World History of March 12

Vitiges, king of the Ostrogoths ends his siege of Rome and retreats to Ravenna, leaving the city to the victorious Byzantine general, Belisarius.

Election of Urban II as the 159th Pope of the Catholic Church. He is best known for initiating the Crusades.

German city Munich (München) is first mentioned as forum apud Munichen in the Augsburg arbitration by Holy Roman Emperor Friedrich I.

Konrad von Wallenrode is elected the 24th Grand Master of the Teutonic Order (date is O.S.).

Start of the Siege of Maastricht, part of the Eighty Years' War.

Ignatius of Loyola and Francis Xavier, founders of the Society of Jesus, are canonized by the Roman Catholic Church.

James II of England landed at Kinsale, starting the Williamite War in Ireland.

Peninsular War: A day after a successful rearguard action, French Marshal Michel Ney once again successfully delays the pursuing Anglo-Portuguese force at the Battle of Redinha.

Paddle steamer Brother Jonathan docks in Fort Victoria (now Victoria, British Columbia), carrying smallpox infected passengers from San Francisco. The ensuing epidemic killed an estimated two thirds of First Nations in the province of British Columbia.

The Girl Guides (later renamed the Girl Scouts of the USA) are founded in the United States.

The future capital of Australia is officially named Canberra.

Moscow becomes the capital of Russia again after Saint Petersburg held this status for most of the period since 1713.

The Kapp Putsch begins when the Marinebrigade Ehrhardt is ordered to march on Berlin.

In California, the St. Francis Dam fails; the resulting floods kill 431 people.

Mahatma Gandhi begins the Salt March, a 200-mile (320 km) march to the sea to protest the British monopoly on salt in India.

Great Depression: Franklin D. Roosevelt addresses the nation for the first time as President of the United States. This is also the first of his "fireside chats".

Anschluss: German troops occupy and annex Austria.

Winter War: Finland signs the Moscow Peace Treaty with the Soviet Union, ceding almost all of Finnish Karelia.

The most destructive train accident in Finnish history kills 39 and injures 69 people in Turenki, Janakkala.

The Battle of Java ends with the surrender of the American-British-Dutch-Australian Command to the Empire of Japan in Bandung, West Java, Dutch East Indies.

Cold War: The Truman Doctrine is proclaimed to help stem the spread of Communism.

The Llandow air disaster kills 80 people when the aircraft they are travelling in crashes near Sigingstone, Wales. At the time this was the world's deadliest air disaster.

Suharto takes power from Sukarno when the Provisional People's Consultative Assembly inaugurate him as Acting President of Indonesia.

Mauritius gains independence from the United Kingdom.

The 1971 Turkish military memorandum is sent to the Süleyman Demirel government of Turkey and the government resigns.

Tim Berners-Lee submits his proposal to CERN for an information management system, which subsequently develops into the World Wide Web.

Mauritius becomes a republic while remaining a member of the Commonwealth of Nations.

Several bombs explode in Mumbai, India, killing about 300 people and injuring hundreds more.

North Korea announces that it will withdraw from the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons and refuses to allow inspectors access to its nuclear sites.

Former Warsaw Pact members the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland join NATO.

Zoran Đinđić, Prime Minister of Serbia, is assassinated in Belgrade.

The World Health Organization officially release a global warning of outbreaks of Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS).

President of South Korea, Roh Moo-hyun, is impeached by its National Assembly, the first such impeachment in the nation's history.

Financier Bernie Madoff pleads guilty to one of the largest frauds in Wall Street's history.

A reactor at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant explodes and releases radioactivity into the atmosphere a day after the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami.

A gas explosion in the New York City neighborhood of East Harlem kills eight and injures 70 others.

US-Bangla Airlines Flight 211 crashes at Tribhuvan International Airport in Katmandu, killing 51 and injuring 20.

In the House of Commons, the revised EU Withdrawal Bill was rejected by a margin of 149 votes.

