Wikipedia:Selected anniversaries/August 19
This is a list of selected August 19 anniversaries that appear in the "On this day" section of the Main Page. To suggest a new item, in most cases, you can be bold and edit this page. Please read the selected anniversaries guidelines before making your edit. However, if your addition might be controversial or on a day that is or will soon be on the Main Page, please post your suggestion on the talk page instead.
Please note that the events listed on the Main Page are chosen based more on relative article quality and to maintain a mix of topics, not based solely on how important or significant their subjects are. Only four to five events are posted at a time and thus not everything that is "most important and significant" can be listed. In addition, an event is generally not posted this year if it is also the subject of the scheduled featured article or picture of the day.
To report an error when this appears on the Main Page, see Main Page errors. Please remember that this list defers to the supporting articles, so it is best to achieve consensus and make any necessary changes there first.
August 19: Afghan Independence Day; National Aviation Day in the United States
- 1782 – American Revolutionary War: Ten months after the British surrender at the Siege of Yorktown, a combined force of British rangers and American Indians routed Kentucky militiamen at the Battle of Blue Licks.
- 1812 – War of 1812: American Navy frigate USS Constitution (pictured in 1997) defeated British Royal Navy frigate HMS Guerrière off the coast of Nova Scotia, Canada, earning her nickname "Old Ironsides".
- 1960 – Russian space dogs Belka and Strelka began to orbit the Earth aboard the Korabl-Sputnik-2 spacecraft.
- 1991 – During a Soviet coup attempt led by Gennady Yanayev and other top level government officials, it was announced that Mikhail Gorbachev had been relieved of his duties as President "due to illness".
- 2003 – A car bomb destroyed the United Nations headquarters at Baghdad's Canal Hotel, killing Brazilian diplomat Sérgio Vieira de Mello and 21 others.