1912

Decades: 1860s 1870s 1880s 1890s 1900s - 1910s - 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s

Years: 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 - 1912 - 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917

Events

• January 1 - Establishment of Republic of China.
• January 6 - New Mexico is admitted as the 47th U.S. state.
• Alfred Wegener proposes the theory of continental drift
• February 12 - Republic of China adopts the Gregorian calendar
• February 14 - Arizona is admitted as the 48th U.S. state.
• February 14 - In Groton, Connecticut, the first diesel-powered submarine is commissioned.
• March 1 - Albert Berry makes the first parachute jump from a moving airplane.
• March 5 - Italian forces are the first to use dirigibles for a military purpose by using them for reconnaissance west of Tripoli behind Turkish lines.
• March 7 - Roald Amundsen announces discovery of the South Pole
• March 12 - The Girl Guides (later renamed the Girl Scouts) are founded.
• March 30 - France establishes a protectorate over Morocco.
• April 15 - Sinking of the S.S. Titanic.
• May 13 - In the United Kingdom, the Royal Flying Corps (now the Royal Air Force) in established.
• June 6-June 8 - eruption of Novarupta in Alaska, second largest volcanic eruption in historic time.
• July 30 - In Japanese History, end of the Meiji Era and beginning of the Taisho Era.
• August 25 - Kuomintang, the Chinese nationalist party is founded
• September 25 - Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism founded
• October 8 - First Balkan War begins: Montenegro declares war against Turkey.
• October 14 - While campaigning in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, former president Theodore Roosevelt is shot by saloonkeeper William Schrank. With a fresh flesh wound and the bullet still in him, Roosevelt still delivers his scheduled speech.
• November 5 - U.S. presidential election, 1912: Democratic challenger Woodrow Wilson wins a landslide victory over Republican incumbent William Howard Taft. Taft's base was undercut by Progressive Party candidate (and former Republican) Theodore Roosevelt, who finished second, ahead of Taft.
• November 11 - Khios declares its independence from the ottoman empire.
• November 27 - Spain declares a protectorate over the north shore of Morocco.
• November 28 - Albania declares its independence from the Ottoman Empire.
• December 3 - First Balkan War ends - Bulgaria, Greece, Montenegro, and Serbia (the Balkan League) sign an armistice with Turkey, ending the two-month long war.
• December 14 - Norwegian polar explorer Roald Amundsen and a team of four, become the first people to reach the South Pole.

• Sea Scouting begins under the aegis of the Boy Scouts of America
• Kazimierz Funk identifies vitamins.
• The first blues song, "The Memphis Blues," is published.

Year in topic

• 1912 in art
• 1912 in film
• 1912 in literature
• 1912 in music
• 1912 in sports

Births

• January 7 - Charles Addams, cartoonist
• January 8 - José Ferrer, actor (d. 1992)
• January 14 - Rudolf Hagelstange, German lyricist, narrator and essayist (d. 1984)
• January 16 - Franz Tumler, Austrian narrator (d. 1998)
• January 28 - Jackson Pollock, painter, initiator of Dripping painting (d. 1956)
• January 30 - Barbara W. Tuchman, historian (d. 1989)
• February 6 - Eva Braun, Adolf Hitler's mistress (d. 1945)
• February 11 - Roy Fuller English poet/novelist.
• February 11 - Rudolf Firkusny Napajedla, Czechoslovakian, pianist.
• February 18 - Heinz Kühn, politician (d. 1992)
• February 19 - Stan Kenton, musician (d. 1979)
• February 20 - Pierre Boulle, author
• February 27 - Lawrence Durrell, writer (d. 1990)
• March 12 - Irving Layton, poet
• March 14 - Les Brown, band leader (d. 2001)
• March 15 - Lightnin' Hopkins, musician (d. 1982)
• March 16 - Pat Nixon, actress, First Lady of the United States (d. 1993)
• March 17 - Bayard Rustin, civil rights activist (d. 1987)
• March 18 - Lucien Laurin, Secretariat's Hall of Fame trainer (d. 2000)
• March 22 - Karl Malden, actor
• March 23 - Wernher von Braun, physicist and engineer (d. 1977)
• March 27 - James Callaghan, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
• March 31 - Hermann Höcherl, politician (d. 1989)
• April 8 - Sonja Henie, Olympic and World Champion figure skater
• April 26 - A.E. van Vogt, science fiction writer (d. 2000)
• April 28 - Odette Sansom, SOE agent, WW II heroine (d. 1995)
• May 9 - Pedro Armendáriz, actor (d. 1963)
• May 12 - Archibald Cox, Watergate special prosecutor
• May 14 - Ben Hogan, golfer (d. 1997)
• May 16 - Studs Terkel, writer
• May 18 - Walter Sisulu, anti-apartheid activist (d. 2003)
• May 18 - Perry Como, singer (d. 2001)
• May 23 - John Payne, actor (d. 1989)
• May 27 - Sam Snead (d. 2002)
• May 28 - Patrick White, author (d. 1990)
• May 30 - Joseph Stein, playwright
• May 31 - Alfred Deller, singer, early modern countertenor (d. 1979)
• June 26 - Jay Silverheels, actor (d. 1980)
• July 1 - David R. Brower, major environmentalist (d. 2000)
• July 14 - Woody Guthrie, folk musician (d. 1969)
• July 17 - Art Linkletter, television host
• August 30 - Nancy Wake, WW II heroine
• September 5 - John Cage, American composer
• September 12 - Jacques Fath, French couturier (d. 1954)
• September 19 - Kurt Sanderling, conductor
• September 21 - Chuck Jones, animator
• September 29 - Michelangelo Antonioni, Italian film director
• October 21 - Georg Solti, conductor (d. 1997)
• October 22 - Johan Hendrik Weidner, Belgian born WW II hero (d. 1994)
• November 4 - Vadim Salmanov, composer
• October 27 - Conlon Nancarrow, composer (d. 1997)
• November 21 - Eleanor Powell, actress, dancer (d. 1982)
• November 26 - Eugene Ionesco, playwright (d. 1994)
• December 12 - Henry Armstrong, American boxing champion (d. 1988)
• (unknown) - Laurence Henry Hicks, composer

Deaths:

• February 16 - Nikolai of Japan, Eastern Orthodox monk priest, saint.
• March 29 - Robert Falcon Scott, explorer
• March 30 - Karl May, author
• April 15 - Most of crew and passengers on the Titanic
• April 15 - John Jacob Astor IV, businessman aboard the Titanic
• April 15 - Benjamin Guggenheim, businessman, aboard the Titanic
• May 14 - August Strindberg
• May 25 - Austin Lane Crothers, politician.
• May 30 - Wilbur Wright of the Wright brothers, American co-inventor of the airplane.

Nobel Prizes

• Physics - Nils Gustaf Dalén
• Chemistry - not awarded
• Medicine - Alexis Carrel
• Literature - Gerhart Johann Robert Hauptmann
• Peace - Elihu Root

Referenced By