June 12

Historic Events

2026

South African-American businessman Elon Musk becomes the first US$ trillionaire with the initial public offering of SpaceX. ›

2025

Air India Flight 171, a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, crashes shortly after takeoff into the B. J. Medical College, Ahmedabad, India, killing 241 out of 242 onboard as well as 19 on the ground. This marked the first fatal crash and hull loss of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner. ›

2024

A fire in a residential building in Mangaf, Kuwait City kills at least 50 people. ›

2019

Kassym-Jomart Tokayev is inaugurated as the second president of Kazakhstan. ›

2018

United States President Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un of North Korea hold the first meeting between leaders of their two countries in Singapore. ›

2016

Forty-nine civilians are killed and 58 others injured in an attack on a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida, United States; the gunman, Omar Mateen, is killed in a gunfight with police. ›

2014

Between 1,095 and 1,700 Shia Iraqi people are killed in an attack by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant on Camp Speicher in Tikrit, Iraq. It is the second deadliest act of terrorism in history, only behind 9/11. ›

2009

A disputed presidential election in Iran leads to wide-ranging local and international protests. ›

1999

Kosovo War: Operation Joint Guardian begins when a NATO-led United Nations peacekeeping force, Kosovo Force (KFor), enters the province of Kosovo in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. ›

1993

An election takes place in Nigeria and is won by Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola. Its results are later annulled by the military government of Ibrahim Babangida. ›

1991

In modern Russia's first democratic election, Boris Yeltsin is elected as the President of Russia. ›

1991

Kokkadichcholai massacre: The Sri Lankan Army massacres 152 minority Tamil civilians in the village of Kokkadichcholai near the Eastern Province town of Batticaloa. ›

1990

Russia Day: The parliament of the Russian Federation formally declares its sovereignty. ›

1988

Austral Líneas Aéreas Flight 046, a McDonnell Douglas MD-81, crashes short of the runway at Libertador General José de San Martín Airport, killing all 22 people on board. ›

1987

The Central African Republic's former emperor Jean-Bédel Bokassa is sentenced to death for crimes he had committed during his 13-year rule. ›

1982

A nuclear disarmament rally and concert is held in New York City. ›

1981

The first of the Indiana Jones film franchise, Raiders of the Lost Ark, is released in theaters. ›

1979

Bryan Allen wins the second Kremer prize for a man-powered flight across the English Channel in the Gossamer Albatross. ›

1975

State of Uttar Pradesh v. Raj Narain: Judge Jagmohanlal Sinha rules against Indira Gandhi in a case on her election to the Indian Parliament, and that she should be banned from holding any public office, triggering a political crisis. ›

1967

The United States Supreme Court in Loving v. Virginia declares all U.S. state laws that prohibit interracial marriage to be unconstitutional. ›

1964

Anti-apartheid activist and ANC leader Nelson Mandela's original 5-year sentence is extended to life sentence for high treason together with Denis Goldberg, Ahmed Kathrada, Govan Mbeki, Raymond Mhlaba, Andrew Mlangeni, Elias Motsoaledi and Walter Sisulu in the Rivonia Trial for sabotage in South Africa. ›

1963

NAACP field secretary Medgar Evers is murdered in front of his home in Jackson, Mississippi, by Ku Klux Klan member Byron De La Beckwith during the civil rights movement. ›

1963

The film Cleopatra, starring Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, is released in US theaters. It was the most expensive film made at the time. ›

1954

Pope Pius XII canonises Dominic Savio, who was 14 years old at the time of his death, as a saint, making him at the time the youngest unmartyred saint in the Roman Catholic Church. In 2017, Francisco and Jacinta Marto, aged ten and nine at the time of their deaths, are declared as saints. ›

1950

An Air France Douglas DC-4 crashes near Bahrain International Airport, killing 46 people. ›

1944

World War II: Battle of Carentan: American paratroopers of the 101st Airborne Division secure the town of Carentan, Normandy, France. ›

1943

The Holocaust: Germany liquidates the Jewish Ghetto in Brzeżany, Poland (now Berezhany, Ukraine). Around 1,180 Jews are led to the city's old Jewish graveyard and shot. ›

