On this day in History - Sep 12

• 490 BC - Athens defeats Persia at the Battle of Marathon
• 352 CE - Maximinus van Trier dies. Bishop of Trier, saint.
• 0413 - Marcellinus of Carthage dies. Christian saint.
• 0530 - Papa Félix IV dies in battle (b. 0526)
• 1185 - Andronicus I Comnenus dies tortured by the City mob.
• 1213 - King Peter II of Aragon dies (b. 1174)
• 1213 - Albigensian Crusade: Simon de Montfort, 5th Earl of Leicester defeats Peter II of Aragon, the king of Aragon at the Battle of Muret.
• 1229 - An Aragonese-Catalan army under the command of James I of Aragon disembarks at Santa Ponça, Mallorca, with the purpose of conquering the island.
• 1297 - O Tratado de Alcanices define a fronteira entre Portugal e Castela.
• 1362 - Pope Innocent VI dies (b. 1282)
• 1369 - Blanche of Lancaster dies (b. 1345). Wife of John of Gaunt
• 1492 - Lorenzo II de' Medici was born (d. 1519). Duke of Urbino.
• 1494 - King François I of Valois-Angoulome was born († 1547). King of France.
• 1500 - Albert, Duke of Saxony dies (b. 1443)
• 1502 - Cristóbal Colón llega a las costas de la actual Nicaragua.
• 1575 - Henry Hudson was born. English explorer
• 1605 - William Dugdale was born (d. 1686). English antiquarian.
• 1609 - Henry Hudson discovers the Hudson River
• 1612 - Tsar Vasili IV of Russia dies (b. 1552)
• 1642 - Henri Coiffier de Ruzé, Marquis of Cinq-Mars dies (b. 1620). French conspirator.
• 1660 - Jacob Cats dies (b. 1577). Dutch poet, jurist, and politician.
• 1665 - Jean Bolland dies (b. 1596). Flemish Jesuit writer.
• 1672 - Tanneguy Lefebvre dies (b. 1615). French classical scholar.
• 1683 - King Afonso VI of Portugal dies (b. 1643)
• 1683 - Austro-Ottoman War: Battle of Vienna - Several European armies joined forces to defeat the Ottoman Empire.
• 1688 - Ferdinand Brokoff was born (d. 1731). Czech sculptor.
• 1690 - Peter Dens was born (d. 1775). Belgian Catholic theologian.
• 1691 - John George III, Elector of Saxony dies (b. 1647)
• 1695 - Jacob Abendana dies (b. 1630). Scholar.
• 1712 - Jan van der Heyden dies (b. 1637). Dutch painter.
• 1725 - Guillaume Le Gentil was born (d. 1792). French astronomer.
• 1733 - François Couperin dies (b. 1668). French composer.
• 1740 - Johann Heinrich Jung was born (d. 1817). German author.
• 1764 - Jean-Philippe Rameau dies (b. 1683). French composer.
• 1779 - Richard Grenville-Temple, 2nd Earl Temple dies (b. 1711). English politician.
• 1789 - Franz Xaver Richter was born. German composer.
• 1806 - Christian Gotfried Thomas was born. German composer.
• 1812 - Richard Hoe was born (d. 1886). American inventor and industrialist.
• 1814 - Battle of North Point: An American detachment halts the British land advance to Baltimore in the War of 1812.
• 1818 - Richard Gatling was born (d. 1903). American weapons inventor.
• 1819 - Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher dies (b. 1742). Prussian general.
• 1831 - Álvares de Azevedo was born († 1852). Brazilian writer.
• 1836 - Christian Dietrich Grabbe dies (b. 1801). German writer.
• 1838 - Georg Friedrich Julius Arthur von Auwers was born. German astronomer.
• 1839 - Aristide Lôbo was born. Braziliam journalist and politician.
• 1846 - Elizabeth Barrett elopes with Robert Browning.
• 1847 - Mexican-American War: The Battle of Chapultepec begins. U.S. Army deserters in the Saint Patrick's Battalion who fought alongside the Mexican army are hanged en masse for treason by the order of General Winfield Scott.
