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HISTORY & TIMELINE
9 August

A journey through
9 August in history

The story of 9 August runs from Caesar’s victory at Pharsalus in 48 BC to David Rudisha’s world record at the London Olympics in 2012. In between come the death of the emperor Valens at Adrianople, Louis-Philippe’s oath as King of the French, the treaty that fixed the border between Maine and New Brunswick, Shostakovich’s Leningrad Symphony played in the besieged city, the atomic bombing of Nagasaki, Singapore’s separation from Malaysia, Nixon’s resignation, the launch of the last Soviet Moon probe, the end of 38 years of Liberal Democratic rule in Japan and the shuttle Discovery’s return to Earth after the first flight since the Columbia disaster.

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JUMP THROUGH TIME
I
EARLIEST RECORDS

Ancient & Early History

The earliest worthwhile records and events connected with this date.

-48
An illuminated page by Niccolò da Bologna from a 14th-century manuscript of Lucan's Pharsalia, the Roman poem about the civil warAn illuminated page by Niccolò da Bologna from a 14th-century manuscript of Lucan’s Pharsalia, the Roman poem about the civil warImage: Nicolo da Bologna · Public domain
world · Europe

Caesar defeats Pompey at Pharsalus

After crossing the Rubicon in 49 BC, Julius Caesar drove his rival Pompey out of Italy and followed him to Greece. At Pharsalus in Thessaly, on 9 August 48 BC by the Roman calendar of the day (which had drifted out of step with the seasons), Caesar’s veterans, about 22,000 strong, faced some 47,000 men. A hidden line of reserve cohorts routed Pompey’s cavalry and his army broke. Pompey fled to Egypt, where he was murdered.

Source: Britannica: Battle of Pharsalus ↗
378
A gold medallion of the emperor Valens, made around 375-378, in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, ViennaA gold medallion of the emperor Valens, made around 375-378, in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, ViennaImage: Unknown artistUnknown artist · CC BY 3.0
world · Europe

The Goths destroy a Roman army at Adrianople

In 376 tens of thousands of Goths, fleeing the Huns, asked to be let across the Danube into the Roman Empire. The eastern emperor Valens agreed, but corrupt Roman officials starved and exploited the newcomers, and the Goths rose in revolt and plundered the Balkans. In 378 Valens marched against them himself, and rather than wait for his nephew Gratian, who was bringing the western army to help, he chose to fight alone. On 9 August 378, near Adrianople, the modern Edirne in European Turkey, his tired troops attacked the Gothic camp of the chieftain Fritigern, ringed by wagons on a hill. The assault began in confusion, and the Gothic cavalry fell on the Romans’ flank. The army was cut to pieces and Valens was killed; his body was never found. It was one of the worst defeats in Roman history, and the Goths stayed inside the empire for good.

Source: Britannica: Battle of Adrianople (378) ↗
IV
THE NINETEENTH CENTURY

The 1800s

Industry, empire, invention, reform and a century of enormous transformation.

1830
Louis-Philippe swears his oath before the Chambers on 9 August 1830, painted by Eugène DevériaLouis-Philippe swears his oath before the Chambers on 9 August 1830, painted by Eugène DevériaImage: Eugène Devéria (1805-1865) · Public domain
politics · Europe

Louis-Philippe swears his oath as King of the French

Three days of street fighting in Paris at the end of July 1830 drove the Bourbon king Charles X from his throne. The liberal deputies turned to his cousin Louis-Philippe, Duke of Orléans, and on 9 August 1830, before the assembled Chambers, he swore to uphold a revised constitutional Charter and took the title King of the French rather than King of France. His ‘July Monarchy’ lasted until another revolution drove him out in 1848.

Source: Britannica: Louis-Philippe, the July Revolution ↗
1842
Map of the competing boundary lines claimed between Maine and New Brunswick before the treatyMap of the competing boundary lines claimed between Maine and New Brunswick before the treatyImage: Magicpiano · Public domain
politics · Americas

The Webster-Ashburton Treaty settles the Maine border

The peace treaty of 1783 had left the border between Maine and British New Brunswick vague, and in 1838-39 lumbermen and militias faced off in the bloodless ‘Aroostook War’. On 9 August 1842 the US Secretary of State, Daniel Webster, and the British envoy Lord Ashburton signed a treaty in Washington fixing the present boundary. It also gave Americans navigation on the St John river, provided for extradition of criminals and set up joint naval patrols against the slave trade off Africa.

