May 12Birthdays & History

On this day: May 12 in history

Oldest first. Tap a year to see it on the World Chronicle timeline.

1. 113Roman emperor Trajan dedicates a column celebrating and depicting his victory over the Dacians.Europe
2. 254Pope Stephen I succeeds Pope Lucius I, becoming the 23rd pope of the Catholic Church, and immediately takes a stand against Novatianism.Europe
3. 907Zhu Wen forces Emperor Ai into abdicating, ending the Tang dynasty after nearly three hundred years of rule.Asia
4. 1157A church council presided over by Byzantine emperor Manuel I Komnenos in the Palace of Blachernae investigates the orthodoxy of the patriarch of Antioch, Soterichos Panteugenos.Europe
5. 1191Richard I of England marries Berengaria of Navarre in Cyprus; she is crowned Queen consort of England the same day.EuropeMiddle East
6. 1328Antipope Nicholas V, a claimant to the papacy, is consecrated in Rome by the Bishop of Venice.Europe
7. 1364Jagiellonian University, the oldest university in Poland, is founded in Kraków.Europe
8. 1497Pope Alexander VI excommunicates Girolamo Savonarola.Europe
9. 1510The Prince of Anhua rebellion begins when Zhu Zhifan kills all the officials invited to a banquet and declares his intent on ousting the powerful Ming dynasty eunuch Liu Jin during the reign of the Zhengde Emperor.Asia
10. 1551National University of San Marcos, the oldest university in the Americas, is founded in Lima, Peru.Latin America
11. 1588French Wars of Religion: Henry III of France flees Paris after Henry I, Duke of Guise, enters the city and a spontaneous uprising occurs.Europe
12. 1593London playwright Thomas Kyd is arrested and tortured by the Privy Council for libel.Europe
13. 1743Maria Theresa of Austria is crowned Queen of Bohemia after defeating her rival, Charles VII, Holy Roman Emperor.Europe
14. 1778Heinrich XI, count of the Principality of Reuss-Greiz, is elevated to Prince by Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor.Europe
15. 1780American Revolutionary War: In the largest defeat of the Continental Army, Charleston, South Carolina is taken by British forces.North AmericaEurope
16. 1797War of the First Coalition: Napoleon Bonaparte conquers Venice.Europe
17. 1808Finnish War: Swedish-Finnish troops, led by Captain Karl Wilhelm Malmi, conquer the city of Kuopio from Russians after the Battle of Kuopio.Europe
18. 1809British contingents under Arthur Wellesley force a French army under general Soult to retreat in the battle of Oporto.Europe
19. 1821The first major battle of the Greek War of Independence against the Turks is fought in Valtetsi.EuropeMiddle East
20. 1846The Donner Party of pioneers departs Independence, Missouri for California, on what will become a year-long journey of hardship and cannibalism.North America
21. 1862American Civil War: Union Army troops occupy Baton Rouge, Louisiana.North America
22. 1863American Civil War: Battle of Raymond: Two divisions of James B. McPherson's XVII Corps turn the left wing of Confederate General John C. Pemberton's defensive line on Fourteen Mile Creek, opening up the interior of Mississippi to the Union Army during the Vicksburg Campaign.North America
23. 1864American Civil War: The Battle of Spotsylvania Court House: Union troops assault a Confederate salient known as the "Mule Shoe", with some of the fiercest fighting of the war, much of it hand-to-hand combat, occurring at "the Bloody Angle" on the northwest.North America
24. 1865American Civil War: The Battle of Palmito Ranch: The first day of the last major land action to take place during the Civil War, resulting in a Confederate victory.North America
25. 1870The Manitoba Act is given the Royal Assent, paving the way for Manitoba to become a province of Canada on July 15.North America
26. 1881In North Africa, Tunisia becomes a French protectorate.AfricaEurope
27. 1885North-West Rebellion: The four-day Battle of Batoche, pitting rebel Métis against the Canadian government, comes to an end with a decisive rebel defeat.North America
28. 1926The 1926 United Kingdom general strike ends.Europe
