March 12

2024 Calendar

March 12 is the 71st day of the year (72nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 294 days remaining until the end of the year.

Events

Up to 1900

515 BC – Construction is completed on the Temple in Jerusalem.
1550 - Several hundred Spanish and indigenous troops under the command of Pedro Valdivia defeat an army of 60,000 Mapuche at the Battle of Penco during the Arauco War in present-day Chile.
1622 - Ignatius of Loyola and Saint Francis Xavier are canonized as Saints of the Roman Catholic Church.
1664 – New Jersey becomes a colony of Britain.
1689 - The Williamite War in Ireland begins.
1811 - Peninsular War: A day after a successful rear guard action, French Marshal Michel Neyonce again successfully delays the pursuing an Anglo-Portuguese force at the Battle of Redinha.
1868 - Henry O'Farrell attempts to kill Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh.
1871 - Karl Theodor Robert Luther discovers Jupiter's moon Amalthea.
1878 - Walvis Bay in present-day Namibia comes under British control.
1881 - Andrew Watson makes his first appearance for the Scotland national football team, as the world's first black footballer to turn out for a national side.
1894 – Coca-Cola is sold in bottles for the first time.

1901 – 2000

1912 – The Girl Guides (later renamed the Girl Scouts in the US) are founded in the US.
1913 – Canberra becomes the capital of Australia.
1918 - Moscow becomes the capital city of Russia.
1922 - Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan form the Transcaucasian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic.
1928 – In California, the St. Francis Dam fails, killing 400 people.
1930 – Mahatma Gandhi leads a 200-mile march known as Dandi March to the sea in defiance of British opposition, to protest the British monopoly on salt.
1933 – Great Depression: Franklin Delano Roosevelt addresses the nation for the first time as President of the United States. This was also the first of his "Fireside Chats."
1934 - Konstantin Pats and General John Laidoner stage a coup in Estonia.
1934 - Japanese torpedo boat Tomozuru sinks in a storm off Sasebo, Nagasaki, killing 100 out of the 113 people on board.
1938 – Anschluss: German troops occupy Austria; annexation declared the following day.
1940 – Winter War: Finland signs a harsh peace treaty with the Soviet Union, ceding almost all of Finnish Karelia. Finnish troops and remaining population are immediately evacuated.
1947 – The Truman Doctrine is proclaimed to help stem the spread of Communism.
1950 - Llandow Air Disaster: In South Wales, an aircraft crashes near the village of Sigingstone, killing 80 people.
1951 – The Dennis the Menace comic strip appears in newspapers across the US for the first time.
1956 – The Dow Jones Industrial Average closes above 500 for the first time (500.24)
1958 – In Hilversum, Netherlands, André Claveau wins the third Eurovision Song Contest for France singing "Dors, mon amour" (Sleep, my love).
1960 – A fire at a chemical plant in Pusan, Korea kills 68.
1961 - The Eiger north face is climbed outside the main climbing season for the first time.
1967 – Suharto takes over from Sukarno to become President of Indonesia.
1968 – Mauritius achieves independence.
1984 - National Union of Mineworkers leader Arthur Scargill, call for a nationwide strike against the economic policies of Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Margaret Thatcher.
1987 – Les Misérables opens on Broadway.
1992 – Mauritius becomes a republic while remaining a member of the British Commonwealth.
1993 – Several bombs explode in Bombay, India killing about 300 and injuring hundreds more.
1993 – North Korea nuclear weapons program: North Korea says that it plans to withdraw from the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and refuses to allow inspectors access to nuclear sites.
1993 - The Blizzard of '93 hits the eastern United States, with heavy snowfall, high winds and tornadoes.
1994 – A photo by Marmaduke Wetherell, previously touted as 'proof' of the Loch Ness monster, is confirmed to be a hoax.
1994 – The Church of England ordains its first female priests.
1997 – Mikail Markhasev is arrested in Los Angeles, California and charged with shooting Bill Cosby's 27-year-old son, Ennis Cosby.
1999 – Former Warsaw Pact members the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Poland join the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO).

