9 July

455 – Roman military commander Avitus is proclaimed Emperor of the Western Roman Empire.
491 – Odoacer makes a night assault with his Heruli guardsmen, engaging Theodoric the Great in Ad Pinetam. Both sides suffer heavy losses, but in the end Theodoric forces Odoacer back into Ravenna.
869 – A magnitude 8.6Ms earthquake and subsequent tsunami strikes the area around Sendai in the northern part of Honshu, Japan.
1357 – Emperor Charles IV assists in laying the foundation stone of Charles Bridge in Prague.
1386 – The Old Swiss Confederacy makes great strides in establishing control over its territory by soundly defeating the Archduchy of Austria in the Battle of Sempach.
1540 – King Henry VIII of England annuls his marriage to his fourth wife, Anne of Cleves.
1572 – Nineteen Catholics suffer martyrdom for their beliefs in the Dutch town of Gorkum.
1701 – War of the Spanish Succession: Austrians defeat France in the Battle of Carpi.
1745 – War of the Austrian Succession: French victory in the Battle of Melle allows them to capture Ghent in the days after.
1755 – French and Indian War: Braddock Expedition – British troops and colonial militiamen are ambushed and suffer a devastating defeat by French and Native American forces.
1776 – George Washington ordered the Declaration of Independence to be read out loud to members of the Continental Army in New York City for the first time.
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 – The Act Against Slavery is passed in Upper Canada and the importation of slaves into Lower Canada is prohibited.
1807 – The Treaties of Tilsit are signed by Napoleon I of France and Alexander I of Russia.
1810 – Napoleon annexes the Kingdom of Holland as part of the First French Empire.
1811 – Explorer David Thompson posts a sign at the confluence of the Columbia and Snake Rivers (in modern Washington state, US), claiming the land for the United Kingdom.
1815 – Talleyrand becomes the first Prime Minister of France.
1816 – Argentina declares independence from Spain.
1821 – 470 prominent Cypriots including Archbishop Kyprianos are executed in response to Cypriot aid to the Greek War of Independence
1850 – U.S. President Zachary Taylor dies and Millard Fillmore becomes the 13th President of the United States.
1850 – The Persian prophet Báb is executed in Tabriz, Persia.
1863 – American Civil War: the Siege of Port Hudson ends.
1868 – 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.
1875 – Outbreak of the Herzegovina Uprising against Ottoman rule, which would last until 1878 and have far-reaching implications throughout the Balkans
1877 – The inaugural Wimbledon Championships opens.
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.
1900 – Boxer Rebellion: The Governor of Shanxi province in North China orders the execution of 45 foreign Christian missionaries and local church members, including children.
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 the world swimming record and the 'minute barrier'.
1932 – The state of São Paulo revolts against the Brazilian Federal Government, starting the Constitutionalist Revolution
1943 – World War II: Operation Husky – Allied forces perform an amphibious invasion of Sicily.
1944 – World War II: Battle of Normandy – British and Canadian forces capture Caen, France.
1944 – World War II: Battle of Saipan – American forces take Saipan in the Mariana Islands.
1944 – World War II: Battle of Tali-Ihantala – Finland wins the Battle of Tali-Ihantala, the largest battle ever fought in northern Europe. The Red Army withdraws its troops from Ihantala and digs into defensive position, thus ending the Vyborg–Petrozavodsk Offensive.
1955 – The Russell-Einstein Manifesto is released by Bertrand Russell in London.
1958 – Lituya Bay is hit by a mega-tsunami. The wave is recorded at 524 meters high, the largest in recorded history.
1961 – Turkish voters approve the Turkish Constitution of 1961 in a referendum.
1962 – The Starfish Prime high-altitude nuclear test is conducted by the United States of America.
1962 – Andy Warhol's Campbell's Soup Cans exhibition opens at the Ferus Gallery in Los Angeles.
1972 – The Troubles: In Belfast, British Army snipers shoot five civilians dead in the Springhill Massacre.
1979 – A car bomb destroys a Renault motor car owned by famed "Nazi hunters" Serge and Beate Klarsfeld at their home in France. A note purportedly from ODESSA claims responsibility.
1982 – Pan Am Flight 759 crashes in Kenner, Louisiana killing all 145 people on board and eight others on the ground.
1986 – The Parliament of New Zealand passes the Homosexual Law Reform Act legalising homosexuality in New Zealand.
1995 – The Navaly church bombing is carried out by the Sri Lankan Air Force killing 125 Tamil civilian refugees.
1999 – Days of student protests begin after Iranian police and hardliners attack a student dormitory at the University of Tehran.
2006 – At least 122 people are killed after a Sibir Airlines Airbus A310 passenger jet, carrying 200 passengers veers off the runway while landing in wet conditions at Irkutsk Airport in Siberia.
2011 – South Sudan gains independence and secedes from Sudan.

Holidays and observances

Caprotinia (Roman Empire)
Christian Feast Day:
Agilulfus of Cologne
Everilda
Bl Marija Petković
Martyr Saints of China
Martyrs of Gorkum
Our Lady of Peace, Octave of the Visitation
Veronica Giuliani
July 9 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
Constitution Day (Australia)
Constitution Day (Palau)
Constitutionalist Revolution Day (São Paulo)
Independence Day, celebrates the declaration of independence of the United Provinces of South America by the Congress of Tucumán in 1816. (Argentina)
Independence Day (South Sudan)
Martyrdom of the Báb (Bahá'í Faith)
Nunavut Day (Nunavut)