158 things happened on 9 November, from AD 694 to 2023. UK stories come first, then the rest of the world.
1688 · 338 years ago
William of Orange, a Dutch prince, captured the city of Exeter after landing in England with his army. He had come to challenge King James II, who was both his uncle and his father-in-law. James lost his throne, and William ruled England, Scotland and Ireland…
UK history first: stories from England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
UK story
William of Orange, a Dutch prince, captured the city of Exeter after landing in England with his army. He had come to challenge King James II, who was both his uncle and his father-in-law. James lost his throne, and William ruled England, Scotland and Ireland together with his wife, Mary II. These events are called the Glorious Revolution, and some historians think it was the last successful invasion of England.
UK story
Prince George, Duke of Cornwall, was given the titles Prince of Wales and Earl of Chester. He was the only surviving son of Edward VII, who had become king earlier that year. It happened on his father's 60th birthday. George later became King George V and reigned from 1910 until 1936.
UK story
The Cullinan Diamond was presented to King Edward VII as a birthday gift from the government of the Transvaal Colony in South Africa. Found in 1905, it is the largest gem-quality rough diamond ever discovered, weighing about 621 grams. It was later cut into smaller stones. The two biggest, the Great Star of Africa and the Second Star of Africa, are now part of the Crown Jewels of the United Kingdom.
UK story
The Treaty of Aberconwy, a humiliating settlement forced on Llywelyn ap Gruffudd by King Edward I of England, brings a temporary end to the Welsh Wars.
UK story
At the Battle of Posada, Basarab I of Wallachia defeats the Hungarian army of Charles I Robert.
UK story
Spain, France and Great Britain sign the Treaty of Seville.
UK story
American Revolutionary War: In the Battle of Fishdam Ford a force of British and Loyalist troops fail in a surprise attack against the South Carolina Patriot militia under Brigadier General Thomas Sumter.
UK story
The Balfour Declaration is published in The Times newspaper.
Napoleon Bonaparte took control of France in a coup, a sudden takeover of a government. He overthrew the government called the Directory and became First Consul, France's new leader. Most historians say this ended the French Revolution. The day was known as 18 Brumaire in the revolutionary calendar France used then. A few years later, Napoleon was crowned Emperor of the French.
Theodore Roosevelt became the first serving President of the United States to make an official trip to another country. He went to see how work was going on the Panama Canal. Roosevelt was the 26th president. He was 42 when he first took office, making him the youngest person ever to become president.
NASA launched Apollo 4 from Florida, the first test flight of the huge Saturn V rocket. No astronauts were on board. For the first time, every stage of the rocket and the spacecraft was tested together on one flight. The capsule splashed down in the Pacific Ocean less than nine hours later. The test proved the Saturn V worked, and this rocket later carried astronauts to the Moon.
Garry Kasparov beat Anatoly Karpov to become World Chess Champion at the age of 22. At the time, nobody younger had ever won the title. Kasparov stayed champion until 2000. He was ranked the world's number one player for a record 255 months in total. He also won a record 15 professional tournaments in a row.
At a press conference, East German official Günter Schabowski gave a slightly mistaken answer that seemed to say the border would open straight away. That night, huge crowds gathered at the Berlin Wall and forced it to open. The Wall had divided the city of Berlin for 28 years. Its fall led the way to the reunification of Germany in 1990.
The European Space Agency launched Venus Express from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. It was ESA's first mission to explore Venus. The spacecraft reached the planet in April 2006 and went into orbit around it. Using seven science instruments, it studied Venus's atmosphere for years, longer than any earlier mission had done. The mission ended in December 2014.
At the Seventeenth Council of Toledo, Egica, a king of the Visigoths of Hispania, accuses Jews of aiding Muslims, sentencing all Jews to slavery.
The Battle of Fujigawa: Minamoto forces (30,000 men) under Minamoto no Yoritomo defeat Taira no Koremori during a night attack near the Fuji River but he escapes safely with the routed army.
Louis the Bavarian defeats his cousin Frederick I of Austria at the Battle of Gammelsdorf.
Siege of Warangal: Prataparudra surrenders to Muhammad bin Tughlaq, officially marking the end of the Kakatiya dynasty.
Trần Duệ Tông succeeds his brother Trần Nghệ Tông as King of Vietnam.
The Battle of Ilava: The Hungarians defeat the Hussite army.
The Bohemian King Frederick I flees Prague to Vratislav one day after the defeat of his troops in the Battle of White Mountain.
In a treaty between Sweden and Hanover at the close of the Great Northern War, Sweden cedes the Duchies of Bremen and Verden (in northern Germany) to Hanover.
The Dublin Society of United Irishmen is founded.
USS Alligator engaged three pirate schooners off the coast of Cuba in one of the West Indies anti-piracy operations of the United States.
American Civil War: Union General Ambrose Burnside assumes command of the Army of the Potomac, after George B. McClellan is removed.
The Tokugawa shogunate hands back power to the Emperor of Japan, starting the Meiji Restoration.
The Battle of Coulmiers ends in a Pyrrhic victory for the French army during the Franco-German War of 1870.
The Great Boston Fire of 1872.
A major earthquake strikes Zagreb and destroys many buildings, including Zagreb Cathedral.
Mapuche rebels attack the fortified Chilean settlement of Temuco.
The United States receives rights to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.
Russian invasion of Manchuria: Russia completes its occupation of Manchuria with 100,000 troops.
The Province of Alberta, Canada, holds its first general election.
