Historical Events on December 12

Events 1 - 200 of 209

• 627 Battle at Nineveh: Byzantine Emperor Heraclius beats Sassanid forces during Byzantine-Sassanid War
• 1098 1st Crusaders capture & plunder Mara, Syria
• 1279 Discovery of a sarcophagus supposedly containing the body of Mary Magdalene in the crypt of the church of Saint-Maximin, southeastern France

• 1408 Order of the Dragon: The Order of the Dragon was first created on December 12, 1408 by Emperor Sigismund, then King of Hungary, and his wife Queen Barbara of Celje following the battle for possession of Bosnia.
• 1479 Jews are expelled from Schlettstadt Alsace by Emperor Frederick III

• 1527 Composer Adrian Willaert moves from Milan to Venice
• 1653 English "Barebones" Parliament ends
• 1677 Brandenburgs army occupies Stettin

• 1715 Russian and Prussian troops occupy Stralsund [NS=12/23]
• 1769 Pope Clement XIV proclaims a universal jubilee

• 1791 Bank of North America opens at Carpenter's Hall, Philadelphia

• 1822 Mexico officially recognized as an independent nation by US
• 1858 1st Canadian coins circulated (1 cent, 5 cent, 10 cent & 20 cent)
• 1862 Battle of Dumfries, Virginia
• 1862 Naval Engagement at Yazoo River, MS (USS CAIRO torpedoed)
• 1870 Joseph Rainey (South Carolina) becomes 1st African American to serve in US House of Representatives
• 1871 Jules Janssen discovers dark lines in solar corona spectrum

• 1884 1st Test match played at the Adelaide Oval
• 1897 Anti-Jewish violence breaks out in Bucharest, Romania
• 1897 Belo Horizonte, the first planned city of Brazil, founded
• 1897 Rudolph Dirks' 1st "The Katzenjammer Kids" cartoon strip appears in NY Journal
• 1898 1st first-class cricket game between Australian states NSW and Tasmania
• 1899 1st case of plague on Oahu, Hawaii
• 1899 George F Bryant of Boston patents the wooden golf tee

• 1903 Roger Casement completes report about abuses in Belgian Congo
• 1904 CMS McClellan's "Leah Kleschna" premieres in NYC
• 1906 Oscar Straus, 1st Jewish US government member, appointed Secretary of Commerce
• 1911 Delhi replaces Calcutta as the capital of India.
• 1912 Rudolf Friml and Otto Harbach's musical "Firefly" premieres in New York City
• 1913 Hebrew language officially used to teach in Palestinian schools
• 1914 The largest one-day percentage drop in the history of Dow Jones Industrial Average, down 24.39%
• 1915 1st all-metal aircraft (Junkers J-1) test flown at Dessau, Germany

• 1915 Russian troops overrun Hamadan, Persia
• 1917 French troop train derails in French Alps killing 543
• 1917 Rev Edward Flanagan forms Boys Town outside Omaha, Nebraska

• 1924 Spanish troops leave Morocco
• 1925 Arthur Heinman coins term "motel" from motor hotel; opens Motel Inn, San Luis Obispo

• 1928 Robert Nichols and Maurice Browne's play "Wings over Europe" premieres in New York City
• 1930 Baseball Rules Committee greatly revises the rule book, ball bouncing into stands not a HR, now a double
• 1930 Start of the 1st Australia v West Indies Test (at Adelaide)
• 1931 Japanese government of Imukai forms
• 1932 S N Behrman's "Biography" premieres in NYC
• 1932 USSR & China resume diplomatic relations

• 1936 1937 NFL Draft: Sam Francis from University of Nebraska first pick by Philadelphia Eagles

• 1937 1938 NFL Draft: Corbett Davis from University of Indiana first pick by Cleveland Rams
• 1937 Japanese aircraft shell & sink US gunboat Panay on Yangtze River in China. (Japan apologized & eventually paid US $2.2M in reparations)
• 1937 NBC & RCA sends 1st mobile-TV vans onto the streets of NY
• 1939 Russ Indigirka capsizes in blizzard off Japanese coast; 750 die
• 1940 British troops conquer Sidi el-Barrani
• 1941 European reservists on Java mobilize
• 1941 German occupying army do a house search in Paris looking for Jews
• 1941 Soviet 20th army recaptures Soljetsjnogorsk
• 1942 A fire in a hostel in St. John's, Newfoundland, kills 100 people
• 1942 German offensive in South Western Stalingrad
• 1945 Special Court of justice convicts Dutch Nazi leader Mussert to death
• 1946 'Tide' laundry detergent introduced
• 1946 Abandoned ice plant in Manahttan, New York City, collapses during a fire, shearing a tenement building next door, killing 38

