August 9 in History

Julius Caesar met Pompey at Pharsalus in August 48 BC, and it was over in hours. Pompey had the larger army. Caesar had positioned himself on lower ground, which looked like a disadvantage. When Pompey's cavalry charged, Caesar's hidden fourth line pivoted and counterattacked directly into their faces. Pompey's men broke. He fled to Egypt. Caesar followed. Pompey was murdered before Caesar arrived.

Visigoth cavalry encircled and annihilated a massive Roman army at Adrianople, killing Emperor Valens and over half his troops in the deadliest Roman military defeat in four centuries. The catastrophe exposed the empire's inability to contain migrating Germanic peoples and accelerated Rome's reliance on barbarian federates for its own defense.

Bulgaria was founded as a Khanate in 681 AD after Khan Asparuh's forces defeated the Byzantine army near the Danube delta. Emperor Constantine IV recognized the new state in a treaty — the first time Byzantium had acknowledged a barbarian kingdom carved from what it considered its own territory. The state Asparuh founded still exists, making Bulgaria one of the oldest continuously-named political entities in Europe.

Construction began on the campanile of the Cathedral of Pisa — now known as the Leaning Tower of Pisa — a project that would take nearly 200 years to complete. The tower began tilting during construction due to soft ground on one side, and that structural flaw made it one of the most visited monuments in the world.

Quilon was designated as the first Indian Christian diocese in 1329 by Pope John XXII, with the French Dominican friar Jordanus of Sévérac appointed bishop. Christianity had existed in southwest India for over a thousand years before this — the Thomas Christians traced their community back to the apostle Thomas. What changed in 1329 was Rome's official claim to jurisdiction. The local Christians weren't entirely sure how to feel about that.

Robert Holmes took 21 English warships into the Dutch harbor at Vlie on August 9, 1666, and burned 150 merchant vessels. Two days later, his men landed on Terschelling and torched the town. The Dutch called it Holmes's Bonfire. England called it a significant strategic victory. The Second Anglo-Dutch War was still going. It ended the following year with the Dutch fleet sailing up the Thames.

The Treaty of Fort Jackson forced the Creek Nation to cede roughly 23 million acres — half of present-day Alabama and part of southern Georgia — to the United States after their defeat in the Creek War. The treaty, imposed by Andrew Jackson, opened vast lands to white settlement and cotton cultivation, accelerating the expansion of the slave economy.

The Webster-Ashburton Treaty of 1842 settled the northeastern boundary between the United States and Canada — a line that had been disputed since the 1783 Treaty of Paris. The two countries nearly went to war over it in 1838 during what was called the Aroostook War, though no shots were fired. The 1842 treaty drew the line and stayed drawn. Both governments claimed they'd gotten the better deal.

Confederate General Stonewall Jackson narrowly defeated Union forces under General John Pope at Cedar Mountain, Virginia, after a fierce counterattack reversed an initial Federal breakthrough. The battle tested Jackson's defensive resilience and bought time for Robert E. Lee to concentrate Confederate forces for the Second Battle of Bull Run weeks later.

Colonel John Gibbon's troops launched a dawn raid on a sleeping Nez Perce camp at Big Hole, killing dozens of women, children, and elders before warriors rallied and pinned down the attackers for two days. The brutal encounter hardened Nez Perce resolve during their 1,170-mile fighting retreat toward Canada under Chief Joseph.

Edward VII and Alexandra of Denmark were crowned King and Queen of the United Kingdom after Edward waited longer than any heir in British history — until then — to ascend the throne (his mother Victoria reigned 63 years). The coronation was delayed from June due to the King's emergency appendectomy.