12 May
May 12 is the 132nd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (133rd in leap years). There are 233 days remaining.
Events
- 1191 - Richard I of England marries Berengaria of Navarre.
- 1264 - The Battle of Lewes begins.
- 1328 - Nicholas V is consecrated at St Peter's Basilica in Rome by the bishop of Venice.
- 1588 - Henry III of France flees Paris after Henry of Guise enters the city.
- 1689 - King William's War: William III of England joins the League of Augsburg starting a war with France.
- 1780 - American Revolutionary War: Charleston, South Carolina is taken by British forces.
- 1797 - First Coalition: Napoleon I of France conquers Venice.
- 1864 - American Civil War: Battle of Spotsylvania Court House: The "Bloody Angle" - thousands of Union and Confederate soldiers die.
- 1870 - Manitoba becomes a province of Canada.
- 1881 - In North Africa, Tunisia becomes a French protectorate.
- 1885 - The four day Battle of Batoche, pitting rebel French Canadians against the Canadian government, comes to an end with a decisive rebel defeat.
- 1926 - UK General Strike 1926: In the United Kingdom, a general strike by trade unions ends (the strike began on May 3).
- 1932 - Ten weeks after his abduction, the infant son of Charles Lindbergh is found dead in Hopewell, New Jersey just a few miles from the Lindbergh's home.
- 1937 - Coronation of King George VI of the United Kingdom at Westminster Abbey.
- 1942 - World War II: Battle of Kharkov - In the eastern Ukraine, the Soviet Army initiates its first major offensive of the war. During the battle the Soviets will take the city of Kharkov back from the German Army.
- 1949 - The Soviet Union lifts its Blockade of Berlin.
- 1958 - A formal North American Aerospace Defense Command agreement is signed between the United States and Canada.
- 1967 - At Queen Elizabeth Hall, England, Pink Floyd stages the first ever quadraphonic rock concert.
- 1975 - Mayaguez incident: The Cambodian navy seizes the American merchant ship SS Mayaguez in international waters.
- 1999 - David Steel becomes the first Presiding Officer (speaker) of the modern Scottish Parliament.
- 2000 - The Tate Modern opens in London
- 2002 - Former President Jimmy Carter arrives in Cuba for a five-day visit with Fidel Castro becoming first President of the United States, in or out of office, to visit the island since Castro's 1959 revolution.
Births
- 1496 - Gustav I of Sweden († 1560)
- 1670 - King Frederick Augustus I of Poland († 1733)
- 1803 - Justus von Liebig, chemist († 1873)
- 1820 - Florence Nightingale, nurse († 1910)
- 1828 - Dante Gabriel Rossetti, poet, painter († 1882)
- 1845 - Gabriel Fauré, composer († 1924)
- 1850 - Henry Cabot Lodge, U.S. statesman († 1924)
- 1889 - Otto Frank, writer, father of Anne Frank († 1980)
- 1892 - Fritz Kortner, director († 1970)
- 1899 - Indra Devi, yogi († 2002)
- 1900 - Helene Weigel, actress († 1971)
- 1907 - Katharine Hepburn, actress († 2003)
- 1910 - Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin, chemist († 1994)
- 1912 - Archibald Cox, U.S. Solicitor General and Watergate special prosecutor
- 1914 - Howard K. Smith, journalist († 2002)
- 1918 - Julius Rosenberg, spy († 1953)
- 1921 - Joseph Beuys, artist († 1986)
- 1921 - Farley Mowat, writer, naturalist
- 1924 - Tony Hancock, comedian († 1968)
- 1925 - Yogi Berra, Baseball Hall of Famer
- 1928 - Burt Bacharach, composer
- 1935 - Felipe Alou, Major League Baseball manager
- 1936 - Frank Stella, painter
- 1937 - George Carlin, comedian
- 1942 - Ian Dury, rock star († 2000)
- 1948 - Steve Winwood, singer ("Blind Faith", "Traffic")
- 1955 - Brett Gurewitz, guitarist for Bad Religion and NOFX
- 1962 - Emilio Estevez, actor
- 1966 - Stephen Baldwin, actor
- 1968 - Tony Hawk, skateboarding legend
- 1970 - Mike Weir, Canadian golfer, 2003 Masters champion
- 1975 - Jonah Lomu, New Zealand rugby player
Deaths
- 1357 - Alphonso IV of Portugal
- 1641 - Thomas Wentworth, Earl of Strafford
- 1845 - Janos Bacsanyi, Hungarian poet
- 1867 - Friedrich William Eduard Gerhard, German archaeologist
- 1884 - Bedrich Smetana, Czech composer
- 1889 - Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin, Russian satirist
- 1907 - Joris-Karl Huysmans, French author
- 1925 - Amy Lowell, poet
- 1935 - Jozef Pilsudski, father of modern Poland
- 1944 - Max Brand, author
- 1944 - Q, British writer
- 1956 - Louis Calhern, silent film actor
- 1985 - Jean Dubuffet, painter
- 1986 - Elisabeth Bergner, actress
- 1988 - Chet Baker, jazz trumpeter
- 1992 - Robert Reed, actor
- 2001 - Perry Como, singer
Holidays and Observances
Events
See Also:
May 11 - May 13 - April 12 - June 12 -- listing of all days
January, February, March, April, May, June, July,
August, September, October, November, December
Referenced By
Abelardo L. Rodríguez | Baroness Kennedy of The Shaws | British North Borneo | Bruce Boxleitner | Charles Barry | Charles Holden | Dover Castle | Edward Lear | El Morro | El Morro Castle | Flag of Manitoba | HMAS Hobart | HMAS Rankin | HMS Glasgow | HMS Hesperus | Helena Kennedy | Home Secretary | Home Secretary of the United Kingdom | List of JAG episodes | List of Presidents of Haiti | List of Presidents of Uganda | List of human spaceflights, 1961-1986 | List of individuals executed in Alabama | List of individuals executed in Florida | List of individuals executed in Texas | Manitoba | Manitoba, towns and cities | Mary, Princess Royal | Mary Elizabeth Donaldson | Matthew Bloxam | Morro Castle | Nelly Sachs | Niger/Government | North Borneo | Politics of Niger | Prince Christian of Schleswig-Holstein | Prince Christian of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg | Princess Helena, Princess Christian of Schleswig-Holstein | Princess Helena of the United Kingdom | Princess Victoria Eugenie of Battenberg | Radama II of Madagascar | Rheinübung | Robert Baldwin | Secretary of State for Home Affairs | Secretary of State for the Home Department | Susan Hampshire | UK General Strike 1926 | USS Albany (1899) | USS Albany (CL-23) | USS Alliance (1778) | USS Archerfish (SSN-678) | USS Arkansas (BB-33) | USS Astoria (CA-34) | USS Atlanta (CL-104) | USS Boston (1776) | USS Breton (CVE-10) | USS Casablanca | USS Casablanca (CVE-55) | USS Chenango (CVE-28) | USS Coral Sea (CV-43) | USS Coral Sea (CVA-43) | USS Coral Sea (CVB-43) | USS Dolphin (PG-24) | USS Ellyson | USS Ellyson (DD-454) | USS Enterprise (CV-6) | USS Florida (BB-30) | USS Galena (1862) | USS Gudgeon (SS-211) | USS Idaho (BB-24) | USS Indiana (BB-01) | USS Indiana (BB-1) | USS Kearsage (CVA-33) | USS Kearsarge (CV-33) | USS Kearsarge (CVA-33) | USS Kearsarge (CVS-33) | USS Massachusetts (BB-59) | USS Mississippi (BB-23) | USS Nathanael Greene | USS Nathanael Greene (SSBN-636) | USS New Jersey (BB-16) | USS New Mexico | USS New Mexico (BB-40) | USS New York (ACR-2) | USS New York (CA-2) | USS Parsons | USS Parsons (DD-949) | USS Parsons (DDG-33) | USS Parsons DDG33 | USS Philadelphia (C-4) | USS Rochester (CA-2) | USS S-27 (SS-132) | USS S-44 (SS-155) | USS Sailfish (SS-192) | USS Salt Lake City | USS Santee (CVE-29) | USS Seawolf (SS-197) | USS Simon Bolivar | USS Simon Bolivar (SSBN-641) | USS Somers ...
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