Some of the significant events which took place on August 19 taken from the leaf of History:

1263 – King James I of Aragon censors Hebrew writing.

1399 – King Richard II of England surrenders to his cousin Henry.

1458 – Aenea Silvio Piccolomini chosen Pope Pius II.

1493 – Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I becomes Archduke of Austria.

1504- Battle of Knockdoe in Galway Ireland.

1561 – Mary Queen of Scots arrives in Leith, Scotland to assume throne after spending 13 years in France.

1666: Shivaji escaped in a fruit basket from Aurangzeb’s internment in Agra.

1691 – Battle at Szalankemen: Austrians beat Turks.

1745 – Jacobite Rising 1745: Bonnie Prince Charlie, raises his standard at Glenfinnan, Scotland, igniting the second Jacobite rebellion.

1757: First Rupee coin of the East India company is minted in Kolkota.

1768 – Saint Isaac’s Cathedral is founded in Saint Petersburg, Russia.

1796 – Spain & France sign anti-British alliance.

1812 – US warship Constitution defeats British warship Guerriere.

1813 – Gervasio Antonio de Posadas joins Argentina’s second triumvirate.

1816 – Java again in Dutch hands.

1826 – Canada Co chartered to colonize Upper Canada (Ontario).

1836 – HMS Beagle anchors at Angra Azores.

1849- NY Herald reports gold discovery in California.

1861- Confederacy Congress allies with government of MO.

1864 – 2nd day of battle at Globe Tavern, Virginia.

1891 – William Huggins describes astronomical application of spectrum.

1895 – American frontier murderer and outlaw, John Wesley Hardin, is killed by an off-duty policeman in a saloon in El Paso, Texas.

1897- 1st electric taxis drive in London.

1900 – Start of the one and only Olympic cricket match, in Paris.

1903 – Philadelphia Phillies suffer record 9th straight postponed game.

1909 – Indianapolis 500 race track opens.

1911 – NY Giant Christy Mathewson loses after beating Reds 22 straight times.

1912- Percy Aldridge Grainger’s “Shepherd’s Key” premieres.

1913 – Frenchman Adolphe Célestin Pégoud makes 1st parachute jump in Europe.

1914- Elmer Rice’ “On Trial” premieres in NYC.

1914 – German army executed 150 Belgians by firing squad.

1914 – German fleet bombs English coast.

1914 – Harris Theater (Candler, Coan & Harris) opens at 226 W 42nd St NYC.

1915 – Rationing laws go into effect in Netherlands.

1915 – World War I: the Battle of Van begins.

1915 – British liner “SS Arabic” sunk by German submarine without warning leaving Liverpool for New York; killing 44. Creates diplomatic incident.

1917 – Sunday benefit baseball game at Polo Grounds results in John McGraw & Christy Mathewson’s arrest for violating Blue laws.

1918 – President Shankardayal Sharma was born.

1919 – Afghanistan declares independence from UK.

1927- Metropolitan Sergius proclaims the declaration of loyalty of the Russian Orthodox Church to the Soviet state.

1931 – Lefty Grove wins AL record tying 16th consecutive game.

1932 – 46th U.S. Women’s National Championship: Helen Jacobs beats Carolin Babcock Stark (6-2, 6-2).

1934 – Paul Runyan wins PGA golf tournament.

1934 – The first All-American Soap Box Derby is held in Dayton, Ohio.

1936 – Trial against Ljev Kamenev & Grigori Zinovjev because of “Trotskyism” opens in Moscow.

1939 – 37.6 cm rainfall at Tuckerton, NJ (state record).

1941 – Ump Jocko Conlan ejects Pirate manager Frankie Frisch for coming out on field holding an umbrella to get a rainout.

1941 – Romania annexes the Transnistria territory from the Soviet Union after Operation Barbarossa.

1942 – -20] Churchill visits Montgomery’s headquarter in Burg-al-Arab.

1942 – World War II: Over 4,000 Canadian and British soldiers killed, wounded or captured raiding Dieppe, France.

1942 – World War II: General Friedrich Paulus orders the German 6th Army to conquer Stalingrad.

1943 – Belgian church excommunicates nazi Leon Degrelle.

1943 – US air raid on German bases at Gilze-Rijen/Vlissingen.

1944 – Allied air raid on Maastricht, 80+ killed.

1944 – Last Japanese troops driven out of India.

1944 – Nazis give parts of Paris to Resistance. Liberation of Paris starts following the invasion by allied troops during Operation Overlord. 

1944 – Germany Surrender Restrictions: The United Nations was considering what restrictions should be placed on Nazi Germany after its surrender. It was a given that allied soldiers would occupy Germany as long as the youth needed to be re-educated in democracy and anti-Nazi thinking. Holland, Denmark, Belgium, and France would keep all Nazi military equipment and guard Germany from waging war again. Also, the goods plundered by the Nazis were to be returned and the Jews compensated for their losses. 

1949: Bhuvaneshwar became the capital of Odisha.

1953 – Iran Military Coup: A military coup supported and financed by the United States overthrows the government of Premier Mohammed Mosaddeq and reinstates the Shah of Iran. 

1955 – U.S.A. Hurricane Diane: Hurricane Diane hits the Carolinas leaving over 170 people dead in its wake with massive damage to homes and property in the area affected. 

1955 – Protesters in Kenifra, Morocco went on the rampage setting fires and killing in a rampage against Europeans. It was the one year anniversary of the previous sultan’s exile which sparked the outburst of violence. In Casablanca 10 individuals were killed and 20 injured. 

