Historical Events on May 12

Events 1 - 200 of 218

• 254 Stephan I succeeds Lucius I as Catholic Pope
• 919 Duke Henry of Saxony becomes King Henry I of Oostfrankischreich
• 1057 The Ostromir Gospel, now the oldest surviving Russian manuscript is recorded completed by its scribe Deacon Grigory [1]

• 1082 Battle at Mailberg: Vratislav II of Bohemia defeats Leopold II, Margrave of Austria

• 1294 Construction of Santa Croce begins in Florence, the largest Franciscan church in the world (consecrated 1442)
• 1328 Holy Roman Emperor Louis IV and assembly of priests select Pietro Rainalducc as anti-Pope Nicolas V; consecrated in Rome by the Bishop of Venice
• 1459 Jodhpur, Sun City, founded by Rao Jodhpur in India
• 1525 Battle at Biblingen: Zwabische Union beats rebel Wurttemberg farmers
• 1534 German Duchy of Wurttemberg becomes Lutheran under Ulrich, Duke of Württemberg
• 1551 San Marcos University in Lima, Peru, opens (oldest continuously operating university in the Americas)
• 1588 Catholic League under duke Henri de Guise occupies Paris
• 1604 Spanish garrison of Aardenburg surrenders to Mauritius
• 1638 Emperor Shah Jahan commissions construction of the Red Fort at Shahjahanabad, Mughal Empire (now Dehli, India)

• 1689 England & Netherlands form League of Augsburg
• 1695 English King William III departs to Netherlands

• 1733 Maria Theresa crowned Queen of Bohemia in Prague
• 1776 French First Minister of State and Controller-General of Finances Anne Robert Jacques Turgot resigns after being ordered to do so
• 1777 1st ice cream advertisement (Philip Lenzi in the NY Gazette)

• 1784 Ratified copies of the Treaty of Paris, ending the Revolutionary War exchanged between US and Great Britain, in Paris
• 1789 Society of St Tammany is formed by Revolutionary War soldiers. It later becomes an infamous group of NYC political bosses

• 1797 Nore Mutiny: British Royal Navy sailors mutiny on the Thames, England and blockade London
• 1821 The first major battle of the Greek War of Independence against the Turks occurs in Valtetsi
• 1832 Gaetano Donizetti's opera "L'elisir d'amore" premieres in Milan

• 1862 Federal troops occupies Baton Rouge, Louisiana
• 1863 Battle of Raymond, Mississippi
• 1864 Battle of Drewry's Bluff, fought in Chesterfield County, Virginia (Peninsula Campaign), Confederate victory (US Civil War)
• 1864 Battle of Spotsylvania, fought near Courthouse, Virginia (Overland Campaign), inconclusive result (US Civil War)
• 1864 Battle of Todd's Tavern, cavalry battle fought near Todds Tavern, Virginia (Sheridan's Raid), inconclusive result (US Civil War)
• 1864 US Union colonel Emory Upton (24) promoted to brigadier general
• 1865 Last land action of Civil war at Palmito Ranch, Texas
• 1870 Royal assent passes Manitoba Act of 1870, approving Manitoba becoming a province of Canada
• 1871 Segregated street cars integrated in Louisville, Kentucky
• 1873 Oscar II of Sweden-Norway is crowned King of Sweden
• 1874 US Assay Office in Helena, Montana, authorized
• 1877 Ottawa Rough Riders 1st outside competition vs Britannia
• 1881 Treaty of Bardo, Tunisia becomes a French protectorate

• 1888 Crouching start 1st used in track and field by Charles Sherrill of Yale
• 1890 Louisiana legalizes prize fighting
• 1891 Riot against tax increase in Paramaribo, Suriname
• 1894 Ludwig Englander's musical "Passing Show" premieres in NYC
• 1897 1800-1900 year old fossil of "girl of Yde" found in Drente, Netherlands
• 1897 Battle at Thessalie: Turkish army beats Greece
• 1898 Louisiana adopts new constitution with "grandfather clause" designed to eliminate black voters
• 1900 Boer attack under Sarel Eloff, about 70 killed
• 1900 Lord Roberts' British forces occupy Crown city during Boer War
• 1901 US President McKinley visits San Francisco
• 1902 140,000 miners of anthracite coal in Pennsylvania go out on a strike called by the United Mine Workers after the owners have refused to recognize the UMW, negotiate or submit to arbitration

• 1908 Wireless Radio Broadcasting is patented by Nathan B. Stubblefield
• 1910 Philadelphia Athletics pitcher Charles "Chief" Bender no-hits Cleveland Naps, 4-0

