On This Day — 12 April

2000s

📅

2026

The Tisza Party, led by Péter Magyar wins the 2026 Hungarian parliamentary election, defeating Viktor Orbán's Fidesz party, which had ruled the country for 16 years, marking the first change in government in Hungary for over a decade.

Tisza Party

📅

2014

The Great Fire of Valparaíso ravages the Chilean city of Valparaíso, killing 16 people, displacing nearly 10,000, and destroying more than 2,500 homes.

Great Fire of Valparaíso

📅

2013

Two suicide bombers kill three Chadian soldiers and injure dozens of civilians at a market in Kidal, Mali.

April 2013 Kidal attack

2010

Merano derailment: A rail accident in South Tyrol kills nine people and injures a further 28.

Merano derailment

2009

Zimbabwe officially abandons the Zimbabwean dollar as its official currency.

Zimbabwe

2007

A suicide bomber penetrates the Green Zone and detonates in a cafeteria within a parliament building, killing Iraqi MP Mohammed Awad and wounding more than twenty other people.

2007 Iraqi Parliament bombing

2002

A suicide bomber blows herself up at the entrance to Jerusalem's Mahane Yehuda Market, killing seven people and wounding 104.

2002 Mahane Yehuda Market bombing

1900s

1999

United States President Bill Clinton is cited for contempt of court for giving "intentionally false statements" in a civil lawsuit; he is later fined and disbarred.

Bill Clinton

1999

During the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia, an American McDonnell Douglas F-15E Strike Eagle shoots a passenger train, killing between 20 and 60 people.

NATO bombing of Yugoslavia

1992

The Euro Disney Resort officially opens with its theme park Euro Disneyland; the resort and its park's name are subsequently changed to Disneyland Resort Paris.

Disneyland Park (Paris)

📅

1990

Jim Gary's "Twentieth Century Dinosaurs" exhibition opens at the Smithsonian Institution National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C. He is the only sculptor ever invited to present a solo exhibition there.

Jim Gary

1990

Widerøe Flight 839 crashes after takeoff from Værøy Airport in Norway, killing five people.

Widerøe Flight 839

1985

Space Shuttle Discovery launches on STS-51D to deploy two communications satellites.

Space Shuttle Discovery

1983

Harold Washington is elected as the first black mayor of Chicago.

Harold Washington

1981

The first launch of a Space Shuttle (Columbia) takes place: The STS-1 mission.

Space Shuttle

📅

1980

The Americo-Liberian government of Liberia is violently deposed.

1980 Liberian coup d'état

1980

Transbrasil Flight 303, a Boeing 727, crashes on approach to Hercílio Luz International Airport in Florianópolis, Brazil. Fifty-five out of the 58 people on board are killed.

Transbrasil Flight 303

1980

Canadian runner and athlete, Terry Fox begins his Marathon of Hope Run in St. John's, NF

Terry Fox

📅

1970

Soviet submarine K-8, carrying four nuclear torpedoes, sinks in the Bay of Biscay four days after a fire on board.

Soviet submarine K-8

1963

The Soviet nuclear-powered submarine K-33 collides with the Finnish merchant vessel M/S Finnclipper in the Danish straits.[citation needed]

Soviet Union

1961

Space Race: The Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin becomes the first human to travel into outer space and perform the first crewed orbital flight, Vostok 1.

Space Race

1955

The polio vaccine, developed by Dr. Jonas Salk, is declared safe and effective.

Polio vaccine

1945

U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt dies in office; Vice President Harry S. Truman succeeds him.

Franklin D. Roosevelt

1945

World War II: The U.S. Ninth Army under General William H. Simpson crosses the Elbe River astride Magdeburg, and reaches Tangermünde—only 80 kilometres from Berlin.

World War II

1937

Sir Frank Whittle ground-tests the first jet engine designed to power an aircraft, at Rugby, England.

Frank Whittle

1934

The strongest surface wind gust in the world at the time of 231 mph, is measured on the summit of Mount Washington, New Hampshire. It has since been surpassed.

Wind speed

📅

1934

The U.S. Auto-Lite strike begins, culminating in a five-day melee between Ohio National Guard troops and 6,000 strikers and picketers.

Auto-Lite strike (1934)

1928

The Bremen, a German Junkers W 33 type aircraft, takes off for the first successful transatlantic aeroplane flight from east to west.

Bremen (aircraft)

1927

Shanghai massacre of 1927: Chiang Kai-shek orders the Chinese Communist Party members executed in Shanghai, ending the First United Front.[citation needed]

Shanghai Massacre (1927)

1927

Rocksprings, Texas is hit by an F5 tornado that destroys 235 of the 247 buildings in the town, kills 72 townspeople, and injures 205; third deadliest tornado in Texas history.

Rocksprings, Texas

1917

World War I: Canadian forces successfully complete the taking of Vimy Ridge from the Germans.

World War I

1910

SMS Zrínyi, one of the last pre-dreadnought battleships built by the Austro-Hungarian Navy, is launched.

SMS Zrínyi

1900

One day after its enactment by the Congress, President William McKinley signs the Foraker Act into law, giving Puerto Rico limited self-rule.

United States Congress

1800s

1877

The United Kingdom annexes the Transvaal.

United Kingdom

1865

American Civil War: Mobile, Alabama, falls to the Union Army.

Mobile, Alabama

1864

American Civil War: The Battle of Fort Pillow: Confederate forces kill most of the African American soldiers that surrendered at Fort Pillow, Tennessee.

Battle of Fort Pillow

1862

American Civil War: The Andrews Raid (the Great Locomotive Chase) occurs, starting from Big Shanty, Georgia (now Kennesaw).

Great Locomotive Chase

1861

American Civil War: Battle of Fort Sumter. The war begins with Confederate forces firing on Fort Sumter, in the harbor of Charleston, South Carolina.

American Civil War

1831

Soldiers marching on the Broughton Suspension Bridge in Manchester, England, cause it to collapse.

Broughton Suspension Bridge

1820

Alexander Ypsilantis is declared leader of Filiki Eteria, a secret organization to overthrow Ottoman rule over Greece.

Alexander Ypsilantis

1807

The Froberg mutiny on Malta ends when the remaining mutineers blow up the magazine of Fort Ricasoli.

Froberg mutiny

Before 1800

1796

War of the First Coalition: Napoleon Bonaparte wins his first victory as an army commander at the Battle of Montenotte, splitting the Austrian and Piedmontese armies away from each other, and marking the beginning of the Piedmontese surrender in the war.

War of the First Coalition

1782

American Revolution: A Royal Navy fleet led by Admiral George Rodney defeats a French fleet led by the Comte de Grasse at the Battle of the Saintes off Dominica in the Caribbean Sea.

Royal Navy

1776

American Revolution: With the Halifax Resolves, the North Carolina Provincial Congress authorizes its Congressional delegation to vote for independence from Britain.

American Revolution

1606

The Union Flag is adopted as the flag of English and Scottish ships.

Union Jack

📅

1588

The Instruction of 12 April 1588 was enacted, which is widely regarded as the formal establishment of the Dutch Republic.

Instruction of 12 April 1588

1204

The Crusaders of the Fourth Crusade breach the walls of Constantinople and enter the city, which they completely occupy the following day.

Crusades

1159

Having received the submission of the prince of Antioch, Raynald of Châtillon, Byzantine Emperor Manuel I Komnenos enters triumphantly the city of Antioch.

Prince of Antioch

📅

806

Nikephoros I of Constantinople is consecrated as patriarch of Constantinople.