• 1855 - Simon-Napoléon Parent was born (d. 1920). French Canadian politician.
• 1858 - Fernand Khnopff was born. Belgian sculptor and painter
• 1870 - Fitz Hugh Ludlow dies (b. 1836). American author.
• 1871 - Júlio Dinis (Joaquim Guilherme Gomes Coelho) dies (b. 1839). Portuguese writer.
• 1874 - François Guizot dies (b. 1787). French historian and statesman.
• 1876 - Auta de Souza was born. Brazilian poetess.
• 1880 - H. L. Mencken was born (d. 1956). American journalist and author.
• 1888 - Maurice Chevalier was born (d. 1972). French singer and actor.
• 1890 - Salisbury, Rhodesia is founded.
• 1891 - Don Pedro Albizu Campos was born (d. 1965). Advocate for Puerto Rican independence
• 1892 - Alfred A. Knopf was born (d. 1984). American publisher.
• 1894 - Vicente Celestino was born († 1968). Brazilian singer.
• 1897 - Irene Joliot-Curie was born (d. 1956). French physicist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry
• 1900 - Haskell Curry was born. American mathematicien.
• 1901 - Ben Blue was born (d. 1975). Canadian actor and comedian.
• 1902 - Margaret Hamilton was born (d. 1985). American actress.
• 1902 - Juscelino Kubitschek was born († 1976). Brazilian politician. President of Brazil (1956-1961).
• 1906 - Dmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich was born in St. Petersburg, Russia. Composer.
• 1907 - Louis MacNeice was born (d. 1963). Northern Irish poet.
• 1913 - Jesse Owens was born (d. 1980). American athlete. He was a four-gold medal winner at the 1936 Olympic games at Berlin.
• 1914 - Desmond Llewelyn was born (d. 1999). Welsh actor.
• 1914 - Rais Amrohvi was born (d. 1988). Pakistani poet and psychoanalyst.
• 1915 - Frank McGee was born (d. 1974). American journalist.
• 1916 - Tony Bettenhausen was born (d. 1961). American race car driver.
• 1917 - Pierre Sévigny was born (d. 2004). French Canadian politician.
• 1918 - George Reid dies (b. 1845). Fourth Prime Minister of Australia
• 1919 - Leonid Andreyev dies (b. 1871). Russian writer.
• 1920 - 7th Olympic games close in Antwerp Belgium
• 1921 - Stanisław Lem was born (d. 2006). Polish writer.
• 1922 - Ellen Demming was born. American actress.
• 1923 - Jules Violle dies (b. 1841). French physicist and inventor.
• 1924 - Amílcar Cabral was born († 1973). One of the founders of PAIGC
• 1925 - 20th Davis Cup: USA beats France in Philadelphia (5-0)
• 1925 - Stan Lopata was born. American baseball player
• 1927 - Sarah Frances Whiting dies (b. 1847). American physicist and astronomer.
• 1928 - Actress Katharine Hepburn (b.1907) made her stage debut in "The Czarina."
• 1929 - Rainis dies (b. 1865). Latvian poet and playwright.
• 1930 - Wilfred Rhodes end his 1110-game first-class career by taking 5 for 95 for H.D.G. Leveson Gower's XI against the Australians.
• 1931 - Sir Ian Holm was born. English actor
• 1931 - George Jones was born. American singer
• 1931 - Silvia Pinal was born. Mexican actress.
• 1931 - 51st U.S. Mens Tennis: H E Vines beats George M Lott, Jr. (7-9, 6-3, 9-7, 7-5)
• 1933 - Leó Szilárd, waiting for a red light on Southampton Row in Bloomsbury, conceives the idea of the nuclear chain reaction.
• 1934 - Glenn Davis was born. American athlete.
• 1935 - Geraldo Vandré was born. Brazilian musician.
