On this day: October 12

Events on October 12

• 539 BC The army of Cyrus the Great of Persia conquer Babylon, ending the Babylonian empire. (Julian calendar) Wikipedia
• 166 Roman emperors Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus celebrate a triumph in Rome for the successful completion of their war with the Partians. Wikipedia
• 1398 In the Treaty of Salynas, Lithuania cedes Samogitia to the Teutonic Knights. Wikipedia
• 1406 Chen Yanxiang, the only person from Indonesia known to have visited dynastic Korea, reached Seoul after having set out from Java four months before. Wikipedia
• 1406 Chen Yanxiang, the only person from Indonesia known to have visited dynastic Korea, reaches Seoul after having set out from Java four months before. Wikipedia
• 1492 Believing he had reached the East Indies, Christopher Columbus made landfall on an island in the Caribbean, sparking a series of events that led to the European colonization of the Americas. Wikipedia
• 1492 Christopher Columbus's first expedition makes landfall on San Salvador Island in the Caribbean. (Julian calendar) Wikipedia
• 1810 The citizens of Munich hold the first Oktoberfest in celebration of the marriage of Crown Prince Louis of Bavaria and Princess Therese of Saxe-Hildburghausen. Wikipedia
• 1901 President Theodore Roosevelt officially renames the "Executive Mansion" to the White House. Wikipedia
• 1915 World War I: British nurse Edith Cavell is executed by a German firing squad for helping Allied soldiers escape from occupied Belgium. Wikipedia
• 1917 First World War: New Zealand troops suffered more than 2,000 casualties, including more than 800 deaths, in the First Battle of Passchendaele, making it the nation's largest loss of life in one day. Wikipedia
• 1944 World War II: The Axis occupation of Athens comes to an end. Wikipedia
• 1960 Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev reportedly pounded his shoe on a desk during a meeting of the United Nations General Assembly in protest at a speech by Philippine delegate Lorenzo Sumulong. Wikipedia
• 1960 Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev pounds his shoe on a desk at the United Nations to protest a Philippine assertion. Wikipedia
• 1967 A bomb explodes on board Cyprus Airways Flight 284 while flying over the Mediterranean Sea, killing 66. Wikipedia
• 1968 Equatorial Guinea becomes independent from Spain. Wikipedia
• 1973 President Nixon nominates House Minority Leader Gerald R. Ford as the successor to Vice President Spiro T. Agnew. Wikipedia
• 1976 Indian Airlines Flight 171 crashes at Santacruz Airport in Bombay, India, killing 95. Wikipedia
• 1977 Hua Guofeng succeeds Mao Zedong as paramount leader of China. Wikipedia
• 1984 The Provisional Irish Republican Army detonated a bomb at the Grand Hotel in Brighton, England, in a failed attempt to assassinate British prime minister Margaret Thatcher and her cabinet. Wikipedia
• 1984 The 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. Wikipedia
• 1996 New 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. Wikipedia
• 1999 The former Autonomous Soviet Republic of Abkhazia declares its independence from Georgia. Wikipedia
• 2012 The European Union wins the 2012 Nobel Peace Prize. Wikipedia
• 2013 Twelve people were killed in an apartment-building collapse in Medellín, leading to new construction laws being passed in Colombia. Wikipedia
• 2017 The United States announces its decision to withdraw from UNESCO. Israel immediately follows. Wikipedia

