February 12 in History

Historical Events on February 12

881

Pope John VIII crowns Charles the Fat, the King of Italy: Holy Roman Emperor
1429

English forces under Sir John Fastolf defend a supply convoy carrying rations to the army besieging Orléans in the Battle of the Herrings.
1502

Isabella I issued an edict outlawing Islam in the Crown of Castile, forcing virtually all her Muslim subjects to convert to Christianity.
1502

Vasco da Gama sets sail from Lisbon, Portugal, on his second voyage to India.
1541

Santiago, Chile is founded by Pedro de Valdivia.
1554

A year after claiming the throne of England for nine days, Lady Jane Grey is beheaded for treason.
1593

Japanese invasion of Korea: Approximately 3,000 Joseon defenders led by general Kwon Yul successfully repel more than 30,000 Japanese forces in the Siege of Haengju.
1689

The Convention Parliament declares that the flight to France in 1688 by James II, the last Roman Catholic British monarch, constitutes an abdication.
1733

Englishman James Oglethorpe founds Georgia, the 13th colony of the Thirteen Colonies, and its first city at Savannah (known as Georgia Day).
1771

Gustav III becomes the King of Sweden.
1817

An Argentine/Chilean patriotic army, after crossing the Andes, defeats Spanish troops on the Battle of Chacabuco.
1818

Bernardo O'Higgins formally approves the Chilean Declaration of Independence near Concepción, Chile.
1825

The Creek cede the last of their lands in Georgia to the United States government by the Treaty of Indian Springs, and migrate west.
1832

Ecuador annexes the Galápagos Islands.
1851

Edward Hargraves announces he has found gold in Bathurst, New South Wales, Australia, starting the Australian gold rushes.
1855

Michigan State University is established.
1894

Anarchist Émile Henry hurls a bomb into the Cafe Terminus in Paris, killing one person and wounding 20.
1909

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is founded.
1909

New Zealand's worst maritime disaster of the 20th century happens when the SS Penguin, an inter-island ferry, sinks and explodes at the entrance to Wellington Harbour.
1912

The Xuantong Emperor, the last Emperor of China, abdicates.
1915

In Washington, D.C., the first stone of the Lincoln Memorial is put into place.
1921

Bolsheviks launch a revolt in Georgia as a preliminary to the Red Army invasion of Georgia.
1924

George Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue received its premiere in a concert titled "An Experiment in Modern Music", in Aeolian Hall, New York, by Paul Whiteman and his band, with Gershwin playing the piano.
1935

USS Macon, one of the two largest helium-filled airships ever created, crashes into the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California and sinks.
1946

World War II: Operation Deadlight ends after scuttling 121 of 154 captured U-boats.
1946

African American United States Army veteran Isaac Woodard is severely beaten by a South Carolina police officer to the point where he loses his vision in both eyes. The incident later galvanizes the Civil Rights Movement and partially inspires Orson Welles' film Touch of Evil.
1947

The largest observed iron meteorite until that time creates an impact crater in Sikhote-Alin, in the Soviet Union.
1947

Christian Dior unveils a "New Look", helping Paris regain its position as the capital of the fashion world.
1954

Lyons's LEO produces a payroll report. It is the first time in history a computer is used in business.
1961

Soviet Union launches Venera 1 towards Venus.
1963

Construction begins on the Gateway Arch in St. Louis.
1965

Malcolm X visits Smethwick following the racial charged 1964 general election.[1]
1968

Phong Nhị and Phong Nhất massacre.
1974

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1970, is exiled from the Soviet Union.
1983

One hundred women protest in Lahore, Pakistan against military dictator Zia-ul-Haq's proposed Law of Evidence. The women were tear-gassed, baton-charged and thrown into lock-up. The women were successful in repealing the law.
1990

Carmen Lawrence becomes the first female Premier in Australian history when she becomes Premier of Western Australia.
1992

The current Constitution of Mongolia comes into effect.
1993

Two-year-old James Bulger is abducted from New Strand Shopping Centre by two ten-year-old boys, who later torture and murder him.
1994

Four thieves break into the National Gallery of Norway and steal Edvard Munch's iconic painting The Scream.
1999

United States President Bill Clinton is acquitted by the United States Senate in his impeachment trial.
2001

NEAR Shoemaker spacecraft touches down in the "saddle" region of 433 Eros, becoming the first spacecraft to land on an asteroid.
2002

The trial of Slobodan Milošević, the former President of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, begins at the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague, Netherlands. He dies four years later before its conclusion.
2002

An Iran Airtour Tupolev Tu-154 crashes in the mountains outside Khorramabad, Iran while descending for a landing at Khorramabad Airport, killing 119.
2004

The city of San Francisco begins issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples in response to a directive from Mayor Gavin Newsom.
2009

Colgan Air Flight 3407 crashes into a house in Clarence Center, New York while on approach to Buffalo Niagara International Airport, killing all on board and one on the ground.

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