August 19

Events
Up to 1900
43 BC Octavian, later known as Augustus, compels the Roman Senate to elect him as consul.
1153 Baldwin III of Jerusalem takes control of the Kingdom of Jerusalem from his mother, Melisende, and also captures Ascalon.
1458 Pope Pius II is elected.
1493 Accession to the throne of Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor.
1561 Mary, Queen of Scots returns to Scotland after 13 years in France.
1666 Second Anglo-Dutch War: Rear Admiral Robert Holmes leads a raid on the Dutch island of Terschelling, destroying 150 merchant ships.
1692 Salem Witch Trials: Five people are executed after being convicted of witchcraft.
1745 Charles Edward Stuart raises his standard at Glenfinnan, beginning the second Jacobite rebellion.
1759 Seven Years' War: Naval Battle of Lagos off Portugal - The Royal Navy defeats a French fleet.
1768 St. Isaac's Cathedral is founded in Saint Petersburg, Russia.
1772 Gustav III of Sweden stages a coup, dividing power between the King and the Riksdag (Swedish parliament).
1782 American Revolutionary War: Battle of Blue Licks - Last major engagement of the war.
1812 War of 1812: American frigate USS Constitution defeats British frigate HMS Guerriere off Nova Scotia.
1839 The French government announces that Louis Daguerre's photographic process is a gift 'free to the world'.
1848 The New York Herald reports on the gold found in California.
1854 The First Sioux War begins when United States Army soldiers kill Lakota chief Conquering Bear and in return are massacred.
1861 The Weisshorn in the Alps is first climbed, by British scientist John Tyndall.
1889 Meteorological experiments are carried out on the Eiffel Tower to bring new knowledge of weather patterns to scientists. During this, a lightning bolt strikes the top of the building, something which hardly anyone on the lower deck notices.
1895 American Frontier murderer and outlaw John Wesley Hardin is killed by an off-duty policeman in a saloon in El Paso, Texas.
1901 2000
1909 The first automobile race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway occurs.
1914 The alliance between Bulgaria and the Ottoman Empire is signed in Sofia.
1919 Afghanistan gains full independence from the United Kingdom.
1927 Patriarch Sergius of Moscow proclaims the declaration of loyalty of the Russian Orthodox Church to the Soviet Union.
1934 The first All-American Soap Box Derby is held in Dayton, Ohio.
1941 On Alaska's Kodiak Island, the Kodiak National Wildlife Refuge is founded.
1942 World War II: Operation Jubilee - British and Canadian landings at Dieppe, northern France, fail.
1944 World War II: Paris rises up against German occupation, with help from allied troops.
1945 The Viet Minh, under Ho Chi Minh, take command in Hanoi, Vietnam.
1953 The CIA helps to overthrow Iranian leader Mohammed Mossadegh, allowing Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi to return to power.
1955 Hurricane Diane floods the Northeastern United States, killing 200 people.
1960 The Soviet Union sentences US pilot Francis Gary Powers to ten years in prison.
1960 Sputnik 5 is launched, with dogs, mice and plants on board. They all return safely back to Earth.
1965 Eisaku Sato, becomes the first post-World War II Prime Minister of Japan to visit Okinawa.
1966 An earthquake in Varto, Turkey, kills 2,500 people.
1978 An attack on the Cinema Rex in Abadan, western Iran, kills over 430 people. It had been carried out by allies of Ayatollah Khomeini in order to damage the Shah, Mohammed Reza Pahlavi.
1980 A Lockheed L-1011 airplane of the Saudia airline, burns after making an emergency landing at King Khaled International Airport in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, killing 301 people. This is Saudi Arabia's worst-ever air disaster.
1981 Gulf of Sidra Incident: US fighters intercept and shoot down two Libyan Sukhoi Su-22 fighter jets over the Gulf of Sidra.
1987 In Hungerford, England, a gunman kills 16 people with an assault rifle, before killing himself.
1989 Wojciech Jaruzelski nominates Tadeusz Mazowiecki as the first non-Communist Prime Minister of Poland in 42 years.
1989 Several East Germans cross the border between Hungary and Austria during the Pan-European Picnic, part of the events leading up to the Fall of the Berlin Wall later the same year.
