On This Day: 9 July

The military commander Avitus is proclaimed Emperor of the Western Roman Empire		455
Thousands of lives are lost when a major earthquake strikes Beirut, triggering a devastating tsunami that affects the coastal towns of Byzantine Phoenicia		551
Charles IV, King of Bohemia and Holy Roman Emperor, assists in laying the foundation stone of Charles Bridge in Prague		1357
Henry VIII divorces Anne of Cleves		1540
Nineteen Catholics suffer martyrdom for their beliefs in the Dutch town of Gorkum		1572
The Braddock Expedition – a British attempt to capture Fort Duquesne in what is now downtown Pittsburgh – is soundly defeated by a smaller French and Native American force		1755
Catherine the Great becomes Empress of Russia following the coup against her husband, Peter III		1762
In Versailles, the National Assembly reconstitutes itself as the National Constituent Assembly and begins to prepare for a French constitution		1789
In the Battle of Svensksund – the largest naval battle ever fought in the Baltic Sea – the Swedish navy captures one third of the Rusian fleet. The following day it would complete its greatest ever victory, bringing an end to the Russo–;Swedish War		1790
The Act Against Slavery in Upper Canada bans the importation of slaves, and provides for the release of those who are born into slavery after the passage of the Act at 25 years of age.		1793
Napoleon annexes the Kingdom of Holland as part of the First French Empire		1810
Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-PÃ©rigord becomes the first Prime Minister of France		1815
Argentina declares itself independent from Spain, at the Congress of Tucuman		1816
470 prominent Cypriots, including Archbishop Kyprianos (head of the Cypriot Orthodox Church), are executed in response to Cypriot aid to the Greek War of Independence		1821
US President Zachary Taylor dies after eating raw fruit and iced milk, and is succeeded by Vice President Millard Fillmore		1850
At a sensational murder trial in Edinburgh, the case against 22–year–old Glasgow socialite Madeleine Hamilton Smith for the murder of her secret lover Pierre Emile L'Angelier, a Channel Islander ten years her senior, is found 'not proven' despite damning circumstantial evidence		1857
At the culmination of the Mount Lebanon (or Syrian) Civil War, the massacre of Christians by Druze and Sunni Muslim paramilitary groups (with the connivance of the military authorities and Turkish soldiers) begins in Damascus; over the next three days, 25,000 would be killed		1860
The 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution is ratified, guaranteeing African Americans full citizenship and all persons in the United States due process of law		1868
The Herzegovina Uprising against Ottoman rule begins. It would last for three years and have far–reaching implications throughout the Balkans		1875
The first All–England Tennis Championships begin at Wimbledon		1877
Paper napkins are used for the first time, at John Dickenson (Hastings)'s annual dinner		1887
The Federation of Australia (the process by which the six self–governing colonies would unite to form the Commonwealth of Australia) is given royal assent		1900
German South–West Africa surrenders to General Smuts		1915
HMS Vanguard, a veteran of the Battle of Jutland, blows up in Scapa Flow with the loss of over 800 men		1917
101 lives are lost and 171 people are injured in the deadliest rail accident in US history, when an inbound local train collides with an outbound express in Nashville, Tennessee		1918
Germany ratifies the Treaty of Versailles		1919
Johnny Weissmuller breaks the world swimming record and the 'minute barrier', completing the 100 metres freestyle in 58.6 seconds		1922
Oonagh Keogh, 22, in Dublin, becomes the first female member of a stock exchange		1925
The silent film archives of Fox Film Corporation are destroyed in a fire		1937
Gas masks are issued to the general public in the UK		1938
Allied forces begin the invasion of Sicily, which would lead to the downfall of Mussolini and force Hitler to break off the Battle of Kursk		1943
The Allies capture Caen in Normandy		1944
Princess Elizabeth and Lt. Philip Mountbatten announce their engagement		1947
US crime writer Dashiel Hammett is sentenced to six months in jail for contempt of court, for refusing to testify before the Un–American Activities Committee		1951
