A few of the great historical events that happened today in history, December 19th!
| 1154 | Henry II is crowned king of England. |
| 1562 | The French Wars of Religion between the Huguenots and the Catholics begins with the Battle of Dreux. |
| 1732 | Benjamin Franklin began publishing “Poor Richard’s Almanac.”Here is a video of the top 10 Benjamin Franklin quotes, 9 are from Poor Richard’s Almanac.
Benjamin Franklin – Top 10 Quotes
|
| 1776 | Thomas Paine published his first “American Crisis” essay, writing: “These are the times that try men’s souls.” |
| 1777 | Gen. George Washington led his army of about 11,000 men to Valley Forge, Pa., to camp for the winter. |
| 1793 | French troops recapture Toulon from the British. |
| 1843 | Charles Dickens’ Yuletide tale, “A Christmas Carol,” was first published in Britain. |
| 1862 | Confederate General Nathan B. Forrest begins tearing up the railroads in Union generals Grant and Rosecrans rear, causing considerable delays in the movement of Union supplies. |
| 1900 | The French Parliament votes amnesty for everyone involved in the Dreyfus Affair. |
| 1907 | A coal mine explosion in Jacobs Creek, Pa., killed 239 workers. |
| 1909 | American socialist women denounce suffrage as a movement of the middle class. |
| 1941 | Japanese land on Hong Kong and clash with British troops. |
| 1941 | Adolf Hitler assumes the position of commander in chief of the German army.
 Adolf Hitler from 1941 |
| 1942 | The British advance 40 miles into Burma in a drive to oust the Japanese from the colony. |
| 1944 | During the Battle of the Bulge, American troops begin pulling back from the twin Belgian cities of Krinkelt and Rocherath in front of the advancing German Army. |
| 1945 | Congress confirms Eleanor Roosevelt as U.S. delegate to the United Nations. |
| 1946 | War broke out in Indochina as troops under Ho Chi Minh launched widespread attacks against the French. |
| 1950 | The North Atlantic Council names General Dwight D. Eisenhower as supreme commander of Western European defense forces. |
| 1959 | Reputed to be the last civil war veteran, Walter Williams, dies at 117 in Houston. |
| 1972 | Apollo 17 splashed down in the Pacific, ending the Apollo program of manned lunar landings. |
| 1974 | Nelson A. Rockefeller was sworn in as vice president, replacing Gerald R. Ford, who became president when Richard M. Nixon resigned. |
| 1974 | Nelson Rockefeller is sworn in as vice president of the United states after a House of Representatives vote.
 Nelson Rockefeller |
| 1982 | Four bombs explode at South Africa’s only nuclear power station in Johannesburg. |
| 1984 | British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and Chinese Premier Zhao Ziyang sign an agreement that committed Britain to return Hong Kong to China in 1997 in return for terms guaranteeing a 50-year extension of its capitalist system. Hong Kong was leased by China to Great Britain in 1898 for 99 years. |
| 1986 | The Soviet Union announced it had freed dissident Andrei Sakharov from internal exile and pardoned his wife, Yelena Bonner. |
| 1997 | “Titanic,” the second highest-grossing movie of all-time, opened in American theaters. |
| 1998 | President Bill Clinton is impeached. The House of Representatives approved two articles of impeachment against President Clinton, charging him with lying under oath to a federal grand jury and obstructing justice. Clinton was the second president in American history to be impeached.  |
| 2000 | The U.N. Security Council voted to impose broad sanctions on Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers unless they closed terrorist training camps and surrendered U.S. embassy bombing suspect Osama bin Laden. |
| 2003 | Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi agreed to halt his nation’s drive to develop nuclear and chemical weapons. |
| 2005 | Afghanistan’s first democratically elected parliament in more than three decades convened. |
Today in history facts are from various sites including, but not limited too: the History Channel, The New York Times, WHG Historynet.com, and HistoryOrb.com.
Today in History
Latest posts by Today in History (see all)
- Today in History, June 17th! - June 17, 2013
- Today in History, June 16th! - June 16, 2013
- Today in History, June 15th! - June 15, 2013