March 19

Historic Events

2023

The Swiss Government brokers a deal for UBS to buy out rival Credit Suisse in an attempt to calm the 2023 banking crisis. ›

2019

The first President of Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbayev, resigns from office after nearly three decades, leaving Senate Chairman Kassym-Jomart Tokayev as the acting President and successor. ›

2016

Flydubai Flight 981 crashes while attempting to land at Rostov-on-Don international airport, killing all 62 on board. ›

2016

An explosion occurs in Taksim Square in Istanbul, Turkey, killing five people and injuring 36. ›

2013

A series of bombings and shootings kills at least 98 people and injures 240 others across Iraq. ›

2011

Libyan Civil War: After the failure of Muammar Gaddafi's forces to take Benghazi, the French Air Force launches Opération Harmattan, beginning foreign military intervention in Libya. ›

2008

GRB 080319B: A cosmic burst that is the farthest object visible to the naked eye is briefly observed. ›

2004

Catalina affair: A Swedish DC-3 shot down by a Soviet MiG-15 in 1952 over the Baltic Sea is finally recovered after years of work. ›

2004

March 19 Shooting Incident: The Republic of China (Taiwan) president Chen Shui-bian is shot just before the country's presidential election on March 20. ›

2004

The Konginkangas bus disaster kills 23 and injures 14 people in Äänekoski, Finland. ›

2003

United States President George W. Bush addresses the nation, announcing the invasion of Iraq. ›

1998

An Ariana Afghan Airlines Boeing 727 crashes on approach to Kabul International Airport, killing all 45 on board. ›

1990

The ethnic clashes of Târgu Mureș begin four days after the anniversary of the Revolutions of 1848 in the Austrian Empire. ›

1989

The Egyptian flag is raised at Taba, marking the end of Israeli occupation since the Six Days War in 1967 and the Egypt–Israel peace treaty in 1979. ›

1982

Falklands War: Argentinian forces land on South Georgia Island, precipitating war with the United Kingdom. ›

1979

The United States House of Representatives begins broadcasting its day-to-day business via the cable television network C-SPAN. ›

1969

The 385-metre-tall (1,263 ft) TV-mast at Emley Moor transmitting station, United Kingdom, collapses due to ice build-up. ›

1965

The wreck of the SS Georgiana, valued at over $50,000,000 and said to have been the most powerful Confederate cruiser, is discovered by teenage diver and pioneer underwater archaeologist E. Lee Spence, exactly 102 years after its destruction. ›

1964

Over 500,000 Brazilians attend the March of the Family with God for Liberty, in protest against the government of João Goulart and against communism. ›

1962

The Algerian War of Independence ends. ›

1958

The Monarch Underwear Company fire leaves 24 dead and 15 injured. ›

1946

French Guiana, Guadeloupe, Martinique, and Réunion become overseas départements of France. ›

1945

World War II: Off the coast of Japan, a dive bomber hits the aircraft carrier USS Franklin, killing 724 of her crew. Badly damaged, the ship is able to return to the US under her own power. ›

1945

World War II: Adolf Hitler issues his "Nero Decree" ordering all industries, military installations, shops, transportation facilities, and communications facilities in Germany to be destroyed. ›

1944

World War II: The German army occupies Hungary. ›

1943

Frank Nitti, the Chicago Outfit Boss after Al Capone, commits suicide at the Chicago Central Railyard. ›

1932

The Sydney Harbour Bridge is opened. ›

1921

Irish War of Independence: One of the biggest engagements of the war takes place at Crossbarry, County Cork. About 100 Irish Republican Army (IRA) volunteers escape an attempt by over 1,300 British forces to encircle them. ›

1920

The United States Senate rejects the Treaty of Versailles for the second time (the first time was on November 19, 1919). ›

1918

The US Congress establishes time zones and approves daylight saving time. ›

1885

Louis Riel declares a provisional government in Saskatchewan, beginning the North-West Rebellion. ›

1831

First documented bank heist in U.S. history, when burglars steal $245,000 (1831 values) from the City Bank (now Citibank) on Wall Street. Most of the money was recovered. ›

1824

American explorer Benjamin Morrell departs Antarctica after a voyage later plagued by claims of fraud. ›

1812

The Cortes of Cádiz promulgates the Spanish Constitution of 1812. ›

1808

Charles IV, king of Spain, abdicates after riots and a popular revolt at the winter palace Aranjuez. His son, Ferdinand VII, takes the throne. ›

1687

Explorer Robert Cavelier de La Salle, searching for the mouth of the Mississippi River, is murdered by his own men. ›

1649

The House of Commons of England passes an act abolishing the House of Lords, declaring it "useless and dangerous to the people of England". ›

1563

The Edict of Amboise is signed, ending the first phase of the French Wars of Religion and granting certain freedoms to the Huguenots. ›

1452

Frederick III of Habsburg is the last Holy Roman Emperor crowned by medieval tradition in Rome by Pope Nicholas V. ›

1284

The Statute of Rhuddlan incorporates the Principality of Wales into England. ›

1279

A Mongol victory at the Battle of Yamen ends the Song dynasty in China. ›

1277

The Byzantine–Venetian treaty of 1277 is concluded, stipulating a two-year truce and renewing Venetian commercial privileges in the Byzantine Empire. ›

1227

Election of Ugolino di Conti as Pope Gregory IX following the death of Pope Honorius III. ›

1205

Latin forces under Henry of Flanders defeat a Nicaean army under Constantine Laskaris in the Battle of Adramyttion. ›