On this day: May 19

Events on May 19

• 715 Gregory II began his pontificate; his conflict with Byzantine emperor Leo III eventually led to the establishment of the temporal power of the pope. Wikipedia
• 934 The Byzantine Empire reconquers Melitene under the leadership of John Kourkouas. Wikipedia
• 1542 The Prome Kingdom falls to the Taungoo Dynasty in present-day Myanmar. Wikipedia
• 1649 An Act of Parliament declaring England a Commonwealth is passed by the Long Parliament. England would be a republic for the next eleven years. Wikipedia
• 1776 American Revolutionary War: A Continental Army garrison west of Montreal surrendered to British troops at the Battle of the Cedars. Wikipedia
• 1780 New England's Dark Day, an unusual darkening of the day sky, is observed over the New England states and parts of Canada. Wikipedia
• 1798 Napoleon Bonaparte and his expedition force leave France to invade Egypt. Wikipedia
• 1802 Napoleon Bonaparte founds the Legion of Honour. Wikipedia
• 1848 Mexican–American War: Mexico ratifies the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, thus ending the war and ceding California, Nevada, Utah and parts of four other modern-day U.S. states to the United States for US$15 million. Wikipedia
• 1900 Great Britain annexes Tonga Island. Wikipedia
• 1915 First World War: Australian and New Zealand troops repelled the third attack on Anzac Cove, inflicting heavy casualties on the attacking Ottoman forces. Wikipedia
• 1919 Mustafa Kemal Atatürk lands at Samsun on the Anatolian Black Sea coast, initiating what is later termed the Turkish War of Independence. Wikipedia
• 1942 World War II: In the aftermath of the Battle of the Coral Sea, Task Force 16 heads to Pearl Harbor for repairs. Wikipedia
• 1945 Syrian demonstrators in Damascus are fired upon by French troops injuring twelve, leading to the Levant Crisis. Wikipedia
• 1950 A barge containing munitions destined for Pakistan explodes in the harbor at South Amboy, New Jersey, devastating the city. Wikipedia
• 1961 Venera program: Venera 1 becomes the first man-made object to fly by another planet by passing Venus (the probe had lost contact with Earth a month earlier and did not send back any data). Wikipedia
• 1962 Actress Marilyn Monroe performed a sultry rendition of "Happy Birthday to You" during a televised celebration for U.S. President John F. Kennedy. Wikipedia
• 1962 A birthday salute to U.S. President John F. Kennedy takes place at Madison Square Garden, New York City. The highlight is Marilyn Monroe's rendition of "Happy Birthday". Wikipedia
• 1963 The New York Post Sunday Magazine publishes Martin Luther King Jr.'s Letter from Birmingham Jail. Wikipedia
• 1971 Mars probe program: Mars 2 is launched by the Soviet Union. Wikipedia
• 1986 The Firearm Owners Protection Act is signed into law by U.S. President Ronald Reagan. Wikipedia
• 1991 Croatians vote for independence in a referendum. Wikipedia
• 2012 A car bomb explodes near a military complex in the Syrian city of Deir ez-Zor, killing nine people. Wikipedia
• 2015 The Refugio oil spill deposited 142,800 U.S. gallons (3,400 barrels) of crude oil onto an area in California considered one of the most biologically diverse coastlines of the west coast. Wikipedia
• 2016 EgyptAir Flight 804 crashes into the Mediterranean Sea while traveling from Paris to Cairo, killing all on board. Wikipedia
• 2024 A helicopter crash in Iran leaves 8 people dead, including the country's president Ebrahim Raisi & foreign minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian. Wikipedia

