On this day in History - Dec. 12

• 0627 - Battle of Nineveh: a Byzantine army under Emperor Heraclius defeats Emperor Khosrau II's Persian forces, commanded by General Rhahzadh.
• 0884 - Carloman dies. King of the West Franks.
• 1098 – First Crusade: Massacre of Ma'arrat al-Numan – Crusaders breach the town's walls and massacre about 20,000 inhabitants. After finding themselves with insufficient food, they resort to cannibalism.
• 1198 - Averroes Ibn Rushd dies (b. 1126).
• 1212 - Geoffrey, Archbishop of York dies.
• 1254 - Alexander IV is elected Pope.
• 1298 - Archduke Albert II of Austria was born (d. 1358).
• 1408 - The Order of the Dragon a monarchical chivalric order is created by Sigismund of Luxembourg, then King of Hungary, and his wife Queen Barbara of Celje following the battle for possession of Bosnia.
• 1418 - Archduke Albert VI of Austria was born (d. 1463).
• 1531 - Apparition of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Mexico City.
• 1569 - Metropolitan Philip of Moscow dies (b. 1507).
• 1574 - Anne of Denmark was born (d. 1619). Queen consort of James I of England.
• 1574 - Selim II dies (b. 1524).Ottoman Sultan.
• 1586 - Stefan Batory dies (b. 1533). King of Poland.
• 1610 - Saint Vasilije was born (d. 1671).
• 1659 - Francesco Galli-Bibiena was born (d. 1739). Italian architect / designer.
• 1685 - John Pell dies (b. 1610). English mathematician.
• 1712 - Prince Charles of Lorraine was born (d. 1780). Austrian military leader.
• 1719 - The Boston Gazette is published for the first time.
• 1724 - Samuel Hood, 1st Viscount Hood was born (d. 1816). British admiral.
• 1736 - D. António Manuel de Vilhena dies (b. 28 May 1663). Gran-Master of Order of Malta.
• 1745 - John Jay was born (d. 1829). Chief Justice of the United States.
• 1751 - Henry St John, 1st Viscount Bolingbroke dies (b. 1678). English statesman and philosopher.
• 1754 - Wu Jingzi dies (b. 1701). Chinese writer.
• 1766 - Johann Christoph Gottsched dies (b. 1700). German writer.
• 1779 - Madeleine Sophie Barat was born (d. 1865). French saint.
• 1781 - American Revolutionary War: Second Battle of Ushant –A Royal Navy squadron, commanded by Rear Admiral Richard Kempenfelt in HMS Victory, defeats a French fleet
• 1783 - Ner Alexander Middleswarth was born (d. 1865). American politician.
• 1786 - William L. Marcy was born (d. 1857). American statesman.
• 1787 - Pennsylvania became the second state to ratify the United States Constitution five days after Delaware became the first.
• 1789 - John Ponsonby dies (b. 1713). Irish politician.
• 1790 - Mikhail Shcherbatov dies (b. 1733). Russian philosopher and writer.
• 1791 - Archduchess Marie Louise of Austria was born (d. 1847). Second wife of Napoleon.
• 1799 - Karl Briullov was born (d. 1852). Russian painter.
• 1805 - Henry Wells was born (d. 1878). Founder of American Express.
• 1805 - William Lloyd Garrison was born (d. 1879). American abolitionist.
• 1806 - Stand Watie was born (d. 1871). American Confederate general and Cherokee leader.
• 1812 - The French invasion of Russia comes to an end.
• 1817 - Emperor Tekle Giyorgis I of Ethiopia dies (b. about 1751).
• 1821 - Gustave Flaubert was born in Rouen (d. 1880). French novelist.
• 1843 - King William I of the Netherlands dies (b. 1772).
• 1845 - Bruce Price was born (d. 1903). American architect.
• 1849 - William Kissam Vanderbilt was born (d. 1920). Member of the Vanderbilt family.
