History Events on January 19
San Agustin Church in Manila is officially completed; it is the oldest church still standing in the Philippines.
#San_Agustin_Church_(Manila)
World War II: HMS Greyhound and other escorts of convoy AS-12 sink Italian submarine Neghelli with all hands 40 miles (64 km) northeast of Falkonera.
#World_War_II
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's Faust: The First Part of the Tragedy receives its premiere performance.
#Johann_Wolfgang_von_Goethe
John Wilkes is expelled from the British House of Commons for seditious libel.
#John_Wilkes
An army of 5,423 soldiers, led by General José de San Martín, crosses the Andes from Argentina to liberate Chile and then Peru.
#José_de_San_Martín
Emperor Gratian elevates Flavius Theodosius at Sirmium to Augustus, and gives him authority over all the eastern provinces of the Roman Empire.
#Gratian
Czech Republic and Slovakia join the United Nations.
#Czech_Republic
Giuseppe Verdi's opera Il trovatore receives its premiere performance in Rome.
#Giuseppe_Verdi
The first electric lighting system employing overhead wires, built by Thomas Edison, begins service at Roselle, New Jersey.
#Thomas_Edison
China gains control over all the Paracel Islands after a military engagement between the naval forces of China and South Vietnam
#Paracel_Islands
Almost 72% of all television sets in the United States are tuned into I Love Lucy to watch Lucy give birth.
#I_Love_Lucy
Georges Claude patents the neon discharge tube for use in advertising.
#Georges_Claude
General Douglas MacArthur establishes the International Military Tribunal for the Far East in Tokyo to try Japanese war criminals.
#Douglas_MacArthur
President Gerald Ford pardons Iva Toguri D'Aquino (a.k.a. "Tokyo Rose").
#Gerald_Ford
Hundred Years' War: Rouen surrenders to Henry V of England, completing his reconquest of Normandy.
#Hundred_Years'_War
Britain occupies the Dutch Cape Colony after the Battle of Blaauwberg.
#Dutch_Cape_Colony
Student Jan Palach dies after setting himself on fire three days earlier in Prague's Wenceslas Square to protest about the invasion of Czechoslovakia by the Soviet Union in 1968. His funeral turns into another major protest.
#Jan_Palach
American Civil War: Georgia joins South Carolina, Florida, Mississippi, and Alabama in declaring secession from the United States.
#American_Civil_War
Thomas Venner is hanged, drawn and quartered in London.
#Thomas_Venner
Sten Sture the Younger, the Regent of Sweden, is mortally wounded at the Battle of Bogesund.
#Sten_Sture_the_Younger
The Apple Lisa, the first commercial personal computer from Apple Inc. to have a graphical user interface and a computer mouse, is announced.
#Apple_Lisa
World War II: Soviet forces liberate the ?ód? Ghetto. Of more than 200,000 inhabitants in 1940, less than 900 had survived the Nazi occupation.
#Red_Army
The last Volkswagen Beetle made in Germany leaves VW's plant in Emden. Beetle production in Latin America continues until 2003.
#Volkswagen_Beetle
Yasser Arafat returns to Hebron after more than 30 years and joins celebrations over the handover of the last Israeli-controlled West Bank city.
#Yasser_Arafat
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is founded.
#American_Civil_Liberties_Union
Iran hostage crisis: United States and Iranian officials sign an agreement to release 52 American hostages after 14 months of captivity.
#Iran_hostage_crisis
Howard Hughes sets a new air record by flying from Los Angeles to New York City in 7 hours, 28 minutes, 25 seconds.
#Howard_Hughes
Bolle Willum Luxdorph records in his diary that a mail bomb, possibly the world's first, has severely injured the Danish Colonel Poulsen, residing at Børglum Abbey.
#Bolle_Willum_Luxdorph
The second group of ships of the First Fleet arrive at Botany Bay.
#First_Fleet
Gulf War: Iraq fires a second Scud missile into Israel, causing 15 injuries.
#Gulf_War
The Italian city-fortress of Mirandola surrenders to the French.
#Mirandola
American Civil War: Battle of Mill Springs: The Confederacy suffers its first significant defeat in the conflict.
#Battle_of_Mill_Springs
Anglo-Egyptian Sudan is formed.
#Anglo-Egyptian_Sudan
British Aerospace agrees to acquire the defence subsidiary of the General Electric Company plc, forming BAE Systems in November 1999.
#British_Aerospace
The United States Senate votes against joining the League of Nations.
#United_States_Senate
Franco-Prussian War: In the Siege of Paris, Prussia wins the Battle of St. Quentin. Meanwhile, the French attempt to break the siege in the Battle of Buzenval will end unsuccessfully the following day.
#Franco-Prussian_War
The Batavian Republic is proclaimed in the Netherlands, bringing to an end the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands.
#Batavian_Republic