July
19
Events
July 19
64
– Great Fire of Rome: a fire begins to burn
in the merchant area of Rome and soon burns
completely out of control. According to
a popular, but untrue legend, Nero fiddled
as the city burned.
484 – Leontius, Roman usurper, is crowned
Eastern emperor at Tarsus (modern Turkey).
He is recognized in Antioch and makes it
his capital.
711 – Umayyad conquest of Hispania: Battle
of Guadalete – Umayyad forces under Tariq
ibn Ziyad defeat the Visigoths led by King
Roderic.
1333 – Wars of Scottish Independence: Battle
of Halidon Hill – The English win a decisive
victory over the Scots.
1544 – Italian War of 1542: the first Siege
of Boulogne begins.
1545 – The Tudor warship Mary Rose sinks
off Portsmouth; in 1982 the wreck is salvaged
in one of the most complex and expensive
projects in the history of maritime archaeology.
1553 – Lady Jane Grey is replaced by Mary
I of England as Queen of England after only
nine days of reign.
1588 – Anglo-Spanish War: Battle of Gravelines
– The Spanish Armada is sighted in the English
Channel.
1701 – Representatives of the Iroquois Confederacy
sign the Nanfan Treaty, ceding a large territory
north of the Ohio River to England.
1702 – Great Northern War: A numerically
superior Polish-Saxon army of Augustus II
the Strong, operating from an advantageous
defensive position, is defeated by a Swedish
army half its size under the command of
King Charles XII in the Battle of Klissow.
1832 – The British Medical Association is
founded as the Provincial Medical and Surgical
Association by Sir Charles Hastings at a
meeting in the Board Room of the Worcester
Infirmary.
1843 – Brunel's steamship the SS Great Britain
is launched, becoming the first ocean-going
craft with an iron hull or screw propeller
and also becoming the largest vessel afloat
in the world.
1848 – Women's rights: a two-day Women's
Rights Convention opens in Seneca Falls,
New York; there the "Bloomers"
are introduced.
1863 – American Civil War: Morgan's Raid
– At Buffington Island in Ohio, Confederate
General John Hunt Morgan's raid into the
north is mostly thwarted when a large group
of his men are captured while trying to
escape across the Ohio River.
1864 – Taiping Rebellion: Third Battle of
Nanking – The Qing Dynasty finally defeats
the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.
1870 – Franco-Prussian War: France declares
war on Prussia.
1900 – The first line of the Paris Métro
opens for operation.
1908 – Dutch football club Feyenoord was
founded
1916 – World War I: Battle of Fromelles
– British and Australian troops attack German
trenches in a prelude to the Battle of the
Somme.
1919 – Following Peace Day celebrations
marking the end of World War I, ex-servicemen
riot and burn down Luton Town Hall.
1940 – World War II: Battle of Cape Spada
– The Royal Navy and the Regia Marina clash;
the Italian light cruiser Bartolomeo Colleoni
sinks, with 121 casualties.
1940 – World War II: Army order 112 forms
the Intelligence Corps of the British Army.
1942 – World War II: Battle of the Atlantic
– German Grand Admiral Karl Dönitz orders
the last U-boats to withdraw from their
United States Atlantic coast positions in
response to the effective American convoy
system.
1947 – The Prime Minister of the shadow
Burmese government, Bogyoke Aung San and
6 of his cabinet and 2 non-cabinet members
are assassinated by Galon U Saw.
1947 – Korean politician Yuh Woon-Hyung
is assassinated.
1961 – Tunisia imposes a blockade on the
French naval base at Bizerte; the French
would capture the entire town four days
later.
1963 – Joe Walker flies a North American
X-15 to a record altitude of 106,010 metres
(347,800 feet) on X-15 Flight 90. Exceeding
an altitude of 100 km, this flight qualifies
as a human spaceflight under international
convention.
1964 – Vietnam War: at a rally in Saigon,
South Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Khanh
calls for expanding the war into North Vietnam.
1972 – Dhofar Rebellion: British SAS units
help the Omani government against Popular
Front for the Liberation of Oman rebels
in the Battle of Mirbat.
1976 – Sagarmatha National Park in Nepal
is created.
1979 – The Sandinista rebels overthrow the
government of the Somoza family in Nicaragua.
1981 – In a private meeting with U.S. President
Ronald Reagan, French Prime Minister François
Mitterrand reveals the existence of the
Farewell Dossier, a collection of documents
showing that the Soviets had been stealing
American technological research and development.
1983 – The first three-dimensional reconstruction
of a human head in a CT is published.
1985 – The Val di Stava dam collapses killing
268 people in Val di Stava, Italy.
1989 – United Airlines flight 232 crashes
in Sioux City, Iowa killing 112 of the 296
passengers.
1992 – A car bomb placed by mafia with collaboration
of Italian intelligence kills judge Paolo
Borsellino and five members of his escort
1997 – The Troubles: The Provisional Irish
Republican Army resumes a ceasefire to end
their 25-year campaign to end British rule
in Northern Ireland.
Holidays
and observances
Burmese
Martyrs' Day (Burma)
Christian Feast Day:
Arsenius (Roman Catholic Church)
Bernold, Bishop of Utrecht
Justa and Rufina
Kirdjun
Macrina the Younger, Sister of St. Basil
the Great
Symmachus
July 19 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
Sandinista Day or Liberation Day (Nicaragua)
For details, contact Datacentre
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