On This Day — 19 October

2025

Pieces of the French Crown Jewels are successfully stolen during a heist on the Louvre Museum in Paris..

French Crown Jewels

2019

Members of Parliament met at the House of Lords to discuss the United Kingdom's Brexit deal, this was the first Saturday sitting in Parliament since 3 April 1982 during the Falklands War.

House of Lords

2013

One hundred and five people are injured in a train crash in Buenos Aires.

2013 Buenos Aires train crash

2012

A bomb explosion kills eight people and injures 110 more in Lebanon.

Assassination of Wissam al-Hassan

2005

Saddam Hussein goes on trial in Baghdad for crimes against humanity.

Saddam Hussein

2005

Hurricane Wilma becomes the most intense Atlantic hurricane on record with a minimum pressure of 882 mb.

Hurricane Wilma

2004

Thirteen people are killed when Corporate Airlines Flight 5966 crashes in Adair County, Missouri, while on approach to Kirksville Regional Airport.

Corporate Airlines Flight 5966

2003

Mother Teresa is beatified by Pope John Paul II.

Mother Teresa

2001

SIEV X, an Indonesian fishing boat en route to Christmas Island, carrying over 400 migrants, sinks in international waters with the loss of 353 people.

SIEV X

1989

The convictions of the Guildford Four are quashed by the Court of Appeal of England and Wales, after they had spent 15 years in prison.

Guildford Four and Maguire Seven

1988

The British government imposes a broadcasting ban on television and radio interviews with members of Sinn Féin and eleven Irish republican and Ulster loyalist paramilitary groups.

1988–1994 British broadcasting voice restrictions

1987

The United States Navy conducts Operation Nimble Archer, an attack on two Iranian oil platforms in the Persian Gulf.

Operation Nimble Archer

1987

Black Monday: The Dow Jones Industrial Average falls by 22%, 508 points.

Black Monday (1987)

1986

The president of Mozambique and a prominent leader of FRELIMO, along with 33 others, die when their aircraft crashes into the Lebombo Mountains.

1986 Mozambican Tupolev Tu-134 crash

1974

Niue becomes a self-governing colony of New Zealand.

Niue Constitution Act

1973

President Nixon rejects an Appeals Court decision that he turn over the Watergate tapes.

Nixon White House tapes

1960

The United States imposes a near-total trade embargo against Cuba.

United States embargo against Cuba

1956

The Soviet Union and Japan sign a Joint Declaration, officially ending the state of war between the two countries that had existed since August 1945.

Soviet–Japanese Joint Declaration of 1956

1955

The General Assembly of the European Broadcasting Union approves the staging of the first Eurovision Song Contest.

History of the Eurovision Song Contest

1953

Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 is published.

Ray Bradbury

1950

China defeats the Tibetan Army at Chambo.

Battle of Chamdo

1950

Iran becomes the first country to accept technical assistance from the United States under the Point Four Program.

Point Four Program

1948

Presidents North Carolina Gave the Nation, a monument honoring three presidents of the United States, was dedicated at the North Carolina State Capitol in Raleigh, North Carolina.

Presidents North Carolina Gave the Nation

1944

United States forces land in the Philippines.

Battle of Leyte

1944

A coup is launched against Juan Federico Ponce Vaides, beginning the ten-year Guatemalan Revolution.

Juan Federico Ponce Vaides

1943

The cargo vessel Sinfra is attacked by Allied aircraft at Crete and sunk. Two thousand and ninety-eight Italian prisoners of war drown with it.

MS Sinfra

1943

Streptomycin, the first antibiotic remedy for tuberculosis, is isolated by researchers at Rutgers University.

Streptomycin

1936

New York World-Telegram reporter Herbert Ekins won a race against two other New York newspaper journalists to travel around the world on commercial airline flights. He accomplished the feat in 18 ½ days. His opponents were New York Evening Journal reporter Dorothy Kilgallen, who finished in second place, and New York Times reporter Leo Kieran.

New York World-Telegram

1935

The League of Nations places economic sanctions on Italy for its invasion of Ethiopia.

Second Italo-Ethiopian War

1922

British Conservative MPs vote to terminate the coalition government with the Liberal Party.

Lloyd George ministry

1921

The Portuguese Prime Minister and several officials are murdered in the Bloody Night coup.

Bloody Night (Lisbon, 1921)

1914

World War I: The First Battle of Ypres begins.

World War I

1912

Italo-Turkish War: Italy takes possession of what is now Libya from the Ottoman Empire.

Italo-Turkish War

1900

Max Planck discovers Planck's law of black-body radiation.

Max Planck

1866

In accordance with the Treaty of Vienna, Austria cedes Veneto and Mantua to France, which immediately awards them to Italy in exchange for the earlier Italian acquiescence to the French annexation of Savoy and Nice.

Treaty of Vienna (1866)

1864

American Civil War: The Battle of Cedar Creek ends the last Confederate threat to Washington, DC.

American Civil War

1864

American Civil War: Confederate agents based in Canada rob three banks in Saint Albans, Vermont.

St. Albans Raid

1847

The novel Jane Eyre is published in London.

Jane Eyre

1813

War of the Sixth Coalition: Napoleon is forced to retreat from Germany after the Battle of Leipzig.

Battle of Leipzig

1812

The French invasion of Russia fails when Napoleon begins his retreat from Moscow.

French invasion of Russia

1805

War of the Third Coalition: Austrian General Mack surrenders his army to Napoleon at the Battle of Ulm.

Battle of Ulm

1791

Treaty of Drottningholm, between Sweden and Russia

Treaty of Drottningholm

1789

John Jay is sworn in as the first Chief Justice of the United States.

John Jay

1781

American Revolutionary War: The siege of Yorktown comes to an end.

American Revolutionary War

1662

An English Buccaneer force led by Royal Navy commodore Christopher Myngs launches an attack on Santiago de Cuba which is subsequently sacked.

Buccaneer

1649

New Ross town in Ireland surrenders to Oliver Cromwell.

New Ross

1596

The Spanish ship San Felipe runs aground on the coast of Japan and its cargo is confiscated by local authorities.

San Felipe incident (1596)

1579

James VI of Scotland is celebrated as an adult ruler by a festival in Edinburgh.

James VI and I

1512

Martin Luther becomes a doctor of theology.

Martin Luther

1469

Ferdinand II of Aragon marries Isabella I of Castile, a marriage that paves the way to the unification of Aragon and Castile into a single country, Spain.

Ferdinand II of Aragon

1466

The Thirteen Years' War between Poland and the Teutonic Order ends with the Second Treaty of Thorn.

Thirteen Years' War (1454–1466)

1453

Hundred Years' War: Three months after the Battle of Castillon, England loses its last possessions in southern France.

Hundred Years' War

1386

The Universität Heidelberg holds its first lecture, making it the oldest German university.

Heidelberg University

439

The Vandals, led by King Gaiseric, take Carthage in North Africa.

Gaiseric

-202

Second Punic War: At the Battle of Zama, Roman legions under Scipio Africanus defeat Hannibal Barca, leader of the army defending Carthage.[citation needed]

Second Punic War