• 1911 1st Inter-Empire Championships open in London
• 1911 American economic expert W. Morgan Schuster arrives by invitation to assume almost dictatorial power over Persia's finances; a move resented by Russia
• 1913 English runner Harry Green runs world record marathon 2:38:16.2 in the Polytechnic Marathon in London, England
• 1915 Croatians plunder Armenia, killing 250
• 1915 Franklin K. Mathiews first presents idea of "Book Week"
• 1916 James Connolly and Sean McDermott are executed following their involvement in the Easter Rising in Dublin
• 1919 New York Yankees and Washington Senators play second straight extra inning tie, 4-4 in 15 innings at the Polo Grounds; 0-0 in 12 the previous day
• 1919 The Transvaal British Indian Association calls a mass meeting to organise opposition to the proposed Asiatics (Land and Trading) Amendment Act; in the Act, Transvaal Indians are prohibited from owning shares in limited companies
• 1921 National Hospital Day 1st observed in the United States

• 1925 Uzbekistan & Kirgizistan become autonomous Soviet republics

• 1926 British General Strike ends after 9 days, coal mine workers stay on strike

• 1926 Hans Luther voluntarily resigns as Chancellor of Germany following a Reichstag censure.

• 1928 Second Opium Law introduced - international law to control drugs
• 1929 Pulitzer prize awarded to Julia Peterkin (Scarlet Sister Mary)

• 1933 Federal Emergency Relief Administration & Agricultural Adjustment Administration form to help the needy & farmers

• 1936 Ralph Vaughan Williams' opera "Poisoned Kiss" premieres in London

• 1937 St Louis Cards beat Philadelphia Phillies, 15-3

• 1938 Sandoz Labs begins manufacturing LSD (lysergic acid diethylamide)
• 1940 French marines occupy St Maarten
• 1940 German tanks conquer Moerdijk bridges, Netherlands
• 1940 Nazi blitzkrieg and conquest of France begins with German forces crossing the Muese River
• 1941 British forces march into Alexandria, Egypt
• 1941 Konrad Zuse presents the Z3, the world's first working programmable, fully automatic computer, in Berlin

• 1942 1,500 Jews gassed in Auschwitz

• 1942 Nazi U-boat sinks American cargo ship at mouth of Mississippi River
• 1942 Russia occupies Crackow, until Aug 23, 1943
• 1943 Axis forces in North Africa surrender

• 1943 German troops in Tunisia, North Africa, surrender
• 1944 900+ 8th US Air Force bombers attack Zwikau, Bohlen & Brux
• 1944 Crimea purged of Nazi troops
• 1944 German police arrest Dutch resistance member Gerrit van der Veen and later execute him

• 1952 Charlton Playground named in Bronx
• 1952 Gaj Singh is crowned Maharaja of Jodhpur
• 1953 KUHT TV channel 8 (PBS) in Houston, TX, begins broadcasting
• 1955 Chicago Cub Sam "Toothpick" Jones is 1st African-American to pitch a no-hitter, winning 4-0 over Pittsburgh Pirates, at Wrigley Field, Chicago
• 1956 Brooklyn Dodgers pitcher Carl Erskine's throws 2nd career no-hitter, beats NY Giants, 3-0, at Ebbetts Field in Brooklyn, NYC
• 1956 East Pakistan struck by cyclone and tidal waves
• 1958 "Nee Nee Na Na Na Na Nu Nu" by Dicky Doo & The Don'ts hits #40
• 1958 US & Canada form North American Air Defense Command (NORAD)
• 1958 US performs atmospheric nuclear test at Enewetak Atoll in the Marshall Islands

• 1962 Grevelingen dam closes in major project to protect the southwest of the Netherlands from flooding
• 1962 US performs atmospheric nuclear test at Christmas Island

• 1963 Race riot in Birmingham, Alabama
• 1964 Italian diplomat and politician Manlio Brosio chosen as secretary-general of NATO
• 1965 Israel and West Germany establish diplomatic relations with an exchange of letters

• 1966 St Louis' Busch Memorial Stadium opens, Braves lose to Cards 4-3 in 12 innings

• 1967 20th Cannes Film Festival: "Blowup" directed by Michelangelo Antonioni wins the Grand Prix du Festival International du Film

• 1967 H. Rap Brown replaces Stokely Carmichael as chairman of Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC)

• 1968 WSKG TV channel 46 (PBS) in Binghamton, NY, begins broadcasting
• 1969 Pilot Ken Wallis achieves record speed for autogyros - 179 KPH