Born on May 19

• 1462 Baccio D'Agnolo, Italian woodcarver, sculptor and architect (died 1543) Wikipedia
• 1744 Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, German-born Queen to George III of the United Kingdom (died 1818) Wikipedia
• 1762 Johann Gottlieb Fichte, German philosopher and academic (died 1814) Wikipedia
• 1881 Mustafa Kemal Atatürk (official birthday), Turkish field marshal and statesman, 1st President of Turkey (died 1938) Wikipedia
• 1890 Ho Chi Minh, Vietnamese politician, 1st President of Vietnam (died 1969) Wikipedia
• 1897 Frank Luke, American lieutenant and pilot, Medal of Honor recipient (died 1918) Wikipedia
• 1898 Julius Evola, Italian philosopher and painter (died 1974) Wikipedia
• 1909 Nicholas Winton, English banker and humanitarian (died 2015) Wikipedia
• 1913 Neelam Sanjiva Reddy, Indian lawyer and politician, 6th President of India (died 1996) Wikipedia
• 1914 Max Perutz, Austrian-English biologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 2002) Wikipedia
• 1925 Malcolm X, American minister and activist (died 1965) Wikipedia
• 1925 Pol Pot, Cambodian general and politician, 29th Prime Minister of Cambodia (died 1998) Wikipedia
• 1941 Nora Ephron, American director, producer, and screenwriter (died 2012) Wikipedia
• 1945 Pete Townshend, English singer-songwriter and guitarist Wikipedia
• 1955 James Gosling, Canadian-American computer scientist, created Java Wikipedia
• 1976 Kevin Garnett, American basketball player Wikipedia
• 1977 Natalia Oreiro, Uruguayan singer-songwriter and actress Wikipedia
• 1977 Manuel Almunia, Spanish footballer Wikipedia
• 1979 Diego Forlán, Uruguayan footballer Wikipedia
• 1979 Andrea Pirlo, Italian footballer Wikipedia
• 1992 Sam Smith, English singer-songwriter Wikipedia
• 1992 Marshmello, American electronic music producer and DJ Wikipedia

Died on May 19

• 804 Alcuin, English monk and scholar (born 735) Wikipedia
• 1164 Saint Bashnouna, Egyptian saint and martyr Wikipedia
• 1296 Pope Celestine V (born 1215) Wikipedia
• 1536 Anne Boleyn, Queen Consort of England (1533–1536); second wife of Henry VIII Wikipedia
• 1777 Button Gwinnett, British-born American politician and signer of the United States Declaration of Independence (born 1735) Wikipedia
• 1825 Claude Henri de Rouvroy, comte de Saint-Simon, French philosopher and theorist (born 1760) Wikipedia
• 1864 Nathaniel Hawthorne, American novelist and short story writer (born 1804) Wikipedia
• 1895 José Martí, Cuban journalist, poet, and philosopher (born 1853) Wikipedia
• 1898 William Ewart Gladstone, English lawyer and politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (born 1809) Wikipedia
• 1935 T. E. Lawrence, British colonel and archaeologist (born 1888) Wikipedia
• 1994 Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, American journalist, 37th First Lady of the United States (born 1929) Wikipedia
• 2009 Robert F. Furchgott, American biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1916) Wikipedia
• 2011 Garret FitzGerald, Irish lawyer and politician, 8th Taoiseach of Ireland (born 1926) Wikipedia
• 2024 Victims in the 2024 Varzaqan helicopter crash: Wikipedia

Holidays and observances

• Christian feast day: Calocerus (Eastern Orthodox Church) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Crispin of Viterbo Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Dunstan (Roman Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox Church; commemoration, Anglicanism) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Ivo of Kermartin Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Joaquina Vedruna de Mas Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Maria Bernarda Bütler Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Peter Celestine Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Pudentiana (Roman Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox Church) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Blessed Umiliana de' Cerchi Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: May 19 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics) Wikipedia
• Pontian Greek Genocide Remembrance Day (Greece) Wikipedia
• Commemoration of Atatürk, Youth and Sports Day (Turkey, Northern Cyprus) Wikipedia
• Remembrance Day (Sri Lanka) Wikipedia
• Hồ Chí Minh's Birthday (Vietnam) Wikipedia
• Malcolm X Day (United States of America) Wikipedia
• National Asian & Pacific Islander HIV/AIDS Awareness Day (United States) Wikipedia
• Hepatitis Testing Day (United States) Wikipedia
• Mother's Day (Kyrgyzstan) Wikipedia

The events, births, deaths and observances above are from the English Wikipedia article “May 19” and the articles it links to (authors and history), retrieved 2026-10-09 through the Wikimedia “On this day” feed. They are licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0; this selection is shared under the same licence. We picked the 26 events, 22 births and 14 deaths with the widest coverage across Wikipedia's language editions (counted from Wikidata) and sorted them by year; the wording is unchanged apart from removing references to pictures.