On this day: September 12

Events on September 12

• 1634 A gunpowder factory explodes in Valletta, Malta, killing 22 people and damaging several buildings. Wikipedia
• 1683 Austro-Ottoman War: Battle of Vienna: Several European armies join forces to defeat the Ottoman Empire. Wikipedia
• 1723 Iran and Russia sign the treaty of Saint Petersburg. Iran is forced to cede all lands on the western and southern coast of the Caspian Sea and Russia pledges to provide military support against the Ottoman Empire. Wikipedia
• 1857 The SS Central America sinks about 160 miles east of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, drowning a total of 426 passengers and crew, including Captain William Lewis Herndon. The ship was carrying 13–15 tons of gold from the California gold rush. Wikipedia
• 1890 Salisbury, Rhodesia, is founded. Wikipedia
• 1923 Southern Rhodesia, today called Zimbabwe, is annexed by the United Kingdom. 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
• 1938 Adolf Hitler demands autonomy and self-determination for the Germans of the Sudetenland region of Czechoslovakia. 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
• 1942 World War II: RMS Laconia, carrying civilians, Allied soldiers and Italian POWs is torpedoed off the coast of West Africa and sinks with a heavy loss of life. 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
• 1953 U.S. Senator and future President John Fitzgerald Kennedy marries Jacqueline Lee Bouvier at St. Mary's Church in Newport, Rhode Island. Wikipedia
• 1959 The Soviet Union launches a large rocket, Lunik II, at the Moon. Wikipedia
• 1961 Air France Flight 2005 crashes near Rabat–Salé Airport, in Rabat, Morocco, killing 77 people. 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 (video featured). Wikipedia
• 1962 US President John F. Kennedy delivers his "We choose to go to the Moon" speech at Rice University. Wikipedia
• 1970 Dawson's Field hijackings: Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine terrorists blow up three hijacked airliners in Zarqa, Jordan, continuing to hold the passengers hostage in various undisclosed locations in Amman. 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
• 1983 The USSR vetoes a United Nations Security Council Resolution deploring the Soviet destruction of Korean Air Lines Flight 007. Wikipedia
• 1988 Hurricane Gilbert devastates Jamaica; it turns towards Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula two days later, causing an estimated $5 billion in damage. Wikipedia
• 1992 Abimael Guzmán, leader of the Shining Path, is captured by Peruvian special forces; shortly thereafter the rest of Shining Path's leadership fell as well. Wikipedia
• 1992 NASA launches Space Shuttle Endeavour on STS-47, which marks the 50th shuttle mission. On board are Mae Carol Jemison, the first African-American woman in space, Mamoru Mohri, the first Japanese citizen to fly in a US spacecraft, and Mark Lee and Jan Davis, the first married couple in space. Wikipedia
• 2003 The United Nations lifts sanctions against Libya after that country agreed to accept responsibility and recompense the families of victims in the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103. Wikipedia
• 2007 Two earthquakes measuring 8.4 and 7.9 on the Richter Scale hits the Indonesian island of Sumatra, killing 25 people and injuring 161. Wikipedia
• 2013 NASA confirms that its Voyager 1 probe has become the first manmade object to enter interstellar space. Wikipedia
• 2014 The Synagogue Church building collapse results in the deaths of 115 people and several injured, in the Church run by Nigeria's T. B. Joshua. Wikipedia

Born on September 12

• 1494 Francis I of France (died 1547) Wikipedia
• 1739 Mary Bosanquet Fletcher, Methodist preacher and philanthropist (died 1815) 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
• 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

• 1362 Pope Innocent VI (born 1295) Wikipedia
• 1764 Jean-Philippe Rameau, French composer and theorist (born 1683) 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
• 1918 George Reid, Australian accountant and politician, 4th Prime Minister of Australia (born 1845) Wikipedia
• 1919 Leonid Andreyev, Russian author and playwright (born 1871) Wikipedia
• 1965 Raja Aziz Bhatti, Pakistani Major who received the Nishan-e-Haider in the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965. 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
• 1996 Ernesto Geisel, Brazilian general and politician, 29th President of Brazil (born 1907) 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

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 2026-10-09 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.