| 119521 | October 19 | Event | 1950 – The People's Liberation Army takes control of the town of Chamdo this is sometimes called the "Invasion of Tibet". |
| 119522 | October 19 | Event | 1950 – The People's Republic of China joins the Korean War by sending thousands of troops across the Yalu River to fight United Nations forces. |
| 119523 | October 19 | Event | 1950 – Iran becomes the first country to accept technical assistance from the United States under the Point Four Program. |
| 119524 | October 19 | Event | 1954 – First ascent of Cho Oyu. |
| 119525 | October 19 | Event | 1956 – The Soviet Union and Japan sign a Joint Declaration, officially ending the state of war between the two countries that had existed since August 1945. |
| 119526 | October 19 | Event | 1960 – Cold War: The United States government imposes a near-total trade embargo against Cuba, which remains in effect today. |
| 119527 | October 19 | Event | 1969 – The first Prime Minister of Tunisia in twelve years, Bahi Ladgham, is appointed by President Habib Bourguiba. |
| 119528 | October 19 | Event | 1973 – President Richard Nixon rejects an Appeals Court decision that he turn over the Watergate tapes. |
| 119529 | October 19 | Event | 1974 – Niue becomes a self-governing colony of New Zealand. |
| 119530 | October 19 | Event | 1976 – Battle of Aishiya in Lebanon. |
| 119531 | October 19 | Event | 1984 – Roman Catholic priest from Poland, Jerzy Popiełuszko, associated with the Solidarity Union, was murdered by three agents of the Polish communist internal intelligence agency. |
| 119532 | October 19 | Event | 1986 – Samora Machel, President of Mozambique and a prominent leader of FRELIMO, and 33 others die when their Tupolev Tu-134 plane crashes into the Lebombo Mountains. |
| 119533 | October 19 | Event | 1987 – The United States Navy conducts Operation Nimble Archer, an attack on two Iranian oil platforms in the Persian Gulf. |
| 119534 | October 19 | Event | 1987 – Black Monday: The Dow Jones Industrial Average falls by 22%, 508 points. |
| 119535 | October 19 | Event | 1988 – The British government imposes a broadcasting ban on television and radio interviews with members of Sinn Féin and eleven Irish republican and Ulster loyalist paramilitary groups. |
| 119536 | October 19 | Event | 1989 – The convictions of the Guildford Four are quashed by the Court of Appeal of England and Wales, after they had spent 15 years in prison. |
| 119537 | October 19 | Event | 2001 – SIEV X, an Indonesian fishing boat en route to Christmas Island, carrying over 400 asylum seekers, sinks in international waters with the loss of 353 people. |
| 119538 | October 19 | Event | 2003 – Mother Teresa is beatified by Pope John Paul II. |
| 119539 | October 19 | Event | 2004 – Care International aid worker Margaret Hassan is kidnapped in Iraq. |
| 119540 | October 19 | Event | 2005 – Saddam Hussein goes on trial in Baghdad for crimes against humanity. |
| 119541 | October 19 | Event | 2005 – Hurricane Wilma becomes the most intense Atlantic hurricane on record with a minimum pressure of 882 mb. |
| 119542 | October 19 | Event | 2007 – Philippines: A bomb explosion rocked Glorietta 2, a shopping mall in Makati. The blast killed 11 and injured more than 100 people. |
| 119543 | October 19 | Event | 2012 – A bomb explosion kills 8 people and injures 110 people in Beirut, Lebanon. |
| 119544 | October 19 | Event | 2013 – At least 105 people were injured in a train crash at the Once railway station in Buenos Aires. |
| 119545 | October 19 | Event | 2014 – Oort cloud Comet Siding Spring makes a close fly-by the planet Mars passing within 140,000 kilometers. |
| 119546 | October 19 | Birth | 1276 – Prince Hisaaki of Japan (d. 1328) |
| 119547 | October 19 | Birth | 1433 – Marsilio Ficino, Italian astrologer and philosopher (d. 1499) |
| 119548 | October 19 | Birth | 1562 – George Abbot, English archbishop and academic (d. 1633) |
| 119549 | October 19 | Birth | 1582 – Dmitry of Uglich (d. 1591) |
| 119550 | October 19 | Birth | 1605 – Thomas Browne, English physician and author (d. 1682) |