On This Day — 9 April

2021

Burmese military and security forces commit the Bago massacre, during which at least 82 civilians are killed.

Tatmadaw

2021

Soyuz MS-18 is launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, carrying three members of the Expedition 64 crew to the International Space Station.

Soyuz MS-18

2020

Soyuz MS-16 is launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, carrying the Expedition 62/63 crew to the International Space Station.

Soyuz MS-16

2017

The Palm Sunday church bombings at Coptic churches in Tanta and Alexandria, Egypt, take place.

Palm Sunday church bombings

2014

A student stabs 20 people at Franklin Regional High School in Murrysville, Pennsylvania.

Franklin Regional High School stabbing

2013

A 6.1–magnitude earthquake strikes Iran killing 32 people and injuring over 850 people.

2013 Bushehr earthquake

2013

At least 13 people are killed and another three injured after a man goes on a spree shooting in the Serbian village of Velika Ivanča.

Velika Ivanča shooting

2011

Six people and the perpetrator are killed and 17 injured in a mass shooting at a shopping mall in Alphen aan den Rijn, Netherlands.

Alphen aan den Rijn shopping mall shooting

2009

In Tbilisi, Georgia, up to 60,000 people protest against the government of Mikheil Saakashvili.

Tbilisi

2003

Iraq War: Baghdad falls to American forces.

Iraq War

1994

Space Shuttle program: Space Shuttle Endeavour is launched on STS-59.

Space Shuttle program

1992

A U.S. Federal Court finds former Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega guilty of drug and racketeering charges. He is sentenced to 30 years in prison.

Federal judiciary of the United States

1991

Georgia declares independence from the Soviet Union.

Georgia (country)

1990

An IRA bombing in County Down, Northern Ireland, kills three members of the UDR.

Irish Republican Army

1990

The Sahtu Dene and Metis Comprehensive Land Claim Agreement is signed for 180,000 square kilometres (69,000 mi2) in the Mackenzie Valley of the western Arctic.

Sahtu Dene and Metis Comprehensive Land Claim Agreement

1990

An Embraer EMB 120 Brasilia collides in mid-air with a Cessna 172 over Gadsden, Alabama, killing both of the Cessna's occupants.

Embraer EMB 120 Brasilia

1989

Tbilisi massacre: An anti-Soviet peaceful demonstration and hunger strike in Tbilisi, demanding restoration of Georgian independence, is dispersed by the Soviet Army, resulting in 20 deaths and hundreds of injuries.

April 9 tragedy

1981

The U.S. Navy nuclear submarine USS George Washington accidentally collides with the Nissho Maru, a Japanese cargo ship, sinking it and killing two Japanese sailors.

USS George Washington (SSBN-598)

1980

The Iraqi regime of Saddam Hussein kills philosopher Muhammad Baqir al-Sadr and his sister Bint al-Huda after three days of torture.

Iraq

1969

The first British-built Concorde 002 makes its maiden flight from Filton to RAF Fairford with Brian Trubshaw as the test pilot.

Concorde

1967

The first Boeing 737 (a 100 series) makes its maiden flight.

Boeing 737

1960

Dr. Hendrik Verwoerd, Prime Minister of South Africa and architect of apartheid, narrowly survives an assassination attempt by a white farmer, David Pratt in Johannesburg.

Hendrik Verwoerd

1959

Project Mercury: NASA announces the selection of the United States' first seven astronauts, whom the news media quickly dub the "Mercury Seven".

Project Mercury

1957

The Suez Canal in Egypt is cleared and opens to shipping following the Suez Crisis.

Suez Canal

1952

Hugo Ballivián's government is overthrown by the Bolivian National Revolution, starting a period of agrarian reform, universal suffrage and the nationalization of tin mines

Hugo Ballivián

1952

Japan Air Lines Flight 301 crashes into Mount Mihara, Izu Ōshima, Japan, killing 37.

Japan Air Lines Flight 301

1948

Jorge Eliécer Gaitán's assassination provokes a violent riot in Bogotá (the Bogotazo), and a further ten years of violence in Colombia.

Jorge Eliécer Gaitán

1948

Fighters from the Irgun and Lehi Zionist terror groups attacked Deir Yassin near Jerusalem, killing over 100 Palestinians.

Irgun

1947

The Glazier–Higgins–Woodward tornadoes kill 181 and injure 970 in Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas.

Tornado outbreak of April 9–11, 1947

1947

The Journey of Reconciliation, the first interracial Freedom Ride begins through the upper South in violation of Jim Crow laws. The riders wanted enforcement of the United States Supreme Court's 1946 Irene Morgan decision that banned racial segregation in interstate travel.