1991 August Coup: Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev is placed under house arrest, while on holiday in Foros, Crimea.
1999 In Belgrade, tens of thousands of people protest against President of Yugoslavia Slobodan Milosevic, demanding his resignation.
From 2001
2002 A Russian Mil Mir 26 helicopter carrying troops is hit by a Chechen missile, killing 18.
2003 A car bomb attack on Baghdad's United Nations Headquarters kills 22 people, including Brazilian diplomat Sergio Vieira de Mello.
2003 A bus bombing attack planned by Hamas in Jerusalem kills 23 people.
2005 The first ever joint military exercise between Russia and China, called Peace Mission 2005, begins.
2005 Strong storms hit southern Ontario, bringing tornadoes and flooding.
2007 Pro-democracy demonstrations begin in Burma, led by Buddhist monks and nuns.
2008 President of Zambia Levy Mwanawasa dies aged 59. Rupiah Banda is later elected to replace him.
2009 A series of bombings in Baghdad kills 101 people, and injures 565.
2010 The last US combat troops leave Iraq.
2012 A Sudanese Antonov An-26 airliner crashes near Talodi, Sudan, killing over 30 people.
2012 Movie director Tony Scott commits suicide at the age of 68.
2013 The Dhamara Ghat train crash in the Indian state of Bihar kills 57 people.
Births
Up to 1900
232 Marcus Aurelius Robus, Roman Emperor (d. 282).
1342 Catherine of Bohemia (d. 1395).
1398 Inigo Lopez de Mendoza, 1st marquis of Santillana, Spanish politician and poet (d. 1458).
1557 Frederick I, Duke of Wurttemberg (d. 1608)
1558 Francois de Bourbon, Prince of Conti (d. 1614)
1570 Salamone Rossi, Italian violinist and composer (d. 1630).
1596 Elizabeth of Bohemia (d. 1662).
1621 Gerbrand van den Eeckhout, Dutch painter (d. 1674).
1631 John Dryden, English poet (d. 1700).
1646 John Flamsteed, English astronomer (d. 1719).
1689 Samuel Richardson, English writer (d. 1761).
1719 Charlie-Francois de Broglie, marquis de Ruffec, French soldier and diplomat (d. 1791).
1743 Madame du Barry, French courtesan (d. 1793).
1750 Johann Georg August Galletti, German historian and geographer (d. 1828).
1808 James Nasmyth, Scottish engineer and architect (d. 1890).
1819 Julius van Zuylen van Nijevelt, Prime Minister of the Netherlands (d. 1894).
1830 Julius Lothar Meyer, German chemist (d. 1895)
1846 Luis Martin, Spanish Superior-General of the Society of Jesus (d. 1906).
1848 Gustave Caillebotte, French painter (d. 1894).
1849 Joaquim Nabuco, Brazilian writer, statesman and abolitionist (d. 1910).
1853 Aleksei Brusilov, Russian general (d. 1926).
1870 Bernard Baruch, American businessman (d. 1965).
1871 Orville Wright of the Wright brothers, American airplane pioneer (d. 1948).
1873 Fred Stone, American actor and producer (d. 1959).
1875 Stepan Seljan, Croatian explorer (d. 1936).
1878 Manuel L. Quezon, President of the Philippines (d. 1944).
1881 George Enescu, Romanian composer (d. 1955).
1881 Kingsley Wood, English politician (d. 1943).
1883 Coco Chanel, French designer (d. 1971).
1883 Leonid Kulik, Russian mineralogist (d. 1942).
1883 Axel Pehrsson-Bramstorp, Swedish politician (d. 1954).
1883 Jose Mendes Cabecadas, Portuguese politician (d. 1965).
1883 Elsie Ferguson, American movie actress (d. 1961).
1888 Ton Duc Thang, Vietnamese Communist leader (d. 1980).
1889 Arthur Waley, English orientalist and sinologist (d. 1966).
