August 12 facts for kids

August 12 is the 224th day of the year (225th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar; 141 days remain until the end of the year. Every day is packed with history, and August 12th is no exception! From ancient battles to modern inventions, this date has seen many important moments and the birth of famous people. Let's explore some of the exciting events that happened on August 12th throughout history.

Historical Events on August 12th

Early History: Battles and Borders

• 1099 – The First Crusade ended with the Battle of Ascalon. Crusaders, led by Godfrey of Bouillon, defeated the Fatimid army. This was a major victory for the Crusaders.
• 1121 – In the Battle of Didgori, the Georgian army, led by King David IV, won a big victory against the Seljuk Turks. This battle was very important for Georgia's history.
• 1164 – Nur ad-Din Zangi defeated Crusader armies in the Battle of Harim. This showed his power in the region.
• 1323 – The Treaty of Nöteborg was signed between Sweden and the Novgorod Republic. This treaty set the border between these two countries for the first time.
• 1492 – Christopher Columbus stopped in the Canary Islands during his first trip to the New World. This was an important stop before his famous journey across the Atlantic.
• 1499 – The first part of the Battle of Zonchio took place. This was a naval battle between the Venetian and Ottoman fleets.

17th to 19th Century Milestones

• 1676 – Metacomet, a Wampanoag war chief, was killed by John Alderman. This event marked the end of King Philip's War in North America.
• 1687 – In the Battle of Mohács, Charles of Lorraine defeated the Ottoman Empire. This was another significant battle in the long history between European powers and the Ottomans.
• 1765 – The Treaty of Allahabad was signed in India. This treaty marked the start of the British East India Company's political control in India.
• 1793 – Two new regions, the Rhône and Loire départments, were created in France.
• 1806 – Santiago de Liniers, 1st Count of Buenos Aires successfully took back the city of Buenos Aires, Argentina. This happened after the first British invasion.
• 1831 – French forces made William I of the Netherlands stop his attempt to end the Belgian Revolution. This helped Belgium gain its independence.
• 1851 – Isaac Singer received a patent for his sewing machine. This invention made sewing much easier and faster for many people.
• 1865 – Joseph Lister, a British surgeon, performed the first surgery using antiseptics. This was a huge step forward in medicine, making surgeries much safer.
• 1883 – The very last quagga died at a zoo in Amsterdam. Quaggas were a type of zebra, and their extinction reminds us about protecting animals.
• 1898 – The Hawaiian flag was lowered from ʻIolani Palace. The flag of the United States was raised instead, showing that Hawaii was now part of the United States.

20th and 21st Century Events

• 1914 – World War I: The United Kingdom and the British Empire declared war on Austria-Hungary.
• 1914 – World War I: The Battle of Halen, also known as the Battle of the Silver Helmets, took place in Belgium. It was a clash between Belgian and German cavalry.
• 1944 – During World War II, Waffen-SS troops committed the Sant'Anna di Stazzema massacre, killing many people.
• 1944 – Nazi German troops ended the week-long Wola massacre, where many people were killed.
• 1944 – Alençon became the first city in France to be freed from the Nazis by French forces, led by General Philippe Leclerc de Hauteclocque.
• 1953 – The Soviet atomic bomb project tested "RDS-6s" (Joe 4), their first thermonuclear bomb. This was a major step in the nuclear arms race.
• 1953 – A strong earthquake hit the southern Ionian Islands, causing many deaths.
• 1960 – Echo 1A, NASA's first successful communications satellite, was launched. This satellite helped with early communication experiments.
• 1964 – South Africa was banned from the Olympic Games because of its racist policies.
• 1969 – Violence broke out in Derry, Northern Ireland, after a march. This led to a three-day riot known as the Battle of the Bogside.
• 1976 – The Tel al-Zaatar massacre occurred during the Lebanese Civil War, where many Palestinians were killed.
• 1977 – The Space Shuttle Enterprise had its first free flight. This was an important test for the space shuttle program.
• 1981 – The IBM Personal Computer was released. This computer changed the world of personal computing.
• 1985 – Japan Airlines Flight 123 crashed in Japan, killing 520 people. It remains the worst single-plane air disaster.
• 1990 – Sue, the largest and most complete Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton ever found, was discovered in South Dakota.
• 1992 – Canada, Mexico, and the United States finished talks for the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). This agreement aimed to boost trade between the countries.
• 1994 – Major League Baseball players went on strike. This eventually led to the cancellation of the 1994 World Series.
• 2000 – The Russian Navy submarine Kursk exploded and sank during a military exercise. All 118 crew members died.
• 2016 – Syrian civil war: The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) captured the city of Manbij from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).

