TODAY’S HISTORY LESSON: AUGUST 19
43 BC Octavian, later known as Augustus, compels the Roman Senate to elect him Consul
1493 Maximilian succeeds his father Frederick III as Holy Roman Emperor.
1692 Five women are hanged in Salem, Massachusetts after being convicted of the crime of witchcraft. Fourteen more people are executed that year and 150 others are imprisoned.
1772 Gustavus III of Sweden eliminates the rule of parties and establishes an absolute monarchy.
1812 The USS Constitution earns the nickname “Old Ironsides” during the battle off Nova Scotia that saw her defeat the HMS Guerriere.
1856 Gail Borden received a patent for his process of condensing milk by vacuum.
1917 Team managers John McGraw and Christy Matthewson were arrested for breaking New York City’s blue laws. The crime was their teams were playing baseball on Sunday.
1919 Afghanistan Gains Independence From the United Kingdom
1934 38 million Germans vote to make Adolf Hitler the official successor to President von Hindenburg.
1950 ABC begins Saturday morning kid shows (Animal Clinic & Acrobat Ranch)
1974 US Ambassador to Cyprus Rodger P. Davies assassinated by a sniper of Greek Cypriot paramilitary group EOKA-B during a demonstration outside the embassy in Nicosia.
1978 A fire at the Rex Cinema in Abadan, Iran, kills over 400 people
1987 Hungerford Massacre in the UK; armed with semi-automatic rifles and a handgun Michael Ryan kills 16 people before committing suicide. In response, Parliament passed the Firearms (Amendment) Act of 1988 banning ownership of certain classes of firearms.
1988 Cease fire begins in 8-year war between Iran and Iraq.
1991 Race riots break out in the Crown Heights area of New York city. The violent race riots broke out between African-American and Orthodox Jewish residents of Crown Heights after 2 children were accidentally run down by the motorcade of Menachem Mendel Schneerson, a leader of the Orthodox Jews. This resulted in a 3-day long riot that ended in the death of 2 men and several injuries.
2003 Shmuel Hanavi bus bombing: suicide attack on a bus in Jerusalem kills 23 Israelis, some of them children, and wounds 130. Islamist militant group Hamas claims responsibility for the attack.
2010 Operation Iraqi Freedom ends; the last US combat brigade, 4th Stryker Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, leaves the country. Six brigades remain to train Iraqi troops.
2016 A federal judge ordered Hillary Clinton to answer questions from the watchdog group Judicial Watch in writing about her use of a private email server while she was secretary of state.
REFERENCE: history.net, onthisday.com, thepeopleshistory.com, timeanddate.com, scopesys.com, on-this-day.com
