September 19Birthdays & History

On this day: September 19 in history

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

1. 96Nerva, suspected of complicity of the death of Domitian, is declared emperor by Senate. The Senate then annuls laws passed by Domitian and orders his statues to be destroyed.Europe
2. 634Siege of Damascus: The Rashidun Arabs under Khalid ibn al-Walid capture Damascus from the Byzantine Empire.Middle EastEurope
3. 1356Battle of Poitiers: An English army under the command of Edward the Black Prince defeats a French army and captures King John II.Europe
4. 1410End of the Siege of Marienburg: The State of the Teutonic Order repulses the joint Polish—Lithuanian forces.Europe
5. 1622Imperial-Spanish forces under the count of Tilly and Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba capture Heidelberg, the capital of the Palatinate during the Thirty Years' War.Europe
6. 1676Jamestown is burned to the ground by the forces of Nathaniel Bacon during Bacon's Rebellion.North America
7. 1777American Revolutionary War: British forces win a tactically expensive victory over the Continental Army in the First Battle of Saratoga.North AmericaEurope
8. 1778The Continental Congress passes the first United States federal budget.North America
9. 1796George Washington's Farewell Address is printed across America as an open letter to the public.North America
10. 1799French Revolutionary Wars: French-Dutch victory against the Russians and British in the Battle of Bergen.Europe
11. 1846Two French shepherd children, Mélanie Calvat and Maximin Giraud, experience a Marian apparition on a mountaintop near La Salette, France, now known as Our Lady of La Salette.Europe
12. 1852Annibale de Gasparis discovers the asteroid Massalia from the north dome of the Astronomical Observatory of Capodimonte.Europe
13. 1862American Civil War: Union troops under William Rosecrans defeat a Confederate force commanded by Sterling Price.North America
14. 1863American Civil War: The first day of the Battle of Chickamauga, in northwestern Georgia, the bloodiest two-day battle of the conflict, and the only significant Confederate victory in the war's Western Theater.North America
15. 1864American Civil War: Union troops under Philip Sheridan defeat a Confederate force commanded by Jubal Early. With over 50,000 troops engaged, it was the largest battle fought in the Shenandoah Valley.North America
16. 1868La Gloriosa begins in Spain.Europe
17. 1870Franco-Prussian War: The siege of Paris begins. The city held out for over four months before surrendering.Europe
18. 1893In New Zealand, the Electoral Act of 1893 is consented to by the governor, giving all women in New Zealand the right to vote.Oceania
19. 1902A stampede at Shiloh Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, leads to the death of 115 attendees.North America
20. 1916World War I: During the East African Campaign, colonial forces of the Belgian Congo (Force Publique) under the command of Charles Tombeur capture the town of Tabora after heavy fighting.AfricaEurope
21. 1918The battle of Megiddo begins in which British forces attack the right flank of the Ottoman army during World War I.EuropeMiddle East
22. 1926Football stadium San Siro is inaugurated in Milan, ItalyEurope
23. 1939World War II: The Battle of Kępa Oksywska concludes, with Polish losses reaching roughly 14% of all the forces engaged.Europe
24. 1940World War II: Witold Pilecki is voluntarily captured and sent to Auschwitz concentration camp to gather and smuggle out information for the resistance movement.Europe
25. 1944World War II: The Moscow Armistice between Finland and the Soviet Union is signed, which officially ended the Continuation War.Europe
26. 1944World War II: The Battle of Hürtgen Forest begins. It will become the second-longest individual battle that the U.S. Army has ever fought.North America
27. 1946The Council of Europe is founded following a speech by Winston Churchill at the University of Zurich.Europe
28. 1950Korean War: An attack by North Korean forces was repelled at the Battle of Nam River.Asia
29. 1960Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and Pakistani President Ayub Khan sign the Indus Waters Treaty for the control and management of the Indus, Chenab, Jhelum, Ravi, Sutlej and Beas rivers.Asia
30. 1970Michael Eavis hosts the first Glastonbury Festival.Europe
31. 1970Kostas Georgakis, a Greek student of geology, sets himself ablaze in Matteotti Square in Genoa, Italy, as a protest against the dictatorial regime of Georgios Papadopoulos.Europe
32. 1976Turkish Airlines Flight 452 hits the Taurus Mountains, outskirt of Karatepe, Turkey, killing all 154 passengers and crew.Middle East
33. 1976Two Imperial Iranian Air Force F-4 Phantom II jets fly out to investigate an unidentified flying object.Middle East
34. 1978The Solomon Islands join the United Nations.Oceania
35. 1982Scott Fahlman posts the first documented emoticons 🙂 and 🙁 on the Carnegie Mellon University bulletin board system.North America
36. 1983Saint Kitts and Nevis gains its independence.Latin America
37. 1985Tipper Gore and other political wives form the Parents Music Resource Center as Frank Zappa, John Denver, and other musicians testify at U.S. Congressional hearings on obscenity in rock music.North America
38. 1985A strong earthquake kills thousands and destroys about 400 buildings in Mexico City.Latin America
39. 1989A bomb destroys UTA Flight 772 in mid-air above the Tùnùrù Desert, Niger, killing all 170 passengers and crew.Africa
40. 1991Ötzi the Iceman is discovered in the Alps on the border between Italy and Austria.Europe
41. 1995The Washington Post and The New York Times publish the Unabomber Manifesto.North America
42. 1997The Guelb El-Kebir massacre in Algeria kills 53 people.Africa
43. 2006The Thai army stages a coup. The Constitution is revoked and martial law is declared.Asia
44. 2008A Learjet 60 carrying musicians Travis Barker and Adam "DJ AM" Goldstein crashes during a rejected takeoff from Colombia Metropolitan Airport in West Columbia, South Carolina, killing four of the six people on board. Barker and Goldstein both survive.Latin AmericaNorth America
45. 2010The leaking oil well in the Deepwater Horizon oil spill is sealed.North America
46. 2011Mariano Rivera of the New York Yankees surpasses Trevor Hoffman to become Major League Baseball's all-time career saves leader with 602.North America
47. 2016In the wake of a manhunt, the suspect in a series of bombings in New York and New Jersey is apprehended after a shootout with police.North America
48. 2017The 2017 Puebla earthquake strikes Mexico, causing 370 deaths and over 6,000 injuries, as well as extensive damage.Latin America
49. 2021The Cumbre Vieja volcano, on the island of La Palma in the Canary Islands, erupts. The eruption lasts for almost three months, ending on December 13.Europe
50. 2022The state funeral of Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom is held at Westminster Abbey, London.Europe
51. 2022A strong earthquake kills 2 and injures over 30 in Mexico's state of Michoacán.Latin America
52. 2023Azerbaijan launches a military offensive against the Republic of Artsakh in the Nagorno-Karabakh region; this leads to the flight of the Armenian population.Europe

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