On this day: March 12

Events on March 12

• 1158 German city Munich (München) is first mentioned as forum apud Munichen in the Augsburg arbitration by Holy Roman Emperor Friedrich I. Wikipedia
• 1811 Peninsular War: A day after a successful rearguard action, French Marshal Michel Ney once again successfully delays the pursuing Anglo-Portuguese force at the Battle of Redinha. Wikipedia
• 1862 Paddle steamer Brother Jonathan docks in Fort Victoria (now Victoria, British Columbia), carrying smallpox-infected passengers from San Francisco. The ensuing epidemic killed an estimated two-thirds of First Nations in the province of British Columbia. Wikipedia
• 1881 Andrew Watson captained the Scotland national football team against England, becoming the world's first black international footballer. Wikipedia
• 1912 The Girl Guides (later renamed the Girl Scouts of the USA) are founded in the United States. Wikipedia
• 1913 The future capital of Australia is officially named Canberra. Wikipedia
• 1918 Moscow becomes the capital of Russia again after Saint Petersburg held this status for most of the period since 1713. Wikipedia
• 1928 In California, the St. Francis Dam fails; the resulting floods kill 431 people. Wikipedia
• 1928 The failure of the St. Francis Dam northwest of Los Angeles resulted in a flood that killed 400 people. Wikipedia
• 1930 Mahatma Gandhi begins the Salt March, a 200-mile (320 km) march to the sea to protest the British monopoly on salt in India. Wikipedia
• 1930 Mahatma Gandhi began the Salt March, a 24-day nonviolent walk to defy the British salt tax in colonial India. Wikipedia
• 1933 Great Depression: Franklin D. Roosevelt addresses the nation for the first time as President of the United States. This is also the first of his "fireside chats". Wikipedia
• 1938 Anschluss: German troops occupy and annex Austria. Wikipedia
• 1940 Winter War: Finland signs the Moscow Peace Treaty with the Soviet Union, ceding almost all of Finnish Karelia. Wikipedia
• 1947 Cold War: U.S. president Harry S. Truman proclaimed the Truman Doctrine to help stem the spread of communism. Wikipedia
• 1947 Cold War: The Truman Doctrine is proclaimed to help stem the spread of Communism. Wikipedia
• 1967 Suharto takes power from Sukarno when the Provisional People's Consultative Assembly inaugurate him as Acting President of Indonesia. Wikipedia
• 1968 Mauritius gains independence from the United Kingdom. Wikipedia
• 1971 The 1971 Turkish military memorandum is sent to the Süleyman Demirel government of Turkey and the government resigns. Wikipedia
• 1992 Mauritius becomes a republic while remaining a member of the Commonwealth of Nations. Wikipedia
• 1993 North Korea announces that it will withdraw from the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons and refuses to allow inspectors access to its nuclear sites. Wikipedia
• 1993 Several bombs explode in Mumbai, India, killing about 300 people and injuring hundreds more. Wikipedia
• 1999 Former Warsaw Pact members the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland join NATO. Wikipedia
• 2003 Zoran Đinđić, Prime Minister of Serbia, is assassinated in Belgrade. Wikipedia
• 2014 A gas explosion in the New York City neighborhood of East Harlem kills eight and injures 70 others. Wikipedia
• 2020 The United States suspends travel from Europe due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Wikipedia

