On This Day — 9 October
2000s
2024
Hurricane Milton makes landfall in Siesta Key, Florida, as a Category 3 hurricane, causing US$34.3 billion in damage only two weeks after Hurricane Helene impacted the state.
Hurricane Milton
2019
Turkey begins its military offensive in north-eastern Syria.
2019 Turkish offensive into northeastern Syria
2016
The Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army launches its first attack on Myanmar security forces along the Bangladesh–Myanmar border.
Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army
2012
Pakistani Taliban attempt to assassinate outspoken schoolgirl Malala Yousafzai.
Malala Yousafzai
2009
First lunar impact of NASA's Lunar Precursor Robotic Program.
Lunar Precursor Robotic Program
2007
The Dow Jones Industrial Average reaches its all-time high of 14,164 points before rapidly declining due to the 2008 financial crisis.
Dow Jones Industrial Average
2006
North Korea conducts its first nuclear test.
2006 North Korean nuclear test
1900s
1995
An Amtrak Sunset Limited train is derailed by saboteurs near Palo Verde, Arizona.
Amtrak
1992
The Peekskill meteorite, a 27.7 pounds (12.6 kg) meteorite crashed into a parked car in Peekskill, New York
Peekskill meteorite
1986
The Phantom of the Opera, eventually the second longest running musical in London, opens at Her Majesty's Theatre.
The Phantom of the Opera (1986 musical)
1986
Fox Broadcasting Company (FBC) launches as the fourth US television network.
Fox Broadcasting Company
1984
The popular children's television show Thomas The Tank Engine & Friends, based on The Railway Series by the Reverend Wilbert Awdry, premieres on ITV.
Thomas & Friends
1983
South Korean President Chun Doo-hwan survives an assassination attempt in Rangoon, Burma, but the blast kills 21 and injures 17 others.
Chun Doo-hwan
1981
President François Mitterrand abolishes capital punishment in France.
François Mitterrand
1980
Pope John Paul II greets the Dalai Lama during a private audience in Vatican City.
Pope John Paul II
1970
The Khmer Republic is proclaimed in Cambodia.
Khmer Republic
1969
In Chicago, the National Guard is called in as demonstrations continue over the trial of the "Chicago Eight".
Chicago
1967
A day after his capture, Ernesto "Che" Guevara is executed for attempting to incite a revolution in Bolivia.
Che Guevara
1966
Vietnam War: the Republic of Korea Army commits the Binh Tai Massacre.
Vietnam War
1963
In Italy, a large landslide causes a giant wave to overtop the Vajont Dam, killing over 2,000.
Vajont Dam
1962
Uganda becomes an independent Commonwealth realm.
Uganda
1950
The Goyang Geumjeong Cave massacre in Korea begins.
Goyang Geumjeong Cave massacre
1942
Australia's Statute of Westminster Adoption Act 1942 receives royal assent.
Statute of Westminster Adoption Act 1942
1941
A coup in Panama declares Ricardo Adolfo de la Guardia Arango the new president.
Panama
1937
Murder of 9 Catholic priests in Zhengding, China, who protected the local population from the advancing Japanese army.
Zhengding Missionary Murder
1936
Boulder Dam (later Hoover Dam) begins to generate electricity and transmit it to Los Angeles.
Hoover Dam
1934
An Ustashe assassin kills King Alexander I of Yugoslavia and Louis Barthou, Foreign Minister of France, in Marseille.
Ustaše
1919
The Cincinnati Reds win the World Series, resulting in the Black Sox Scandal.
Cincinnati Reds
1918
The Finnish Parliament elects Prince Frederick Charles of Hesse as King of Finland, but he never accedes to the throne due to Germany's defeat in World War I.
Parliament of Finland
1914
World War I: The Siege of Antwerp comes to an end.
World War I
1913
The steamship SS Volturno catches fire in the mid-Atlantic.
SS Volturno (1906)
1911
An accidental bomb explosion triggers the Wuchang Uprising against the Qing dynasty, beginning the Xinhai Revolution.
Wuchang Uprising
1900
The Cook Islands become a territory of the United Kingdom.
Cook Islands
1800s
1874
The Universal Postal Union is created by the Treaty of Bern.
Universal Postal Union
1873
A meeting at the U.S. Naval Academy establishes the U.S. Naval Institute.
United States Naval Institute
1864
American Civil War: Union cavalrymen defeat Confederate forces at Toms Brook, Virginia during Sheridan's Shenandoah Valley campaign.
Battle of Tom's Brook
1861
American Civil War: Union troops repel a Confederate attempt to capture Fort Pickens in the Battle of Santa Rosa Island.
American Civil War
1847
Slavery is abolished in the Swedish colony of Saint Barthélemy.
Swedish colony of Saint Barthélemy
1834
Opening of the Dublin and Kingstown Railway, the first public railway on the island of Ireland.
Dublin and Kingstown Railway
1831
Ioannis Kapodistrias, the first head of state of independent Greece, is assassinated.
Ioannis Kapodistrias
1825
Restauration arrives in New York Harbor from Norway, the first organized immigration from Norway to the United States.
Restauration (ship)
1820
Guayaquil declares independence from Spain.
Guayaquil
1812
War of 1812: In a naval engagement on Lake Erie, American forces capture two British ships: HMS Detroit and HMS Caledonia.
War of 1812
1806
Prussia begins the War of the Fourth Coalition against France.
Kingdom of Prussia
1804
Hobart, capital of Tasmania, is founded.
Hobart
Before 1800
1799
HMS Lutine sinks with the loss of 240 men and a cargo worth £1,200,000.
HMS Lutine (1793)
1790
A severe earthquake in northern Algeria causes severe damage and a tsunami in the Mediterranean Sea and kills three thousand.
1790 Oran earthquake
1779
American Revolutionary War: A combined Franco-American assault on British defenses during the Siege of Savannah is repulsed with heavy casualties.
American Revolutionary War
1760
Seven Years' War: Russian and Austrian troops briefly occupy Berlin.
Seven Years' War
1740
Dutch colonists and Javanese natives begin a massacre of the ethnic Chinese population in Batavia, eventually killing at least 10,000.
1740 Batavia massacre
1708
Peter the Great defeats the Swedes at the Battle of Lesnaya.
Peter the Great
1701
The Collegiate School of Connecticut (later renamed Yale University) is chartered in Old Saybrook, Connecticut.
Yale University
1635
Roger Williams is banished from the Massachusetts Bay Colony after religious and policy disagreements.
Roger Williams
1604
Kepler's Supernova is the most recent supernova to be observed within the Milky Way.
Kepler's Supernova
1594
Troops of the Portuguese Empire are defeated on Sri Lanka, bringing an end to the Campaign of Danture.
Portuguese Empire
1410
The first known mention of the Prague astronomical clock.
Prague astronomical clock
1238
James I of Aragon founds the Kingdom of Valencia.
James I of Aragon
768
Carloman I and Charlemagne are crowned kings of the Franks.
Carloman I