What happened on August 12? There are more than 299 events that were made this day in history. Here are the important historical events, facts, and some myths about this day.
Interesting Facts & Myths About August 12
August 12 is the 225th day of the year 2024. There are 141 days remaining until the end of this year. The day of the week is Monday. This day falls under the 33rd week of the year 2024.
On this day in Gulfport, Mississippi 39505 sunrise occured at 06:20 AM and sunset occured at 07:41 PM (local time).
The zodiac sign of a person born on this day is Leo. The modern birthstone for this month is Peridot while the mystical birthstone is Diamond.
According to the Chinese calendar, there are 170 days remaining before the start of the next Chinese New Year (January 29, 2025).
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August 12: A Day In History
It is the peak of the Perseid meteor shower. It is also known as the “Glorious Twelfth” in the UK, as it marks the traditional start of the grouse shooting season.
Historical Events For August 12
- 30 BCCleopatra VII Philopator, the last ruler of the Egyptian Ptolemaic dynasty, commits suicide, allegedly by means of an asp bite.
- 1099First Crusade: Battle of Ascalon Crusaders under the command of Godfrey of Bouillon defeat Fatimid forces led by Al-Afdal Shahanshah. This is considered the last engagement of the First Crusade.
- 1121Battle of Didgori: the Georgian army under King David the Builder wins a decisive victory over the famous Seljuk commander Ilghazi.
- 1164Battle of Harim: Nur ad-Din Zangi defeats the Crusader armies of the County of Tripoli and the Principality of Antioch.
- 1323Signature of the Treaty of Nöteborg between Sweden and Novgorod (Russia), that regulates the border between the two countries for the first time.
- 1480Battle of Otranto: Ottoman troops behead 800 Christians for refusing to convert to Islam.
- 1499First engagement of the Battle of Zonchio between Venetian and Ottoman fleets.
- 1624The president of Louis XIII of France’s royal council is arrested, leaving Cardinal Richelieu in the role of the King’s principal minister.
- 1676Praying Indian John Alderman shoots and kills Metacomet, the Wampanoag war chief, ending King Philip’s War.
- 1687Battle of Mohács: Charles of Lorraine defeats the Ottomans.
- 1793The Rhône and Loire (Lêre) départments are created when the former département of Rhône-et-Loire is split into two.
- 1806Santiago de Liniers re-takes the city of Buenos Aires after the first British invasion.
- 1831French intervention forces William I of the Netherlands to abandon his attempt to suppress the Belgian Revolution.
- 1851Isaac Singer is granted a patent for his sewing machine.
- 1877Asaph Hall discovers the Mars moon Deimos.
- 1883The last quagga dies at the Artis Magistra zoo in Amsterdam.
- 1898An Armistice ends the Spanish-American War.
- 1898The Hawaiian flag is lowered from Iolani Palace in an elaborate annexation ceremony and replaced with the flag of the United States to signify the transfer of sovereignty from the Republic of Hawai`i to the United States.
- 1914World War I: the United Kingdom declares war on Austria-Hungary; the countries of the British Empire follow suit.
- 1944Alençon is liberated by General Leclerc, the first city in France to be liberated from the Nazis by French forces.
- 1944Waffen SS troops massacre 560 people in Sant'Anna di Stazzema.
- 1952The Night of the Murdered Poets: 13 prominent Jewish intellectuals are murdered in Moscow.
- 1953Nuclear weapons testing: the Soviet atomic bomb project continues with the detonation of Joe 4, the first Soviet thermonuclear weapon.
- 1953The islands of Zakynthos and Kefalonia in Greece are severely damaged by an earthquake measuring 7.3 on the Richter scale.
- 1960Echo 1A, NASA’s first successful communications satellite, is launched.
- 1964Charlie Wilson, one of the Great Train Robbers, escapes from Winson Green Prison in Birmingham, England.
- 1964South Africa is banned from the Olympic Games due to the country’s racist policies.
- 1969Violence erupts after the Apprentice Boys of Derry march in Derry, Northern Ireland, resulting in a three-day communal riot known as the Battle of the Bogside.
- 1976Between 1,000 and 3,500 Palestinians are killed in the Tel al-Zaatar massacre, one of the bloodiest events of the Lebanese Civil War
- 1977The Sri Lankan riots of 1977, targeting the minority Sri Lankan Tamil people, begin, less than a month after the United National Party came to power. Over 300 Tamils are killed.
- 1977The first free flight of the Space Shuttle Enterprise.
- 1978The Treaty of Peace and Friendship between Japan and the People’s Republic of China is signed.