• 1858 - Jacques Viger dies (b. 1787). Antiquarian and archeologist, first mayor of Montreal
• 1862 - USS Cairo sunk on the Yazoo River, becoming the first armored ship to be sunk by an electrically detonated mine.
• 1863 - Edvard Munch was born (d. 1944). Norwegian painter.
• 1864 - Paul Elmer More was born (d. 1937). American critic and essayist.
• 1866 - Alfred Werner was born (d. 1919). German chemist, Nobel Prize laureate.
• 1870 - Joseph H. Rainey of South Carolina becomes the first black U.S. congressman.
• 1870 - Walter Benona Sharp was born (d. 1912). American oil baron.
• 1872 - A meteorite struck earth near the town of Banbury, England.
• 1875 - Gerd von Rundstedt was born (d. 1953). German field marshal.
• 1876 - Alvin Kraenzlein was born (d. 1928). American athlete.
• 1887 - Kurt Atterberg was born (d. 1974). Swedish composer.
• 1877 - José de Alencar dies (b. 1829). Brazilian writer (O Guarani) and politician.
• 1889 - Robert Browning dies (b. 1812). English poet.
• 1889 - Viktor Bunyakovsky dies (b. 1804). Russian mathematician.
• 1892 - Herman Potočnik Noordung was born (d. 1929). Slovenian rocket engineer.
• 1893 - Edward G. Robinson was born (d. 1973). American actor.
• 1894 - Sir John Thompson dies (b. 1845). Fourth Prime Minister of Canada.
• 1897 - Belo Horizonte, the first planned city of Brazil, is founded.
• 1900 - US Steel formed.
• 1900 - Sammy Davis, Sr. was born. American dancer.
• 1901 - Guglielmo Marconi receives the first transatlantic radio signal at Signal Hill in St John's, Newfoundland.
• 1902 - Koloman Sokol was born (d. 2003). Slovak painter.
• 1903 - The City of Fairfield,California is incorporated.
• 1903 - Dagmar Nordstrom was born (d. 1976). American composer, pianist, one of The Nordstrom Sisters.
• 1903 - Yasujiro Ozu was born (d. 1963). Japanese film director.
• 1904 - Baron Nicolas de Gunzburg was born (d. 1981). Magazine editor, socialite.
• 1905 - Mànes Sperber was born (d. 1984). Austrian-born writer.
• 1906 - Alberto de Serpa was born in Porto (d. 8 Oct 1992). Portuguese poet.
• 1907 - Roy Douglas was born. British composer and orchestrator.
• 1908 - Gustav Ernesaks was born (d. 1993). Estonian composer and conductor.
• 1909 - Karen Morley was born (d. 2003). American actress.
• 1911 - Delhi replaces Calcutta as the capital of India.
• 1911 – King George V of the United Kingdom and Mary of Teck are enthroned as Emperor and Empress of India.
• 1913 - The Mona Lisa was recovered in Florence after having been stolen two years earlier (August 1911) from the Louvre.
• 1913 - Emperor Menelek II of Ethiopia dies (b. 1844).
• 1914 - Portugal: Victor Hugo de Azevedo Coutinho succeeds to Bernardino Luís Machado Guimarães on the seat of Prime-Minister.
• 1914 - Patrick O'Brian was born (d. 2000). British author.
• 1914 - José Sebastião e Silva was born in Mértola (d. 25 May 1972). Portuguese mathematician.
• 1914 - The largest one-day percentage drop in the history of Dow Jones Industrial Average, down 24.39%.
• 1915 - President of the Republic of China, Yuan Shikai, reinstates the monarchy and proclaims himself Emperor of China.
• 1915 - Frank Sinatra was born (d. 1998). American singer and actor.
• 1917 - In Nebraska, Father Edward J. Flanagan founds Boys Town as a farm village for wayward boys (in 1979 it was opened to girls as well).
• 1918 – Flag of Estonia is raised atop the Pikk Hermann for the first time.