The United States suspends travel from Europe due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Charles, Count of Valois (died 1325)

Caspar Othmayr, German Lutheran pastor and composer (died 1553)

Paul Gerhardt, German poet and composer (died 1676)

André Le Nôtre, French gardener and architect (died 1700)

John Aubrey, English historian and philosopher (died 1697)

Anne Hyde, Duchess of York and Albany (died 1671)

Richard Steele, Irish-Welsh journalist and politician (died 1729)

George Berkeley, Irish bishop and philosopher (died 1753)

Thomas Arne, English composer (died 1778)

François-Emmanuel Guignard, comte de Saint-Priest, French politician and diplomat (died 1821)

Jean Denis, French politician, lawyer, jurist, journalist, and historian (died 1827)

Claudius Buchanan, Scottish theologian (died 1815)

Frederica of Baden, Queen consort to Gustav IV Adolf of Sweden (died 1826)

William Buckland, English geologist and paleontologist; Dean of Westminster (died 1856)

William Lyon Mackenzie, Scottish-Canadian journalist and politician, 1st Mayor of Toronto (died 1861)

George Tyler Wood, American military officer and politician (died 1858)

Jane Pierce, American wife of Franklin Pierce, 15th First Lady of the United States (died 1863)

James Abbott, Indian Army officer (died 1896)

Louis-Jules Trochu, French military leader and politician (died 1896)

John Abbott, Canadian lawyer and politician, 3rd Prime Minister of Canada (died 1893)

Medo Pucić, Croatian writer and politician (died 1882)

Katsu Kaishū, Japanese statesman (died 1899)

Gustav Kirchhoff, Russian-German physicist and academic (died 1887)

Charles Boycott, English farmer and agent (died 1897)

Hilary A. Herbert, American politician, Secretary of the Navy (died 1919)

Simon Newcomb, Canadian-American astronomer and mathematician (died 1909)

Sigismondo Savona, Maltese educator and politician (died 1908)

Alexandre Guilmant, French organist and composer (died 1911)

William Henry Perkin, English chemist and academic (died 1907)

Gabriel Tarde, French sociologist and criminologist (died 1904)

Eduard Birnbaum, Polish-born German cantor (died 1920)

William V. Ranous, American actor and director (died 1915)

Adolph Ochs, American publisher (died 1935)

Ernesto Cesàro, Italian mathematician (died 1906)

Eric Stenbock, Estonian poet and author (died 1895)

Gabriele D'Annunzio, Italian soldier, journalist, poet, and playwright (died 1938)

Vladimir Vernadsky, Russian and Ukrainian mineralogist and chemist (died 1945)

W. H. R. Rivers, English anthropologist, neurologist, ethnologist, and psychiatrist (died 1922)

Alice Tegnér, Swedish organist, composer, and educator (died 1943)

Mary Karadja, Swedish writer, spiritualist and princess (died 1943)

George Forbes, New Zealand politician, 22nd Prime Minister of New Zealand (died 1947)

Edmund Eysler, Austrian composer (died 1949)

Wilhelm Frick, German lawyer and politician, German Federal Minister of the Interior (died 1946)

Gemma Galgani, Italian mystic and saint (died 1903)

Henry Drysdale Dakin, English-American chemist and academic (died 1952)

Väinö Tanner, Finnish politician of Social Democratic Party of Finland; the Prime Minister of Finland (died 1966)

Carlos Blanco Galindo, Bolivian politician (died 1943)

Sándor Jávorka, Hungarian botanist (died 1961)

Walter Hermann Bucher, German-American geologist and paleontologist (died 1965)

Hans Knappertsbusch, German conductor (died 1965)

Evert Taube, Swedish singer-songwriter and lute player (died 1976)

Jesse Fuller, American singer-songwriter and musician (died 1976)

Tian Han, Chinese playwright (died 1968)

Luitpold Steidle, German army officer and politician (died 1984)

Ramón Muttis, Argentine footballer (died 1955)

Rinus van den Berge, Dutch athlete (died 1972)

Sylvi Kekkonen, Finnish writer and wife of President of Finland Urho Kekkonen (died 1974)

