19 March

Events

Pre-1600

*1277 – The Byzantine–Venetian treaty of 1277 is concluded, stipulating a two-year truce and renewing Venetian commercial privileges in the Byzantine Empire.
*1279 – A Mongol victory at the Battle of Yamen ends the Song dynasty in China.
*1284 – The Statute of Rhuddlan incorporates the Principality of Wales into England.
*1452 – Frederick III of Habsburg is the last Holy Roman Emperor crowned by medieval tradition in Rome by Pope Nicholas V
*1563 – The Edict of Amboise is signed, ending the first phase of the French Wars of Religion and granting certain freedoms to the Huguenots.

1601–1900

*1649 – The House of Commons of England passes an act abolishing the House of Lords, declaring it ''"useless and dangerous to the people of England"''.
*1687 – Explorer Robert Cavelier de La Salle, searching for the mouth of the Mississippi River, is murdered by his own men.
*1808 – Charles IV, king of Spain, abdicates after riots and a popular revolt at the winter palace Aranjuez. His son, Ferdinand VII, takes the throne.Stanley G. Payne, ''History of Spain of Portugal'', Vol 2, University of Wisconsin Press., 1973, , page 420
*1812 – The Cortes of Cádiz promulgates the Spanish Constitution of 1812.
* 1824 – American explorer Benjamin Morrell departed Antarctica after a voyage later plagued by claims of fraud.
* 1831 – First documented bank heist in U.S. history, when burglars stole $245,000 (1831 values) from the City Bank (now Citibank) on Wall Street. Most of the money was recovered.
*1853 – The Taiping reform movement occupies and makes Nanjing its capital until 1864.
*1861 – The First Taranaki War ends in New Zealand.
*1863 – The , said to have been the most powerful Confederate cruiser, is destroyed on her maiden voyage with a cargo of munitions, medicines, and merchandise then valued at over $1,000,000.
*1865 – American Civil War: The Battle of Bentonville begins. By the end of the battle two days later, Confederate forces had retreated from Four Oaks, North Carolina.
*1885 – Louis Riel declares a provisional government in Saskatchewan, beginning the North-West Rebellion.
*1895 – Auguste and Louis Lumière record their first footage using their newly patented cinematograph.
*1900 – The British archeologist Sir Arthur John Evans begins excavating Knossos Palace, the center of Cretan civilization.

1901–present

*1918 – The US Congress establishes time zones and approves daylight saving time.
*1920 – The United States Senate rejects the Treaty of Versailles for the second time (the first time was on November 19, 1919).
*1921 – Irish War of Independence: One of the biggest engagements of the war takes place at Crossbarry, County Cork. About 100 Irish Republican Army (IRA) volunteers escape an attempt by over 1,300 British forces to encircle them.
*1931 – Governor Fred B. Balzar signs a bill legalizing gambling in Nevada.
*1932 – The Sydney Harbour Bridge is opened.
*1943 – Frank Nitti, the Chicago Outfit Boss after Al Capone, commits suicide at the Chicago Central Railyard.
*1944 – World War II: The German army occupies Hungary.
*1945 – World War II: Off the coast of Japan, a dive bomber hits the aircraft carrier , killing 724 of her crew. Badly damaged, the ship is able to return to the US under her own power.
* 1945 – World War II: Adolf Hitler issues his "Nero Decree" ordering all industries, military installations, shops, transportation facilities, and communications facilities in Germany to be destroyed.
*1946 – French Guiana, Guadeloupe, Martinique, and Réunion become overseas ''départements'' of France.
*1958 – The Monarch Underwear Company fire leaves 24 dead and 15 injured.
* 1962 – The Algerian War of Independence ends.
*1964 – Over 500,000 Brazilians attend the March of the Family with God for Liberty, in protest against the government of João Goulart and against communism.
*1965 – The wreck of the , valued at over $50,000,000 and said to have been the most powerful Confederate cruiser, is discovered by teenage diver and pioneer underwater archaeologist E. Lee Spence, exactly 102 years after its destruction.
*1969 – The TV-mast at Emley Moor transmitting station, United Kingdom, collapses due to ice build-up.
*1979 – The United States House of Representatives begins broadcasting its day-to-day business via the cable television network C-SPAN.
*1982 – Falklands War: Argentinian forces land on South Georgia Island, precipitating war with the United Kingdom.
*1989 – The Egyptian flag is raised at Taba, marking the end of Israeli occupation since the Six Days War in 1967 and the Egypt–Israel peace treaty in 1979.
*1990 – The ethnic clashes of Târgu Mureș begin four days after the anniversary of the Revolutions of 1848 in the Austrian Empire.
*1998 – An Ariana Afghan Airlines Boeing 727 crashes on approach to Kabul International Airport, killing all 45 on board.
*2001 – German trade union ver.di is formed.
*2002 – Zimbabwe is suspended from the Commonwealth on charges of human rights abuses and of electoral fraud, following a turbulent presidential election.