Famous Births on August 12th

Born Before 1900

• 1452 – Abraham Zacuto, a Jewish astronomer and mathematician.
• 1503 – Christian III of Denmark, a Danish king.
• 1591 – Louise de Marillac, who helped start the Daughters of Charity, a group that cared for the poor and sick.
• 1604 – Tokugawa Iemitsu, an important Japanese leader known as a shōgun.
• 1644 – Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber, a talented Bohemian-Austrian violinist and composer.
• 1762 – George IV of the United Kingdom, a British king.
• 1774 – Robert Southey, an English poet and writer.
• 1831 – Helena Blavatsky, a Russian scholar who founded Theosophy.
• 1851 – Michael J. McGivney, an American priest who founded the Knights of Columbus.
• 1859 – Katharine Lee Bates, an American poet who wrote "America the Beautiful."
• 1860 – Klara Hitler, the mother of Adolf Hitler.
• 1866 – Jacinto Benavente, a Spanish playwright who won the Nobel Prize in Literature.
• 1867 – Edith Hamilton, a German-American author known for her books on Greek mythology.
• 1871 – Gustavs Zemgals, the second President of Latvia.
• 1880 – Christy Mathewson, a famous American baseball player.
• 1881 – Cecil B. DeMille, a well-known American film director and producer.
• 1887 – Erwin Schrödinger, an Austrian physicist who won the Nobel Prize for his work on quantum theory.
• 1892 – Alfred Lunt, a famous American actor.

Born After 1900

• 1902 – Mohammad Hatta, the first Vice President of Indonesia.
• 1904 – Alexei Nikolaevich, Tsarevich of Russia, the last heir to the Russian throne.
• 1907 – Boy Charlton, an Australian swimmer who won Olympic gold.
• 1907 – Benjamin Sheares, the second President of Singapore.
• 1910 – Yusof bin Ishak, the first President of Singapore.
• 1910 – Jane Wyatt, an American actress.
• 1911 – Cantinflas, a beloved Mexican actor and comedian.
• 1912 – Samuel Fuller, an American film director and screenwriter.
• 1918 – Guy Gibson, a brave Anglo-Indian pilot and commander during WWII.
• 1919 – Margaret Burbidge, an English-American astrophysicist.
• 1919 – Vikram Sarabhai, an Indian physicist known as the father of the Indian space program.
• 1924 – Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, the sixth President of Pakistan.
• 1925 – Norris McWhirter and Ross McWhirter, Scottish twins who co-founded the Guinness World Records.
• 1926 – John Derek, an American actor and director.
• 1929 – Buck Owens, an American country music singer and guitarist.
• 1930 – George Soros, a Hungarian-American businessman and investor.
• 1931 – William Goldman, an American author and screenwriter.
• 1932 – Sirikit, the Queen Mother of Thailand.
• 1939 – George Hamilton, an American actor.
• 1949 – Mark Knopfler, a Scottish-English singer-songwriter and guitarist, known for the band Dire Straits.
• 1950 – Jim Beaver, an American actor.
• 1954 – François Hollande, a former President of France.
• 1954 – Pat Metheny, an American jazz guitarist and composer.
• 1956 – Bruce Greenwood, a Canadian actor.
• 1963 – Sir Mix-a-Lot, an American rapper.
• 1965 – Peter Krause, an American actor.
• 1971 – Michael Ian Black, an American comedian and actor.
• 1971 – Pete Sampras, a famous American tennis player.
• 1975 – Casey Affleck, an American actor.
• 1978 – Hayley Wickenheiser, a Canadian ice hockey player and Olympic gold medalist.
• 1979 – Cindy Klassen, a Canadian speed skater and Olympic medalist.
• 1980 – Maggie Lawson, an American actress.
• 1981 – Djibril Cissé, a French footballer.
• 1983 – Klaas-Jan Huntelaar, a Dutch footballer.
• 1988 – Tyson Fury, an English boxer.
• 1989 & Mario Balotelli, Italian footballers.
• 1992 – Cara Delevingne, an English model and actress.
• 1998 – Stefanos Tsitsipas, a Greek tennis player.
• 1999 – Matthijs de Ligt, a Dutch footballer.
• 1999 – Dream, a popular American YouTuber.
• 2001 – Dixie D'Amelio, an American social media personality and singer.