Source: US Department of State, Office of the Historian: Webster-Ashburton Treaty, 1842 ↗
V
THE TWENTIETH CENTURY

The 1900s

War and peace, technological leaps, social change, politics, sport and popular culture.

1942
The Grand Hall of the St Petersburg Philharmonia, where the Leningrad Symphony was played during the siegeThe Grand Hall of the St Petersburg Philharmonia, where the Leningrad Symphony was played during the siegeImage: Yoshi Canopus · CC BY-SA 3.0
culture · Europe

Shostakovich’s Leningrad Symphony is played in the besieged city

Dmitri Shostakovich began his Seventh Symphony in Leningrad in the summer of 1941, as German armies closed around the city, and finished it after he was evacuated. It was first performed in Kuibyshev in March 1942 and became a symbol of resistance around the world. Leningrad itself was starving under siege, and the score had to be flown in. The conductor Karl Eliasberg found that only about 15 players of his radio orchestra were still able to perform; others had died of hunger or gone to the front. Musicians were brought back from army units and given extra rations, and rehearsals began. On 9 August 1942 the symphony was played to a full hall at the Leningrad Philharmonic. Soviet guns pounded the German batteries beforehand so that the concert would not be shelled, and the music was broadcast by loudspeaker across the city and towards the German lines.

Source: Presidential Library of Russia: The Seventh (Leningrad) Symphony of D. D. Shostakovich was performed in besieged Leningrad ↗
1945
Nagasaki Peace Park, near the hypocentre of the 1945 explosion, with Seibō Kitamura's Peace Statue at the end of the pathNagasaki Peace Park, near the hypocentre of the 1945 explosion, with Seibō Kitamura’s Peace Statue at the end of the pathImage: jimmyweee · CC BY 2.0
world · Asia

A second atomic bomb destroys much of Nagasaki

Three days after Hiroshima, and with Japan’s leaders still arguing over whether to surrender, a second American B-29, Bockscar, took off from the island of Tinian on 9 August 1945 carrying a plutonium bomb known as Fat Man. Its first target, the arsenal city of Kokura, lay under haze and smoke, so the pilot, Charles Sweeney, turned for his second target, the port of Nagasaki on the island of Kyushu. At 11.02 in the morning the bomb exploded above the Urakami valley, north of the city centre. It was more powerful than the Hiroshima bomb, but the surrounding hills shielded part of the city. Tens of thousands of people were killed at once, and many more died in the following months of injuries and radiation sickness. The next day Japan offered to surrender, provided the emperor kept his place. Nagasaki’s Peace Park now stands near the point above which the bomb burst.

Source: US Department of Energy, OSTI: The atomic bombing of Nagasaki, August 9, 1945 ↗
1965
A copy of the Proclamation of Singapore of 9 August 1965, on display at the Supreme Court of SingaporeA copy of the Proclamation of Singapore of 9 August 1965, on display at the Supreme Court of SingaporeImage: Smuconlaw · CC BY-SA 4.0
politics · Asia

Singapore leaves Malaysia and becomes an independent nation

Singapore joined the new Federation of Malaysia in 1963, hoping for a common market and security in a single larger state. The marriage soon went wrong. Lee Kuan Yew’s People’s Action Party and the Malay-led ruling party in Kuala Lumpur disagreed deeply over politics, economics and the place of the different races, and in July and September 1964 racial riots broke out in Singapore. Malaysia’s prime minister, Tunku Abdul Rahman, concluded that separation was the only way to avoid further bloodshed. On 9 August 1965 the Malaysian parliament voted Singapore out and Singapore was proclaimed an independent and sovereign republic. At a televised press conference that day Lee broke down in tears, calling it a moment of anguish. The small island state was admitted to the United Nations the following month, and 9 August is celebrated as its National Day.

Source: National Library Board Singapore, Infopedia: Singapore’s separation from Malaysia ↗
1974
Richard Nixon leaves the White House by helicopter for the last time as president on 9 August 1974Richard Nixon leaves the White House by helicopter for the last time as president on 9 August 1974Image: White House Photo Office (National Archives) · Public domain
politics · Americas

Richard Nixon resigns the presidency

The Watergate scandal began in June 1972 with a break-in at the Democratic Party’s offices in Washington and grew, over two years, into proof that the White House had tried to cover it up. In late July 1974 the House Judiciary Committee approved articles of impeachment, and early in August a newly released tape showed that Nixon himself had ordered the cover-up within days of the break-in. His remaining support in Congress collapsed. On the evening of 8 August Nixon told the nation on television that he would resign. The next morning, 9 August 1974, he said an emotional farewell to his staff in the East Room, and his resignation took effect at noon, as he flew from the White House lawn by helicopter. Minutes later Vice-President Gerald Ford was sworn in as the 38th president. Nixon remains the only US president to have resigned.