*2004 – Catalina affair: A Swedish DC-3 shot down by a Soviet MiG-15 in 1952 over the Baltic Sea is finally recovered after years of work.
* 2004 – March 19 Shooting Incident: The Republic of China (Taiwan) president Chen Shui-bian is shot just before the country's presidential election on March 20.
*2008 – GRB 080319B: A cosmic burst that is the farthest object visible to the naked eye is briefly observed.
*2011 – Libyan Civil War: After the failure of Muammar Gaddafi's forces to take Benghazi, the French Air Force launches Opération Harmattan, beginning foreign military intervention in Libya.
*2013 – A series of bombings and shootings kills at least 98 people and injures 240 others across Iraq.
*2016 – Flydubai Flight 981 crashes while attempting to land at Rostov-on-Don international airport, killing all 62 on board.
* 2016 – An explosion occurs in Taksim Square in Istanbul, Turkey, killing five people and injuring 36.

Births

Pre-1600

*1206 – Güyük Khan, Mongol ruler, 3rd Great Khan of the Mongol Empire (d. 1248)
*1434 – Ashikaga Yoshikatsu, Japanese shōgun (d. 1443)
* 1488 – Johannes Magnus, Swedish archbishop and theologian (d. 1544)
*1534 – José de Anchieta, Spanish missionary and saint (d. 1597)
*1542 – Jan Zamoyski, Polish nobleman (d. 1605)

1601–1900

*1601 – Alonzo Cano – John IV of Portugal (d. 1656)
*1641 – Abd al-Ghani al-Nabulsi, Syrian author and scholar (d. 1731)
*1661 – Francesco Gasparini, Italian composer and educator (d. 1727)
*1684 – Jean Astruc, French physician and scholar (d. 1766)
*1721 – Tobias Smollett, Scottish-Italian poet and author (d. 1771) (baptised on this day)
*1734 – Thomas McKean, American lawyer and politician, 2nd Governor of Pennsylvania (d. 1817)
*1739 – Charles-François Lebrun, duc de Plaisance, French lawyer and politician (d. 1824)
*1742 – Túpac Amaru II, Peruvian rebel leader (d. 1781)
*1748 – Elias Hicks, American farmer, minister, and theologian (d. 1830)
*1778 – Edward Pakenham, Anglo-Irish general and politician (d. 1815)
*1809 – Fredrik Pacius, German composer and conductor (d. 1891)
*1813 – David Livingstone, Scottish missionary and explorer (d. 1873)
*1816 – Johannes Verhulst, Dutch composer and conductor (d. 1891)
*1821 – Richard Francis Burton, English soldier, geographer, and diplomat (d. 1890)
*1823 – Arthur Blyth, English-Australian politician, 9th Premier of South Australia (d. 1891)
*1824 – William Allingham, Irish poet, author, and scholar (d. 1889)
*1829 – Carl Frederik Tietgen, Danish businessman (d. 1901)
*1844 – Minna Canth, Finnish journalist, playwright, and activist (d. 1897)
*1847 – Albert Pinkham Ryder, American painter (d. 1917)
*1848 – Wyatt Earp, American police officer (d. 1929)
* 1849 – Alfred von Tirpitz, German admiral and politician (d. 1930)
*1858 – Kang Youwei, Chinese scholar and politician (d. 1927)
*1860 – William Jennings Bryan, American lawyer and politician, 41st United States Secretary of State (d. 1925)
*1861 – Lomer Gouin, Canadian lawyer and politician, Premier of Quebec (d. 1929)
*1864 – Charles Marion Russell, American painter and sculptor (d. 1926)
*1865 – William Morton Wheeler, American entomologist, myrmecologist, and academic (d. 1937)
*1868 – Senda Berenson Abbott, Lithuanian-American basketball player and educator (d. 1954)
*1871 – Schofield Haigh, English cricketer and coach (d. 1921)
*1872 – Anna Held, Polish singer (d. 1918)
*1873 – Max Reger, German pianist, composer, and conductor (d. 1916)
*1875 – Zhang Zuolin, Chinese warlord (d. 1928)
*1876 – Felix Jacoby, German philologist (d. 1959)
*1880 – Ernestine Rose, American librarian and advocate (d. 1961)
*1881 – Edith Nourse Rogers, American social worker and politician (d. 1960)
*1882 – Gaston Lachaise, French-American sculptor (d. 1935)
*1883 – Norman Haworth, English chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1950)
* 1883 – Joseph Stilwell, American general (d. 1946)
*1885 – Attik, Greek composer (d. 1944)
*1888 – Josef Albers, German-American painter and educator (d. 1976)
* 1888 – Léon Scieur, Belgian cyclist (d. 1969)
*1891 – Earl Warren, American lieutenant, jurist, and politician, 14th Chief Justice of the United States (d. 1974)
*1892 – Theodore Sizer, American professor of the history of art (d. 1967)
* 1892 – Ado Vabbe, Estonian painter (d. 1961)
* 1892 – James Van Fleet, American general and diplomat (d. 1992)
*1893 – Gertrud Dorka, German archaeologist, prehistorian and museum director (died 1976)
*1894 – Moms Mabley, American comedian and singer (d. 1975)
*1900 – Carmen Carbonell, Spanish stage and film actress (d. 1988)
* 1900 – Frédéric Joliot-Curie, French physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1958)

1901–present

*1901 – Jo Mielziner, French-American set designer (d. 1976)
*1904 – John Sirica, American lawyer and judge (d. 1992)
*1905 – Joe Rollino, American weightlifter and boxer (d. 2010)
* 1905 – Albert Speer, German architect and politician (d. 1981)
*1906 – Adolf Eichmann