Notable Deaths on August 12th

Died Before 1900

• 30 BC – Cleopatra, the famous Egyptian queen.
• 875 – Louis II, a Holy Roman Emperor.
• 1424 – Yongle, a powerful emperor of the Ming Dynasty in China.
• 1484 – Pope Sixtus IV, a Pope of the Catholic Church.
• 1674 – Philippe de Champaigne, a Belgian-French painter.
• 1689 – Pope Innocent XI, another Pope of the Catholic Church.
• 1822 – Robert Stewart, Viscount Castlereagh, an important Irish-English politician.
• 1827 – William Blake, a famous English poet and painter.
• 1848 – George Stephenson, an English engineer who built early steam locomotives.
• 1861 – Eliphalet Remington, an American inventor who founded Remington Arms.
• 1891 – James Russell Lowell, an American poet and critic.

Died After 1900

• 1901 – Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld, a Finnish-Swedish explorer.
• 1904 – William Renshaw, an English tennis player.
• 1914 – John Philip Holland, an Irish engineer who designed early submarines.
• 1922 – Arthur Griffith, an Irish journalist and politician.
• 1928 – Leoš Janáček, a Czech composer.
• 1955 – Thomas Mann, a German author who won the Nobel Prize in Literature.
• 1955 – James B. Sumner, an American chemist who won the Nobel Prize.
• 1964 – Ian Fleming, the English spy and author who created James Bond.
• 1973 – Walter Rudolf Hess, a Swiss physiologist who won the Nobel Prize.
• 1973 – Karl Ziegler, a German chemist who won the Nobel Prize.
• 1979 – Ernst Boris Chain, a German-Irish biochemist who won the Nobel Prize for his work on penicillin.
• 1982 – Henry Fonda, a famous American actor.
• 1985 – Kyu Sakamoto, a Japanese singer-songwriter.
• 1988 – Jean-Michel Basquiat, an American painter.
• 1989 – William Shockley, an American physicist who won the Nobel Prize for inventing the transistor.
• 1992 – John Cage, an American composer.
• 2000 – Loretta Young, an American actress.
• 2004 – Godfrey Hounsfield, an English biophysicist who won the Nobel Prize for his work on CT scans.
• 2007 – Merv Griffin, an American producer who created popular game shows like Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune.
• 2009 – Les Paul, an American guitarist and songwriter who helped invent the electric guitar.
• 2010 – Guido de Marco, a former President of Malta.
• 2014 – Lauren Bacall, a famous American actress.
• 2015 – Stephen Lewis, an English actor.
• 2021 – Una Stubbs, an English actress.

Holidays and Observances

• Christian feast day:
  • Euplius
  • Eusebius of Milan
  • Herculanus of Brescia
  • Pope Innocent XI
  • Jænberht
  • Jane Frances de Chantal
  • Muiredach (or Murtagh)
  • Porcarius II
  • August 12 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
• Glorious Twelfth (United Kingdom)
• HM the Queen Mother's Birthday and National Mother's Day (Thailand)
• International Youth Day (United Nations)
• Russian Air Force Day (Russia)
• Russian Railway Troops Day (Russia)
• Sea Org Day (Scientology)
• World Elephant Day (International)

See also

In Spanish: 12 de agosto para niños