October 19 is the 292nd day of the year (293rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 73 days remaining until the end of the year.

Events[link]

• 202 BC – Second Punic War: At the Battle of Zama, Roman legions under Scipio Africanus defeat Hannibal Barca, leader of the army defending Carthage.
• 439 – The Vandals, led by King Gaiseric, take Carthage in North Africa.
• 1216 – King John of England dies at Newark-on-Trent and is succeeded by his nine-year-old son Henry.
• 1386 – The Universität Heidelberg held its first lecture, making it the oldest German university.
• 1466 – The Thirteen Years War ends with the Second Treaty of Thorn.
• 1469 – Ferdinand II of Aragon marries Isabella I of Castile, a marriage that paves the way to the unification of Aragon and Castile into a single country, Spain.
• 1512 – Martin Luther becomes a doctor of theology (Doctor in Biblia).
• 1649 – New Ross town, Co. Wexford, Ireland, surrenders to Oliver Cromwell.
• 1781 – At Yorktown, Virginia, representatives of British commander Lord Cornwallis handed over Cornwallis' sword and formally surrendered to George Washington and the comte de Rochambeau.
• 1789 – Chief Justice John Jay is sworn in as the first Chief Justice of the United States.
• 1805 – Napoleonic Wars: Austrian General Mack surrenders his army to the Grand Army of Napoleon at the Battle of Ulm. 30,000 prisoners are captured and 10,000 casualties inflicted on the losers.
• 1812 – Napoleon I of France retreats from Moscow.
• 1813 – The Battle of Leipzig concludes, giving Napoleon Bonaparte one of his worst defeats.
• 1822 – In Parnaíba; Simplício Dias da Silva, João Cândido de Deus e Silva and Domingos Dias declare the independent state of Piauí.
• 1864 – Battle of Cedar Creek – Union Army under Philip Sheridan destroys a Confederate Army under Jubal Early.
• 1864 – St. Albans Raid – Confederate raiders launch an attack on Saint Albans, Vermont from Canada.
• 1866 – Venice - Annexion of Veneto and Mantua to Italy - At Hotel Europa, Austria hands over Veneto to France, which hands it immediately over to Italy.
• 1900 – Max Planck, in his house at Grunewald, on the outskirts of Berlin, discovers the law of black body emission (Planck's law).
• 1904 – Polytechnic University of the Philippines founded as Manila Business School through the superintendence of the American C.A. O'Reilley.
• 1912 – Italy takes possession of Tripoli, Libya from the Ottoman Empire.
• 1914 – The First Battle of Ypres begins.
• 1917 – The Love Field in Dallas, Texas is opened.
• 1921 – Portuguese Prime Minister António Granjo and other politicians are murdered in a Lisbon coup.
• 1933 – Germany withdraws from the League of Nations.
• 1935 – The League of Nations places economic sanctions on fascist Italy for its invasion of Ethiopia.
• 1943 – Streptomycin, the first antibiotic remedy for tuberculosis, is isolated by researchers at Rutgers University.
• 1944 – United States forces land in the Philippines.
• 1950 – The People's Liberation Army takes control of the town of Qamdo; this is sometimes called the "Invasion of Tibet".
• 1950 – The People's Republic of China joins the Korean War by sending thousands of troops across the Yalu river to fight United Nations forces.
• 1950 – Iran becomes the first country to accept technical assistance from the United States under the Point Four Program.
• 1954 – First ascent of Cho Oyu.
• 1956 – The Soviet Union and Japan sign a Joint Declaration, officially ending the state of war between the two countries that had existed since August 1945.
• 1959 – The first discothèque opens, the Scotch-Club in Aachen, Germany.
• 1969 – The first Prime Minister of Tunisia in twelve years, Bahi Ladgham, is appointed by President Habib Bourguiba.
• 1973 – President Richard Nixon rejects an Appeals Court decision that he turn over the Watergate tapes.
• 1974 – Niue becomes a self-governing colony of New Zealand.
• 1976 – Battle of Aishiya in Lebanon.
• 1986 – Samora Machel, President of Mozambique and a prominent leader of FRELIMO, and 33 others die when their Tupolev 134 plane crashes into the Lebombo Mountains.
• 1987 – In retaliation for Iranian attacks on ships in the Persian Gulf, the U.S. Navy disables three of Iran's offshore oil platforms.
• 1987 – Black Monday - the Dow Jones Industrial Average falls by 22%, 508 points.
• 1989 – The convictions of the Guildford Four are quashed by the Court of Appeal of England and Wales, after they had spent 15 years in prison.
• 2001 – SIEV-X, an Indonesian fishing boat en-route to Christmas Island, carrying over 400 asylum seekers, sinks in international waters with the loss of 353 people.
• 2003 – Mother Teresa is beatified by Pope John Paul II.
• 2004 – Myanmar prime minister Khin Nyunt is ousted and placed under house arrest by the State Peace and Development Council on charges of corruption.
• 2004 – Care International aid worker Margaret Hassan is kidnapped in Iraq.
• 2005 – Saddam Hussein goes on trial in Baghdad for crimes against humanity.
• 2005 – Hurricane Wilma becomes the most intense Atlantic hurricane on record with a minimum pressure of 882 mb.
• 2007 – Philippines: A bomb explosion rocked Glorietta 2, a shopping mall in Makati. The blast killed 11 and injured more than 100 people.

