On This Day - December 12th

[threeovens]

December 12 is the 346th day of the year (347th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 19 days remaining until the end of the year.

Events

627 – Battle of Nineveh: A Byzantine army under Emperor Heraclius defeats Emperor Khosrau II's Persian forces, commanded by General Rhahzadh.
1098 – First Crusade: Massacre of Ma'arrat al-Numan – Crusaders breach the town's walls and massacre about 20,000 inhabitants. After finding themselves with insufficient food, they resort to cannibalism.
1408 – The Order of the Dragon a monarchical chivalric order is created by Sigismund of Luxembourg, then King of Hungary.
1781 – American Revolutionary War: Second Battle of Ushant – A British fleet led by HMS Victory defeats a French fleet.
1787 – Pennsylvania becomes the second state to ratify the United States Constitution five days after Delaware became the first.
1862 – USS Cairo sinks on the Yazoo River, becoming the first armored ship to be sunk by an electrically detonated mine.
1870 – Joseph H. Rainey of South Carolina becomes the second black U.S. congressman, the first being Hiram Revels.
1897 – Belo Horizonte, the first planned city in Brazil, is founded.
1901 – Guglielmo Marconi receives the first transatlantic radio signal at Signal Hill in St John's, Newfoundland.
1911 – Delhi replaces Calcutta as the capital of India.
1911 – King George V and Mary of Teck are enthroned as Emperor and Empress of India.
1915 – President of the Republic of China, Yuan Shikai, announces his intention to reinstate the monarchy and proclaim himself Emperor of China.
1917 – In Nebraska, Father Edward J. Flanagan founds Boys Town as a farm village for wayward boys.
1918 – The Flag of Estonia is raised atop the Pikk Hermann for the first time.
1925 – The Majlis of Iran votes to crown Reza Khan as the new Shah of Persia.
1935 – Lebensborn Project, a Nazi reproduction program, is founded by Heinrich Himmler.
1936 – Xi'an Incident: The Generalissimo of the Republic of China, Chiang Kai-shek, is kidnapped by Zhang Xueliang.
1937 – USS Panay incident: Japanese aircraft bomb and sink US gunboat USS Panay on the Yangtze River in China.
1939 – Winter War: Battle of Tolvajärvi – Finnish forces defeat those of the Soviet Union in their first major victory of the conflict.
1939 – HMS Duchess sinks after a collision with HMS Barham off the coast of Scotland with the loss of 124 men.
1940 – World War II: Approximately 70 people are killed in the Marples Hotel, Fitzalan Square, Sheffield, as a result of a German air raid.
1941 – World War II: Fifty-four Japanese A6M Zero fighters raid Batangas Field, Philippines. Jesús Villamor and four Filipino fighter pilots fend them off; César Basa is killed.
1941 – World War II: USMC F4F "Wildcats" sink the first 4 major Japanese ships off Wake Island.
1941 – World War II: The United Kingdom declares war on Bulgaria. Hungary and Romania declare war on the United States. India declares war on Japan.
1941 – Adolf Hitler announces extermination of the Jews at a meeting in the Reich Chancellery
1942 – World War II: German troops begin Operation Winter Storm, an attempt to relieve encircled Axis forces during the Battle of Stalingrad.
1942 – A fire in a hostel in St. John's, Newfoundland, kills 100 people.
1946 – A fire at a New York City ice plant spreads to a nearby tenement killing 37 people.
1948 – Malayan Emergency: Batang Kali Massacre – 14 members of the Scots Guards stationed in Malaysia allegedly massacre 24 unarmed civilians and set fire to the village.
1950 – Paula Ackerman, the first woman appointed to perform rabbinical functions in the United States, leads the congregation in her first services.
1956 – Beginning of the Irish Republican Army's "Border Campaign".
1958 – Guinea joins the United Nations.
1963 – Kenya gains its independence from the United Kingdom.
1964 – Prime Minister Jomo Kenyatta becomes the first President of the Republic of Kenya.