• 1918 - Joe Williams was born (d. 1999). American singer.
• 1919 - Joel Serrão was born in Funchal, Madeira. Portuguese historian and essayst.
• 1919 - Dan DeCarlo was born (d. 2001). American cartoonist.
• 1919 - Olivia Barclay was born (d. 2001). British astrologer.
• 1920 - Fred Kida was born. American comics artist.
• 1923 - Bob Barker was born. American television game show host.
• 1923 - Ken Kavanagh was born. Australian racing driver
• 1923 - Raymond Radiguet dies (b. 1903). French author.
• 1924 - Ed Koch was born. Mayor of New York City.
• 1924 - Spanish troops are pushed out of Morocco by Abd el Krim.
• 1925 - The Majlis of Iran votes to crown Reza Khan as the new Shah of Persia.
• 1925 - Vladimir Shainsky was born. Soviet and Russian composer.
• 1925 - Ahmad Shamlou was born (d. 2000). Iranian poet.
• 1926 - Jean Richepin dies (b. 1849). French poet.
• 1927 - Honor Blackman was born. English actress.
• 1927 - Robert Noyce was born (d. 1990). American inventor.
• 1928 - Chinghiz Aitmatov was born. Kyrgyz writer.
• 1929 - John Osborne was born (d. 1994). British dramatist .
• 1929 - Toshiko Akiyoshi was born. Japanese musician.
• 1929 - Charles Goodnight was born (d. 1836). American cattle baron.
• 1930 - Bill Beutel was born (d. 2006). American Journalist.
• 1931 - Lionel Blair was born. British actor, choreographer, tap dancer and television presenter.
• 1932 - Bob Pettit was born. American basketball star.
• 1934 - Miguel de la Madrid was born. President of Mexico.
• 1935 – Lebensborn Project, a Nazi reproduction program, is founded by Heinrich Himmler.
• 1936 - Xi'an Incident: The Generalissimo of the Republic of China, Chiang Kai-shek was kidnapped by Zhang Xueliang.
• 1937 - Panay incident: Japanese aircraft sank the U.S. gunboat "Panay" on China’s Yangtze River. (Japan apologized, and paid $2.2 million in reparations).
• 1938 - Connie Francis was born. American singer.
• 1939 - Finland defeated the Soviet Union in the Battle of Tolvajärvi, their first major victory in the Winter War.
• 1939 - HMS Duchess (H64) sinks after a collision with HMS Barham off the coast of Scotland with the loss of 124 men.
• 1939 - Douglas Fairbanks dies (b. 1883). American actor.
• 1940 - Approximately 70 people are killed in the Marples Hotel, Fitzalan Square, Sheffield as a result of a German air raid.
• 1940 - Sociedade Portuguesa de Matemática is founded.
• 1940 - Arnaldo Jabor was born. Brazilian cineast, critic and writer.
• 1940 - Sharad Pawar was born. Indian politician.
• 1940 - Dionne Warwick was born. American singer.
• 1941 - Fifty four Japanese A6M Zero fighters raid Batangas Field, Philippines. Jesus Villamor and four Filipino fighter pilots fend them off; Cesar Basa is killed.
• 1941 - World War II: Great Britain declares war on Bulgaria. Hungary and Romania declare war on the United States. India declares war on Japan.
• 1941 - World War II: USMC F4F "Wildcats" sink the first 4 major Japanese ships off Wake Island.
• 1941 - Adolf Hitler announces extermination of the Jews at a meeting in the Reich Chancellery.
• 1942 - A fire in a hostel in St. John's, Newfoundland kills 100 people.
• 1943 - Dickie Betts was born. American musician (The Allman Brothers).
• 1943 - Grover Washington Jr. was born (d. 1999). American musician.
• 1944 - Jean Doré was born. Quebec politician, mayor of Montreal.
• 1944 - Kenneth Cranham was born. Scottish born actor.
• 1946 - A fire at a New York, New York ice plant spreads to a nearby tenement killing 37 people.
• 1946 - Emerson Fittipaldi was born. Brazilian racing driver.
• 1946 - Paula Wagner was born. American film executive.
• 1947 - The United Mine Workers union withdrew from the American Federation of Labor
• 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.
• 1948 - Tom Wilkinson was born. English actor.
• 1949 - Bill Nighy was born. English actor.
• 1949 - Rajnikanth (Shivaji Rao Gaekwad) was born. Indian actor.
• 1950 - Paula Ackerman, the first woman appointed to perform rabbinical functions in the United States, leads the congregation in her first services.
• 1950 - Billy Smith was born. National Hockey League goaltender.
• 1951 - Mildred Bailey dies (b. 1907). American jazz singer.
• 1952 - Cathy Rigby was born. American gymnast and actress.
• 1952 - Herb Dhaliwal was born. Canadian politician.
• 1952 - Bedřich Hrozný dies (b. 1879). Czech orientalist and linguist.
• 1953 - Bruce Kulick was born. American guitarist (KISS).
• 1954 - Liz Claman was born. American television anchor.
• 1955 - Gianna Angelopoulos-Daskalaki was born. Greek businesswoman.
• 1956 – Beginning of the Irish Republican Army's "Border Campaign".
• 1956 - Johan Van der Velde was born. Dutch cyclist.
• 1957 - Sheila E. was born. American musician.
• 1957 - José Lins do Rego dies (b. 1901). Brazilian writer.
• 1957 - Robert Lepage was born. French Canadian playwright.
• 1958 – Guinea joins the United Nations.
• 1962 - Mike Golic was born. American football player.
• 1962 - Tracy Austin was born. American tennis player.
• 1963 - Kenya gained its independence from Britain.
• 1963 - Yasujiro Ozu dies (b. 1903). Japanese film director.
• 1964 - Prime Minister Jomo Kenyatta became the first President of the Republic of Kenya.
• 1964 - Sabu was born. American professional wrestler.
• 1966 - Royce Gracie was born. Brazilian martial artist.
• 1967 - John Randle was born. American football player.
• 1967 - Yuzo Koshiro was bor. Japanese composer.
• 1967 - Takenobu Mitsuyoshi was born. Japanese composer.
• 1967 - John Randle was born. American football player.
• 1968 - Kate Humble was born. English television presenter.
• 1968 - Rory Kennedy was born. American documentarian.
• 1968 - Laurie Williams was born (d. 2002). Jamaican West Indies cricketer.
• 1968 - Tallulah Bankhead dies (b. 1902). American actress.
• 1969 - Strategia della tensione: Piazza Fontana bombing - The offices of Banca Nazionale dell'Agricoltura in Piazza Fontana, Milan, are bombed.
• 1970 - Jennifer Connelly was born. American actress.
• 1970 - Madchen Amick was born. American actress.
• 1970 - Regina Hall was born. American actress.
• 1970 - Doris Blackburn dies (b. 1889). Australian politician.
• 1971 - David Sarnoff dies (b. 1891). Russian-born radio and television pioneer.
• 1972 - Two million people filled the streets of Azadi Square (Then Shahyad Square) in Tehran to protest against the Shah.
• 1972 - Hank Williams III was born. Grandson of Hank Williams.
• 1972 - Nicky Eaden was born. English football player.
• 1972 - Kevin Parent was born. Quebec singer and songwriter.
• 1972 - Brandon Teena was born (d. 1993). American hate crime victim.
• 1972 - Wilson Kipketer was born. Danish middle-distance runner.
• 1972 - Yeoryios Theodoridis, Greek sprinter.
• 1973 - William Hutton wa born. American engineer.
• 1973 - Walter Otta was born. Argentine footballer.
• 1974 - Rey Mysterio, Jr. was born. American wrestler.
• 1974 - Nolberto Solano was born. Peruvian footballer.
• 1975 - Sara Jane Moore pleaded guilty to a charge of trying to kill President Ford in San Francisco the previous September.
