On this day: 12 December
Events, births and deaths on 12 December. Every date is checked against Wikidata.
Years ago today
1 year ago2025
Nothing recorded for that year.
10 years ago2016
- Deaths · Shirley Hazzard
100 years ago1926
- Births · Étienne-Émile Baulieu
1000 years ago1026
Nothing recorded for that year.
Events · 19
- 627(Julian date)Battle of Nineveh — 627 battle
- 1787Pennsylvania — state of the United States of America
- 1866Oaks explosion — Mining explosion in 1866
- 1915Empire of China — 1915–1916 country
- 1935Lebensborn e. V. — Nazi German eugenics association
- 1936Xi'an Incident — mutiny in the Chinese army
- 1937USS Panay incident — Japanese attack on a US gunboat in 1937
- 1939Battle of Tolvajärvi — 1939 first large offensive victory for the Finns in the Winter War
- 1941Reich Chancellery meeting of 12 December 1941 — encounter between Adolf Hitler and the highest-ranking officials of the Nazi Party
- 1942Operation Winter Storm — 1942 German offensive in World War II in which the German 4th Panzer Army unsuccessfully attempted to break the Soviet encirclement of the German 6th Army during the battle of Stalingrad
- 1964list of heads of state of Kenya — Wikimedia list article
- 1969Piazza Fontana bombing — terrorist attack carried out in Milan in 1969
- 1979Coup d'état of December Twelfth — 1979 December 12 coup d'état in South Korea ending its Fourth Republic that brought Chun Doo-hwan to power, beginning of the Fifth Republic
- 19791979 Tumaco earthquake — earthquake near Colombia and Peru
- 1985Arrow Air Flight 1285R — December 1985 aviation accident in Newfoundland, Canada
- 1988Clapham Junction rail crash — 1988 rail crash in south-west London, involved 3 trains leading to the death of 35 people.
- 1992Xidan station — Beijing Subway station in Xicheng, Beijing
- 2006Niconico — Japanese video website
- 2015Paris Agreement — 2015 international treaty regarding climate change
Births · 60
- 1731Erasmus Darwin — English physician (1731-1802)
- 1766Nikolay Karamzin — Russian writer, poet, critic
- 1786William L. Marcy — American politician (1786-1857)
- 1791Marie Louise, Duchess of Parma — Empress Consort of the French from 1810 to 1814 and Monarch of Parma, Piacenza and Guastalla from 1814 to 1847
- 1799Karl Bryullov — Russian painter (1799-1852)
- 1801Johann I of Saxony — king of Saxony (1801-1873)
- 1821Gustave Flaubert — French novelist (1821–1880)
- 1832Peter Ludwig Mejdell Sylow — Norwegian mathematician (1832-1918)
- 1862J. Bruce Ismay — Chairman of White Star shipping line (1862–1937)
- 1863Edvard Munch — Norwegian painter (1863–1944)
- 1866Alfred Werner — Swiss chemist Nobel laureate (1866-1919)
- 1875Gerd von Rundstedt — German Field Marshal during World War II (1875-1953)
- 1876Alvin Kraenzlein — American athletics competitor (1876-1928)
- 1893Edward G. Robinson — Romanian-American actor (1893-1973)
- 1903Yasujirō Ozu — Japanese film director, screenwriter (1903–1963)
- 1912Henry Armstrong — American boxer (1912–1988)
- 1914Patrick O'Brian — English novelist (1914–2000)
- 1915Frank Sinatra — American singer and actor (1915–1998)
- 1923Bob Barker — American game show host (1923–2023)
- 1924Ed Koch — former mayor of New York City (1924-2013)
- 1927Robert Noyce — American physicist, engineer and entrepreneur (1927–1990), co-founder of Fairchild Semiconductor and Intel
- 1928Chingiz Aĭtmatov — Soviet and Kyrgyz author (1928–2008)
- 1928Helen Frankenthaler — American painter (1928–2011)
- 1932Bob Pettit — American basketball player and coach (1932–2026)
- 1934
Deaths · 60
- 884Carloman II of France — King of West Francia from 879 to 884
- 1296(Julian date)Isabella of Mar — first wife of Robert the Bruce
- 1586Stephen Báthory — King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania, 1576–1586 (lived 1533-1586)
- 1751(Julian date)Henry St John, 1st Viscount Bolingbroke — English politician and Viscount (1678-1751)
- 1766Johann Christoph Gottsched — German writer, dramaturge, linguist and literary theorist as well as professor of poetics, logic and metaphysics (1700–1766)
- 1803Fredrik Adolf of Sweden, Duke of Östergötland — Swedish Royal (1750-1803)
- 1867Nakaoka Shintarō — samurai in Bakumatsu period Japan (1836–1867)
- 1889Robert Browning — English poet and playwright (1812–1889)
- 1889Viktor Bunyakovsky — Russian mathematician (1804-1889)
- 1894John Sparrow David Thompson — Prime Minister of Canada from 1892 to 1894
- 1913Menilek II — Emperor of Ethiopia and King of Shewa (1844-1913)
- 1921Henrietta Swan Leavitt — American astronomer and human calculator (1868–1921)
- 1923Raymond Radiguet — French writer (1903–1923)
- 1927Zhang Tailei — Chinese revolutionary (1898-1927)
- 1934Thorleif Haug — Nordic skier (1894-1934)
- 1939Douglas Fairbanks — American actor, screenwriter, director, and producer (1883–1939)
- 1948Marjory Stephenson — British biochemist (1885–1948)
- 1951Mildred Bailey — Native American jazz singer
- 1963Yasujirō Ozu — Japanese film director, screenwriter (1903–1963)
- 1966Karl Ruberl — swimmer (1880–1966)
- 1968Tallulah Bankhead — American actress (1903–1968)
- 1970Doris Blackburn — Australian political activist, legislator (1889–1970)
- 1980Jean Lesage — 19th Premier of Quebec (1912–1980)
- 1985Anne Baxter — American actress (1923–1985)
- 1985Ian Stewart — British keyboardist (1938–1985)
Dates verified against Wikidata (CC0). Titles and descriptions come from Wikidata.