The government of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic adopted a tricolour national flag (pictured), which is again in use today, with slight modifications, by the present-day Republic of Azerbaijan.
Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany abdicates after the German Revolution, and Germany is proclaimed a Republic.
The National Fascist Party (Partito Nazionale Fascista or PNF) is founded in Italy.
The Great Mecca Feast, the first documentary film on the Hajj, premiered in the Netherlands.
The Committee for Industrial Organization, the precursor to the Congress of Industrial Organizations, is founded in Atlantic City, New Jersey, by eight trade unions belonging to the American Federation of Labor.
American fashion designer Ruth Harkness seeks and captures a nine-week-old panda cub in Sichuan; named Su Lin, he becomes the first live giant panda to enter the United States.
Second Sino-Japanese War: The Chinese Army withdraws from the Battle of Shanghai.
Warsaw is awarded the Virtuti Militari by the Polish government-in-exile.
Battle of Stalingrad: German forces of the 6th Army under general Friedrich Paulus reach the river bank of the Volga, capturing 90% of the ruined city of Stalingrad and splitting the remaining Soviet forces into two narrow pockets.
An agreement for the founding of the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration is signed by 44 countries in the White House, Washington, D.C.
Soo Bahk Do and Moo Duk Kwan martial arts are founded in Korea.
Cambodia gains independence from France.
Robert McNamara is named president of the Ford Motor Company, becoming the first non-Ford family member to serve in that post. He resigns a month later to join the newly elected John F. Kennedy administration.
Several U.S. states and parts of Canada are hit by a series of blackouts lasting up to 13 hours in the Northeast blackout of 1965.
A Catholic Worker Movement member, Roger Allen LaPorte, protesting against the Vietnam War, sets himself on fire in front of the United Nations building.
The first issue of Rolling Stone, an American magazine focusing on music, politics and popular culture, was published.
Vietnam War: The Supreme Court of the United States votes 6–3 against hearing a case to allow Massachusetts to enforce its law granting residents the right to refuse military service in an undeclared war.
Cold War: Nuclear false alarm: The NORAD computers and the Alternate National Military Command Center in Fort Ritchie, Maryland, detect a purported massive Soviet nuclear strike. After reviewing the raw data from satellites and checking the early-warning radars, the alert is cancelled.
Bosnian War: Croatian Defence Council forces destroyed the Stari Most, a 16th-century bridge crossing the river Neretva in the city of Mostar (rebuilt bridge pictured).
The chemical element darmstadtium is discovered.
A U.S. federal judge, in the largest civil settlement in American history, orders 37 U.S. brokerage houses to pay US$1.03 billion to cheated NASDAQ investors to compensate for price fixing.
Uttarakhand officially becomes the 27th state of India, formed from thirteen districts of northwestern Uttar Pradesh.
Firefox 1.0 is released.
The first national test of the Emergency Alert System is activated in the United States at 2:00 p.m. EST.
A non-binding self-determination consultation is held in Catalonia, asking Catalan citizens their opinion on whether Catalonia should become a state and, if so, whether it should be an independent state.
Pakistani prime minister Imran Khan inaugurated the Kartarpur Corridor, a visa-free border crossing connecting the Gurdwara Darbar Sahib to the India–Pakistan border.
The Alabama Crimson Tide and LSU Tigers football teams, both with undefeated records thus far that season, played in a "Game of the Century".
Second Nagorno-Karabakh War: An armistice agreement is signed by Armenia, Azerbaijan and Russia.
U.S. surgeons at NYU Langone Health announce the world's first whole eye transplant.
Every answer is somewhere on this page. Have a go, then check!
In which year did this happen: “William of Orange captures Exeter in the Glorious Revolution”?
A: 1688. 1688 — that’s 338 years ago. Find it on the page
In which year was Edward VII born?
A: 1841. 1841 — that’s 185 years ago. Find it on the page
Which of these happened first?
A: William of Orange captures Exeter in the Glorious Revolution. 1688: William of Orange captures Exeter in the Glorious Revolution · 1907: King Edward VII is given the giant Cullinan Diamond · 1901: Prince George is made Prince of Wales Find it on the page
“Prince George is made Prince of Wales” happened in 1901. How many years ago was that?
A: 125 years. 2026 − 1901 = 125. Find it on the page
Famous people whose birthday is 9 November.
UK story
Edward VII, the eldest son of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, was born. Nicknamed 'Bertie', he was Prince of Wales for almost 60 years before he became king in 1901. He reigned until 1910, a time now called the Edwardian era. He was known as the 'Peacemaker' because he helped build friendships between Britain and other European countries, especially France.
UK story
George II, who became King of Great Britain and Ireland in 1727, was born in northern Germany. He is the most recent British monarch to have been born outside Great Britain. At the Battle of Dettingen he became the last British monarch to lead an army into battle. He reigned until 1760 and was followed by his grandson, George III.
Well-known people who died on 9 November.
Festivals, holidays and saints’ days celebrated on 9 November somewhere in the world.
Content note: these entries mention things like war, violence, deaths, disasters or crime. They are part of history, but they can be upsetting. Grown-ups and teachers: you may want to read them first. They come straight from Wikipedia and have not been rewritten for children.
Stories with a heading have been written for young readers by A Day in the Past, using the linked articles as sources. Other entries show text from Wikipedia’s “November 9” page and its “On this day” feed, written by Wikipedia contributors and shared under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 licence. Each “Read more” link goes to the article an entry is based on. Photos are credited under each picture. Spotted a mistake? Please tell us.