• 1975 - Mayim Bialik was born. American actress.
• 1975 - Craig Moore was born. Australian football player.
• 1976 - Dan Hawkins was born. English musician (The Darkness).
• 1976 - Keiko was born. Orca Whale in Free Willy.
• 1976 - Vinko Zganec dies (b. 1890). Croatian ethnomusicologist.
• 1977 - Orlando Hudson was born. American baseball player.
• 1977 - Colin White was born. Canadian ice hockey player.
• 1977 - Nicole, Erica and Jaclyn Dahm were born. American triplet Playboy models.
• 1977 - Bridgett Hall was born in Springdale, Arkansas. American supermodel.
• 1977 - Oxana Fedorova was born. Russian Miss Univers 2002, whose title would be retired.
• 1977 - Lady Spencer Churchill dies (b. 1885). Wife of Winston Churchill.
• 1978 - Evren Genis was born. Turkish composer.
• 1978 - Monica Barladeanu was born. Romanian actress.
• 1979 - Coup d'état of December Twelfth: South Korean military officer Chun Doo-hwan orders the arrest of Army Chief of Staff General Jeong Seung-hwa without authorization from President Choi Kyu-ha, alleging involvement in the assassination of ex-President Park Chung Hee.
• 1979 - President of Pakistan Zia-ul-Haq confers Nishan-e-Imtiaz on Nobel laureate Dr Abdus Salam.
• 1979 – A major earthquake and tsunami kill 259 people in Colombia.
• 1979 - Garrett Atkins was born. Baseball player.
• 1979 - Nate Clements was born. American football player.
• 1979 - Sharin Foo was born. Danish singer and bassist.
• 1980 - Jean Lesage dies (b. 1912). Politician, premier of Quebec.
• 1981 - The Chaos Computer Club was founded in Berlin.
• 1981 - Jeret Peterson was born. American aerial skier.
• 1981 - Ronnie Brown was born. American football player.
• 1981 - Pedro Ríos was born. Spanish football player.
• 1981 - Yuvraj Singh was born. Indian cricketer.
• 1981 - Stephen Warnock was born. English football player.
• 1982 - Women's peace protest at Greenham Common - 30,000 women hold hands and form a human chain around the 14.5 km (9 mi) perimeter fence.
• 1982 - Dmitry Tursunov was born. Russian tennis player.
• 1983 - Dallos is the first OAV (Original Animation Video) ever released.
• 1983 - Katrina Elam was born. American singer.
• 1983 - Brad Smith was born. American football player.
• 1984 - Maaouiya Ould Sid'Ahmed Taya become the third president of Mauritania after coup d'etat against Mohamed Khouna Ould Haidalla while the later was attending a summit. Taya was ousted in March 2005 by Ely Ould Mohamed Vall in another coup.
• 1984 - Daniel Agger was born. Danish football player.
• 1984 - Daniel Merrett was born. Australian rules footballer.
• 1985 - Arrow Air Flight 1285 crashes after takeoff in Gander, Newfoundland killing 256, including 248 members of the United States Army's 101st Airborne Division.
• 1985 - Anne Baxter dies (b. 7 May 1923). American actress.
• 1985 - Ian Stewart dies (b. 1938). Scottish musician.
• 1986 - Perparim Hetemaj was born. Finnish footballer.
• 1986 - Thomas Wansey was born. English television actor.
• 1987 - Kate Todd was born. Canadian actress.
• 1987 - Enrique Jorrín dies (b. 1926). Cuban musician and composer.
• 1988 - Clapham Junction rail crash killed 35 and injured 100's after two collisions of three commuter trains. One of the worst train crashes in Britain.
• 1989 - Harry Eden was born. British actor.
• 1989 - Max Grundig dies (b. 1908). German industrialist.
• 1990 - Pakistan became the 37th country in the world to send an expedition to Antarctica.
• 1990 - Victor Moses was born. English footballer of Nigerian descent.