Births[link]

• 1276 – Prince Hisaaki, Japanese shogun (d. 1328)
• 1433 – Marsilio Ficino, Italian philosopher (d. 1499)
• 1562 – George Abbot, Archbishop of Canterbury (d. 1633)
• 1582 – Dmitry Ivanovich, Russian Tsarevich (d. 1591)
• 1605 – Thomas Browne, English writer (d. 1682)
• 1610 – James Butler, 1st Duke of Ormonde, English statesman and soldier (d. 1688)
• 1658 – Adolf Friedrich II of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (d. 1704)
• 1680 – John Abernethy, Irish Protestant minister (d. 1740)
• 1688 – William Cheselden, English surgeon and anatomist (d. 1752)
• 1718 – Victor-François, 2nd duc de Broglie, Marshal of France (d. 1804)
• 1720 – John Woolman, American Quaker preacher and abolitionist (d. 1772)
• 1721 – Joseph de Guignes, French orientalist (d. 1800)
• 1784 – James Henry Leigh Hunt, English Romantic critic, essayist, and poet (d. 1859)
• 1784 – John McLoughlin, Canadian fur trader (d. 1857)
• 1789 – Theophilos Kairis, Greek priest and revolutionary (d. 1853)
• 1810 – Cassius Clay, American abolitionist (d. 1903)
• 1814 – Theodoros Vryzakis, Greek painter (d. 1878)
• 1826 – Ralph Tollemache, British clergyman (d. 1895)
• 1850 – Annie Smith Peck, American mountaineer (d. 1935)
• 1851 – Empress Myeongseong, Empress of Korea (d. 1895)
• 1858 – George Albert Boulenger, Belgian naturalist (d. 1937)
• 1862 – Auguste Lumière, French inventor (d. 1954)
• 1868 – Bertha Landes, American politician (d. 1943)
• 1873 – Jaap Eden, Dutch skater and cyclist (d. 1925)
• 1873 – John Barton King, American cricketer (d. 1965)
• 1876 – Mordecai Brown, American baseball player (d. 1945)
• 1882 – Umberto Boccioni, Italian painter and sculptor (d. 1916)
• 1885 – Charles Merrill, American investment banker (d. 1956)
• 1895 – Frank Durbin, last American veteran of the Battle of Verdun (d. 1999)
• 1895 – Lewis Mumford, American historian (d. 1990)
• 1896 – Bob O'Farrell, American baseball player (d. 1988)
• 1897 – Salimuzzaman Siddiqui, Pakistani scientist and scholar (d. 1994)
• 1899 – Miguel Ángel Asturias, Guatemalan writer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1974)
• 1900 – Erna Berger, German soprano (d. 1990)
• 1900 – Bill Ponsford, Australian cricketer (d. 1991)
• 1900 – Roy Worters, Canadian ice hockey goaltender (d. 1957)
• 1901 – Arleigh Burke, American admiral (d. 1996)
• 1903 – Tor Johnson, Swedish wrestler and actor (d. 1971)
• 1907 – Roger Wolfe Kahn, American bandleader (d. 1962)
• 1908 – Geirr Tveitt, Norwegian composer (d. 1981)
• 1909 – Marguerite Perey, French physicist (d. 1975)
• 1910 – Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar, Indian-born physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1995)
• 1910 – Shunkichi Hamada, Japanese field hockey player (d. 2009)
• 1910 – Paul Robert, French lexicographer and publisher (d. 1980)
• 1913 – Vinicius de Moraes, Brazilian poet and songwriter (d. 1980)
