This day in history: 9 march

1074: Pope Gregory VII excommunicated all married priests, marking a pivotal moment in the enforcement of clerical celibacy within the Catholic Church.
1617: The Treaty of Stolbovo ended Swedish occupation of northern Russia, solidifying Russian sovereignty over the region.
1909: The French Chamber of Deputies passed a landmark income tax law, establishing a systematic approach to taxation in France.
1941: The Italian Spring Offensive began during the Greco-Italian War, with Benito Mussolini announcing his personal command in Albania. On the same day, German aircraft bombed London, damaging Buckingham Palace and other locations.

1841: The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in the Amistad case, declaring that African captives who had seized control of the slave ship were illegally enslaved and thus free. This decision was a landmark in the fight against slavery.
1862: The Battle of the Monitor and Merrimack (CSS Virginia) took place during the American Civil War. This was the first clash between ironclad warships, signaling a revolutionary shift in naval warfare.
1933: Amid the Great Depression, President Franklin D. Roosevelt submitted the Emergency Banking Act to Congress as part of his “First 100 Days” of New Deal legislation to stabilize the banking system.
1945: The U.S. launched Operation Meetinghouse, a devastating firebombing raid on Tokyo that killed over 100,000 people, making it one of the deadliest air raids in history.

1945: The Japanese coup d’état in French Indochina took place during World War II. Known as Meigō Sakusen (Operation Bright Moon), Japan dismantled French colonial control in Indochina (modern-day Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia). This led to the establishment of puppet states such as the Empire of Vietnam, Kingdom of Kampuchea, and Kingdom of Luang Prabang under Japanese direction.

1957: The Pittsburgh Courier celebrated Ghana’s independence from Britain on March 6, 1957, marking the emergence of the first sub-Saharan African nation to gain independence from colonial rule. This event was widely celebrated across the African diaspora and symbolized a significant step toward decolonization on the continent.
2025: Health authorities in the Democratic Republic of Congo reported 242 cholera cases and 10 deaths in the Ruzizi and Uvira health zones over the past week. The outbreak highlighted ongoing public health challenges in the region.