July 9
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1807: Napoleon Bonaparte signs the second Treaty of Tilsit
French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte signed the second Treaty of Tilsit with Russia and Prussia following victories at Jena and Friedland. France and Russia were now allies, and Prussia was largely left to its fate. It was yet another episode in the Napoleonic Wars and the emperor’s attempts to dominate Europe. Perhaps more interesting than the treaty? The rabbit hunt that followed. Read on for that story in which rabbits sent Napoleon running.
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Featured Event
Pictures from History—Universal Images Group/Getty Images
Catherine the Great assumed power
Catherine the Great overthrew Peter III on this day in 1762 and began her reign as empress of Russia, leading her country into full participation in the political and cultural life of Europe and extending Russian territory. [Test your knowledge of Russian history.]
Featured Biography
Featured Biography
© Daniel Gluskoter/Getty Images
Born this day in 1947, O.J. Simpson was an outstanding football running back, winning the 1968 Heisman Trophy and setting an NFL single-season record for rushing yards. By the end of his life, he was better known for a 1995 trial in which he was acquitted of murder charges.
Famous Birthdays
More on July 9
© Joe Sohm/Dreamstime.com
2019
American businessman and politician Ross Perot—who ran for U.S. president as an independent in 1992, receiving some 19 percent of the popular vote—died at age 89. [How much do you know about U.S. presidential elections?]
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
2011
South Sudan declared its independence after a referendum to secede from Sudan passed overwhelmingly.
© s_bukley/Shutterstock.com
2002
Fearing that there would not be enough eligible players to continue, Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig stopped the annual All-Star Game in the 11th inning with the score tied at 7–7. [Find out which MLB team has won the most World Series.]
© 2003/British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)
2001
The British TV series The Office, created and written by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, debuted on the BBC. It became a huge hit, spawning a popular American version and making Gervais a star.
© Northfoto/Shutterstock.com
1995
American psychedelic rock band the Grateful Dead performed their last concert, at Soldier Field in Chicago; lead guitarist and vocalist Jerry Garcia died the following month. [Take our quiz about musical groups.]
Naval Historical Center/U.S. Navy
1960
The Thresher, the first of a class of U.S. nuclear-powered attack submarines, was launched; it sank in 1963 in the worst submarine accident in history. [Sort fact from fiction in our quiz about submarines, ships, and other watercraft.]
© Francois Duhamel—Participant Media, LLC
1956
American actor Tom Hanks, best known for his cheerful everyman persona, was born in California.
© David Redfern—Redferns/Retna Ltd.
1955
Rock Around the Clock by Bill Haley and His Comets became the first rock-and-roll single to hit number one on Billboard’s pop charts. [Take our quiz about rock and roll.]
© Dinodia Photos/Alamy
1925
Hindi motion-picture producer, director, writer, and actor Guru Dutt, one of the best-known and most-accomplished stylists of Bollywood’s golden age, was born. [What’s the highest-grossing Indian film ever made?]
New York World-Telegram and the Sun Newspaper Photograph Collection, Library of Congress (negative no. LC-USZ62-118106)
1911
Physicist John Archibald Wheeler, the first American involved in the theoretical development of the atomic bomb and the originator of the term black hole, was born. [How much do you know about physics?]
Culver Pictures
1856
Nikola Tesla—a Serbian American inventor and researcher who discovered the rotating magnetic field, the basis of most alternating-current machinery—was born this day (or the next) in Smiljan, Croatia. [Take our quiz about scientists and inventors.]
Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. (neg. no. LC-USZ62-13012)
1850
Zachary Taylor, 12th president of the United States, died, only 16 months after taking office. [Test your knowledge of U.S. presidents.]
National Portrait Gallery, Washington, D.C.; Smithsonian Institution Conserved with funds from the Smithsonian Women's Committee (object no. NPG.92.120)
1828
American painter Gilbert Stuart, who was one of the great portrait painters of his era and the creator of a distinctively American portrait style, died at age 72. [Sort fact from fiction in our artists and painters quiz.]
José Lazarte
1816
Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. (reproduction no. LC-DIG-pga-0288)
1776
General George Washington ordered the Declaration of Independence—approved by the Continental Congress just five days earlier—to be read aloud to his army.
Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. (LC-DIG-ds-05283)
1755
General Edward Braddock’s British army was thoroughly defeated in the Battle of the Monongahela during the French and Indian War. [Take our history of war quiz.]
© Giraudon/Art Resource, New York
1540
The marriage of King Henry VIII of England and Anne of Cleves—the fourth of his six wives—was annulled. [Take our quiz about Henry VIII and his wives.]