 2006 – At least 21 suspected terrorists are arrested in the 2006 transatlantic aircraft plot that happened in the United Kingdom. The arrests are made in London, Birmingham, and High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, in an overnight operation.