July 9

Events
Up to 1900
455 - Roman military commander Avitus is proclaimed emperor of the Western Roman Empire.
660 - Battle of Hwangsanboel: Korean forces under General Kim Yu-shin of Silla defeat the army of Baekje at Nonsan, present-day South Korea.
869 - A magnitude 8.6 earthquake and tsunami strike the area around Sendai, Northern Honshu, Japan.
1357 5:31 AM - Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor assisted laying the foundation stone of the Charles Bridge in Prague.
1386 - The Old Swiss Confederacy makes great strides in establishing control over its own territory by decisively defeating the Archduchy of Austria in the Battle of Sempach.
1540 - Henry VIII of England annulled his marriage to his fourth wife, Anne of Cleves.
1572 - Nineteen Catholics suffer martyrdom for their beliefs in the Dutch town of Gorkum.
1609 - Bohemia is given freedom of religion through the Letter of Majesty by Rudolf II, Holy Roman Emperor.
1701 - War of the Spanish Succession: Austrian victory over the French in the Battle of Carpi.
1745 - War of the Austrian Succession: Victory in the Battle of Melle allows the French to capture Ghent in the days after.
1749 - Naval settlement of Halifax, Nova Scotia founded as British answer to Louisbourg.
1755 - French and Indian War: Braddock Expedition - British troops and colonial militiamen are ambushed and suffer a devastating defeat to French and Native American forces. During the battle, British General Edward Braddock is mortally wounded. Colonel George Washington survives.
1776 - George Washington orders the Declaration of Independence to be read out loud to members of the Continental Army in New York City.
1789 - In Versailles, the National Assembly reconstitutes itself as the National Constituent Assembly and begins preparations for a French constitution.
1790 - Russo-Swedish War: Second Battle of Svensksund - In the Baltic Sea, the Swedish Navy captures one third of the Russian fleet.
1793 - Act Against Slavery passed in Upper Canada and importation of slaves into Lower Canada is prohibited.
1810 - Napoleon annexes the Kingdom of Holland as part of the first French Empire.
1815 - Charles-Maurice de Talleyrand-Perigord, Prince de Benevente becomes Prime Minister of France
1816 - Argentina declares independence from Spain.
1821 - 470 prominent Cypriots are executed in response to Cypriot aid to the Greek War of Independence.
1846 - By an Act of Congress, the Washington, DC area south of the Potomac River (39 mi2 or about 100 km2) is returned to Virginia.
1850 - US President Zachary Taylor dies and Millard Fillmore becomes the 13th President of the United States.
1868 - The 14th Amendment (change) to the United States Constitution is ratified, guaranteeing African Americans full citizenship and all persons in the United States Due Process of Law.
1875 - Outbreak of the Herzegovina Uprising against Ottoman Empire rule.
1877 - The first Wimbledon tennis championships are played.
1896 - William Jennings Bryan delivers his Cross of gold speech.
1900 - Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom gives royal assent to an act creating the Commonwealth of Australia thus uniting separate colonies on the continent under one federal government.
1901 2000
1903 - Joseph Stalin, future-Soviet leader, is exiled to Siberia for three years.
1918 - Great train wreck of 1918: In Nashville, Tennessee, an inbound local train collides with an outbound express killing 101 and injuring 171 people, making it the deadliest rail accident in United States history.
1922 - Johnny Weissmuller swims the 100 meters freestyle in 58.6 seconds, breaking a world swimming record and the 'minute barrier'.
1932 - The State of Sao Paulo revolts against the Brazilian federal government.
1942 - Holocaust: Anne Frank's family goes into hiding in an attic above her father's office in an Amsterdam warehouse.
1943 - World War II: Operation Husky - Allied forces perform an amphibious invasion of Sicily.
1944 - World War II: Battle of Saipan - American forces take Saipan in the Mariana Islands.
1944 - World War II: Battle of Normandy - British and Canadian forces capture Caen, France.
1945 - A forest fire breaks out in the Tillamook Burn, the third fire in that area since 1933.
1955 - The Russell-Einstein Manifesto is released by Bertrand Russell in London.
1961 - Turkish voters approve the Turkish Constitution of 1961 in a referendum.
