October 12

Historic Events

2022

2022 Bratislava shooting, killing 3 (including the perpetrator) and injuring one. The shooting occurred outside of a gay bar in Bratislava known as Tepláreň. Two people (excluding the perpetrator) died as a result of the shooting: Juraj Vankulič, a non-binary person, and Matúš Horváth, a bisexual man. The perpetrator (Juraj Krajčík) was found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot the morning after the attack. ›

2019

Typhoon Hagibis makes landfall in Japan, killing 10 and forcing the evacuation of one million people. ›

2019

Eliud Kipchoge from Kenya becomes the first person to run a marathon in less than two hours with a time of 1:59:40 in Vienna. ›

2019

The Hard Rock Hotel in New Orleans, which is under construction, collapses, killing three workers and injuring 30 others. ›

2018

Princess Eugenie marries Jack Brooksbank at St. George's Chapel, Windsor Castle. ›

2017

The United States announces its decision to withdraw from UNESCO. Israel immediately follows. ›

2013

An apartment building collapse in Medellín, Colombia results in the deaths of twelve people. ›

2012

The European Union wins the 2012 Nobel Peace Prize. ›

2010

The Finnish Yle TV2 channel's Ajankohtainen kakkonen current affairs program airs controversial Homoilta episode (literally "gay night"), which leads to the resignation of almost 50,000 Finns from the Evangelical Lutheran Church. ›

2005

The second Chinese human spaceflight, Shenzhou 6, is launched, carrying two cosmonauts in orbit for five days. ›

2002

Terrorists detonate bombs in two nightclubs in Kuta, Bali, Indonesia, killing 202 and wounding over 200. ›

2000

The USS Cole, a US Navy destroyer, is badly damaged by two al-Qaeda suicide bombers, killing 17 crew members and wounding at least 39. ›

1999

Pervez Musharraf takes power in Pakistan from Nawaz Sharif through a bloodless coup. ›

1999

The former Autonomous Soviet Republic of Abkhazia declares its independence from Georgia. ›

1997

The Sidi Daoud massacre in Algeria kills 43 people at a fake roadblock. ›

1996

New Zealand holds its first general election under the new mixed-member proportional representation system, which led to Jim Bolger's National Party forming a coalition government with Winston Peters's New Zealand First. ›

1994

The Magellan spacecraft burns up in the atmosphere of Venus. ›

1994

Iran Aseman Airlines Flight 746 crashes near Natanz, Iran, killing all 66 people on board. ›

1992

A 5.8 earthquake occurred in Cairo, Egypt. At least 510 died. ›

1988

Two officers of the Victoria Police are gunned down execution-style in the Walsh Street police shootings, Australia. ›

1984

The Provisional Irish Republican Army fail to assassinate Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and her cabinet. The bomb kills five people and wounds at least 31 others. ›

1983

Japan's former Prime Minister Tanaka Kakuei is found guilty of taking a $2 million bribe from the Lockheed Corporation, and is sentenced to four years in jail. ›

1979

Typhoon Tip becomes the largest and most intense tropical cyclone ever recorded. ›

1977

Hua Guofeng succeeds Mao Zedong as paramount leader of China. ›

1976

Indian Airlines Flight 171 crashes at Santacruz Airport in Bombay, India, killing 95. ›

1973

President Nixon nominates House Minority Leader Gerald R. Ford as the successor to Vice President Spiro T. Agnew. ›

1971

The 2,500 year celebration of the Persian Empire begins. ›

1970

Vietnam War: Vietnamization continues as President Richard Nixon announces that the United States will withdraw 40,000 more troops before Christmas. ›

1968

Equatorial Guinea becomes independent from Spain. ›

1967

A bomb explodes on board Cyprus Airways Flight 284 while flying over the Mediterranean Sea, killing 66. ›

1964

The Soviet Union launches the Voskhod 1 into Earth orbit as the first spacecraft with a multi-person crew, and the first flight without pressure suits. ›

1963

After nearly 23 years of imprisonment, Reverend Walter Ciszek, a Jesuit missionary, was released from the Soviet Union. ›

1962

The Columbus Day Storm strikes the U.S. Pacific Northwest with record wind velocities. There was at least U.S. $230 million in damages and 46 people died. ›

1960

Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev pounds his shoe on a desk at the United Nations to protest a Philippine assertion. ›

1959

At the national congress of the American Popular Revolutionary Alliance in Peru, a group of leftist radicals are expelled from the party who later form APRA Rebelde. ›

1945

World War II: Desmond Doss is the first conscientious objector to receive the U.S. Medal of Honor. ›

1945

The Lao Issara took control of Laos' government and reaffirmed the country's independence. ›

1944

World War II: The Axis occupation of Athens comes to an end. ›

1933

The military Alcatraz Citadel becomes the civilian Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary. ›

1928

An iron lung respirator is used for the first time at Boston Children's Hospital. ›

1918

A massive forest fire kills 453 people in Minnesota. ›

1917

World War I: The First Battle of Passchendaele takes place resulting in the largest single-day loss of life in New Zealand history. ›

1915

World War I: British nurse Edith Cavell is executed by a German firing squad for helping Allied soldiers escape from occupied Belgium. ›

1909

Foundation of Coritiba Foot Ball Club. ›

1901

President Theodore Roosevelt officially renames the "Executive Mansion" to the White House. ›

1892

The Pledge of Allegiance is first recited by students in many US public schools. ›

1890

Uddevalla Suffrage Association is formed. ›

1871

The British in India enact the Criminal Tribes Act, naming many local communities "Criminal Tribes". ›

1856

An M 7.7–8.3 earthquake off the Greek island of Crete cause major damage as far as Egypt and Malta. ›

1849

The city of Manizales, Colombia, is founded by 'The Expedition of the 20'. ›

1822

Pedro I of Brazil is proclaimed the emperor. ›

1810

The citizens of Munich hold the first Oktoberfest in celebration of the marriage of Crown Prince Louis of Bavaria and Princess Therese of Saxe-Hildburghausen. ›

1799

Jeanne Geneviève Labrosse becomes the first woman to jump from a balloon with a parachute. ›

1798

Flemish and Luxembourgish peasants launch the rebellion against French rule known as the Peasants' War. ›

1793

The cornerstone of Old East, the oldest state university building in the United States, is laid at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. ›

1792

The first celebration of Columbus Day is held in New York City. ›

1773

America's first insane asylum opens. ›

1748

War of Jenkins' Ear: A British squadron wins a tactical victory over a Spanish squadron off Havana. ›

1692

The Salem witch trials are ended by a letter from Province of Massachusetts Bay Governor William Phips. ›

1654

The Delft Explosion devastates the city in the Netherlands, killing more than 100 people. ›

1492

Christopher Columbus's first expedition makes landfall on San Salvador Island in the Caribbean. (Julian calendar) ›

1428

The English and their Burgundian allies begin the Siege of Orleans, the most pivotal investiture of the Hundred Years' War. ›

1406

Chen Yanxiang, the only person from Indonesia known to have visited dynastic Korea, reaches Seoul after having set out from Java four months before. ›

1398

In the Treaty of Salynas, Lithuania cedes Samogitia to the Teutonic Knights. ›

1279

The Nichiren Shōshū branch of Buddhism is founded in Japan. ›

633

Battle of Hatfield Chase: King Edwin of Northumbria is defeated and killed by an alliance under Penda of Mercia and Cadwallon of Gwynedd. ›

539 BC

The army of Cyrus the Great of Persia conquer Babylon, ending the Babylonian empire. (Julian calendar) ›