Gustavo Rojas Pinilla, 19th President of Colombia (died 1975)

Lyudmila Keldysh, Russian mathematician (died 1976)

Takashi Shimura, Japanese actor (died 1982)

Dorrit Hoffleit, American astronomer and academic (died 2007)

Rita Angus, New Zealand painter (died 1970)

David Marshall, Singaporean lawyer and politician, 1st Chief Minister of Singapore (died 1995)

Petras Cvirka, Lithuanian author (died 1947)

László Lékai, Archbishop of Esztergom and Cardinal (died 1986)

Masayoshi Ōhira, Japanese politician, 68th Prime Minister of Japan (died 1980)

Gustavo Díaz Ordaz, Mexican academic and politician, 49th President of Mexico (died 1979)

Willie Hall, English footballer (died 1967)

Irving Layton, Romanian-Canadian poet and academic (died 2006)

Yashwantrao Chavan, Indian politician, 5th Deputy Prime Minister of India (died 1984)

Agathe von Trapp, Hungarian-American singer and author (died 2010)

Alberto Burri, Italian painter and sculptor (died 1995)

Jiří Mucha, Czech journalist (died 1991)

Leonard Chess, American record company executive, co-founder of Chess Records (died 1969)

Millard Kaufman, American author and screenwriter (died 2009)

Googie Withers, Indian-Australian actress (died 2011)

Elaine de Kooning, American painter and academic (died 1989)

Pádraig Faulkner, Irish Fianna Fáil politician (died 2012)

Gianni Agnelli, Italian businessman (died 2001)

Gordon MacRae, American actor and singer (died 1986)

Jack Kerouac, American author and poet (died 1969)

Lane Kirkland, American sailor and union leader (died 1999)

Hjalmar Andersen, Norwegian speed skater and cyclist (died 2013)

Norbert Brainin, Austrian violinist (died 2005)

Wally Schirra, American captain, pilot, and astronaut (died 2007)

Mae Young, American wrestler (died 2014)

Leo Esaki, Japanese physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate

Harry Harrison, American author and illustrator (died 2012)

George Ariyoshi, American lawyer and politician, 3rd Governor of Hawaii

Arthur A. Hartman, American career diplomat (died 2015)

John Clellon Holmes, American author and professor (died 1988)

David Nadien, American violinist (died 2014)

Raúl Alfonsín, Argentine lawyer and politician, 46th President of Argentina (died 2009)

Emmett Leith, American professor of electrical engineering and co-inventor of three-dimensional holography (died 2005)

Sudharmono, Indonesian politician, 5th Vice President of Indonesia (died 2006)

Edward Albee, American director and playwright (died 2016)

Win Tin, Burmese journalist and politician, co-founded the National League for Democracy (died 2014)

Antony Acland, English former diplomat and Provost of Eton College (died 2021)

Vern Law, American baseball player and manager

Józef Tischner, Polish priest and philosopher (died 2000)

Bob Houbregs, Canadian basketball player (died 2014)

Andrew Young, American pastor and politician, 14th United States Ambassador to the United Nations

Myrna Fahey, American actress (died 1973)

Barbara Feldon, American actress

Francisco J. Ayala, Spanish-American evolutionary biologist and philosopher (died 2023)

Chiam See Tong, Singaporean lawyer and politician

Virginia Hamilton, American children's books author (died 2002)

Michał Heller, Polish professor of philosophy

Eddie Sutton, American basketball player and coach (died 2020)

Zoltán Horvath, Hungarian sabre fencer

Zurab Sotkilava, Georgian operatic tenor (died 2017)

Vladimir Msryan, Armenian actor (died 2010)

Johnny Rutherford, American race car driver and sportscaster

Ken Spears, American writer (died 2020)

Juan Horacio Suárez, Argentine bishop

Ron Tutt, American drummer (died 2021)

Al Jarreau, American singer (died 2017)

Josip Skoblar, former Croatian footballer

Jimmy Wynn, American baseball player (died 2020)

Ratko Mladić, Serbian general

Erwin Mueller, former American basketball player (died 2018)

