On This Day — 9 June

2010

At least 40 people are killed and more than 70 wounded in a suicide bombing at a wedding party in Arghandab, Kandahar.

Nadahan wedding bombing

2009

An explosion kills 17 people and injures at least 46 at a hotel in Peshawar, Pakistan.

Pearl Continental hotel bombing

2008

Two bombs explode at a train station near Algiers, Algeria, killing at least 13 people.

2008 Beni Amrane bombings

1999

Kosovo War: The Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and NATO sign a peace treaty.

Kosovo War

1995

Ansett New Zealand Flight 703 crashes into the Tararua Range during approach to Palmerston North Airport on the North Island of New Zealand, killing four.

Ansett New Zealand Flight 703

1979

The Ghost Train fire at Luna Park Sydney, Australia, kills seven.

Sydney Ghost Train fire

1978

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints opens its priesthood to "all worthy men", ending a 148-year-old policy of excluding black men.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

1972

Severe rainfall causes a dam in the Black Hills of South Dakota to burst, creating a flood that kills 238 people and causes $160 million in damage.

Black Hills

1968

U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson declares a national day of mourning following the assassination of Senator Robert F. Kennedy.

Lyndon B. Johnson

1967

Six-Day War: Israel captures the Golan Heights from Syria.

Six-Day War

1965

The civilian Prime Minister of South Vietnam, Phan Huy Quát, resigns after being unable to work with a junta led by Nguyễn Cao Kỳ.

South Vietnam

1965

Vietnam War: The Viet Cong commences combat with the Army of the Republic of Vietnam in the Battle of Đồng Xoài, one of the largest battles in the war.

Vietnam War

1959

The USS George Washington is launched. It is the first nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine.

USS George Washington (SSBN-598)

1958

Aeroflot Flight 105 crashes on approach to Magdan-13 Airport, killing 24.

Aeroflot Flight 105

1957

First ascent of Broad Peak by Fritz Wintersteller, Marcus Schmuck, Kurt Diemberger, and Hermann Buhl.

Broad Peak

1954

Joseph N. Welch, special counsel for the United States Army, lashes out at Senator Joseph McCarthy during the Army–McCarthy hearings, giving McCarthy the famous rebuke, "You've done enough. Have you no sense of decency, sir, at long last? Have you left no sense of decency?"

Joseph N. Welch

1953

The Flint–Worcester tornado outbreak sequence kills 94 people in Massachusetts.

Tornado outbreak of June 7–9, 1953

1948

Foundation of the International Council on Archives under the auspices of the UNESCO.

International Council on Archives

1944

World War II: Ninety-nine civilians are hanged from lampposts and balconies by German troops in Tulle, France, in reprisal for maquisards attacks.

World War II

1944

World War II: The Soviet Union invades East Karelia and the previously Finnish part of Karelia, occupied by Finland since 1941.

Soviet Union

1930

A Chicago Tribune reporter, Jake Lingle, is killed during rush hour at the Illinois Central train station by Leo Vincent Brothers, allegedly over a $100,000 gambling debt owed to Al Capone.

Chicago Tribune

1928

Charles Kingsford Smith completes the first trans-Pacific flight in a Fokker Trimotor monoplane, the Southern Cross.

Charles Kingsford Smith

1923

Bulgaria's military takes over the government in a coup.

Bulgaria

1922

Åland's Regional Assembly convened for its first plenary session in Mariehamn, Åland; today, the day is celebrated as Self-Government Day of Åland.

Åland

1915

William Jennings Bryan resigns as Woodrow Wilson's Secretary of State over a disagreement regarding the United States' handling of the sinking of the RMS Lusitania.

William Jennings Bryan

1900

Indian nationalist Birsa Munda dies of cholera in a British prison.

Birsa Munda

1885

Treaty of Tientsin is signed to end the Sino-French War, with China eventually giving up Tonkin and Annam – most of present-day Vietnam – to France.

Treaty of Tianjin (1885)

1863

American Civil War: The Battle of Brandy Station in Virginia, the largest cavalry battle on American soil, ends Confederate cavalry dominance in the eastern theater.

Battle of Brandy Station

1862

American Civil War: Stonewall Jackson concludes his successful Shenandoah Valley Campaign with a victory in the Battle of Port Republic.

American Civil War

1856

Five hundred Mormons leave Iowa City, Iowa for the Mormon Trail.

Mormon handcart pioneers

1815

End of the Congress of Vienna: The new European political situation is set.

Congress of Vienna

1798

Irish Rebellion of 1798: Battles of Arklow and Saintfield.

Irish Rebellion of 1798

1772

The British schooner Gaspee is burned in Narragansett Bay, Rhode Island.

Kingdom of Great Britain

1732

James Oglethorpe is granted a royal charter for the colony of the future U.S. state of Georgia.

James Oglethorpe

1534

Jacques Cartier is the first European to describe and map the Saint Lawrence River.

Jacques Cartier

1523

The Parisian Faculty of Theology fines Simon de Colines for publishing the Biblical commentary Commentarii initiatorii in quatuor Evangelia by Jacques Lefèvre d'Étaples.

Simon de Colines

1311

Duccio's Maestà, a seminal artwork of the early Italian Renaissance, is unveiled and installed in Siena Cathedral in Siena, Italy.

Duccio

747

Abbasid Revolution: Abu Muslim Khorasani begins an open revolt against Umayyad rule, which is carried out under the sign of the Black Standard.

AD 747

721

Odo of Aquitaine defeats the Moors in the Battle of Toulouse.

Odo the Great

68

Nero dies by suicide after quoting Vergil's Aeneid, thus ending the Julio-Claudian dynasty and starting the civil war known as the Year of the Four Emperors.

AD 68

53

The Roman emperor Nero marries Claudia Octavia.

AD 53

-411

The Athenian coup succeeds, forming a short-lived oligarchy.

Athenian coup of 411 BC