March 12

This is what happened on this day!

Events

Important Moments in History

• 538 – The Ostrogoths, led by their king Vitiges, stopped their attack on Rome and went back to Ravenna. This left the city to the winning Byzantine general, Belisarius.
• 1088 – Pope Urban II was chosen as the 159th Pope of the Catholic Church. He is famous for starting the Crusades, which were a series of religious wars.
• 1158 – The German city of Munich was first officially mentioned in a document by Emperor Friedrich I.
• 1579 – The Siege of Maastricht began, which was a part of the Eighty Years' War in Europe.
• 1622 – Ignatius of Loyola and Francis Xavier, who started the Society of Jesus (also known as the Jesuits), were made saints by the Roman Catholic Church.
• 1689 – James II of England landed in Kinsale, starting the Williamite War in Ireland.
• 1811 – During the Peninsular War, French Marshal Michel Ney successfully held back the Anglo-Portuguese forces at the Battle of Redinha.
• 1912 – The Girl Guides organization was started in the United States. It was later renamed the Girl Scouts of the USA.
• 1913 – The future capital city of Australia was officially named Canberra.
• 1918 – Moscow became the capital of Russia again. Before this, Saint Petersburg had been the capital for a long time since 1713.
• 1920 – The Kapp Putsch began when a military group called the Marinebrigade Ehrhardt was ordered to march on Berlin.
• 1928 – In California, the St. Francis Dam broke, causing floods that killed 431 people.
• 1930 – Mahatma Gandhi started the Salt March. This was a 200-mile walk to the sea to protest against the British government's control over salt in India.
• 1933 – During the Great Depression, Franklin D. Roosevelt spoke to the nation for the first time as President of the United States. This was also the first of his famous "fireside chats" where he talked directly to the American people.
• 1938 – Anschluss: German troops moved into and took control of Austria.
• 1940 – The Winter War ended with Finland signing the Moscow Peace Treaty with the Soviet Union, giving up a large part of Finnish Karelia.
• 1942 – The Battle of Java ended when the Allied forces (American, British, Dutch, and Australian) surrendered to the Japanese Empire in Bandung, Dutch East Indies.
• 1947 – During the Cold War, the Truman Doctrine was announced. This plan aimed to help stop the spread of Communism around the world.
• 1967 – Suharto took over power from Sukarno and became the Acting President of Indonesia.
• 1968 – Mauritius became an independent country from the United Kingdom.
• 1989 – Sir Tim Berners-Lee shared his idea for an information management system at CERN. This idea later grew into what we know today as the World Wide Web.
• 1992 – Mauritius became a republic but stayed a member of the Commonwealth of Nations.
• 1993 – North Korea announced it would leave the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons and would not let inspectors check its nuclear sites.
• 1999 – The Czech Republic, Hungary, and Poland, which were once part of the Warsaw Pact, joined NATO.
• 2003 – Zoran Đinđić, the Prime Minister of Serbia, was killed in Belgrade.
• 2003 – The World Health Organization warned the world about outbreaks of Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS).
• 2004 – Roh Moo-hyun, the President of South Korea, was removed from office by the National Assembly. This was the first time a president had been impeached in South Korea's history.
• 2009 – Financier Bernie Madoff admitted he was guilty of one of the biggest frauds in Wall Street's history.
• 2011 – A reactor at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant exploded, releasing radioactivity into the air, a day after a huge earthquake and tsunami.
• 2014 – A gas explosion in East Harlem, New York City, killed eight people and injured 70 others.
• 2020 – The United States stopped travel from Europe because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Births