Anne Summers, Australian feminist writer, editor, publisher and public servant

Dean Cundey, American cinematographer and film director

Liza Minnelli, American actress, singer and dancer

Frank Welker, American voice actor and singer

Peter Harry Carstensen, German educator and politician

Jan-Erik Enestam, Finland-Swedish politician

David Rigert, Soviet Olympic weightlifter

Mitt Romney, American businessman and politician, 70th Governor of Massachusetts

Virginia Bottomley, Scottish social worker and politician, Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport

Kent Conrad, American politician

James Taylor, American singer-songwriter and guitarist

Rob Cohen, American director, producer, and screenwriter

Mary Catherine Lamb, American textile artist

David Mellor, British politician

Javier Clemente, Spanish footballer and manager

André Comte-Sponville, French philosopher

John Mitchell, English footballer

Yasuhiko Okudera, former Japanese footballer

Pavel Pinigin, former Soviet wrestler and Olympic champion

Anish Kapoor, Indian-English sculptor

Ove Aunli, former Norwegian cross-country skier

Stanisław Bobak, Polish ski jumper (died 2010)

Steve Harris, English bass player and songwriter

Lesley Manville, English actress

Dale Murphy, American baseball player

Pim Verbeek, Dutch football manager (died 2019)

Patrick Battiston, French footballer and coach

Marlon Jackson, American singer-songwriter and dancer

Andrey Lopatov, Soviet basketball player (died 2022)

Phil Anderson, English-Australian cyclist

Milorad Dodik, Bosnian Serb politician and president of Republika Srpska

Luenell, American comedian and actress

Michael Walter, German luger (died 2016)

Jason Beghe, American actor

Courtney B. Vance, American actor and painter

Julia Campbell, American actress

Andreas Köpke, German footballer

Chris Sanders, American illustrator and voice actor

Darryl Strawberry, American baseball player and minister

Titus Welliver, American actor

John Andretti, American race car driver (died 2020)

Candy Costie, American swimmer

Joaquim Cruz, Brazilian runner and coach

Reiner Gies, German boxer

Ian Holloway, English footballer and manager

Paul Way, English golfer

Jake Weber, English actor

Dieter Eckstein, German footballer

Umirzak Shukeyev, Kazakh chairman of Samruk-Kazyna

Steve Finley, American baseball player

Ivari Padar, former Minister of Finance and Minister of Agriculture of the Estonian Social Democratic Party