• 1991 - Russian Federation gains independance from the USSR.
• 1991 - Maastricht Treaty signed to create a European Community.
• 1991 - Daniel Magder was born. Canadian actor.
• 1992 - Suzanne Lilar dies (b 1901). Belgian esssayist, novelist and playwright.
• 1993 - Brazilian club São Paulo Futebol Clube wins for the second time in raw the Intercontinental Cup beating Milan 3-2 in Tokyo, Japan.
• 1993 - József Antall dies (b. 1932). Hungarian politician.
• 1994 - The Brazilian Supreme Court acquitted former President Fernando Collor de Mello of the corruption charges that had forced him to resign in 1992.
• 1994 - Stuart Roosa dies (b. 1933). American astronaut.
• 1996 - Vance Packard dies (b. 1914). American author.
• 1996 - Uday Hussein is seriously injured in an assassination attempt.
• 1997 - Yevgeniy Landis dies (b. 1921). Russian mathematician.
• 1998 - The House Judiciary Committee approved a fourth and final article of impeachment against President Clinton.
• 1998 - Lawton Chiles dies (b. 1930). U.S. Senator from Florida and Governor of Florida.
• 1999 - Joseph Heller dies (b. 1923). American author.
• 2000 -The U.S. Supreme Court stopped the presidential election recount in Florida.
• 2000 - George Montgomery dies (b. 1916). American actor.
• 2001 - Yasir Arafat closed the offices of Hamas and Islamic Jihad.
• 2001 - Jean Richard dies (b. 1921). French actor.
• 2002 - Jay Wesley Neill dies (b. 1965). American convicted murderer.
• 2002 - Brad Dexter dies (b. 1917). American actor.
• 2002 - Dee Brown dies (b. 1908). American author.
• 2003 - Geidar Aliev dies. President of Azerbaijan.
• 2003 - Joseph Anthony Ferrario dies (b. 1926). American Catholic prelate.
• 2003 - Paul Martin, Jr. is sworn-in as the 21st Prime Minister of Canada.
• 2003 - Keiko (Orca) dies. Willy in Free Willy.
• 2004 - FC Porto becomes World Champions in soccer (futebol, fútbol, football, fussball) in Yokohama, Japan, beatting Once Caldas on penalties decision (8-7) after a match null.
• 2005 – Gebran Tueni (b. 1957), Lebanese journalist and politician, is assassinated.
  production in Coventry, formerly a major centre of the British motor industry.
• 2005 - Annette Vadim dies (b. 1936). Danish actress.
• 2005 - Robert F. Newmyer dies (b. 1946). American film producer.
• 2006 - Peugeot produce their last car at the Ryton Plant signalling the end of mass car production in Coventry, formerly a major centre of the British motor industry.
• 2006 - Al Shugart dies (b. 1930). Pioneering American computer engineer and co-founder of Seagate Technology.
• 2006 - Kenny Davern dies (b. 1935). American jazz clarinetist.
• 2006 - Paul Arizin dies (b. 1928). American basketball player.
• 2006 - Peter Boyle dies (b. 1935). American actor.
• 2006 - Raymond P. Shafer dies (b. 1917). 38th Governor of Pennsylvania.
• 2007 - Francois Hajj (b. 1953), the Lebanese army's chief of operations, is assassinated.
• 2007 - Ike Turner dies (b. 1931). American singer, former husband of Tina Turner.
• 2008 – Avery Dulles dies (b. 1918). Roman Catholic Cardinal, theologian.
• 2008 – Tassos Papadopoulos dies (b. 1934). Cypriot former president.
• 2008 - Van Johnson dies (b. 1916). American actor.
• Kenya Jamhuri Day: Independence Day from Britain (1963).
• Bahá'í Faith - Feast of Masá'il (Questions) - First day of the 15th month of the Bahá'í Calendar.
• Roman Catholic - Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe.
• Turkmenistan - Neutrality Day.