• 1935 - 55th U.S. Mens Tennis: Wilmer L Allison beats Sidney B Wood (6-2, 6-2, 6-3)
• 1936 - 50th U.S. Womens Tennis: Alice Marble beats Helen Hull Jacobs (4-6 6-3 6-2)
• 1936 - 56th U.S. Mens Tennis: Fred Perry beats J Donald Budge (2-6, 6-2, 8-6, 1-6, 10-8)
• 1937 - George Chuvalo was born. Canadian boxer
• 1938 - Adolf Hitler demands autonomy for the Germans of the Sudetenland region of Czechoslovakia
• 1940 - Cave paintings discovered in Lascaux, France
• 1940 - The Hercules Munitions Plant in Kenvil, New Jersey explodes, killing 55 people.
• 1940 - Mickey Lolich was born. Baseball player.
• 1940 - Linda Gray was born. American actress (Sue Ellen Ewing - Dallas)
• 1941 - Hans Spemann dies (b. 1869). German physician. 1935 Nobel Prize in Medicine laureate.
• 1942 - RMS Laconia, carrying civilians, Allied soldiers and Italian POWs is torpedoed off the coast of West Africa and sinks.
• 1943 - Benito Mussolini, dictator of Italy, is rescued from house arrest by German commando Otto Skorzeny
• 1943 - Maria Muldaur was born. American singer.
• 1943 - Michael Ondaatje was born. Sri Lankan-born writer.
• 1944 - Leonard Peltier was born. Native American activist
• 1944 - Leci Brandão was born. Brazilian sambist.
• 1944 - Barry White was born ( † 2003). American singer.
• 1944 - The liberation of Serbia from Nazi Germany and the Ustaša continues. Bajina Bašta in western Serbia is among those liberated cities.
• 1945 - Hajime Sugiyama dies (committed suicide) (b. 1880). Japanese general
• 1947 - The U.S. Screen Actors Guild implements an anti-Communist loyalty oath
• 1951 - Joe Pantoliano was born. American actor
• 1951 - Bertie Ahern was born. Irish politician
• 1952 - Gerry Beckley was born. American musician (America)
• 1952 - Neil Peart was born. Canadian musician and author (Rush)
• 1953 - Nikita Khrushchev is elected first secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union
• 1953 - John F. Kennedy marries Jackie Bouvier
• 1953 - Hugo Schmeisser dies (b. 1884). German weapons designer.
• 1953 - Tânia Alves was born. Brazilian actress.
• 1954 - Peter Scolari was born. American actor
• 1956 - Ricky Rudd was born. American race car driver.
• 1956 - Leslie Cheung was born (d. 2003). Hong Kong singer.
• 1956 - Hans Carossa dies (b. 1878). German writer.
• 1957 - Rachel Ward was born. English actress
• 1957 - Hans Zimmer was born. German composer
• 1957 - Road Warrior Hawk was born (d. 2003). Wrestler.
• 1957 - NORAD began operations.
• 1957 - José Lins do Rego dies (b. 1901). Brazilian writer.
• 1958 - Wilfredo Benitez was born. American boxer
• 1959 - Bonanza premiers. First regularly-scheduled TV program presented in color
• 1961 - Mylène Farmer was born. French singer and songwriter.
• 1961 - Carl Hermann dies (b. 1898). German physicist.
• 1962 - Dino Merlin was born. Bosnian singer
• 1962 - Amy Yasbeck was born. American actress
• 1962 - President John F. Kennedy declares the USA will get a man on the moon by the end of the decade
• 1964 - Álvaro Moreira dies. Brazilian writer.
• 1965 - 79th U.S. Womens Tennis: Margaret Smith beats Billie Jean King (8-6, 7-5)
• 1965 - 85th U.S. Mens Tennis: Manuel Santana beats Cliff Drysdale (6-2, 7-9, 7-5, 6-1)
• 1965 - John Norwood Fisher was born. American musician
• 1966 - Ben Folds was born. American musician.
• 1966 - Malu Mader was born. Brazilian actress.
• 1967 - Pat Listach was born. Baseball player
• 1968 - Tommy Armour dies (b. 1894). Scottish golfer.
• 1968 - Ler LaLonde was born. American Guitarist (Primus)
• 1968 - John Stutz was born. American photographer.
• 1968 - Paul F. Tompkins was born. American comedian.