1962 - The United States detonates atom bomb Starfish Prime over Johnston Atoll in the Pacific Ocean.
1962 - Andy Warhol's Campbell's Soup Cans exhibit opens at the Ferus Gallery in Los Angeles, California.
1968 - Official opening of Hayward Gallery on London's South Bank.
1972 - In Belfast, Northern Ireland, British army snipers shoot and kill 5 civilians in the Springhill massacre.
1979 - A car bomb destroys a Renault owned by famed "Nazi hunters" Serge and Beate Klarsfeld at their home in France. A note purportedly from ODESSA claims responsibility.
1981 - Donkey Kong, a video game created by Nintendo, is released. It is also Super Mario's first appearance.
1982 - A Boeing 727 carrying Pan Am Flight 759 crashes in Kenner, Louisiana killing all 146 people on board and eight others on the ground.
1986 - Homosexuality is legalized in New Zealand.
1989 - Two bombs explode in Mecca, killing one pilgrim and wounding 16 others.
1989 - Boris Becker and Steffi Graf win the Men's and Women's Singles titles at Wimbledon respectively, making it the first occasion that two German tennis players win these titles at the same time.
1991 - International Human Rights Federation cites human rights violations committed by police and military personnel during Oka crisis in Quebec, Canada.
1991 - South Africa is reintroduced into the Olympic movement after 30 years of exclusion.
1992 - Democratic presidential nominee Bill Clinton announces that Tennessee Senator Al Gore will be his running mate.
1993 - The Parliament of Canada passes the Nunavut Act, allowing the creation of the territory of Nunavut on April 1, 1999 out of part of the Northwest Territories.
1995 - The Sri Lankan air force bombs a church in the town of Navaly, killing more than 125 people.
1997 - Mike Tyson's boxing license is suspended for at least a year and he is fined $3 million for biting Evander Holyfield's ear in a televised match.
1999 - Days of student protests begins after Iranian police and hardliners attack a student dormitory of University of Tehran.
From 2001
2002 - The African Union is established in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The first chairman is Thabo Mbeki, President of South Africa.
2004 - After Jose Manuel Durao Barroso's appointment to the European Commission, Portuguese President Jorge Sampaio announces that he will invite the second-in-line leader of PSD, Pedro Santana Lopes to form a government.
2006 - A plane crash in Irkutsk, Siberia kills 122 people.
2006 - 2006 FIFA World Cup: Italy wins the FIFA World Cup for a fourth time, by beating France on penalties at the Olympic Stadium in Berlin. The game is most remembered for Zinedine Zidane's headbut on Marco Materazzi.
2007 - Argentina's capital city Buenos Aires is hit by its first snowfall since 1918.
2011 - South Sudan declares independence from Sudan, after a majority of 'yes' votes in a referendum the previous January. Salva Kiir Mayardit becomes the new nation's President.
2016 - Over 100 people are killed in violent clashes in Juba, South Sudan, on the fifth anniversary of the country's independence.
2016 - Tennis: Serena Williams equals the Open Era record of 22 Grand Slam singles titles, defeating Angelique Kerber in the Wimbledon championships final.
2018 - Boris Johnson resigns as the British Foreign Secretary; he is replaced with Jeremy Hunt.
2018 - The leaders of Ethiopia and Eritrea sign an agreement ending their border war.
