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Explore the historical events that shaped our world on April 9th. From major milestones to cultural achievements, see what happened on this day in history. Dates for earlier events may be approximate.
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The Battle of Liegnitz (Legnica) takes place on April 9, 1241, during the Mongol invasion of Europe, where a combined Polish-German force is defeated by the Mongols.The battle took place two days before the Mongol victory over the Hungarians at the much larger Battle of Mohi. More
William of Ockham, the influential Roman Catholic, Franciscan philosopher and theologian known for "Ockham's razor," died in Munich, Bavaria, circa April 9, 1347, likely due to the plague. He was in exile under the protection of Holy Roman Emperor Louis IV after fleeing papal custody in Avignon.
Christopher of Bavaria is appointed King of Denmark on April 9. 1440, following the deposition of his uncle, Eric of Pomerania. He later, unified the Kalmar Union by being elected King of Sweden (1441) and Norway (1442).
The Treaty of Lodi is signed, on April 9, 1454, in Lodi, Lombardy, effectively ending the Wars in Lombardy, leading to a 40-year period of relative peace to the Italian Peninsula between the Italian city-states of Milan, Florence, and Naples.
King Edward IV, dies on April 9, 1483, leaving two sons inline to inherit the throne. The elder prince, 12-year-old Edward V, being the rightful heir to the throne. His uncle, Richard, Duke of Gloucester, was named Lord Protector and moved both boys to the Tower of London, ostensibly for their protection while awaiting Edward's coronation.
Richard had the princes declared illegitimate, removing them from the line of succession and was crowned King Richard III on June 26, 1483. Edward V and his brother disappeared from public view in the summer of 1483. and their ultimate fate remains one of history's great unsolved mysteries. They are widely presumed to have been murdered leading to centuries of debate and speculation.
The Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb orders the destruction of the Hindu temple at Kashi Vishwanath in Varanasi, India on April 9, 1669.
French explorer, René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, claims the Mississippi River basin for France, on April 9, 1682, naming it Louisiana (La Louisiane), to honor King Louis XIV. The claim spanned from the Appalachian Mountains to the Rockies, and from the Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico.
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General Robert E. Lee surrenders to Ulysses S. Grant on April 9, 1865 at Appomattox, effectively ending the American Civil War. Although other Confederate forces; some large units, some small had yet to surrender. It was not until August 20, 1866, sixteen months after Lee's surrender, when President Andrew Johnson formally declared an end to the war. More
Source: Cheney, C. Emma (Clara Emma), No restrictions, via Wikimedia Commons
Ulysses S. Grant, still a Lieutenant General of the U.S. Army, is detained by two Police officers in Washington, D.C. on April 9, 1866, for fast driving on 14th Street while “exercising his fast gray nag”. The incident took place on the one-year anniversary of General Lee’s surrender to Grant in Appomattox, Virginia.
Grant offered to pay the fine, but “expressed his doubts of their authority to arrest him and drove off.” Several days later, Grant “acknowledge the service of a warrant for fast driving and appeared before the Justice of the Peace and paid the fine.” More
African American contralto Marian Anderson, sang on Easter Sunday, April 9, 1939, at the Lincoln Memorial steps to a crowd of 75,000 after the Daughters of the American Revolution refused to allow her to sing at Constitution Hall in Washington, D.C. because she was black. Washington DC was still a segregated city, at that time .
Nazi Germany invades Denmark and Norway on April 9, 1940, during World War II. Known as Operation Weseruebung, it opened a new stage in warfare in which cooperation of air, land, and sea forces was essential for successful offensive operations.
The invasion, in the early stages of WWII shifted the focus of the war to the North Atlantic and allowed Germany to secure secured valuable resources and naval bases for the Atlantic, but the occupation of Norway forced Germany to allocate a large army of 300,000 troops.
The largest surrender of American troops since the American Civil War's Battle of Harpers Ferry takes place on April 9, 1942, as 12,000 Americans soldiers and 66,000 Filipinos surrender, to the Japanese at Bataan, the Philippines during World War II. Soon afterwards, U.S. and Filipino prisoners of war were forced into the Bataan Death March. More
Dietrich Bonhoeffer,German theologian, Lutheran Pastor and anti-Nazi dissident, was hanged on April 9, 1945, at the Flossenbürg concentration camp, only days before the U.S. Forces arrived on April 23, 1945 and liberated the camp.
Bonhoeffer, was executed on the orders of Reichsfuhrer SS Heinrich Himmler, alongside others prisoners who were directly implicated in the unsuccessful plot to kill Hitler on July 20, 1944, such as Lutheran Admiral Wilhelm Canaris (former head of the German Abwehr or military intelligence), and Major General Hans Oster, and others.
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NASA, publicly introduces for the first time, the seven America’s Mercury astronauts to the world on April 9, 1959. They had all been selected from among America’s military branches.
The seven Mercury Astronauts were: Walter M. Schirra, Alan B. Shepard, Virgil I. “Gus” Grissom, Donald K. “Deke” Slayton, John H. Glenn, M. Scott Carpenter, and L. Gordon Cooper.
U.S. forces capture Baghdad, on April 9, 2003, effectively toppling Saddam Hussein's regime in Iraq.
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