Born on March 12

• 1685 George Berkeley, Irish bishop and philosopher (died 1753) Wikipedia
• 1806 Jane Pierce, American wife of Franklin Pierce, 15th First Lady of the United States (died 1863) Wikipedia
• 1821 John Abbott, Canadian lawyer and politician, 3rd Prime Minister of Canada (died 1893) Wikipedia
• 1824 Gustav Kirchhoff, Russian-German physicist and academic (died 1887) Wikipedia
• 1863 Gabriele D'Annunzio, Italian soldier, journalist, poet, and playwright (died 1938) Wikipedia
• 1863 Vladimir Vernadsky, Russian and Ukrainian mineralogist and chemist (died 1945) Wikipedia
• 1877 Wilhelm Frick, German lawyer and politician, German Federal Minister of the Interior (died 1946) Wikipedia
• 1900 Sylvi Kekkonen, Finnish writer and wife of President of Finland Urho Kekkonen (died 1974) Wikipedia
• 1910 Masayoshi Ōhira, Japanese politician, 68th Prime Minister of Japan (died 1980) Wikipedia
• 1922 Jack Kerouac, American author and poet (died 1969) Wikipedia
• 1925 Leo Esaki, Japanese physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate Wikipedia
• 1927 Raúl Alfonsín, Argentine lawyer and politician, 46th President of Argentina (died 2009) Wikipedia
• 1928 Edward Albee, American director and playwright (died 2016) Wikipedia
• 1930 Antony Acland, English former diplomat and Provost of Eton College (died 2021) Wikipedia
• 1932 Andrew Young, American pastor, civil rights movement activist, politician, and 14th United States Ambassador to the United Nations Wikipedia
• 1943 Ratko Mladić, Bosnian Serb military officer and war criminal (died 2026) Wikipedia
• 1946 Liza Minnelli, American actress, singer and dancer Wikipedia
• 1947 Mitt Romney, American businessman and politician, 70th Governor of Massachusetts Wikipedia
• 1956 Steve Harris, English bass player and songwriter Wikipedia
• 1959 Milorad Dodik, Bosnian Serb politician and president of Republika Srpska Wikipedia
• 1968 Aaron Eckhart, American actor and producer Wikipedia
• 1984 Shreya Ghoshal, Indian singer Wikipedia

Died on March 12

• 417 Innocent I, pope of the Catholic Church Wikipedia
• 604 Gregory I, pope of the Catholic Church (born 540) Wikipedia
• 1160 Al-Muqtafi, caliph of the Abbasid Caliphate (born 1096) Wikipedia
• 1916 Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach, Austrian author (born 1830) Wikipedia
• 1925 Sun Yat-sen, Chinese physician and politician, 1st President of the Republic of China (born 1866) Wikipedia
• 1942 William Henry Bragg, English physicist, chemist, and mathematician, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1862) Wikipedia
• 1955 Charlie Parker, American saxophonist and composer (born 1920) Wikipedia
• 1991 Ragnar Granit, Finnish-Swedish neuroscientist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1900) Wikipedia
• 1999 Yehudi Menuhin, American-Swiss violinist and conductor (born 1916) Wikipedia
• 2001 Robert Ludlum, American author (born 1927) Wikipedia
• 2002 Hartini, former wife of Sukarno (born 1924) Wikipedia
• 2003 Zoran Đinđić, Serbian philosopher and politician, 6th Prime Minister of Serbia (born 1952) Wikipedia
• 2015 Terry Pratchett, English journalist, author, and screenwriter (born 1948) Wikipedia
• 2016 Lloyd Shapley, American mathematician and economist, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1923) Wikipedia

Holidays and observances

• Arbor Day (China) Wikipedia
• Arbor Day (Taiwan) Wikipedia
• Aztec New Year Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Alphege Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Angela Salawa Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Bernard of Carinola (or of Capua) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Gorgonius, Peter Cubicularius and Dorotheus of Nicomedia Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Mura (McFeredach) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Fina Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Maximilian of Tebessa Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Paul Aurelian Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Pope Gregory I (Eastern Orthodox Church, Eastern Catholic Church, and Anglican Communion) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Theophanes the Confessor Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: March 12 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics) Wikipedia
• National Day (Mauritius) Wikipedia
• World Day Against Cyber Censorship Wikipedia
• Youth Day (Zambia) Wikipedia

The events, births, deaths and observances above are from the English Wikipedia article “March 12” and the articles it links to (authors and history), retrieved 2026-10-09 through the Wikimedia “On this day” feed. They are licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0; this selection is shared under the same licence. We picked the 26 events, 22 births and 14 deaths with the widest coverage across Wikipedia's language editions (counted from Wikidata) and sorted them by year; the wording is unchanged apart from removing references to pictures.