On this day in February - Feb. 12

• 1074 - Conrad was born (d. 1101). King of Germany and Italy.
• 1218 - Kujo Yoritsune was born (d. 1256). Japanese shogun
• 1354 - Treaty of Stralsund settles border disputes between the duchies of Mecklenburg and Pomerania.
• 1538 - Albrecht Altdorfer dies. German painter
• 1541 - Santiago, Chile is founded by Pedro de Valdivia.
• 1554 - A year after claiming the throne of England for nine days, Lady Jane Grey is beheaded for treason.
• 1554 - Lord Guilford Dudley dies executed (b. 1536). Consort of Lady Jane Grey
• 1554 - Lady Jane Grey dies executed (b. 1537). Claimant to the throne of England
• 1567 - Thomas Campion was born (d. 1620). English composer and poet
• 1571 - Nicholas Throckmorton dies (b. 1515). English diplomat and politician.
• 1590 - François Hotman dies (b. 1524). French lawyer and writer.
• 1595 - Archduke Ernest of Austria dies (b. 1553). Governor of the Spanish Netherlands.
• 1606 - John Winthrop, the Younger was born (d. 1676). Governor of Connecticut.
• 1612 - Christopher Clavius dies (b. 1538). German astronomer.
• 1624 - George Heriot dies (b. 1563). Scottish goldsmith and philanthropist.
• 1630 - Fynes Moryson dies (b. 1566). English traveler and writer.
• 1637 - Jan Swammerdam was born (d. 1680). Dutch scientist.
• 1663 - Cotton Mather was born (d. 1728). New England minister.
• 1665 - Rudolf Jakob Camerarius, was born (d. 1721).German botanist and physician.
• 1689 - The Convention Parliament convenes and declares that the flight to France in 1688 by James II, the last Catholic British monarch, constitutes an abdication.
• 1700 - Aleksei Shein dies (b. 1662). Russian general and statesman.
• 1704 - Charles Pinot Duclos was born (d. 1772). French writer.
• 1719 - The Onderlinge van 1719 u.a., the oldest existing life insurance company in the Netherlands is founded.
• 1724 - Elkanah Settle dies (b. 1648). English writer.
• 1728 - Étienne-Louis Boullée was born (d. 1799). French architect
• 1728 - Agostino Steffani dies (b. 1653). Italian diplomat and composer
• 1733 - Englishman James Oglethorpe founds the 13th and final American colony of Georgia, and its first city at Savannah.
• 1737 - The San Carlo, the oldest working opera house in Europe, is inaugurated.
• 1753 - François-Paul Brueys D'Aigalliers was born (d. 1798). French admiral
• 1762 - Laurent Belissen dies (b. 1693). French composer.
• 1763 - Pierre de Marivaux dies (b. 1688). French writer.
• 1768 - Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor was born (d. 1835)
• 1771 - King Adolf Frederick of Sweden dies (b. 1710)
• 1771 - Gustav III becomes the King of Sweden when his father Adolf Frederick "[eats] himself to death".
• 1775 - Louisa Adams, First Lady of the United States was born (d. 1852). Wife of John Quincy Adams.
• 1777 - Friedrich de la Motte Fouqué was born (d. 1843). French poet.
• 1785 - Pierre Louis Dulong was born (d. 1838). French physicist.
• 1788 - Carl Reichenbach was born (d. 1869). German chemist and philosopher
• 1789 - Ethan Allen dies (b. 1738). American patriot.
• 1794 - Alexander Petrov was born (d. 1867). Russian chess player
• 1799 - Lazzaro Spallanzani dies (b. 1729). Italian biologist.
• 1804 - Immanuel Kant dies (b. 1724). German philosopher
• 1804 - Heinrich Lenz was born (d. 1865). German physicist
• 1809 - Charles Darwin was born (d. 1882). English naturalist
• 1809 - Abraham Lincoln was born (d. 1865). 16th President of the United States
• 1817 - Argentine/Chilean patriotic army, after crossing the Andes, defeat Spanish troops on the batte of Chacabuco.
• 1818 - Bernardo O'Higgins signs the Independence of Chile near Concepción.
• 1818 - Otto Ludwig was born. German writer
• 1825 - The Creek cede the last of their lands in Georgia to the United States government, and migrate west.
• 1828 - George Meredith was born (d. 1909). English writer
• 1832 - Ecuador annexes the Galápagos Islands.
• 1857 - Bobby Peel was born (d. 1943). English cricketer.
• 1861 - Lou Andreas-Salome was born (d. 1937). Russian-born author.
• 1865 - Kazimierz Tetmajer was born (d. 1940). Polish poet and writer.
• 1870 - Women gain the right to vote in Utah Territory.
• 1876 - Thubten Gyatso, was born (d. 1933).13th Dalai Lama
• 1879 - At New York City's Madison Square Garden the first artificial ice rink in North America opens.
• 1880 - John L. Lewis was born (d. 1969). American labor union leader.
• 1881 - Anna Pavlova was born (d. 1950). Russian ballerina
• 1884 - Max Beckmann was born (d. 1950). painter and graphic artist
• 1884 - Marie Vassilieff was born (d. 1957). Russian artist
• 1892 - Former President Abraham Lincoln's birthday is declared a national holiday in the
• United States.
• 1893 - Omar Bradley was born (d. 1981). American general
• 1894 - Anarchist Emile Henry hurls a bomb into Paris's Cafe Terminus, killing one and wounding 20.
• 1898 - Wallace Ford was born (d. 1966). English actor.
• 1900 - Roger J. Traynor was born (d. 1980). American judge.
• 1909 - The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is founded.
• 1911 - Stephen H. Sholes was born (d. 1968). American recording executive
• 1912 - Xuantong Emperor of the Manchu Qing dynasty, the last Emperor of China, abdicates.
• 1912 - China adopts the Gregorian calendar.
• 1912 - R. F. Delderfield was born (d. 1972). English author .
• 1914 - Tex Beneke was born (d. 2000). American musician and band leader.
• 1915 - In Washington, DC, the first stone of the Lincoln Memorial is put into place.
• 1915 - Lorne Greene was born (d. 1987). American actor
• 1916 - Joseph Alioto was born (d. 1998). Mayor of San Francisco.
• 1916 - Richard Dedekind dies (b. 1831). German mathematician.
• 1929 - Lillie Langtry dies (b. 1853). British singer and actress
• 1918 - Julian Schwinger was born (d. 1994). American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
• 1919 - Forrest Tucker was born (d. 1986). American actor.
• 1920 - William Roscoe Estep was born (d. 2000). Baptist historian and professor
• 1923 - Franco Zeffirelli was born. Italian film and opera director and designer
• 1924 - Premiere of George Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue with Paul Whiteman's Palais Royal Orchestra in Aeolian Hall in New York City
• 1924 - Calvin Coolidge becomes the first President of the United States to deliver a political speech on radio.
• 1925 - Sir Anthony Berry was born (d. 1984). British politician.
• 1926 - Joe Garagiola was born. Baseball player
• 1926 - Paul Kurtz was born. American philosopher
• 1926 - Charles Van Doren was born. American quiz show contestant.
• 1929 - Nuno de Bragança was born. Portuguese writer.
• 1930 - Arlen Specter was born. U.S. Senator from Pennsylvania
• 1931 - Janwillem van de Wetering born. Dutch author
• 1932 - Axel Jensen, was born (d. 2003). Norwegian author
• 1932 - Julian Lincoln Simon was born (d. 2003). American economist and author.
• 1933 - Costa-Gavras was born (d. 1998). Greek-born director and writer
• 1933 - Henri Duparc dies (b. 1848). French composer.
• 1934 - Bill Russell was born. American basketball player .
• 1934 - The Austrian Civil War begins.
• 1934 - The Export-Import Bank of the United States is incorporated.
• 1934 - In Spain the national council of Juntas de Ofensiva Nacional-Sindicalista is inaugurated. The council decides to merge the movement with the Falange Española.
• 1935 - Auguste Escoffier dies (b. 1846). French chef.
• 1936 - Joe Don Baker was born. American actor
• 1936 - Paul Shenar was born. American actor
• 1937 - Charles Dumas was born. American athlete
• 1938 - Anschluss: German troops enter Austria.
• 1938 - Judy Blume was born. American author
• 1938 - Johnny Rutherford was born. American race car driver
• 1939 - Ray Manzarek was born. American keyboardist (The Doors)
• 1940 - Richard Lynch was born. American actor
• 1942 - Ehud Barak was born. Prime Minister of Israel
• 1945 - Maud Adams was born. Swedish actress
• 1946 - Ajda Pekkan was born. Turkish singer
• 1946 - Operation Deadlight ends after scuttling 121 of 154 captured U-boats.
• 1949 - Imam Hassan al Banna dies (b. 1906). Egyptian founder of the Muslim Brotherhood
• 1951 - Choudhary Rahmat Ali dies (b. 1895). One who named the country Pakistan.
• 1950 - Michael Ironside was born. Canadian actor
• 1951 - Soraya Esfandiary Bakhtiari marries the Shah of Iran Reza Pahlavi at Golestan Palace in Teheran at age of 17.