Source: US National Archives: A President Resigns, 50 years later ↗
1976
A Luna lander of the Luna 24 type on display at the Memorial Museum of Cosmonautics in MoscowA Luna lander of the Luna 24 type on display at the Memorial Museum of Cosmonautics in MoscowImage: Museum of Cosmonautics, Moscow · CC0
science · Europe

The Soviet Union launches Luna 24, its last Moon probe

While the Apollo astronauts brought Moon rock home by hand, the Soviet Union sent robot landers to drill into the lunar surface and fire the samples back to Earth. Luna 16 and Luna 20 had already done so. On 9 August 1976 a Proton rocket launched Luna 24 from Baikonur, aimed at Mare Crisium, the Sea of Crises, a lava plain that no earlier mission had sampled. The probe landed on 18 August and drilled about two metres into the ground, far deeper than its predecessors, collecting a core of 170 grams. A small rocket lifted the sample off the Moon the next day, and its capsule came down in western Siberia on 22 August. Luna 24 was the last Soviet lunar mission, and no more Moon samples came back to Earth until China’s Chang’e 5 in 2020.

Source: NASA Space Science Data Coordinated Archive: Luna 24 ↗
1993
Morihiro Hosokawa on the day he took office as prime minister, 9 August 1993Morihiro Hosokawa on the day he took office as prime minister, 9 August 1993Image: 内閣官房内閣広報室 · CC BY 4.0
politics · Asia

Hosokawa ends 38 years of Liberal Democratic rule in Japan

The Liberal Democratic Party had governed Japan without a break since its founding in 1955, but bribery scandals and defections cost it its majority in the election of July 1993. A coalition of opposition parties and LDP breakaway groups chose Morihiro Hosokawa, a former governor of Kumamoto who had founded the Japan New Party only a year earlier, and he took office on 9 August 1993 as the first non-LDP prime minister in 38 years. He resigned the following April.

Source: Britannica: Hosokawa Morihiro ↗
VI
2000 TO TODAY

Modern Day

The events of recent decades that have already become part of the historical record.

2005
Space Shuttle Discovery glides in to a pre-dawn landing at Edwards Air Force Base, California, on 9 August 2005Space Shuttle Discovery glides in to a pre-dawn landing at Edwards Air Force Base, California, on 9 August 2005Image: NASA · Public domain
science · Americas

Discovery lands after the first shuttle flight since Columbia

After Columbia broke up on re-entry in February 2003, NASA spent two and a half years on safety changes before Discovery flew again on 26 July 2005, commanded by Eileen Collins. The crew resupplied the International Space Station and tested ways to inspect and repair the heat shield; on one spacewalk Stephen Robinson pulled loose filler strips from under the orbiter. Weather in Florida sent Discovery to Edwards Air Force Base in California, where it landed before dawn on 9 August 2005.

Source: NASA: STS-114 ↗
2012
The men's 800 metres final at the London Olympics, in which David Rudisha set his world recordThe men’s 800 metres final at the London Olympics, in which David Rudisha set his world recordImage: Paul Rowlett from Sheffield, UK · CC BY 2.0
sport · Africa

David Rudisha runs the 800 metres in under 1 minute 41 seconds

The Kenyan runner David Rudisha, a Maasai whose father had won an Olympic relay silver medal in 1968, had held the 800 metres world record since 2010. At the London Olympics he reached the final as the clear favourite, and on the evening of 9 August 2012 he did something rarely tried in a championship race: he went to the front from the start and never let anyone past. Running alone at the head of the field, he crossed the line in 1 minute 40.91 seconds, breaking his own record of 1:41.01 and becoming the first man to run the distance in under 1:41. The 18-year-old Nijel Amos of Botswana took silver. It was the first 800 metres world record set at an Olympic Games since Alberto Juantorena’s in 1976, and it still stands.

Source: World Athletics: Rudisha runs 1:40.91 world 800m record in London ↗
RESEARCH

Sources & Further Reading

Selected authoritative references supporting the events on this page.

WHY THESE MOMENTS?

Significance before volume

This page is not the longest possible list of events. It is a chronological journey through 9 August, where each entry is chosen for historical significance, human interest and reliability.

Facts are checked against authoritative museums, archives, universities and reference works. Where sources disagree, the page says so.

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