Date·Lore

On This Day · The 343rd day of the year

December 9

December 9 carries 10 recorded events spanning between 1775 and 2016. American Revolutionary War: British troops and Loyalists, misinformed about Patriot militia strength, lose the Battle of Great Bridge, ending British rule in Virginia.

♐ZodiacSagittarius ◈BirthstoneTurquoise ❀Birth flowerHolly

Compiled & reviewed by · Last reviewed July 13, 2026

What happened on December 9?

December 9 is the 343rd day of the year. It marks 10 notable events in history, dated between 1775 and 2016. Famous people born on December 9 include Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, Peter Kropotkin and Stefen Fangmeier.

The shape of the day

December 9's recorded history is unusually compressed, gathered within recent centuries rather than reaching into antiquity. Its center of gravity is the 20th century, and conflict is a recurring thread.

Sagittarius is the sign for December 9 — read more on the Sagittarius page, or see December's birthstone & birth flower.

Released on December 9

Movies, games, albums & shows

2025

  • Game Unbeatable
  • Game Death Howl

2024

  • Game Indiana Jones and the Great Circle
  • Game Among Ashes
  • Game Stars in the Trash

2022

  • Game Choo-Choo Charles

2021

  • Game GTFO
  • Game Wytchwood

Release data from TMDB & IGDB.

Events

10 notable moments
  1. 1775

    American Revolutionary War

    American Revolutionary War: British troops and Loyalists, misinformed about Patriot militia strength, lose the Battle of Great Bridge, ending British rule in Virginia.

  2. 1856

    Iran

    The Iranian city of Bushehr surrenders to occupying British forces.

  3. 1911

    Cross Mountain Mine disaster

    A mine explosion near Briceville, Tennessee, kills 84 miners despite rescue efforts led by the United States Bureau of Mines.

  4. 1917

    World War I

    World War I: Field Marshal Allenby captures Jerusalem from the Ottoman Empire.

  5. 1940

    World War II

    World War II: Operation Compass: British and Indian troops under the command of Major-General Richard O'Connor attack Italian forces near Sidi Barrani in Egypt.

  6. 1965

    Kecksburg UFO incident

    Kecksburg UFO incident: A fireball is seen from Michigan to Pennsylvania; with witnesses reporting something crashing in the woods near Pittsburgh.

  7. 1968

    Douglas Engelbart

    Douglas Engelbart gave what became known as "The Mother of All Demos", publicly debuting the computer mouse, hypertext, and the bit-mapped graphical user interface using the oN-Line System (NLS).

  8. 1969

    William P. Rogers

    U.S. Secretary of State William P. Rogers proposes his plan for a ceasefire in the War of Attrition; Egypt and Jordan accept it over the objections of the PLO, which leads to civil war in Jordan in September 1970.

  9. 1992

    Somalia

    American troops land in Somalia for Operation Restore Hope.

  10. 2016

    Park Geun-hye

    President Park Geun-hye of South Korea is impeached by the country's National Assembly in response to a major political scandal.

Famous birthday twins

Born on December 9

Carlo Azeglio Ciampi

b. 1920

Italian economist and politician, 10th President of Italy

Peter Kropotkin

b. 1842

Russian zoologist, economist, geographer, and philosopher

Stefen Fangmeier

b. 1960

American visual effects designer and director

Caroline Lucas

b. 1960

English activist and politician

Chenghua Emperor

b. 1447

of China

Grace Hopper

b. 1906

American admiral and computer scientist, designed COBOL

Tabitha Babbitt

b. 1779

American tool maker and inventor

Kirsten Gillibrand

b. 1966

American lawyer and politician

Deaths

  • 1996Alain Poher
  • 1932Karl Blossfeldt
  • 1830Heinrich Christian Friedrich Schumacher
  • 1544Teofilo Folengo
  • 1437Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor
  • 1117Gertrude of Brunswick

Holidays & observances

  • —Anna's Day, marks the day to start the preparation process of the lutefisk to be consumed on Christmas Eve, as well as a Swedish name day, celebrating all people named Anna. (Sweden and Finland)
  • —Armed Forces Day (Peru)
  • —Christian feast day: Feast of the Conception of the Most Holy Theotokos by St. Anne (Eastern Orthodox Church)
  • —Christian feast day: Hannah (biblical figure) (Eastern Orthodox Church)
  • —Christian feast day: Juan Diego
  • —Christian feast day: Leocadia
  • —Christian feast day: Nectarius of Auvergne
  • —Christian feast day: Peter Fourier

Historical facts, event summaries, and biographical lines above are adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) license. DateLore adds curation, structure, and original editorial commentary. DateLore is not affiliated with the Wikimedia Foundation.

About the author

Roman Tailor compiles and reviews every date on DateLore. He's the writer and editor behind the site's editorial essays and the day-by-day almanac. Corrections and questions are welcome — read more about DateLore or get in touch.

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