August 12 in History

Historical Events on August 12

1099

First Crusade: Battle of Ascalon Crusaders under the command of Godfrey of Bouillon defeat Fatimid forces led by Al-Afdal Shahanshah. This is considered the last engagement of the First Crusade.
1121

Battle of Didgori: The Georgian army under King David IV wins a decisive victory over the famous Seljuk commander Ilghazi.
1164

Battle of Harim: Nur ad-Din Zangi defeats the Crusader armies of the County of Tripoli and the Principality of Antioch.
1323

Signature of the Treaty of Nöteborg between Sweden and Novgorod Republic, that regulates the border between the two countries for the first time.
1492

Christopher Columbus arrives in the Canary Islands on his first voyage to the New World.
1499

First engagement of the Battle of Zonchio between Venetian and Ottoman fleets.
1624

The president of Louis XIII of France's royal council is arrested, leaving Cardinal Richelieu in the role of the King's principal minister.
1676

Praying Indian John Alderman shoots and kills Metacomet, the Wampanoag war chief, ending King Philip's War.
1687

Battle of Mohács: Charles of Lorraine defeats the Ottoman Empire.
1765

Treaty of Allahabad is signed. The Treaty marks the political and constitutional involvement and the beginning of Company rule in India.
1793

The Rhône and Loire départments are created when the former département of Rhône-et-Loire is split into two.
1806

Santiago de Liniers, 1st Count of Buenos Aires re-takes the city of Buenos Aires, Argentina after the first British invasion.
1831

French intervention forces William I of the Netherlands to abandon his attempt to suppress the Belgian Revolution.
1851

Isaac Singer is granted a patent for his sewing machine.
1865

Joseph Lister, British surgeon and scientist, performs 1st antiseptic surgery.
1883

The last quagga dies at the Natura Artis Magistra, a zoo in Amsterdam, Netherlands.
1898

The Hawaiian flag is lowered from ʻIolani Palace in an elaborate annexation ceremony and replaced with the flag of the United States to signify the transfer of sovereignty from the Republic of Hawaii to the United States.
1914

World War I: The United Kingdom declares war on Austria-Hungary; the countries of the British Empire follow suit.
1914

World War I: The Battle of Halen a.k.a. Battle of the Silver Helmets a clash between large Belgian and German cavalry formations at Halen, Belgium.
1944

Waffen-SS troops massacre 560 people in Sant'Anna di Stazzema.
1944

Nazi German troops end the week-long Wola massacre, during which time at least 40,000 people were killed indiscriminately or in mass executions.
1944

Alençon is liberated by General Philippe Leclerc de Hauteclocque, the first city in France to be liberated from the Nazis by French forces.
1950

Korean War: Bloody Gulch massacre: American POWs are massacred by North Korean Army.
1952

The Night of the Murdered Poets: Thirteen prominent Jewish intellectuals are murdered in Moscow, Russia, Soviet Union.
1953

The first testing of a real thermonuclear weapon (not test devices): The Soviet atomic bomb project continues with the detonation of "RDS-6s" (Joe 4), the first Soviet thermonuclear bomb.
1953

The 7.2 Ms Ionian earthquake shakes the southern Ionian Islands with a maximum Mercalli intensity of X (Extreme). Between 445 and 800 people were killed.
1960

Echo 1A, NASA's first successful communications satellite, is launched.
1964

South Africa is banned from the Olympic Games due to the country's racist policies.
1969

Violence erupts after the Apprentice Boys of Derry march in Derry, Northern Ireland, resulting in a three-day communal riot known as the Battle of the Bogside.
1976

Between 1,000 and 3,500 Palestinians are killed in the Tel al-Zaatar massacre, one of the bloodiest events of the Lebanese Civil War
1977

The first free flight of the Space Shuttle Enterprise.
1977

The Sri Lanka Riots:, targeting the minority Sri Lankan Tamils, begin, less than a month after the United National Party came to power. Over 300 Tamils are killed.
1981

The IBM Personal Computer is released.
1985

Japan Airlines Flight 123 crashes into Osutaka ridge in Gunma Prefecture, Japan, killing 520, to become the worst single-plane air disaster.
1990

Sue, the largest and most complete Tyrannosaurus Rex skeleton found to date, is discovered by Sue Hendrickson in South Dakota.
1992

Canada, Mexico and the United States announce completion of negotiations for the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).
1994

Major League Baseball players go on strike, forcing the cancellation of the 1994 World Series.
2000

The Russian Navy submarine Kursk explodes and sinks in the Barents Sea during a military exercise, killing her entire 118-man crew.
2015

At least two massive explosions kill 173 people and injure nearly 800 more in Tianjin, China.

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