Born on October 12

• 1350 Dmitri Donskoi, Grand Duke of Moscow (died 1389) Wikipedia
• 1537 Edward VI, king of England (died 1553) Wikipedia
• 1798 Pedro I, emperor of Brazil (died 1834) Wikipedia
• 1865 Arthur Harden, English biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1940) Wikipedia
• 1866 Ramsay MacDonald, Scottish journalist and politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (died 1937) Wikipedia
• 1868 August Horch, German engineer and businessman, founded Audi (died 1951) Wikipedia
• 1872 Ralph Vaughan Williams, English composer and educator (died 1958) Wikipedia
• 1875 Aleister Crowley, English magician and author (died 1947) Wikipedia
• 1891 Edith Stein, Polish nun and martyr; later canonized (died 1942) Wikipedia
• 1891 Fumimaro Konoe, Japanese soldier and politician, 39th Prime Minister of Japan (died 1945) Wikipedia
• 1896 Eugenio Montale, Italian poet and translator, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1981) Wikipedia
• 1912 Muhammad Shamsul Huq, Bangladeshi academic and former Minister of Foreign Affairs (died 2006) Wikipedia
• 1934 Richard Meier, American architect, designed the Getty Center and City Tower Wikipedia
• 1935 Luciano Pavarotti, Italian tenor and actor (died 2007) Wikipedia
• 1949 Carlos the Jackal, Venezuelan terrorist Wikipedia
• 1962 Branko Crvenkovski, Macedonian engineer and politician, 3rd President of the Republic of Macedonia Wikipedia
• 1968 Hugh Jackman, Australian actor, singer, and producer Wikipedia
• 1975 Marion Jones, American basketball player and runner Wikipedia
• 1977 Bode Miller, American skier Wikipedia
• 1983 Alex Brosque, Australian footballer Wikipedia
• 1986 Cristhian Stuani, Uruguayan footballer Wikipedia
• 1992 Josh Hutcherson, American actor and producer Wikipedia

Died on October 12

• 322 BC Demosthenes, Athenian statesman, (born 384 BC) Wikipedia
• 638 Honorius I, pope of the Catholic Church Wikipedia
• 642 John IV, pope of the Catholic Church Wikipedia
• 1492 Piero della Francesca, Italian mathematician and painter (born 1415) Wikipedia
• 1576 Maximilian II, Holy Roman Emperor (born 1527) Wikipedia
• 1858 Hiroshige, Japanese painter (born 1797) Wikipedia
• 1870 Robert E. Lee, American general (born 1807) Wikipedia
• 1924 Anatole France, French journalist, novelist, and poet, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1844) Wikipedia
• 1965 Paul Hermann Müller, Swiss chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1899) Wikipedia
• 1971 Dean Acheson, American lawyer and politician, 51st United States Secretary of State (born 1893) Wikipedia
• 1987 Fahri Korutürk, Turkish commander and politician, 6th President of Turkey (born 1903) Wikipedia
• 1999 Wilt Chamberlain, American basketball player and coach (born 1936) Wikipedia
• 2006 Carlo Acutis, Italian programmer, known for his devotion to the Eucharist (born 1991) Wikipedia
• 2011 Dennis Ritchie, American computer scientist, created the C programming language (born 1941) Wikipedia

Holidays and observances

• Christian feast day: Domnina of Anazarbus Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Edith Cavell and Elizabeth Fry (Church of England) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Fiacc Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Our Lady of the Pillar (Fiestas del Pilar) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Our Lady of Aparecida Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Blessed Louis Brisson Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Radim Gaudentius (Czech Republic) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Blessed Roman Sitko Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Seraphin of Montegranaro Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Wilfrid of Ripon Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Carlo Acutis Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: October 12 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics) Wikipedia
• Children's Day (Brazil) Wikipedia
• Discovery of America by Columbus-related observances (see also October 8): Columbus Day (Honduras) Wikipedia
• Discovery of America by Columbus-related observances (see also October 8): Día de la Hispanidad or Fiesta Nacional de España, also Armed Forces Day (Spain) Wikipedia
• Discovery of America by Columbus-related observances (see also October 8): Día de la Raza (El Salvador, Uruguay) Wikipedia
• Discovery of America by Columbus-related observances (see also October 8): Día de la Resistencia Indígena, "Day of Indigenous Resistance" (Venezuela) Wikipedia
• Discovery of America by Columbus-related observances (see also October 8): Día de las Américas (Belize) Wikipedia
• Discovery of America by Columbus-related observances (see also October 8): Día de las Culturas, "Day of the Cultures" (Costa Rica) Wikipedia
• Discovery of America by Columbus-related observances (see also October 8): Día del Respeto a la Diversidad Cultural, "Day of respect for cultural diversity" (Argentina) Wikipedia
• Discovery Day (The Bahamas) Wikipedia
• Feast for Life of Aleister Crowley, celebrated as "Crowleymas" (Thelema) Wikipedia
• Fiesta Nacional de España (Spain) Wikipedia
• Hafez Day (Iran) 1 Wikipedia

The events, births, deaths and observances above are from the English Wikipedia article “October 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.