On This Day — 12 October
2000s
2022
2022 Bratislava shooting, killing 3 (including the perpetrator) and injuring one. The shooting occurred outside of a gay bar in Bratislava known as Tepláreň. Two people (excluding the perpetrator) died as a result of the shooting: Juraj Vankulič, a non-binary person, and Matúš Horváth, a bisexual man. The perpetrator (Juraj Krajčík) was found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot the morning after the attack.
2022 Bratislava shooting
2019
Typhoon Hagibis makes landfall in Japan, killing 10 and forcing the evacuation of one million people.
Typhoon Hagibis
2019
Eliud Kipchoge from Kenya becomes the first person to run a marathon in less than two hours with a time of 1:59:40 in Vienna.
Eliud Kipchoge
2019
The Hard Rock Hotel in New Orleans, which is under construction, collapses, killing three workers and injuring 30 others.
1031 Canal Street
2018
Princess Eugenie marries Jack Brooksbank at St. George's Chapel, Windsor Castle.
Princess Eugenie
2017
The United States announces its decision to withdraw from UNESCO. Israel immediately follows.
UNESCO
2013
An apartment building collapse in Medellín, Colombia results in the deaths of twelve people.
Collapse of the Space Building
2012
The European Union wins the 2012 Nobel Peace Prize.
European Union
2010
The Finnish Yle TV2 channel's Ajankohtainen kakkonen current affairs program airs controversial Homoilta episode (literally "gay night"), which leads to the resignation of almost 50,000 Finns from the Evangelical Lutheran Church.
Yle TV2
2005
The second Chinese human spaceflight, Shenzhou 6, is launched, carrying two cosmonauts in orbit for five days.
Shenzhou 6
2002
Terrorists detonate bombs in two nightclubs in Kuta, Bali, Indonesia, killing 202 and wounding over 200.
2002 Bali bombings
2000
The USS Cole, a US Navy destroyer, is badly damaged by two al-Qaeda suicide bombers, killing 17 crew members and wounding at least 39.
USS Cole (DDG-67)
1900s
1999
Pervez Musharraf takes power in Pakistan from Nawaz Sharif through a bloodless coup.
Pervez Musharraf
1999
The former Autonomous Soviet Republic of Abkhazia declares its independence from Georgia.
Abkhazia
1997
The Sidi Daoud massacre in Algeria kills 43 people at a fake roadblock.
List of massacres in Algeria
1996
New Zealand holds its first general election under the new mixed-member proportional representation system, which led to Jim Bolger's National Party forming a coalition government with Winston Peters's New Zealand First.
New Zealand
1994
The Magellan spacecraft burns up in the atmosphere of Venus.
Magellan (spacecraft)
1994
Iran Aseman Airlines Flight 746 crashes near Natanz, Iran, killing all 66 people on board.
Iran Aseman Airlines Flight 746
1992
A 5.8 earthquake occurred in Cairo, Egypt. At least 510 died.
1992 Cairo earthquake
1988
Two officers of the Victoria Police are gunned down execution-style in the Walsh Street police shootings, Australia.
Victoria Police
1984
The Provisional Irish Republican Army fail to assassinate Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and her cabinet. The bomb kills five people and wounds at least 31 others.
Provisional Irish Republican Army
1983
Japan's former Prime Minister Tanaka Kakuei is found guilty of taking a $2 million bribe from the Lockheed Corporation, and is sentenced to four years in jail.
Kakuei Tanaka
1979
Typhoon Tip becomes the largest and most intense tropical cyclone ever recorded.
Typhoon Tip
1977
Hua Guofeng succeeds Mao Zedong as paramount leader of China.
Hua Guofeng
1976
Indian Airlines Flight 171 crashes at Santacruz Airport in Bombay, India, killing 95.
Indian Airlines Flight 171
1973
President Nixon nominates House Minority Leader Gerald R. Ford as the successor to Vice President Spiro T. Agnew.
Gerald Ford
1971
The 2,500 year celebration of the Persian Empire begins.
2,500-year celebration of the Persian Empire
1970
Vietnam War: Vietnamization continues as President Richard Nixon announces that the United States will withdraw 40,000 more troops before Christmas.
Vietnamization
1968
Equatorial Guinea becomes independent from Spain.
Equatorial Guinea
1967
A bomb explodes on board Cyprus Airways Flight 284 while flying over the Mediterranean Sea, killing 66.