• 1915 – Farid al-Atrash, Syrian composer, musician, and actor (d. 1974)
• 1916 – Jean Dausset, French immunologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 2009)
• 1916 – Emil Gilels, Ukrainian pianist (d. 1985)
• 1917 – Walter Munk, Austrian-born American oceanographer
• 1918 – Charles Evans, British mountaineer (d. 1995)
• 1918 – Russel Kirk, American author and political theorist (d. 1994)
• 1920 – Pandurang Shastri Athavale, Indian philosopher (d. 2003)
• 1920 – Harry Alan Towers, English film producer and screenwriter (d. 2009)
• 1922 – Jack Anderson, American journalist (d. 2005)
• 1925 – Emilio Eduardo Massera, Argentine naval officer and National Reorganization Process figure (d. 2010)
• 1926 – Arne Bendiksen, Norwegian singer and songwriter (d. 2009)
• 1926 – Joel Feinberg, American philosopher (d. 2004)
• 1927 – Pierre Alechinsky, Belgian painter
• 1928 – Lou Scheimer, American animation producer
• 1931 – John le Carré, English novelist
• 1932 – Robert Reed, American actor (d. 1992)
• 1936 – James Bevel, American activist (d. 2008)
• 1936 – Tony Lo Bianco, American actor
• 1937 – Marilyn Bell, Canadian swimmer
• 1937 – Peter Max, American artist
• 1940 – Michael Gambon, Irish-born British actor
• 1940 – Rosny Smarth, Prime Minister of Haiti
• 1941 – Simon Ward, British actor
• 1942 – Andrew Vachss, American author and attorney
• 1943 – Robin Holloway, British composer
• 1943 – Takis Ikonomopoulos, Greek footballer
• 1944 – George McCrae, American soul singer
• 1944 – Peter Tosh, Jamaican reggae singer (The Wailers) (d. 1987)
• 1945 – Gloria Jones, American Soul singer
• 1945 – Divine, American actor (d. 1988)
• 1945 – Patricia Ireland, American attorney and feminist
• 1945 – John Lithgow, American actor
• 1945 – Jeannie C. Riley American country and gospel singer
• 1945 – Martin Welz, South African journalist and editor
• 1946 – Philip Pullman, English writer
• 1947 – Giorgio Cavazzano, Italian comic strip artist
• 1948 – Dave Mallow, American voice actor
• 1948 – Patrick Simmons, American musician
• 1949 – Lynn Dickey, American football player
• 1949 – Jamie McGrigor, British politician
• 1951 – Demetrios Christodoulou, Greek physicist, recipient of the Bôcher Memorial Prize
• 1952 – Verónica Castro, Mexican actress and singer
• 1953 – Lionel Hollins, American basketball player and coach
• 1954 – Sam Allardyce, English football manager
• 1954 – Deborah Blum, American writer
• 1954 – Joe Bryant, American basketball player
• 1955 – Melpo Kosti, Greek actress
• 1956 – Grover Norquist, American political figure
• 1956 – Didier Theys, Belgian racing driver
• 1956 – Carlo Urbani, Italian physician (d. 1993)
• 1956 – Bruce Weber, American basketball coach
• 1957 – Dorinda Clark-Cole, American gospel singer
• 1957 – Doug Kirby, American author and travel guide
• 1957 – Ray Richmond, American columnist and critic
• 1957 – Karl Wallinger, Welsh musician
• 1958 – Lou Briel, Puerto Rican singer and actor
• 1958 – Tiriel Mora, Australian actor
• 1958 – Michael Steele, American political figure
• 1959 – Nir Barkat, Israeli politician
• 1960 – Jennifer Holliday, American singer and actress
• 1961 – Sunny Deol, Indian actor
• 1962 – Tracy Chevalier, American author
• 1962 – Evander Holyfield, American boxer
• 1963 – Prince Laurent of Belgium
• 1964 – Jorge Luis Gonzales, Cuban-born American boxer
• 1965 – Brad Daugherty, American basketball player
• 1965 – Ty Pennington, American television personality
• 1966 – Roger R. Cross, Jamaican-born actor
• 1966 – Jon Favreau, American actor, writer and director
• 1966 – Dimitris Lyacos, Greek poet and playwright
• 1966 – Sinitta, American singer
• 1967 – Amy Carter, daughter of US President Jimmy Carter
• 1967 – Davina McCall, English television presenter
• 1967 – Yoko Shimomura, Japanese composer
• 1968 – Rodney Carrington, American actor and comedian
• 1969 – John Edward, American TV Psychic
• 1969 – Trey Parker, American cartoonist and actor
• 1969 – DJ Sammy, Spanish DJ
• 1969 – Erwin Sánchez, Bolivian footballer
• 1970 – Chris Kattan, American comedian and actor
• 1972 – Keith Foulke, American baseball pitcher
• 1972 – Pras, American musician
• 1973 – Hicham Arazi, Moroccan tennis player
• 1973 – Marc Beckers, German footballer
• 1973 – Joaquin Gage, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1976 – Joy Bryant, American actress
• 1976 – Omar Gooding, American actor
• 1976 – Desmond Harrington, American actor
• 1976 – Dan Smith, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1976 – Michael Young, baseball player
• 1977 – Louis-José Houde, Canadian stand-up comic
• 1977 – Jason Reitman, Canadian filmmaker
• 1977 – Raúl Tamudo, Spanish footballer
• 1977 – Habib Beye, Senegalese footballer
• 1978 – Enrique Bernoldi, Brazilian race car driver
• 1978 – Zakhar Dubenskiy, Russian footballer
• 1978 – James Roberts, British Ice Hockey Player
• 1978 – Henri Sorvali, Finnish musician
• 1979 – Marc Elliott, British actor
• 1979 – José Luis López, Mexican footballer
• 1979 – Brian Robertson, American trombonist (Suburban Legends)
• 1980 – José Bautista, Dominican baseball player
• 1980 – Rajai Davis, American baseball player
• 1980 – Benjamin Salisbury, American actor
• 1981 – Christian Bautista, Philippine singer
• 1981 – Heikki Kovalainen, Finnish race car driver
• 1982 – Louis Oosthuizen, South African golfer
• 1982 – Daan van Bunge, Dutch cricketer
• 1982 – Gonzalo Pineda, Mexican footballer
• 1983 – Cara Santa Maria, American science correspondent for The Huffington Post
• 1984 – Kaio de Almeida, Brazilian swimmer
• 1985 – Terry Etim, English mixed martial artist
• 1989 – Miroslav Stoch, Slovakian footballer
• 1990 – Janet Leon, Swedish singer and dancer (Play)
• 1991 – Colton Dixon American idol contestant
• 1993 – Abby Sunderland, American sailor
• 1994 – Agne Sereikaite, Lithuanian speed skater

