March 19 is the 78th day of the year (79th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar; 287 days remain until the end of the year.
1277 – The Byzantine–Venetian treaty of 1277 is concluded, stipulating a twoyear truce and renewing Venetian commercial privileges in the Byzantine Empire.
1279 – A Mongol victory at the Battle of Yamen ends the Song dynasty in China.
1284 – The Statute of Rhuddlan incorporates the Principality of Wales into England.
1452 – Frederick III of Habsburg is the last Holy Roman Emperor crowned by medieval tradition in Rome by Pope Nicholas V.
1563 – The Edict of Amboise is signed, ending the first phase of the French Wars of Religion and granting certain freedoms to the Huguenots.
1649 – The House of Commons of England passes an act abolishing the House of Lords, declaring it 'useless and dangerous to the people of England'.
1687 – Explorer Robert Cavelier de La Salle, searching for the mouth of the Mississippi River, is murdered by his own men.
1808 – Charles IV, king of Spain, abdicates after riots and a popular revolt at the winter palace Aranjuez. His son, Ferdinand VII, takes the throne.
1812 – The Cortes of Cádiz promulgates the Spanish Constitution of 1812.
1824 – American explorer Benjamin Morrell departed Antarctica after a voyage later plagued by claims of fraud.
1831 – First documented bank heist in U.S. history, when burglars stole $245,000 (1831 values) from the City Bank (now Citibank) on Wall Street. Most of the money was recovered.
1865 – American Civil War: The Battle of Bentonville begins. By the end of the battle two days later, Confederate forces had retreated from Four Oaks, North Carolina.
1885 – Louis Riel declares a provisional government in Saskatchewan, beginning the North-West Rebellion.
1918 – The U.S. Congress establishes time zones and approves daylight saving time.
1920 – The United States Senate rejects the Treaty of Versailles for the second time (the first time was on November 19, 1919).
1921 – Irish War of Independence: One of the biggest engagements of the war takes place at Crossbarry, County Cork. About 100 Irish Republican Army (IRA) volunteers escape an attempt by over 1,300 British forces to encircle them.
1931 – Governor Fred B. Balzar signs a bill legalizing gambling in Nevada.
1932 – The Sydney Harbour Bridge is opened.
1943 – Frank Nitti, the Chicago Outfit Boss after Al Capone, commits suicide at the Chicago Central Railyard.
1944 – World War II: The German army occupies Hungary.
1945 – World War II: Off the coast of Japan, a dive bomber hits the aircraft carrier USS Franklin, killing 724 of her crew. Badly damaged, the ship is able to return to the U.S. under her own power.
1945 – World War II: Adolf Hitler issues his 'Nero Decree' ordering all industries, military installations, shops, transportation facilities, and communications facilities in Germany to be destroyed.
1946 – French Guiana, Guadeloupe, Martinique, and Réunion become overseas départements of France.
1958 – The Monarch Underwear Company fire leaves 24 dead and 15 injured.
1962 – The Algerian War of Independence ends.
1964 – Over 500,000 Brazilians attend the March of the Family with God for Liberty.