History Events on December 19

The Battle of Dreux takes place during the French Wars of Religion.

#Battle_of_Dreux

German serial killer Fritz Haarmann is sentenced to death for a series of murders.

#Fritz_Haarmann

SilkAir Flight 185 crashes into the Musi River, near Palembang in Indonesia, killing 104.

#SilkAir_Flight_185

The last Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost is sold in London, England.

#Rolls-Royce_Silver_Ghost

American Revolutionary War: George Washington's Continental Army goes into winter quarters at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania.

#American_Revolutionary_War

The Great Swamp Fight, a pivotal battle in King Philip's War, gives the English settlers a bitterly won victory.

#Great_Swamp_Fight

Mikhail Gorbachev, leader of the Soviet Union, releases Andrei Sakharov and his wife from exile in Gorky.

#Mikhail_Gorbachev

Two hundred thirty-nine coal miners die in the Darr Mine Disaster in Jacobs Creek, Pennsylvania.

#Darr_Mine_disaster

Russian ambassador to Turkey Andrei Karlov is assassinated while at an art exhibition in Ankara. The assassin, Mevlüt Mert Alt?nta?, is shot and killed by Turkish guards.

#Andrei_Karlov

Park Geun-hye is elected the first female president of South Korea.

#Park_Geun-hye

Anne, Duchess of Brittany, is married to Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor by proxy.

#Anne_of_Brittany

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.

#FIFA_World_Cup

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 three-and-a-half-years in Sing Sing prison.

#Steamboat

Nelson Rockefeller is sworn in as Vice President of the United States under President Gerald Ford under the provisions of the 25th Amendment to the United States Constitution.

#Nelson_Rockefeller

The Indian National Congress promulgates the Purna Swaraj (the Declaration of the Independence of India).

#Indian_National_Congress

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.

#French_Revolutionary_Wars

Start of the First Indochina War.

#First_Indochina_War

Apollo program: The last manned lunar flight, Apollo 17, crewed by Eugene Cernan, Ronald Evans, and Harrison Schmitt, returns to Earth.

#Apollo_program

The Leninist Guerrilla Units wing of the Communist Labour Party of Turkey/Leninist attack a Nationalist Movement Party office in Istanbul, Turkey, killing one person and injuring three.

#Communist_Labour_Party_of_Turkey/Leninist

John Amery, British Fascist, is executed at the age of 33 by the British Government for treason.

#John_Amery

Thomas Paine publishes one of a series of pamphlets in The Pennsylvania Journal entitled "The American Crisis".

#Thomas_Paine

World War II: Adolf Hitler appoints himself as head of the Oberkommando des Heeres.

#World_War_II

King Constantine I is restored as King of the Hellenes after the death of his son Alexander of Greece and a plebiscite.

#Constantine_I_of_Greece

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, China by Deng Xiaoping and Margaret Thatcher.

#Sino-British_Joint_Declaration

President Bill Clinton is impeached by the United States House of Representatives, becoming the second President of the United States to be impeached.

#Bill_Clinton

Harold Holt, the Prime Minister of Australia, is officially presumed dead.

#Harold_Holt

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.

#Susan_Constant

BBC World Service begins broadcasting as the BBC Empire Service.

#BBC_World_Service

Henry II of England is crowned at Westminster Abbey.

#Henry_II_of_England

Sixteen lives are lost when the Penlee lifeboat goes to the aid of the stricken coaster Union Star in heavy seas.

#Penlee_lifeboat_disaster

A vehicular attack in Berlin, Germany, kills and injures multiple people at a Christmas market.

Spacecraft Gaia is launched by European Space Agency.

Argentine economic crisis: December riots: Riots erupt in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

A record high barometric pressure of 1085.6 hPa (32.06 inHg) is recorded at Tosontsengel, Khövsgöl, Mongolia.

The United States Government restores federal recognition to the Nottawaseppi Huron Band of Potawatomi Native American tribe.

India annexes Daman and Diu, part of Portuguese India.

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.

World War II: Limpet mines placed by Italian divers heavily damage HMS Valiant and HMS Queen Elizabeth in Alexandria harbour.

Three Indian revolutionaries, Ram Prasad Bismil, Roshan Singh and Ashfaqulla Khan, are executed by the British Raj for participation in the Kakori conspiracy.

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.

Nullification Crisis: Vice President of the United States John C. Calhoun pens the South Carolina Exposition and Protest, protesting the Tariff of 1828.

Pope Clement III is elected.