1942

Anne Frank receives a diary for her thirteenth birthday. ›

1940

World War II: Thirteen thousand British and French troops surrender to General Erwin Rommel at Saint-Valery-en-Caux. ›

1939

Shooting begins on Paramount Pictures' Dr. Cyclops, the first horror film photographed in three-strip Technicolor. ›

1939

The Baseball Hall of Fame opens in Cooperstown, New York. ›

1935

A ceasefire is negotiated between Bolivia and Paraguay, ending the Chaco War. ›

1921

Mikhail Tukhachevsky orders the use of chemical weapons against the Tambov Rebellion, bringing an end to the peasant uprising. ›

1914

Massacre of Phocaea: Turkish irregulars slaughter 50 to 100 Greeks and expel thousands of others in an ethnic cleansing operation in the Ottoman Empire. ›

1900

The Reichstag approves new legislation continuing Germany's naval expansion program, providing for construction of 38 battleships over a 20-year period. Germany's fleet would be the largest in the world. ›

1899

New Richmond tornado: The ninth deadliest tornado in U.S. history kills 117 people and injures around 200. ›

1898

Philippine Declaration of Independence: General Emilio Aguinaldo declares the Philippines' independence from Spain. ›

1864

American Civil War, Overland Campaign: Battle of Cold Harbor: Ulysses S. Grant gives the Confederate forces under Robert E. Lee a victory when he pulls his Union troops from their position at Cold Harbor, Virginia and moves south. ›

1830

Beginning of the Invasion of Algiers: Thirty-four thousand French soldiers land 27 kilometers west of Algiers, at Sidi Ferruch. ›

1821

Badi VII, king of Sennar, surrenders his throne and realm to Isma'il Pasha, general of the Ottoman Empire, ending the existence of that Sudanese kingdom. ›

1817

The earliest form of bicycle, the dandy horse, is driven by Karl von Drais. ›

1813

War of 1812: Capture of USRC Surveyor. ›

1798

Irish Rebellion of 1798: Battle of Ballynahinch. ›

1776

The Virginia Declaration of Rights is adopted. ›

1775

American War of Independence: British general Thomas Gage declares martial law in Massachusetts. The British offer a pardon to all colonists who lay down their arms. There would be only two exceptions to the amnesty: Samuel Adams and John Hancock, if captured, were to be hanged. ›

1772

French explorer Marc-Joseph Marion du Fresne and 25 of his men are killed by Māori in New Zealand. ›

1758

French and Indian War: Siege of Louisbourg: James Wolfe's attack at Louisbourg, Nova Scotia, commences. ›

1665

Thomas Willett is appointed the first mayor of New York City. ›

1653

First Anglo-Dutch War: The Battle of the Gabbard begins, lasting until the following day. ›

1643

The Westminster Assembly is convened by the Parliament of England, without the assent of Charles I, in order to restructure the Church of England. ›

1550

The city of Helsinki, Finland (belonging to Sweden at the time) is founded by King Gustav I of Sweden. ›

1429

Hundred Years' War: On the second day of the Battle of Jargeau, Joan of Arc leads the French army in their capture of the city and the English commander, William de la Pole, 1st Duke of Suffolk. ›

1418

Armagnac–Burgundian Civil War: Parisians slaughter sympathizers of Bernard VII, Count of Armagnac, along with all prisoners, foreign bankers, and students and faculty of the College of Navarre. ›

1381

Peasants' Revolt: In England, rebels assemble at Blackheath, just outside London. ›

1240

At the instigation of Louis IX of France, an inter-faith debate, known as the Disputation of Paris, starts between a Christian monk and four rabbis. ›

1206

The Ghurid general Qutb ud-Din Aibak founds the Delhi Sultanate. ›

1042

Constantine IX Monomachos is crowned as Byzantine Emperor, one day after his marriage to Empress Zoe Porphyrogenita. ›

910

Battle of Augsburg: The Hungarians defeat the East Frankish army under King Louis the Child, using the famous feigned retreat tactic of the nomadic warriors. ›