On this day: July 12

Events on July 12

• 526 Election of Pope Felix IV following the death of Pope John I earlier that year. Wikipedia
• 927 King Æthelstan of England secured the submission of four northern rulers: Constantine II of Scotland, Hywel Dda of Deheubarth, Ealdred I of Bamburgh, and Owain ap Dyfnwal of Strathclyde, leading to seven years of peace. Wikipedia
• 1488 Choe Bu, an official of the Joseon dynasty, returned to Korea after months of shipwrecked travel in China. Wikipedia
• 1493 Hartmann Schedel's Nuremberg Chronicle, one of the best-documented early printed books, is published. Wikipedia
• 1543 King Henry VIII of England marries his sixth and last wife, Catherine Parr, at Hampton Court Palace. Wikipedia
• 1561 Saint Basil's Cathedral, located in Red Square, Moscow, was consecrated. Wikipedia
• 1799 Ranjit Singh conquers Lahore and becomes Maharaja of the Punjab (Sikh Empire). Wikipedia
• 1801 French Revolutionary Wars: A squadron of British ships of the line defeated a larger squadron of Spanish and French vessels in the Strait of Gibraltar. Wikipedia
• 1806 At the insistence of Napoleon, Bavaria, Baden, Württemberg and thirteen minor principalities leave the Holy Roman Empire and form the Confederation of the Rhine. Wikipedia
• 1847 Up to ten people died in a riot between Catholics and members of the Orange Order in Woodstock, New Brunswick. Wikipedia
• 1862 The Medal of Honor is authorized by the United States Congress. Wikipedia
• 1913 Second Balkan War: The Serbian Army began the Siege of Vidin, which they abandoned six days later when an armistice between the Serbs and Bulgarians was signed. Wikipedia
• 1916 First World War: Second Lieutenant Kléber Dupuy defeated a German attack on Fort Souville at a key moment of the Battle of Verdun. Wikipedia
• 1918 An explosion in the ammunition magazine of the Japanese battleship Kawachi resulted in the deaths of more than 600 officers and crewmen. Wikipedia
• 1920 The Soviet–Lithuanian Peace Treaty was signed, with Soviet Russia agreeing to recognize an independent Lithuania. Wikipedia
• 1943 World War II: German and Soviet forces engaged each other at the Battle of Prokhorovka, one of the largest tank battles in military history. Wikipedia
• 1948 Arab–Israeli War: Israel Defense Forces officer Yitzhak Rabin signed an order to expel Palestinians from the towns of Lydda and Ramle. Wikipedia
• 1962 The English rock band the Rolling Stones played their first concert at the Marquee Club in London. Wikipedia
• 1963 Sixteen-year-old Pauline Reade, the first victim of serial killers Ian Brady and Myra Hindley, disappeared in Gorton, England. Wikipedia
• 1979 Rowdy fans at Comiskey Park in Chicago stormed the field during a Major League Baseball promotional event at which a crate of disco records was blown up. Wikipedia
• 1997 Hayao Miyazaki's animated film Princess Mononoke is released, becoming the highest-grossing film in Japan for a few months. Wikipedia
• 1998 France defeated the defending champions Brazil 3–0 to win their first FIFA World Cup title. Wikipedia
• 2001 Space Shuttle program: Space Shuttle Atlantis is launched on mission STS-104, carrying the Quest Joint Airlock to the International Space Station. Wikipedia
• 2006 Hezbollah forces crossed the Israel–Lebanon border and attacked Israeli military positions while firing rockets and mortars at Israeli towns, sparking a five-week war. Wikipedia
• 2007 Two U.S. Army AH-64 Apache helicopters conducted a series of air-to-ground attacks in Baghdad. Wikipedia
• 2008 An edit on the page of the coati nicknamed it the Brazilian aardvark, in which multiple news channels followed in pursuit. Wikipedia