From 2001

2002 – In Texas, Andrea Yates is found guilty of drowning her five children on June 20, 2001. She is later sentenced to life in prison.
2003 – Zoran Djindjic, Prime Minister of Serbia, assassinated in Belgrade.
2003 – Elizabeth Smart, a kidnapped teenager is found and returned to her family in Utah.
2004 – Roh Moo-hyun, President of South Korea is impeached by its national assembly for the first time in the nation's history.
2005 – Tung Chee Hwa, the first Chief Executive of Hong Kong, stepped down from his post after his resignation is approved by the Chinese central government.
2010 - The Winter Paralympics begin in Vancouver.
2011 - Fukushima nuclear disaster: After the previous day's earthquake and tsunami in northeastern Japan, the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Plant fails in several reactors, causing a nuclear disaster, as explosions occur.
2014 - An explosion at the New York City neighborhood of East Harlem kills 8 people and injures around 70.
2017 - A landslide at a landfill site outside Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, kills 72 people.
2019 - British Prime Minister Theresa May loses a second vote on her Brexit deal in the House of Commons.

Births

Up to 1900

1270 - Charles, Count of Valois, son of Philip III of France (d. 1325)
1479 - Giuliano de' Medici, Duke of Nemours, ruler of Florence (d. 1516)
1607 – Paul Gerhardt, German hymnist (d. 1676)
1620 - Johann Heinrich Hottinger, Swiss philologist and theologian (d. 1667)
1626 - John Aubrey, English writer (d. 1697)
1637 - Anne Hyde, wife of James VII of Scotland/James II of England (d. 1671)
1685 – George Berkeley, Irish philosopher (d. 1753)
1710 – Thomas Arne, English composer (d. 1778)
1713 - Johann Adolph Hass, German instrument maker (d. 1771)
1728 - Anton Raphael Mengs, German painter (d. 1779)
1763 - Martin Chittenden, American politician, Governor of Vermont (d. 1840)
1769 - Archibald Campbell, British general (d. 1843)
1781 - Frederica of Baden, Queen of Sweden (d. 1826)
1795 - George T. Wood, 2nd Governor of Texas (d. 1858)
1806 – Jane Pierce, First Lady of the United States (d. 1863)
1821 – John Abbott, 3rd Prime Minister of Canada (d. 1893)
1821 - Luitpold, Prince of Bavaria (d. 1912)
1824 – Gustav Kirchhoff, German physicist (d. 1887)
1832 – Charles Boycott, British land agent (d. 1897)
1835 - Simon Newcomb, Canadian-American astronomer and mathematician (d. 1909)
1837 - Alexandre Guilmant, French organist and composer (d. 1911)
1838 - William Henry Perkin, English chemist (d. 1907)
1851 - Theodore Thurston Geer, American politician, 10th Governor of Oregon (d. 1924)
1858 - Adolph Ochs, American newspaper publisher (d. 1935)
1863 – Gabriele D'Annunzio, Italian writer and politician (d. 1938)
1864 - Alice Tegnér, Swedish composer and organist (d. 1943)
1864 - W. H. R. Rivers, English anthropologist neurologist, ethnologist and psychiatrist (d. 1922)
1869 - George Forbes, 22nd Prime Minister of New Zealand (d. 1947)
1876 - Elbert Lee Trinkle, Governor of Virginia (d. 1939)
1878 - Gemma Galgani, Italian mystic and saint (d. 1903)
1881 – Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, First President of Turkey (d. 1938)
1884 – Vittorio Pozzo, Italian footballer and coach (d. 1968)
1889 – Thorbergur Thordarson, Icelandic writer (d. 1974)
1890 – King Idris of Libya (d. 1983)
1890 - Vaslav Nijinsky, Russian dancer and choreographer (d. 1950)

