Wikipedia:Selected anniversaries/December 19
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This is a list of selected December 19 anniversaries that appear in the "On this day" section of the Main Page. To suggest a new item, in most cases, you can be bold and edit this page. Please read the selected anniversaries guidelines before making your edit. However, if your addition might be controversial or on a day that is or will soon be on the Main Page, please post your suggestion on the talk page instead.
Please note that the events listed on the Main Page are chosen based more on relative article quality and to maintain a mix of topics, not based solely on how important or significant their subjects are. Only four to five events are posted at a time and thus not everything that is "most important and significant" can be listed. In addition, an event is generally not posted this year if it is also the subject of the scheduled featured article or picture of the day.
To report an error when this appears on the Main Page, see Main Page errors. Please remember that this list defers to the supporting articles, so it is best to achieve consensus and make any necessary changes there first.
Images
Use only ONE image at a time
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Bill Clinton -
John C. Calhoun -
Andrei Sakharov
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Frontispiece to "A Christmas Carol"
Ineligible
| Blurb | Reason |
|---|---|
| 1920 – Constantine I returned as King of the Hellenes after the death of his son Alexander I and a plebiscite. | {{refimprove}} |
| 1946 – The First Indochina War began when Viet Minh operatives attacked French military positions and homes in Hanoi. | unreferenced section |
| 1984 – China and the United Kingdom signed the Sino-British Joint Declaration, agreeing to the transfer of sovereignty of Hong Kong to China on 1 July 1997. | {{refimprove}}, {{cleanup}} |
Eligible
- 1828 – Nullification Crisis: Vice President of the United States John C. Calhoun wrote the South Carolina Exposition and Protest to protest the Tariff of 1828.
- 1932 – The BBC launched its World Service, now the world's largest international broadcaster, as BBC Empire Service.
- 1941 – Second World War: Three Italian Royal Navy divers on manned torpedoes detonated limpet mines on British Royal Navy ships, sinking two battleships.
- 1964 – The Army of the Republic of Vietnam, the ruling junta of South Vietnam led by Nguyen Khanh, initiated a coup, dissolving and arresting members of the High National Council, a civilian advisory body.
- 1981 – Sixteen lives were lost when a Penlee lifeboat went to the aid of the stricken coaster Union Star in heavy seas off the south-west coast of England.
- 1997 – The film Titanic was released, eventually becoming the then highest-grossing film of all time with a worldwide total of over US$1.8 billion.
- 1997 – SilkAir Flight 185 crashed into the Musi River in Indonesia, killing 104 people.
December 19: Liberation Day in Goa (1961)
- 1154 – Henry II was crowned King of England in London's Westminster Abbey.
- 1843 – A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens (pictured), a novella about the miser Ebenezer Scrooge and his transformation after being visited by three Christmas ghosts, was first published.
- 1956 – Irish-born British physician John Bodkin Adams was arrested in connection with the suspicious deaths of more than 160 of his patients, although he was only convicted on minor charges.
- 1986 – Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev released dissident Andrei Sakharov after six years of internal exile in Gorky.
- 1998 – The U.S. House of Representatives issued articles of impeachment against President Bill Clinton following the Lewinsky scandal.