On this day: September 12

Events on September 12

• 379 Yax Nuun Ahiin I took the throne as the ruler (ajaw) of the Mayan city of Tikal. Wikipedia
• 1309 Reconquista: Castilian forces captured Gibraltar from the Emirate of Granada. Wikipedia
• 1683 Austro-Ottoman War: Battle of Vienna: Several European armies join forces to defeat the Ottoman Empire. Wikipedia
• 1885 The Scottish Cup match between Arbroath and Bon Accord ended 36–0, which is still a world record for an unrigged professional association football match. Wikipedia
• 1910 Gustav Mahler's Symphony No. 8, one of the largest-scale choral works in the classical concert repertoire and popularly known as the "Symphony of a Thousand", was first performed in Munich. Wikipedia
• 1928 The Okeechobee hurricane first struck the island of Guadeloupe; eventually it reached the United States and caused over 4,000 deaths overall. Wikipedia
• 1933 Hungarian-American physicist Leo Szilard conceived of the idea of the nuclear chain reaction while waiting for a traffic light in Bloomsbury, London. Wikipedia
• 1940 Cave paintings are discovered in Lascaux, France. Wikipedia
• 1942 RMS Laconia was sunk by a U-boat off the coast of West Africa, which then attempted to rescue the passengers as it was acting under the old prize rules. Wikipedia
• 1942 World War II: The Imperial Japanese Army began the Battle of Edson's Ridge in an effort to retake Henderson Field on Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands from the Allies. Wikipedia
• 1948 The People's Liberation Army launched the Liaoshen campaign, the first of the three major military campaigns during the late stage of the Chinese Civil War. Wikipedia
• 1952 Three boys in Flatwoods, West Virginia, U.S., reported seeing a ten-foot-tall (3 m) monster in the woods while investigating a UFO. Wikipedia
• 1959 The Soviet Union launches a large rocket, Lunik II, at the Moon. Wikipedia
• 1962 In a speech at Rice Stadium in Houston, U.S. president John F. Kennedy reiterated an aspiration to land a man on the Moon before 1970. Wikipedia
• 1974 Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia, 'Messiah' of the Rastafari movement, is deposed following a military coup by the Derg, ending a reign of 58 years. Wikipedia
• 1977 South African anti-apartheid activist Steve Biko died after being beaten in police custody in Port Elizabeth. Wikipedia
• 1980 The 43rd government of Turkey is overthrown in a coup d'état led by General Kenan Evren. Wikipedia
• 1983 The clandestine Boricua Popular Army staged a bank robbery in West Hartford, Connecticut, making off with $7 million in the largest cash theft in U.S. history at the time. Wikipedia
• 1983 The USSR vetoes a United Nations Security Council Resolution deploring the Soviet destruction of Korean Air Lines Flight 007. Wikipedia
• 1990 The two German states and the Four Powers sign the Treaty on the Final Settlement with Respect to Germany in Moscow, paving the way for German reunification. Wikipedia
• 1992 Aboard Space Shuttle Endeavour, American Mae Jemison became the first Black woman to travel to space. Wikipedia
• 1995 Hurricane Ismael formed off the southwest coast of Mexico; it went on to kill over a hundred people in the country. Wikipedia
• 2003 Typhoon Maemi, the strongest recorded typhoon to strike South Korea, made landfall near Busan. Wikipedia
• 2003 The first public release of Steam, a distribution service for computer games, was made available for download. Wikipedia
• 2008 A Metrolink train collided head-on with a freight train in Los Angeles, California, resulting in 25 deaths and 135 injuries; the Metrolink driver had passed through a red signal, having likely been distracted by text messaging. Wikipedia
• 2015 An explosion involving illegally stored mining detonators in Petlawad, India, killed 104 people and injured more than 150 others. Wikipedia

