What happened on 8 September?

16 events from the Ever-When timeline, ranked by how much they mattered.

1. 1945 Division of Korea at the 38th parallel U.S. and Soviet forces occupy southern and northern halves of post-war Korea.
2. 1941 Siege of Leningrad Germans besiege Leningrad for 872 days; ~1 million civilians starve to death; longest siege of any modern major city.
3. 2022 Death of Queen Elizabeth II Queen dies at Balmoral aged 96 after 70-year reign; King Charles III accedes; vast state funeral at Westminster Abbey.
4. 1941 Siege of Leningrad begins German and Finnish forces encircle Leningrad, beginning a near-900-day siege.
5. 2022 Reign of Charles III Reign of Charles III as king of the United Kingdom, beginning on the death of Elizabeth II.
6. 1951 San Francisco Peace Treaty Formal end of state of war between Japan and 48 Allied nations; restores Japanese sovereignty.
7. 1886 Born: Siegfried Sassoon British war poet and decorated officer.
8. 1978 Black Friday massacre in Tehran The day after the Shah declares martial law, troops open fire on protesters in Jaleh Square — dozens die, rumour says thousands. Black Friday kills any hope of compromise: after th
9. 1962 First Soviet nuclear missiles reach Cuba The Soviet freighter Omsk docks in Cuba with the first R-12 medium-range ballistic missiles — days after Kennedy's public warning against exactly this. The nuclear warheads follow
10. 1974 Ford pardons Nixon A month into his presidency, Gerald Ford grants his predecessor a full and unconditional pardon for any crimes he may have committed in office, telling the country the national nig
11. 1943 Surrender of Italy Italy switched sides; Germans then occupied northern and central Italy.
12. 1917 Kornilov affair General Kornilov's attempted march on Petrograd to restore order; collapse leaves Bolsheviks armed and the Provisional Government discredited.
13. 1380 Battle of Kulikovo Dmitri Donskoi's Muscovite coalition defeats the Golden Horde, the first major Russian victory over the Mongols and a milestone in Moscow's rise.
14. 1841 Born: Antonín Dvořák Czech composer whose 'New World' Symphony fused folk and orchestral writing.
15. 1566 Siege of Szigetvár Suleiman the Magnificent dies in his tent as Nikola Zrínyi's tiny garrison makes a suicidal final charge; the 'battle that saved civilisation' stalls the Ottoman campaign.
16. 2023 Morocco earthquake A powerful quake in the High Atlas kills nearly 3,000, the deadliest in Morocco in over six decades.