1901 – 1950

1908 - David Marshall, 1st Chief Minister of Singapore (d. 1995)
1910 – Masayoshi Ohira, Japanese statesman (d. 1980)
1911 - Gustavo Díaz Ordaz, President of Mexico (d. 1979)
1912 - Paul Weston, American pianist, arranger and conductor (d. 1996)
1913 - Yashwantrao Chavan, Indian politician (d. 1984)
1913 - Agathe von Trapp, Austrian-American singer (d. 2010)
1914 - Julia Lennon, John Lennon's mother (d. 1958)
1917 - Leonard Chess, American company executive (d. 1969)
1918 - Elaine de Kooning, American artist (d. 1989)
1919 – Michael Stepovich, Territorial Governor of Alaska, last-surviving territorial Governor in the US (d. 2014)
1921 – Gianni Agnelli, Italian automobile executive (d. 2003)
1921 - Ulo Jogi, Estonian anti-Soviet activist (d. 2007)
1921 - Gordon MacRae, American singer and actor (d. 1986)
1922 – Jack Kerouac, American writer (d. 1969)
1923 – Wally Schirra, American astronaut (d. 2007)
1923 - Clara Fraser, American activist (d. 1998)
1923 – Hanne Hiob, German actress (d. 2009)
1923 - Hjalmar Andersen, Norwegian speed skater (d. 2013)
1923 - Mae Young, American wrestler (d. 2014)
1924 - Mary Lee Woods, British mathematician and computer programmer (d. 2017)
1925 - Leo Esaki, Japanese physicist
1925 - Harry Harrison, American writer (d. 2012)
1925 - Georges Delerue, French movie score composer (d. 1992)
1926 - Gudrun Ure, Scottish actress
1926 – George Ariyoshi, American politician, former Governor of Hawaii
1926 - Minerva Mirabal, Dominican activist (d. 1960)
1927 – Raul Alfonsin, President of Argentina (d. 2009)
1927 - Ragne Tangen, Norwegian children's television presenter (d. 2015)
1928 – Edward Albee, American dramatist (d. 2016)
1930 - Win Tin, Burmese politician (d. 2014)
1931 - Robert B. Oakley, American diplomat (d. 2014)
1932 - Andrew Young, 14th United States Ambassador to the United Nations
1933 - Ken Hodgkisson, English footballer (d. 2018)
1933 - Barbara Lee Feldon, American actress and model
1935 - Valentyna Shevchenko, Soviet-Ukrainian politician
1936 - Eddie Sutton, American college basketball coach
1937 - Valentina Eiduka, Latvian javelin thrower and coach
1940 – Al Jarreau, American singer (d. 2017)
1940 – M. A. Numminen, Finnish singer and writer
1942 - Jimmy Wynn, American baseball player
1943 - Ratko Mladic, Serbian military commander, currently on trial for war crimes
1946 – Liza Minnelli, American singer and actress
1946 – Frank Welker, American actor
1947 – Mitt Romney, American politician, former Governor of Massachusetts and Presidential candidate
1947 – Peter Harry Carstensen, German politician, former Prime Minister of Schleswig-Holstein
1948 – James Taylor, American musician
1948 - Kent Conrad, American politician
1948 - Roger Mullin, Scottish politician
1948 - Virginia Bottomley, Scottish politician
1949 - David Mellor, English journalist, lawyer and politician
1950 – Javier Clemente, Spanish football manager

