Did you know
In 1965, Japanese prime minister Eisaku Satō becomes the first post-World War II sitting prime minister to visit Okinawa Prefecture. This featured entry focuses on the immediate decision and its direct historical impact.
August 19 in History
1965 — Japanese prime minister Eisaku Satō becomes the first post-World War II sitting prime minister to visit Okinawa Prefecture
August 19 spans 60 recorded events across recorded history, from 295 BC to 2017. Below is a curated digest of the most significant moments tied to this date.
By thisDay.info Editorial Team · — Wikipedia
Historical Events
60 events
295 BC – 2017
Today in history
More major events on August 19
The featured story and these ranked highlights form a quick summary. Every recorded event remains available in the chronology below.
- 1964 Syncom 3, the first geostationary communication satellite, is launched. Two months later, it would enable live coverage of the 1964 Summer Olympics. Source
- 1903 The Transfiguration Uprising breaks out in East Thrace, resulting in the establishment of the Strandzha Commune. Source
- 1812 War of 1812: American frigate USS Constitution defeats the British frigate HMS Guerriere off the coast of Nova Scotia, Canada earning the nickname "Old Ironsides". Source
Did you know
The prime minister of Japan is the head of government of Japan. This helps explain why the event mattered beyond the initial announcement.
Did you know
The prime minister chairs the Cabinet of Japan and has the ability to select and dismiss its ministers of state. This clarifies the institutional and public response around the event.
Did you know
The prime minister also serves as the commander-in-chief of the Japan Self Defence Forces. This shows how the event shaped policy and public communication in the same period.
Did you know
In 1965, Japanese prime minister Eisaku Satō becomes the first post-World War II sitting prime minister to visit Okinawa Prefecture had consequences that extended beyond the first headline. The key context is the institutions involved, the policy shift, and how the public response evolved afterward.
-295
The first temple to Venus, the Roman goddess of love, beauty and fertility, is dedicated by Quintus Fabius Maximus Gurges during the Third Samnite War.
Ancient Roman goddess of love, sex and fertility
-43
In the wake of the murder of Julius Caesar, his nephew and heir, Octavian, uses the threat of military force to compel the Roman Senate to elect him Consul.
Roman general and dictator (100–44 BC)
947
Abu Yazid, a Kharijite rebel leader, is defeated and killed in the Hodna Mountains in modern-day Algeria by Fatimid forces.
Kharijite Berber leader (c. 873–947)
1153
After a six month siege, Baldwin III of Jerusalem captures Ascalon, obtaining a vast amount of plunder and securing the southern border of the Kingdom of Jerusalem.
King of Jerusalem from 1143 to 1163
1458
Pope Pius II is elected the 211th Pope.
Head of the Catholic Church from 1458 to 1464
1504
In Ireland, the Hiberno-Norman de Burghs (Burkes) and Cambro-Norman Fitzgeralds fight in the Battle of Knockdoe.
Medieval ethnic group in Ireland
1561
Mary, Queen of Scots, aged 18, returns to Scotland after spending 13 years in France.
Queen of Scotland from 1542 to 1567
1604
Eighty Years War: a besieging Dutch and English army led by Maurice of Orange forces the Spanish garrison of Sluis to capitulate.
c. 1566/1568–1648 war in Habsburg Netherlands
1666
Second Anglo-Dutch War: Rear Admiral Robert Holmes leads a raid on the Dutch island of Terschelling, destroying 116 to 160 merchant ships, an act later known as "Holmes's Bonfire".
Naval conflict from 1665 to 1667
1692
Salem 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.
Legal proceedings in Massachusetts (1692–93)
1725
J.
S. Bach leads the first performance of Lobe den Herren, den mächtigen König der Ehren, BWV 137, a cantata setting the unchanged text of Neander's hymn.
1745
Prince Charles Edward Stuart raises his standard in Glenfinnan: The start of the Second Jacobite Rebellion, known as "the 45".
Jacobite leader (1720–1788)
1745
Ottoman–Persian War: In the Battle of Kars, the Ottoman army is routed by Persian forces led by Nader Shah.
War between the Ottoman Empire and the Afsharid Iran (1743–1746)
1759
Battle of Lagos: Naval battle during the Seven Years' War between Great Britain and France.
1759 battle of the Seven Years' War
1772
Gustav III of Sweden stages a coup d'état, in which he assumes power and enacts a new constitution that divides power between the Riksdag and the King.
King of Sweden from 1771 to 1792
1782
American 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.
1775–1783 conflict in North America
1812
War of 1812: American frigate USS Constitution defeats the British frigate HMS Guerriere off the coast of Nova Scotia, Canada earning the nickname "Old Ironsides".
1812–1815 conflict in North America
1813
Gervasio Antonio de Posadas joins Argentina's Second Triumvirate.
1st Supreme Director of the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata (1757–1833)
1839
The French government announces that Louis Daguerre's photographic process is a gift "free to the world".
French scientist, artist and photographer (1787–1851)
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).
Gold rush from 1848 to 1855
1854
The First Sioux War begins when United States Army soldiers kill Lakota chief Conquering Bear and in return are massacred.
1854–1891 conflicts in the United States
1861
First ascent of Weisshorn, fifth highest summit in the Alps.
Mountain in the Pennine Alps
1862
Dakota 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.
Armed conflict between the United States and four bands of the eastern Dakota
1903
The Transfiguration Uprising breaks out in East Thrace, resulting in the establishment of the Strandzha Commune.
