April 12 in history


On April 12:

467  Anthemius was elevated to Emperor of the Western Roman Empire.

Tremissis Anthemius-RIC 2842.jpg

1204 Constantinople fell to the Crusaders of the Fourth Crusade, temporarily ending the Byzantine Empire.


1557 Cuenca was founded in Ecuador.

1606  The Union Flag was adopted as the flag of Great Britain.

The Union Flag: a red cross over a red saltire, both with white border, over a dark blue background.

1633 The formal inquest of Galileo Galilei by the Inquisition began.

1776 American Revolution: With the Halifax Resolves, the North Carolina Provincial Congress authorised its Congressional delegation to vote for independence from Britain.


1820 Alexander Ypsilantis was declared leader of Filiki Eteria, a secret organization to overthrow Ottoman rule over Greece


1861 American Civil War The war began with Confederate forces firing on Fort Sumter, in the harbor of Charleston, South Carolina.


1864  American Civil War: The Fort Pillow massacre: Confederate forces killed most African American soldiers who surrendered at Fort Pillow, Tennessee.

Battle of Fort Pillow.png

1877  The United Kingdom annexed the Transvaal.

1913 HMS New Zealand began a tour of New Zealand.

HMS New Zealand begins tour of NZ


The Battle of Vimy Ridge.jpg

1919 Billy Vaughn, American musician and bandleader, was born.

1927 April 12 Incident: Chiang Kai-shek ordered the CPC members executed in Shanghai, ending the First United Front.

1932  Tiny Tim, American musician, was born.

1934 The strongest surface wind gust in the world at 231 mph, was measured on the summit of Mount Washington, USA.

1934 The US Auto-Lite Strike began, culminating in a five-day melee between Ohio National Guard troops and 6,000 strikers and picketers.

1935  First flight of the Bristol Blenheim.

1937 Sir Frank Whittle ground-tested the first jet engine designed to power an aircraft at Rugby, England.


1939 Alan Ayckbourn, English writer, was born.

1942 Jacob Zuma, President of South Africa, was born.

1945 US President Franklin D. Roosevelt died while in office; vice-president Harry Truman was sworn in as the 33rd President.


1947 Tom Clancy, American author, was born.


1947 David Letterman, American talk show host, was born.

David Letterman at Perelman Institute crop.jpg

1949 Scott Turow, American writer, was born.


1950 David Cassidy, American singer and actor, was born.

1955 The polio vaccine, developed by Dr Jonas Salk, was declared safe and effective.


1961 Yuri Gagarin becomes the first human to travel into outer space in Vostok 3KA-2 (Vostok 1).

Gagarin in Sweden.jpg

1963 The Soviet nuclear powered submarine K-33 collided with the Finnish merchant vessel M/S Finnclipper in the Danish straits.

Hotel II submarine 

1968 Nerve gas accident at Skull Valley, Utah.

1978 Guy Berryman, British musician (Coldplay), was born.

1980 Brian McFadden, Irish Singer (Westlife) was born.

1980  Samuel Doe took control of Liberia in a coup d’état, ending over 130 years of national democratic presidential succession.

1980 – Terry Fox began his “Marathon of Hope” at St. John’s, Newfoundland.

A young man with short, curly hair and an artificial right leg grimaces as he runs down a street.  He is wearing shorts and a T-shirt that reads "Marathon of Hope"



1990 Jim Gary’s Twentieth Century Dinosaurs exhibition opened at the Smithsonian Institution National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C.


1992 The Euro Disney Resort officially opened with its theme park Euro Disneyland.


1994 Canter & Siegel posted the first commercial mass Usenet spam.

1998 An earthquake in Slovenia, measuring 5.6 on the Richter scale occured near the town of Bovec.

1999 US President Bill Clinton was cited for contempt of court for giving “intentionally false statements” in a sexual harassment civil lawsuit.

2002 Pedro Carmona became interim President of Venezuela during the military coup against Hugo Chávez.


2007 A suicide bomber penetrated the Green Zone and detonated in a cafeteria within a parliament building, killing Iraqi MP Mohammed Awad and wounding more than twenty other people.

Sourced from NZ History Online & Wikipedia

%d bloggers like this: