Today is Wednesday; 19th of the Iranian month of Shahrivar 1399 solar hijri; corresponding to 20th of the Islamic month of Muharram 1442 lunar hijri; and September 9, 2020, of the Christian Gregorian Calendar.
1448 solar years ago, on this day in 572 AD, the 7-year war broke out between the Persian Empire and the Byzantine or Eastern Roman Empire with the invasion of Sassanid territories by Emperor Justin II, who eventually suffered a shattering defeat at the hands of the Iranian Emperor, Khosrow I Anushiravan. Justin was forced to abdicate and was succeeded by Tiberius as the new emperor. The Romans paid 45,000 gold coins to Iran as war reparations.
1381 lunar years ago, on this day in 61 AH, burial of the body of the Christian freedman Jown bin Huway, a former black Nubian slave of the Prophet’s loyal companion, Abu Dhar al-Ghifari, who was martyred in Karbala on the epic day of Ashura, in defence of Islam and Imam Husain (AS), took place. When Abu Dharr was exiled from Medina to the Rabadha desert by Othman ibn Affan, he went to the Commander of the Faithful, Imam Ali ibn Abi Taleb, who invited him to stay on as his companion. On the martyrdom of Imam Ali (AS) in 40 AH, Jown stayed with the Prophet’s elder grandson Imam Hasan (AS) and on the martyrdom of the latter in 50 AH, he joined Imam Husain (AS). When Imam Husain (AS) left Medina Jown insisted on accompanying him. At Karbala, Jown could always be seen at the side of Hussein. He was an old man, dark with gray curly hair. Because of his profound knowledge and pleasant manners he was greatly respected. On the night before Ashura, Imam Husain (AS) urged Jown to go away and seek safety, to which he replied: How is it fair that I benefit from your company and hospitality but abandon you in your hardship?
879 solar years ago, on this day in 1141 AD, Yelu Dashi, the Mongol Liao dynasty general who founded the Qara-Khitai dynasty in the northern parts of Central Asia, defeated the combined army of the Iran-based Seljuqid Empire and its Qara-Khanid vassals at the Battle of Qatwan near Samarqand, in what is now the Republic of Uzbekistan. The decisive defeat, with Sultan Ahmad Sanjar barely escaping alive, signalled the beginning of the end of the Great Seljuq Empire.
527 solar years ago, on this day in 1493 AD, Ottoman Sultan, Bayezid II defeated a joint army of the kingdoms of Croatia and Hungary at the Battle of Krbava, a part of Lika region in southern Croatia. The Ottoman forces were led by Khadem Yaqub Pasha, the Governor of Bosnia.
500 lunar years ago, on this day in 942 AH, the Spanish Christians led by King Charles V seized the Islamic city of Tunis on the North African coast from the Ottoman Turks and perpetrated a heinous massacre of at least 30,000 Muslims. The stench of the corpses was such that Spanish king soon left Tunis by placing Molay Hassan as a client ruler. The Spanish also took thousands of women and children as slaves, and set on fire tens of thousands of books and rare manuscripts.
435 solar years ago, on this day in 1585 AD, French clergyman and statesman, Armand Jean du Plessis, Cardinal-Duke of Richelieu, was born.
281 solar years ago, on this day in 1739 AD, the Stono Rebellion, the largest uprising of the enslaved black people in Britain’s North American colonies, erupted near Charleston, South Carolina.  The uprising was led by Africans who were likely from the Kingdom of Congo. Their leader, Jemmy (referred to in some reports as "Cato”) was a literate person who led other enslaved Africans, who may have been former soldiers, in an armed march south from the Stono River. After crushing the rebellion, the British executed most of the captured blacks and sold the few survivors in the West Indies.
229 solar years ago, on this day in 1791 AD, Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States, was named after President George Washington.
192 solar years ago, on this day in 1828 AD, Russian author and literary figure, Leo Tolstoy, was born. He joined the Caucasian army and wrote his first novel: "Childhood”. Later he left the army, and spent all his time studying and writing novels. Among his most important works, mention can be made of "Anna Karenina” and "War and Peace”. Tolstoy died in the year 1910.
174 lunar years ago, on this day in 1268 AH, the highly efficient Prime Minister of Iran, Mirza Taqi Khan Amir Kabir, was dismissed from his post by Naser od-Din Shah Qajar, following court intrigues by local agents of foreign powers, on loss of their illegal interests, because of his political and administrative reforms. Rising from the lower rungs of the society through hard work, honesty, and voracious appetite for knowledge and new techniques, his achievements include the vaccination of Iranians against smallpox, economic development of the fertile Khuzestan Province, foundation in Tehran of the Dar ol-Fonoun Academy which taught medicine, surgery, pharmacology, natural history, mathematics, geology, and natural science to train the civilian and military staff, cancellation of the one-sided treaties with the Russians and the British, promotion of education, launching of a newspaper, and above all the timely crackdown on the seditious Babi-Bahai plot against Islam and the country, resulting in the execution of the heretic Mohammad Ali Bab. In the end, Amir Kabir was martyred in Kashan and with him died the prospects of an independent Iran led by meritocracy.
165 solar years ago, on this day in 1855 AD, during the last phase of the Crimean War, the Siege of Sevastopol ended when Russian forces abandoned the city..
98 solar years ago, on this day in 1922 AD, the 3-year long Greek invasion of Turkey ended with Turkish victory over the Greeks in Smyrna near Izmir.
75 solar years ago, on this day in 1945 AD Japanese occupation troops in China laid down their arms and decided to withdraw. The victory was the outcome of the unification of the armed communist forces and the Chinese state army. The Empire of Japan formally surrendered to China.
72 solar years ago, on this day in 1948 AD, following the end of World War II, withdrawal of Japanese occupation forces, and occupation of the southern half of the Korean Peninsula by the US, North Korea declared its independence. Less than a month earlier, American-occupied South Korea had announced its independence. North Korea shares borders with Russia and China to the north, and South Korea to the south. It covers an area of over 120,000 sq km.
44 solar years ago, on this day in 1976 AD, China’s communist leader, Mao Zedong, died at the age of 83.
41 solar years ago, on this day in 1979 AD, the prominent Iranian religious scholar and exegete of the Holy Qur’an, Ayatollah Seyyed Mahmoud Taleqani, passed away due to heart attack at the age of 74. He was a prolific writer and among his works is an exegesis of several surahs of the Holy Qur’an as well as a book titled "System of Ownership in Islam”.
38 solar years ago, on this day in 1982 AD, the prominent jurisprudent, Ayatollah Zia od-Din Amoli, passed away at the age of 78 after a long period of illness in his hometown Tehran. He was a staunch supporter of the Islamic Revolution against the repressive Pahlavi regime.
29 solar years ago, on this day in 1991 AD, the Central Asian country of Tajikistan declared its independence from the Soviet Union.
19 solar years ago, on this day in 2001 AD, former Afghan defence minister, Ahmad Shah Massoud, and leader of the Persian speaking ethnic Tajiks, was assassinated at the age of 49 by two al-Qaeda terrorists disguised as Arab journalists wanting an interview. A brilliant military tactician, known as "Shir-e Panjshir” (Lion of Panjshir Valley), he fought the Soviet communist forces for ten years from 1979. He also successfully fought the Taliban terrorist militia, which had seized power in Kabul.