Births
Up to 1900
1249 - Emperor Kameyama 90th Emperor of Japan (d. 1305)
1511 - Dorothea of Saxe-Lauenburg (d. 1571)
1578 - Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor (d. 1637)
1654 - Emperor Reigen of Japan (d. 1732)
1689 - Alexis Piron, French playwright (d. 1773)
1764 - Ann Radcliffe, English author (d. 1823)
1766 - Johanna Schopenhauer, German author (d. 1838)
1775 - Matthew Lewis, English author and playwright (b. 1818)
1777 - Henry Hallam, English writer and historian (d. 1859)
1800 - Friedrich Gustav Jakob Henle, German physician, pathologist and anatomist (d. 1885)
1801 - Zenaide Bonaparte, Princess of Spain (d. 1854)
1815 - Oran Milo Roberts, American politician, 18th Governor of Texas (d. 1898)
1819 - Elias Howe, American inventor (d. 1867)
1825 - Addison Crandall Gibbs, American politician, 2nd Governor of Oregon (d. 1886)
1828 - Luigi Oreglia di Santo Stefano, Italian cardinal (d. 1913)
1834 - Jan Neruda, Czech poet (d. 1891)
1835 - William D. Bloxham, American politician, 13th and 17th Governor of Florida (d. 1911)
1847 - Wong Fei-hung, Chinese physician and martial artist (d. 1924)
1848 - Robert I, Duke of Parma (d. 1907)
1850 - Ivan Vazov, Bulgarian historian, writer and politician (d. 1921)
1853 - William Turner Dannat, American painter (d. 1929)
1856 - John Verran, English-Australian politician, 26th Premier of South Australia (d. 1932)
1858 - Franz Boas, German anthropologist (d. 1942)
1867 - Georges Lecomte, French author and playwright (d. 1958)
1879 - Carlos Chagas, Brazilian physician and parasitologist (d. 1934)
1879 - Ottorino Respighi, Italian composer and conductor (d. 1934)
1887 - James Ormsbee Chapin, American-Canadian painter and illustrator (d. 1975)
1889 - Leo Dandurand, American-Canadian ice hockey player, coach and referee (d. 1964)
1894 - Pyotr Leonidovich Kapitsa, Russian physicist (d. 1984)
1896 - Maria Gomes Valentim, Brazilian supercentenarian (d. 2011)
1897 - Friedrich Adler, Austrian politician and assassin (d. 1960)
1898 - Petar Grabovski, Prime Minister of Bulgaria (d. 1945)
1901 1950
1901 - Barbara Cartland, British novelist (d. 2000)
1905 - Clarence Campbell, Canadian ice hockey player and referee (d. 1984)
1907 - Eddie Dean, American singer-songwriter and actor (d. 1999)
1910 - Govan Mbeki, South African anti-Apartheid activist (d. 2001)
1911 - John Archibald Wheeler, American physicist (d. 2008)
1911 - Mervyn Peake, British writer and illustrator (d. 1968)
1914 - Willi Stoph, East German politician (d. 1999)
1915 - David Diamond, American composer (d. 2005)
1916 - Edward Heath, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 2005)
1924 - Leonard Pennario, American classical pianist and composer (d. 2008)
1925 - Guru Dutt, Indian actor, director and producer (d. 1964)
1926 - Ben Roy Mottelson, American-born physicist
1926 - Pedro Dellacha, Argentine footballer (d. 2010)
1927 - Ed Ames, American singer and actor
1927 - Susan Cabot, American actress (d. 1986)
1927 - Red Kelly, Canadian ice hockey player, coach and politician
1928 - Federico Bahamontes, Spanish cyclist
1928 - Vince Edwards, American actor, singer and director (d. 1996)
1929 - Lee Hazlewood, American singer and songwriter (d. 2007)
1929 - King Hassan II of Morocco (d. 1999)
1929 - Isabel Sarli, Argentine actress (d. 2019)
1930 - Yu So-chow, Chinese actress and singer (d. 2017)
1930 - Robert Demarco, Scottish artist
1930 - K. Balachander, Indian actor, director, producer and screenwriter (d. 2014)
1932 - Donald Rumsfeld, American politician (d. 2021)
1932 - Amitzur Shapira, Israeli runner (d. 1972)
1933 - Oliver Sacks, British-American neurologist and writer (d. 2015)
1934 - Michael Graves, American architect (d. 2015)
1935 - Wim Duisenberg, Dutch economist and politician (d. 2005)
1935 - Mercedes Sosa, Argentine singer (d. 2009)
