April 12

The Tisza Party, led by Péter Magyar wins the 2026 Hungarian parliamentary election, defeating Viktor Orbán's Fidesz party, which had ruled the country for 16 years, marking the first change in government in Hungary for over a decade. ›

The Great Fire of Valparaíso ravages the Chilean city of Valparaíso, killing 16 people, displacing nearly 10,000, and destroying more than 2,500 homes. ›

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

Merano derailment: A rail accident in South Tyrol kills nine people and injures a further 28. ›

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

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. ›

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

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. ›

During the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia, an American McDonnell Douglas F-15E Strike Eagle shoots a passenger train, killing between 20 and 60 people. ›

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

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. ›

Widerøe Flight 839 crashes after takeoff from Værøy Airport in Norway, killing five people. ›

Space Shuttle Discovery launches on STS-51D to deploy two communications satellites. ›

Harold Washington is elected as the first black mayor of Chicago. ›

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

The Americo-Liberian government of Liberia is violently deposed. ›

Transbrasil Flight 303, a Boeing 727, crashes on approach to Hercílio Luz International Airport in Florianópolis, Brazil. Fifty-five out of the 58 people on board are killed. ›

Canadian runner and athlete Terry Fox begins his Marathon of Hope Run in St. John's, NF ›

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

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

Space Race: The Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin becomes the first human to travel into outer space and perform the first crewed orbital flight, Vostok 1. ›

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

U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt dies in office; Vice President Harry S. Truman succeeds him. ›

World War II: The U.S. Ninth Army under General William H. Simpson crosses the Elbe River astride Magdeburg, and reaches Tangermünde—only 80 kilometres from Berlin. ›

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

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. ›

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

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

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

Rocksprings, Texas is hit by an F5 tornado that destroys 235 of the 247 buildings in the town, kills 72 townspeople, and injures 205; third deadliest tornado in Texas history. ›

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

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

One day after its enactment by the Congress, President William McKinley signs the Foraker Act into law, giving Puerto Rico limited self-rule. ›

The United Kingdom annexes the Transvaal. ›

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Froberg mutiny on Malta ends when the remaining mutineers blow up the magazine of Fort Ricasoli. ›

War of the First Coalition: Napoleon Bonaparte wins his first victory as an army commander at the Battle of Montenotte, splitting the Austrian and Piedmontese armies away from each other, and marking the beginning of the Piedmontese surrender in the war. ›

American Revolution: A Royal Navy fleet led by Admiral George Rodney defeats a French fleet led by the Comte de Grasse at the Battle of the Saintes off Dominica in the Caribbean Sea. ›

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

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

The Instruction of 12 April 1588 was enacted, which is widely regarded as the formal establishment of the Dutch Republic. ›

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

Having received the submission of the prince of Antioch, Raynald of Châtillon, Byzantine Emperor Manuel I Komnenos enters triumphantly the city of Antioch. ›

Nikephoros I of Constantinople is consecrated as patriarch of Constantinople.

King Edwin of Northumbria is converted to Christianity by Paulinus, Bishop of York. ›

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

Shapur I becomes co-emperor of the Sasanian Empire with his father Ardashir I. ›