Fun Facts about Today in History

(April 19, 1775)
The American Revolution began on this day in 1775 with the Battles of Lexington and Concord, and was a campaign to gain independence for 13 British colonies in North America (with support from France, Spain, and the Netherlands).

(April 19, 1975)
Aryabhata, India's first unmanned Earth satellite, was launched by a Russian-made rocket from the Soviet Union.

(April 19, 1993)
Some 80 members of the millennialist Branch Davidian religious organisation died in a fire at their property outside Waco, Texas, after a 51-day siege with US federal agents.

(April 19, 1995)
A truck bomb nearly demolished the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, killing 168 people and injuring more than 500 others in what was the greatest act of terrorism in US history at the time.

(April 19, 2005)
Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was elected to succeed Pope John Paul II, who had died just two weeks before, and was given the name Benedict XVI.

(Died on April 19, 2021)
Jim Steinman, American composer, lyricist (b. 1947).