Events on September 9 55
Year 337
Constantine II, Constantius II, and Constans succeed their father Constantine I as co-emperors. The Roman Empire is divided between the three Augusti.
Year 533
A Byzantine army of 15,000 men under Belisarius lands at Caput Vada (modern Tunisia) and marches to Carthage.
Year 1087
William Rufus becomes King of England, taking the title William II, (reigned until 1100).
Year 1141
Yelü Dashi, the Liao dynasty general who founded the Qara Khitai, defeats the Seljuq and Kara-Khanid forces at the Battle of Qatwan.
Year 1284
German warlord Trunda makes a campaign to Karelia to tax karelians but is defeated by Novgorod and the men from Staraya Ladoga.
Year 1379
Treaty of Neuberg, splitting the Austrian Habsburg lands between the Habsburg dukes Albert III and Leopold III.
Year 1488
Anne becomes sovereign Duchess of Brittany, becoming a central figure in the struggle for influence that leads to the union of Brittany and France.
Year 1493
Battle of Krbava Field, a decisive defeat of Croats in Croatian struggle against the invasion by the Ottoman Empire.
Year 1513
James IV of Scotland is defeated and dies in the Battle of Flodden, ending Scotland's involvement in the War of the League of Cambrai.
Year 1543
Mary Stuart, at nine months old, is crowned "Queen of Scots" in the central Scottish town of Stirling.
Year 1561
The ultimately unsuccessful Colloquy of Poissy opens in an effort to reconcile French Catholics and Protestants.
Year 1739
Stono Rebellion, the largest slave uprising in Britain's mainland North American colonies prior to the American Revolution, erupts near Charleston, South Carolina.
Year 1776
The Continental Congress officially names its union of states the United States.
Year 1791
Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States, is named after President George Washington.
Year 1850
The Compromise of 1850 transfers a third of Texas's claimed territory (now parts of Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Wyoming) to federal control in return for the U.S. federal government assuming $10 million of Texas's pre-annexation debt.
Year 1855
Crimean War: The Siege of Sevastopol comes to an end when Russian forces abandon the city.
Year 1914
World War I: The creation of the Canadian Automobile Machine Gun Brigade, the first fully mechanized unit in the British Army.
Year 1922
The Greco-Turkish War effectively ends with Turkish victory over the Greeks in Smyrna.
Year 1923
Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the founder of the Republic of Turkey, founds the Republican People's Party.
Year 1936
The crews of Portuguese Navy frigate NRP Afonso de Albuquerque and destroyer Dão mutinied against the Salazar dictatorship's support of General Franco's coup and declared their solidarity with the Spanish Republic.
Year 1939
World War II: The Battle of Hel begins, the longest-defended pocket of Polish Army resistance during the German invasion of Poland.
Year 1939
Burmese national hero U Ottama dies in prison after a hunger strike to protest Britain's colonial government.
Year 1944
World War II: The Fatherland Front takes power in Bulgaria through a military coup in the capital and armed rebellion in the country. A new pro-Soviet government is established.
Year 1947
First case of a computer bug being found: A moth lodges in a relay of a Harvard Mark II computer at Harvard University.
Year 1948
Kim Il-sung declares the establishment of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
Year 1954
The 6.7 Mw Chlef earthquake shakes northern Algeria with a maximum Mercalli intensity of XI (Extreme). At least 1,243 people were killed and 5,000 were injured.
Year 1965
Hurricane Betsy makes its second landfall near New Orleans, leaving 76 dead and $1.42 billion ($10-12 billion in 2005 dollars) in damages, becoming the first hurricane to cause over $1 billion in unadjusted damage.
Year 1966
The National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act is signed into law by U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson.
Year 1969
In Canada, the Official Languages Act comes into force, making French equal to English throughout the Federal government.
Year 1970
A British airliner is hijacked by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and flown to Dawson's Field in Jordan.
Year 1971
The four-day Attica Prison riot begins, eventually resulting in 39 dead, most killed by state troopers retaking the prison.
Year 1972
In Kentucky's Mammoth Cave National Park, a Cave Research Foundation exploration and mapping team discovers a link between the Mammoth and Flint Ridge cave systems, making it the longest known cave passageway in the world.
Year 1990
Batticaloa massacre: Massacre of 184 Tamil civilians by the Sri Lankan Army in Batticaloa District.
Year 1993
The Palestine Liberation Organization officially recognizes Israel as a legitimate state.
Year 2001
Ahmad Shah Massoud, leader of the Northern Alliance, is assassinated in Afghanistan by two al-Qaeda assassins who claimed to be Arab journalists wanting an interview.
Year 2009
The Dubai Metro, the first urban train network in the Arabian Peninsula, is ceremonially inaugurated.
Year 2012
The Indian space agency puts into orbit its heaviest foreign satellite yet, in a streak of 21 consecutive successful PLSV launches.
Year ?
Arminius' alliance of six Germanic tribes ambushes and annihilates three Roman legions of Publius Quinctilius Varus in the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest.