April 12 Historical Events
The following events took place on April 12. The list is arranged in chronological order.
Found 43 events. Showing 1 - 30.
- 238Gordian II loses the Battle of Carthage against the Numidian forces loyal to Maximinus Thrax and is killed. Gordian I, his father, commits suicide.
- 240Shapur I is crowned as king of the Sasanian Empire.
- 467Anthemius is elevated to Emperor of the Western Roman Empire.
- 627King Edwin of Northumbria is converted to Christianity by Paulinus, bishop of York.
- 1204The Crusaders of the Fourth Crusade breach the walls of Constantinople and enter the city, which they completely occupy the following day.
- 1606The Union Flag is adopted as the flag of English and Scottish ships.
- 1776American Revolution: With the Halifax Resolves, the North Carolina Provincial Congress authorizes its Congressional delegation to vote for independence from Britain.
- 1820Alexander Ypsilantis is declared leader of Filiki Eteria, a secret organization to overthrow Ottoman rule over Greece.
- 1831Soldiers marching on the Broughton Suspension Bridge in Manchester, England cause it to collapse.
- 1861American Civil War: The war begins with Confederate forces firing on Fort Sumter, in the harbor of Charleston, South Carolina.
- 1862American Civil War: The Andrews Raid (the Great Locomotive Chase) occurs, starting from Big Shanty, Georgia (now Kennesaw).
- 1864American Civil War: The Battle of Fort Pillow: Confederate forces kill most of the African American soldiers that surrendered at Fort Pillow, Tennessee.
- 1865American Civil War: Mobile, Alabama, falls to the Union Army.
- 1877The United Kingdom annexes the Transvaal.
- 1910SMS Zrínyi, one of the last pre-dreadnought battleships built by the Austro-Hungarian Navy, is launched.
- 1917World War I: Canadian forces successfully complete the taking of Vimy Ridge from the Germans.
- 1927Shanghai massacre of 1927: Chiang Kai-shek orders the Communist Party of China members executed in Shanghai, ending the First United Front.
- 1927Rocksprings, Texas was hit by an F5 tornado that destroyed 235 of the 247 buildings in the town and killed 72 townspeople and injured 205; third deadliest tornado in Texas history.
- 1928The Bremen, a German Junkers W 33 type aircraft, takes off for the first successful transatlantic aeroplane flight from east to west.
- 1934The 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.
- 1934The U.S. Auto-Lite strike begins, culminating in a five-day melee between Ohio National Guard troops and 6,000 strikers and picketers.
- 1935First flight of the Bristol Blenheim.
- 1937Sir Frank Whittle ground-tests the first jet engine designed to power an aircraft, at Rugby, England.
- 1945U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt dies while in office; Vice President Harry Truman, becomes President upon Roosevelt’s death.
- 1945The U.S. Ninth Army under General William H. Simpson crosses the Elbe River astride Magdeburg, and reached Tangermünde—only 50 miles from Berlin.
- 1955The polio vaccine, developed by Dr. Jonas Salk, is declared safe and effective.
- 1961The Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin becomes the first human to travel into outer space and perform the first manned orbital flight, Vostok 1.
- 1963The Soviet nuclear-powered submarine K-33 collides with the Finnish merchant vessel M/S Finnclipper in the Danish straits.
- 1970Soviet submarine K-8, carrying four nuclear torpedoes, sinks in the Bay of Biscay four days after a fire on board.
- 1980Samuel Doe takes control of Liberia in a coup d'état, ending over 130 years of minority Americo-Liberian rule over the country.
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