Cyprus Airways Flight 284
1964
The Soviet Union launches the Voskhod 1 into Earth orbit as the first spacecraft with a multi-person crew, and the first flight without pressure suits.
Voskhod 1
1963
After nearly 23 years of imprisonment, Reverend Walter Ciszek, a Jesuit missionary, was released from the Soviet Union.
Walter Ciszek
1962
The Columbus Day Storm strikes the U.S. Pacific Northwest with record wind velocities. There was at least U.S. $230 million in damages and 46 people died.
Columbus Day storm of 1962
1960
Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev pounds his shoe on a desk at the United Nations to protest a Philippine assertion.
Nikita Khrushchev
1959
At the national congress of the American Popular Revolutionary Alliance in Peru, a group of leftist radicals are expelled from the party who later form APRA Rebelde.
APRA Rebelde
1945
World War II: Desmond Doss is the first conscientious objector to receive the U.S. Medal of Honor.
Desmond Doss
1945
The Lao Issara took control of Laos' government and reaffirmed the country's independence.
Lao Issara
1944
World War II: The Axis occupation of Athens comes to an end.
World War II
1933
The military Alcatraz Citadel becomes the civilian Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary.
Fort Alcatraz
1928
An iron lung respirator is used for the first time at Boston Children's Hospital.
Iron lung
1918
A massive forest fire kills 453 people in Minnesota.
Cloquet Fire
1917
World War I: The First Battle of Passchendaele takes place resulting in the largest single-day loss of life in New Zealand history.
First Battle of Passchendaele
1915
World War I: British nurse Edith Cavell is executed by a German firing squad for helping Allied soldiers escape from occupied Belgium.
World War I
1909
Foundation of Coritiba Foot Ball Club.
Coritiba Foot Ball Club
1901
President Theodore Roosevelt officially renames the "Executive Mansion" to the White House.
Theodore Roosevelt
1800s
1892
The Pledge of Allegiance is first recited by students in many US public schools.
Pledge of Allegiance
1890
Uddevalla Suffrage Association is formed.
Uddevalla Suffrage Association
1871
The British in India enact the Criminal Tribes Act, naming many local communities "Criminal Tribes".
Criminal Tribes Act
1856
An M 7.7–8.3 earthquake off the Greek island of Crete cause major damage as far as Egypt and Malta.
1856 Heraklion earthquake
1849
The city of Manizales, Colombia, is founded by 'The Expedition of the 20'.
Manizales
1822
Pedro I of Brazil is proclaimed the emperor.
Pedro I of Brazil
1810
The citizens of Munich hold the first Oktoberfest in celebration of the marriage of Crown Prince Louis of Bavaria and Princess Therese of Saxe-Hildburghausen.
Munich
Before 1800
1799
Jeanne Geneviève Labrosse becomes the first woman to jump from a balloon with a parachute.
Jeanne Geneviève Garnerin
1798
Flemish and Luxembourgish peasants launch the rebellion against French rule known as the Peasants' War.
Peasants' War (1798)
1793
The cornerstone of Old East, the oldest state university building in the United States, is laid at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Old East
1792
The first celebration of Columbus Day is held in New York City.
Columbus Day
1773
America's first insane asylum opens.
Eastern State Hospital (Virginia)
1748
War of Jenkins' Ear: A British squadron wins a tactical victory over a Spanish squadron off Havana.
War of Jenkins' Ear
1692
The Salem witch trials are ended by a letter from Province of Massachusetts Bay Governor William Phips.
Salem witch trials
1654
The Delft Explosion devastates the city in the Netherlands, killing more than 100 people.
Delft
1492
Christopher Columbus's first expedition makes landfall on San Salvador Island in the Caribbean. (Julian calendar)
Christopher Columbus
1406
Chen Yanxiang, the only person from Indonesia known to have visited dynastic Korea, reaches Seoul after having set out from Java four months before.
Chen Yanxiang
1398
In the Treaty of Salynas, Lithuania cedes Samogitia to the Teutonic Knights.
Treaty of Salynas
1279
The Nichiren Shōshū branch of Buddhism is founded in Japan.
Nichiren Shōshū
633
Battle of Hatfield Chase: King Edwin of Northumbria is defeated and killed by an alliance under Penda of Mercia and Cadwallon of Gwynedd.
Battle of Hatfield Chase
-539
The army of Cyrus the Great of Persia conquer Babylon, ending the Babylonian empire. (Julian calendar)
Cyrus the Great