29. 1926The Italian-built airship Norge becomes the first vessel to fly over the North Pole.Europe
30. 1932Ten weeks after his abduction, Charles Jr., the infant son of Charles Lindbergh, is found dead near Hopewell, New Jersey, just a few miles from the Lindberghs' home.North America
31. 1933President Roosevelt signs legislation creating the Federal Emergency Relief Administration, the predecessor of the Federal Emergency Management Agency.North America
32. 1933The Agricultural Adjustment Act, which restricts agricultural production through government purchase of livestock for slaughter and paying subsidies to farmers when they remove land from planting, is signed into law by President Franklin D. Roosevelt.North America
33. 1937King George VI and Queen Elizabeth of the United Kingdom are crowned in Westminster Abbey.Europe
34. 1941Konrad Zuse presents the Z3, the world's first working programmable, fully automatic computer, in Berlin.Europe
35. 1942World War II: Second Battle of Kharkov: In eastern Ukraine, Red Army forces under Marshal Semyon Timoshenko launch a major offensive from the Izium bridgehead, only to be encircled and destroyed by the troops of Army Group South two weeks later.Europe
36. 1942World War II: The U.S. tanker SS Virginia is torpedoed in the mouth of the Mississippi River by the German submarine U-507.North AmericaEurope
37. 1949Cold War: The Soviet Union lifts its blockade of Berlin.Europe
38. 1965The Soviet spacecraft Luna 5 crashes on the Moon.Europe
39. 1968Vietnam War: North Vietnamese and Viet Cong forces attack Australian troops defending Fire Support Base Coral.AsiaOceania
40. 1975Indochina Wars: Democratic Kampuchea naval forces capture the SS Mayaguez.Asia
41. 1978In Zaire, rebels occupy the city of Kolwezi, the mining center of the province of Shaba (now known as Katanga); the local government asks the US, France and Belgium to restore order.AfricaNorth AmericaEurope
42. 1982During a procession outside the shrine of the Virgin Mary in Fátima, Portugal, security guards overpower Juan María Fernández y Krohn before he can attack Pope John Paul II with a bayonet.Europe
43. 1989The San Bernardino train disaster kills four people, only to be followed a week later by an underground gasoline pipeline explosion, which kills two more people.North America
44. 2002Former US President Jimmy Carter arrives in Cuba for a five-day visit with Fidel Castro, becoming the first President of the United States, in or out of office, to visit the island since the Cuban Revolution.North AmericaLatin America
45. 2003The Riyadh compound bombings in Saudi Arabia, carried out by al-Qaeda, kill 39 people.Middle East
46. 2006Iranian Azeris interpret a cartoon published in an Iranian magazine as insulting, resulting in massive riots throughout the country.Middle East
47. 2006Mass unrest by the Primeiro Comando da Capital begins in São Paulo (Brazil), leaving at least 150 dead.Latin America
48. 2008An earthquake (measuring around 8.0 magnitude) occurs in Sichuan, China, killing over 69,000 people.Asia
49. 2008U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement conducts the largest-ever raid of a workplace in Postville, Iowa, arresting nearly 400 immigrants for identity theft and document fraud.North America
50. 2010Afriqiyah Airways Flight 771 crashes on final approach to Tripoli International Airport in Tripoli, Libya, killing 103 out of the 104 people on board.Africa
51. 2015Massive Nepal earthquake kills 218 people and injures more than 3,500.Asia
52. 2015A train derailment in Philadelphia, United States, kills eight people and injures more than 200.North America
53. 2017The WannaCry ransomware attack impacts over 400,000 computers worldwide, targeting computers of the United Kingdom's National Health Services and Telefónica computers.Europe
54. 2018Paris knife attack: A man is fatally shot by police in Paris after killing one and injuring several others.Europe
55. 2024Middle/end of the May 2024 solar storms, the most powerful set of geomagnetic storms since the 2003 Halloween solar storms.World

Source: Wikipedia "May 12" / CC BY-SA 4.0