1969 – Strategy of tension: Piazza Fontana bombing – The offices of Banca Nazionale dell'Agricoltura in Piazza Fontana, Milan, are bombed.
1979 – Coup d'état of December Twelfth: South Korean Army Major General Chun Doo-hwan orders the arrest of Army Chief of Staff General Jeong Seung-hwa without authorization from President Choi Kyu-ha, alleging involvement in the assassination of ex-President Park Chung Hee.
1979 – President of Pakistan, Zia-ul-Haq, confers Nishan-e-Imtiaz on Nobel laureate Dr Abdus Salam.
1979 – The unrecognised state of Zimbabwe Rhodesia returns to British control and resumes using the name Southern Rhodesia.
1979 – A major earthquake and tsunami kill 259 people in Colombia.
1983 – the Australian Labor government led by Prime Minister Bob Hawke and Treasurer Paul Keating floats the Australian dollar.
1984 – Maaouiya Ould Sid'Ahmed Taya becomes the third president of Mauritania after a coup d'état against Mohamed Khouna Ould Haidalla while the latter is attending a summit.
1985 – Arrow Air Flight 1285 crashes after takeoff in Gander, Newfoundland, killing 256, including 236 members of the United States Army's 101st Airborne Division.
1988 – The Clapham Junction rail crash kills thirty-five and injures hundreds after two collisions of three commuter trains – one of the worst train crashes in the United Kingdom.
1991 – The Russian Federation gains independence from the USSR.
2000 – The United States Supreme Court releases its decision in Bush v. Gore.

Births

1298 – Albert II of Austria (d. 1358)
1526 – Álvaro de Bazán, 1st Marquis of Santa Cruz, Spanish admiral
1574 – Anne of Denmark, queen consort of James I of England (d. 1619)
1610 – Saint Vasilije (d. 1671)
1659 – Francesco Galli-Bibiena, Italian architect/designer (d. 1739)
1685 – Lodovico Giustini, Italian composer and keyboard player (d. 1743)
1712 – Prince Charles Alexander of Lorraine, Austrian military leader (d. 1780)
1715 – Gennaro Manna, Italian composer (d. 1779)
1724 – Samuel Hood, 1st Viscount Hood, British admiral (d. 1816)
1731 – Erasmus Darwin, English physician, slave trade abolitionist, inventor and poet (d. 1802)
1745 – John Jay, 1st Chief Justice of the United States (d. 1829)
1766 – Nikolay Karamzin, Russian poet and historian (d. 1826)
1779 – Madeleine Sophie Barat, French saint (d. 1865)
1783 – Ner Alexander Middleswarth, American politician (d. 1865)
1786 – William L. Marcy, American statesman (d. 1857)
1791 – Archduchess Marie Louise of Austria, wife of Napoleon (d. 1847)
1792 – Alexander Ypsilantis, Greek prince (d. 1828)
1799 – Karl Briullov, Russian painter (d. 1852)
1805 – William Lloyd Garrison, American abolitionist (d. 1879)
1805 – Henry Wells, American banking executive (d. 1878)
1806 – Stand Watie, American Confederate general (d. 1871)
1812 – John Sandfield Macdonald, Canadian premier of Ontario (d. 1872)
1821 – Gustave Flaubert, French writer (d. 1880)
1845 – Bruce Price, American architect (d. 1903)
1849 – William Kissam Vanderbilt, member of the Vanderbilt family (d. 1920)
1862 – Joseph Bruce Ismay, British ocean liner executive and Titanic survivor (d. 1937)
1862 – André Fauquet-Lemaître, French polo player (d. 1943)
1863 – Edvard Munch, Norwegian painter (d. 1944)
1864 – Paul Elmer More, American essayist (d. 1937)