• 1968 - Albania abandona el Pacto de Varsovia.
• 1970 - Palestinian terrorists blow up three hijacked airliners in Jordan, continuing to hold the passengers hostage in various undisclosed locations in Amman.
• 1971 - 85th U.S. Womens Tennis: Billie Jean King beats Rosemary Casals (6-4, 7-6)
• 1971 - 91st U.S. Mens Tennis: Stan Smith beats Jan Kodes (3-6, 6-3, 6-2, 7-6)
• 1972 - William Boyd dies (b. 1895). American actor.
• 1972 - Two British trawlers sunk by Icelandic gunboats during the "cod war"
• 1972 - Portugal : Costa Gomes é chamado para exercer o cargo de chefe do Estado-Maior das Forças Armadas, em substituição do general Venâncio Deslandes.
• 1972 - Cady Cantrell, was born. Playmate, Apr, 1992
• 1973 - Paul Walker was born. American actor
• 1973 - Darren Campbell was born. British athlete
• 1973 - Martin Lapointe was born. National Hockey League player.
• 1974 - Nuno Valente was born. Portuguese football player
• 1974 - Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia, 'Messiah' of the Rastafari movement , is deposed following a military coup by the Derg.
• 1974 - Juventude Africana Amilcar Cabral is founded in Guinea-Bissau.
• 1976 - Maciej Żurawski was borm. Polish footballer.
• 1977 - Steve Biko dies (b. 1946). South African anti-apartheid activist.
• 1977 - South African anti-apartheid activist Steve Biko is killed in police custody.
• 1977 - Nathan Bracken was born. Australian cricketer.
• 1977 - David Thomspon was born. English footballer.
• 1977 - James McCartney was born. British musician.
• 1978 - Decreto regional sanciona a Bandeira da Madeira
• 1978 - Ruben Studdard was born. American singer
• 1978 - Benjamin McKenzie was born. American actor
• 1979 - Indonesia is hit with an earthquake that measures 8.1 on the Richter scale.
• 1980 - Gus G. was born. Greek guitarist (Firewind, ex-Dream Evil)
• 1980 - Josef Vasicek was born. Czech ice hockey player
• 1980 - Sean Burroughs was born. Baseball player
• 1980 - Yao Ming was born. Chinese basketball player
• 1980 - Sean Burroughs was born. Baseball player
• 1980 - Military coup in Turkey
• 1980 - Kenan Evren substitui Ihsan Sabri Çaglayangil na presidência da Turquia
• 1981 - Eugenio Montale dies (b. 1896). Italian poet, Nobel Prize laureate
• 1981 - 95th U.S. Womens Tennis: Tracy Austin beats M Navratilova (1-6, 7-6, 7-6)
• 1981 - Elizabeth Ward (Arkansas), 20, crowned 54th Miss America 1982
• 1982 - 102nd U.S. Mens Tennis: Jimmy Connors beats Ivan Lendl (6-3, 6-2, 4-6, 6-4)
• 1982 - Gerard Nijboer (2:15:16) and Rosa Mota (2:36:04) win marathon in Stockholm.
• 1983 - A Wells Fargo depot in West Hartford, Connecticut was robbed of approximately US$7 million by Los Macheteros.
• 1984 - Ethiopia forms socialist republic
• 1985 - William Alwyn dies (b. 1905). English composer.
• 1985 - Laura Vernizzi was born. Italian gymnast.
• 1986 - Emmy Rossum was born. American actress and singer
• 1986 - Yang Mi was born. Chinese actress.
• 1987 - 101st U.S. Womens Tennis: Martina Navratilova beats Steffi Graf (7-6, 6-1)
• 1987 - Ethiopia adopts constitution
• 1990 - The two German states and the Four Powers sign the Treaty on the Final Settlement With Respect to Germany in Moscow, paving the way for German re-unification.
