What Happened on May 19th in History
30 historical events on this date
Mustafa Kemal AtatĂŒrk lands at Samsun on the Anatolian Black Sea coast, initiating what is later termed the Turkish War of Independence.
Mustafa Kemal AtatĂŒrk was a Turkish field marshal and statesperson who was the founder of the Republic of Turkey and served as its first president from 1923 until his death in 1938. He led sweeping...
The United States Congress passes the Emergency Quota Act establishing national quotas on immigration.
The United States Congress is the legislative branch of the federal government of the United States. It is a bicameral legislature, including a lower body, the U.S. House of Representatives, and an...
The Young Pioneer Organization of the Soviet Union is established.
The Vladimir Lenin All-Union Pioneer Organization, shortened to the Young Pioneers, was a youth organization of the Soviet Union for children and adolescents ages 9â14 that existed between 1922 and...
Finnish cavalry general C. G. E. Mannerheim is appointed the field marshal.
Baron Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim was a Finnish military commander and statesman. He served as the military leader of the Whites in the Finnish Civil War (1918), as regent of Finland (1918â1919), as...
Zveno and the Bulgarian Army engineer a coup d'Ă©tat and install Kimon Georgiev as the new Prime Minister of Bulgaria.
Zveno, Politicheski krag "Zveno", officially Political Circle "Zveno" was a Bulgarian political organization that was founded in 1930 by Bulgarian politicians, intellectuals and Bulgarian Army...
World War II: In the aftermath of the Battle of the Coral Sea, Task Force 16 heads to Pearl Harbor for repairs.
World War II, or the Second World War, was a global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies and the Axis powers. Nearly all of the world's countries participated. Tanks and aircraft played major...
Winston Churchill's second wartime address to the U.S. Congress
British Prime Minister Winston Churchill's 1943 address to Congress took place May 19 at 12:30Â p.m. EWT before a joint meeting of the United States Senate and House of Representatives, roughly a...
Syrian demonstrators in Damascus are fired upon by French troops injuring twelve, leading to the Levant Crisis.
Syrians, are the majority inhabitants of Syria, indigenous to the Levant, most of whom have Arabic, especially its Levantine dialect, as a mother tongue. The cultural and linguistic heritage of the...
A barge containing munitions destined for Pakistan explodes in the harbor at South Amboy, New Jersey, devastating the city.
Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the second-largest Muslim...
The North Vietnamese Army establishes Group 559, whose responsibility is to determine how to maintain supply lines to South Vietnam; the resulting route is the Ho Chi Minh trail.
The People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) is the national military force of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam and the armed wing of the ruling Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV). The PAVN is the backbone...
Venera program: Venera 1 becomes the first man-made object to fly by another planet by passing Venus (the probe had lost contact with Earth a month earlier and did not send back any data).
The Venera program was a series of space probes developed by the Soviet Union between 1961 and 1984 to gather information about the planet Venus. A total of eighteen probes were sent, including two...
At Silchar Railway Station, Assam, 11 Bengalis die when police open fire on protesters demanding state recognition of Bengali language in the Bengali Language Movement.
Silchar is a city and the headquarters of the Cachar district of the state of Assam, India. It is second largest city of Assam after Guwahati in terms of population and GDP. It is located 343...
A birthday salute to U.S. President John F. Kennedy takes place at Madison Square Garden, New York City. The highlight is Marilyn Monroe's rendition of "Happy Birthday".
John Fitzgerald Kennedy, also known as JFK, was the 35th president of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963. He was the youngest person elected president, at 43 years,...
The New York Post Sunday Magazine publishes Martin Luther King Jr.'s Letter from Birmingham Jail.
Martin Luther King Jr. was an American civil rights activist and Baptist minister who was a prominent leader of the civil rights movement from 1955 until his assassination in 1968. He advanced civil...
Mars probe program: Mars 2 is launched by the Soviet Union.
The Mars program was a series of uncrewed spacecraft launched by the Soviet Union between 1960 and 1973. The spacecraft were intended to explore Mars, and included flyby probes, landers and orbiters.
