What happened on August 19 ?
Events
293 BC - Oldest known Roman temple to Venus Libitina founded on the Esquiline Hill; institution of Vinalia Rustica begins.
1388 - Battle of Otterburn, border skirmish between the Scottish and the English in Northern England.
1504 - Battle of Knockdoe
1561 - Queen Mary Stuart returns to Scotland.
1692 - Salem Witch Trials: In Salem, Massachusetts five women and a clergyman are executed after being convicted of witchcraft.
1745 - Jacobite Rising, Prince Charles Edward Stuart lands from a French warship in Glenfinnan, raises his standard and marches on London - the start of the Second Jacobite Rebellion known as "the 45"
1768 - Saint Isaac's Cathedral is founded in Saint Petersburg, Russia
1782 - Battle of Blue Licks: the last major battle of the American Revolutionary War, almost ten months after the surrender of the British commander Lord Cornwallis following the Siege of Yorktown.
1812 - War of 1812: American frigate USS Constitution defeats the British frigate HMS Guerrière off the coast of Nova Scotia.
1813 - Gervasio Antonio de Posadas joins Argentina's second triumvirate.
1839 - Presentation of Jacque Daguerre's new photographic process to the French Academy of Sciences.
1848 - California Gold Rush: The New York Herald breaks the news to the East Coast of the United States of the gold rush in California (although the rush started in January).
1862 - Indian Wars: During an uprising in Minnesota, Lakota warriors decide not to attack heavily-defended Fort Ridgely and instead turn to the settlement of New Ulm, killing white settlers along the way.
1895 - American frontier murderer and outlaw, John Wesley Hardin, is killed by an off-duty policeman in a saloon in El Paso, Texas.
1919 - Afghanistan gains independence from the United Kingdom.
1929 - The radio comedy show Amos and Andy makes its NBC debut starring Freeman Gosden and Charles Correll.
1934 - The first All-American Soap Box Derby is held in Dayton, Ohio.
1934 - The creation of the position Führer approved by the German electorate with 89.9% of the popular vote.
1942 - World War II: Operation Jubilee - The 2nd Canadian Infantry Division leads an allied forces amphibious assault on Dieppe, France.
1944 - World War II: Liberation of Paris - Paris rises against German occupation with the help of Allied troops.
1945 - Vietnam War: Viet Minh led by Ho Chi Minh take power in Hanoi, Vietnam.
1953 - Cold War: The CIA helps to overthrow the government of Mohammed Mossadegh in Iran and reinstate the Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.
1955 - In the Northeast United States, severe flooding caused by Hurricane Diane, claims 200 lives.
1960 - Cold War: In Moscow, downed American U-2 pilot Francis Gary Powers is sentenced to ten years imprisonment by the Soviet Union for espionage.
1960 - Sputnik program: The Soviet Union launches Sputnik 5 with the dogs Belka and Strelka, 40 mice, 2 rats and a variety of plants.
1961 - The Australian public-affairs show Four Corners starts on the ABC.
1965 - Japanese prime minister Eisaku Sato becomes the first post-World War II sitting prime minister to visit Okinawa.
1975 - The cricket test match between England and Australia is called off after the pitch is vandalised by supporters of George Davis.
1980 - Saudia Flight 163, a Lockheed L-1011 TriStar burns after making an emergency landing at King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, killing 301 people.
1981 - Gulf of Sidra Incident: Two Libyan Sukhoi Su-22 fighter jets intercept United States fighters over the Gulf of Sidra and are destroyed by them.
1987 - Hungerford Massacre: In the United Kingdom, Michael Ryan kills sixteen people with an assault rifle and then commits suicide.
1989 - Polish president Wojciech Jaruzelski nominates Solidarity activist Tadeusz Mazowiecki to be the first non-communist Prime Minister in 42 years.
1990 - Leonard Bernstein conducts his final concert, ending with Ludwig van Beethoven's Symphony No. 7.
1991 - Soviet Union President Mikhail Gorbachev is overthrown by a coup. This leads to the fall of the Soviet Union
1999 - In Belgrade, tens of thousands of Serbians rally to demand the resignation of Federal Republic of Yugoslavia President Slobodan Milo?evi?.
2002 - A Russian Mi-26 helicopter carrying troops is hit by a Chechen missile outside of Grozny, killing 118 soldiers.
2003 - A car-bomb attack on UN headquarters in Iraq kills the agency's top envoy Sergio Vieira de Mello and 21 other employers.
2005 - The first-ever joint military exercise between Russia and China, called Peace Mission 2005 begins.
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