August
19
Independence
Day
Afghanistan : August 19 1919
August
19 : World Humanitarian Day
The General
Assembly determined in December 2008 that World Humanitarian
Day should be marked on 19 August every year to “contribute
to increasing public awareness about humanitarian assistance
activities worldwide and the importance of international cooperation
in this regard, as well as to honour all humanitarian and UN
and associated personnel who have worked in the promotion of
the humanitarian cause and those who have lost their lives in
the cause of duty”
19 August
is the same day as the Canal Hotel bombing in Baghdad in 2003
that led to the death of 22 people including the SRSG, Sergio
Vieira de Mello. Is this day to commemorate that?
The GA chose that date as an appropriate one and the focus this,
the first year, will be primarily on commemorating those whose
lives have been lost while engaged in humanitarian operations
at a time when humanitarian work is becoming more dangerous
every year. But the purpose of the day is also to put emphasis
on current humanitarian needs and challenges, and particularly
on the beneficiaries on whose behalf we work
Natural
disasters, conflicts and other emergencies threaten the lives
and health of millions of people every year. In the middle of
such crises, thousands of dedicated humanitarian workers strive
to care for those who have been affected and support local authorities
to deliver assistance. On World Humanitarian Day, WHO and other
international bodies are highlighting the roles performed by
humanitarian workers, and remembering aid workers who have been
killed or injured while performing their vital roles.
World
Humanitarian Day offers the chance:
for the public to learn more about the humanitarian
community, what aid workers do and the challenges they face;
for nongovernmental and international bodies and UN agencies,
to demonstrate their humanitarian activities;
to pay respect to those who have died or been injured in the
course of their humanitarian work.
Events
43 BC –
Octavian, later known as Augustus, compels the Roman Senate
to elect him Consul.
1504 – In Ireland, the Hiberno-Norman de Burghs (Burkes) and
Anglo-Norman Fitzgeralds fight in the Battle of Knockdoe.
1561 – An 18-year-old Mary, Queen of Scots, returns to Scotland
after spending 13 years in France.
1612 – The "Samlesbury witches", three women from
the Lancashire village of Samlesbury, England, are put on trial,
accused for practicing witchcraft, one of the most famous witch
trials in English history.
1666 – Second Anglo-Dutch War: Rear Admiral Robert Holmes leads
a raid on the Dutch island of Terschelling, destroying 150 merchant
ships, an act later known as "Holmes's Bonfire".
1692 – Salem witch trials: in Salem, Massachusetts, Province
of Massachusetts Bay five people, one woman and four men, including
a clergyman, are executed after being convicted of witchcraft.
1745 – Prince Charles Edward Stuart raises his standard in Glenfinnan
– the start of the Second Jacobite Rebellion, known as "the
45".
1759 – Battle of Lagos Naval battle during the Seven Year's
War between Britain and France.
1768 – Saint Isaac's Cathedral is founded in Saint Petersburg,
Russia.
1772 – Gustavus III of Sweden stages a Coup d'état, in which
he assumes power and enacts a new constitution that divides
power between the Riksdag and the King.
1782 – American Revolutionary War: Battle of Blue Licks – the
last major engagement of the war, almost ten months after the
surrender of the British commander Lord Cornwallis following
the Siege of Yorktown.
1812 – War of 1812: American frigate USS Constitution defeats
the British frigate HMS Guerriere off the coast of Nova Scotia,
Canada earning her nickname "Old Ironsides".
1813 – Gervasio Antonio de Posadas joins Argentina's Second
Triumvirate.
1821 – Greek rebels massacre all the population of Navarino.
1839 – The French government announces that Louis Daguerre's
photographic process is a gift "free to the world".
1848 – California Gold Rush: the New York Herald breaks the
news to the East Coast of the United States of the gold rush
in California (although the rush started in January).
1861 – First ascent of Weisshorn, fifth highest summit in the
Alps.
1862 – Indian Wars: during an uprising in Minnesota, Lakota
warriors decide not to attack heavily-defended Fort Ridgely
and instead turn to the settlement of New Ulm, killing white
settlers along the way.