• 1947 United Mine Workers union withdrew from AFL
• 1948 Malayan Emergency: Batang Kali Massacre - 14 members of the Scots Guards stationed in Malaysia allegedly massacre 24 unarmed civilians and set fire to the village.
• 1949 AL votes 7-1 rejecting legalizing the spitball
• 1950 16th Heisman Trophy Award: Vic Janowicz, Ohio State (HB)
• 1950 Baseball owners vote to drop 4-year old bonus & high school rule

• 1955 1st prototype of hovercraft patented by British engineer Christoper Cockerell

• 1956 Commencement of the Irish Republican Army's Border Campaign.
• 1957 Maj Adrian Drew flies 1,943 kph in F-101 Voodoo
• 1957 US announces manufacture of Borazon (harder than diamond)
• 1957 Willem J. Kolff and his team at Ohio's Cleveland Clinic removed the heart from a dog and replaced it with a pneumatic pump which kept the dog alive for 90 minutes, proving the viability of the artificial heart
• 1958 Dutch social democratic party-ministers/premier Drees dismissed
• 1958 Indian leg spin bowler Subhash "Fergie" Gupte takes 9-102 v W Indies at Kanpur
• 1959 Jack Brabham finishes 4th in season-ending US Grand Prix at Sebring to become first Australian F1 World Drivers Championship winner; takes title by 4 points from Briton Tony Brooks
• 1959 UN Committee on Peaceful Use of Outer Space is established
• 1961 Amateur radio satellite Oscar 1 launched with military Discoverer 36

• 1962 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site

• 1963 Frank Sinatra, Jr returned by kidnappersafter his father paid the $240,000 ransom demanded
• 1963 Kenya (formerly British East Africa) declares independence from the United Kingdom
• 1964 Cleveland Browns' Frank Ryan sets club record of 5 TD passes

• 1965 Doug Walters makes maiden Test ton in 1st Test, goes on to 155
• 1965 The Beatles' last concert in Great Britain at Capitol Theatre in Cardiff, Wales
• 1965 Vivian Beaumont Theater opens at 65th St & Amsterdam Ave NYC

• 1966 US Supreme Courts votes 4-3 allowing Braves to move to Atlanta
• 1967 US launches Pioneer 8 into solar orbit

• 1968 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site

• 1969 Decathlon Bill Toomey achieves world record-score of 8417 points
• 1969 Offices of Banca Nazionale dell'Agricoltura in Piazza Fontana, Milan, are bombed, killing 14
• 1970 Polish government proclaims price rise
• 1970 Small Astronomy Satellite Explorer 42 launched to study X-rays
• 1970 USSR performs underground nuclear test

• 1973 Canada begins selling Olympic coins ($5 & $10 silver coins)
• 1973 San Diego files anti-trust against NL (stopping Padres move to DC)

• 1975 Gas stove explodes & starts fire killing 138 in Mecca, Saudi Arabia

• 1976 Spaniard Manuel Orantes beats Wojtek Fibak of Poland 5–7, 6–2, 0–6, 7–6, 6–1 to win his first and only season-ending ATP Masters Grand Prix tennis title in Houston, Texas

• 1977 Yanks purchase Andy Messersmith from Braves
• 1979 Gold hits record $462.50 an ounce
• 1979 President of Pakistan, Zia-ul-Haq, confers Nishan-e-Imtiaz on Nobel laureate Dr Abdus Salam
• 1980 Apple makes its initial public offering on the US stock market - 38 years later it would become the 1st US company valued at over $1 trillion, 1st over $2 trillion two years after that, and 1st over $3 trillion three years after that
• 1980 US copyright law amended to include computer programs
• 1981 Gambia & Senegal sign agreement to be known as Senegambia in Feb 1982
• 1982 $9,800,000 in cash stolen from money transport car in NYC
• 1982 The "Snowplow Game": when a snowstorm holds a New England vs Miami game scoreless, Mark Henderson, a convict on work release, on Patriots coach Ron Meyer order, clears the path for John Smith's attempt, which wins the game for the Patriots, 3-0
• 1983 A truck bomb explodes at US Embassy in Kuwait
• 1985 248 US soldiers & 8 crew members die in Arrow Air charter crash
• 1985 DC-8 crashes near Gander, Newfoundland; 258 die
• 1985 NASA launches space vehicle S-207