David Daniels, American countertenor

Grant Long, American basketball player and sportscaster

Julio Dely Valdés, Panamanian footballer and manager

Tammy Duckworth, Thai-American colonel, pilot, and politician

Aaron Eckhart, American actor and producer

Graham Coxon, English singer-songwriter and guitarist

Jake Tapper, American journalist and author

Karen Bradley, English politician

Dave Eggers, American author and screenwriter

Mathias Grönberg, Swedish golfer

Rex Walters, American basketball player and coach

Raúl Mondesí, Dominican baseball player and politician

Isaiah Rider, American basketball player and rapper

Dragutin Topić, Serbian high jumper

Doron Sheffer, Israeli basketball player

Charles Akonnor, Ghanaian footballer

Walid Badir, Israeli footballer

Nicolae Grigore, Romanian footballer

Edgaras Jankauskas, Lithuanian footballer

Valérie Nicolas, French handball player

Srđan Pecelj, Bosnian footballer

Deron Quint, American ice hockey player

Zhao Wei, Chinese actress, film director, producer and pop singer

Michelle Burgher, track and field athlete

Ramiro Corrales, American soccer player

Amdy Faye, Senegalese footballer

Brent Johnson, American ice hockey player

Marco Ferreira, Portuguese footballer

Casey Mears, American race car driver

Arina Tanemura, Japanese author and illustrator

Charlie Bell, American basketball player and coach

Rhys Coiro, American actor

Pete Doherty, English musician, songwriter, actor, poet, writer, and artist

Jamie Dwyer, Australian field hockey player and coach

Gerard López, Spanish footballer

Ben Sandford, New Zealand skeleton racer

Edwin Villafuerte, Ecuadorian footballer

Tim Wieskötter, German sprint canoer

Césinha, Brazilian footballer

Becky Holliday, American pole vaulter

Jens Mouris, Dutch cyclist

Douglas Murray, Swedish ice hockey player

Kenta Kobayashi, Japanese wrestler and kick-boxer

Katarina Srebotnik, Slovenian tennis player

Holly Williams, American singer-songwriter and guitarist

Yūto Satō, Japanese footballer

Tobias Schweinsteiger, German footballer

Lili Bordán, Hungarian-American actress

Samm Levine, American actor and comedian

Ilya Nikulin, Russian ice hockey player

Hisato Satō, Japanese footballer

Atif Aslam, Pakistani singer and actor

Mikko Koivu, Finnish ice hockey player

Jaimie Alexander, American actress

Shreya Ghoshal, Indian singer

Marco Bonanomi, Italian racing driver

Aleksandr Bukharov, Russian footballer

Ed Clancy, English track and road cyclist

Martynas Andriuškevičius, Lithuanian basketball player

Oleh Dopilka, Ukrainian footballer

Danny Jones, English singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor

Ben Offereins, Australian runner

František Rajtoral, Czech footballer (died 2017)

Manuele Boaro, Italian cyclist

Jessica Hardy, American swimmer

Maxwell Holt, American volleyball player

Teimour Radjabov, Azerbaijani chess player

Chris Seitz, American soccer player

Vadim Shipachyov, Russian ice hockey player

Pablo Velázquez, Paraguayan footballer

Sebastian Brendel, German canoe racer

Kostas Mitroglou, Greek footballer

Titi, Brazilian footballer

Jordan Adéoti, French footballer

Vytautas Černiauskas, Lithuanian footballer

Tyler Clary, American swimmer

Evgenii Dadonov, Russian ice hockey player

Richard Eckersley, English footballer

Chen Jianghua, Chinese basketball player

Dmitry Korobov, Belarusian ice hockey player

Siim Luts, Estonian footballer

Dont'a Hightower, American football coach and former player

Marvin Jones, American football player

Alexander Kröckel, German skeleton racer

Dawid Kubacki, Polish ski jumper

Irakli Kvekveskiri, Georgian footballer

Matias Myttynen, Finnish ice hockey player

Ilija Nestorovski, Macedonian footballer

Milena Raičević, Montenegrin handballer

Mikko Sumusalo, Finnish footballer

Leandro Fernandez, Argentine footballer

Felix Kroos, German footballer

Daniele Baselli, Italian footballer

Jordan Ferri, French footballer

Ciara Mageean, Irish middle-distance runner

Jiří Skalák, Czech footballer

Shehu Abdullahi, Nigerian footballer

Amjad Attwan, Iraqi footballer

Katie Archibald, Scottish track cyclist

Jerami Grant, American basketball player

Christina Grimmie, American singer-songwriter (died 2016)

Tyler Patrick Jones, American actor

Serhou Guirassy, French footballer

Karim Hafez, Egyptian footballer

Robert Murić, Croatian footballer

Cene Prevc, Slovenian ski jumper

Dean Henderson, English footballer

Allan Saint-Maximin, French footballer

Felipe Vizeu, Brazilian footballer

Carsen Edwards, American basketball player

Mecole Hardman, American football player

Daniel Samohin, Israeli figure skater

Elizaveta Ukolova, Czech figure skater

Max Duggan, American football player

Kim Min-kyu, South Korean singer and actor

Andrea Brillantes, Filipino actress and model

Malina Weissman, American actress and model

DannyLux, American singer-songwriter

Emma Kok, Dutch singer

Innocent I, pope of the Catholic Church

Gregory I, pope of the Catholic Church (born 540)

Symeon the New Theologian (born 949)

Al-Muqtafi, caliph of the Abbasid Caliphate (born 1096)

Stefan Dragutin (born c. 1244)

