April 19Birthdays & History

On this day: April 19 in history

Oldest first. Tap a year to see it on the World Chronicle timeline.

1. 65The freedman Milichus betrays Piso's plot to kill the Emperor Nero and all of the conspirators are arrested.Europe
2. 531Battle of Callinicum: A Byzantine army under Belisarius is defeated by the Persians at Raqqa (northern Syria).EuropeMiddle East
3. 1024Election of Pope John XIX following the death of his brother Pope Benedict VIII.Europe
4. 1042Following the attempt of Byzantine Emperor Michael V Kalaphates to depose his wife and empress Zoe Porphyrogenita, a popular uprising in Constantinople breaks out with the intention to restore her.EuropeMiddle East
5. 1506The Lisbon Massacre begins, in which about two thousand Jews who had been forcibly converted to Christianity are slaughtered by Portuguese Catholics.Europe
6. 1529Beginning of the Protestant Reformation: After the Second Diet of Speyer bans Lutheranism, a group of rulers (German: Fürst) and independent cities protest the reinstatement of the Edict of Worms.Europe
7. 1539The Treaty of Frankfurt between Protestants and the Holy Roman Emperor is signed.Europe
8. 1572England and France sign an alliance against Spain in the treaty of Blois.Europe
9. 1608In Ireland, O'Doherty's Rebellion is launched by the Burning of Derry.Europe
10. 1677The French army captures the town of Cambrai held by Spanish troops.Europe
11. 1713With no living male heirs, Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor, issues the Pragmatic Sanction of 1713 to ensure that Habsburg lands and the Austrian throne would be inheritable by a female; his daughter and successor, Maria Theresa, was not born until 1717.Europe
12. 1770Captain James Cook, still holding the rank of lieutenant, sights the eastern coast of what is now Australia.Oceania
13. 1770Marie Antoinette marries Louis XVI in a proxy wedding.Europe
14. 1775American Revolutionary War: The war begins during the Battles of Lexington and Concord with a victory of American minutemen and other militia over British forces, later referred to as the "shot heard round the world".North AmericaEurope
15. 1775American Revolutionary War: Following the Battles of Lexington and Concord, the Siege of Boston begins with American militias blocking land access to the British-held city.North AmericaEurope
16. 1782John Adams secures Dutch recognition of the United States as an independent government. The house which he had purchased in The Hague becomes the first American embassy.EuropeNorth America
17. 1809An Austrian corps is defeated by the forces of the Duchy of Warsaw in the Battle of Raszyn, part of the struggles of the Fifth Coalition. On the same day the Austrian main army is defeated by a First French Empire Corps led by Louis-Nicolas Davout at the Battle of Teugen-Hausen in Bavaria, part of a four-day campaign that ended in a French victory.Europe
18. 1810Venezuela achieves home rule: Vicente Emparán, Governor of the Captaincy General is removed by the people of Caracas and a junta is installed.Latin America
19. 1818French physicist Augustin Fresnel signs his preliminary "Note on the Theory of Diffraction" (deposited on the following day). The document ends with what we now call the Fresnel integrals.Europe
20. 1839The Treaty of London establishes Belgium as a kingdom and guarantees its neutrality.Europe
21. 1861American Civil War: Baltimore riot of 1861: A pro-Secession mob in Baltimore attacks United States Army troops marching through the city.North America
22. 1903The Kishinev pogrom in Kishinev (Bessarabia) begins, forcing tens of thousands of Jews to later seek refuge in Palestine and the Western world.Middle East
23. 1925Colo-Colo, the most successful and popular soccer football team in the South American nation of Chile, was founded at the El Llano Stadium in San Miguel, Santiago, by footballer David Arellano and some of his teammates who had also left the Deportes Magallanes club.Latin AmericaNorth America
24. 1927Mae West is sentenced to ten days in jail for obscenity for her play Sex.North America
25. 1936The Jaffa riots commence, initiating the 1936–1939 Arab revolt in Palestine.Middle East
26. 1942World War II: In German-occupied Poland, the Majdan-Tatarski ghetto is established, situated between the Lublin Ghetto and a Majdanek subcamp.Europe
27. 1943World War II: In German-occupied Poland, the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising begins, after German troops enter the Warsaw Ghetto to round up the remaining Jews.Europe
28. 1956Actress Grace Kelly marries Prince Rainier of Monaco.Europe
29. 1960Students in South Korea hold a nationwide pro-democracy protest against president Syngman Rhee, eventually forcing him to resign.Asia
30. 1971Launch of Salyut 1, the first space station.Europe
31. 1971Charles Manson is sentenced to death (later commuted to life imprisonment) for conspiracy in the Tate–LaBianca murders.North America
32. 1971Sierra Leone becomes a republic, and Siaka Stevens the president.Africa
33. 1973The Portuguese Socialist Party is founded in the German town of Bad Münstereifel.Europe
34. 1975India's first satellite Aryabhata launched in orbit from Kapustin Yar, Russia.AsiaEurope
35. 1975South Vietnamese forces withdraw from the town of Xuan Loc in the last major battle of the Vietnam War.Asia
36. 1976A violent F5 tornado strikes around Brownwood, Texas, injuring 11 people. Two people were thrown at least 1,000 yards (910 m) by the tornado and survived uninjured.North America
37. 1985Two hundred ATF and FBI agents lay siege to the compound of the white supremacist survivalist group The Covenant, the Sword, and the Arm of the Lord in Arkansas; the CSA surrenders two days later.North America
38. 1989A gun turret explodes on the USS Iowa, killing 47 sailors.North America
39. 1993The 51-day FBI siege of the Branch Davidian building in Waco, Texas, US, ends when a fire breaks out. Seventy-six Davidians, including 18 children under age 10, died in the fire.North America
40. 1995Oklahoma City bombing: The Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, US, is bombed, killing 168 people including 19 children under the age of six.North America
41. 1999The German Bundestag returns to Berlin.Europe
42. 2000Air Philippines Flight 541 crashes in Samal, Davao del Norte, killing all 131 people on board.Asia
43. 2001Space Shuttle Endeavour is launched on STS-100 carrying the Canadarm2 to the International Space Station.North America
44. 2005Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger is elected to the papacy and becomes Pope Benedict XVI.Europe
45. 2008The Quito Ultratumba nightclub fire in Quito, Ecuador, kills 19 people and injures at least 24 more.Latin America
46. 2011Fidel Castro resigns as First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba after holding the title since July 1961.Latin America
47. 2013Boston Marathon bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev is killed in a shootout with police. His brother Dzhokhar is later captured hiding in a boat inside a backyard in the suburb of Watertown.North America
48. 2020A killing spree in Nova Scotia, Canada, leaves 22 people and the perpetrator dead, making it the deadliest rampage in the country's history.North America
49. 2021The Ingenuity helicopter becomes the first aircraft to achieve flight on another planet.World

Source: Wikipedia "April 19" / CC BY-SA 4.0