On this day: 19 December
Events, births and deaths on 19 December. Every date is checked against Wikidata.
Years ago today
1 year ago2025
- Events · 2025 Taipei knife attack
10 years ago2016
- Events · 2016 Berlin attack
- Deaths · Andrei Karlov
- Events · assassination of Andrei Karlov
100 years ago1926
- Births · Fikret Otyam
- Births · Bobby Layne
1000 years ago1026
Within 100 years of that
- 1111 · Deaths · Al-Ghazali
- 966 · Deaths · Sancho I of León
- 1091 · Deaths · Adelaide of Susa
Events · 22
- 1562Battle of Dreux — 1562 battle
- 1675Great Swamp Fight — 1675 battle of King Philip's War
- 1796Action of 19 December 1796 — 1796 naval engagement of the French Revolutionary Wars
- 1907Darr Mine Disaster — 1907 mining accident in Pennsylvania
- 1932BBC World Service — international radio station of the BBC
- 19401940 Finnish presidential election — presidential election in Finland
- 1941Raid on Alexandria — Italian frogman raid on British warships in Alexandria in 1941
- 1946First Indochina War — 1946–1954 French colonial war in Vietnam
- 1961World Food Programme — United Nations branch related to food-assistance
- 1961Annexation of Goa — Indian military operation in December 1961 to annex Goa into Indian Republic
- 1964December 1964 South Vietnamese coup — coup by General Nguyễn Khánh
- 19771977 Bab Tangal earthquake — earthquake in Zarand County, Iran
- 1984Sino-British Joint Declaration — 1984 British-Chinese treaty regarding the transfer of Hong Kong
- 1985Yakutsk United Air Group Flight 101/435 — aircraft hijacking
- 1997SilkAir Flight 185 — 1997 plane crash in Indonesia
- 1998impeachment of Bill Clinton — presidential impeachment proceedings
- 2005Chalk's Ocean Airways Flight 101 — aviation accident
- 20072007 South Korean presidential election — Presidential election in South Korea
- 20122012 South Korean presidential election — election
- 20162016 Berlin attack — attack at Breitscheidplatz in Berlin on 19 December 2016
- 2016assassination of Andrei Karlov — 2016 murder of the Russian ambassador to Turkey
- 20252025 Taipei knife attack — fatal attack occurred in downtown Taipei, Taiwan on 2025
Births · 60
- 1683Philip V of Spain — King of Spain from 1700 to 1746 (1683–1746)
- 1778Marie Thérèse of France — French Madame Royale (1778–1851)
- 1852Albert Abraham Michelson — American physicist (1852–1931)
- 1861Italo Svevo — Italian writer (1861-1928)
- 1875Mileva Marić — Serbian mathematician and wife of Albert Einstein (1875–1948)
- 1884Antonín Zápotocký — Czech politician (1884–1957)
- 1902Ralph Richardson — British actor (1902–1983)
- 1903George Davis Snell — American geneticist
- 1906(Julian date)Leonid Brezhnev — General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (1906–1982)
- 1910Jean Genet — French novelist, playwright, poet and political activist (1910-1986)
- 1915Édith Piaf — French singer (1915–1963)
- 1916Elisabeth Noelle-Neumann — German political scientist (1916–2010)
- 1924Cicely Tyson — American actress (1924–2021)
- 1924Michel Tournier — French writer (1924–2016)
- 1934Pratibha Patil — President of India from 2007 to 2012
- 1940Phil Ochs — American protest singer and songwriter (1940-1976)
- 1941Lee Myung-bak — President of South Korea from 2008 to 2013
- 1941Maurice White — American musician (1941–2016)
- 1944Richard Leakey — Kenyan paleoanthropologist, conservationist, and politician (1944–2022)
- 1944Alvin Lee — English singer, songwriter, and guitarist (1944–2013)
- 1944Mitchell Feigenbaum — American mathematical physicist (1944–2019)
- 1946Robert Urich — actor (1946-2002)
- 1951Mohammad Reza Aref — First Vice President of Iran and reformist politician
- 1955Rob Portman — American lawyer and politician (born 1955)
- 1957Kevin McHale — American basketball player (born 1957)
Deaths · 60
- 966(Julian date)Sancho I of León — King of León (c.932–966)
- 1091Adelaide of Susa — Marchioness of Turin from 1034 to 1091
- 1111(Julian date)Al-Ghazali — Persian Sunni Muslim scholar and mystic (c.1058–1111)
- 1327(Julian date)Agnes of France, Duchess of Burgundy — regent (1260-1327)
- 1370(Julian date)Urban V — pope of the Catholic Church from 1362 to 1370
- 1385(Julian date)Bernabò Visconti — Lord of Milan
- 1442(Julian date)Elizabeth of Luxembourg — Princess and Queen Consort of Hungary and Bohemia, and Regent of Hungary
- 1637Christina of Lorraine — Grand Duchess consort of Tuscany (1565-1637)
- 1741Vitus Bering — Danish-born Russian explorer (1681-1741)
- 1749Francesco Antonio Bonporti — Italian priest and composer (1672-1749)
- 1807Friedrich Melchior, Baron von Grimm — German dramatist and playwright (1723-1807)
- 1813James McGill — founder of McGill University, Montreal (1744-1813)
- 1848Emily Brontë — English novelist and poet (1818–1848)
- 1851J. M. W. Turner — English painter and draftsman (c.1775–1851)
- 1878Bayard Taylor — United States poet, novelist and travel writer (1825-1878)
- 1915Alois Alzheimer — German psychiatrist and neuropathologist (1864–1915)
- 1916Thibaw Min — Last king of Burma (1859–1916)
- 1927Ram Prasad Bismil — revolutionary, poet & writer (1897–1927)
- 1927Ashfaqulla Khan — Indian poet and fighter for independence (1900-1927)
- 1940Kyösti Kallio — Finnish politician and 4th President of Finland (1873–1940)
- 1944Abbas II — Khedive of Egypt (1874-1944) (r. 1892-1914)
- 1946Paul Langevin — French physicist, philosopher of science and pedagogue (1872-1946)
- 1953Robert Andrews Millikan — American physicist (1868–1953)
- 1968Norman Thomas — American Presbyterian minister and socialist (1884-1968)
- 1976Giuseppe Caselli — Italian painter (1893-1976)
Dates verified against Wikidata (CC0). Titles and descriptions come from Wikidata.