January 9 in history — What Happened Today in History

First Chechen War: Chechen separatists launch a raid against the helicopter airfield and later a civilian hospital in the city of Kizlyar in the neighboring Dagestan, which turns into a massive hostage crisis involving thousands of civilians.

The Assembly of the Serb People in Bosnia and Herzegovina proclaims the creation of Republika Srpska, a new state within Yugoslavia.

The first discoveries of extrasolar planets are announced by astronomers Aleksander Wolszczan and Dale Frail. They discovered two planets orbiting the pulsar PSR 1257+12.

Representatives from the United States and Iraq meet at the Geneva Peace Conference to try to find a peaceful resolution to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait.

Martyrs' Day: Several Panamanian youths try to raise the Panamanian flag in the U.S.-controlled Panama Canal Zone, leading to fighting between U.S. military and Panamanian civilians.

Apollo program: NASA announces plans to build the C-5 rocket launch vehicle, then known as the "Advanced Saturn", to carry human beings to the Moon.

British authorities announce they have uncovered the Soviet Portland spy ring in London.

President of Egypt Gamal Abdel Nasser opens construction on the Aswan Dam by detonating ten tons of dynamite to demolish twenty tons of granite on the east bank of the Nile.

The Vega de Tera dam fails, triggering a disastrous flood that nearly destroys the town of Ribadelago and kills 144 residents.

British Prime Minister Sir Anthony Eden resigns from office following his failure to retake the Suez Canal from Egyptian sovereignty.

World War II: The Sixth United States Army begins the invasion of Lingayen Gulf.

World War II: First flight of the Avro Lancaster.

The Kingdom of Italy would officially the coastal areas of its Colony of Libya as an integral part of the country itself, becoming the nation's Fourth Shore.

A fire at the Laurier Palace movie theatre in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, kills 78 children.

Juan de la Cierva makes the first autogyro flight.

Lithuanian residents of the Memel Territory rebel against the League of Nations' decision to leave the area as a mandated region under French control.

Greco-Turkish War: The First Battle of İnönü, the first battle of the war, begins near Eskişehir in Anatolia.

Ukrainian War of Independence: The All-Ukrainian Central Executive Committee outlaws the Makhnovshchina by decree, igniting the Bolshevik–Makhnovist conflict.

Battle of Bear Valley: The last battle of the American Indian Wars.

World War I: The Battle of Rafa is fought near the Egyptian border with Palestine.

World War I: The Battle of Gallipoli concludes with an Ottoman Empire victory when the last Allied forces are evacuated from the peninsula.

The Phi Beta Sigma fraternity is founded by African-American students at Howard University in Washington D.C., United States.

Ernest Shackleton, leading the Nimrod Expedition to the South Pole, plants the British flag 97 nautical miles (180 km; 112 mi) from the South Pole, the farthest anyone had ever reached at that time.

Hallam Tennyson, 2nd Baron Tennyson, son of the poet Alfred Tennyson, becomes the second Governor-General of Australia.

Umberto I becomes King of Italy.

American Civil War: "Star of the West" incident occurs near Charleston, South Carolina.

Mississippi becomes the second state to secede from the Union before the outbreak of the American Civil War.

British forces finally defeat Rajab Ali Khan of Chittagong.

Nicola Peltz, American actress

Radek Faksa, Czech ice hockey player

Katarina Johnson-Thompson, English long jumper and heptathlete

Marcus Peters, American football player

Jack Campbell, American ice hockey player

Terrence Jones, American basketball player

Joseph Parker, Samoan heavyweight boxer

Ruby Soho, American wrestler

Álvaro Soler, Spanish singer-songwriter

Michael Beasley, American basketball player

Nina Dobrev, Bulgarian-Canadian actress

Yana Maksimava, Belarusian heptathlete

Samardo Samuels, Jamaican-American basketball player

Michel Jeury, French author (born 1934)

Józef Oleksy, Polish economist and politician, 7th Prime Minister of Poland (born 1946)

Abdul Rahman Ya'kub, Malaysian politician, 3rd Chief Minister of Sarawak (born 1928)

Roy Tarpley, American basketball player (born 1964)

Amiri Baraka, American poet, playwright, and academic (born 1934)

Josep Maria Castellet, Spanish poet and critic (born 1926)

Paul du Toit, South African painter and sculptor (born 1965)

Dale T. Mortensen, American economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1939)

Brigitte Askonas, Austrian-English immunologist and academic (born 1923)

James M. Buchanan, American economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1919)

Robert L. Rock, American businessman and politician, 42nd Lieutenant Governor of Indiana (born 1927)

John Wise, Canadian farmer and politician, 23rd Canadian Minister of Agriculture (born 1935)

Brian Curvis, Welsh boxer (born 1937)