April 19: Today in History – Historical Events
Early Centuries – April 19 Historic Events – Before the 1700s
1. 19th April 1539: Emperor Charles V reached a truce with German Protestants at Frankfurt in Germany.
2. 19th April 1587: Admiral Sir Francis Drake of England entered Cadiz harbor and sank the Spanish fleet.
3. 19th April 1689: Governor Edmond Andros of Boston was ousted by the residents of Boston.
18th Century – What Happened on April 19 – The 1700s
4. 19th April 1713: A Pragmatic Sanction which gave women the rights of succession of Hapsburg possessions was issued by the Holy Roman Emperor Charles VI.
5. 19th April 1764: American colonies were banned from printing paper money by the English parliament.
6. 19th April 1770: Captain James Cook discovered New South Wales in Australia, which was originally named land Point Hicks by Cook.
7. 19th April 1775: Fighting broke out at Lexington marking the beginning of the American Revolution.
8. 19th April 1782: The United States was recognized by the Netherlands.
9. 19th April 1794: The Russians were forced out of Warsaw by Tadeusz Kosciuszko.
19th Century – April 19 This Day That Year – The 1800s
10. 19th April 1802: Spaniards reopened the New Orleans port to American merchants.
11. 19th April 1839: With the signing of the Treaty of London all the states of Europe recognized the Kingdom of Belgium.
12. 19th April 1852: The California Historical Society was founded today.
13. 19th April 1861: President Abraham Lincoln of the US today ordered a blockade of Confederate ports.
14. 19th April 1861: Thaddeus S.C. Lowe today sailed 900 miles in 9 hours in a hot air balloon from Cincinnati to Unionville.
15. 19th April 1892: Charles and Frank Duryea introduced the Duryea gasoline buggy in the U.S. today.
16. 19th April 1897: The first annual Boston Marathon, the first of its kind in the U.S., was held today.
20th Century – Important Events On This Day April 19th – The 1900s
17. 19th April 1910: Halley’s comet was seen by the naked eye for 1st time on this trip (Curacao)
18. 19th April 1911: Playwright George Bernard Shaw’s “Fanny’s First Play” premiers in London.
19. 19th April 1918: Italian troops today conquered Col di Lana at Merano.
20. 19th April 1919: Leslie Irvin of the US makes the first parachute jump and free fall.
21. 19th April 1919: The French Assembly decides 8 hour work day.
22. 19th April 1921: Funeral of the last German Emperor, Augusta Victoria.
23. 19th April 1923: New Egyptian law allows suffrage for men, except soldiers.
24. 19th April 1927: “Vagabond King: opens in London.
25. 19th April 1927: Hankow communists today declared war on Chaing Kai-shek in China.
26. 19th April 1928: The 125th and final fascicle of the Oxford English Dictionary is published.
27. 19th April 1928: Japanese troops occupy Sjantung-schiereiland.
28. 19th April 1932: A five-day work week was suggested by U.S. President Herbert Hoover.
29. 19th April 1933: President Franklin D. Roosevelt today issued a proclamation removing the U.S. from the gold standard.
30. 19th April 1936: Anti-Jewish riots break out in Palestine.
31. 19th April 1936: First day of the Great Uprising in Palestine.
32. 19th April 1938: General Francisco Franco declared victory in the Spanish Civil War.
33. 19th April 1939: The Bill of Rights was finally approved (148 years later) by Connecticut.
34. 19th April 1940: Dutch Prime Minister De Geer declares a state of siege.
35. 19th April 1941: Milk was rationed in Holland from today.
36. 19th April 1941: Macedonia was invaded by Bulgarian troops.
37. 19th April 1943: The Warsaw Ghetto uprising against Nazi rule began today. The Jews were able to fight the Germans for 28 days.
38. 19th April 1944: Allied fleet attack Sabang Sumatra.
39. 19th April 1945: Japanese air raid heavily damages US aircraft carrier Franklin.
40. 19th April 1945: Diplomatic relations established between the Soviet Union and Guatemala.
41. 19th April 1945: US launches offensive against Shuri-barrier on Okinawa.
42. 19th April 1947: A French sip explodes in Texas City harbor killing about 522 people.
43. 19th April 1948: Chinese Military and Political leader Chiang Kai-shek was elected President of Nationalist China.
44. 19th April 1948: American Broadcasting Company (ABC) TV networks debuts.
45. 19th April 1951: Shigeki Tanaka who had survived the atomic blast in Hiroshima in Japan during World War II, won the Boston Marathon today.
46. 19th April 1951: After being relieved by U.S. President Truman, General Douglas MacArthur gave his “Old Soldiers” speech before the U.S. Congress, in which he said, “Old soldiers never die, they just fade away”.
47. 19th April 1955: After selling its car for six years German automaker Volkswagen founded Volkswagen of America in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey to standardize its dealer and service network.
48. 19th April 1956: Actress Grace Kelly became Princess Grace of Monaco after marrying Prince Ramier III of Monaco. The civil ceremony took place on the 18th of April.
49. 19th April 1959: Uprising in La Paz Bolivia fails.
50. 19th April 1960: Baseball uniforms began displaying backs.
51. 19th April 1962: The X-15 was taken to 46,900 m by NASA civilian pilot Joseph A Walker.