- 1980The Montevideo Treaty, establishing the Latin American Integration Association, is signed.
- 1981The IBM Personal Computer is released.
- 1982Mexico announces it is unable to pay its enormous external debt, marking the beginning of a debt crisis that spreads to all of Latin America and the Third World.
- 1985Japan Airlines Flight 123 crashes into Osutaka ridge in Gunma Prefecture, Japan, killing 520, to become the worst single-plane air disaster.
- 1992Canada, Mexico and the United States announce completion of negotiations for the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).
- 1994Major League Baseball players go on strike. This will force the cancellation of the 1994 World Series.
- 2000The Oscar class submarine K-141 Kursk of the Russian Navy explodes and sinks in the Barents Sea during a military exercise.
- 2005Sri Lanka’s foreign minister, Lakshman Kadirgamar, is fatally shot by an LTTE sniper at his home.
- 2007The bulk carrier M/V New Flame collides with the oil tanker Torm Gertrud at the southernmost tip of Gibraltar, ending up partially submerged.
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Who Were Born On August 12?
- 1503King Christian III of Denmark and Norway (d. 1559)
- 1566Infanta Isabella Clara Eugenia of Spain (d. 1633)
- 1604Tokugawa Iemitsu, Japanese shogun (d. 1651)
- 1629Tsar Alexei I of Russia (d. 1676)
- 1644Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber, Bohemian composer (d. 1704)
- 1647Johann Heinrich Acker, German writer (d. 1719)
- 1686John Balguy, English philosopher (d. 1748)
- 1696Maurice Greene, English composer (d. 1755)
- 1720Konrad Ekhof, German actor (d. 1778)
- 1762King George IV of the United Kingdom (d. 1830)
- 1774Robert Southey, English poet and biographer (d. 1843)
- 1831Helena Blavatsky, Russian theosophist (d. 1891)
- 1856Diamond Jim Brady, American financier (d. 1917)
- 1859Katharine Lee Bates, American poet (d. 1929)
- 1860Klara Hitler, Austrian mother of dictator Adolf Hitler (d. 1907)
- 1866Jacinto Benavente, Spanish writer, Nobel laureate (d. 1954)
- 1867Edith Hamilton, German-born American classicist (d. 1963)
- 1872Princess Marie Louise of Schleswig-Holstein (d. 1956)
- 1876Mary Roberts Rinehart, American mystery writer (d. 1958)
- 1877Albert Bartha, Hungarian military officer and politician (d. 1960)
- 1880Christy Mathewson, American baseball player (d. 1925)
- 1880Radclyffe Hall, British poet, novelist and LGBT activist (d. 1943)
- 1881Cecil B. DeMille, American film director (d. 1959)
- 1883Marion Lorne, American actress (d. 1968)
- 1883Martha Hedman, Swedish-American actress (d. 1974)
- 1883Pauline Frederick, American actress (d. 1938)
- 1885Jean Cabannes, French physicist (d. 1959)
- 1886Sir Keith Murdoch, Australian journalist and newspaper owner (d. 1952)
- 1887Erwin Schrödinger, Austrian physicist, Nobel laureate (d. 1961)
- 1889Zerna Sharp, American writer and educator (Dick and Jane) (d. 1981)
- 1891C. E. M. Joad, English philosopher and broadcaster (d. 1953)
- 1892Alfred Lunt, American actor (d. 1977)
- 1897Maurice Fernandes, Guyanese West Indies cricketer (d. 1981)
- 1899Ben Sealey, Trinidadian West Indies cricketer (d. 1963)
- 1902Mohammad Hatta, first Vice President of Indonesia (d. 1980)
- 1904Tamás Lossonczy, Hungarian painter (d. 2009)
- 1904Tsarevich Alexei Nikolaevich of Russia, only son of Emperor Nicholas II of Russia (d. 1918)
- 1906Harry Hopman, Australian tennis player and coach (d. 1985)
- 1906Tedd Pierce, American animator (d. 1972)
- 1907Benjamin Henry Sheares, second President of Singapore (d. 1981)
- 1907Joe Besser, American actor and comedian (d. 1988)
- 1909Bruce Matthews, Canadian Army officer and businessman (d. 1991)
- 1910Jane Wyatt, American actress (d. 2006)
- 1910Yusof bin Ishak, first President of Singapore (d. 1970)
- 1911Cantinflas, Mexican actor (d. 1993)
- 1912Samuel Fuller, American film director (d. 1997)
- 1913Richard Bare, American director
