August 9

This date in recent years

August 9, 2006

August 9, 2005

August 9, 2004

August 9, 2003

August 9 is the 221st day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (222nd in leap years), with 144 days remaining.

1 Events
2 Births
3 Deaths
4 Holidays and observances
5 External links

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Events

48 BC - Roman Civil War: Battle of Pharsalus - Julius Caesar decisively defeats Pompey at Pharsalus and Pompey flees to Egypt.
378 - 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 2/3 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.
1048 - Pope Damasus II dies in Rome, after reigning for only 23 days.
1173 - Construction of the (Leaning) Tower of Pisa begins, and it takes two centuries to complete.
1483 - Opening of the Sistine Chapel
1842 - Webster-Ashburton Treaty is signed, establishing the United States-Canada border east of the Rocky Mountains.
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 - Indian Wars: Battle of 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 is crowned king of the United Kingdom.
1936 - 1936 Summer Olympics: Jesse Owens wins his fourth gold medal at the games becoming the first American to win four medals in one Olympics.
1942 - Indian leader, Mohandas Gandhi is arrested in Bombay by British forces, launching the Quit India Movement.
1944 - The United States Forest Service and the Wartime Advertising Council release posters featuring Smokey the Bear for the first time.
1945 - World War II: An atomic bomb is dropped on the city of Nagasaki, Japan killing an estimated 70,000-90,000.
1965 - Singapore seceded from the newly-formed Federation of Malaysia.
1965 - Space disasters: A fire at a Titan missile base near Little Rock, Arkansas kills 53 construction workers.
1967 - Vietnam War: Operation Cochise initiated - United States Marines begin a new operation in the Que Son Valley.
1969 - Members of a cult led by Charles Manson murder five people.
1974 - Richard Nixon becomes the first President of the United States to resign from office. His Vice President, Gerald Ford, becomes president.
1983 - Peter Jennings hosts his first broadcast of ABC's World News Tonight as sole anchor.
1986 - The Headington Shark is erected in Oxford.
1987 - 9 people are shot dead and 17 more injured as 19-year old Julian Knight opens fire at random in the Hoddle Street Massacre in Clifton Hill
1988 - Wayne Gretzky is traded from the Edmonton Oilers to the Los Angeles Kings in one of the most controversial transactions in hockey history.
1989 - Kaifu Toshiki becomes Prime Minister of Japan.
1993 - The Liberal Democratic Party of Japan loses a 38-year hold on national leadership.
1993 - King Albert II of Belgium is sworn into office.
1995 - Netscape launches IPO.
1999 - Russian President Boris Yeltsin fires his Prime Minister, Sergei Stepashin, and for the fourth time fires his entire cabinet.
1999 - The Diet of Japan enacts a law establishing the Hinomaru and Kimi Ga Yo as the official national flag and national anthem.
2000 - A Piper Navajo and a Piper Seminole collide in mid-air over a housing development in Burlington, New Jersey, killing 11
2001 - US President George W. Bush announces his support for federal funding of limited research on embryonic stem cells.
2001 - In Jerusalem, 15 people die and 130 wounded in the Sbarro restaurant suicide bombing.
2005 - Space Shuttle Discovery makes successful touchdown at Edwards Air Force Base, California