Soviet leader Nikita Kruschev heads off a coup attempt and banishes ex–prime minister Georgi Malenkov to Kazakhstan		1957
The first rhinoceros born in captivity is delivered in an Irish zoo		1969
The Bank of England issues Â£20 notes for the first time since 1945		1970
The Bahamas achieves independence after more than 300 years of British rule		1972
Sandinista rebels overthrow General Somoza in Nicaragua		1979
Romanian–born Nazi hunters Serge and Beate Klarsfeld survive an assassination attempt when their car is destroyed by a bomb outside their home in France		1979
Michael Fagan, an unemployed Irish father of four, breaks into Buckingham Palace and makes his way to the Queen's bedroom, where he spends ten minutes talking to Her Maj before being arrested by a footman		1982
All 145 people on board, and eight others on the ground, lose their lives when Pan Am Flight 759 crashes in Kenner, Louisiana		1982
The south transept of York Minster is destroyed in a lightning strike		1984
Homosexuality is legalised in New Zealand		1986
US President George Bush lands in Poland at the start of a tour of Europe		1989
Nairobi is closed down after three days of rioting		1990
15 miles of the Cumbrian coast are declared unsafe after items contaminated by radiation from Sellafield in 1983 are washed up		1990
35 local councils, including Western Isles, Bury (Greater Manchester) and Bristol, lose investments when the Bank of England forces the Bank of Credit and Commerce International (BCCI) to shut its doors amid fraud allegations. A public inquiry would later criticise councils for being careless with their funds, and a damages case against the Bank of England was dropped after the High Court ruled that it was no longer in the best interest of creditors		1991
The Canadian Parliament passes the Nunavut Act, leading to the creation of Nunavut in 1999, dividing the Northwest Territories into arctic (Inuit) and sub–arctic (Dene) lands based on a plebiscite		1993
During the Sri Lankan Civil War, around 125 Tamil civilians – men, women and children – lose their lives when a Christian church in Navali (northern Sri Lanka), in which they had taken refuge from fighting, is bombed by by the Sri Lanka Air Force		1995
British Airways cabin staff begin a three–day strike over pay		1997
Archbishop of Canterbury George Carey unveils statues of ten modern Christian martyrs, including Martin Luther King, Oscar Romero and Dietrich Bonhoeffer, on the west front of Westminster Abbey		1998
Jerry Hall agrees to an annulment of her 1990 marriage to Mick Jagger (they were married in a Hindu ceremony on Bali) and an end to their 21–year relationship – in return for £10 million		1999
Elton John has a pacemaker fitted		1999
Romano Prodi (Italy) is announced as the new President of the European Commission; Neil Kinnock is one of two Vice–Presidents and Chris Patten responsible for foreign affairs		1999
George Speight, leader of the Fijian coup, signs a deal with the military rulers, agreeing to release 27 hostages (held in the parliament building for over seven weeks) in four days' time when tribal chiefs will meet to elect a new president and vice–president		2000
Festus Moyae, president of Botswana, warns that AIDS threatens his people with extinction		2000
Stanford University's international team of physicists provide the most substantial proof yet that matter and anti–matter decay at different rates, which explains the continued predominance of matter despite their equal prevalence at the time of the Big Bang – which had previously seemed to mean that they should have cancelled each other out		2001
The African Union is established in Addis Ababa, replacing the Organisation of African Unity (OAU); Thabo Mbeki, President of South Africa, is its first chairman		2002
Italy defeat France on penalties in the World Cup final, but Zinedine Zidane is sent off near the end of the 90 minutes after reacting violently to something said to him by Italy's Marco Materazzi		2006
125 lives are lost when an Airbus A310 veers off the runway while landing in wet conditions at Irkutsk Airport in Siberia		2006
South Sudan gains independence, seceding from Sudan		2011

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On This Day: 9 July