October 12Birthdays & History

On this day: October 12 in history

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

1. 539 BCThe army of Cyrus the Great of Persia conquer Babylon, ending the Babylonian empire. (Julian calendar)Middle East
2. 633Battle of Hatfield Chase: King Edwin of Northumbria is defeated and killed by an alliance under Penda of Mercia and Cadwallon of Gwynedd.Europe
3. 1279The Nichiren Shōshū branch of Buddhism is founded in Japan.Asia
4. 1398In the Treaty of Salynas, Lithuania cedes Samogitia to the Teutonic Knights.Europe
5. 1406Chen Yanxiang, the only person from Indonesia known to have visited dynastic Korea, reaches Seoul after having set out from Java four months before.Asia
6. 1428The English and their Burgundian allies begin the Siege of Orleans, the most pivotal investiture of the Hundred Years' War.Europe
7. 1492Christopher Columbus's first expedition makes landfall on San Salvador Island in the Caribbean. (Julian calendar)Latin America
8. 1654The Delft Explosion devastates the city in the Netherlands, killing more than 100 people.Europe
9. 1692The Salem witch trials are ended by a letter from Province of Massachusetts Bay Governor William Phips.North America
10. 1748War of Jenkins' Ear: A British squadron wins a tactical victory over a Spanish squadron off Havana.EuropeLatin America
11. 1773America's first insane asylum opens.North America
12. 1792The first celebration of Columbus Day is held in New York City.North America
13. 1793The cornerstone of Old East, the oldest state university building in the United States, is laid at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.North America
14. 1798Flemish and Luxembourgish peasants launch the rebellion against French rule known as the Peasants' War.Europe
15. 1799Jeanne Geneviève Labrosse becomes the first woman to jump from a balloon with a parachute.Europe
16. 1810The citizens of Munich hold the first Oktoberfest in celebration of the marriage of Crown Prince Louis of Bavaria and Princess Therese of Saxe-Hildburghausen.Europe
17. 1822Pedro I of Brazil is proclaimed the emperor.Latin America
18. 1849The city of Manizales, Colombia, is founded by 'The Expedition of the 20'.Latin America
19. 1856An M 7.7–8.3 earthquake off the Greek island of Crete cause major damage as far as Egypt and Malta.EuropeMiddle East
20. 1871The British in India enact the Criminal Tribes Act, naming many local communities "Criminal Tribes".EuropeAsia
21. 1890Uddevalla Suffrage Association is formed.Europe
22. 1892The Pledge of Allegiance is first recited by students in many US public schools.North America
23. 1901President Theodore Roosevelt officially renames the "Executive Mansion" to the White House.North America
24. 1909Foundation of Coritiba Foot Ball Club.Latin America
25. 1915World War I: British nurse Edith Cavell is executed by a German firing squad for helping Allied soldiers escape from occupied Belgium.Europe
26. 1917World War I: The First Battle of Passchendaele takes place resulting in the largest single-day loss of life in New Zealand history.Oceania
27. 1918A massive forest fire kills 453 people in Minnesota.North America
28. 1928An iron lung respirator is used for the first time at Boston Children's Hospital.North America
29. 1933The military Alcatraz Citadel becomes the civilian Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary.North America
30. 1944World War II: The Axis occupation of Athens comes to an end.Europe
31. 1945The Lao Issara took control of Laos' government and reaffirmed the country's independence.Asia
32. 1945World War II: Desmond Doss is the first conscientious objector to receive the U.S. Medal of Honor.North America
33. 1959At the national congress of the American Popular Revolutionary Alliance in Peru, a group of leftist radicals are expelled from the party who later form APRA Rebelde.North AmericaLatin America
34. 1960Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev pounds his shoe on a desk at the United Nations to protest a Philippine assertion.EuropeAsia
35. 1962The Columbus Day Storm strikes the U.S. Pacific Northwest with record wind velocities. There was at least U.S. $230 million in damages and 46 people died.North America
36. 1963After nearly 23 years of imprisonment, Reverend Walter Ciszek, a Jesuit missionary, was released from the Soviet Union.Europe
