164 years ago today
Battle of Hampton Roads: Ironclads Clash for the First Time
On March 9, 1862, the USS Monitor and the CSS Virginia — the Union's revolutionary turret-gun warship and the Confederacy's rebuilt iron-plated behemoth — fought to a draw in Hampton Roads, Virginia, in the first ever battle between two ironclad warships. The engagement lasted approximately four hours, with neither vessel able to decisively wound the other. The battle rendered wooden warships obsolete overnight and ignited a global arms race among the world's navies. Both sides claimed a tactical victory, but the strategic outcome clearly favored the Union, which had protected its blockading fleet. The clash transformed naval warfare more profoundly than any engagement since the introduction of the cannon.
This day, across time
- 141 CEEventEmperor Wu of Han Assumes the Throne
- 1454BornAmerigo Vespucci
- 1500EventCabral's Fleet Sails for the Indies — and Finds Brazil
- 1776EventAdam Smith Publishes The Wealth of Nations
- 1796EventNapoleon Marries Joséphine de Beauharnais
- 1814BornTaras Shevchenko
- 1841EventAmistad Ruling: Supreme Court Frees Enslaved Africans
- 1862FeaturedBattle of Hampton Roads: Ironclads Clash for the First Time
- 1890BornVyacheslav Molotov
- 1892BornVita Sackville-West
- 1910BornSamuel Barber
- 1933EventRoosevelt Submits First New Deal Legislation
- 1945EventFirebombing of Tokyo Kills Over 100,000
- 1954EventMurrow's Report Challenges McCarthyism
- 1959EventBarbie Doll Makes Its World Debut
- 2020EventItaly Announces World's First National COVID-19 Lockdown
Alive in 1862
OverlapSame years; not influence
Abraham Lincolnturned 53 this year
Charles John Huffam Dickensturned 50 this year
Charles Robert Darwinturned 53 this year
Friedrich Nietzscheturned 18 this year
Karl Marxturned 44 this year
Nikola Teslaturned 6 this year
Oscar Wildeturned 8 this year
Otto von Bismarckturned 47 this year
Queen Victoriaturned 43 this year
Rabindranath Tagoreturned 1 this year
9 more figures were alive that year
Step into the moment
Simulation · scenario
The Wealth of Nations Goes on Sale
Kirkcaldy, Fife, Scotland
Adam Smith, March 9, 1776. A simulation set on this date. The figure doesn’t know how the day ends.
On This Day in History
10 EventsEmperor Wu of Han Assumes the Throne
Liu Che, posthumously known as Emperor Wu of Han, assumes the throne over the Han dynasty of China, beginning one of the most expansive and influential reigns in Chinese history.
Cabral's Fleet Sails for the Indies — and Finds Brazil
The fleet of Pedro Álvares Cabral departs Lisbon bound for the Indies. It will accidentally discover Brazil, which falls within the boundaries granted to Portugal under the Treaty of Tordesillas.
Adam Smith Publishes The Wealth of Nations
Scottish philosopher Adam Smith publishes The Wealth of Nations, a landmark text that laid the intellectual foundation for free-market capitalism and the classical period of political economy.
Napoleon Marries Joséphine de Beauharnais
Napoléon Bonaparte marries his first wife, Joséphine de Beauharnais, in a civil ceremony in Paris. The union would shape much of Napoléon's personal and political life for years to come.
Amistad Ruling: Supreme Court Frees Enslaved Africans
The U.S. Supreme Court rules in United States v. The Amistad that captive Africans who seized control of the ship carrying them had been taken into slavery illegally and were entitled to their freedom.
Roosevelt Submits First New Deal Legislation
President Franklin D. Roosevelt submits the Emergency Banking Act to Congress, the opening salvo of his New Deal policies aimed at pulling the United States out of the Great Depression.
Firebombing of Tokyo Kills Over 100,000
Allied forces carry out a massive overnight firebombing raid on Tokyo, destroying large sections of the Japanese capital and killing over 100,000 civilians in one of history's deadliest air attacks.
Murrow's Report Challenges McCarthyism
CBS broadcasts the See It Now episode 'A Report on Senator Joseph McCarthy,' produced by Edward R. Murrow and Fred Friendly, a landmark moment in television journalism that helped turn public opinion against the red-baiting senator.
Barbie Doll Makes Its World Debut
The Barbie doll makes its debut at the American International Toy Fair in New York City, launching one of the best-selling and most culturally influential toys in history.
Italy Announces World's First National COVID-19 Lockdown
Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte announces and signs a decree imposing a nationwide COVID-19 lockdown — the first of its kind anywhere in the world — as the pandemic began overwhelming Italian hospitals.
Born on This Day
Amerigo Vespucci
Explorer and cartographer, namesake of the Americas
Amerigo Vespucci was an Italian navigator and explorer whose voyages to the New World convinced European scholars that Columbus had reached a previously unknown continent, not Asia. His name was ultimately applied to the entire Western Hemisphere in his honor.
Vyacheslav Molotov
Soviet Minister of Foreign Affairs
Vyacheslav Molotov was one of the most powerful figures in the Soviet Union under Stalin, serving as Foreign Minister during World War II. He is perhaps best known for co-signing the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact with Nazi Germany and for the incendiary device that bears his name.
Vita Sackville-West
English author, poet, and gardener
Vita Sackville-West was a prolific English writer and passionate horticulturalist best known for her poetry, her novels, and her decades-long creation of the celebrated garden at Sissinghurst Castle. Her letters and relationship with Virginia Woolf have become the subject of extensive literary study.
Samuel Barber
American composer and pianist
Samuel Barber was one of the most celebrated American composers of the 20th century, known especially for his deeply lyrical style. His Adagio for Strings, composed in 1936, became one of the most widely performed and emotionally resonant pieces in the classical repertoire.
Taras Shevchenko
Ukrainian national poet and playwright
Taras Shevchenko was born into serfdom and became Ukraine's most revered literary figure. His poetry, written in the Ukrainian vernacular, helped forge a distinct Ukrainian national identity and inspired generations of independence movements.
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