March 19

2024 Calendar

March 19 is the 78th day of the year (79th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 287 days remaining until the end of the year.

March 19 is usually the last day of the winter season in the Northern Hemisphere, and the last day of the summer season in the Southern Hemisphere.

Events

Up to 1900

1279 – A Mongolian victory in the Battle of Yamen ends the rule of the Song Dynasty in China.
1452 - Frederick, Holy Roman Emperor is crowned in Rome.
1563 - The Edict of Amboise is signed, granting some freedoms to Huguenots in France.
1616 - Walter Raleigh is released from the Tower of London after 13 years.
1649 - The English House of Commons passes an act banning the House of Lords.
1808 - Charles IV of Spain abdicates the throne, but soon becomes King again because of the Napoleonic Wars.
1812 - The Cadiz Cortes declare the Spanish Constitution of 1812.
1848 – March Revolution in Berlin.
1853 - The Taiping reform movement occupies and makes Nanjing in China its capital city until 1864.
1861 – The First Taranaki War ends in New Zealand.
1863 - American Civil War: The Confederate cruiser SS Georgiana is destroyed on its first voyage. It is re-discovered 102 years later.
1865 - American Civil War: The Battle of Bentonville begins in North Carolina.
1882 - The first stone of the Sagrada Familia Cathedral in Barcelona is laid. It was designed by Antoni Gaudi, and is, as of 2014, not finished yet.
1885 - Louis Riel declares a provisional government in Saskatchewan, Canada, starting the Northwest Rebellion.
1895 - The Lumière brothers record their first cinematograph footage.

1901 – 2000

1915 – Pluto is photographed for the first time, but is not considered as a planet.
1918 – US Congress establishes Time Zones and Daylight Saving Time.
1920 - The United States Senate rejects the Treaty of Versailles for a second time.
1921 - Irish War of Independence: In Crossbarry, County Cork, Ireland, over 100 IRA volunteers escape an attempt by over 1,300 British forces to encircle them.
1931 – Gambling is legalised in Nevada.
1932 – Sydney Harbour Bridge is opened.
1941 - World War II: 99th Pursuit Squadron, Tuskegee Airmen, the first black unit of the United States Army Corps, is activated.
1944 - World War II: Nazi forces occupy Hungary.
1945 - World War II: Off the coast of Japan, a dive bomber hits aircraft carrier USS Franklin, killing 724 crew members.
1946 – French Guiana, Guadeloupe, Martinique and Réunion becomes overseas Departements of France.
1954 - Joey Giardello knocks out Willie Tory in round seven at Madison Square Garden in New York City in the first televised prize boxing fight shown in color.
1954 - Willie Mosconi sets world record by running 526 balls in a row without a miss. during a straight pool competition at the East High Billiard Club in Springfield, Ohio.
1958 - The Monarch Underwear Company fire in Manhattan kills 24 people.
1962 – Algerian War of Independence: A ceasefire enters effect.
1970 – Chancellor of Germany Willy Brandt meets East Germany's Prime Minister Willi Stoph in Erfurt in an attempt at closer relations.
1979 - The United States House of Representatives begins broadcasting its day-to-day business via the cable television network C-SPAN.
1982 – Argentine forces land on the island of South Georgia, two weeks before the invasion of the Falkland Islands.
1988 - The rock band Nirvana holds its first concert.
1996 – Nelson Mandela and Winnie Mandela divorce.

From 2001

2002 – Zimbabwe is suspended from the Commonwealth of Nations over human rights abuses and electoral fraud.
2003 - George W. Bush orders the Invasion of Iraq.
2004 - President of Taiwan Chen Shui-bian is shot and injured a day before the Presidential election.
2004 – A bus crash kills 21 people near Konginkangas, Finland. It is the deadliest road accident in Finnish history.
2006 - The Winter Paralympics in Turin end.
2006 – In a controversial election, Belarus' President Alexander Lukashenko wins 80% of the vote, leading to demonstrations in Minsk.
2008 - GRB 080319B: A cosmic burst that is the farthest object visible to the eye (without using a telescope) is briefly observed.
2011 – By 3,000 miles, the Moon makes its closest approach to Earth in 18 years.
2011 – 2011 Libyan protests: UN-authorised military intervention begins against Colonel Muammar al-Gaddafi in Libya.
2012 – Four people are killed in a shooting at a Jewish school in Toulouse, France. It is believed to be linked with three murders over the previous week. The attacker, Mohammed Merah, is killed after a stand-off with police three days later.
2013 - Over 50 people are killed in bomb attacks in Baghdad, to coincide with the tenth anniversary of the start of the Iraq War.
2013 - Inauguration of Pope Francis.
2016 - Flydubai Flight 981 crashes shortly before landing at Rostov on Don, Southern Russia, killing all 62 people on board.