April 19 in History

Historical Events on April 19

AD 65

The freedman Milichus betrays Piso's plot to kill the Emperor Nero and all the conspirators are arrested.
531

Battle of Callinicum: A Byzantine army under Belisarius is defeated by the Persians at Raqqa (northern Syria).
797

Empress Irene organizes a conspiracy against her son, the Byzantine emperor Constantine VI. He is deposed and blinded. Shortly after, Constantine dies of his wounds; Irene proclaims herself basileus.
1012

Martyrdom of Ælfheah in Greenwich, England.
1506

The Lisbon Massacre begins, in which accused Jews are being slaughtered by Portuguese Catholics.
1529

Beginning of the Protestant Reformation: After the Second Diet of Speyer bans Lutheranism, a group of rulers (German: Fürst) and independent cities protests the reinstatement of the Edict of Worms.
1539

Treaty of Frankfurt signed
1608

In Ireland: O'Doherty's Rebellion is launched by the Burning of Derry
1677

The French army captures the town of Cambrai held by Spanish troops.
1713

With no living male heirs, Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor, issues the Pragmatic Sanction of 1713 to ensure that Habsburg lands and the Austrian throne would be inherited by his daughter, Maria Theresa (not actually born until 1717).
1770

Captain James Cook, still holding the rank of lieutenant, sights the eastern coast of what is now Australia.
1770

Marie Antoinette marries Louis XVI of France in a proxy wedding.
1775

American Revolutionary War: The war begins with an American victory in Concord during the battles of Lexington and Concord.
1782

John Adams secures the Dutch Republic's recognition of the United States as an independent government. The house which he had purchased in The Hague, Netherlands becomes the first American embassy.
1809

An Austrian corps is defeated by the forces of the Duchy of Warsaw in the Battle of Raszyn, part of the struggles of the Fifth Coalition. On the same day the Austrian main army is defeated by a First French Empire Corps led by Louis-Nicolas Davout at the Battle of Teugen-Hausen in Bavaria, part of a four-day campaign that ended in a French victory.
1810

Venezuela achieves home rule: Vicente Emparán, Governor of the Captaincy General is removed by the people of Caracas and a junta is installed.
1839

The Treaty of London establishes Belgium as a kingdom and guarantees its neutrality.
1861

American Civil War: Baltimore riot of 1861: A pro-Secession mob in Baltimore attacks United States Army troops marching through the city.
1903

The Kishinev pogrom in Kishinev (Bessarabia) begins, forcing tens of thousands of Jews to later seek refuge in Palestine and the Western world.
1927

Mae West is sentenced to ten days in jail for obscenity for her play Sex.
1942

World War II: In Poland, the Majdan-Tatarski ghetto is established, situated between the Lublin Ghetto and a Majdanek subcamp.
1943

World War II: In Poland, the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising begins, after German troops enter the Warsaw Ghetto to round up the remaining Jews.
1956

Actress Grace Kelly marries Prince Rainier of Monaco.
1960

Students in South Korea hold a nationwide pro-democracy protest against president Syngman Rhee, eventually forcing him to resign.
1971

Sierra Leone becomes a republic, and Siaka Stevens the president.
1971

Launch of Salyut 1, the first space station.
1971

Charles Manson is sentenced to death (later commuted to life imprisonment) for conspiracy in the Tate-LaBianca murders.
1973

The Portuguese Socialist Party is founded in the German town of Bad Münstereifel.
1975

India's first satellite Aryabhata launched in orbit from Kapustin Yar, Russia.
1984

Advance Australia Fair is proclaimed as Australia's national anthem, and green and gold as the national colours.
1985

Two hundred ATF and FBI agents lay siege to the compound of the white supremacist survivalist group The Covenant, The Sword, and the Arm of the Lord in Arkansas; the CSA surrenders two days later.
1987

The Simpsons first appear as a series of shorts on The Tracey Ullman Show, first starting with Good Night.
1989

A gun turret explodes on the USS Iowa, killing 47 sailors.
1993

The 51-day FBI siege of the Branch Davidian building in Waco, Texas, USA, ends when a fire breaks out. 76 Davidians including 18 children under the age of 10 died in the fire.
1995

Oklahoma City bombing: The Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, USA, is bombed, killing 168 people including 19 children under the age of 6.
1997

The 1997 Red River flood overwhelms the city of Grand Forks, North Dakota. Fire breaks out and spreads in downtown Grand Forks, but high water levels hamper efforts to reach the fire, leading to the destruction of 11 buildings.
1999

The German Bundestag returns to Berlin.
2005

Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger is elected to the papacy and becomes Pope Benedict XVI.
2011

Fidel Castro resigns as First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba after holding the title since July 1961.
2013

Boston Marathon bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev is killed in a shootout with police. His brother Dzhokhar is later captured hiding in a boat inside a backyard in the suburb of Watertown.

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