Born on July 12

• 100 BC Julius Caesar, Roman politician and general (died 44 BC) Wikipedia
• 1813 Claude Bernard, French physiologist and academic (died 1878) Wikipedia
• 1817 Henry David Thoreau, American essayist, poet, and philosopher (died 1862) Wikipedia
• 1854 George Eastman, American businessman, founded Eastman Kodak (died 1933) Wikipedia
• 1884 Amedeo Modigliani, Italian painter and sculptor (died 1920) Wikipedia
• 1895 Buckminster Fuller, American architect and engineer, designed the Montreal Biosphère (died 1983) Wikipedia
• 1904 Pablo Neruda, Chilean poet and diplomat, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1973) Wikipedia
• 1913 Willis Lamb, American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 2008) Wikipedia
• 1916 Lyudmila Pavlichenko, Ukrainian-Russian soldier and sniper (died 1974) Wikipedia
• 1935 Satoshi Ōmura, Japanese biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate Wikipedia
• 1937 Bill Cosby, American actor, comedian, producer, and screenwriter Wikipedia
• 1937 Lionel Jospin, French civil servant and politician, 165th Prime Minister of France (died 2026) Wikipedia
• 1948 Richard Simmons, American fitness trainer and actor (died 2024) Wikipedia
• 1952 Irina Bokova, Bulgarian politician, Bulgarian Minister of Foreign Affairs Wikipedia
• 1959 Tupou VI, King of Tonga Wikipedia
• 1978 Michelle Rodriguez, American actress Wikipedia
• 1982 Antonio Cassano, Italian footballer Wikipedia
• 1991 James Rodríguez, Colombian footballer Wikipedia
• 1995 Luke Shaw, English footballer Wikipedia
• 1997 Malala Yousafzai, Pakistani-English activist, Nobel Prize laureate Wikipedia
• 2000 Vinícius Júnior, Brazilian footballer Wikipedia
• 2002 Nico Williams, Spanish footballer Wikipedia

Died on July 12

• 1536 Desiderius Erasmus, Dutch priest and philosopher (born 1466) Wikipedia
• 1712 Richard Cromwell, English academic and politician (born 1626) Wikipedia
• 1804 Alexander Hamilton, American general, economist, and politician, 1st United States Secretary of the Treasury (born 1755) Wikipedia
• 1845 Henrik Wergeland, Norwegian linguist, poet, and playwright (born 1808) Wikipedia
• 1855 Pavel Nakhimov, Russian admiral (born 1802) Wikipedia
• 1910 Charles Rolls, English engineer and businessman, co-founded Rolls-Royce Limited (born 1877) Wikipedia
• 1926 Gertrude Bell, English archaeologist and spy (born 1868) Wikipedia
• 1931 Nathan Söderblom, Swedish archbishop, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1866) Wikipedia
• 1935 Alfred Dreyfus, French colonel (born 1859) Wikipedia
• 1949 Douglas Hyde, Irish scholar and politician, 1st President of Ireland (born 1860) Wikipedia
• 1966 D. T. Suzuki, Japanese philosopher and author (born 1870) Wikipedia
• 2020 Kelly Preston, American actress and model (born 1962) Wikipedia
• 2024 Ruth Westheimer, German-American sex therapist (born 1928) Wikipedia
• 2026 Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, Emir of Qatar (born 1952) Wikipedia

Holidays and observances

• Christian feast day: Feast of Saints Peter and Paul (Eastern Orthodox) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Hermagoras and Fortunatus Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Jason of Thessalonica (Catholic Church) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: John Gualbert Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: John Jones Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Drostan Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Louis Martin and Marie-Azélie Guérin Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Nabor and Felix Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Nathan Söderblom (Lutheran, Episcopal Church (USA)) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Veronica Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Viventiolus Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: July 12 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics) Wikipedia
• The second day of Naadam (Mongolia) Wikipedia
• The Twelfth, also known as Orangemen's Day (Northern Ireland, Scotland, England, Republic of Ireland, Australia, Newfoundland and Labrador) Wikipedia

Sources

• Wikipedia — “July 12” — events, births, deaths and observances (text under CC BY-SA 4.0) (checked 2026-10-15)
• Wikipedia — “Selected anniversaries/July 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 “July 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 July 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.