Today in History
12 April
Portrait of Christian IV
on a gold coin commemorating the centennial
of the silver mines in Kongsberg in 1723.
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12 April |
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| 1065 Pilgrims under bishop Gunther of Bamberg reach Jerusalem | ||
| 1111 Pope Paschalis II crowns Henry V, Roman emperor | ||
| 1204 In the Fourth Crusade, Constantinople was captured by the Crusaders. |
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| 1229 Queen Blanche of Castili‰ & earl Raymond VII van Toulouse sign peace | ||
| 1385 John without Fear marries Margaretha of Brabant | ||
| 1545 French king Francois I orders protestants of Vaudois to be killed | ||
| 1577 Christian IV, King of Denmark and Norway whose disastrous reign led to the Thirty Years War, born. | ||
| 1579 Francois de Bassompierre, marshal of France was born | ||
| 1583 William of Orange marries Louise de Coligny | ||
| 1606 King James of England ordered a "Union Flag" combining the crosses of St. George of England and St. Andrew of Scotland. | Portrait of Christian IV |
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| 1648 University of Harderwijk Neth solemn opens | ||
| 1654 The Ordinance of Union came into effect, uniting Ireland and Scotland with England. | ||
| 1692 Giuseppe Tartini, composer, Istria was born | ||
| 1709 1st edition of Tattler magazine in England | ||
| 1713 Dutch State-Gen signs peace with France: Neth loses Orange Princedom | ||
| 1769 Giovanni Agostino Perotti, composer was born | ||
| 1770 Townsend Acts repealed | ||
| 1776 Halifax resolution for independence adopted by North Carolina | ||
| 1777 Henry Clay, U.S. statesman and speaker of the House of Congress from 1811, born. He went on to become Secretary of State and was nicknamed "The Great Pacificator." | ||
| 1782 Battle at Les Saintes West-Indies: British fleet beats French | ||
| 1787 Philadelphia's Free African Society forms | ||
| 1796 Napoleon's forces defeated the Austrian and Sardinian armies at the end of the Battle of Montenotte; it was Napoleon's first significant victory. | ||
| 1817 Charles Joseph Messier, French astronomer, died. He produced the first nebula catalogue in 1784. | ||
| 1826 Weber's opera "Oberon," premieres in London | ||
| 1844 Texas became a US territory | ||
| 1849 A De Gasparis discovers asteroid #10 Hygiea |
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| 1857 Gustave Flaubert's "Madame Bovary" published | ||
| 1861 The American Civil War began with an attack on Fort Sumter in South Carolina. | ||
| 1862 Union troops occupy Fort Pulaski Georgia | ||
| 1871 Ioannis Metaxas, Greek dictator from 1936 to 1941, born. | ||
| 1872 Jesse James gang robs bank in Columbia, Kentucky (1 dead/$1,500) | ||
| 1877 British annex Transvaal, in South Africa | ||
| 1883 French troops under lt-colonel Borgnis-Desbordes occupy Bamako Senegal | ||
| 1892 George C Blickensderfer patents portable typewriter | ||
| 1893 Battle at Hoornkrans Southwest-Africa: German Schutztruppen | ||
| 1894 British & Belgian secret accord on dividing Central-Africa | ||
| 1898 Army transfers Yerba Buena Island in SF Bay to Navy | ||
| 1905 French Dufaux brothers test helicopter | ||
| 1905 Hippodrome arena opens (NYC) | ||
| 1907 Belgium govt of De Stain de Naeyer, resigns | ||
| 1908 Fire makes 17,000 homeless in Chelsea Massachusetts | ||
| 1909 Philadelphia's Shibe Park (later Connie Mack Stadium) opens | ||
| 1913 U.S. musician and bandleader Lionel Hampton was born. He recorded with Louis Armstrong and worked with Benny Goodman and was also responsible for introducing the vibraphone into jazz. | ||
| 1914 George Bernard Shaw's play "Pygmalion" opened in London with Mrs. Patrick Campbell as Eliza Doolittle and Sir Herbert Tree as Professor Higgins. | ||
| 1919 British Parliament passes a 48-hour work week with minimum wages | ||
| 1927 Gen Chiang Kai-shek begins counter revolution in Shanghai | ||
| 1928 Assassination attempt on king Victor Emmanuel II of Italy | ||
| 1931 Spanish voters reject the monarchy | ||
| 1938 1st US law requiring medical tests for marriage licenses (NY) | ||
| 1940 Italy annexes Albania | ||
| 1942 Japan kills about 400 Filipino officers in Bataan | ||
| 1943 Allies conquer Soussa, North-Africa | ||
| 1944 King Victor Emmanuel of Italy announced his intention to abdicate in favor of the Prince of Piedmont when the Allies entered Rome. | ||
| 1945 Franklin D. Roosevelt, U.S. president for a record four terms, died in office. Vice President Truman took over the presidency. |
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| 1945 Canadian troops liberate Nazi concentration camp Westerbork, Neth | ||
| 1946 Syria gains independence from France | ||
| 1952 Salaheddine Baccouche forms Tunisian government | ||
| 1953 Keizo Yamada runs fastest marathon to date, at Boston | ||
| 1954 Belgian Van Houtte government resigns | ||
| 1954 Bill Haley and the Comets recorded the song "Rock Around the Clock"; it sold an estimated 25 million copies worldwide -- then the second biggest-selling single behind Bing Crosby's "White Christmas" | ||
| 1956 Bandaranaike govt forms in Ceylon | ||
| 1961 The Soviet Union launched the first man into space; cosmonaut Yuri Gargarin was carried by the spacecraft Vostok I on a single orbit of the Earth in an 108-minute flight. | ||
| 1966 1st B-52 bombing on North Vietnam | ||
| 1973 Sudan adopts constitution | ||
| 1973 Swaziland suspends constitution | ||
| 1976 India set 403 to win by WI They get them, 6 wkts 7 overs spare | ||
| 1979 Soyuz 33 returns to Earth | ||
| 1980 Liberian President William Tolbert was assassinated in a military coup. Samuel K. Doe was installed as the new head of state. | ||
| 1981 Joe Louis, heavywieght boxing champion, died aged 66. He held the world title for a record 12 years and won 68 of his 71 professional fights. | ||
| 1981 The world's first re-usable space shuttle Columbia was launched at Cape Canaveral. | ||
| 1983 USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR | ||
| 1986 20,000 mine workers protest closing of Hasselt Belgium mines | ||
| 1987 Texaco files for bankruptcy | ||
| 1989 Peter Ueberroth deal to purchase Eastern Airlines falls through | ||
| 1989 Sugar Ray Robinson, five-time winner of the world middleweight boxing championship and unbeaten welterweight champion, died. | ||
| 1991 Nepalese Congress party wins general elections | ||
| 1992 Earthquake rocks Germany | ||