• 1986 James "Bone Crusher" Smith TKO's WBA champ Tim Witherspoon in Madison Square Garden
• 1986 Russian Tupolev-134 crashes in East Berlin, 70 killed
• 1986 South African journalist and activist Zwelakhe Sisulu arrested at John Vorster Square
• 1987 Mookie Blaylock sets NBA record of 13 steals in a game
• 1987 Okla's sets NCAA record of 33 steals vs Centenary
• 1987 Rollermania at Madison Square Garden, Eastern Express beats Midwest Pioneers

• 1988 3 trains collide in London, 40 die
• 1988 NYC Subway system adds new stations (Z line)
• 1988 PLO leader Yasi Arafat accepts Israel's right to exist

• 1990 US accuses Iraq of dragging its feet on dates for talks
• 1990 US ambassador to Kuwait, Nathaniel Howell, leaves Kuwait
• 1991 Abuja replaces Lagos as the capital city of Nigeria
• 1991 NJ Nets set NBA record of 22 blocks beating Nuggets 121-81
• 1991 Orion Pictures filed Chapter 11 for bankruptcy protection
• 1991 Tampa Bay Buccaneer Dexter Manley retires after failing drug test
• 1992 58th Heisman Trophy Award: Gino Torretta, U of Miami (QB)
• 1992 6.8-7.5 earthquake strikes Flores Island (tsunami kills 3,000)

• 1992 NY Giants lose 19-0 to Phoenix Cardinals
• 1993 WAQX 104.3 (Q-104) rock format replaces WNCN classic format in NYC
• 1995 Amendment to make it illegal to physically desecrate the flag turned down by senate 63-36 (need 2/3 vote)
• 1995 CBC announces Radio Canada International service to end on March 31

• 1995 NBA referees return to work after striking
• 1996 Assassination attempt on Uday Hussein, heir to Iraqi leader Saddam Hussain
• 1997 Carlos the Jackal, "professional revolutionary", goes on trial in Paris

• 1997 Florida releases Alex Arias, the last original Marlin
• 1997 Japanese train builders (Maglev) claim world speed record at 332 MPH

• 1997 SWAT team shoots John E Armstrong in Florida, freeing 2 young hostages
• 1997 TWA 800 hearings end

• 2004 On This Day launches MusicOrb.com and TodayinSport.com, separate sites for music and sports history, now our music and sport channels
• 2006 Peugeot produces its last car at the Ryton Plant signalling the end of mass car production in Coventry, formerly a major centre of the British motor industry.
• 2008 Andrei Klepach, Deputy Economic Minister of Russia, states that Russia has entered a recession, with two quarters of contraction expected, meaning Russia will fall short of reaching the 6.8% growth forecast for 2008
• 2010 Mosconi Cup nine-ball pool, London, England: Europe regains title with an 11-8 win over US; MVP: Darren Appleton (England)
• 2011 77th Heisman Trophy Award: Robert Griffin III, Baylor (QB)
• 2013 The United States announces sanctions on the two dozen companies who assisted Iran with their nuclear program
• 2014 Over 200 pro-democracy activists arrested in Hong Kong
• 2014 UN climate change talks in Peru continue past scheduled time as negotiations continue to stall
• 2015 COP21 climate change summit in Paris reaches a deal between 195 countries to limit the rise in the global average temperature to less than 2°C above pre-industrial levels
• 2015 First women ever elected in Saudi Arabia in municipal council elections

• 2016 Paolo Gentiloni is sworn in as Prime Minister of Italy, succeeding Matteo Renzi

• 2017 Australian shopping mall firm Westfield is bought by French property company Unibail-Rodamco for $15.7 billion
• 2017 Democrat Doug Jones defeats Republican Roy Moore for Alabama Senate seat in upset win marked by allegations of sexual misconduct against Moore

• 2018 China built 88 out of world's 143 skyscrapers in 2018 more than any country ever (buildings over 200 meters/656 ft)
• 2018 Michael Cohen, former lawyer for US President Donald Trump sentenced to three years in prison for campaign-finance violations and tax fraud
• 2018 Russian cosmonauts Oleg Kononenko and Sergey Prokopyev compete complex spacewalk to fix hole in Soyuz spacecraft
• 2018 Seven mass graves in former Islamic State area discovered containing hundreds of bodies, some tortured, near Albu Kamal, eastern Syria

• 2019 Deepest point on land on earth identified under Denman Glacier, east Antarctica at 3.5km (11,500ft) below sea level

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