August 12
is the 224th day of the year (225th in
leap years) in the
Gregorian Calendar. There are 141 days remaining. It is the peak of the
Perseid meteor shower. It is also known as the "
Glorious Twelfth" in the
UK, as it marks the traditional start of the
grouse shooting season.
*
490 BC - the
Battle of Marathon, in which
Athens defeated an invading army of
Persians, may have been fought on this date in the
proleptic Julian calendar - but see
12 September.
*
30 BC -
Cleopatra commits suicide after her defeat and Mark Antony's defeat at the battle of Actium.
*
1099 -
First Crusade:
Battle of Ascalon - Crusaders under the command of
Godfrey of Bouillon defeat
Fatimid forces under
Al-Afdal Shahanshah. Considered the last engagement of the First Crusade.
*
1121 -
Battle of Didgori: The
Georgian army under King
David the Builder won a decisive victory over the famous
Seljuk commander
Ilghazi.
*
1323 -
Treaty of Nöteborg -
Sweden and
Novgorod (
Russia) regulates the border for the first time
*
1332 -
Wars of Scottish Independence:
Battle of Dupplin Moor - Scots under
Domhnall II, Earl of Mar routed by
Edward Balliol*
1676 -
Praying Indian John Alderman shot and killed
Metacomet the
Wampanoag war chief, ending
King Philip's War.
*
1806 -
Santiago de Liniers re-takes the city of
Buenos Aires after the
first English invasion.
*
1851 -
Isaac Singer granted a patent for his
sewing machine*
1854 - Count
Gaston de Raousset Boulbon is executed by shooting, in regard to the
Battle of Guaymas.
*
1877 -
Asaph Hall discovers
Deimos*
1883 - The last
quagga dies at the
Artis Magistra zoo in
Amsterdam*
1898 - Armistice ends the
Spanish-American War* 1898 - The
Hawaiian flag is lowered from
Iolani Palace in an elaborate annexation ceremony and replaced with the American flag to signify the transfer of sovereignty from the
Republic of Hawai`i to the
United States.
*
1908 - First
Model T Ford built
*
1914 -
World War I - Britain declares war on
Austria-Hungary; British Empire countries automatically included.
*
1925 - The first cast of
Alpha Psi Omega, drawn from The Masquers of Fairmont College,
West Virginia, was initiated.
*
1952 - The
Night of Murdered Poets - Prominent Jewish intellectuals were murdered in Moscow.
*
1953 -
Nuclear testing: The
Soviet atomic bomb project proceeded with the detonation of
Joe 4, the first
Soviet thermonuclear weapon.
*
1960 -
Echo I, the first
communications satellite, launched
*
1966 -
Massacre of Braybrook Street as three policemen are shot dead in East Acton, London.
*
1969 -
Battle of the Bogside, Catholic community of
Derry engage in two-day "battle" with
Royal Ulster Constabulary*
1978 -
Japan and
China sign the
Treaty of Peace and Friendship between Japan and the People's Republic of China.
*
1980 - Signing of the
Montevideo Treaty, which established the
Latin American Integration Association.
*
1981 - Release of the
IBM PC or
Personal Computer*
1985 -
Japan Airlines Flight 123, a
Boeing 747 jumbo jet, crashes into Mount Ogura in
Gunma Prefecture,
Japan, killing 520 in the world's worst single-plane air disaster. Four people miraculously survive.
*
1990 -
Sue, the most complete
skeleton of a
Tyrannosaurus rex, discovered near
Faith,
South Dakota.
*
1992 - Canada, Mexico, and the United States announce completion of negotiations for the
North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).
*
1994 - The
Woodstock '94 rock concert takes place in
New York.
* 1994 -
Major League Baseball players go on
strike. The work stoppage will force the cancellation of the
1994 World Series.
*
2000 - The
Oscar class submarine K-141 Kursk of the
Russian Navy exploded and sank in the
Barents Sea during a
military exercise.
*
2004 -
Sweden's nine millionth inhabitant is born.
* 2004 -
Lee Hsien Loong is sworn in as
Singapore's 3rd
Prime Minister.
* 2004 -
World Youth Festival in
Barcelona.
*
2005 -
Sri Lanka's foreign minister,
Lakshman Kadirgamar, is fatally shot by a sniper in his home.
* 2005 - An F2 tornado strikes the coal mining town of
Wright, Wyoming, destroying nearly 100 homes and killing two people.
* 2005 -
Civil unrest provoked in the
Maldives* 2005 - An F1
tornado strikes
Glen Cove, New York, a rare event on
Long Island*
1503 -
Christian III of Denmark and Norway (d.
1559)
*
1566 -
Infanta Isabella Clara Eugenia of Spain (d.
1633)
*
1604 -
Tokugawa Iemitsu, Japanese shogun (d.
1651)
*
1629 - Tsar
Alexei I of Russia (d.
1676)
*
1643 - King
Afonso VI of Portugal (d.
1683)
*
1644 -
Heinrich Ignaz Biber, Bohemian composer (d.
