December 19 in History

Historical Events on December 19

211

Publius Septimius Geta, co-emperor of Rome, is lured to come without his bodyguards to meet his brother Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (Caracalla), to discuss a possible reconciliation. When he arrives, the Praetorian Guard murders him and he dies in the arms of his mother, Julia Domna.
1154

Henry II of England is crowned at Westminster Abbey.
1187

Pope Clement III is elected.
1490

Anne, Duchess of Brittany, is married to Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor by proxy.
1562

The Battle of Dreux takes place during the French Wars of Religion.
1606

The Susan Constant, the Godspeed, and the Discovery depart England carrying settlers who founded, at Jamestown, Virginia, the first of the thirteen colonies that became the United States.
1675

The Great Swamp Fight, a pivotal battle in King Philip's War, gives the English settlers a bitterly won victory.
1776

Thomas Paine publishes one of a series of pamphlets in The Pennsylvania Journal entitled "The American Crisis".
1777

American Revolutionary War: George Washington's Continental Army goes into winter quarters at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania.
1796

French 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.
1828

Nullification Crisis: Vice President of the United States John C. Calhoun pens the South Carolina Exposition and Protest, protesting the Tariff of 1828.
1900

Hopetoun 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 and is forced to resign.
1907

Two hundred thirty-nine coal miners die in the Darr Mine Disaster in Jacobs Creek, Pennsylvania.
1912

William 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 three-and-a-half-years in Sing Sing prison.
1920

King Constantine I is restored as King of the Hellenes after the death of his son Alexander of Greece and a plebiscite.
1924

The last Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost is sold in London, England.
1927

Three Indian revolutionaries, Ram Prasad Bismil, Roshan Singh and Ashfaqulla Khan, are executed by the British Empire.
1932

BBC World Service begins broadcasting as the BBC Empire Service.
1941

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

World War II: Limpet mines placed by Italian divers heavily damage the HMS Valiant and HMS Queen Elizabeth in Alexandria harbour.
1945

John Amery, British Fascist, at the age of 33 executed by the British Government for treason.
1946

Start of the First Indochina War.
1956

Irish-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.
1961

India annexes Daman and Diu, part of Portuguese India.
1967

Harold Holt, the Prime Minister of Australia, is officially presumed dead.
1972

Apollo program: The last manned lunar flight, Apollo 17, crewed by Eugene Cernan, Ronald Evans, and Harrison Schmitt, returns to Earth.
1974

Nelson Rockefeller is sworn in as Vice President of the United States under President Gerald Ford under the provisions of the 25th Amendment to the United States Constitution.
1981

Sixteen lives are lost when the Penlee lifeboat goes to the aid of the stricken coaster Union Star in heavy seas.
1983

The original FIFA World Cup trophy, the Jules Rimet Trophy, is stolen from the headquarters of the Brazilian Football Confederation in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
1984

The 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, China by Deng Xiaoping and Margaret Thatcher.
1986

Mikhail Gorbachev, leader of the Soviet Union, releases Andrei Sakharov and his wife from exile in Gorky.
1995

The United States Government restores federal recognition to the Nottawaseppi Huron Band of Potawatomi Native American tribe.
1997

SilkAir Flight 185 crashes into the Musi River, near Palembang in Indonesia, killing 104.
1998

President Bill Clinton is impeached by the United States House of Representatives, becoming the second President of the United States to be impeached.
2000

The Leninist Guerrilla Units wing of the Communist Labour Party of Turkey/Leninist attack a Nationalist Movement Party office in Istanbul, Turkey, killing one person and injuring three.
2001

A record high barometric pressure of 1085.6 hPa (32.06 inHg) is recorded at Tosontsengel, Khövsgöl, Mongolia.
2001

Argentine economic crisis: December riots: Riots erupt in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
2012

Park Geun-hye is elected the first female president of South Korea.
2013

Spacecraft Gaia is launched by European Space Agency.
2016

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

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

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