On This Day — 12 January
2000s
2020
Taal Volcano in the Philippines erupts and kills 39 people.
Taal Volcano
2016
Ten people are killed and 15 wounded in a bombing near the Blue Mosque in Istanbul.
January 2016 Istanbul bombing
2015
Government raids kill 143 Boko Haram fighters in Kolofata, Cameroon.
Battle of Kolofata (2015)
2012
Violent protests occur in Bucharest, Romania, as two-day-old demonstrations continue against President Traian Băsescu's economic austerity measures. Clashes are reported in numerous Romanian cities between protesters and law enforcement officers.
2012 Romanian protests
2010
An earthquake in Haiti occurs, killing between 220,000 and 300,000 people and destroying much of the capital Port-au-Prince.
2010 Haiti earthquake
2007
Comet C/2006 P1 (McNaught), one of the brightest comets ever observed is at its zenith visible during the day.
Comet McNaught
2006
A stampede during the Stoning of the Devil ritual on the last day at the Hajj in Mina, Saudi Arabia, kills at least 362 Muslim pilgrims.
Incidents during the Hajj
2005
Deep Impact launches from Cape Canaveral on a Delta II rocket.
Deep Impact (spacecraft)
2004
The world's largest ocean liner, RMS Queen Mary 2, makes its maiden voyage.
Ocean liner
2001
Downtown Disney opens to the public as part of the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, California.
Downtown Disney
1900s
1998
Nineteen European nations agree to forbid human cloning.
Human cloning
1997
Space Shuttle program: Atlantis launches from the Kennedy Space Center on mission STS-81 to the Russian space station Mir, carrying astronaut Jerry M. Linenger for a four-month stay on board the station, replacing astronaut John E. Blaha.
Space Shuttle Atlantis
1991
Persian Gulf War: An act of the U.S. Congress authorizes the use of American military force to drive Iraq out of Kuwait.
Gulf War
1990
A seven-day pogrom breaks out against the Armenian civilian population of Baku, Azerbaijan, during which Armenians were beaten, tortured, murdered, and expelled from the city.
Baku pogrom
1986
Space Shuttle program: Congressman and future NASA Administrator Bill Nelson lifts off from Kennedy Space Center aboard Columbia on mission STS-61-C as a payload specialist.
Space Shuttle program
1976
The United Nations Security Council votes 11–1 to allow the Palestine Liberation Organization to participate in a Security Council debate (without voting rights).
United Nations Security Council
1971
The Harrisburg Seven: Rev. Philip Berrigan and five other activists are indicted on charges of conspiring to kidnap Henry Kissinger and of plotting to blow up the heating tunnels of federal buildings in Washington, D.C.
Harrisburg Seven
1970
Biafra capitulates, ending the Nigerian Civil War.
Biafra
1969
The New York Jets of the American Football League defeat the Baltimore Colts of the National Football League to win Super Bowl III in what is considered to be one of the greatest upsets in sports history.
New York Jets
1967
Dr. James Bedford becomes the first person to be cryonically preserved with intent of future resuscitation.
James Bedford
1966
Lyndon B. Johnson states that the United States should stay in South Vietnam until Communist aggression there is ended.
Lyndon B. Johnson
1964
Rebels in Zanzibar begin a revolt known as the Zanzibar Revolution and proclaim a republic.
Zanzibar
1962
Vietnam War: Operation Chopper, the first American combat mission and first American helicopter assault in the war, takes place.
Vietnam War
1955
A Martin 2-0-2 and Douglas DC-3 collide over Boone County, Kentucky, killing 15 people.
Martin 2-0-2
1945
World War II: The Red Army begins the Vistula–Oder Offensive.
Red Army
1942
World War II: United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt creates the National War Labor Board.
World War II
1933
Casas Viejas incident: 22 peasants killed by the Security and Assault Corps in Casas Viejas, Spain.
Casas Viejas incident
1932
Hattie Caraway becomes the first woman elected to the United States Senate.
Hattie Caraway
1918
The Minnie Pit Disaster coal mining accident occurs in Halmer End, Staffordshire, in which 155 men and boys die.
Minnie Pit Disaster
1916
Oswald Boelcke and Max Immelmann become the first German aviators to earn the Pour le Mérite, receive the German Empire's highest military award, for achieving eight aerial victories each over Allied aircraft.
Oswald Boelcke
1915
The United States House of Representatives rejects a proposed constitutional amendment to require states to give women the right to vote.
United States House of Representatives
1911
The University of the Philippines College of Law is established.
University of the Philippines College of Law
1800s
1895
The National Trust is founded in the United Kingdom.
National Trust
1872
Yohannes IV is crowned Emperor of Ethiopia in Axum, the first imperial coronation in that city in over 200 years.
Yohannes IV
1866
The Royal Aeronautical Society is formed in London.
Royal Aeronautical Society
1848
The Palermo rising takes place in Sicily against the Bourbon Kingdom of the Two Sicilies.
Sicilian revolution of 1848
1808
John Rennie's scheme to defend St Mary's Church, Reculver, founded in 669, from coastal erosion is abandoned in favour of demolition, despite the church being an exemplar of Anglo-Saxon architecture and sculpture.
John Rennie the Elder
1808
The organizational meeting leading to the creation of the Wernerian Natural History Society, a former Scottish learned society, is held in Edinburgh.
Wernerian Natural History Society
Before 1800
1792
Federalist Thomas Pinckney appointed first U.S. minister to Britain.
Thomas Pinckney
1616
The city of Belém, Brazil is founded on the Amazon River delta by Portuguese captain Francisco Caldeira Castelo Branco.
Belém
1554
Bayinnaung, who would go on to assemble the largest empire in the history of Southeast Asia, is crowned King of Burma.
Bayinnaung
1528
Gustav I of Sweden is crowned King of Sweden, having already reigned since his election in June 1523.
Gustav Vasa
475
Byzantine Emperor Zeno is forced to flee his capital at Constantinople, and his general, Basiliscus gains control of the empire.
List of Byzantine emperors