On This Day — 19 September
2000s
2023
Azerbaijan launches a military offensive against the Republic of Artsakh in the Nagorno-Karabakh region; this leads to the flight of the Armenian population.
Azerbaijan
2022
The state funeral of Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom is held at Westminster Abbey, London.
Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II
2022
A strong earthquake kills 2 and injures over 30 in Mexico's state of Michoacán.
2022 Michoacán earthquake
2021
The Cumbre Vieja volcano, on the island of La Palma in the Canary Islands, erupts. The eruption lasts for almost three months, ending on December 13.
Cumbre Vieja
2017
The 2017 Puebla earthquake strikes Mexico, causing 370 deaths and over 6,000 injuries, as well as extensive damage.
2017 Puebla earthquake
2016
In the wake of a manhunt, the suspect in a series of bombings in New York and New Jersey is apprehended after a shootout with police.
2016 New York and New Jersey bombings
2011
Mariano Rivera of the New York Yankees surpasses Trevor Hoffman to become Major League Baseball's all-time career saves leader with 602.
Mariano Rivera
2010
The leaking oil well in the Deepwater Horizon oil spill is sealed.
Deepwater Horizon oil spill
2008
A Learjet 60 carrying musicians Travis Barker and Adam "DJ AM" Goldstein crashes during a rejected takeoff from Colombia Metropolitan Airport in West Columbia, South Carolina, killing four of the six people on board. Barker and Goldstein both survive.
Learjet 60
2006
The Thai army stages a coup. The Constitution is revoked and martial law is declared.
2006 Thai coup d'état
1900s
1997
The Guelb El-Kebir massacre in Algeria kills 53 people.
Guelb El-Kebir massacre
1995
The Washington Post and The New York Times publish the Unabomber Manifesto.
Industrial Society and Its Future
1991
Ötzi the Iceman is discovered in the Alps on the border between Italy and Austria.
Ötzi
1989
A bomb destroys UTA Flight 772 in mid-air above the Tùnùrù Desert, Niger, killing all 170 passengers and crew.
UTA Flight 772
1985
A strong earthquake kills thousands and destroys about 400 buildings in Mexico City.
1985 Mexico City earthquake
1985
Tipper Gore and other political wives form the Parents Music Resource Center as Frank Zappa, John Denver, and other musicians testify at U.S. Congressional hearings on obscenity in rock music.
Tipper Gore
1983
Saint Kitts and Nevis gains its independence.
Saint Kitts and Nevis
1982
Scott Fahlman posts the first documented emoticons :-) and :-( on the Carnegie Mellon University bulletin board system.
Scott Fahlman
1978
The Solomon Islands join the United Nations.
Solomon Islands
1976
Turkish Airlines Flight 452 hits the Taurus Mountains, outskirt of Karatepe, Turkey, killing all 154 passengers and crew.
Turkish Airlines Flight 452
1976
Two Imperial Iranian Air Force F-4 Phantom II jets fly out to investigate an unidentified flying object.
1976 Tehran UFO incident
1970
Michael Eavis hosts the first Glastonbury Festival.
Michael Eavis
1970
Kostas Georgakis, a Greek student of geology, sets himself ablaze in Matteotti Square in Genoa, Italy, as a protest against the dictatorial regime of Georgios Papadopoulos.
Kostas Georgakis
1960
Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and Pakistani President Ayub Khan sign the Indus Waters Treaty for the control and management of the Indus, Chenab, Jhelum, Ravi, Sutlej and Beas rivers.
Jawaharlal Nehru
1950
Korean War: An attack by North Korean forces was repelled at the Battle of Nam River.
Korean War
1946
The Council of Europe is founded following a speech by Winston Churchill at the University of Zurich.
Council of Europe
1944
World War II: The Battle of Hürtgen Forest begins. It will become the second-longest individual battle that the U.S. Army has ever fought.
Battle of Hürtgen Forest
1944
World War II: The Moscow Armistice between Finland and the Soviet Union is signed, which officially ended the Continuation War.
Moscow Armistice
1940
World War II: Witold Pilecki is voluntarily captured and sent to Auschwitz concentration camp to gather and smuggle out information for the resistance movement.
Witold Pilecki
1939
World War II: The Battle of Kępa Oksywska concludes, with Polish losses reaching roughly 14% of all the forces engaged.
World War II
1916
World War I: During the East African Campaign, colonial forces of the Belgian Congo (Force Publique) under the command of Charles Tombeur capture the town of Tabora after heavy fighting.
World War I
1902
A stampede at Shiloh Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, leads to the death of 115 attendees.
Shiloh Baptist Church stampede
1800s
1893
In New Zealand, the Electoral Act of 1893 is consented to by the governor, giving all women in New Zealand the right to vote.
Women's suffrage in New Zealand
1870
Franco-Prussian War: The siege of Paris begins. The city held out for over four months before surrendering.
Franco-Prussian War
1868
La Gloriosa begins in Spain.
Glorious Revolution (Spain)
1864
American Civil War: Union troops under Philip Sheridan defeat a Confederate force commanded by Jubal Early. With over 50,000 troops engaged, it was the largest battle fought in the Shenandoah Valley.
Third Battle of Winchester
1863
American Civil War: The first day of the Battle of Chickamauga, in northwestern Georgia, the bloodiest two-day battle of the conflict, and the only significant Confederate victory in the war's Western Theater.
Battle of Chickamauga
1862
American Civil War: Union troops under William Rosecrans defeat a Confederate force commanded by Sterling Price.
American Civil War
1852
Annibale de Gasparis discovers the asteroid Massalia from the north dome of the Astronomical Observatory of Capodimonte.
Annibale de Gasparis
1846
Two French shepherd children, Mélanie Calvat and Maximin Giraud, experience a Marian apparition on a mountaintop near La Salette, France, now known as Our Lady of La Salette.
Marian apparition
Before 1800
1799
French Revolutionary Wars: French-Dutch victory against the Russians and British in the Battle of Bergen.
French Revolutionary Wars
1796
George Washington's Farewell Address is printed across America as an open letter to the public.
George Washington's Farewell Address
1778
The Continental Congress passes the first United States federal budget.
Continental Congress
1777
American Revolutionary War: British forces win a tactically expensive victory over the Continental Army in the First Battle of Saratoga.
American Revolutionary War
1676
Jamestown is burned to the ground by the forces of Nathaniel Bacon during Bacon's Rebellion.
Jamestown, Virginia
1410
End of the Siege of Marienburg: The State of the Teutonic Order repulses the joint Polish—Lithuanian forces.
Siege of Marienburg (1410)
1356
Battle of Poitiers: An English army under the command of Edward the Black Prince defeats a French army and captures King John II.
Battle of Poitiers
634
Siege of Damascus: The Rashidun Arabs under Khalid ibn al-Walid capture Damascus from the Byzantine Empire.
Siege of Damascus (634)
96
Nerva, suspected of complicity of the death of Domitian, is declared emperor by Senate. The Senate then annuls laws passed by Domitian and orders his statues to be destroyed.
AD 96