1960 – Soviet Union U2 Pilot Sentenced: The captured American U2 pilot Gary Powers is sentenced to 10 years imprisonment for espionage by a Soviet military court. 

1967 – The Soviet Union’s communist newspaper, Pravda, accused China of making unwarranted attacks on the Soviet embassy in Peking and straining relations between Russia and China. Pravda blared, “Literally not a single day passes without a malicious invention about the Soviet Union” (by China). Russia claimed that China was launching an anti-Soviet campaign to keep the focus off of Chinese domestic problems. 

1979 – In Zurich, Switzerland track records were being broken by English runner, Sebastian Coe, who overturned legendary track stars like John Walker and Alberto Juantorena. Coe performed to a roaring audience of 22,000 Swiss fans.

1979 – Soviet Cosmonauts Vladimir Lyakov and Valery Ryumin return to Earth aboard Soyuz 34 after a record 175 days in space.

1980 – Saudi Arabia Plane Crash: A fire caused by a passenger using a portable butane stove as the plane started to make its emergency landing it burst into flames killing all passengers and crew. 

1987 – England Hungerford Killing Spree by Michael Ryan: Michael Ryan goes on a killing spree in Hungerford, Berkshire armed with an automatic rifle, a pistol and a hand grenade. He kills 14 people including his mother and a local policeman before killing himself inside a nearby school. 

1989 – Lebanon U.S.A. Hostages: Eight U.S. hostages were being held in Lebanon and the Reagan government was struggling to get them back home. Iran offered to assist the American government to get the prisoners back, but wanted the U.S. to give back some Iranian resources and money. 

1991 – Soviet Union Attempted Coup: Leaders of the Army, the KGB and the Police in the Soviet Union are attempting a coup backed by tanks and troops and have the Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev under house arrest. The coup failed and shortly after control is back in the hands of the president and the Coup Leaders are arrested.

1997 – Thailand Cambodian Refugees: A massive influx of Cambodian refugees fled into Thailand to escape the bloody conflict between coup leader Hun Sen and Prince Norodom Ranaridh. There was a nocturnal exodus of Cambodian people and livestock who fled the violence. 

2003 – France Heat Wave: In France a 104 degree heat wave killed approximately 5,000 people who perished from dehydration and complications of heat related illnesses. As a result of the calamity morgues were crammed full of corpses and even warehouses with refrigeration were pressed into service to cope with all the dead bodies. In the government, different parties blamed each other for not responding correctly to the crisis and France’s director general of health, Lucien Abenhaim resigned.

2003 – United Nations Baghdad Headquarters Bombed: A terrorist bomb attack on The United Nations Baghdad headquarters has left at least 17 dead including UN top envoy Brazilian Sergio Vieira de Mello. In an official statement the United Nations has said the bombing has dealt a blow to its operations in Iraq but will not stop its work in the country. 

2004 – U.S.A. Google IPO: The Google IPO (initial public offering) raises US$1.67 billion. Google was founded by Larry Page and Sergey Brin just 6 years earlier in 1998 while they were students at Stanford University and because of the use of new ranking algorithms and its clean uncluttered home page it quickly became the most used search engine in the world. The IPO in 2004 offered 19,605,052 shares at a price of US$85 per share (share price $482.13 August 2008, $944.27 August 2017) but they have traded up as high as $700 in 2007.

2005 – U.S.A. Vioxx: A Texas jury found Merck & Co. liable for the death of of Robert Ernst, a 59-year old man who’d taken the once-popular painkiller Vioxx, awarding his widow $253.4 million in damages. This followed Merck & Co voluntary withdrawing Vioxx from the market worldwide on September 30, 2004 following concerns over increased risk of heart attack among rofecoxib ( Vioxx, Ceoxx and Ceeoxx ) users. There have been 1,000’s of cases and class actions filed against Merck over the last three years with litigation still continuing. 

2006 – Belgium Prisoners Escape: A total of 28 prisoners escaped from the Dendermonde jail in Belgium. Six escapees were captured immediately but the others were able to scale the prison walls to get out. 

2007 – Jordan School Admissions Increased: The country of Jordan relaxed its rules regarding displaced Iraqi families to allow more Iraqi children an education opportunity. Up to 50,000 new Iraqi students could now join the state school systems. 

2008 – Zambia President Dies: The Zambian president Levy Mwanawasa died in Paris two months after having a stroke. He had the stroke in June of 2008 during an African Union summit in Egypt and was flown to France for medical care. 

2012 – Contaminated Pickles Kill Six People: At least six people died and another 100 people became sick after eating contaminated pickles in Japan. The government was blaming locally produced pickled Chinese cabbage that they believe was contaminated with E. Coli. Most of the people effected were elderly but one of the dead included a four year old girl. 

2013 – First same-sex weddings in New Zealand: The first same-sex weddings take place in New Zealand after the country legalized gay marriage back in April. The country became the first in the Asia-Pacific region to legalize same-sex marriage. It is also the fourteenth in the entire world to legalize same-sex marriage. 

2017 – Thousands of demonstrators chanting anti-Nazi slogans and denouncing white nationalism upstaged a small group of conservatives in Boston who had gathered for a “free speech rally.” In Dallas, police on horseback broke up a scuffle at a cemetery between people rallying against white supremacy and supporters of Confederate monuments. Hundreds marched from downtown Atlanta to the home of the late Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. in protest of white supremacists and other hate groups.