On this day: December 12

Events on December 12

• 627 At the Battle of Nineveh, the Byzantine army under Emperor Heraclius defeated the forces of Sasanian emperor Khosrow II, commanded by Rhahzadh, near present-day Mosul, Iraq. Wikipedia
• 1388 Unable to defend her possessions, Maria of Enghien sold the lordship of Argos and Nauplia to the Republic of Venice. Wikipedia
• 1787 Pennsylvania becomes the second state to ratify the US Constitution. Wikipedia
• 1866 England's worst mining disaster occurred when a series of explosions caused by flammable gases ripped through the Oaks Colliery, killing 361 people. Wikipedia
• 1901 Guglielmo Marconi receives the first transatlantic radio signal (the letter "S" [•••] in Morse Code), at Signal Hill in St John's, Newfoundland. Wikipedia
• 1915 Yuan Shikai declares the establishment of the Empire of China and proclaims himself Emperor. Wikipedia
• 1935 The Lebensborn Project, a Nazi reproduction program, is founded by Heinrich Himmler. Wikipedia
• 1936 Republic of China leader Chiang Kai-shek was kidnapped by Marshal Chang Hsueh-liang, a former warlord of Manchuria. Wikipedia
• 1937 Second Sino-Japanese War: USS Panay incident: Japanese aircraft bomb and sink U.S. gunboat USS Panay on the Yangtze river in China. Wikipedia
• 1939 The Royal Navy destroyer HMS Duchess collided with HMS Barham, the battleship she was escorting, and Duchess sank with heavy loss of life. Wikipedia
• 1941 The Holocaust: At a Nazi Party meeting in the Reich Chancellery, Adolf Hitler declared the imminent destruction of the Jewish people. Wikipedia
• 1942 World War II: German troops began Operation Winter Storm, an attempt to relieve encircled Axis forces during the Battle of Stalingrad. Wikipedia
• 1946 United Nations Security Council Resolution 13 relating to acceptance of Siam (now Thailand) to the United Nations is adopted. Wikipedia
• 1956 United Nations Security Council Resolution 121 relating to acceptance of Japan to the United Nations is adopted. Wikipedia
• 1964 Jomo Kenyatta became the first president of the Republic of Kenya. Wikipedia
• 1969 The Greek junta announced its withdrawal from the Council of Europe after the junta was found guilty of torture and other human-rights violations by the European Commission of Human Rights. Wikipedia
• 1969 The Piazza Fontana bombing; a bomb explodes at the headquarters of Banca Nazionale dell'Agricoltura (the National Agricultural Bank) in Piazza Fontana in Milan, Italy, killing 17 people and wounding 88. The same afternoon, three more bombs are detonated in Rome and Milan, and another is found unexploded. Wikipedia
• 1979 A magnitude-8.2 earthquake struck just off the shore of Tumaco, Colombia, causing at least 300 deaths, mostly by the resulting tsunami. Wikipedia
• 1979 Coup d'état of December Twelfth occurs in South Korea. Wikipedia
• 1985 Arrow Air Flight 1285R, a McDonnell Douglas DC-8, crashes after takeoff in Gander, Newfoundland, killing all 256 people on board, including 236 members of the United States Army's 101st Airborne Division. Wikipedia
• 1988 Three trains collided near Clapham Junction railway station in London, killing 35 people and injuring 484 others. Wikipedia
• 2000 The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Bush v. Gore that the recount of ballots cast in Florida for the presidential election be stopped, effectively making George W. Bush the winner. Wikipedia
• 2001 Prime Minister of Vietnam Phan Văn Khải announces the decision on upgrading the Phong Nha–Kẻ Bàng nature reserve to a national park, providing information on projects for the conservation and development of the park and revised maps. Wikipedia
• 2012 North Korea made its first successful satellite launch, as Kwangmyŏngsŏng-3 Unit 2 reached orbit. Wikipedia
• 2015 The Paris Agreement relating to United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change is adopted. Wikipedia
• 2021 At the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Max Verstappen overtook Lewis Hamilton on the final lap to become World Drivers' Champion. Wikipedia

