On This Day: 19 August

19 August in Indian history

• 2013The Dhamara Ghat train accident kills at least 37 people in the Indian state of Bihar.India

19 August in world history

• 2017Around 250,000 farmed non-native Atlantic salmon were accidentally released into the wild near Cypress Island, Washington.
• 2003A car bomb destroyed the United Nations headquarters at Baghdad's Canal Hotel, killing Brazilian diplomat Sérgio Vieira de Mello and 21 others.
• 2003A Hamas suicide bomber killed 23 people and wounded more than 130 others, including many Orthodox Jewish children, on a crowded public bus in Shmuel HaNavi, Jerusalem.
• 2002Second Chechen War: A Russian Mil Mi-26 was brought down by Chechen separatists with a man-portable air-defense system near Khankala, killing 127 people in the deadliest helicopter crash in history.
• 1999In Belgrade, Yugoslavia, tens of thousands of Serbians rally to demand the resignation of Federal Republic of Yugoslavia President Slobodan Milošević.
• 1991Dissolution of the Soviet Union: The August Coup begins when Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev is placed under house arrest while on holiday in the town of Foros, Ukraine.
• 1989Polish president Wojciech Jaruzelski nominates Solidarity activist Tadeusz Mazowiecki to be the first non-communist prime minister in 42 years.
• 1953Cold War: The CIA and MI6 help to overthrow the government of Mohammad Mosaddegh in Iran and reinstate the Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.
• 1942World War II: Operation Jubilee (The Dieppe Raid): The 2nd Canadian Infantry Division leads an amphibious assault by allied forces on Dieppe, France and fails.
• 1920Russian Civil War: Peasants in Tambov Governorate began a rebellion against the Bolshevik government of Soviet Russia.
• 1862Dakota War: 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.
• 1848California 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).
• 1782American Revolutionary War: Battle of Blue Licks: The last major engagement of the war, almost ten months after the surrender of the British commander Charles Cornwallis following the Siege of Yorktown.
• 1759Seven Years' War: Having damaged several French vessels, British ships pursued the remainder of the fleet to Lagos, Portugal, and continued the battle there in violation of Portuguese neutrality.
• 1745Bonnie Prince Charlie raised the Jacobite standard at Glenfinnan, Scotland, in an attempt to regain the British throne for his father, beginning the Jacobite rising of 1745.
• 1725J. S. Bach led the first performance of Lobe den Herren, den mächtigen König der Ehren, BWV 137, a cantata setting the unchanged text of Neander's hymn.
• 1692Salem witch trials: In Salem, province of Massachusetts Bay, Martha Carrier, George Jacobs Sr., John Proctor, John Willard, and clergyman George Burroughs are executed after being convicted of witchcraft.

Born on 19 August

• 1956Adam Arkin, American actor, director, and producer
• 1950Sudha Murty, Indian author and teacher, head of Infosys FoundationIndia
• 1944Eddy Raven, American country music singer-songwriter
• 1928Shiv Prasaad Singh, Indian Hindi writer (died 1998)India
• 1910Saint Alphonsa, first woman of Indian origin to be canonized as a saint by the Catholic Church (died 1946)India
• 1835Tom Wills, Australian cricketer and pioneer of Australian rules football (died 1880)

Died on 19 August

• 2015Sanat Mehta, Indian activist and politician (born 1935)India
• 2000Bineshwar Brahma, Indian poet, author, and educator (born 1948)India
• 1993Utpal Dutt, Bangladeshi actor, director, and playwright (born 1929)
• 1085Al-Juwayni, Muslim scholar and imam (born 1028)

Frequently asked questions

What happened on 19 August in history?

2017: Around 250,000 farmed non-native Atlantic salmon were accidentally released into the wild near Cypress Island, Washington. 2013: The Dhamara Ghat train accident kills at least 37 people in the Indian state of Bihar. 2003: A car bomb destroyed the United Nations headquarters at Baghdad's Canal Hotel, killing Brazilian diplomat Sérgio Vieira de Mello and 21 others. 2003: A Hamas suicide bomber killed 23 people and wounded more than 130 others, including many Orthodox Jewish children, on a crowded public bus in Shmuel HaNavi, Jerusalem.

What happened on 19 August in Indian history?

2013: The Dhamara Ghat train accident kills at least 37 people in the Indian state of Bihar.

Which famous people were born on 19 August?

Adam Arkin, American actor, director, and producer (1956); Sudha Murty, Indian author and teacher, head of Infosys Foundation (1950); Eddy Raven, American country music singer-songwriter (1944); Shiv Prasaad Singh, Indian Hindi writer (died 1998) (1928).

Which day is observed on 19 August?

World Photography Day & World Humanitarian Day; Afghan Independence Day, commemorates the Treaty of Rawalpindi in 1919, granting independence from Britain (Afghanistan); August Revolution Commemoration Day (Vietnam); Birthday of Crown Princess Mette-Marit (Norway); Manuel Luis Quezón Day (Quezon City and other places in the Philippines named after Manuel L. Quezon).