1704)
*
1647 -
Johann Heinrich Acker, German writer (d.
1719)
*
1686 -
John Balguy, English philosopher (d.
1748)
*
1696 -
Maurice Greene, English composer (d.
1755)
*
1720 -
Konrad Ekhof, German actor (d.
1778)
*
1762 - King
George IV of the United Kingdom (d.
1830)
*
1774 -
Robert Southey, English poet and biographer (d.
1843)
*
1831 -
Helena Blavatsky, Ukrainian-born author (d.
1891)
*
1856 -
"Diamond Jim" Brady, American financier (d.
1917)
*
1859 -
Katharine Lee Bates, American poet (d.
1929)
*
1866 -
Jacinto Benavente, Spanish writer,
Nobel Prize Laureate (d.
1954)
*
1867 -
Edith Hamilton, German classicist (d.
1963)
*
1876 -
Mary Roberts Rinehart, American author (d.
1958)
*
1880 -
Radclyffe Hall, British author (d.
1943)
* 1880 -
Christy Mathewson, baseball player (d.
1925)
*
1881 -
Cecil B. DeMille, American director (d.
1959)
*
1883 -
Pauline Frederick, American actress (d.
1938)
*
1885 -
Jean Cabannes, French physicist (d.
1959)
*
1886 - Sir
Keith Murdoch, Australian journalist and newspaper owner (d.
1952)
*
1887 -
Erwin Schrödinger, Austrian physicist,
Nobel Prize Laureate (d.
1961)
*
1892 -
Alfred Lunt, American actor (d.
1977)
*
1902 -
Mohammad Hatta, Vice President of Indonesia 1945-1956 (d.
1980)
*
1904 -
Tsarevich Alexei Nikolaevich of Russia (d.
1918)
*
1906 -
Harry Hopman, Australian-born tennis player and coach (d.
1985)
* 1906 -
Tedd Pierce, American animator (d.
1972)
*
1907 -
Joe Besser, American actor and comedian (d.
1988)
*
1911 -
Cantinflas, Mexican actor (d.
1993)
* 1911 -
Jane Wyatt, American actress
*
1919 -
Vikram Sarabhai, Indian physicist (d.
1971)
*
1924 -
Derek Shackleton, English cricketer
* 1924 -
Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, leader of Pakistan (d.
1988)
*
1925 -
Norris McWhirter, Scottish co-founder of the
Guinness Book of Records (d.
2004)
* 1925 -
Ross McWhirter, Scottish co-founder of the
Guinness Book of Records (d.
1975)
* 1925 -
George Wetherill, American scientist (d.
2006)
*
1926 -
John Derek, American actor (d.
1998)
* 1926 -
Joe "Boogaloo" Jones, American R&B singer (d.
2005)
*
1927 -
Mstislav Rostropovich, Russian cellist and conductor
* 1927 -
Porter Wagoner, American singer
*
1928 -
Bob Buhl, baseball player (d.
2001)
* 1928 -
Dan Curtis, film and television producer and director
* 1928 -
Charles Blackman, Australian artist
*
1929 -
Buck Owens, American singer (d.
2006)
*
1930 -
George Soros American businessman
* 1930 -
Jacques Tits, French mathematician
*
1931 -
William Goldman, American screenwriter
*
1932 -
Somdej Phra Nangchao Sirikit Phra Boromarajininat HM Queen Sirikit of Thailand
*
1933 -
Parnelli Jones, American race car driver
*
1939 -
George Hamilton, American actor
*
1943 -
Deborah Walley, American actress (d.
2001)
*
1945 -
Ann M. Martin, American author
*
1949 -
Mark Knopfler, British guitarist (Dire Straits)
*
1951 -
Willie Horton, American murderer and rapist
*
1954 -
Pat Metheny, American guitarist
* 1954 -
Sam J. Jones, American actor
*
1956 -
Bruce Greenwood, Canadian actor
*
1960 -
Laurent Fignon, French cyclist
*
1962 -
Miss Cleo, American psychic
*
1965 -
Peter Krause, American actor
*
1967 -
Regilio Tuur, Dutch boxer
*
1968 -
Andras Jones, American actor
*
1970 -
Kevin Smith, American Director/actor
*
1971 -
Michael Ian Black, American comedian
* 1971 -
Pete Sampras, American tennis player
* 1971 -
Rebecca Gayheart, American actress
*
1972 -
Mark Kinsella, Irish footballer
*
1973 -
Richard Reid (shoe bomber)* 1973 -
Joseba Beloki, Spanish cyclist
* 1973 -
Jonathan Coachman, American professional wrestler and executive
*
1974 -
Matt Clement, baseball pitcher
*
1976 -
Antoine Walker, American basketball player
* 1976 -
Mikko Viljami "Linde" Lindström, Finnish Guitarist
*
1977 -
Plaxico Burress, American football player
* 1977 -
Jesper Grønkjær, Danish soccer player
*
1980 -
Dominique Swain, American actress
* 1980 -
Matt Thiessen, Canadian-born musician (
Relient K)
*
1981 -
Djibril Cisse, French football player
*
30 BC -
Cleopatra (b.