1866 – Alfred Werner, Swiss chemist, Nobel laureate (d. 1919)
1870 – Walter Benona Sharp, American oil industry executive (d. 1912)
1875 – Gerd von Rundstedt, German field marshal (d. 1953)
1876 – Alvin Kraenzlein, American athlete (d. 1928)
1881 – Harry Warner, American studio executive (d. 1958)
1887 – Kurt Atterberg, Swedish composer (d. 1974)
1892 – Milko Kos, Slovenian historian (d. 1972)
1893 – Edward G. Robinson, American actor (d. 1973)
1900 – Sammy Davis, Sr., American dancer (d. 1988)
1902 – Koloman Sokol, Slovak painter (d. 2003)
1903 – Dagmar Nordstrom, American composer (d. 1976)
1903 – Yasujirō Ozu, Japanese film director (d. 1963)
1904 – Nicolas de Gunzburg, French magazine editor (d. 1981)
1905 – Manès Sperber, Austrian writer (d. 1984)
1907 – Roy Douglas, English composer and orchestrator
1908 – Gustav Ernesaks, Estonian composer and conductor (d. 1993)
1909 – Karen Morley, American actress (d. 2003)
1909 – Hans Keilson, German-born Dutch writer and child psychologist (d. 2011)
1910 – Richard Sagrits, Estonian painter (d. 1968)
1914 – Patrick O'Brian, English author (d. 2000)
1915 – Frank Sinatra, American singer and actor (d. 1998)
1917 – James Wall, American actor (d. 2010)
1918 – Joe Williams, American singer (d. 1999)
1919 – Olivia Barclay, English astrologer (d. 2001)
1919 – Dan DeCarlo, American cartoonist (d. 2001)
1920 – Fred Kida, American comics artist
1922 – Christian Dotremont, Belgian painter and writer (d. 1979)
1923 – Bob Barker, American television game show host
1923 – Bob Dorough, American jazz pianist/vocalist
1923 – Ken Kavanagh, Australian racing driver
1924 – Ed Koch, American politician
1924 – Ray Cordeiro, Hong Kong radio personality
1924 – Robert Coogan, American actor (d. 1978)
1925 – Vladimir Shainsky, Russian composer
1925 – Ahmad Shamlou, Iranian poet (d. 2000)
1927 – Robert Noyce, American inventor (d. 1990)
1928 – Chinghiz Aitmatov, Soviet-born Kyrgyz writer (d. 2008)
1928 – Helen Frankenthaler, American artist (d. 2011)
1929 – Toshiko Akiyoshi, Japanese musician
1929 – John Osborne, English dramatist (d. 1994)
1930 – Bill Beutel, American journalist (d. 2006)
1930 – Silvio Santos, Brazilian TV show host
1931 – Lionel Blair, English actor and choreographer
1932 – Bob Pettit, American basketball player
1934 – Miguel de la Madrid, Mexican politician
1936 – Jefferson Kaye, American radio announcer (d. 2012)
1937 – Philip Ledger, English organist and composer (d. 2012)
1937 – Buford Pusser, American law enforcement official (d. 1974)
1938 – Connie Francis, American singer
1940 – Sharad Pawar, Indian politician
1940 – Dionne Warwick, American singer
1940 – Frances Willard, American magician
1942 – Morris Sadek, Egyptian-American lawyer and activist
1942 – Peter Sarstedt, British musician
1942 – Zoe Laskari, Greek actress
1943 – Vassilis Alexakis, Greek-French writer
1943 – Dickey Betts, American musician (The Allman Brothers Band)
1943 – Grover Washington, Jr., American saxophonist (d. 1999)
1944 – Kenneth Cranham, Scottish actor
1944 – Jean Doré, Canadian politician
1944 – Zoe Laskari, Greek actress
1944 – Rob Tyner, American Singer, Songwriter and activist (The MC5) (d. 1991)
1945 – Tony Williams, American jazz drummer (d. 1997)
1946 – Emerson Fittipaldi, Brazilian race car driver
