9 April in history
9 events that happened on 9 April, from 193 to 2003.
✦ Anniversary of the day
193 CE 1,833 years ago
Danube legions proclaim Septimius Severus emperor
After the murder of Pertinax, the legions at Carnuntum hailed their governor Septimius Severus as emperor. He marched on Rome, defeated his rivals and founded the Severan dynasty.
1241 CE 785 years ago
Mongols defeat a Polish and German army at Legnica
A Mongol force under Baidar and Kadan crushed the army of Duke Henry II the Pious, who was killed. Two days later the main Mongol army destroyed the Hungarians at Mohi.
1388 CE 638 years ago
Glarus defeats a Habsburg army at the Battle of Näfels
The men of Glarus, helped by Schwyz and their allies of the Old Swiss Confederacy, defeated a much larger army of the Habsburg Duchy of Austria. The victory secured the independence of Glarus from Habsburg rule and is commemorated every April.
1438 CE 588 years ago
The Council of Ferrara opens under Pope Eugene IV
Pope Eugene IV presided over the first solemn session of the council he had moved from Basel to Ferrara, attended by the Eastern Roman Emperor and the Patriarch of Constantinople. It debated the issues of the East–West Schism.
1682 CE 344 years ago
La Salle claims the Mississippi basin for France
Reaching the mouth of the Mississippi, René-Robert Cavelier de La Salle claimed its whole drainage basin for Louis XIV and named it Louisiana. France sold the territory to the United States in 1803.
1865 CE 161 years ago
Lee surrenders to Grant at Appomattox Court House
Robert E. Lee surrendered the Army of Northern Virginia to Ulysses S. Grant. Other Confederate forces followed in the weeks after, bringing the American Civil War to an end.
2003 CE 23 years ago
Baghdad falls and Saddam's statue is pulled down
As US troops entered central Baghdad, a statue of Saddam Hussein in Firdos Square was toppled with the help of a Marine vehicle. The images marked the regime's collapse, though years of insurgency followed.
Born on 9 April 6
Died on 9 April 8
Dates as the sources give them: in the Julian calendar before 1582, and in some countries for longer (Britain until 1752, Russia until 1918). Only people whose day of birth or death the records agree on are listed.