1890 Augusta Victoria of Hohenzollern, German-born last Queen Consort of Portugal (d. 1966).
1894 Luis Padilla Nervo, Mexican politician (d. 1985).
1897 Roman Vishniac, Russian-American photographer (d. 1990).
1900 Gilbert Ryle, British philosopher (d. 1976).
1900 Gontran de Poncins, French author and adventurer (d. 1962).
1901 1950
1902 Ogden Nash, American poet (d. 1971).
1906 Philo T. Farnsworth, American inventor (d. 1971).
1907 Thurston B. Morton, American politician (d. 1982).
1908 Warren P. Knowles, Governor of Wisconsin (d. 1993).
1913 John Argyris, Greek aeronautical engineer (d. 2004).
1914 Fumio Hayasaka, Japanese composer (d. 1955).
1914 Lajos Baroti, Hungarian footballer (d. 2005).
1915 Ring Lardner, Jr., American journalist and screenwriter (d. 2000).
1918 Shankar Dayal Sharma, President of India (d. 1999).
1921 Jonas Algirdas Antanaitis, Lithuanian politician (d. 2018).
1921 Gene Roddenberry, American television producer (d. 1991).
1924 Willard Boyle, Canadian physicist (d. 2011).
1928 Walter Massey, Canadian actor (d. 2014).
1930 Frank McCourt, Irish-American writer (d. 2009).
1931 Willie Shoemaker, American jockey (d. 2003).
1932 Banharn Silpa-archa, former Prime Minister of Thailand (d. 2016).
1932 Thomas P. Salmon, 75th Governor of Vermont.
1934 Renee Richards, American tennis player.
1935 Zahir Raihan, Bangladeshi writer and movie maker (d. 1972).
1935 Story Musgrave, American astronaut.
1937 Richard Ingrams, English journalist.
1939 Ginger Baker, English musician (Cream) (d. 2019).
1940 Johnny Nash, American singer-songwriter.
1940 Jill St. John, American actress.
1942 Jorgelina Aranda, Argentine actress (d. 2015).
1942 Fred Thompson, American actor and politician (d. 2015).
1944 Jakob von Uexkull, Swedish writer, philanthropist and political activist.
1945 Ian Gillan, English singer (Deep Purple).
1946 Christopher Malcolm, Scottish-English actor and singer (d. 2014).
1946 Charles Bolden, American astronaut.
1946 Bill Clinton, 42nd President of the United States.
1948 Tipper Gore, former Second Lady of the United States.
1948 Tommy Soderberg, Swedish football coach.
1950 Jennie Bond, British journalist.
1951 1975
1951 John Deacon, British musician.
1951 Jean-Luc Melenchon, French politician.
1951 Gustavo Santaolalla, Argentine composer and musician.
1952 Jonathan Frakes, American actor.
1953 Nanni Moretti, Italian movie actor, director and producer.
1953 Lynwood Slim, American singer and harmonica player.
1955 Peter Gallagher, American actor, singer and writer.
1955 Manolo Garcia, Spanish musician and composer.
1955 Patricia Scotland, Baroness Scotland of Asthal, Dominican-born British barrister
1955 Ned Yost, American baseball player and manager.
1956 Adam Arkin, American actor.
1956 Sergio Brio, Italian footballer.
1957 Cesare Prandelli, Italian footballer and coach.
1957 Martin Donovan, American actor.
1957 Gerda Verburg, Dutch diplomat, trade union leader and politician.
1958 Gordon Brand Jnr, Scottish golfer (d. 2019).
1958 Brendan Nelson, Australian politician.
1958 Darryl Sutter, Canadian-born ice hockey coach.
1959 Ricky Pierce, American basketball player.
1961 Jonathan Coe, English author.
1962 Michelangelo Rampulla, Italian footballer.
1962 Raimonds Vilde, Latvian volleyball player and coach.
1963 Hector Pieterson, South African student and symbol of the anti-Apartheid movement (d. 1976).
1963 Joey Tempest, Swedish singer.