Famous People Born Today

• 1613 – André Le Nôtre, a famous French gardener and architect who designed many beautiful gardens, including those at the Palace of Versailles.
• 1637 – Anne Hyde, who became the Duchess of York.
• 1710 – Thomas Arne, an English composer.
• 1784 – William Buckland, an English geologist and paleontologist who studied ancient life and rocks.
• 1795 – William Lyon Mackenzie, a Scottish-Canadian journalist and the first Mayor of Toronto.
• 1806 – Jane Pierce, the wife of Franklin Pierce and the 15th First Lady of the United States.
• 1821 – John Abbott, a Canadian lawyer and the 3rd Prime Minister of Canada.
• 1824 – Gustav Kirchhoff, a Russian-German physicist and academic known for his work on electrical circuits and spectroscopy.
• 1832 – Charles Boycott, an English farmer whose name became the word "boycott" after people refused to work for him.
• 1838 – William Henry Perkin, an English chemist who accidentally discovered the first synthetic dye.
• 1863 – Gabriele D'Annunzio, an Italian soldier, journalist, poet, and playwright.
• 1863 – Vladimir Vernadsky, a Russian and Ukrainian scientist who founded the field of biogeochemistry.
• 1869 – George Forbes, the 22nd Prime Minister of New Zealand.
• 1881 – Väinö Tanner, a Finnish politician and Prime Minister of Finland.
• 1890 – Evert Taube, a beloved Swedish singer-songwriter.
• 1905 – Takashi Shimura, a Japanese actor famous for his roles in many classic films.
• 1908 – David Marshall, the first Chief Minister of Singapore.
• 1910 – Masayoshi Ōhira, the 68th Prime Minister of Japan.
• 1911 – Gustavo Díaz Ordaz, the 49th President of Mexico.
• 1917 – Leonard Chess, who co-founded Chess Records, a very important record label for blues and rock and roll music.
• 1921 – Gianni Agnelli, a powerful Italian businessman.
• 1922 – Jack Kerouac, an American author and poet who was a leading figure in the Beat Generation.
• 1923 – Wally Schirra, an American astronaut who flew on Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo space missions.
• 1925 – Leo Esaki, a Japanese physicist and Nobel Prize winner.
• 1926 – George Ariyoshi, the 3rd Governor of Hawaii.
• 1927 – Raúl Alfonsín, the 46th President of Argentina.
• 1928 – Edward Albee, an American playwright who wrote many famous plays.
• 1930 – Antony Acland, a British diplomat.
• 1932 – Andrew Young, an American pastor and politician, who served as the United States Ambassador to the United Nations.
• 1936 – Virginia Hamilton, an American author of children's books.
• 1940 – Al Jarreau, an American singer known for his unique vocal style.
• 1946 – Liza Minnelli, a famous American actress, singer, and dancer.
• 1946 – Frank Welker, an American voice actor who has voiced many cartoon characters.
• 1947 – Mitt Romney, an American businessman and politician, who was the 70th Governor of Massachusetts.
• 1948 – James Taylor, a popular American singer-songwriter and guitarist.
• 1956 – Steve Harris, the English bass player and songwriter for the band Iron Maiden.
• 1957 – Marlon Jackson, an American singer and dancer, a member of The Jackson 5.
• 1959 – Milorad Dodik, a Bosnian Serb politician.
• 1962 – Darryl Strawberry, a famous American baseball player.
• 1968 – Tammy Duckworth, a Thai-American colonel, pilot, and politician.
• 1968 – Aaron Eckhart, an American actor.
• 1969 – Graham Coxon, an English singer-songwriter and guitarist.
• 1969 – Jake Tapper, an American journalist and author.
• 1976 – Zhao Wei, a Chinese actress, film director, and singer.
• 1979 – Pete Doherty, an English musician and songwriter.
• 1983 – Atif Aslam, a Pakistani singer and actor.
• 1984 – Jaimie Alexander, an American actress.
• 1984 – Shreya Ghoshal, a popular Indian singer.
• 1986 – Danny Jones, an English singer-songwriter and guitarist.
• 1994 – Christina Grimmie, an American singer-songwriter.
• 2003 – Andrea Brillantes, a Filipino actress and model.
• 2003 – Malina Weissman, an American actress and model.

Deaths

Notable People Who Passed Away Today

• 604 – Pope Gregory I, a very important pope of the Catholic Church.
• 1539 – Thomas Boleyn, 1st Earl of Wiltshire, an English diplomat and politician, and the father of Anne Boleyn.
• 1898 – Zachris Topelius, a Finnish-Swedish journalist, historian, and author.
• 1925 – Sun Yat-sen, a Chinese physician and politician, considered the first President of the Republic of China.
• 1935 – Mihajlo Pupin, a Serbian-American physicist and chemist.
• 1942 – William Henry Bragg, an English physicist and Nobel Prize winner.
• 1955 – Charlie Parker, a legendary American saxophonist and composer, a key figure in jazz music.
• 1973 – Frankie Frisch, an American baseball player and manager.
• 1985 – Eugene Ormandy, a Hungarian-American violinist and conductor.
• 1991 – Ragnar Granit, a Finnish-Swedish neuroscientist and Nobel Prize winner.
• 1999 – Yehudi Menuhin, a world-famous American-Swiss violinist and conductor.
• 2001 – Robert Ludlum, an American author known for his spy thrillers.
• 2003 – Zoran Đinđić, the Prime Minister of Serbia.
• 2015 – Terry Pratchett, a very popular English journalist and author, known for his fantasy novels.
• 2016 – Lloyd Shapley, an American mathematician and economist, and a Nobel Prize winner.

Holidays and observances

• Arbor Day (China)
• Arbor Day (Taiwan)
• Aztec New Year
• Christian feast day:

* Pope Gregory I (Eastern Orthodox Church, Eastern Catholic Church, and Anglican Communion) * Theophanes the Confessor

• National Day (Mauritius)
• World Day Against Cyber Censorship
• Youth Day (Zambia)

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See also

In Spanish: 12 de marzo para niños