On This Day — 12 February

2026

In the first general election since the July Revolution in Bangladesh, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, led by Tarique Rahman, wins a landslide victory upon returning to power after almost 19 years. A referendum held alongside was also approved by the majority of voters.

2026 Bangladeshi general election

2019

The country known as the Republic of Macedonia renames itself the Republic of North Macedonia in accordance with the Prespa agreement, settling a long-standing naming dispute with Greece.

North Macedonia

2016

Pope Francis and Patriarch Kirill sign an Ecumenical Declaration in the first such meeting between leaders of the Catholic and Russian Orthodox Churches since their split in 1054.

Pope Francis

2009

Colgan Air Flight 3407 crashes into a house in Clarence Center, New York while on approach to Buffalo Niagara International Airport, killing all 49 on board and one on the ground.

Colgan Air Flight 3407

2004

The city of San Francisco begins issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples in response to a directive from Mayor Gavin Newsom.

San Francisco

2002

The trial of Slobodan Milošević, the former President of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, begins at the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague, Netherlands. He dies four years later before its conclusion.

Trial of Slobodan Milošević

2002

An Iran Airtour Tupolev Tu-154 crashes in the mountains outside Khorramabad, Iran while descending for a landing at Khorramabad Airport, killing 119.

Iran Airtour

2001

NEAR Shoemaker spacecraft touches down in the "saddle" region of 433 Eros, becoming the first spacecraft to land on an asteroid.

NEAR Shoemaker

1999

United States President Bill Clinton is acquitted by the United States Senate in his impeachment trial.

Bill Clinton

1994

Four thieves break into the National Gallery of Norway and steal Edvard Munch's iconic painting The Scream.

National Gallery (Norway)

1993

Two-year-old James Bulger is abducted from New Strand Shopping Centre by two ten-year-old boys, who later torture and murder him.

Murder of James Bulger

1992

The current Constitution of Mongolia comes into effect.

Constitution of Mongolia

1990

Carmen Lawrence becomes the first female Premier in Australian history when she becomes Premier of Western Australia.

Carmen Lawrence

1988

Cold War: The 1988 Black Sea bumping incident: The U.S. missile cruiser USS Yorktown (CG-48) is intentionally rammed by the Soviet frigate Bezzavetnyy in the Soviet territorial waters, while Yorktown claims innocent passage.

Cold War

1983

One hundred women protest in Lahore, Pakistan against military dictator Zia-ul-Haq's proposed Law of Evidence. The women were tear-gassed, baton-charged and thrown into lock-up. The women were successful in repealing the law.

Lahore

1974

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1970, is exiled from the Soviet Union.

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

1968

Vietnam War: The Phong Nhị and Phong Nhất massacre occurs, allegedly by South Korean troops.

Vietnam War

1966

Rabbi Morris Adler is fatally shot by a disgruntled congregant at Congregation Shaarey Zedek in Southfield, Michigan, United States.

Murder of Morris Adler

1965

Malcolm X visits Smethwick near Birmingham following the racially-charged 1964 United Kingdom general election.

Malcolm X

1963

Construction begins on the Gateway Arch in St. Louis, Missouri.

Gateway Arch

1963

Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 705 crashes into the Everglades shortly after takeoff from Miami International Airport, killing all 45 people on board.

Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 705

1961

The Soviet Union launches Venera 1 towards Venus.

Venera 1

1947

The largest observed iron meteorite until that time creates an impact crater in Sikhote-Alin, in the Soviet Union.

Sikhote-Alin meteorite

1947

Christian Dior unveils a "New Look", helping Paris regain its position as the capital of the fashion world.

Christian Dior

1946

World War II: Operation Deadlight ends after scuttling 121 of 154 captured U-boats.

World War II

1946

African American United States Army veteran Isaac Woodard is severely beaten by a South Carolina police officer to the point where he loses his vision in both eyes. The incident later galvanizes the civil rights movement and partially inspires Orson Welles' film Touch of Evil.

African Americans

1945

A devastating tornado outbreak in Mississippi and Alabama kills 45 people and injures 427 others.

Tornado outbreak of February 12, 1945

1935

USS Macon, one of the two largest helium-filled airships ever created, crashes into the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California and sinks.

USS Macon (ZRS-5)

1921

Bolsheviks launch a revolt in Georgia as a preliminary to the Red Army invasion of Georgia.

Bolsheviks

1919

The Second Regional Congress of Peasants, Workers and Insurgents is held by the Makhnovshchina at Huliaipole.

Regional Congress of Peasants, Workers and Insurgents

1912

The Xuantong Emperor, the last Emperor of China, abdicates.

Puyi

1909

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is founded.

NAACP

1909

New Zealand's worst maritime disaster of the 20th century happens when the SS Penguin, an inter-island ferry, sinks and explodes at the entrance to Wellington Harbour.

SS Penguin

1894

Café Terminus bombing by Émile Henry during the Ère des attentats (1892–1894). This is considered one of the first acts of modern terrorism.

Café Terminus attack

1889

Antonín Dvořák's Jakobín is premiered at the National Theater in Prague.

Antonín Dvořák

1832

Ecuador annexes the Galápagos Islands.

Ecuador

1825

The Creek cede the last of their lands in Georgia to the United States government by the Treaty of Indian Springs, and migrate west.

Muscogee

1818

Bernardo O'Higgins formally approves the Chilean Declaration of Independence near Concepción, Chile.

Bernardo O'Higgins

1817

An Argentine/Chilean patriotic army, after crossing the Andes, defeats Spanish troops at the Battle of Chacabuco.

Argentina

1771

Gustav III becomes the King of Sweden.

Gustav III

1733

Georgia Day: Englishman James Oglethorpe founds Georgia, the 13th colony of the Thirteen Colonies, by settling at Savannah.

Georgia Day

1689

The Convention Parliament declares that the flight to France in 1688 by James II, the last Roman Catholic British monarch, constitutes an abdication.

Convention Parliament (1689)

1593

Japanese invasion of Korea: Approximately 3,000 Joseon defenders led by general Kwŏn Yul successfully repel more than 30,000 Japanese forces in the Siege of Haengju.

Imjin War

1541

Santiago, Chile is founded by Pedro de Valdivia.

Santiago

1502

Isabella I issues an edict outlawing Islam in the Crown of Castile, forcing virtually all her Muslim subjects to convert to Christianity.

Isabella I of Castile

1502

Vasco da Gama sets sail with 15 ships and 800 men from Lisbon, Portugal on his second voyage to India.

Vasco da Gama

1429

English forces under Sir John Fastolf defend a supply convoy carrying rations to the army besieging Orléans in the Battle of the Herrings.

John Fastolf

1404

The Italian professor Galeazzo di Santa Sofia performs the first post-mortem autopsy for the purposes of teaching and demonstration at the Heiligen–Geist Spital in Vienna.

Galeazzo di Santa Sofia

1096

Pope Urban II confirms the foundation of the abbey of La Roë under Robert of Arbrissel as a community of canons regular.

Pope Urban II

1059

Upon reaching Rome, Bruno of Toul is elected as pope Leo IX and starts initiating reforms.

Pope Leo IX