Born on December 12

• 1799 Karl Bryullov, Russian painter (died 1852) Wikipedia
• 1821 Gustave Flaubert, French novelist (died 1880) Wikipedia
• 1863 Edvard Munch, Norwegian painter (died 1944) Wikipedia
• 1866 Alfred Werner, Swiss chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1919) Wikipedia
• 1893 Edward G. Robinson, American actor (died 1973) Wikipedia
• 1915 Frank Sinatra, American singer, actor, and producer (died 1998) Wikipedia
• 1923 Bob Barker, American game show host and producer (died 2023) Wikipedia
• 1927 Robert Noyce, American inventor and businessman, co-founded the Intel Corporation (died 1990) Wikipedia
• 1934 Miguel de la Madrid, Mexican lawyer and politician, 52nd President of Mexico (died 2012) Wikipedia
• 1937 Connie Francis, American singer, musician, and actress (died 2025) Wikipedia
• 1940 Dionne Warwick, American singer Wikipedia
• 1946 Emerson Fittipaldi, Brazilian racing driver Wikipedia
• 1949 Bill Nighy, English actor Wikipedia
• 1949 Marc Ravalomanana, Malagasy businessman and politician, President of Madagascar Wikipedia
• 1950 Rajinikanth, Indian actor Wikipedia
• 1962 Tracy Austin, American tennis player and sportscaster Wikipedia
• 1970 Jennifer Connelly, American actress Wikipedia
• 1975 Mayim Bialik, American actress, neuroscientist, and author Wikipedia
• 1981 Stephen Warnock, English footballer Wikipedia
• 1984 Daniel Agger, Danish footballer Wikipedia
• 1990 Victor Moses, Nigerian footballer Wikipedia
• 2001 Michael Olise, French footballer Wikipedia

Died on December 12

• 884 King Carloman II of the Franks (born c.866; hunting accident) Wikipedia
• 1204 Maimonides, Jewish physician, philosopher, and scholar (born 1135 or 1138) Wikipedia
• 1913 Menelik II, Ethiopian emperor (born 1844) Wikipedia
• 1921 Henrietta Swan Leavitt, American astronomer and academic (born 1868) Wikipedia
• 1923 Raymond Radiguet, French author and poet (born 1903) Wikipedia
• 1939 Douglas Fairbanks, Sr., American actor, producer, and screenwriter (born 1883) Wikipedia
• 1968 Tallulah Bankhead, American actress (born 1902) Wikipedia
• 1985 Anne Baxter, American actress (born 1923) Wikipedia
• 1999 Joseph Heller, American novelist, short story writer, and playwright(born 1923) Wikipedia
• 2003 Heydar Aliyev, Azerbaijani general and politician, 3rd President of Azerbaijan (born 1923) Wikipedia
• 2006 Peter Boyle, American actor (born 1935) Wikipedia
• 2007 Ike Turner, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (born 1931) Wikipedia
• 2019 Danny Aiello, American actor (born 1933) Wikipedia
• 2020 John le Carré, English author (born 1931) Wikipedia

Holidays and observances

• Christian feast day: Corentin of Quimper Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Jane Frances de Chantal Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Edburga of Minster-in-Thanet Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Finnian of Clonard Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Thomas Holland Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Ida of Nivelles Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Peter the Aleut Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Vicelinus Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Our Lady of Guadalupe Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: December 12 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics) Wikipedia
• Constitution Day (Russia) Wikipedia
• Day of Neutrality (Turkmenistan) Wikipedia

Sources

• Wikipedia — “December 12” — events, births, deaths and observances (text under CC BY-SA 4.0) (checked 2026-10-15)
• Wikipedia — “Selected anniversaries/December 12” — the anniversaries editors chose for the date and the article each one is about (checked 2026-10-15)
• Wikidata — in how many language editions each entry's own article exists, used to fill the lists (CC0) (checked 2026-10-15)
• vacanza/holidays (open-source holiday rules, MIT licence) — holiday rules used to build the lists (checked 2026-10-15)

The events, births, deaths and observances above are from the English Wikipedia article “December 12” and the articles it links to (authors and history), retrieved 2026-10-15 through the Wikimedia “On this day” feed. They are licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0; this selection is shared under the same licence. Every anniversary that Wikipedia's editors selected for December 12 stays on the list; the remaining places, up to 26 events, 22 births and 14 deaths, go to the entries whose own article — about the event itself, or else the person or thing it is about — appears in the most language editions (counted from Wikidata); an article about a person or thing, which covers far more than one day, counts half. An entry with no article of its own counts, also at half, by the least covered article it links, and one that links only places counts for nothing. Each list runs by year, and the wording is unchanged apart from removing references to pictures, audio and video.