The Firearm Owners Protection Act is signed into law by U.S. President Ronald Reagan.
The Firearm Owners' Protection Act (FOPA) of 1986 is a United States federal law that revised many provisions of the Gun Control Act of 1968.
Croatians vote for independence in a referendum.
Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to...
SAM Colombia Flight 501 crashes on approach to JosĂ© MarĂa CĂłrdova International Airport in MedellĂn, Colombia, killing 132.
SAM Colombia Flight 501 was a Boeing 727-46 that crashed on 19 May 1993, killing all 132 on board. The aircraft collided with a mountain while on approach to MedellĂn, Colombia.
Space Shuttle program: Space Shuttle Endeavour is launched on mission STS-77.
The Space Shuttle program was the fourth human spaceflight program carried out by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), which accomplished routine transportation for...
The Sierra Gorda biosphere, the most ecologically diverse region in Mexico, is established as a result of grassroots efforts.
The Sierra Gorda is an ecological region centered on the northern third of the Mexican state of QuerĂ©taro and extending into the neighboring states of Guanajuato, Hidalgo and San Luis PotosĂ. Within...
Space Shuttle program: Space Shuttle Atlantis is launched on mission STS-101 to resupply the International Space Station.
Space Shuttle Atlantis is a retired Space Shuttle orbiter vehicle which belongs to NASA, the spaceflight and space exploration agency of the United States. Atlantis was manufactured by the Rockwell...
President of Romania Traian BÄsescu survives an impeachment referendum and returns to office from suspension.
The president of Romania is the head of state of Romania. The president is directly elected by a two-round system, and, following a modification to the Romanian Constitution in 2003, serves for five...
A mass shooting starts in Moscow, Idaho, which would leave 3 non-shooters dead and 3 more injured, before the shooter committed suicide the next day.
The 2007 Moscow, Idaho, shooting was an ambush and sniper attack that occurred on the night of May 19, 2007 in Moscow, Idaho, United States, and lasted into the early morning hours of May 20. The...
The Royal Thai Armed Forces concludes its crackdown on protests by forcing the surrender of United Front for Democracy Against Dictatorship leaders.
The Royal Thai Armed Forces are the armed forces of Thailand.
Three gas cylinder bombs explode in front of a vocational school in the Italian city of Brindisi, killing one person and injuring five others.
The Brindisi school bombing occurred on 19 May 2012, when three gas cylinder bombs hidden in a large rubbish bin exploded in front of the Morvillo Falcone high school in Brindisi, Italy, killing a...
A car bomb explodes near a military complex in the Syrian city of Deir ez-Zor, killing nine people.
The 2012 Deir ez-Zor bombing involved a car bomb blast in the Syrian city of Deir ez-Zor killing 9 people on 19 May 2012 during the Syrian Civil War. The blast that reportedly struck a parking lot...
The Refugio oil spill deposited 142,800 U.S. gallons (3,400 barrels) of crude oil onto an area in California considered one of the most biologically diverse coastlines of the west coast.
The Refugio oil spill occurred on May 19, 2015 along the Gaviota Coast in Santa Barbara County, California, United States. It contaminated one of the most biologically diverse areas of the West...
EgyptAir Flight 804 crashes into the Mediterranean Sea while traveling from Paris to Cairo, killing all on board.
EgyptAir Flight 804 was a regularly scheduled international passenger flight from Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport to Cairo International Airport, operated by EgyptAir. On 19 May 2016 at 02:33Â Egypt...
The wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle is held at St George's Chapel, Windsor, with an estimated global audience of 1.9Â billion.
The wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle was held on Saturday 19 May 2018 in St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle in the United Kingdom. The groom is a member of the British royal family; the...
A helicopter crash in Iran leaves 8 people dead, including the country's president Ebrahim Raisi & foreign minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian.
On 19 May 2024, an Iranian Air Force Bell 212 helicopter crashed near the village of Uzi, East Azerbaijan, Iran, killing President of Iran Ebrahim Raisi, Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian,...