9 April 1956

Myanmar civil war: Burmese military and police forces killed at least 82 civilians in the Bago massacre, including people protesting a recent coup d'état.

Prince Philip, the consort of Queen Elizabeth II, died at Windsor Castle aged 99.

Charles, Prince of Wales, married Camilla Parker Bowles in a civil ceremony at the Windsor Guildhall.

Invasion of Iraq: Coalition forces captured Baghdad and the statue of Saddam Hussein in Firdos Square was toppled.

Ibrahim Baré Maïnassara, President of Niger, was shot dead by soldiers in Niamey.

Iranian filmmaker Morteza Avini was killed by a land mine in Fakkeh while producing a documentary.

Iraqi philosopher Muhammad Baqir al-Sadr (pictured) and his sister Amina were executed by the regime of Saddam Hussein.

The first EMD F40PH, Amtrak's most widespread diesel locomotive for many years, entered into service.

The Boeing 737 took its maiden flight, eventually becoming the most produced commercial passenger jet airliner in the world.

NASA announced the selection of the Mercury Seven, the first astronauts in Project Mercury.

Palestine war: Fighters from the Zionist paramilitary groups Irgun and Lehi attacked the village of Deir Yassin near Jerusalem, killing more than 100 Palestinian Arabs.

Sixteen white and black men began a two-week journey in the American South, acting in defiance of local laws that enforced segregated seating on public buses.

The Glazier–Higgins–Woodward tornadoes killed 181 people and injured 970 others in Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas.

The German heavy cruiser Admiral Scheer (pictured), the most successful capital-ship surface raider of the Second World War, was sunk by British bombers in port in Kiel.

World War II: Japanese forces defeated Allied troops at the Battle of Bataan in the Philippines before beginning to forcibly transfer more than 90,000 prisoners of war to prison camps in the Bataan Death March.

World War II: During the German invasion of Norway, Vidkun Quisling attempted to seize power in the first coup to be broadcast over radio.

After being denied permission to perform at Constitution Hall by the Daughters of the American Revolution, African-American singer Marian Anderson gave an open-air concert on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C.

First World War: The Canadian Corps began the first wave of attacks of the Battle of Vimy Ridge in Vimy, France.

Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville recorded himself singing "Au clair de la lune" on his phonautograph, producing the oldest known recording of an audible human voice (audio featured).

Despite being vastly outnumbered, forces of the Old Swiss Confederacy defeated an Austrian army at the Battle of Näfels.

Basiliscus issued the Enkyklikon, a circular letter to bishops supporting the Monophysitism position.

Year of the Five Emperors: Septimius Severus was proclaimed Roman emperor by his troops at Carnuntum in modern-day Austria.

Burmese military and security forces commit the Bago massacre, during which at least 82 civilians are killed.

Soyuz MS-18 is launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, carrying three members of the Expedition 64 crew to the International Space Station.