• 1991 - Em Portugal é constituida a Fundação Mário Soares
• 1991 - Chris Von Erich dies. Professional wrestler
• 1992 - 106th U.S. Womens Tennis: Monica Seles beats A Sanchez Vicario (6-3, 6-3)
• 1992 - Stefan Edberg beats Michael Chang in what is believed to be the longest match in U.S. Open history (5hr 26min)
• 1992 - NASA launches Space Shuttle Endeavour on STS-47 which marked the 50th shuttle mission. On board is Mae Carol Jemison who becomes the first African-American woman in space.
• 1992 - Mae Carol Jemison becomes the first African-American woman in space
• 1992 - Abimael Guzmán, leader of the Shining Path, was captured by Peruvian special forces; shortly thereafter the rest of Shining Path's leadership fell as well.
• 1992 - Perú, capturan en Lima a Abimael Guzmán, fundador y líder de Sendero Luminoso.
• 1992 - Anthony Perkins dies (b. 1932). American actor (Psycho).
• 1993 - NASA launches, on the 4th launch attempt, Space Shuttle Discovery on mission STS-51 which marked the 57th Space Shuttle mission. During this spectacular mission the ACTS was inserted into orbit as well as (temporarily) SPAS. Practice was also gained for the Hubble Space Telescope repair mission through EVA. This mission ended with the 6th night landing of the Shuttle, at The Kennedy Space Centre.
• 1993 - Willie Mosconi dies (b. 1913). American billiards player.
• 1993 - Raymond Burr dies (b. 1917). Canadian actor (Perry Mason).
• 1993 - 113rd U.S. Mens Tennis: Pete Sampras beats Cedric Pioline (6-4, 6-4, 6-3)
• 1994 - Tom Ewell dies (b. 1909). American actor.
• 1994 - Boris Yegorov dies (b. 1937). Cosmonaut.
• 1994 - The Netscape web browser is released.
• 1994 - Frank Eugene Corder crashes a Cessna 150 into the White House's south lawn, striking the West wing and killing himself.
• 1995 - Jeremy Brett dies at 59. English actor (Sherlock Holmes).
• 1996 - Eleazar de Carvalho dies (b. 1915). Brazilian conductor and composer
• 1996 - Ernesto Geisel dies (b. 1908). President of Brazil (1974-79)
• 1998 - In Albania Democratic Party leader Azem Hajdari (35) was assassinated.
• 1999 - Andre Agassi captured his second US Open title, dominating Todd Martin 6-4, 6-7 (5-7), 6-7 (2-7), 6-3, 6-2.
• 2000 - Stanley Turrentine dies (b. 1934). American jazz saxophonist.
• 2001 - Victor Wong dies (b. 1927). Chinese-American actor
• 2001 - NATO Article V of the NATO agreement is invoked for the first time in response to the September 11, 2001 attacks against the United States of America.
• 2002 - Sérgio Vieira de Mello é nomeado Alto Comissário das Nações Unidas para os Direitos Humanos
• 2002 - Peru ratifica o Protocolo de Kyoto
• 2003 - During the Ontario general election, 2003, the Ontario Progressive Conservative Party issued a press release that called the leader of the Ontario Liberal Party an "Evil reptilian kitten-eater from another planet".
• 2003 - The United Nations lifted sanctions against Libya after Libya agreed to accept responsibility and recompense the families of victims in the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103.
• 2003 - Johnny Cash dies (b. 1932). American singer and guitarist.
• 2004 - Roger Federer wins US Open defeating Lleyton Hewitt
• 2005 - Hong Kong Disneyland is scheduled to open to the public in Hong Kong. The park will be the fifth Disneyland in the world.
• 2005 - Norwegian parliamentary election
• 2005 - The red-green coalition, led by Jens Stoltenberg, wins the Norwegian parliamentary election, taking 87 of 169 seats in the parliament.
• 2005 - Israel completes its withdrawal of all troops and settlers from the Gaza Strip.
• 2005 - A blackout in Los Angeles affects millions of Californians.
• 2005 - Hong Kong Disneyland opens in Penny's Bay, Lantau Island, Hong Kong.
• 2006 - Nuclear War begins according to Yisrayl Hawkins (I hope not :) )
• National Day in Cape Verde
• Defenders Day in Maryland (United States)
• Ethiopia - National Revolution Day (1974)