# What happened on December 19 in history?

**Date:** December 19  
**Events recorded:** 51  
**Years spanned:** 653 – 2016  
**Full page:** https://thisday.info/events/december/19/

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## Featured Event

**2016** — A vehicular attack in Berlin, Germany, kills 12 and injures 56 people at a Christmas market.

[Read more on Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2016_Berlin_truck_attack)

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## Events on this date

- **653** — Pope Martin I, having been abducted by Byzantine authorities from Rome for his opposition to Monothelitism, is tried in Constantinople. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Martin_I))
- **1154** — Henry II of England is crowned at Westminster Abbey. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_II_of_England))
- **1187** — Pope Clement III is elected. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Clement_III))
- **1490** — Anne, Duchess of Brittany, is married to Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor by proxy. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne_of_Brittany))
- **1562** — The Battle of Dreux takes place during the French Wars of Religion. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Dreux))
- **1606** — The ships Susan Constant, Godspeed, and Discovery depart England carrying settlers who founded, at Jamestown, Virginia, the first of the thirteen colonies that became the United States. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Susan_Constant))
- **1675** — The Great Swamp Fight, a pivotal battle in King Philip's War, gives the English settlers a bitterly won victory. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Swamp_Fight))
- **1688** — Glorious Revolution: Williamite forces defeat Jacobites at Battle of Reading, forcing James II to flee England. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glorious_Revolution))
- **1776** — Thomas Paine publishes one of a series of pamphlets in The Pennsylvania Journal entitled "The American Crisis". ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Paine))
- **1777** — American Revolutionary War: George Washington's Continental Army goes into winter quarters at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Revolutionary_War))
- **1783** — William Pitt the Younger becomes the youngest Prime Minister of the United Kingdom at 24. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Pitt_the_Younger))
- **1793** — War of the First Coalition: The Siege of Toulon ends when Napoleon's French artillery forces the British to abandon the city, securing southern France from invasion. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_of_the_First_Coalition))
- **1796** — French Revolutionary Wars: Two British frigates under Commodore Horatio Nelson and two Spanish frigates under Commodore Don Jacobo Stuart engage in battle off the coast of Murcia. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Revolutionary_Wars))
- **1828** — Vice President of the United States John C. Calhoun sparks the Nullification Crisis when he anonymously publishes the South Carolina Exposition and Protest, protesting the Tariff of 1828. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vice_President_of_the_United_States))
- **1900** — Hopetoun Blunder: The first Governor-General of Australia John Hope, 7th Earl of Hopetoun, appoints Sir William Lyne premier of the new state of New South Wales, but he is unable to persuade other colonial politicians to join his government and is forced to resign. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hopetoun_Blunder))
- **1900** — French parliament votes amnesty for all involved in scandalous army treason trial known as Dreyfus affair. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dreyfus_affair))
- **1907** — Two hundred thirty-nine coal miners die in the Darr Mine Disaster in Jacobs Creek, Pennsylvania. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darr_Mine_disaster))
- **1912** — William Van Schaick, captain of the steamship General Slocum which caught fire and killed over one thousand people, is pardoned by U.S. President William Howard Taft after 3+1⁄2 years in Sing Sing prison. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steamboat))
- **1920** — King Constantine I is restored as King of the Hellenes after the death of his son Alexander of Greece and a plebiscite. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constantine_I_of_Greece))
- **1924** — The last Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost is sold in London, England. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rolls-Royce_Silver_Ghost))
- **1924** — German serial killer Fritz Haarmann is sentenced to death for a series of murders. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fritz_Haarmann))
- **1927** — Three Indian revolutionaries, Ram Prasad Bismil, Roshan Singh and Ashfaqulla Khan, are executed by the British Raj for participation in the Kakori conspiracy. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ram_Prasad_Bismil))
- **1929** — The Indian National Congress promulgates the Purna Swaraj (the Declaration of the Independence of India). ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_National_Congress))
- **1932** — BBC World Service begins broadcasting as the BBC Empire Service. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BBC_World_Service))
- **1940** — Risto Ryti, the Prime Minister of Finland,  is elected President of the Republic of Finland in a presidential election, which is exceptionally held by the 1937 electoral college. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Risto_Ryti))
- **1941** — World War II: Adolf Hitler appoints himself as head of the Oberkommando des Heeres. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_II))
- **1941** — World War II: Limpet mines placed by Italian divers heavily damage HMS Valiant and HMS Queen Elizabeth in Alexandria harbour. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Limpet_mine))
- **1945** — John Amery, British Fascist, is executed at the age of 33 by the British Government for treason. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Amery))
- **1946** — Start of the First Indochina War. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Indochina_War))
- **1956** — Irish-born physician John Bodkin Adams is arrested in connection with the suspicious deaths of more than 160 patients. Eventually he is convicted only of minor charges. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Bodkin_Adams))
- **1961** — India annexes Daman and Diu, part of Portuguese India. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_annexation_of_Goa))
- **1967** — Harold Holt, the Prime Minister of Australia, is officially presumed dead. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harold_Holt))
- **1972** — Apollo program: The last crewed lunar flight, Apollo 17, carrying Eugene Cernan, Ronald Evans, and Harrison Schmitt, returns to Earth. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_program))
- **1974** — Nelson Rockefeller is sworn in as Vice President of the United States under President Gerald Ford under the provisions of the Twenty-fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nelson_Rockefeller))
- **1977** — The Ms  5.8 Bob–Tangol earthquake strikes Kerman Province in Iran, destroying villages and killing 665 people. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1977_Bob%E2%80%93Tangol_earthquake))
- **1981** — Sixteen lives are lost when the Penlee lifeboat goes to the aid of the stricken coaster Union Star in heavy seas. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penlee_lifeboat_disaster))
- **1983** — The original FIFA World Cup trophy, the Jules Rimet Trophy, is stolen from the headquarters of the Brazilian Football Confederation in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FIFA_World_Cup))
- **1984** — The Sino-British Joint Declaration, stating that China would resume the exercise of sovereignty over Hong Kong and the United Kingdom would restore Hong Kong to China with effect from July 1, 1997, is signed in Beijing by Deng Xiaoping and Margaret Thatcher. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sino-British_Joint_Declaration))
- **1985** — Aeroflot Flight 101/435 is hijacked to China by its first officer. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aeroflot_Flight_101%2F435))
- **1986** — Mikhail Gorbachev, leader of the Soviet Union, releases Andrei Sakharov and his wife from exile in Gorky. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mikhail_Gorbachev))
- **1995** — The United States Government restores federal recognition to the Nottawaseppi Huron Band of Potawatomi Native American tribe. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nottawaseppi_Huron_Band_of_Potawatomi))
- **1997** — SilkAir Flight 185 crashes into the Musi River, near Palembang in Indonesia, killing 104. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SilkAir_Flight_185))
- **1998** — President Bill Clinton is impeached by the United States House of Representatives, becoming the second president of the United States to be impeached. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Clinton))
- **1999** — Space Shuttle Discovery is launched on STS-103, the third Hubble Space Telescope servicing mission. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Shuttle_Discovery))
- **2001** — Argentine economic crisis: December riots: Riots erupt in Buenos Aires, Argentina. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1998%E2%80%932002_Argentine_great_depression))
- **2005** — Chalk's Ocean Airways Flight 101 crashes into the Government Cut channel immediately after takeoff from Miami Seaplane Base, killing 20. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chalk's_Ocean_Airways_Flight_101))
- **2005** — A passenger train from Sucha Beskidzka to Żywiec in Poland loses its brakes while on a steep downhill part of the route. It is stopped in a controlled collision in Świnna by a train travelling in opposite direction. 2 drivers and 6 passengers are injured. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sucha_Beskidzka))
- **2012** — Park Geun-hye is elected the first female president of South Korea. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Park_Geun-hye))
- **2013** — Spacecraft Gaia is launched by the European Space Agency. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaia_(spacecraft)))
- **2016** — Russian ambassador to Turkey Andrei Karlov is assassinated while at an art exhibition in Ankara. The assassin, Mevlüt Mert Altıntaş, is shot and killed by a Turkish guard. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrei_Karlov))
- **2016** — A vehicular attack in Berlin, Germany, kills 12 and injures 56 people at a Christmas market. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2016_Berlin_truck_attack))

