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This day in history

This day in history: 12 October

Events, births and deaths on this date, ordered by how many people look them up.

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Key facts

456 historical events, births and deaths are listed for 12 October.
Entries come from Wikipedia’s day pages and are ordered by page views.
1944: World War II: The Axis occupation of Athens comes to an end.

Holidays and observances

Children's Day (Brazil)

Christian feast day: Blessed Louis Brisson

Christian feast day: Blessed Roman Sitko

Christian feast day: Carlo Acutis

Christian feast day: Domnina of Anazarbus

Christian feast day: Edith Cavell and Elizabeth Fry (Church of England)

Christian feast day: Fiacc

Christian feast day: October 12 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)

Christian feast day: Our Lady of Aparecida

Christian feast day: Our Lady of the Pillar (Fiestas del Pilar)

Christian feast day: Radim Gaudentius (Czech Republic)

Christian feast day: Seraphin of Montegranaro

Events

1944World War II: The Axis occupation of Athens comes to an end.

1915World War I: British nurse Edith Cavell is executed by a German firing squad for helping Allied soldiers escape from occupied Belgium.

1901President Theodore Roosevelt officially renames the "Executive Mansion" to the White House.

2012The European Union wins the 2012 Nobel Peace Prize.

1996New Zealand holds its first general election under the new mixed-member proportional representation system, which led to Jim Bolger's National Party forming a coalition government with Winston Peters's New Zealand First.

1492Christopher Columbus's first expedition makes landfall on San Salvador Island in the Caribbean. (Julian calendar)

1973President Nixon nominates House Minority Leader Gerald R. Ford as the successor to Vice President Spiro T. Agnew.

1692The Salem witch trials are ended by a letter from Province of Massachusetts Bay Governor William Phips.

1968Equatorial Guinea becomes independent from Spain.

1960Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev pounds his shoe on a desk at the United Nations to protest a Philippine assertion.

1999Pervez Musharraf takes power in Pakistan from Nawaz Sharif through a bloodless coup.

1984The Provisional Irish Republican Army fail to assassinate Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and her cabinet. The bomb kills five people and wounds at least 31 others.

1810The citizens of Munich hold the first Oktoberfest in celebration of the marriage of Crown Prince Louis of Bavaria and Princess Therese of Saxe-Hildburghausen.

1945World War II: Desmond Doss is the first conscientious objector to receive the U.S. Medal of Honor.

1999The former Autonomous Soviet Republic of Abkhazia declares its independence from Georgia.

2017The United States announces its decision to withdraw from UNESCO. Israel immediately follows.

1892The Pledge of Allegiance is first recited by students in many US public schools.

1792The first celebration of Columbus Day is held in New York City.

1977Hua Guofeng succeeds Mao Zedong as paramount leader of China.

1928An iron lung respirator is used for the first time at Boston Children's Hospital.

1822Pedro I of Brazil is proclaimed the emperor.

2002Terrorists detonate bombs in two nightclubs in Kuta, Bali, Indonesia, killing 202 and wounding over 200.

2019Eliud Kipchoge from Kenya becomes the first person to run a marathon in less than two hours with a time of 1:59:40 in Vienna.

1979Typhoon Tip becomes the largest and most intense tropical cyclone ever recorded.

1748War of Jenkins' Ear: A British squadron wins a tactical victory over a Spanish squadron off Havana.

1654The Delft Explosion devastates the city in the Netherlands, killing more than 100 people.

2000The USS Cole, a US Navy destroyer, is badly damaged by two al-Qaeda suicide bombers, killing 17 crew members and wounding at least 39.

1909Foundation of Coritiba Foot Ball Club.

1871The British in India enact the Criminal Tribes Act, naming many local communities "Criminal Tribes".

2000Two Israeli reservists are lynched by a Palestinian mob at the police station of Ramallah.

1971The 2,500 year celebration of the Persian Empire begins.

1983Japan's former Prime Minister Tanaka Kakuei is found guilty of taking a $2 million bribe from the Lockheed Corporation, and is sentenced to four years in jail.

1988Two officers of the Victoria Police are gunned down execution-style in the Walsh Street police shootings, Australia.

2019Typhoon Hagibis makes landfall in Japan, killing 10 and forcing the evacuation of one million people.

2019The Hard Rock Hotel in New Orleans, which is under construction, collapses, killing three workers and injuring 30 others.

1970Vietnam War: Vietnamization continues as President Richard Nixon announces that the United States will withdraw 40,000 more troops before Christmas.

20222022 Bratislava shooting, killing 3 (including the perpetrator) and injuring one. The shooting occurred outside of a gay bar in Bratislava known as Tepláreň. Two people (excluding the perpetrator) died as a result of the shooting: Juraj Van

1976Indian Airlines Flight 171 crashes at Santacruz Airport in Bombay, India, killing 95.

