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.
Images
Use only ONE image at a time
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USS Constitution -
USS Constitution vs HMS Guerriere -
Mikhail Gorbachev -
Belka and Strelka the Russian Space Dogs -
Mohammed Mossadegh
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Ineligible
| Blurb | Reason |
|---|---|
| National Aviation Day in the United States | stub |
| 1666 – Second Anglo-Dutch War: English Rear-Admiral Robert Holmes led a raid on Terschelling and on the Vlie estuary in the Netherlands, destroying 130 merchant ships within two days. | refimprove sections |
| 1782 – American Revolutionary War: Ten months after the British had surrendered, a combined force of British rangers and American Indians routed Kentucky militiamen at the Battle of Blue Licks. | needs more footnotes |
| 1960 – Soviet space dogs Belka and Strelka began to orbit the Earth aboard the Korabl-Sputnik-2 spacecraft. | refimprove |
| 1980 – A fire on Saudi Arabian Airlines Flight 163 killed all 301 people on board after it made an emergency landing at Riyadh International Airport in Saudi Arabia. | refimprove |
| 1991 – During a Soviet coup attempt led by Gennady Yanayev and other top level government officials, it was announced to the public that President Mikhail Gorbachev had been relieved of his duties "due to illness". | unreferenced section |
| 2003 – A car bomb destroyed the United Nations headquarters at Baghdad's Canal Hotel, killing Brazilian diplomat Sérgio Vieira de Mello and 21 others. | outdated section |
Eligible
- 1745 – Bonnie Prince Charlie raised the Jacobite standard at Glenfinnan in the Scottish Highlands to begin the Second Jacobite Rising.
- 1953 – The intelligence agencies of the United Kingdom and the United States orchestrated a coup d'état of Prime Minister of Iran Mohammad Mosaddegh (pictured) and restored the absolute monarchy of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.
- 1981 – Two American F-14 Tomcats shot down two Libyan Su-22 Fitters while the U.S. Navy conducted military exercises in the Gulf of Sidra.
- 1987 – A 27-year-old unemployed local labourer shot and killed sixteen people and wounded fifteen others before fatally shooting himself in Hungerford, Berkshire, England, one of the worst criminal atrocities involving firearms in British history.
- 1991 – A Hasidic man accidentally struck two Guyanese immigrant children with his car in the Crown Heights neighborhood of New York City, initiating three days of rioting.
- 2005 – Thunderstorms in southern Ontario, Canada, spawned at least three tornadoes that caused over C$500 million in damage.
August 19: Eid ul-Fitr (Islam, 2012); Feast of the Transfiguration (Julian calendar); Independence Day in Afghanistan (1919)
- 1612 – The "Samlesbury witches", three women from the Lancashire village of Samlesbury, were accused of practising witchcraft in one of the most famous witch trials in English history.
- 1812 – War of 1812: American Navy frigate USS Constitution defeated British Royal Navy frigate HMS Guerriere off the coast of Nova Scotia, Canada, earning her nickname "Old Ironsides".
- 1929 – The highly influential American radio comedy show Amos 'n' Andy (stars Freeman Gosden and Charles Correll pictured) made its debut.
- 1942 – Second World War: Allied forces suffered over 3,000 casualties when they unsuccessfully raided the German-occupied port of Dieppe, France.
- 2003 – A Hamas suicide bomber killed 23 people and wounded over 130 others on a crowded public bus in the Shmuel HaNavi quarter in Jerusalem.