- 1914Gerd Buchdahl, German philosopher (d. 2001)
- 1914Ruth Lowe, Canadian pianist and composer (I'll Never Smile Again) (d. 1981)
- 1915Michael Kidd, American choreographer (d. 2007)
- 1915Sickan Carlsson, Swedish actress and singer (d. 2011)
- 1918Guy Gibson, British aviator, Victoria Cross recipient (d. 1944)
- 1919Vikram Sarabhai, Indian physicist (d. 1971)
- 1922Fulton Mackay, Scottish actor (d. 1987)
- 1923John Holt, Jamaican West Indies cricketer (d. 1997)
- 1924Derek Shackleton, English cricketer (d. 2007)
- 1924Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, 6th President of Pakistan (d. 1988)
- 1925Dale Bumpers, American politician
- 1925George Wetherill, American physicist (d. 2006)
- 1925Norris McWhirter, Scottish co-founder of the Guinness Book of Records (d. 2004)
- 1925Ross McWhirter, Scottish co-founder of the Guinness Book of Records (d. 1975)
- 1926Joe Jones, American R&B singer (d. 2005)
- 1926John Derek, American actor (d. 1998)
- 1926Wallace Markfield, American writer (d. 2002)
- 1927Porter Wagoner, American singer (d. 2007)
- 1928Bob Buhl, American baseball player (d. 2001)
- 1928Charles Blackman, Australian artist
- 1928Dan Curtis, American film and television producer and director (d.2006)
- 1929Buck Owens, American singer (d. 2006)
- 1930George Soros Hungarian-born American financier and political activist
- 1930Jacques Tits, Belgian mathematician
- 1931William Goldman, American screenwriter
- 1932Charlie O'Donnell, American game show announcer (d. 2010)
- 1932Dallin H. Oaks, American The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints apostle and former Utah Supreme Court Justice
- 1932Sirikit, Queen consort of Thailand, wife of Bhumibol Adulyadej (Rama IX)
- 1933Parnelli Jones, American race car driver and team owner
- 1935John Cazale, American actor (d. 1978)
- 1937Walter Dean Myers, American novelist and poet
- 1938Jean-Paul L'Allier, Canadian politician, 38th Mayor of Quebec
- 1939George Hamilton, American actor
- 1939Michael D. Antonovich, American politician
- 1939Roy Romanow, Canadian politician
- 1939Skip Caray, American TV and radio baseball announcer (Atlanta Braves) (d. 2008)
- 1940Eddie Barlow, South African cricketer (d. 2005)
- 1941Dana Ivey, American actress
- 1941Réjean Ducharme, Canadian novelist and playwright
- 1942Hans-Wilhelm Müller-Wohlfahrt, German physician
- 1943Deborah Walley, American actress (d. 2001)
- 1945Ron Mael, American keyboardist (Sparks)
- 1946Terry Nutkins, British TV presenter
- 1947Sam Rosen, American sportscaster
- 1949Mark Knopfler, British singer-songwriter and guitarist (Dire Straits)
- 1949Panagiotis Chinofotis, Greek politician
- 1949Rick Ridgeway, American mountaineer
- 1950Jim Beaver, American actor and writer
- 1951Willie Horton, American murderer and rapist
- 1952Chen Kaige, Chinese film director
- 1954Ibolya Dávid, Hungarian lawyer and politician
- 1954Pat Metheny, American guitarist
- 1954Sam J. Jones, American actor
- 1955Ann M. Martin, American children’s writer
- 1955Terry Taylor, American professional wrestler
- 1956Bruce Greenwood, Canadian actor
- 1956Sidath Wettimuny, Sri Lankan cricketer
- 1957Friedhelm Schütte, German footballer
- 1958Jürgen Dehmel, German bass player and songwriter (Nena)
- 1959Amanda Redman, English actress
- 1960Eduardo Tokeshi, Peruvian artist
- 1960Greg Thomas, England cricketer
- 1960Laurent Fignon, French cyclist (d. 2010)
- 1961Lawrence Hayward, English singer-songwriter and guitarist (Felt, Denim, Go Kart Mozart)
- 1961Mark Priest, New Zealand cricketer
- 1961Roy Hay, British guitarist and keyboardist (Culture Club)
- 1963Kōji Kitao (Futahaguro Koji), Japanese sumo wrestler (the 60th Yokozuna) and professional wrestler
- 1963Sir Mix-a-Lot, American rapper
- 1965Peter Krause, American actor
- 1967Andrey Plotnikov, Russian race walker
- 1967Andy Hui, Hong Kong actor and singer
- 1967Regilio Tuur, Dutch boxer
- 1968Andras Jones, American actor
- 1968Thorsten Boer, German footballer