Humphrey de Bohun, 4th Earl of Hereford, English general and politician, Lord High Constable of England (born 1276)

Thomas Boleyn, 1st Earl of Wiltshire, English diplomat and politician (born 1477)

Peder Griffenfeld, Danish politician (born 1635)

Zachris Topelius, Finnish-Swedish journalist, historian, and author (born 1818)

Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach, Austrian author (born 1830)

Sun Yat-sen, Chinese physician and politician, 1st President of the Republic of China (born 1866)

Asa Griggs Candler, American businessman and politician, 44th Mayor of Atlanta (born 1851)

Mihajlo Pupin, Serbian-American physicist and chemist (born 1858)

William Henry Bragg, English physicist, chemist, and mathematician, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1862)

Gustav Vigeland, Norwegian sculptor (born 1869)

Ferenc Szálasi, Hungarian soldier and politician, Head of State of Hungary (born 1897)

Wilhelm Steinkopf, German chemist (born 1879)

Marianne Weber, German sociologist and suffragist (born 1870)

Charlie Parker, American saxophonist and composer (born 1920)

Theodor Plievier, German author best known for his anti-war novel (born 1892)

Josephine Hull, American actress (born 1877)

Eugene Lindsay Opie, American physician and pathologist (born 1873)

Frankie Frisch, American baseball player and manager (born 1898)

George D. Sax, American banker and businessman (born 1904)

Eugene Ormandy, Hungarian-American violinist and conductor (born 1899)

Maurice Evans, English-American actor (born 1901)

Ragnar Granit, Finnish-Swedish neuroscientist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1900)

William Heinesen, Faroese author, poet, and author (born 1900)

Lucy M. Lewis, American potter (born 1890)

Beatrice Wood, American painter and potter (born 1893)

Yehudi Menuhin, American-Swiss violinist and conductor (born 1916)

Bidu Sayão, Brazilian-American soprano (born 1902)

Aleksandar Nikolić, Yugoslav basketball coach (born 1924)

Morton Downey Jr., American singer-songwriter, actor, and talk show host (born 1933)

Robert Ludlum, American author (born 1927)

Victor Westhoff, Dutch botanist and academic (born 1916)

Spyros Kyprianou, Cypriot lawyer and politician, 2nd President of Cyprus (born 1932)

Jean-Paul Riopelle, Canadian painter and sculptor (born 1923)

Zoran Đinđić, Serbian philosopher and politician, 6th Prime Minister of Serbia (born 1952)

Howard Fast, American novelist and screenwriter (born 1914)

Lynne Thigpen, American actress and singer (born 1948)

Milton Resnick, Russian-American painter (born 1917)

Victor Sokolov, Russian-American priest and journalist (born 1947)

Jorge Guinzburg, Argentinian journalist and producer (born 1949)

Lazare Ponticelli, Italian-French soldier and supercentenarian (born 1897)

Miguel Delibes, Spanish journalist and author (born 1920)

Nilla Pizzi, Italian singer (born 1919)

Dick Harter, American basketball player and coach (born 1930)

Michael Hossack, American drummer (born 1946)

Friedhelm Konietzka, German-Swiss footballer and manager (born 1938)

Michael Grigsby, English director and producer (born 1936)

Ganesh Pyne, Indian painter and illustrator (born 1937)

Věra Chytilová, Czech actress, director, and screenwriter (born 1929)

Paul C. Donnelly, American scientist and engineer (born 1923)

José Policarpo, Portuguese cardinal (born 1936)

Willie Barrow, American minister and activist (born 1924)

Michael Graves, American architect and academic, designed the Portland Building and the Humana Building (born 1934)

Ada Jafri, Pakistani poet and author (born 1924)

Terry Pratchett, English journalist, author, and screenwriter (born 1948)

Rafiq Azad, Bangladeshi poet and author (born 1942)

Felix Ibru, Nigerian architect and politician, Governor of Delta State (born 1935)

Lloyd Shapley, American mathematician and economist, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1923)

Ronald DeFeo Jr., American criminal (born 1951)