Sun · 27 SepMoon 99%Field Kp 4 · active Quote · Marcus Aurelius Riddle of the day Card of the dayHow today feels →

This day in history

This day in history: 19 December

Events, births and deaths on this date, ordered by how many people look them up.

Share

← Previous day18 Dec

Events51

Born on this day · Died on this day238 · 91

Next day →20 Dec

Key facts

380 historical events, births and deaths are listed for 19 December.
Entries come from Wikipedia’s day pages and are ordered by page views.
2016: A vehicular attack in Berlin, Germany, kills 12 and injures 56 people at a Christmas market.

Holidays and observances

Christian feast day: December 19 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)

Christian feast day: Lillian Trasher (Episcopal Church)

Christian feast day: O Radix

Christian feast day: Pope Anastasius I

Christian feast day: Pope Urban V

Christian feast day: Saint Nicholas Day

Goa Liberation Day (Goa, India)

National Heroes and Heroines Day (Anguilla)

Events

2016A vehicular attack in Berlin, Germany, kills 12 and injures 56 people at a Christmas market.

2016Russian ambassador to Turkey Andrei Karlov is assassinated while at an art exhibition in Ankara. The assassin, Mevlüt Mert Altıntaş, is shot and killed by a Turkish guard.

2013Spacecraft Gaia is launched by the European Space Agency.

2012Park Geun-hye is elected the first female president of South Korea.

2005A passenger train from Sucha Beskidzka to Żywiec in Poland loses its brakes while on a steep downhill part of the route. It is stopped in a controlled collision in Świnna by a train travelling in opposite direction. 2 drivers and 6 passenge

2005Chalk's Ocean Airways Flight 101 crashes into the Government Cut channel immediately after takeoff from Miami Seaplane Base, killing 20.

2001Argentine economic crisis: December riots: Riots erupt in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

1999Space Shuttle Discovery is launched on STS-103, the third Hubble Space Telescope servicing mission.

1998President Bill Clinton is impeached by the United States House of Representatives, becoming the second president of the United States to be impeached.

1997SilkAir Flight 185 crashes into the Musi River, near Palembang in Indonesia, killing 104.

1995The United States Government restores federal recognition to the Nottawaseppi Huron Band of Potawatomi Native American tribe.

1986Mikhail Gorbachev, leader of the Soviet Union, releases Andrei Sakharov and his wife from exile in Gorky.

1985Aeroflot Flight 101/435 is hijacked to China by its first officer.

1984The Sino-British Joint Declaration, stating that China would resume the exercise of sovereignty over Hong Kong and the United Kingdom would restore Hong Kong to China with effect from July 1, 1997, is signed in Beijing by Deng Xiaoping and

1983The original FIFA World Cup trophy, the Jules Rimet Trophy, is stolen from the headquarters of the Brazilian Football Confederation in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

1981Sixteen lives are lost when the Penlee lifeboat goes to the aid of the stricken coaster Union Star in heavy seas.

1977The Ms 5.8 Bob–Tangol earthquake strikes Kerman Province in Iran, destroying villages and killing 665 people.

1974Nelson Rockefeller is sworn in as Vice President of the United States under President Gerald Ford under the provisions of the Twenty-fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution.

1972Apollo program: The last crewed lunar flight, Apollo 17, carrying Eugene Cernan, Ronald Evans, and Harrison Schmitt, returns to Earth.

1967Harold Holt, the Prime Minister of Australia, is officially presumed dead.

1961India annexes Daman and Diu, part of Portuguese India.

1956Irish-born physician John Bodkin Adams is arrested in connection with the suspicious deaths of more than 160 patients. Eventually he is convicted only of minor charges.

1946Start of the First Indochina War.

1945John Amery, British Fascist, is executed at the age of 33 by the British Government for treason.

1941World War II: Adolf Hitler appoints himself as head of the Oberkommando des Heeres.

1941World War II: Limpet mines placed by Italian divers heavily damage HMS Valiant and HMS Queen Elizabeth in Alexandria harbour.

1940Risto Ryti, the Prime Minister of Finland, is elected President of the Republic of Finland in a presidential election, which is exceptionally held by the 1937 electoral college.

1932BBC World Service begins broadcasting as the BBC Empire Service.

1929The Indian National Congress promulgates the Purna Swaraj (the Declaration of the Independence of India).

1927Three Indian revolutionaries, Ram Prasad Bismil, Roshan Singh and Ashfaqulla Khan, are executed by the British Raj for participation in the Kakori conspiracy.

1924German serial killer Fritz Haarmann is sentenced to death for a series of murders.

1924The last Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost is sold in London, England.

1920King Constantine I is restored as King of the Hellenes after the death of his son Alexander of Greece and a plebiscite.

1912William Van Schaick, captain of the steamship General Slocum which caught fire and killed over one thousand people, is pardoned by U.S. President William Howard Taft after 3+1⁄2 years in Sing Sing prison.

1907Two hundred thirty-nine coal miners die in the Darr Mine Disaster in Jacobs Creek, Pennsylvania.

1900French parliament votes amnesty for all involved in scandalous army treason trial known as Dreyfus affair.