Journey of Reconciliation

1947

United Nations Security Council Resolution 22 relating to Corfu Channel incident is adopted.

United Nations Security Council Resolution 22

1946

About 500 postal workers in Tel Aviv and Jaffa went on strike.

Tel Aviv

1945

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Lutheran pastor and anti-Nazi dissident, is executed by the Nazi regime.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer

1945

World War II: The German heavy cruiser Admiral Scheer is sunk by the Royal Air Force.

German cruiser Admiral Scheer

1945

World War II: The Battle of Königsberg, in East Prussia, ends.

Battle of Königsberg

1945

The United States Atomic Energy Commission is formed.

United States Atomic Energy Commission

1942

World War II: The Battle of Bataan ends and the Bataan Death March begins.

Battle of Bataan

1942

World War II: An Indian Ocean raid by Japan's 1st Air Fleet sinks the British aircraft carrier HMS Hermes and the Australian destroyer HMAS Vampire.

Indian Ocean raid

1940

World War II: Operation Weserübung: Germany invades Denmark and Norway.

World War II

1940

Vidkun Quisling seizes power in Norway.

Vidkun Quisling

1939

African-American singer Marian Anderson gives a concert at the Lincoln Memorial after being denied the use of Constitution Hall by the Daughters of the American Revolution.

Marian Anderson

1937

The Kamikaze arrives at Croydon Airport in London. It is the first Japanese-built aircraft to fly to Europe.

Kamikaze (1937 aircraft)

1918

World War I: The Battle of the Lys: The Portuguese Expeditionary Corps is crushed by the German forces during what is called the Spring Offensive on the Belgian region of Flanders.

Battle of the Lys (1918)

1917

World War I: The Battle of Arras: The battle begins with Canadian Corps executing a massive assault on Vimy Ridge.

World War I

1909

The U.S. Congress passes the Payne–Aldrich Tariff Act.

United States Congress

1865

American Civil War: Robert E. Lee surrenders the Army of Northern Virginia (26,765 troops) to Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House, Virginia, effectively ending the war.

American Civil War

1860

On his phonautograph machine, Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville makes the first known recording of an audible human voice.

Phonautograph

1784

The Treaty of Paris, ratified by the United States Congress on January 14, 1784, is ratified by King George III of the Kingdom of Great Britain, ending the American Revolutionary War. Copies of the ratified documents are exchanged on May 12, 1784.

Treaty of Paris (1783)

1682

Robert Cavelier de La Salle discovers the mouth of the Mississippi River, claims it for France and names it Louisiana.

René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle

1609

Eighty Years' War: Spain and the Dutch Republic sign the Treaty of Antwerp to initiate twelve years of truce.

Eighty Years' War

1609

Philip III of Spain issues the decree of the "Expulsion of the Moriscos".

Philip III of Spain

1511

Resettled Shiite Muslims rise up in the Şahkulu rebellion under the leadership of Şahkulu against the Ottoman Empire.

Şahkulu rebellion

1454

The Treaty of Lodi is signed, establishing a balance of power among northern Italian city-states for almost 50 years.

Treaty of Lodi

1438

The Council of Ferrara begins with its first session in presence of the Patriarch of Constantinople, representatives of the Patriarchal Sees of Antioch, Alexandria and Jerusalem and Pope Eugene IV presiding.

Council of Florence

1388

Despite being outnumbered 16:1, forces of the Old Swiss Confederacy are victorious over the Archduchy of Austria in the Battle of Näfels.

Old Swiss Confederacy

1387

The Byzantine city of Thessalonike surrenders to the Ottomans, though rule reverts back to the Byzantines after the battle of Ankara.

Byzantine Empire

1288

Mongol invasions of Vietnam: Yuan forces are defeated by Trần forces in the Battle of Bach Dang in present-day northern Vietnam.

Mongol invasions of Vietnam

1241

Battle of Liegnitz: Mongol forces defeat the Polish and German armies.

Battle of Legnica

537

Siege of Rome: The Byzantine general Belisarius receives his promised reinforcements, 1,600 cavalry, mostly of Hunnic or Slavic origin and expert bowmen. Despite shortages, he starts raids against the Gothic camps and Vitiges but is forced into a stalemate.

Siege of Rome (537–538)

475

Byzantine Emperor Basiliscus issues a circular letter (Enkyklikon) to the bishops of his empire, supporting the Monophysite christological position.

List of Byzantine emperors

193

The distinguished soldier Septimius Severus is proclaimed emperor by the army in Illyricum.

Septimius Severus