August 9

681 Bulgaria is the oldest country in Europe that hasn't changed its name since it was first established. It was founded on August 9, 681 as a Khanate on the south bank of the Danube after defeating the Byzantine armies of Emperor Constantine IV.  The Bulgarians were the first to use Cyrillic script, which is also the alphabet currently used in Russia. The Cyrillic alphabet was adopted by the first Bulgarian Empire in 681 AD.

1173 Construction of the campanile of the Cathedral of Pisa (the Leaning Tower of Pisa) begun on August 9, 1173. It would take two centuries to complete. The Leaning Tower of Pisa has two spiral staircases but because of the way it tilts, one has 294 steps and the other has 296 - an extra two are needed to compensate for the height difference on that side of the building. Although Pisa is known worldwide for its leaning tower, the city contains more than 20 other historic churches.

The Leaning Tower of Pisa. By Saffron Blaze - Wikipedia

1329 The Indian city of Quilon (now Kollam) was considered one of the four early entrepots in global sea trade during the 13th century, along with Egypt's Alexandria and Cairo, China's Quanzhou, and Malacca in Malaysia. The first Indian Catholic Diocese was erected by Pope John XXII in Quilion on August 9, 1329. Quilon was also the first Roman Catholic diocese in the whole of the Indies, with jurisdiction over modern Pakistan, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Burma, and Sri Lanka as well as India. 

1387 King Henry V of England was born in the tower above the gatehouse of Monmouth Castle in the Principality of Wales on August 9, 1387. His father was Henry of Bolingbroke, later Henry IV of England, and his mother Mary de Bohun, who died in 1394 giving birth to her last child, a daughter, Philippa of England. As king, Henry's outstanding military successes in the Hundred Years' War against France made England one of the strongest military powers in Europe. 

1537 Venetian printers Paganino and Alessandro Paganini produced the first printed edition of the Quran in Arabic on August 9, 1537. It contained many errors and few copies survive. The Paganinis' Quran was probably intended for export to the Ottoman Empire, but many Muslims were resistant to printed versions given the importance of calligraphy to the manuscript.

1790 The Columbia Rediviva (Latin for "revived") was the first American ship to circumnavigate the globe with an American crew and the first to carry the American flag around the world. It returned to Boston Harbor after a three-year voyage on August 9, 1790.

1881 Grocer Clarence Saunders, who pioneered the modern retail sales model of self service, was born on a farm in Amherst County, Virginia on August 9, 1881. Saunders launched the self-service revolution in the United States by opening the first self-service Piggly Wiggly supermarket, at 79 Jefferson Street in Memphis, Tennessee on September 11, 1916. The checkouts and turnstile entrance at Saunders' stores proved such a success that by 1923 a further 2,800 Piggly Wigglies had sprung up across the U.S. 

1898 A German named Rudolf Diesel had the idea to develop an engine which relied on a high compression of the fuel to ignite it. He first came up with a design for his engine in 1892 and, subsidized by the Krupp company, constructed a ‘rational heat motor’, demonstrating the first compression-ignition engine in 1897. Diesel was granted US Patent No. 608,845 on August 9, 1898, for his diesel internal combustion engine. 

1902 Edward VII and Alexandra of Denmark were crowned King and Queen of the UK on August 9, 1902. His coronation things didn't go to plan. The Archbishop of Canterbury was aged and infirm. Onlookers feared that the primate might drop the crown for it shook in his hands as he held it over the King's head but he got it on-somehow but back to front. However no one noticed this blunder and the coronation carried on with the king wearing his crown lopsided.

1942 The premiere of Dmitri Shostakovich's patriotic Symphony No. 7 took place on August 9, 1942 during World War II, while Leningrad (Saint Petersburg) was under siege by Nazi German forces. The Russian composer had intended for the piece to be premiered by the Leningrad Philharmonic Orchestra, but they had been evacuated because of the siege, along with the composer, and the world premiere was instead held in Kuybyshev (now Samara) where Shostakovich and his family had been relocated.

1945 The Japanese city of Kokura was the main target for the "Fat Man" nuclear bomb, the second of the only two nuclear weapons ever used in warfare. However, on the morning of August 9, 1945, the city was obscured by morning fog. Because the order was to drop the bomb visually, the pilots diverted about 100 km south to Nagasaki, killing an estimated 37,500 people within seconds of its detonation.

1965 Singapore gained independence from the UK in 1963 by federating with other former British territories to form Malaysia, but was forced to separate two years later over ideological differences, becoming a sovereign nation. When Singapore was expelled from Malaysia on August 9, 1965, it became the first and only country to date to gain independence unwillingly. 

1999 On August 9, 1999, Russian President Boris Yeltsin fired his Prime Minister, Sergei Stepashin, along with his entire cabinet. Vladimir Putin was appointed one of three First Deputy Prime Ministers, and later on that day was appointed acting Prime Minister of the Government of the Russian Federation. At the end of that year, Yeltsin stepped down as President, nominating Putin as his successor. Putin won the subsequent 2000 Presidential election by a 53% to 30% margin. 

2010 On August 9, 2010, JetBlue flight attendant Steven Slater quit his job in dramatic style. Irked by the behavior of a rude passenger, Slater announced his resignation over the PA system upon landing at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport. He then grabbed two beers from a beverage cart and exited by deploying the plane’s emergency slide.

2020 President Alexander Lukashenko of Belarus was re-elected on Sunday August 9, 2020 to a sixth term in office (with about 80% of all votes in his favor according to official results), having won every presidential election since 1994. The election was marred by allegations of widespread electoral fraud and tens of thousands of demonstrators turned out in Minsk the following Sunday to protest. The gathering appeared to be the largest protest in the country’s history.