1895 – American frontier murderer and outlaw, John Wesley Hardin,
is killed by an off-duty policeman in a saloon in El Paso, Texas.
1909 – First automobile race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway
takes place.
1919 – Afghanistan gains full independence from the United Kingdom.
1927 – Metropolitan Sergius 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 creation of the position Führer is approved by the
German electorate with 89.9% of the popular vote.
1940 – First flight of the B-25 Mitchell medium bomber.
1942 – World War II: Operation Jubilee – the 2nd Canadian Infantry
Division leads an amphibious assault by allied forces on Dieppe,
France and fails, many Canadians are killed or captured. The
operation was doomed to fail, and was intended to develop and
try new amphibious landing tactics for the coming full invasion
in Normandy.
1944 – World War II: Liberation of Paris – Paris rises against
German occupation with the help of Allied troops.
1945 – Vietnam War: 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 Mohammed Mossadegh 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, downed American U-2 pilot Francis
Gary Powers is sentenced to ten years imprisonment by the Soviet
Union for espionage.
1960 – Sputnik program: Sputnik 5 – the Soviet Union launches
the satellite with the dogs Belka and Strelka, 40 mice, 2 rats
and a variety of plants.
1965 – Japanese prime minister Eisaku Sato becomes the first
post-World War II sitting prime minister to visit Okinawa.
1980 – Saudia Flight 163, a Lockheed L-1011 TriStar burns after
making an emergency landing at King Khalid International Airport
in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, killing 301 people.
1981 – Gulf of Sidra Incident: United States 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 an assault 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 – Raid on offshore pirate station, Radio Caroline in North
Sea by British and Dutch governments.
1989 – Several hundred East Germans cross the frontier between
Hungary and Austria during the Pan-European Picnic, part of
the events which began the process of the Fall of the Berlin
Wall.
1991 – dissolution of the Soviet Union, August Coup: Soviet
President Mikhail Gorbachev is placed under house arrest while
on holiday in the town of Foros, Crimea.
1991 – Crown Heights Riot: Black groups target Hasidic Jews
on the streets of Crown Heights during 3 days, after 2 black
kids were struck by a car driven by a Hasidic man.
1999 – In Belgrade, tens of thousands of Serbians rally to demand
the resignation of Federal Republic of Yugoslavia President
Slobodan Milošević.
2002 – A Russian Mi-26 helicopter carrying troops is hit by
a Chechen missile outside of Grozny, killing 118 soldiers.
2003 – A car-bomb attack on United Nations headquarters in Iraq
kills the agency's top envoy Sergio Vieira de Mello and 21 other
employees.
2003 – A Hamas planned suicide attack on a bus in Jerusalem
kills 23 Israelis, 7 of them children in the Jerusalem bus 2
massacre.
2005 – The first-ever joint military exercise between Russia
and China, called Peace Mission 2005 begins.
2005 – A series of strong storms lashes Southern Ontario spawning
several tornadoes as well as creating extreme flash flooding
within the city of Toronto and its surrounding communities.
In Toronto, it is also dubbed as the Toronto Supercell.
2009 – A series of bombings in Baghdad, Iraq, kills 101 and
injures 565 others.
2010 – Operation Iraqi Freedom ends, with the last of the United
States brigade combat teams crossing the border to Kuwait.
Holidays
and observances
Christian
Feast Day:
Feast of the Transfiguration (Julian Calendar), and its related
observances:
Buhe (Ethiopian Orthodox Church)
Saviour's Transfiguration, popularly known as the "Apples
Feast". (Russian Orthodox Church and Georgian Orthodox
Church)
Jean-Eudes de Mézeray
Louis of Toulouse
Magnus of Anagni
Magnus of Avignon
Sebaldus
August 19 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
Independence Day, commemorates the Treaty of Rawalpindi in 1919,
granting independence from Britain. (Afghanistan)
Manuel Luis Quezón Day (Quezon City and other places in The
Philippines named after Manuel L. Quezon)
National Aviation Day (United States)
Vinalia Rustica (Roman Empire)
World Humanitarian Day (International)
For details, contact Datacentre
|