- 1969Aga Muhlach, Filipino actor
- 1969Stuart Williams, Nevisian West Indies cricketer
- 1969Tanita Tikaram, British singer
- 1970Anthony Swofford, American novelist
- 1970Charles Mesure, British actor
- 1970Jim Schlossnagle, American baseball coach
- 1971Michael Ian Black, American comedian
- 1971Pete Sampras, American tennis player
- 1971Rebecca Gayheart, American actress
- 1971Yvette Nicole Brown, American actress
- 1972Del the Funky Homosapien, American hip hop artist
- 1972Gyanendra Pandey, Indian cricketer
- 1972Mark Kinsella, Irish footballer
- 1972Takanohana Kōji, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 65th Yokozuna
- 1973Jonathan Coachman, American professional wrestler and executive
- 1973Joseba Beloki, Spanish cyclist
- 1973Muqtada al-Sadr, Iraqi theologian and political leader
- 1973Richard Reid, British terrorist (the “Shoe Bomber”)
- 1973Todd Marchant, American ice hockey player
- 1974Matt Clement, American baseball player
- 1975Casey Affleck, American actor
- 1976Antoine Walker, American basketball player
- 1976Brad Lukowich, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1976Henry Tuilagi, Samoan rugby union footballer
- 1976Mikko Lindström, Finnish guitarist (HIM)
- 1976Pedro Collins, Barbadian cricketer
- 1976Richard McCourt, English children’s television presenter
- 1976Wednesday 13, American vocalist (Wednesday 13, Murderdolls)
- 1977Jesper Grønkjær, Danish footballer
- 1977Park Yong-ha, South Korean actor and singer (d. 2010)
- 1977Plaxico Burress, American football player
- 1978Chris Chambers, American football player
- 1978Hayley Wickenheiser, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1979Austra Skujytė, Lithuanian athlete
- 1979Cindy Klassen, Canadian speed skater
- 1979D.J. Houlton, American baseball player
- 1980Dominique Swain, American actress
- 1980Jade Villalon, American singer-songwriter
- 1980Maggie Lawson, American actress
- 1980Matt Thiessen, Canadian singer-songwriter (Relient K)
- 1981Djibril Cissé, French footballer
- 1981Tony Capaldi, Northern Irish footballer
- 1982Alexandros Tzorvas, Greek footballer
- 1982Iza Calzado, Filipino TV actress
- 1983Klaas-Jan Huntelaar, Dutch footballer
- 1983Manoa Vosawai, Italian rugby player
- 1983Mark Webster, Welsh Dart player
- 1984Marian Rivera, Filipino actress
- 1985Franck Moutsinga, German rugby player
- 1988Justin Gaston, American actor, model and singer
- 1988Leah Pipes, American actress
- 1989Tom Cleverley, English footballer
- 1990Enzo Pineda, Filipino television actor
- 1990Mario Balotelli, Italian footballer
- 1990Marvin Zeegelaar, Dutch footballer
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Who Died On August 12?
- 30 BCCleopatra VII (b. 69 BC)
- 875Louis II of Italy, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 825)
- 1424Yongle Emperor of China (b. 1360)
- 1484George of Trebizond, Greek philosopher (b. 1395)
- 1484Pope Sixtus IV (b. 1414)
- 1512Alessandro Achillini, Italian philosopher (b. 1463)
- 1577Thomas Smith, English diplomat and scholar (b. 1513)
- 1588Alfonso Ferrabosco the elder, Italian composer (b. 1543)
- 1612Giovanni Gabrieli, Italian composer
- 1633Jacopo Peri, Italian composer (b. 1561)
- 1638Johannes Althusius, German writer (b. 1557)
- 1648Ibrahim I, Ottoman Sultan (b. 1615)
- 1674Philippe de Champaigne, French painter (b. 1602)
- 1689Pope Innocent XI (b. 1611)
- 1778Peregrine Bertie, 3rd Duke of Ancaster and Kesteven, British general and politician (b. 1714)
- 1809Mikhail Kamensky, Russian field marshal (b. 1738)
- 1810Etienne Louis Geoffroy, French pharmacist and entomologist (b. 1725)
- 1822Robert Stewart, Viscount Castlereagh, English politician and statesman (b. 1769)
- 1827William Blake, English poet and artist (b. 1757)
- 1829Charles Sapinaud de La Rairie, French royalist general and counterrevolutionary (b. 1760)
- 1848George Stephenson, British locomotive designer (b. 1781)
- 1849Albert Gallatin, Swiss-American politician, 4th United States Secretary of the Treasury (b. 1761)