1946 – Paula Wagner, American film executive
1947 – Wings Hauser, American actor
1949 – Bill Nighy, English actor
1949 – Marc Ravalomanana, President of Madagascar
1950 – Pedro Ferriz de Con, Mexican radio and TV news anchor
1950 – Rajinikanth, Indian actor
1950 – Billy Smith, Canadian ice hockey player
1951 – Rehman Malik, Pakistani politician
1952 – Brenton Broadstock, Australian composer and academic
1952 – Herb Dhaliwal, Canadian politician
1952 – Sarah Douglas, English actress
1952 – Cathy Rigby, American gymnast and actress
1953 – Bruce Kulick, American guitarist (Kiss, Grand Funk Railroad)
1953 – Dave Meniketti, American guitarist
1953 – Rafael Septien, Mexican placekicker and convicted sex offender
1954 – Hemant Karkare, Chief of the Mumbai Anti-Terrorist Squad (d. 2008)
1955 – Gianna Angelopoulos-Daskalaki, Greek businesswoman
1955 – Eddy Schepers, Belgian cyclist
1956 – Johan van der Velde, Dutch cyclist
1957 – Sheila E., American musician
1957 – Robert Lepage, French Canadian playwright
1958 – Monica Attard, Australian journalist
1958 – Lucie Guay, Canadian canoer
1958 – Dag Ingebrigtsen, Norwegian musician
1958 – Sheree J. Wilson, American actress
1962 – Tracy Austin, American tennis player
1962 – Peter Bergen, American journalist and national security analyst
1962 – Mike Golic, American football player
1963 – Liz Claman, American television anchor
1963 – Eduardo Castro Luque, Mexican politician (d. 2012)
1963 – Ai Orikasa, Japanese voice actress and singer
1964 – Sabu, American professional wrestler
1964 – Haywood Jeffries, American football player
1965 – Will Carling, English rugby union footballer
1966 – Royce Gracie, Brazilian martial artist
1966 – Kouichi Nagano, Japanese voice actor
1966 – Último Dragón, Japanese professional wrestler
1967 – Yuzo Koshiro, Japanese composer
1967 – Takenobu Mitsuyoshi, Japanese composer
1967 – John Randle, American football player
1967 – Deke Sharon, American musician
1968 – Kate Humble, English television presenter
1968 – Rory Kennedy, American documentarian
1968 – Laurie Williams, Jamaican cricketer (d. 2002)
1969 – Carrie Westcott, American model and actress
1970 – Mädchen Amick, American actress
1970 – Jennifer Connelly, American actress
1970 – Regina Hall, American actress
1972 – Nicky Eaden, English footballer
1972 – Wilson Kipketer, Danish middle-distance runner
1972 – Kevin Parent, French Canadian singer and songwriter
1972 – Brandon Teena, American murder victim (d. 1993)
1972 – Georgios Theodoridis, Greek sprinter
1972 – Hank Williams III, American musician
1973 – Walter Otta, Argentine footballer
1973 – Gary Breen, Republic of Ireland footballer
1973 – Tony Hsieh, American Businessman
1974 – Nolberto Solano, Peruvian footballer
1975 – Mayim Bialik, American actress
1975 – Wesley Charles, Vincentian footballer
1975 – Craig Moore, Australian footballer
1976 – Dan Hawkins, English guitarist (The Darkness)
1976 – Lloyd Owusu, Ghanaian footballer
1977 – Nicole, Erica and Jaclyn Dahm, American triplet models
1977 – Bridget Hall, American supermodel
1977 – Orlando Hudson, American baseball player
1977 – Colin White, Canadian ice hockey player
1978 – Monica Barladeanu, Romanian actress
1978 – Jennifer Rovero, American model
1979 – Garrett Atkins, American baseball player
