19 July 2024 (MIA)

484 – Leontius, Roman usurper, is crowned Eastern emperor at Tarsus (modern Turkey). He is recognized in Antioch and makes it his capital.

711 – Umayyad conquest of Hispania: Battle of Guadalete: Umayyad forces under Tariq ibn Ziyad defeat the Visigoths led by King Roderic.

998 – Arab–Byzantine wars: Battle of Apamea: Fatimids defeat a Byzantine army near Apamea.

1333 – Wars of Scottish Independence: Battle of Halidon Hill: The English win a decisive victory over the Scots.

1544 – Italian War of 1542–46: The first Siege of Boulogne begins.

1545 – The Tudor warship Mary Rose sinks off Portsmouth; in 1982 the wreck is salvaged in one of the most complex and expensive projects in the history of maritime archaeology.

1553 – Lady Jane Grey is replaced by Mary I of England as Queen of England after only nine days on the throne.

1588 – Anglo-Spanish War: Battle of Gravelines: The Spanish Armada is sighted in the English Channel.

1701 – Representatives of the Iroquois Confederacy sign the Nanfan Treaty, ceding a large territory north of the Ohio River to England.

1702 – Great Northern War: A numerically superior Polish-Saxon army of Augustus II the Strong, operating from an advantageous defensive position, is defeated by a Swedish army half its size under the command of King Charles XII in the Battle of Klissow.

1817 – Unsuccessful in his attempt to conquer the Kingdom of Hawaii for the Russian-American Company, Georg Anton Schäffer is forced to admit defeat and leave Kauai.

1821 – Coronation of George IV of the United Kingdom.

1832 – The British Medical Association is founded as the Provincial Medical and Surgical Association by Sir Charles Hastings at a meeting in the Board Room of the Worcester Infirmary.

1843 – Brunel’s steamship the SS Great Britain is launched, becoming the first ocean-going craft with an iron hull or screw propeller and becoming the largest vessel afloat in the world.

1845 – Great New York City Fire of 1845: The last great fire to affect Manhattan began early in the morning and was subdued that afternoon. The fire killed 4 firefighters, 26 civilians, and destroyed 345 buildings.

1848 – Women’s rights: A two-day Women’s Rights Convention opens in Seneca Falls, New York.

1863 – American Civil War: Morgan’s Raid: At Buffington Island in Ohio, Confederate General John Hunt Morgan’s raid into the north is mostly thwarted when a large group of his men are captured while trying to escape across the Ohio River.

1864 – Taiping Rebellion: Third Battle of Nanking: The Qing dynasty finally defeats the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.

1870 – Franco-Prussian War: France declares war on Prussia.

1900 – The first line of the Paris Métro opens for operation.

1903 – Maurice Garin wins the first Tour de France.

1916 – World War I: Battle of Fromelles: British and Australian troops attack German trenches in a prelude to the Battle of the Somme.

1919 – Following Peace Day celebrations marking the end of World War I, ex-servicemen riot and burn down Luton Town Hall.

1940 – World War II: Battle of Cape Spada: The Royal Navy and the Regia Marina clash; the Italian light cruiser Bartolomeo Colleoni sinks, with 121 casualties.

1940 – Field Marshal Ceremony: First occasion in World War II, that Hitler appointed field marshals due to military achievements.

1940 – World War II: Army order 112 forms the Intelligence Corps of the British Army.

1942 – World War II: Battle of the Atlantic: German Grand Admiral Karl Dönitz orders the last U-boats to withdraw from their United States Atlantic coast positions in response to the effective American convoy system.

1943 – World War II: Rome is heavily bombed by more than 500 Allied aircraft, inflicting thousands of casualties.

1947 – The Prime Minister of the shadow Burmese government, Bogyoke Aung San and 6 of his cabinet and 2 non-cabinet members are assassinated by Galon U Saw.

1947 – Korean politician Lyuh Woon-hyung is assassinated.

1952 – The 1952 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XV Olympiad, were opened in Helsinki, Finland.

1961 – Tunisia imposes a blockade on the French naval base at Bizerte; the French would capture the entire town four days later.

1963 – Joe Walker flies a North American X-15 to a record altitude of 106,010 meters (347,800 feet) on X-15 Flight 90. Exceeding an altitude of 100 km, this flight qualifies as a human spaceflight under international convention.

1964 – Vietnam War: At a rally in Saigon, South Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyễn Khánh calls for expanding the war into North Vietnam.

1972 – Dhofar Rebellion: British SAS units help the Omani government against Popular Front for the Liberation of Oman rebels in the Battle of Mirbat.

1976 – Sagarmatha National Park in Nepal is created.

1979 – The Sandinista rebels overthrow the government of the Somoza family in Nicaragua.

1980 – The Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXII Olympiad, opened in Moscow, Soviet Union.

1981 – In a private meeting with U.S. President Ronald Reagan, French Prime Minister François Mitterrand reveals the existence of the Farewell Dossier, a collection of documents showing that the Soviets had been stealing American technological research and development.

1983 – The first three-dimensional reconstruction of a human head in a CT is published.

1985 – The Val di Stava dam collapses killing 268 people in Val di Stava, Italy.

1989 – United Airlines Flight 232 crashes in Sioux City, Iowa killing 111.

1992 – A car bomb placed by mafia with collaboration of Italian intelligence kills Judge Paolo Borsellino and five members of his escort.

1993 – Macedonia becomes UNESCO’s 175. member.

1997 – The Troubles: The Provisional Irish Republican Army resumes a ceasefire to end their 25-year campaign to end British rule in Northern Ireland.

2014 – Gunmen in Egypt’s western desert province of New Valley Governorate attack a military checkpoint, killing at least 21 soldiers. Egypt reportedly declares a state of emergency on its border with Sudan.