1951 – 1975

1952 - Jon Provost, American actor
1952 – Yasuhiko Okudera, Japanese footballer
1953 – Carl Hiaasen, American journalist and writer
1953 – Madhav Kumar Nepal, Nepalese politician
1953 - Ron Jeremy, American actor
1954 - Anish Kapoor, Indian-British sculptor and artist
1956 – Michael Catain, American businessman and convicted criminal
1956 – Pim Verbeek, Dutch football manager
1956 - Steve Harrison, British musician (Iron Maiden)
1957 - Jerry Levine, American actor and director
1957 – Patrick Battiston, French footballer
1957 – Marlon Jackson, American singer and musician
1958 - Alan Sneddon, Scottish footballer
1959 - Mark Easton, Scottish journalist
1962 – Andreas Köpke, German footballer
1962 – Darryl Strawberry, American baseball player
1963 – Ian Holloway, English footballer and manager
1963 - Joaquim Cruz, Brazilian runner
1963 - Princess Farahnaz Pahlavi of Iran
1965 - Coleen Nolan, British singer (The Nolans)
1967 - Massimiliano Frezzato, Italian author
1968 - Tammy Duckworth, United States Senator for Illinois
1968 – Aaron Eckhart, American actor
1969 - Graham Coxon, British musician (Blur)
1970 - Karen Bradley, British politician
1971 - Andy Nicol, Scottish rugby player
1971 - Isaiah Rider, American basketball player
1972 – Hector Luis Bustamente, Colombian actor
1975 - Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson, Prime Minister of Iceland
1975 - Kéllé Bryan, English singer

From 1976

1976 - Zhao Wei, Chinese actress
1979 – Pete Doherty, English musician
1979 – Shaun Rodgers, American football player
1980 - Douglas Murray, Canadian ice hockey player
1980 - Ruth Hunt, Welsh activist
1981 - Kristjan Makke, Estonian basketball player
1981 - Peter Waterfield, English diver
1982 - Hisato Sato, Japanese footballer
1982 - Yuto Sato, Japanese footballer
1982 – Tobias Schweinsteiger, German footballer
1983 - Mikko Koivu, Finnish ice hockey player
1984 - Jaimie Alexander, American actress
1985 - Stromae, Belgian singer, rapper and producer
1985 – Bradley Wright-Phillips, English footballer
1986 – Danny Jones, English singer (McFly)
1987 - Jessica Hardy, American swimmer
1987 - Teimour Radjabov, Azerbaijani chess player
1987 - Rico Vonck, Dutch darts player
1990 - Lawrence Clarke, English athlete
1991 - Felix Kroos, German footballer
1992 - Scott Robinson, Scottish footballer
1994 - Christina Grimmie, American pianist and singer-songwriter (d. 2016)
1994 - Tyler Patrick Jones, American actor
1994 - Katie Archibald, Scottish track cyclist
1995 - Kanon Fukuda, Japanese singer and voice actress
1999 - Sakura Oda, Japanese singer

Deaths

Up to 1900

417 - Pope Innocent I
604 - Pope Gregory I
1289 - King Demetre II of Georgia (b. 1259)
1316 - King Stephen Dragutin of Serbia (b. 1253)
1374 - Emperor Go-Kogon of Japan (b. 1336)
1447 - Shah Rukh, ruler of Persia and Transoxonia (b. 1377)
1507 - Cesare Borgia, Italian general and statesman (b. 1475)
1628 - John Bull, English composer (b. 1562)
1648 – Tirso de Molina, Spanish dramatist and poet (b. 1571)
1699 - Peder Griffenfeld, Danish statesman (b. 1635)
1820 - Alexander Mackenzie, Scottish explorer (b. 1764)
1832 – Friedrich Kuhlau, German composer (b. 1786)
1872 – Zeng Guofan, Chinese politician and general (b. 1811)
1894 - Ilarion Pryanishnikov, Russian painter (b. 1840)
1898 – Zacharias Topelius, Finnish-Swedish writer (b. 1818)
1899 - Julius Vogel, Prime Minister of New Zealand (b. 1835)

