August 19 is the 231st day of the year (232nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar; 134 days remain until the end of the year.
1901–present
1903 – The Transfiguration Uprising breaks out in East Thrace, resulting in the establishment of the Strandzha Commune.[18] 1909 – The Indianapolis Motor Speedway opens for automobile racing. William Bourque and his mechanic are killed during the first day's events.[19] 1920 – The Tambov Rebellion breaks out, in response to the Bolshevik policy of Prodrazvyorstka.[20] 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.
1934 – The German referendum of 1934 approves Adolf Hitler's appointment as head of state with the title of Führer.
1936 – The Great Purge of the Soviet Union begins when the first of the Moscow Trials is convened.
1940 – First flight of the B-25 Mitchell medium bomber.
1941 – Germany and Romania sign the Tiraspol Agreement, rendering the region of Transnistria under control of the latter.[ 21] 1942 – World War II: Operation Jubilee (The Dieppe Raid): The 2nd Canadian Infantry Division leads an amphibious assault by allied forces on Dieppe, France and fails.
1944 – World War II: Liberation of Paris: Paris, France rises against German occupation with the help of Allied troops.
1945 – August Revolution: Viet Minh led by Ho Chi Minh take power in Hanoi, Vietnam. 1953 – Cold War: The CIA and MI6 help to overthrow the government of Mohammad Mosaddegh in Iran and reinstate the Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. 1955 – In the Northeast United States, severe flooding caused by Hurricane Diane, claims 200 lives.
1960 – Cold War: In Moscow, Russia, Soviet Union, downed American U-2 pilot Francis Gary Powers is sentenced to ten years imprisonment by the Soviet Union for espionage.
1960 – Sputnik program: Korabl-Sputnik 2: The Soviet Union launches the satellite with the dogs Belka and Strelka, 40 mice, two rats and a variety of plants.
1964 – Syncom 3, the first geostationary communication satellite, is launched. Two months later, it would enable live coverage of the 1964 Summer Olympics.
1965 – Japanese prime minister Eisaku Satō becomes the first post-World War II sitting prime minister to visit Okinawa Prefecture.
1978 – In Iran, the Cinema Rex fire causes more than 300 deaths.
1980 – Saudia Flight 163, a Lockheed L-1011 TriStar burns after making an emergency landing at Riyadh International Airport in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, killing 301 people.
1980 – Otłoczyn railway accident: In Poland's worst post-war railway accident, 67 people lose their lives and a further 62 are injured.[22] 1981 – Gulf of Sidra Incident: United States F14A Tomcat fighters intercept and shoot down two Libyan Sukhoi Su-22 fighter jets over the Gulf of Sidra.
1987 – Hungerford massacre: In the United Kingdom, Michael Ryan kills sixteen people with a semi-automatic rifle and then commits suicide.
1989 – Polish president Wojciech Jaruzelski nominates Solidarity activist Tadeusz Mazowiecki to be the first non-communist prime minister in 42 years.
1989 – Several hundred East Germans cross the frontier between Hungary and Austria during the Pan-European Picnic, part of the events that began the process of the Fall of the Berlin Wall.
1991 – Dissolution of the Soviet Union: The August Coup begins