1979 – Nate Clements, American football player
1979 – John Salmons, American basketball player
1980 – Gus G, Greek musician
1980 – Nicolae Dorin Goian, Romanian footballer
1981 – Ronnie Brown, American football player
1981 – Shane Costa, American baseball player
1981 – Jeret Peterson, American aerial skier
1981 – Pedro Ríos, Spanish footballer
1981 – Yuvraj Singh, Indian cricketer
1981 – Stephen Warnock, English footballer
1982 – Lim Jae-Duk, South Korean gamer
1982 – Ai Kato, Japanese actress
1982 – Jeremiah Riggs, American mixed martial artist and wrestler
1982 – Dmitry Tursunov, Russian tennis player
1983 – Katrina Elam, American singer
1984 – Daniel Agger, Danish footballer
1984 – Daniel Merrett, Australian football player
1984 – Sohail Tanvir,Pakistani cricketer
1985 – Pat Calathes, Greek-American basketball player
1985 – Chris Jennings, American football player
1985 – Erika Van Pelt, American singer
1985 – David Veikune, American football player
1985 – Giannis Zaradoukas, Greek footballer
1986 – Përparim Hetemaj, Finnish footballer
1986 – Mitsuhiro Hidaka, Japanese singer (AAA)
1986 – Nina Kolarič, Slovenian athlete
1986 – Thomas Wansey, English actor
1986 – T. J. Ward, American football player
1986 – Lee Qri, Korean singer and actress (T-ara)
1988 – Ham Eun-jeong, Korean singer and actress (T-ara)
1990 – Victor Moses, Nigerian footballer
1990 – Seungri, Member of South Korean boygroup Big Bang
1991 – Daniel Magder, Canadian actor

Deaths

884 – Carloman, King of the West Franks
1212 – Geoffrey, Archbishop of York
1569 – Metropolitan Philip of Moscow (b. 1507)
1574 – Selim II, Ottoman Sultan (b. 1524)
1586 – Stefan Batory, King of Poland (b. 1533)
1685 – John Pell, English mathematician (b. 1610)
1751 – Henry St John, 1st Viscount Bolingbroke, English statesman and philosopher (b. 1678)
1754 – Wu Jingzi, Chinese writer (b. 1701)
1766 – Johann Christoph Gottsched, German writer (b. 1700)
1789 – John Ponsonby, Irish politician (b. 1713)
1790 – Mikhail Shcherbatov, Russian philosopher and writer (b. 1733)
1817 – Emperor Tekle Giyorgis I of Ethiopia, (b. about 1751)
1843 – King William I of the Netherlands, (b. 1772)
1858 – Jacques Viger, antiquarian and archeologist, first mayor of Montreal (b. 1787)
1889 – Robert Browning, English poet (b. 1812)
1889 – Viktor Bunyakovsky, Russian mathematician (b. 1804)
1894 – Sir John Sparrow David Thompson, fourth Prime Minister of Canada (b. 1845)
1913 – Emperor Menelek II of Ethiopia (b. 1844)
1923 – Raymond Radiguet, French author (b. 1903)
1926 – Jean Richepin, French poet (b. 1849)
1929 – Charles Goodnight, American cattle baron (b. 1836)
1934 – Oscar Goerke, American cyclist (b. 1883)
1934 – Thorleif Haug, Norwegian Nordic skier (b. 1894)
1939 – Douglas Fairbanks, American actor (b. 1883)
1941 – César Basa, Philippine Air Force and World War II hero (b. 1915)
1951 – Mildred Bailey, American jazz singer (b. 1907)
1952 – Bedřich Hrozný, Czech orientalist and linguist (b. 1879)
1958 – Albert Walsh, Lieutenant Governor of Newfoundland (b. 1900)
1963 – Yasujirō Ozu, Japanese film director (b. 1903)
1964 – Maithili Sharan Gupt Indian Poet(b.1866)
1966 – Karl Ruberl, Austrian swimmer (b. 1880)
1968 – Tallulah Bankhead, American actress (b. 1902)
1970 – Doris Blackburn, Australian politician (b. 1889)