1901 – 2000

1914 - George Westinghouse, American entrepreneur and engineer (b. 1846)
1916 – Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach, Austrian writer (b. 1830)
1925 – Sun Yat-sen, Chinese revolutionary and politician (b. 1866)
1929 - Asa Griggs Candler, American businessman (b. 1851)
1932 - Ivar Kreuger, Swedish businessman (b. 1880)
1935 - Mihajlo Idvorski Pupin, Serbian-American physicist and chemist (b. 1858)
1937 - Charles-Marie Widor, French organist and composer (b. 1844)
1942 - Robert Bosch, German industrialist (b. 1861)
1943 – Gustav Vigeland, Norwegian sculptor (b. 1869)
1945 - Anne Frank, German-born Dutch Jewish diarist and Holocaust victim (b. 1929)
1946 - Ferenc Szalasi, Hungarian politician (b. 1897)
1947 - Winston Churchill, American novelist (b. 1871)
1955 – Charlie Parker, American jazz saxophonist (b. 1920)
1963 - Arthur Grimsdell, English footballer and cricketer (b. 1894)
1978 - John Cazale, American actor (b. 1935)
1985 - Eugene Ormandy, Hungarian conductor (b. 1899)
1991 – Ragnar Granit, Finnish neuroscientist (b. 1900)
1991 – William Heinesen, Faroese writer, poet and artist (b. 1900)
1991 - LeRoy Collins, Governor of Florida (b. 1909)
1992 - Heinz Kühn, German politician (b. 1912)
1995 - Juanin Clay, American actress (b. 1949)
1998 – Judge Dread, English musician (b. 1945)
1999 – Yehudi Menuhin, American-born violinist (b. 1916)

From 2001

2001 – Robert Ludlum, American writer (b. 1927)
2002 – Spyros Kyprianou, Cypriot politician (b. 1932)
2003 – Zoran Djindjic, President of Serbia and Montenegro (b. 1952)
2003 - Lynne Thigpen, American actress (b. 1948)
2006 - Victor Sokolov, Russian dissident, journalist and priest (b. 1947)
2008 – Lazare Ponticelli, Italian-French supercentenarian and World War I veteran (b. 1897)
2010 – Miguel Delibes, Spanish writer (b. 1920)
2013 - Clive Burr, British musician (Iron Maiden) (b. 1957)
2014 - Vera Chytilova, Czech movie director (b. 1929)
2014 - José Policarpo, Portuguese cardinal (b. 1936)
2014 - Richard Coogan, American actor (b. 1914)
2014 - Ola L. Mize, American colonel (b. 1931)
2014 - Jackie Gaughan, American casino owner and gambler (b. 1920)
2014 - Jean Vallée, Belgian songwriter (b. 1941)
2014 - David Sive, American environmental lawyer (b. 1922)
2014 - Paul C. Donnelly, American aerospace pioneer (b. 1923)
2014 - Kjell Nupen, Norwegian artist (b. 1955)
2015 - Terry Pratchett, English writer (b. 1948)
2015 - Michael Graves, American architect (b. 1934)
2015 - Ada Jafri, Pakistani poet (b. 1924)
2016 - Rafiq Azad, Bangladeshi poet (b. 1941)
2016 - Lloyd Shapley, American economist (b. 1923)
2016 - Erik Duval, Belgian computer scientist (b. 1965)
2017 - Murray Ball, New Zealand cartoonist (b. 1939)
2017 - Horst Ehmke, German politician (b. 1927)
2017 - Probyn Inniss, Saint Kitts and Nevis lawyer (b. 1936)
2017 - Ray Hassall, English politician (b. 1943)
2018 - Nokie Edwards, American musician and actor (b. 1935)
2018 - Rudolf Mang, German weightlifter (b. 1950)
2018 - Oleg Tabakov, Russian actor (b. 1935)
2018 - Henry Minarik, American football player (b. 1927)
2019 - Eurico Miranda, Brazilian football chairman and politician (b. 1944)

Observances

National Day of Mauritius
Youth Day (Zambia)
Arbor Day (China and Taiwan)
Aztec New Year