Deaths[link]

• 727 – Saint Frideswide
• 1187 – Pope Urban III
• 1216 – King John of England (b. 1167)
• 1432 – John de Mowbray, 2nd Duke of Norfolk, English politician (b. 1392)
• 1587 – Francesco I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany (b. 1541)
• 1608 – Martin Delrio, Flemish theologian and occultist (b. 1551)
• 1636 – Marcin Kazanowski, Polish politician
• 1682 – Thomas Browne, English writer (b. 1605)
• 1723 – Godfrey Kneller, German-born painter (b. 1646)
• 1745 – Jonathan Swift, Irish author (b. 1667)
• 1790 – Lyman Hall, American signer of the Declaration of Independence (b. 1724)
• 1796 – Michel de Beaupuy, French general of the Revolution (b. 1755)
• 1813 – Józef Antoni Poniatowski, Polish prince and Marshal of France (friendly fire) (b. 1763)
• 1815 – Paolo Mascagni, Anatomist (b. 1755)
• 1842 – Aleksey Koltsov, Russian poet (b. 1808)
• 1851 – Princess Marie-Thérèse-Charlotte (b. 1778)
• 1856 – William Sprague III, American politician from Rhode Island (b. 1799)
• 1889 – King Louis of Portugal (b. 1838)
• 1893 – Lucy Stone, American suffragist and women's rights activist (b. 1818)
• 1897 – George Pullman, American inventor and industrialist (b. 1831)
• 1901 – Carl Frederik Tietgen, Danish financier and industrialist (b. 1829)
• 1916 – Ioannis Frangoudis, Greek Army officer and Olympic medalist (b. 1863)
• 1918 – Harold Lockwood, American actor (b. 1887)
• 1936 – Lu Xun, Chinese writer (b. 1881)
• 1937 – Ernest Rutherford, 1st Baron Rutherford of Nelson, New Zealand physicist, Nobel laureate (b. 1871)
• 1943 – Camille Claudel, French sculptor (b. 1864)
• 1945 – Plutarco Elías Calles, President of Mexico (b. 1877)
• 1950 – Edna St. Vincent Millay, American poet (b. 1892)
• 1956 – Isham Jones, American musician (b. 1894)
• 1960 – George Wallace, Australian vaudevillian and film comedian (b. 1895)
• 1964 – Nettie Palmer, Australian poet and essayist (b. 1885)
• 1970 – Lázaro Cárdenas, President of Mexico (b. 1895)
• 1978 – Gig Young, American actor (b. 1913)
• 1983 – Maurice Bishop, Prime Minister of Grenada (b. 1944)
• 1984 – Jerzy Popiełuszko, Polish priest, associated with the Solidarity union, murdered by the agents of internal intelligence agency (b. 1947)
• 1985 – Alfred Rouleau, French Canadian businessman (b. 1915)
• 1986 – Dele Giwa, Nigerian journalist
• 1986 – Samora Machel, President of Mozambique (b. 1933)
• 1987 – Jacqueline du Pré, English cellist (b. 1945)
• 1987 – Hermann Lang, German race car driver (b. 1909)
• 1988 – Son House, American musician (b. 1902)
• 1994 – Martha Raye, American comedian and actress (b. 1916)
• 1995 – Don Cherry, American jazz trumpeter (b. 1936)
• 1997 – Glen Buxton, American guitarist (b. 1947)
• 1999 – Nathalie Sarraute, Russian-born French writer (b. 1900)
• 1999 – James C. Murray, American politician (b. 1917)
• 2000 – Hortense Ellis, Jamaican reggae singer (b. 1941)
• 2003 – Alija Izetbegović, President of Bosnia-Herzegovina (b. 1925)
• 2003 – Margaret Murie, American conservationist (b. 1902)
• 2003 – Road Warrior Hawk, American professional wrestler (b. 1960)
• 2005 – Dallas Cook, American musician (Suburban Legends) (b. 1982)
• 2005 – Corinne Lévesque, wife of Quebec premier René Lévesque (b. 1943)
• 2006 – James Glennon, American cinematographer (b. 1942)
• 2007 – Randall Forsberg, American nuclear freeze advocate (b. 1943)
• 2007 – Michael Maidens, English footballer with Hartlepool United (b. 1987)
• 2007 – Jan Wolkers, Dutch writer (b. 1925)
• 2008 – Mr. Blackwell, American fashion critic (b. 1922)
• 2008 – Rudy Ray Moore, American comedian and actor (Dolemite) (b. 1937)
• 2009 – Howard Unruh, American spree killer (b. 1921)
• 2009 – Joseph Wiseman, Canadian actor (b. 1918)
• 2010 – Tom Bosley, American actor (b. 1927)

Holidays and observances[link]

• Armilustrium (Roman Empire)
• Christian Feast Day:
  • Aaron (Coptic Church)
  • Frideswide
  • Isaac Jogues, Jean de Brébeuf, and Companions
  • October 19 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
• Constitution Day, in honor of the country's independence (self-governing in free association with New Zealand) in 1974. (Niue)
• Mother Teresa Day (Albania)

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: October 19

• BBC: On This Day
• The New York Times: On This Day
• On This Day in Canada