October 19

Historic Events

2025

Pieces of the French Crown Jewels are successfully stolen during a heist on the Louvre Museum in Paris.. ›

2019

Members of Parliament met at the House of Lords to discuss the United Kingdom's Brexit deal, this was the first Saturday sitting in Parliament since 3 April 1982 during the Falklands War. ›

2013

One hundred and five people are injured in a train crash in Buenos Aires. ›

2012

A bomb explosion kills eight people and injures 110 more in Lebanon. ›

2005

Saddam Hussein goes on trial in Baghdad for crimes against humanity. ›

2005

Hurricane Wilma becomes the most intense Atlantic hurricane on record with a minimum pressure of 882 mb. ›

2004

Thirteen people are killed when Corporate Airlines Flight 5966 crashes in Adair County, Missouri, while on approach to Kirksville Regional Airport. ›

2003

Mother Teresa is beatified by Pope John Paul II. ›

2001

SIEV X, an Indonesian fishing boat en route to Christmas Island, carrying over 400 migrants, sinks in international waters with the loss of 353 people. ›

1989

The convictions of the Guildford Four are quashed by the Court of Appeal of England and Wales, after they had spent 15 years in prison. ›

1988

The British government imposes a broadcasting ban on television and radio interviews with members of Sinn Féin and eleven Irish republican and Ulster loyalist paramilitary groups. ›

1987

The United States Navy conducts Operation Nimble Archer, an attack on two Iranian oil platforms in the Persian Gulf. ›

1987

Black Monday: The Dow Jones Industrial Average falls by 22%, 508 points. ›

1986

The president of Mozambique and a prominent leader of FRELIMO, along with 33 others, die when their aircraft crashes into the Lebombo Mountains. ›

1974

Niue becomes a self-governing colony of New Zealand. ›

1973

President Nixon rejects an Appeals Court decision that he turn over the Watergate tapes. ›

1960

The United States imposes a near-total trade embargo against Cuba. ›

1956

The Soviet Union and Japan sign a Joint Declaration, officially ending the state of war between the two countries that had existed since August 1945. ›

1955

The General Assembly of the European Broadcasting Union approves the staging of the first Eurovision Song Contest. ›

1953

Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 is published. ›

1950

China defeats the Tibetan Army at Chambo. ›

1950

Korean War: The Battle of Pyongyang ends in a United Nations victory. Hours later, the Chinese Army begins crossing the border into Korea. ›

1950

Iran becomes the first country to accept technical assistance from the United States under the Point Four Program. ›

1948

Presidents North Carolina Gave the Nation, a monument honoring three presidents of the United States, was dedicated at the North Carolina State Capitol in Raleigh, North Carolina. ›

1944

United States forces land in the Philippines. ›

1944

A coup is launched against Juan Federico Ponce Vaides, beginning the ten-year Guatemalan Revolution. ›

1943

The cargo vessel Sinfra is attacked by Allied aircraft at Crete and sunk. Two thousand and ninety-eight Italian prisoners of war drown with it. ›

1943

Streptomycin, the first antibiotic remedy for tuberculosis, is isolated by researchers at Rutgers University. ›

1936

New York World-Telegram reporter Herbert Ekins won a race against two other New York newspaper journalists to travel around the world on commercial airline flights. He accomplished the feat in 18 ½ days. His opponents were New York Evening Journal reporter Dorothy Kilgallen, who finished in second place, and New York Times reporter Leo Kieran. ›

1935

The League of Nations places economic sanctions on Italy for its invasion of Ethiopia. ›

1922

British Conservative MPs vote to terminate the coalition government with the Liberal Party. ›

1921

The Portuguese Prime Minister and several officials are murdered in the Bloody Night coup. ›

1914

World War I: The First Battle of Ypres begins. ›

1912

Italo-Turkish War: Italy takes possession of what is now Libya from the Ottoman Empire. ›

1900

Max Planck discovers Planck's law of black-body radiation. ›

1866

In accordance with the Treaty of Vienna, Austria cedes Veneto and Mantua to France, which immediately awards them to Italy in exchange for the earlier Italian acquiescence to the French annexation of Savoy and Nice. ›

1864

American Civil War: The Battle of Cedar Creek ends the last Confederate threat to Washington, DC. ›

1864

American Civil War: Confederate agents based in Canada rob three banks in Saint Albans, Vermont. ›

1847

The novel Jane Eyre is published in London. ›

1813

War of the Sixth Coalition: Napoleon is forced to retreat from Germany after the Battle of Leipzig. ›

1812

The French invasion of Russia fails when Napoleon begins his retreat from Moscow. ›

1805

War of the Third Coalition: Austrian General Mack surrenders his army to Napoleon at the Battle of Ulm. ›

1791

Treaty of Drottningholm, between Sweden and Russia ›

1789

John Jay is sworn in as the first Chief Justice of the United States. ›

1781

American Revolutionary War: The siege of Yorktown comes to an end. ›

1662

An English Buccaneer force led by Royal Navy commodore Christopher Myngs launches an attack on Santiago de Cuba which is subsequently sacked. ›

1649

New Ross town in Ireland surrenders to Oliver Cromwell. ›

1596

The Spanish ship San Felipe runs aground on the coast of Japan and its cargo is confiscated by local authorities. ›

1579

James VI of Scotland is celebrated as an adult ruler by a festival in Edinburgh. ›

1512

Martin Luther becomes a doctor of theology. ›

1469

Ferdinand II of Aragon marries Isabella I of Castile, a marriage that paves the way to the unification of Aragon and Castile into a single country, Spain. ›

1466

The Thirteen Years' War between Poland and the Teutonic Order ends with the Second Treaty of Thorn. ›

1453

Hundred Years' War: Three months after the Battle of Castillon, England loses its last possessions in southern France. ›

1386

The Universität Heidelberg holds its first lecture, making it the oldest German university. ›

439

The Vandals, led by King Gaiseric, take Carthage in North Africa. ›

202 BC

Second Punic War: At the Battle of Zama, Roman legions under Scipio Africanus defeat Hannibal Barca, leader of the army defending Carthage.[citation needed] ›