37. 1964The Soviet Union launches the Voskhod 1 into Earth orbit as the first spacecraft with a multi-person crew, and the first flight without pressure suits.Europe
38. 1967A bomb explodes on board Cyprus Airways Flight 284 while flying over the Mediterranean Sea, killing 66.Middle East
39. 1968Equatorial Guinea becomes independent from Spain.AfricaEurope
40. 1970Vietnam War: Vietnamization continues as President Richard Nixon announces that the United States will withdraw 40,000 more troops before Christmas.AsiaNorth America
41. 1971The 2,500 year celebration of the Persian Empire begins.Middle East
42. 1973President Nixon nominates House Minority Leader Gerald R. Ford as the successor to Vice President Spiro T. Agnew.North America
43. 1976Indian Airlines Flight 171 crashes at Santacruz Airport in Bombay, India, killing 95.Asia
44. 1977Hua Guofeng succeeds Mao Zedong as paramount leader of China.Asia
45. 1979Typhoon Tip becomes the largest and most intense tropical cyclone ever recorded.Asia
46. 1983Japan's former Prime Minister Tanaka Kakuei is found guilty of taking a $2 million bribe from the Lockheed Corporation, and is sentenced to four years in jail.Asia
47. 1984The Provisional Irish Republican Army fail to assassinate Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and her cabinet. The bomb kills five people and wounds at least 31 others.Europe
48. 1988Two officers of the Victoria Police are gunned down execution-style in the Walsh Street police shootings, Australia.Oceania
49. 1992A 5.8 earthquake occurred in Cairo, Egypt. At least 510 died.Middle East
50. 1994Iran Aseman Airlines Flight 746 crashes near Natanz, Iran, killing all 66 people on board.Middle East
51. 1994The Magellan spacecraft burns up in the atmosphere of Venus.World
52. 1996New Zealand holds its first general election under the new mixed-member proportional representation system, which led to Jim Bolger's National Party forming a coalition government with Winston Peters's New Zealand First.Oceania
53. 1997The Sidi Daoud massacre in Algeria kills 43 people at a fake roadblock.Africa
54. 1999Pervez Musharraf takes power in Pakistan from Nawaz Sharif through a bloodless coup.Asia
55. 1999The former Autonomous Soviet Republic of Abkhazia declares its independence from Georgia.Europe
56. 2000The USS Cole, a US Navy destroyer, is badly damaged by two al-Qaeda suicide bombers, killing 17 crew members and wounding at least 39.North America
57. 2002Terrorists detonate bombs in two nightclubs in Kuta, Bali, Indonesia, killing 202 and wounding over 200.Asia
58. 2005The second Chinese human spaceflight, Shenzhou 6, is launched, carrying two cosmonauts in orbit for five days.Asia
59. 2010The Finnish Yle TV2 channel's Ajankohtainen kakkonen current affairs program airs controversial Homoilta episode (literally "gay night"), which leads to the resignation of almost 50,000 Finns from the Evangelical Lutheran Church.Europe
60. 2012The European Union wins the 2012 Nobel Peace Prize.Europe
61. 2013An apartment building collapse in Medellín, Colombia results in the deaths of twelve people.Latin America
62. 2017The United States announces its decision to withdraw from UNESCO. Israel immediately follows.North AmericaMiddle East
63. 2018Princess Eugenie marries Jack Brooksbank at St. George's Chapel, Windsor Castle.Europe
64. 2019The Hard Rock Hotel in New Orleans, which is under construction, collapses, killing three workers and injuring 30 others.North America
65. 2019Eliud Kipchoge from Kenya becomes the first person to run a marathon in less than two hours with a time of 1:59:40 in Vienna.AfricaEurope
66. 2019Typhoon Hagibis makes landfall in Japan, killing 10 and forcing the evacuation of one million people.Asia
67. 20222022 Bratislava shooting, killing 3 (including the perpetrator) and injuring one. The shooting occurred outside of a gay bar in Bratislava known as Tepláreň. Two people (excluding the perpetrator) died as a result of the shooting: Juraj Vankulič, a non-binary person, and Matúš Horváth, a bisexual man. The perpetrator (Juraj Krajčík) was found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot the morning after the attack.Europe

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