1900Hopetoun Blunder: The first Governor-General of Australia John Hope, 7th Earl of Hopetoun, appoints Sir William Lyne premier of the new state of New South Wales, but he is unable to persuade other colonial politicians to join his government

1828Vice President of the United States John C. Calhoun sparks the Nullification Crisis when he anonymously publishes the South Carolina Exposition and Protest, protesting the Tariff of 1828.

1796French Revolutionary Wars: Two British frigates under Commodore Horatio Nelson and two Spanish frigates under Commodore Don Jacobo Stuart engage in battle off the coast of Murcia.

1793War of the First Coalition: The Siege of Toulon ends when Napoleon's French artillery forces the British to abandon the city, securing southern France from invasion.

Born on this day

1998King Princess, American singer-songwriter and musician

1997Fikayo Tomori, English footballer

1997Gabriel Magalhães, Brazilian footballer

1996Franck Kessié, Ivorian footballer

1994Maudy Ayunda, Indonesian actress and singer-songwriter

1994M'Baye Niang, French footballer

1993Isiah Koech, Kenyan runner

1993Young K, South Korean singer-songwriter

1992Iker Muniain, Spanish footballer

1992Raphael Spiegel, Swiss footballer

1991Declan Galbraith, English singer-songwriter

1991Josh Huestis, American basketball player

1991Keiynan Lonsdale, Australian actor, singer-songwriter, and dancer

1991Steven Berghuis, Dutch footballer

1991Sumire Uesaka, Japanese voice actress and singer

1990Greg Bretz, American snowboarder

1990Torrey Craig, American basketball player

1989Hamza Riazuddin, English cricketer

1989Kousei Miura, Japanese jockey

1989Michał Masłowski, Polish footballer

1989Yong Jun-hyung, South Korean singer-songwriter, rapper and producer

1988Alexis Sánchez, Chilean footballer

1988Peter Winn, English footballer

1987Cédric Baseya, French-Congolese footballer

1987Karim Benzema, French footballer

1987Ronan Farrow, American activist, journalist, and lawyer

1986Annie Murphy, Canadian actress

1986Calvin Andrew, English footballer

1986Ingrid Burley, American rapper and songwriter

1986Lauren Boebert, American politician

1986Lazaros Christodoulopoulos, Greek footballer

1986Miguel Lopes, Portuguese footballer

1986Ryan Babel, Dutch footballer

1986Zuzana Hejnová, Czech hurdler

1985Andrea Baldini, Italian fencer

1985Dan Logan, English bass player

1985Gary Cahill, English footballer

1985Lady Sovereign, English rapper

1985Neil Kilkenny, English-Australian footballer

1985Sally Kipyego, Kenyan runner

Died on this day

2024Michael Leunig, Australian cartoonist (born 1945)

2024Wincey Willis, British broadcaster (born 1948)

2021Johnny Isakson, American politician (born 1944)

2021Sally Ann Howes, English-American singer and actress (born 1930)

2020Rosalind Knight, English actress (born 1933)

2016Andrei Karlov, Russian diplomat, Ambassador to Turkey (born 1954)

2015Greville Janner, Baron Janner of Braunstone, Welsh-English lawyer and politician (born 1928)

2015Jimmy Hill, English footballer, manager, and sportscaster (born 1928)

2015Karin Söder, Swedish educator and politician, 33rd Swedish Minister for Foreign Affairs (born 1928)

2014Arthur Gardner, American actor and producer (born 1910)

2014Dick Thornton, American-Canadian football player and coach (born 1939)

2014Igor Rodionov, Russian general and politician, 3rd Russian Minister of Defence (born 1936)

2014Philip Bradbourn, English lawyer and politician (born 1951)

2014Roberta Leigh (Rita Shulman Lewin), British writer, artist and TV producer (born 1926).

2014S. Balasubramanian, Indian journalist and director (born 1936)

2013Al Goldstein, American publisher and pornographer (born 1936)

2013Ned Vizzini, American author and screenwriter (born 1981)

2013Winton Dean, English musicologist and author (born 1916)

2012Amnon Lipkin-Shahak, Israeli general and politician, 22nd Transportation Minister of Israel (born 1944)

2012Larry Morris, American football player (born 1933)

2012Peter Struck, German lawyer and politician, 13th German Federal Minister of Defence (born 1943)

2012Robert Bork, American lawyer, judge, and scholar, United States Attorney General (born 1927)

2010Anthony Howard, English journalist and author (born 1934)

2009Kim Peek, American megasavant (born 1951)

2008Carol Chomsky, American linguist and educator (born 1930)

2008Dock Ellis, American baseball player and coach (born 1945)

2008James Bevel, American minister and activist (born 1936)

2008Michael Connell, American political consultant (born 1963)

2005Vincent Gigante, American mobster (born 1927)

2004Herbert C. Brown, English-American chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1912)

Quote of the day

“Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.”

Seneca

Questions people ask

Where do the entries come from?

From Wikipedia’s on-this-day pages for this language, updated once a day and ordered by how often each article is read.

This day in history

Every question has its own page

Journal

What you should know, before others do

Weekly insights. One article. One practice. No noise.

Cookies

We use essential cookies to run the platform. Analytics and marketing cookies are only turned on once you consent — you can change your choice at any time.