1936 - Richard Wilson, Scottish actor
1936 - David Zinman, American conductor and violinist
1937 - David Hockney, English artist and photographer
1938 - Brian Dennehy, American actor, director and producer
1938 - Sanjeev Kumar, Indian actor (d. 1985)
1940 - Jair da Costa, Brazilian footballer
1940 - David B. Frohnmayer, American attorney and politician (d. 2015)
1942 - Richard Roundtree, American actor
1943 - John Casper, American colonel, pilot and astronaut
1943 - Soledad Miranda, Spanish actress (d. 1970)
1944 - Judith M. Brown, English historian and academic
1944 - John Cunniff, American ice hockey player and coach (d. 2002)
1945 - Dean Koontz, American writer
1945 - Root Boy Slim, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1993)
1946 - Natasha Pyne, English actress
1946 - Bon Scott, Scottish-Australian singer-songwriter (d. 1980)
1947 - Haruomi Hosono, Japanese singer-songwriter, bass player and producer
1947 - Mitch Mitchell, English drummer (d. 2008)
1947 - O. J. Simpson, American football player, actor and criminal
1948 - Hassan Wirajuda, Indonesian politician
1950 - Adriano Panatta, Italian tennis player and sailor
1950 - Viktor Yanukovych, former President of Ukraine
1951 1975
1951 - Chris Cooper, American actor
1952 - John Tesh, American pianist, composer and radio host
1955 - Steve Coppell, English football manager
1955 - Lindsey Graham, American colonel, lawyer and politician
1956 - Tom Hanks, American actor
1957 - Marc Almond, English singer-songwriter (Soft Cell)
1957 - Paul Merton, English comedian
1959 - Jim Kerr, Scottish singer (Simple Minds)
1959 - Kevin Nash, American wrestler and actor
1960 - Marc Mero, American wrestler and boxer
1960 - Eduardo Montes-Bradley, Argentine journalist, photographer and author
1962 - Aloyzas Kveinys, Lithuanian chess player (d. 2018)
1964 - Courtney Love, American musician, singer and actress
1964 - Gianluca Vialli, Italian footballer
1966 - Pamela Adlon, American actress
1968 - Paolo Di Canio, Italian footballer
1970 - Masami Tsuda, Japanese author and illustrator
1971 - Marc Andreessen, American software developer
1971 - Scott Grimes, American singer-songwriter and actor
1972 - Ara Babajian, American drummer and songwriter
1974 - Ian Bradshaw, Barbadian cricketer
1975 - Jack White, American singer (The White Stripes)
From 1976
1976 - Fred Savage, American actor
1978 - Linda Park, Korean-American actress
1982 - Alecko Eskandarian, American soccer player and manager
1982 - Maggie Ma, Canadian actress, singer and dancer
1984 - Chris Campoli, Canadian ice hockey player
1984 - Hanna R. Hall, American actress
1985 - Ashley Young, English footballer
1986 - Sebastien Bassong, Cameroonian footballer
1986 - Kiely Williams, American singer-songwriter, dancer and actress
1987 - Rebecca Sugar, American animator, screenwriter, producer and screenwriter
1987 - Amanda Knox, American murder suspect
1988 - Paul Rusescu, Romanian footballer
1990 - Rafael Pereira da Silva, Brazilian footballer
1991 - Mitchel Musso, American actor and singer
1991 - Kyle Smith, Scottish curler
1993 - Mitch Larkin, Australian swimmer
1993 - DeAndre Yedlin, American soccer player
1993 - Jake Vargas, Filipino actor and singer
1994 - Akiane Kramarik, American poet and artist
1995 - Georgie Henley, English actress
1998 - Robert Capron, American actor
1999 - Claire Corlett, Canadian actress and singer
Deaths
Up to 1900
518 - Anastasius I Dicorus, Byzantine Emperor (b. 430)
1228 - Stephen Langton, Archbishop of Canterbury (b. 1150)
1386 - Leopold III, Duke of Austria (b. 1351)
1553 - Maurice, Elector of Saxony (b. 1521)
1654 - Ferdinand IV, King of the Romans (b. 1633)
1677 - Angelus Silesius, German poet (b. 1624)
1706 - Pierre Lemoyne d'Iberville, Canadian captain and explorer (b. 1661)
