Today in History: Saturday, Sept. 9

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9 AD – Arminius' alliance of six Germanic tribes ambushes and annihilates three Roman legions of Publius Quinctilius Varus in the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest. 337 – Constantine II, Constantius II, and Constans succeed their father Constantine I as co-emperors. The Roman Empire is divided between the three Augusti. 533 – A Byzantine army of 15,000 men under Belisarius lands at Caput Vada (modern Tunisia) and marches to Carthage. 1000 – Battle of Svolder, Viking Age. 1087 – William Rufus becomes King of England, taking the title William II, (reigned until 1100). 1141 – Yelü Dashi, the Liao dynasty general who founded the Qara Khitai, defeats the Seljuq and Kara-Khanid forces at the Battle of Qatwan. 1379 – Treaty of Neuberg, splitting the Austrian Habsburg lands between the Habsburg dukes Albert III and Leopold III. 1488 – Anne becomes sovereign Duchess of Brittany, becoming a central figure in the struggle for influence that leads to the union of Brittany and France. 1493 – Battle of Krbava Field, a decisive defeat of Croats in Croatian struggle against the invasion by the Ottoman Empire. 1513 – James IV of Scotland is defeated and dies in the Battle of Flodden, ending Scotland's involvement in the War of the League of Cambrai. 1543 – Mary Stuart, at nine months old, is crowned "Queen of Scots" in the central Scottish town of Stirling. 1561 – The ultimately unsuccessful Colloquy of Poissy opens in an effort to reconcile French Catholics and Protestants. 1739 – Stono Rebellion, the largest slave uprising in Britain's mainland North American colonies prior to the American Revolution, erupts near Charleston, South Carolina. 1776 – The Continental Congress officially names its union of states the United States. 1791 – Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States, is named after President George Washington. 1801 – Alexander I of Russia confirms the privileges of Baltic provinces. 1839 – John Herschel takes the first glass plate photograph. 1850 – California is admitted as the thirty-first U.S. state. 1850 – The Compromise of 1850 transfers a third of Texas's claimed territory (now parts of Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Wyoming) to federal control in return for the U.S. federal government assuming $10 million of Texas's pre-annexation debt. 1855 – Crimean War: The Siege of Sevastopol comes to an end when Russian forces abandon the city. 1863 – American Civil War: The Union Army enters Chattanooga, Tennessee. 1886 – The Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works is finalized. 1892 – Amalthea, third moon of Jupiter is discovered by Edward Emerson Barnard. 1914 – World War I: The creation of the Canadian Automobile Machine Gun Brigade, the first fully mechanized unit in the British Army. 1922 – The Greco-Turkish War effectively ends with Turkish victory over the Greeks in Smyrna. 1923 – Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the founder of the Republic of Turkey, founds the Republican People's Party. 1924 – Hanapepe massacre occurs on Kauai, Hawaii. 1936 – The crews of Portuguese Navy frigate NRP Afonso de Albuquerque and destroyer Dão mutinied against the Salazar dictatorship's support of General Franco's coup and declared their solidarity with the Spanish Republic. 1939 – World War II: The Battle of Hel begins, the longest-defended pocket of Polish Army resistance during the German invasion of Poland. 1939 – Burmese national hero U Ottama dies in prison after a hunger strike to protest Britain's colonial government. 1940 – George Stibitz pioneers the first remote operation of a computer. 1942 – World War II: A Japanese floatplane drops incendiary bombs on Oregon. 1943 – World War II: The Allies land at Salerno and Taranto, Italy. 1944 – World War II: The Fatherland Front takes power in Bulgaria through a military coup in the capital and armed rebellion in the country. A new pro-Soviet government is established. 1945 – Second Sino-Japanese War: The Empire of Japan formally surrenders to China. 1947 – First case of a computer bug being found: A moth lodges in a relay of a Harvard Mark II computer at Harvard University. 1948 – Kim Il-sung declares the establishment of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. 1954 – The 6.7 Mw Chlef earthquake shakes northern Algeria with a maximum Mercalli intensity of XI (Extreme). At least 1,243 people were killed and 5,000 were injured. 1965 – The United States Department of Housing and Urban Development is established. 1965 – Hurricane Betsy makes its second landfall near New Orleans, leaving 76 dead and $1.42 billion ($10–12 billion in 2005 dollars) in damages, becoming the first hurricane to cause over $1 billion in unadjusted damage. 1966 – The National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act is signed into law by U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson. 1969 – In Canada, the Official Languages Act comes into force, making French equal to English throughout the Federal government. 1970 – A British airliner is hijacked by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and flown to Dawson's Field in Jordan. 1971 – The four-day Attica Prison riot begins, eventually resulting in 39 dead, most killed by state troopers retaking the prison. 1972 – In Kentucky's Mammoth Cave National Park, a Cave Research Foundation exploration and mapping team discovers a link between the Mammoth and Flint Ridge cave systems, making it the longest known cave passageway in the world. 1990 – Batticaloa massacre: Massacre of 184 Tamil civilians by the Sri Lankan Army in Batticaloa District. 1991 – Tajikistan declares independence from the Soviet Union. 1993 – The Palestine Liberation Organization officially recognizes Israel as a legitimate state. 2001 – Ahmad Shah Massoud, leader of the Northern Alliance, is assassinated in Afghanistan by two al-Qaeda assassins who claimed to be Arab journalists wanting an interview. 2002 – The Rafiganj train wreck happened in Bihar, India. 2009 – The Dubai Metro, the first urban train network in the Arabian Peninsula, is ceremonially inaugurated. 2012 – The Indian space agency puts into orbit its heaviest foreign satellite yet, in a streak of 21 consecutive successful PLSV launches. 2012 – A wave of attacks kill more than 100 people and injure 350 others across Iraq. 2015 – Elizabeth II became the longest reigning monarch of the United Kingdom. 2016 – Fifth nuclear weapon testing by North Korea is completed.