1962The Columbus Day Storm strikes the U.S. Pacific Northwest with record wind velocities. There was at least U.S. $230 million in damages and 46 people died.

1994The Magellan spacecraft burns up in the atmosphere of Venus.

Born on this day

2004Darci Lynne, American ventriloquist

2002Iris Apatow, American actress

2001Brett Cooper, American political commentator, actress, and social media personality

2000Jongho, South Korean singer and actor

2000Mia Threapleton, British actress

1999Ferdia Walsh-Peelo, Irish actor and musician

1997Curtis Scott, Australian rugby league player

1996James Graham, British singer

1996Owen Watkin, Welsh rugby player

1995Jessica Hogg, Welsh artistic gymnast

1994Olivia Smoliga, American swimmer

1994Sean Monahan, Canadian ice hockey player

1993Jake McCabe, American ice hockey player

1993Ketel Marte, Dominican baseball player

1992Josh Hutcherson, American actor and producer

1991Nicolao Dumitru, Italian footballer

1990Henri Lansbury, English footballer

1989Anna Ohmiya, Japanese curler

1988Calum Scott, British singer

1988Sam Whitelock, New Zealand rugby player

1987Marvin Ogunjimi, Belgian footballer

1986Cristhian Stuani, Uruguayan footballer

1986Ioannis Maniatis, Greek footballer

1986Sergio Peter, German footballer

1986Tyler Blackburn, American actor

1985Anna Iljuštšenko, Estonian high jumper

1985Carl Söderberg, Swedish ice hockey player

1985Greig Laidlaw, Scottish rugby player

1985Michelle Carter, American shot putter

1985Mike Green, Canadian hockey player

1983Alex Brosque, Australian footballer

1983Carlton Cole, English footballer

1983Katie Piper, English philanthropist, broadcaster, and acid violence survivor

1983Mariko Yamamoto, Japanese cricketer

1981Brian J. Smith, American actor

1981Brian Kerr, Scottish footballer and manager

1981Conrad Smith, New Zealand rugby player

1981Giuseppe Lanzone, American rower

1981Marcel Hossa, Slovak ice hockey player

1981Sun Tiantian, Chinese tennis player

Died on this day

2025Jackie Burch, American casting director (born 1951)

2024Alex Salmond, Scottish economist and politician, First Minister of Scotland (born 1954)

2024Alvin Rakoff, Canadian film and television director (born 1927)

2024Baba Siddique, Indian politician (born 1958)

2024Jackmaster, Scottish DJ and record producer (born 1986)

2024Ka, American rapper (born 1972)

2024Lilly Ledbetter, American activist (born 1938)

2024Tito Mboweni, South African politician (born 1959)

2023Luis Garavito, Colombian serial killer (born 1957)

2020Conchata Ferrell, American actress (born 1943)

2020Roberta McCain, American socialite and oil heiress (born 1912)

2017Margarita D'Amico, Venezuelan journalist (born 1938)

2015Abdallah Kigoda, Tanzanian politician, 8th Tanzanian Minister of Industry and Trade (born 1953)

2015Joan Leslie, American actress, dancer, and vaudevillian (born 1925)

2014Ali Mazrui, Kenyan-American political scientist, philosopher, and academic (born 1933)

2014Graham Miles, English snooker player (born 1941)

2014Roberto Telch, Argentinian footballer and coach (born 1943)

2013George Herbig, American astronomer and academic (born 1920)

2013Hans Wilhelm Longva, Norwegian diplomat (born 1942)

2013Malcolm Renfrew, American chemist and academic (born 1910)

2013Oscar Hijuelos, American author and academic (born 1951)

2012Břetislav Pojar, Czech animator, director, and screenwriter (born 1923)

2012Erik Moseholm, Danish bassist, composer, and bandleader (born 1930)

2012James Coyne, Canadian lawyer and banker, 2nd Governor of the Bank of Canada (born 1910)

2012Norm Grabowski, American hot rod builder and actor (born 1933)

2012Sukhdev Singh Kang, Indian judge and politician, 14th Governor of Kerala (born 1931)

2012Torkom Manoogian, Iraqi-Armenian patriarch (born 1919)

2011Dennis Ritchie, American computer scientist, created the C programming language (born 1941)

2011Patricia Breslin, American actress (born 1931)

2010Austin Ardill, Northern Irish soldier and politician (born 1917)

Quote of the day

“Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth.”

attributed to Marcus Aurelius

Questions people ask

Where do the entries come from?

From Wikipedia’s on-this-day pages for this language, updated once a day and ordered by how often each article is read.

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