1737 - Gian Gastone de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany (b. 1671)
1746 - King Philip V of Spain (b. 1683)
1766 - Jonathan Mayhew, American minister (b. 1720)
1797 - Edmund Burke, Irish-English writer, philosopher and politician (b. 1729)
1828 - Gilbert Stuart, American painter (b. 1755)
1850 - The Bab, founder of the Baha'i religion (b. 1819)
1850 - Zachary Taylor, 12th President of the United States (b. 1784)
1852 - Thomas McKean Thompson McKennan, American lawyer and politician (b. 1794)
1856 - Amedeo Avogadro, Italian chemist (b. 1776)
1880 - Paul Broca, French physician and anatomist (b. 1824)
1901 2000
1903 - Alphonse Francois Renard, Belgian geologist and photographer (b. 1842)
1932 - King C. Gillette, American businessman (b. 1855)
1947 - Lucjan Zeligowski, Polish-Lithuanian general and politician (b. 1865)
1949 - Fritz Hart, English-Australian composer and conductor (b. 1874)
1951 - Harry Heilmann, American baseball player and sportscaster (b. 1894)
1955 - Don Beaumon, English racing driver (b. 1928)
1955 - Adolfo de la Huerta, President of Mexico (b. 1881)
1962 - Georges Bataille, French philosopher (b. 1897)
1974 - Earl Warren, American jurist (b. 1891)
1977 - Alice Paul, American activist (b. 1885)
1979 - Cornelia Otis Skinner, American actress and author (b. 1899)
1980 - Vinicius de Moraes, Brazilian poet, playwright and composer (b. 1913)
1985 - Charlotte, Grand Duchess of Luxembourg (b. 1896)
1986 - Patriarch Nicholas VI of Alexandria (b. 1915)
1992 - Eric Sevareid, American journalist (b. 1912)
From 2001
2002 - Rod Steiger, American actor (b. 1925)
2004 - Paul Klebnikov, American journalist and historian (b. 1963)
2004 - Jean Lefebvre, French actor (b. 1919)
2004 - Isabel Sanford, American actress (b. 1917)
2005 - Yevgeny Grishin, Russian figure skater (b. 1931)
2011 - Wurzel, English guitarist (Motorhead) (b. 1949)
2012 - Terepai Maoate, 6th Prime Minister of the Cook Islands (b. 1934)
2012 - Isuzu Yamada, Japanese actress (b. 1917)
2013 - Markus Buchel, 9th Prime Minister of Liechtenstein (b. 1959)
2014 - David Azrieli, Polish-born Canadian-Israeli real estate tycoon, developer, designer, architect and philanthropist (b. 1922)
2014 - Eileen Ford, American executive and businesswoman (b. 1922)
2014 - Luiz Alberto Dias Menezes, Brazilian geologist and mineralogist (b. 1950)
2014 - Don Lenhardt, American baseball player and coach (b. 1922)
2015 - Saud bin Faisal, Saudi royal and politician (b. 1940)
2015 - Christian Audigier, French fashion designer (b. 1958)
2015 - Jim Bede, American aircraft designer (b. 1933)
2015 - Caspar Bowden, British privacy advocate (b. 1961)
2016 - Johnny Barnes, Bermudian entertainer (b. 1923)
2016 - Erny Brenner, Luxembourgish footballer (b. 1931)
2016 - Genevieve Castree, Canadian musician and comic book artist (b. 1981)
2016 - Vaughn Harper, American DJ (b. 1945)
2016 - Hugo Niebeling, German filmmaker (b. 1931)
2016 - Silvano Piovanelli, Italian cardinal (b. 1924)
2016 - Sydney Schanberg, American journalist (b. 1934)
2017 - Naresh Chandra, Indian politician (b. 1934)
2017 - Ilya Glazunov, Russian painter (b. 1930)
2017 - Anton Nossik, Israeli-Russian journalist and social media activist (b. 1966)
2017 - Paquita Rico, Spanish singer and actress (b. 1929)
2018 - Peter Carington, 6th Baron Carrington, British politician (b. 1919)
2018 - Stefan Demert, Swedish singer-songwriter and musician (b. 1939)
2018 - Hans Gunter Winkler, German equestrian (b. 1926)
2019 - Philip Freelon, American architect (b. 1953)
2019 - Ross Perot, American businessman and politician (b. 1930)
2019 - Fernando de la Rua, President of Argentina (b. 1937)
2019 - Rip Torn, American actor (b. 1931)
Observances
Independence Day in Argentina and South Sudan
Constitution Day in Australia and Palau
July 09