52. 19th April 1965: T.A.M.I. Show premiers in London.
53. 19th April 1965: The first all-news radio station (WINS 1010 AM in NYC) begins operation.
54. 19th April 1966: Reberta Bignay becomes 1st woman to run in the Boston Marathon.
55. 19th April 1967: Surveyor 3 landed on the moon and began sending photos back to Earth.
56. 19th April 1968: Construction workers go on strike in Belgium.
57. 19th April 1969: Serious rioting in the Boggside area of Derry following clashes between Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association marchers and Loyalists and members of the Royal Ulster Constabulary.
58. 19th April 1971: Russia today launched space station Salyut into orbit around the Earth. It was the first space station.
59. 19th April 1971: Sierra Leone becomes a republic
60. 19th April 1972: Hungary today revised its constitution to declare itself a socialist state.
61. 19th April 1972: Bangladesh becomes a member of the British Commonwealth.
62. 19th April 1972: British Prime Minister Edward Heath confirms that a plan to conduct an arrest operation in the event of a riot on 30th January 1972, was known to British government Ministers in advance.
63. 19th April 1972: The US today performed a nuclear test at its Nevada Test Site.
64. 19th April 1973: USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR.
65. 19th April 1975: India today launched its first satellite with the aid of the USSR.
66. 19th April 1978: Yitzhak Navron was today elected 5th president of Israel.
67. 19th April 1981: In Davao Philippines, members of the New People’s Army threw grenades into the Roman Catholic cathedral during Easter services, killing thirteen people.
68. 19th April 1982: Sally Ride was named the first woman astronaut by NASA.
69. 19th April 1982: USSR puts Salyut 7 space station into orbit.
70. 19th April 1982: NASA named Guion S. Bluford Jr. as the first African-American astronaut.
71. 19th April 1982: The U.S. today imposed a ban on U.S. tourist and business travel to Cuba, charging the Cuban government with subversion in Central America.
72. 19th April 1983: France performs a nuclear test.
73. 19th April 1985: USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk in USSR.
74. 19th April 1985: 16th Space Shuttle Mission (51-D)-Discovery 4 returns to Earth.
75. 19th April 1985: Advance Australia Fair is proclaimed as Australia’s national anthem and green and gold as the national colors.
76. 19th April 1987: The last California condor known to be in the wild was captured and placed in a breeding program at San Diego Wild Animal Park.
77. 19th April 1987: In Phoenix Arizona, Gregory Robertson went into a 200 mph free-fall to save an unconscious colleague 3500 feet from the ground.
78. 19th April 1987: USSR performs underground nuclear test.
79. 19th April 1989: A car bomb in El Salvador killed Attorney General Alvadora.
80. 19th April 1989: Aboard the USS Iowa, a gun turret exploded killing 47 soldiers.
81. 19th April 1989: Republic Day in Sierra Leone.
82. 19th April 1990: Contra guerrillas, leftist Sandinistas & incoming government agree to a truce.
83. 19th April 1991: Greyhound Bus posts $195 million loss for 1990.
84. 19th April 1993: A state-owned aircraft crash lands in Iowa killing South Dakota governor George Mickelson and seven others.
85. 19th April 1993: The 51-day standoff between the cult and US federal agents ended with the burning of Branch-Davidian’s compound in Waco, Texas to the ground. 86 people including 17 children were killed. Nine of the Branch Davidians escaped the fire.
86. 19th April 1993: A fire in the psychiatric institute in South Korea kills 40 people.
87. 19th April 1994: Inkatha ends boycott of South African multi-racial election.
88. 19th April 1994: The Supreme Court today outlawed excluding people from juries because of gender.
89. 19th April 1994: The Los Angeles jury today awarded $3.8 million to Rodney King for violation of his civil rights.
90. 19th April 1995: In the worst bombing on U.S. territory, the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City was destroyed by a bomb killing 168 people including 19 children, and 500 others were injured. Timothy McVeigh was found guilty of the bombing on 2nd June 1997.
91. 19th April 1998: The leader of the 1989 pro-democracy protests, Wang Dan was today freed by the Chinese government.
92. 19th April 1999: The German Bundestag returns to Berlin.
93. 19th April 2000: An Air Philippines GAP 541 aircraft crashed in the Philippines while preparing to land killing 131 people.
21st Century – April 19 This Day In History – The 2000s
94. 19th April 2000: Letters written to Greta Garbo were put on exhibit. The letters were made public ten years after Garbo’s death.
95. 19th April 2002: The USS Cole was re-launched. In Yemen, 17 sailors were killed in a terrorist attack on 12th Oct 2000 which was blamed on the al-Qaida network led by Osama bin Laden.
96. 19th April 2005: Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was today elected Pope Benedict XVI on the second day of the Papal conclave.
97. 19th April 2011: Cuban President Fidel Castro resigns from the Communist Party of Cuba’s central committee after holding the title for 45 years.
98. 19th April 2013: Suspects of the Boston bombing killed and captured in Boston after 4 days.
99. 19th April 2015: A boat carrying about 850 migrants is shipwrecked between Italy and Libya in the Mediterranean. Only 27 migrants were rescued.
100. 19th April 2017: Fox News today confirmed that they would be letting go of Bill O’Reilly after allegations of sexual harassment.
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