• 1970 KTVM TV channel 6 in Butte, MT (NBC/ABC) begins broadcasting
• 1970 Race riots in Augusta Georgia; 6 blacks killed (5 by cops)
• 1970 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
• 1972 Milwaukee Brewers beat Minnesota Twins, 4-3, in 22 innings (completed 5/13)

• 1973 Dueling Tubas by Martin Mull hits #92
• 1975 US merchant ship Mayaguez seized by Cambodian forces
• 1978 US Commerce Department says hurricane names will no longer be only female

• 1980 1st non-stop trans-North American balloon flight lands at Sainte-Félicité, Quebec. Maxie Anderson and son Kristian piloted the Kitty Hawk for five days.
• 1981 NY Islanders tie their own record with two shorthanded playoff goals in a period vs Minnesota North Stars

• 1982 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction is awarded to John Updike for novel 'Rabbit Is Rich'
• 1982 US Football League forms
• 1984 Discovery moves to Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy Space Center (Florida) for mating of STS 41-D
• 1984 France performs nuclear test
• 1984 Joe Lucius scores his 13th hole-in-one on same hole

• 1984 White Horse by Laid Back hits #26
• 1984 World of Rivers world exposition opens in New Orleans
• 1985 Amy Eilberg is ordained in NY as 1st woman Conservative rabbi
• 1986 Fred Markham (US), unpaced & unaided by wind, is 1st to pedal 65 mph on a level course, Big Sand Flat, California

• 1989 "Entertainment Tonight" makes its 2,000th TV performance
• 1989 Last graffiti covered NYC subway car retired
• 1989 Retired British pilot Jack Mann is kidnapped by Islamic fundamentalists
• 1990 Comic Relief USA '90 (4th one) raises $4.7 million

• 1991 A new cancer drug is announced which can only be found in bark of a rare tree in the Pacific Northwest
• 1992 1st Belgian woman (Ingrid Baeyens) to ascend Mount Everest
• 1993 Final episode of 6 year run of ABC's "Wonder Years" in Netherlands

• 1994 WIBC Bowling Queens won by Anne Marie Duggan
• 1995 Dow Jones for 5th straight day of the week sets a new record (4430.59)
• 1995 Jose Mesa gets 1st of his M.L. record 37 consecutive saves

• 1996 Yankees losing 8-0 to Chicago White Sox, come back to win 9-8

• 1997 14 North Koreans defect to South Korea
• 1997 Angels scores 13 in 7th vs White Sox
• 1997 Australian Susie Maroney becomes first to swim from Cuba to Florida
• 1997 Russia & Chechnya sign peace deal after 400 years of conflict
• 1997 Tornado narrowly misses downtown Miami
• 1999 Sir David Steel becomes the first Presiding Officer (speaker) of the modern Scottish Parliament.

• 2000 Tate Modern art gallery opens in the re-designed Bankside Power station by Herzog & de Meuron in London, England
• 2001 Ringo Starr's seventh All-Starr Band debuts in concert; members include: Roger Hodgson, Ian Hunter, Howard Jones, Greg Lake, Sheila E., and Mark Rivera

• 2003 Fifty-nine Democratic lawmakers bring the Texas Legislature to a standstill by going into hiding in a dispute over a Republican congressional redistricting plan
• 2003 The Riyadh compound bombings, carried out by Al Qaeda, 26 killed
• 2006 A major rebellion occurs in São Paulo as members of criminal organization Primeiro Comando da Capital attack police officers and stations, eventually escalating to several prisons in Brazil leaving around 130 dead
• 2007 Riots in Karachi, Pakistan are started by the arrival at Karachi's airport of independently minded Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry and go on to kill 48 people
• 2008 Wenchuan earthquake, measuring 7.8 in magnitude occurs in Sichuan, China, killing over 87,000, injuring 374,643 and leaving homeless between 4.8 million and 11 million people
• 2010 An Afriqiyah Airways Flight crashes and kills everyone but one person on board

• 2012 The discovery of a missing Mayan calendar piece disproves 2012 Armageddon
• 2013 Paris Saint-Germain win the Ligue 1 French football title

• 2014 Voters in Eastern Ukraine vote for self-rule in referendum

• 2017 Brazil declares end to Zika national emergency as cases decrease

• 2018 Insurgent group attacks the town of Muse, Myanmar, killing at least 19 people, Ta’ang National Liberation Army claim responsibility
• 2019 Cuba announced more rationing of products such as rice and beans due to US trade embargo and hoarding

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