1963 Bonnie Bianco, American actress and singer.
1963 John Stamos, American actor.
1965 Maria de Medeiros, Portuguese actress.
1965 Kyra Sedgwick, American actress.
1965 Kevin Dillon, American actor.
1966 Lee Ann Womack, American country music singer.
1967 Khandro Rinpoche, Indian spiritual leader.
1967 Satya Nadella, Indian-American businessman, CEO of Microsoft.
1968 Nikolaos Kaklamanakis, Greek sailor.
1969 Matthew Perry, American actor.
1969 Nate Dogg, American rapper (d. 2011).
1970 Fat Joe, American rapper.
1971 Mary Joe Fernandez, American tennis player.
1972 Roberto Abbondanzieri, Argentine footballer.
1973 Mette-Marit, Crown Princess of Norway.
1973 Marco Materazzi, Italian footballer.
1973 Roy Rogers, American basketball player.
1974 Sarah Burton, British fashion designer.
1975 Tracie Thoms, American actress.
From 1976
1977 Sara Martins, Portuguese-French actress
1978 Walter Baseggio, Belgian footballer.
1980 Darius Danesh, Scottish singer-songwriter and actor.
1980 Russell Kane, English comedian.
1982 Erika Christensen, American actress.
1983 Missy Higgins, Australian singer-songwriter.
1983 Reeva Steenkamp, South African model (d. 2013).
1984 Simon Bird, English actor and comedian.
1984 Alessandro Matri, Italian footballer.
1985 Lindsey Jacobellis, American snowboarder.
1986 Christina Perri, American singer-songwriter.
1987 Anais Lameche, French-Swedish singer.
1987 Nico Hulkenberg, German racing driver.
1987 Richard Stearman, English footballer.
1989 Romeo Miller, American basketball player, rapper and actor.
1989 Sara Nuru, German model.
1991 Kendall Marshall, American basketball player.
1994 Nafissatou Thiam, Belgian pentathlete.
1997 Joseph Castanon, American actor and singer.
Deaths
Up to 1900
14 Augustus, Roman Emperor (b. 63 BC).
1186 Geoffrey II, Duke of Brittany (b. 1158).
1245 Ramon Berenguer IV, Count of Provence (b. 1195).
1297 Saint Louis of Toulouse, French bishop (b. 1274).
1493 Frederick III, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 1415).
1580 Andrea Palladio, Italian architect (b. 1508).
1662 Blaise Pascal, French mathematician, philosopher and physicist (b. 1623).
1680 Jean Eudes, French Catholic priest (b. 1601).
1692 John Proctor, Salem farmer and tavern keeper (b. 1632).
1753 Johann Balthasar Neumann, German engineer and architect (b. 1687).
1819 James Watt, Scottish engineer and inventor (b. 1736).
1822 Jean Baptiste Joseph Delambre, French mathematician (b. 1749).
1883 Jeremiah S. Black, American statesman (b. 1810).
1895 John Wesley Hardin, American gunfighter (b. 1853).
1900 Jean Baptiste Accolay, Belgian violinist, composer and conductor (b. 1833).
1901 2000
1905 William-Adolphe Bouguereau, French painter (b. 1825).
1914 Franz Xavier Wernz, German Superior General of the Society of Jesus (b. 1844).
1915 Tevfik Fikret, Ottoman poet (b. 1867).
1923 Vilfredo Pareto, Italian sociologist and economist (b. 1845).
1928 Stephanos Skouloudis, Greek banker, diplomat and Prime Minister (b. 1838).
1929 Sergei Diaghilev, Russian ballet impresario (b. 1872).
1936 Federico Garcia Lorca, Spanish poet (b. 1898).
1942 Harald Kaarmann, Estonian footballer (b. 1901).
1946 Bob McKinney, American baseball player (b. 1875).
1950 Giovanni Giorgi, Italian physicist (b. 1871).
1954 Alcide De Gasperi, Prime Minister of Italy (b. 1881).
1957 Carl-Gustaf Rossby, Swedish meteorologist (b. 1898).
1959 Jacob Epstein, American-born sculptor (b. 1881).