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## Notable births on December 19

- **1998** — **King Princess** — American singer-songwriter and musician ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_Princess))
- **1997** — **Gabriel Magalhães** — Brazilian footballer ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gabriel_Magalh%C3%A3es))
- **1997** — **Fikayo Tomori** — English footballer ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fikayo_Tomori))
- **1996** — **Franck Kessié** — Ivorian footballer ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franck_Kessi%C3%A9))
- **1994** — **Maudy Ayunda** — Indonesian actress and singer-songwriter ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maudy_Ayunda))
- **1994** — **M'Baye Niang** — French footballer ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M'Baye_Niang))
- **1993** — **Young K** — South Korean singer-songwriter ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Young_K))
- **1993** — **Isiah Koech** — Kenyan runner ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isiah_Koech))
- **1992** — **Iker Muniain** — Spanish footballer ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iker_Muniain))
- **1992** — **Raphael Spiegel** — Swiss footballer ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raphael_Spiegel))

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## Notable deaths on December 19

- **2024** — **Michael Leunig** — Australian cartoonist (born 1945) ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Leunig))
- **2024** — **Wincey Willis** — British broadcaster (born 1948) ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wincey_Willis))
- **2021** — **Sally Ann Howes** — English-American singer and actress (born 1930) ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sally_Ann_Howes))
- **2021** — **Johnny Isakson** — American politician (born 1944) ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnny_Isakson))
- **2020** — **Rosalind Knight** — English actress (born 1933) ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosalind_Knight))
- **2016** — **Andrei Karlov** — Russian diplomat, Ambassador to Turkey (born 1954) ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrei_Karlov))
- **2015** — **Jimmy Hill** — English footballer, manager, and sportscaster (born 1928) ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimmy_Hill))
- **2015** — **Greville Janner** — Baron Janner of Braunstone, Welsh-English lawyer and politician (born 1928) ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greville_Janner))
- **2015** — **Karin Söder** — Swedish educator and politician, 33rd Swedish Minister for Foreign Affairs (born 1928) ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karin_S%C3%B6der))
- **2014** — **S. Balasubramanian** — Indian journalist and director (born 1936) ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S._S._Balan))

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## About this page

This is a machine-readable Markdown summary of [thisday.info/events/december/19/](https://thisday.info/events/december/19/).  
Historical data is sourced from [Wikipedia/Wikimedia](https://www.wikipedia.org) under [CC BY-SA](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/).  
Editorial framing and site content © thisday.info.