• 1953 - Nabil Shaban was born. British actor
• 1953 - Robin Thomas was born. American actor
• 1954 - Philip Zimmermann was born. Cryptographer
• 1954 - Dziga Vertov dies (b. 1896). Russian filmmaker
• 1955 - Arsenio Hall was born. American actor and talk show host
• 1957 - Eric Alfred Knudsen dies (b. 1872). American author, folklorist
• 1961 - Jim Harris was born. Canadian polititian
• 1962 - Jimmy Kirkwood was born. Irish-born field hockey player.
• 1965 - Severino de Andrade Silva dies (b. 1904). Brazilian poet known as Zé da Luz.
• 1966 - Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, announced famous Six Points in Karachi as election Manifesto of Awami League that later led to formation of Bangladesh.
• 1967 - Chris McKinstry was born. Canadian computer scientist
• 1968 - Josh Brolin was born. American actor
• 1968 - Chynna Phillips was born. American singer
• 1969 - Darren Aronofsky American director and writer
• 1969 - Meja was born. Swedish singer
• 1969 - Hong Myung-Bo was born. Korean footballer
• 1969 - António Sérgio dies. Portuguese essayst and thinker.
• 1970 - Jim Creeggan was born. Canadian bassist (Barenaked Ladies)
• 1971 - James C. Penney dies (b. 1875). American department store founder
• 1973 - Gianni Romme was born. Dutch speed skater
• 1973 - Tara Strong was born. American voice actress
• 1973 - Ohio becomes the first U.S. state to post distance in SI units on signs.
• 1973 - Vietnam War: The first American prisoners of war are released by the Viet Cong.
• 1976 - Silvia Saint was born. Czech pornographic actress
• 1976 - Sal Mineo dies (b. 1939). American actor.
• 1979 - Jean Renoir dies (b. 1894). French director.
• 1980 - Juan Carlos Ferrero was born. Spanish tennis player
• 1980 - Christina Ricci was born. American actress
• 1982 - Victor Jory dies (b. 1902). Canadian actor.
• 1983 - Eubie Blake dies. American musician and songwriter
• 1984 - Julio Cortázar dies (b. 1914). Argentine writer.
• 1985 - Nicholas Colasanto dies (b. 1924). American actor.
• 1992 - Bep van Klaveren dies (b. 1907). Dutch boxer.
• 1992 - María Elena Moyano dies (b. 1960). Peruvian activist.
• 1993 - James Bulger dies (b. 1990). English murder victim.
• 1994 - 1994 Winter Olympics open in Lillehammer, Norway.
• 1995 - Robert Bolt dies (b. 1924). English writer
• 1995 - Philip Taylor Kramer dies. American musician (Iron Butterfly)
• 1996 - Bob Shaw dies (b. 1931). Northern Irish science fiction writer.
• 1998 - The presidential line-item veto is declared unconstitutional by United States federal judge.
• 1999 - President Bill Clinton is acquitted by the United States Senate in his impeachment trial.
• 2000 - Screamin' Jay Hawkins dies (b. 1929). American musician.
• 2000 - Tom Landry dies (b. 1924). American football coach.
• 2000 - Charles Schulz dies (b. 1922). American comics author.
• 2001 - Kristina Söderbaum dies (b. 1912). German actress and photographer.
• 2001 - NEAR Shoemaker spacecraft touchdown in the "saddle" region of 433 Eros becoming the first spacecraft to land on an asteroid.
• 2001 - Google obtains Usenet, creating Google Groups (press release).
• 2002 - The trial of former President of Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Slobodan Milošević begins at the United Nations war crimes tribunal in The Hague.
• 2002 - Nuclear waste: US Secretary of Energy makes the decision that Yucca Mountain is suitable to be the United States' nuclear repository.
• 2002 - An Iran Air Tupolev Tu-154 crashes prior to landing in Khorramabad, Iran, killing 119.
• 2004 - Mayor Gavin Newsom of San Francisco, California, on National Freedom to Marry Day, orders his county clerk to revise marriage licenses to allow gay and lesbian couples to legally wed.
• 2004 - Mattel Inc. announces the split of Barbara Millicent Roberts and Ken Carson (aka Barbie and Ken) after 43 years of dating.
• 2005 - Former Vermont governor and presidential candidate Howard Dean becomes chairman of the Democratic National Committee.
• 2005 - Brian Kelly dies (b. 1932). American actor.
• 2005 - Rafael Vidal dies (b. 1964). Venezuelan athlete
• 2006 - A powerful Nor'easter Winter Storm blankets the Northeast United States dumping a foot of snow from Washington DC up to Boston, Massachusetts.
• 2006 - Presidential elections in Cape Vert / Eleições presidenciais em Cabo Verde.
• United States - Lincoln's Birthday (traditionally).
• Georgia Day in the U.S. state of Georgia.
• National Freedom to Marry Day (unofficial).
• Darwin Day.