- 1851John Elliot Drinkwater Bethune, British barrister and a pioneer in women’s education in India (b. 1801)
- 1861Eliphalet Remington, American inventor (b. 1793)
- 1864Sakuma Shōzan, Japanese reformer (b. 1811)
- 1865William Jackson Hooker, English botanist (b. 1785)
- 1891James Russell Lowell, American poet and essayist (b. 1819)
- 1896Thomas Chamberlain, American Civil War military figure (b. 1841)
- 1900Wilhelm Steinitz, Austrian chess player (b. 1836)
- 1901Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld, Finnish-born Swedish explorer (b. 1832)
- 1904William Renshaw, British tennis player (b. 1861)
- 1914John Philip Holland, Irish submarine designer (b. 1840)
- 1918Anna Held, Polish-born American actress and singer (b. 1872)
- 1922Arthur Griffith, Irish politician (b. 1871)
- 1924Sándor Bródy, Hungarian author and journalist (b. 1863)
- 1928Leoš Janáček, Czech composer (b. 1854)
- 1934Hendrik Petrus Berlage, Dutch architect (b. 1856)
- 1935Friedrich Schottky, German mathematician (b. 1851)
- 19411st Marquess of Willingdon, Governor General of Canada, Viceroy of India (b. 1866)
- 1941Bobby Peel, English cricketer (b. 1857)
- 1943Vittorio Sella, Italian photographer (b. 1859)
- 1944Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr., brother of President John F. Kennedy (b. 1915)
- 1948Harry Brearley, English inventor (b. 1871)
- 1952David Bergelson, Ukrainian-born Soviet Yiddish language writer (b. 1884)
- 1955James B. Sumner, American chemist, Nobel laureate (b. 1887)
- 1955Thomas Mann, German writer, Nobel laureate (b. 1875)
- 1959Mike O'Neill, Irish-born American baseball player (b. 1877)
- 1964Ian Fleming, English novelist, creator of James Bond (b. 1908)
- 1967Esther Forbes, American novelist (b. 1891)
- 1973Karl Ziegler, German chemist, Nobel laureate (b. 1898)
- 1973Walter Rudolf Hess, Swiss physiologist, Nobel laureate (b. 1881)
- 1979Sir Ernst Boris Chain, British biochemist, Nobel laureate (b. 1906)
- 1982Henry Fonda, American actor (b. 1905)
- 1982Salvador Sánchez, Mexican boxer (b. 1959)
- 1982Varlam Shalamov, Russian writer (b. 1907)
- 1984Lenny Breau, American jazz guitarist (b. 1941)
- 1985Kyu Sakamoto, Japanese singer (b. 1941)
- 1985Manfred Winkelhock, German race car driver (b. 1951)
- 1988Jean-Michel Basquiat, American painter and graffiti artist (b. 1960)
- 1989Samuel Okwaraji, Nigerian footballer (b. 1964)
- 1989William Shockley, American physicist, Nobel laureate (b. 1910)
- 1990B. Kliban, American cartoonist (b. 1935)
- 1990Dorothy Mackaill, British-born American actress (b. 1903)
- 1992John Cage, American composer (b. 1912)
- 1996Mark Gruenwald, American comic book writer and editor (b. 1953)
- 1996Robert Gravel, French-Canadian actor and theatrical director (b. 1945)
- 1996Viktor Hambardzumyan, Soviet Armenian scientist (b. 1908)
- 1997Luther Allison, American blues guitarist (b. 1939)
- 1999Jean Drapeau, Canadian politician (b. 1916)
- 2000Loretta Young, American actress (b. 1913)
- 2002Enos Slaughter, American baseball player (b. 1916)
- 2004Peter Woodthorpe, British actor (b. 1931)
- 2004Sir Godfrey Hounsfield, English electrical engineer and inventor, Nobel laureate (b. 1919)
- 2005John Loder, English sound engineer and record producer (b. 1946)
- 2007Merv Griffin, American television host and game show creator (b. 1925)
- 2007Mike Wieringo, American comic book artist (b. 1963)
- 2008Christie Allen, English-born Australian pop singer (b. 1954)
- 2009Les Paul, American guitarist (b. 1915)
- 2010André Kim, South Korean Fashion Designer (b. 1935)
- 2010Guido de Marco, Maltan politician and diplomat (b. 1931)
- 2010Isaac Bonewits, American writer and neopaganist (b. 1949)
- 2010Richie Hayward, American musician (Little Feat) (b. 1946)
- 2011Jani Lane, American musician (Warrant) (b. 1964)
- 2011Robert Robinson, British television presenter (Ask The Family, Call My Bluff) (b. 1927)
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