Born on September 12

• 1494 Francis I of France (died 1547) Wikipedia
• 1852 H. H. Asquith, English lawyer and politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (died 1928) Wikipedia
• 1880 H. L. Mencken, American journalist and critic (died 1956) Wikipedia
• 1888 Maurice Chevalier, French actor, singer, and dancer (died 1972) Wikipedia
• 1897 Irène Joliot-Curie, French chemist and physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1956) Wikipedia
• 1902 Juscelino Kubitschek, Brazilian physician and politician, 21st President of Brazil (died 1976) Wikipedia
• 1913 Jesse Owens, American sprinter and long jumper (died 1980) Wikipedia
• 1921 Stanisław Lem, Polish philosopher and author (died 2006) Wikipedia
• 1924 Amílcar Cabral, Guinea-Bissauan political leader (died 1973) Wikipedia
• 1931 Ian Holm, English actor (died 2020) Wikipedia
• 1951 Bertie Ahern, Irish accountant and politician, 11th Taoiseach of Ireland Wikipedia
• 1957 Hans Zimmer, German composer and producer Wikipedia
• 1961 Mylène Farmer, Canadian-French singer-songwriter, producer, and actress Wikipedia
• 1967 Louis C.K., American comedian, actor, producer, and screenwriter Wikipedia
• 1973 Paul Walker, American actor (died 2013) Wikipedia
• 1980 Yao Ming, Chinese basketball player Wikipedia
• 1981 Jennifer Hudson, American singer and actress Wikipedia
• 1986 Emmy Rossum, American singer and actress Wikipedia
• 1986 Yuto Nagatomo, Japanese footballer Wikipedia
• 1994 RM, South Korean rapper, songwriter and record producer Wikipedia
• 1994 Elina Svitolina, Ukrainian tennis player Wikipedia
• 1997 Sydney Sweeney, American actress Wikipedia

Died on September 12

• 1185 Andronikos I Komnenos, Byzantine emperor (born 1118) Wikipedia
• 1362 Pope Innocent VI (born 1295) Wikipedia
• 1612 Vasili IV of Russia (born 1552) Wikipedia
• 1764 Jean-Philippe Rameau, French composer and theorist (born 1683) Wikipedia
• 1819 Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher, Prussian general (born 1742) Wikipedia
• 1874 François Guizot, French historian and politician, 22nd Prime Minister of France (born 1787) Wikipedia
• 1907 Ilia Chavchavadze, Georgian poet, journalist, and lawyer (born 1837) Wikipedia
• 1919 Leonid Andreyev, Russian author and playwright (born 1871) Wikipedia
• 1977 Steve Biko, South African activist (born 1946) Wikipedia
• 1981 Eugenio Montale, Italian writer, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1896) Wikipedia
• 1992 Anthony Perkins, American actor, singer, and director (born 1932) Wikipedia
• 2003 Johnny Cash, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor (born 1932) Wikipedia
• 2009 Norman Borlaug, American agronomist and humanitarian, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1914) Wikipedia
• 2010 Claude Chabrol, French actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (born 1930) Wikipedia

Holidays and observances

• Christian feast day: Ailbe (Elvis, Eilfyw) of Emly Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Guy of Anderlecht Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: The Most Holy Name of the Blessed Virgin Mary Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: John Henry Hobart (Episcopal Church (USA)) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Laisrén mac Nad Froích Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Sacerdos of Lyon Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Blessed Thomas of Zumárraga Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: September 12 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics) Wikipedia
• Commemoration of the mass hanging of the Saint Patrick's Battalion (Mexico) Wikipedia
• Day of Conception (Russia) Wikipedia
• Defenders Day (Maryland, United States) Wikipedia
• Enkutatash falls on this day if it is a leap year. Celebrated on the first day of Mäskäräm. (Ethiopia, Eritrea, Rastafari) Wikipedia
• Nayrouz (Coptic Orthodox Church) (leap years only, September 11 on normal years) Wikipedia
• National Day (Cape Verde) Wikipedia
• National Day of Encouragement (United States) Wikipedia
• Saragarhi Day (Sikhism) Wikipedia
• United Nations Day for South–South Cooperation (International) Wikipedia

Sources

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