1959 Blind Willie McTell, American blues singer (b. 1901).
1970 Pawel Jasienica, Polish historian (b. 1909).
1976 Alistair Sim, British actor (b. 1900).
1977 Groucho Marx, American comedian and actor (b. 1890).
1979 Dorsey Burnette, American singer-songwriter (b. 1932).
1980 Otto Frank, father of Anne Frank (b. 1889).
1981 Jessie Matthews, English actress, singer and dancer (b. 1907).
1994 Linus Pauling, American chemist (b. 1901).
1995 Pierre Schaeffer, French composer (b. 1910).
2000 Theodore Trautwein, American judge (b. 1920).
2000 Bineshwar Brahma, Indian religious figure (b. 1948).
From 2001
2001 Betty Everett, American singer and pianist (b. 1939).
2001 Donald Woods, South African anti-Apartheid activist and journalist (b. 1933).
2002 Eduardo Chillida, Basque sculptor (b. 1924).
2003 Carlos Roberto Reina, President of Honduras (b. 1926).
2003 Sergio Vieira de Mello, Brazilian diplomat (b. 1948) (killed in a car bombing in Baghdad).
2005 Mo Mowlam, British politician (b. 1949).
2008 Levy Mwanawasa, President of Zambia (b. 1948).
2009 Don Hewitt, American television producer (b. 1922).
2010 Edwin Morgan, Scottish poet (b. 1920).
2011 Raul Ruiz, Chilean movie director (b. 1941).
2011 Gun Hagglund, Swedish television journalist (b. 1932).
2012 Tony Scott, British movie director and producer (b. 1944).
2013 Jose Sarria, American political activist (b. 1922).
2013 Lee Thompson Young, American actor (b. 1984).
2013 Abdul Rahim Hatef, 8th President of Afghanistan (b. 1926).
2013 Donna Hightower, American singer (b. 1926).
2013 Cedar Walton, American jazz pianist (b. 1934).
2014 Simin Behbahani, Iranian poet (b. 1927).
2014 Brian G. Hutton, American actor and director (b. 1935).
2014 James Foley, American photographer and journalist (b. 1967).
2014 Candida Lycett Green, Irish-English journalist and author (b. 1942).
2014 Odessa Sathyan, Indian documentary filmmaker (b. 1954).
2014 Samih al-Qasim, Palestinian poet and linguist (b. 1939).
2014 Deborah Sussman, American graphic designer and artist (b. 1931).
2015 Suharno, Indonesian footballer (b. 1959).
2015 Egon Bahr, German politician (b. 1922).
2016 Lou Pearlman, American record producer, music manager and convicted criminal (b. 1954).
2017 Brian Aldiss, English science fiction writer (b. 1925).
2017 Pyotr Deynekin, Russian military personnel (b. 1937).
2017 Karl Otto Gotz, German artist, filmmaker and writer (b. 1914).
2017 Dick Gregory, American comedian, writer and activist (b. 1932).
2017 Bea Wain, American singer (b. 1917).
2017 Gerard Ferey, French chemist (b. 1941).
2017 Alan Sayers, New Zealand journalist, photographer and athlete (b. 1915).
2018 Bazlur Rahman Badal, Bangladeshi folk dancer (b. 1922)
2018 Rafael Calventi, Dominican architect and diplomat (b. 1932)
2018 Margareta Niculescu, Romanian artist and puppeteer (b. 1926)
2018 Khaira Arby, Malian singer-songwriter (b. 1959)
2019 Al Jackson, American baseball player (b. 1935)
2019 Mohammed Zahur Khayyam, Indian music director and film score composer (b. 1927)
2019 Gina Lopez, Filipino environmentalist and politician (b. 1953)
2019 Jan Ruff O'Herne, Dutch-Australian comfort women's rights activist (b. 1923)
2019 Larry Taylor, American guitarist (b. 1942)
Observances
World Humanitarian Day
Independence Day (Afghanistan)
National Aviation Day (United States)
International Photography Day
Days of the year