What happened on December 9 ?

1425 - The Catholic University of Leuven is founded

1531 - First apparition of the Virgin Mary (Our Lady of Guadalupe) to Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin on Tepeyac Hill

1793 - New York City's first daily newspaper, the American Minerva, is established by Noah Webster.

1824 - Battle of Ayacucho: Peruvian nationalists led by Antonio José de Sucre defeat Spanish colonial forces and secure the independence of Peru.

1835 - The Republic of Texas captures San Antonio.

1851 - The first YMCA in North America is established in Montreal, Quebec.

1856 - The Iranian city of Bushehr surrenders to occupying British forces.

1861 - American Civil War: The Joint Committee on the Conduct of the War is established by the U.S. Congress.

1872 - In Louisiana, P. B. S. Pinchback becomes the first serving African-American governor of a U.S. state.

1875 - Massachusetts Rifle Association "America's Oldest Active Gun Club" is founded.

1888 - Statistician Herman Hollerith installs his self-designed computing device at the United States War Department.

1897 - Activist Marguerite Durand founds the feminist daily newspaper, La Fronde in Paris.

1905 - In France, the law separating church and state is passed.

1931 - The Constituent Cortes approves the constitution which establishes the Second Spanish Republic.

1937 - Second Sino-Japanese War: Battle of Nanjing - Japanese troops under the command of Lt. Gen. Asaka Yasuhiko launch an assault on the Chinese city of Nanjing.

1940 - 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.

1941 - World War II: The Republic of China, Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea and Cuba declare war on Germany and Japan.

1945 - General George S. Patton is injured in an automobile crash in occupied Germany. He dies twelve days later.

1946 - The "Trials of War Criminals before the Nuremberg Military Tribunals" began with the "Doctors' Trial", prosecuting doctors alleged to be involved in human experimentation.

1950 - Harry Gold is sentenced to thirty years in jail for helping Klaus Fuchs pass information about the Manhattan Project to the Soviet Union. His testimony is later instrumental in the prosecution of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg.

1953 - Red Scare: General Electric announces that all communist employees will be discharged from the company

1958 - Red Scare: The John Birch Society founded in the United States.

1960 - The first episode of ITV soap-opera Coronation Street is aired.

1961 - The trial of Nazi Adolf Eichmann in Israel ends with him being found guilty of 15 criminal charges, including charges of crimes against humanity, crimes against the Jewish people and membership of an outlawed organization.

1961 - Tanganyika becomes independent from Britain.

1965 - Kecksburg UFO incident

1969 - Groundbreaking of Washington, D.C.'s Metrorail system.

1981 - Philadelphia police officer Daniel Faulkner is shot and killed during a routine traffic stop of a vehicle driven by William Cook, Abu-Jamal's younger brother.

1982 - Activist Norman Mayer threatens to blow up the Washington Monument, before being killed by United States Park Police.

1987 - Israeli-Palestinian conflict: The First Intifada begins in the Gaza Strip and West Bank

1990 - Lech Wa??sa becomes the first directly elected president of Poland.

1992 - The separation of Charles, Prince of Wales and Diana, Princess of Wales is announced