Anti-Ottoman revolt in the Balkans (1903)
1909
The Indianapolis Motor Speedway opens for automobile racing.
William Bourque and his mechanic are killed during the first day's events.
1920
The Tambov Rebellion breaks out, in response to the Bolshevik policy of Prodrazvyorstka.
1920–1922 peasant revolt in the Russian Civil War
1927
Patriarch Sergius of Moscow proclaims the declaration of loyalty of the Russian Orthodox Church to the Soviet Union.
Head of the Russian Orthodox Church (1867–1944)
1934
The first All-American Soap Box Derby is held in Dayton, Ohio.
Youth racing competition
1934
The German referendum of 1934 approves Adolf Hitler's appointment as head of state with the title of Führer.
Vote on Hitler taking power in Nazi Germany
1936
The Great Purge of the Soviet Union begins when the first of the Moscow Trials is convened.
1936–1938 campaign in the Soviet Union
1941
Germany and Romania sign the Tiraspol Agreement, rendering the region of Transnistria under control of the latter.
German state from 1933 to 1945
1942
World War II: Operation Jubilee (The Dieppe Raid): The 2nd Canadian Infantry Division leads an amphibious assault by allied forces on Dieppe, France and fails.
Global conflict (1939–1945)
1944
World War II: Liberation of Paris: Paris, France rises against German occupation with the help of Allied troops.
Military battle during World War II on 19 August 1944
1945
August Revolution: Viet Minh led by Ho Chi Minh take power in Hanoi, Vietnam.
1945 uprising ending the Vietnamese monarchy
1953
Cold War: The CIA and MI6 help to overthrow the government of Mohammad Mosaddegh in Iran and reinstate the Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.
1947–1991 geopolitical rivalry between US and USSR
1955
In the Northeast United States, severe flooding caused by Hurricane Diane, claims 200 lives.
One of the four census regions of the United States
1960
Cold War: In Moscow, Russia, Soviet Union, downed American U-2 pilot Francis Gary Powers is sentenced to ten years imprisonment by the Soviet Union for espionage.
American reconnaissance aircraft
1960
Sputnik program: Korabl-Sputnik 2: The Soviet Union launches the satellite with the dogs Belka and Strelka, 40 mice, two rats and a variety of plants.
Index of lists with the same name
1964
Syncom 3, the first geostationary communication satellite, is launched.
Two months later, it would enable live coverage of the 1964 Summer Olympics.
1978
In Iran, the Cinema Rex fire causes more than 300 deaths.
1978 Islamic terror attack in Abadan, Iran
1980
Saudia Flight 163, a Lockheed L-1011 TriStar burns after making an emergency landing at Riyadh International Airport in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, killing 301 people.
1980 aircraft accident in Saudi Arabia
1980
Otłoczyn railway accident: In Poland's worst post-war railway accident, 67 people lose their lives and a further 62 are injured.
1980 train crash near Otłoczyn, Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship, Poland
1981
Gulf of Sidra Incident: United States F-14A Tomcat fighters intercept and shoot down two Libyan Sukhoi Su-22 fighter jets over the Gulf of Sidra.
Air battle between Libya and the US in the Mediterranean
1987
Hungerford massacre: In the United Kingdom, Michael Ryan kills sixteen people with a semi-automatic rifle and then commits suicide.
1987 spree shooting in England
1989
Polish president Wojciech Jaruzelski nominates Solidarity activist Tadeusz Mazowiecki to be the first non-communist prime minister in 42 years.
Leader of Poland from 1981 to 1989
1989
Several hundred East Germans cross the frontier between Hungary and Austria during the Pan-European Picnic, part of the events that began the process of the Fall of the Berlin Wall.
Country in Central Europe (1949–1990)
1991
Dissolution 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.
1988–1991 breakup of the sovereign state
1991
Crown Heights riot in New York City begins.
1991 racial riot in Brooklyn, New York City
1999
In Belgrade, Yugoslavia, tens of thousands of Serbians rally to demand the resignation of Federal Republic of Yugoslavia President Slobodan Milošević.
Capital and largest city of Serbia
2002
Khankala Mi-26 crash: A Russian Mil Mi-26 helicopter carrying troops is hit by a Chechen missile outside Grozny, killing 118 soldiers.
Shootdown of a Russian Air Force helicopter by Chechen separatists
2003
A truck-bomb attack on United Nations headquarters in Iraq kills the agency's top envoy Sérgio Vieira de Mello and 21 other employees.
2003 terror attack against the UN in Baghdad, Iraq
2003
Shmuel HaNavi bus bombing: A suicide attack on a bus in Jerusalem, planned by Hamas, kills 23 Israelis, seven of them children.
2003 suicide bombing in Jerusalem
2005
The first-ever joint military exercise between Russia and China, called Peace Mission 2005 begins.
Military exercise between China and Russia on the Shandong Peninsula
2009
A series of bombings in Baghdad, Iraq, kills 101 and injures 565 others.
Terrorist attacks in Iraq
2010
Operation Iraqi Freedom ends, with the last of the United States brigade combat teams crossing the border to Kuwait.
2003–2011 conflict in Iraq
2013
The Dhamara Ghat train accident kills at least 37 people in the Indian state of Bihar.
2013 train derailment in Bihar, India
2017
Tens of thousands of farmed non-native Atlantic salmon are accidentally released into the wild in Washington waters in the 2017 Cypress Island Atlantic salmon pen break.
Species of fish