1971 – Yechezkel Kutscher, Israeli philologist and Hebrew linguist (b. 1909)
1971 – David Sarnoff, Russian-born American General Manager of RCA (b. 1891)
1976 – Jack Cassidy, American actor (b. 1927)
1976 – Vinko Žganec, Croatian ethnomusicologist (b. 1890)
1977 – Baroness Spencer-Churchill, wife of Winston Churchill (b. 1885)
1978 – Fay Compton, English actress (b. 1894)
1980 – Jean Lesage, Canadian politician (b. 1912)
1983 – Amza Pellea, Romanian actor (b. 1931)
1985 – Anne Baxter, American actress (b. 1923)
1985 – Ian Stewart, Scottish musician (b. 1938)
1987 – Enrique Jorrín, Cuban musician and composer (b. 1926)
1988 – Anthony "Tony Pro" Provenzano, American Mafia figure (b. 1917)
1992 – Suzanne Lilar, Belgian essayist, novelist and playwright (b. 1901)
1993 – József Antall, Hungarian politician (b. 1932)
1994 – Stuart Roosa, American astronaut (b. 1933)
1994 – Donna J. Stone, American poet (b. 1933)
1996 – Vance Packard, American author (b. 1914)
1997 – Yevgeniy Landis, Russian mathematician (b. 1921)
1998 – Lawton Chiles, U.S. Senator from Florida and Governor of Florida (b. 1930)
1998 – Marco Denevi, Argentine writer (b. 1922)
1998 – Mo Udall, American politician (b. 1922)
1999 – Paul Cadmus, American artist (b. 1904)
1999 – Joseph Heller, American author (b. 1923)
2000 – George Montgomery, American actor (b. 1916)
2000 – Ndabaningi Sithole, Zimbabwean Nationalist politician (b. 1920)
2001 – Ardito Desio, Italian explorer, geologist and leader of the 1954 K2 expedition (b. 1897)
2001 – Jean Richard, French actor (b. 1921)
2002 – Dee Brown, American author (b. 1908)
2002 – Brad Dexter, American actor (b. 1917)
2002 – Jay Wesley Neill, American convicted murderer (b. 1965)
2003 – Heydar Aliyev, President of Azerbaijan (b. 1923)
2003 – Gangodawila Soma Thero, Buddhist monk from Sri Lanka(b. 1948)
2003 – Joseph Anthony Ferrario, American Catholic prelate (b. 1926)
2005 – Robert Newmyer, American film producer (b. 1956)
2005 – Gebran Tueni, Lebanese politician (b. 1957)
2005 – Annette Vadim, Danish actress (b. 1936)
2005 – Ramanand Sagar, Indian Film Maker (b.1917)
2006 – Paul Arizin, American basketball player (b. 1928)
2006 – Peter Boyle, American actor (b. 1935)
2006 – Kenny Davern, American jazz clarinetist (b. 1935)
2006 – Raymond P. Shafer, 38th Governor of Pennsylvania (b. 1917)
2006 – Al Shugart, pioneering American computer engineer and co-founder of Seagate Technology (b. 1930)
2007 – Ike Turner, American musician (b. 1931)
2007 – Francois Hajj, Lebanese Army's chief of operations (b. 1953)
2008 – Avery Dulles, Roman Catholic Cardinal, theologian (b. 1918)
2008 – Van Johnson, American actor (b. 1916)
2008 – Tassos Papadopoulos, President of Cyprus (b. 1934)
2010 – Peter Pagel, German footballer (b. 1956)
2010 – Tom Walkinshaw, former racing driver and Formula One team owner (b. 1946)
2012 – Ravi Shankar, Indian musician and sitar player (b. 1920)

Holidays and observances

Christian Feast Day:
Edburga of Minster-in-Thanet
Feast of the Apparition of Our Lady of Guadalupe (Mexico)
Vicelinus
Constitution Day (Russia)
Feast of Masá'il ("Questions"), the first day of the 15th month of the Bahá'í calendar (Bahá'í Faith)
Jamhuri Day, celebrates the independence of Kenya from Britain in 1963.