69 BC)
*
875 -
Louis II Holy Roman Emperor (b.
825)
*
1424 -
Yongle,
Emperor of China (b.
1460)
*
1484 -
George of Trebizond, Greek philosopher (b.
1395)
* 1484 -
Pope Sixtus IV (b.
1414)
*
1512 -
Alessandro Achillini, Italian philosopher (b.
1463)
*
1577 -
Thomas Smith, English diplomat and scholar (b.
1513)
*
1588 -
Alfonso Ferrabosco (I), Italian composer (b.
1543)
*
1612 -
Giovanni Gabrieli, Italian composer
*
1633 -
Jacopo Peri, Italian composer (b.
1561)
*
1648 -
Ibrahim I,
Ottoman Sultan (b.
1615)
*
1674 -
Philippe de Champaigne, French painter (b.
1602)
*
1689 -
Pope Innocent XI (b.
1611)
*
1778 -
Peregrine Bertie, 3rd Duke of Ancaster and Kesteven, British general and politician (b.
1714)
*
1809 -
Mikhail Kamensky, Russian field marshal (b.
1738)
*
1810 -
Etienne Louis Geoffroy, French pharmacist and entomologist (b.
1725)
*
1848 -
George Stephenson, British locomotive designer (b.
1781)
*
1864 -
Sakuma Shōzan, Japanese reformer (b.
1811)
*
1865 -
William Jackson Hooker, English botanist (b.
1785)
*
1891 -
James Russell Lowell, American poet and essayist (b.
1819)
*
1900 -
Wilhelm Steinitz, Austrian chess player (b.
1836)
*
1901 -
Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld, Finnish-Swedish explorer (b.
1832)
*
1914 -
John Philip Holland, Irish submarine designer (b.
1840)
*
1918 -
Anna Held, Polish-born actress and singer (b.
1872)
*
1922 -
Arthur Griffith,
President of Ireland (b.
1871)
*
1928 -
Leoš Janáček, Czech composer (b.
1854)
*
1934 -
Hendrik Petrus Berlage, Dutch architect (b.
1856)
*
1935 -
Friedrich Schottky, German mathematician (b.
1851)
*
1943 -
Bobby Peel, English cricketer (b.
1857)
*
1948 -
Harry Brearley, English inventor (b.
1871)
*
1955 -
Thomas Mann, German writer,
Nobel Prize Laureate (b.
1875)
* 1955 -
James B. Sumner, American chemist,
Nobel Prize Laureate (b.
1887)
*
1959 -
Mike O'Neill, baseball player (b.
1877)
*
1964 -
Ian Fleming, English novelist (b.
1908)
*
1973 -
Walter Rudolf Hess, Swiss physiologist,
Nobel Prize Laureate (b.
1881)
* 1973 -
Karl Ziegler, German chemist,
Nobel Prize Laureate (b.
1898)
*
1979 -
Ernst Boris Chain, German-born biochemist,
Nobel Prize Laureate (b.
1906)
*
1982 -
Henry Fonda, American actor (b.
1905)
* 1982 -
Salvador Sanchez, Mexican boxer (b.
1959)
* 1982 -
Varlam Shalamov, Russian writer (b.
1907)
* 1982 -
Joe Tex, American singer (b.
1933)
*
1985 -
Kyu Sakamoto, Japanese singer (plane crash) (b.
1941)
* 1985 -
Manfred Winkelhock, German race car driver (b.
1951)
*
1988 -
Jean-Michel Basquiat, Haitian-American artist
* 1988 -
Bhakti Raksaka Sridhara Deva Gosvami Maharaja, religious Guru from India (b.
1895)
*
1989 -
William Shockley, American physicist,
Nobel Prize Laureate (b.
1910)
*
1990 -
Dorothy Mackaill, British-born American actress (b.
1903)
*
1992 -
John Cage, American composer (b.
1912)
*
1997 -
Luther Allison, American musician (b.
1939)
*
2000 -
Loretta Young, American actress (b.
1913)
*
2002 -
Enos Slaughter, baseball player (b.
1916)
*
2004 - Sir
Godfrey Hounsfield, English electrical engineer and inventor,
Nobel Prize Laureate (b.
1919)
* 2004 -
Peter Woodthorpe, British actor (b.
1931)
*
2005 -
John Loder, co-founder of the anarcho-punk band
CRASS (b.
1946)
*
United Nations -
International Youth Day (since
1999)
*
Glorious Twelfth at the
Yorkshire Dales*
Thailand - The
Queen's Birthday,
Mother's Day*Zaraday (
Discordianism)
*
Zimbabwe - Defence Force Day
*International
Ponce de Leon day
*
Roman Catholicism - the feasts of at least ? saints:
**St.
Clare**St.
Euplius**St.
Muredach*
BBC: On This Day*
The New York Times: On This Day*
On This Day in CanadaAugust 11 -
August 13 -
July 12 -
September 12 --
listing of all days
