April 12 in History

Historical Events on April 12

238

Gordian II loses the Battle of Carthage against the Numidian forces loyal to Maximinus Thrax and is killed. Gordian I, his father, commits suicide.
467

Anthemius is elevated to Emperor of the Western Roman Empire.
627

King Edwin of Northumbria is converted to Christianity by Paulinus, bishop of York.
1167

King Karl Sverkersson of Sweden is murdered on Visingsö.
1204

The Crusaders of the Fourth Crusade breach the walls of Constantinople and enter the city, which they completely occupy the following day.
1606

The Union Flag is adopted as the flag of English and Scottish ships.
1776

American Revolution: With the Halifax Resolves, the North Carolina Provincial Congress authorizes its Congressional delegation to vote for independence from Britain.
1807

The Froberg mutiny ends when the remaining mutineers blow up the magazine of Fort Ricasoli.
1820

Alexander Ypsilantis is declared leader of Filiki Eteria, a secret organization to overthrow Ottoman rule over Greece.
1831

Soldiers marching on the Broughton Suspension Bridge in Manchester, England cause it to collapse.
1861

American Civil War: Battle of Fort Sumter. The war begins with Confederate forces firing on Fort Sumter, in the harbor of Charleston, South Carolina.
1862

American Civil War: The Andrews Raid (the Great Locomotive Chase) occurs, starting from Big Shanty, Georgia (now Kennesaw).
1864

American Civil War: The Battle of Fort Pillow: Confederate forces kill most of the African American soldiers that surrendered at Fort Pillow, Tennessee.
1865

American Civil War: Mobile, Alabama, falls to the Union Army.
1877

The United Kingdom annexes the Transvaal.
1910

SMS Zrínyi, one of the last pre-dreadnought battleships built by the Austro-Hungarian Navy, is launched.
1917

World War I: Canadian forces successfully complete the taking of Vimy Ridge from the Germans.
1927

Shanghai massacre of 1927: Chiang Kai-shek orders the Communist Party of China members executed in Shanghai, ending the First United Front.
1927

Rocksprings, Texas was hit by an F5 tornado that destroyed 235 of the 247 buildings in the town and killed 72 townspeople and injured 205; third deadliest tornado in Texas history.
1928

The Bremen, a German Junkers W 33 type aircraft, takes off for the first successful transatlantic aeroplane flight from east to west.
1934

The strongest surface wind gust in the world at the time of 231 mph, is measured on the summit of Mount Washington, New Hampshire. It has since been surpassed.
1934

The U.S. Auto-Lite strike begins, culminating in a five-day melee between Ohio National Guard troops and 6,000 strikers and picketers.
1937

Sir Frank Whittle ground-tests the first jet engine designed to power an aircraft, at Rugby, England.
1945

U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt dies in office; Vice President Harry S. Truman becomes President upon Roosevelt's death.
1945

The U.S. Ninth Army under General William H. Simpson crosses the Elbe River astride Magdeburg, and reached Tangermünde—only 50 miles from Berlin.
1955

The polio vaccine, developed by Dr. Jonas Salk, is declared safe and effective.
1961

The Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin becomes the first human to travel into outer space and perform the first manned orbital flight, Vostok 1.
1963

The Soviet nuclear-powered submarine K-33 collides with the Finnish merchant vessel M/S Finnclipper in the Danish straits.
1970

Soviet submarine K-8, carrying four nuclear torpedoes, sinks in the Bay of Biscay four days after a fire on board.
1980

Samuel Doe takes control of Liberia in a coup d'état, ending over 130 years of minority Americo-Liberian rule over the country.
1981

The first launch of a Space Shuttle (Columbia) takes place: The STS-1 mission.
1990

Jim Gary's "Twentieth Century Dinosaurs" exhibition opens at the Smithsonian Institution National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C. He is the only sculptor ever invited to present a solo exhibition there.
1992

The Euro Disney Resort officially opens with its theme park Euro Disneyland; the resort and its park's name are subsequently changed to Disneyland Paris.
1999

United States President Bill Clinton is cited for contempt of court for giving "intentionally false statements" in a civil lawsuit; he is later fined and disbarred.
2002

A suicide bomber blows herself up at the entrance to Jerusalem's Mahane Yehuda Market, killing seven people and wounding 104.
2007

A suicide bomber penetrates the Green Zone and detonates in a cafeteria within a parliament building, killing Iraqi MP Mohammed Awad and wounding more than twenty other people.
2009

Zimbabwe officially abandons the Zimbabwean dollar as its official currency.
2013

Two suicide bombers kill three Chadian soldiers and injure dozens of civilians at a market in Kidal, Mali.
2014

The Great Fire of Valparaíso ravages the Chilean city of Valparaíso, killing 16, displacing nearly 10,000, and destroying over 2,000 homes.
2017

Zuma Must Fall protests resume in South Africa, with Julius Malema addressing large crowds in Pretoria.[1]

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