May 12th. TODAY IN HISTORY.

May 12 is the 132nd day of the year (133rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 233 days remaining until the end of the year.


254 – Pope Stephen I succeeds Pope Lucius I as the 23rd pope.

304 – Roman Emperor Diocletian orders the beheading of the 14-year-old Pancras of Rome.

922 – After much hardship, Abbasid envoy Ahmad ibn Fadlan arrived in the lands of Volga Bulgars.

1191 – Richard I of England marries Berengaria of Navarre who is crowned Queen consort of England the same day.

1264 – The Battle of Lewes, between King Henry III of England and the rebel Simon de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester, begins.

1328 – Antipope Nicholas V, a claimant to the papacy, is consecrated in Rome by the Bishop of Venice.

1364 – Jagiellonian University, the oldest university in Poland, is founded in Kraków, Poland.

1551 – National University of San Marcos, the oldest university in the Americas, is founded in Lima, Peru.

1588 – French Wars of Religion: Henry III of France flees Paris after Henry of Guise enters the city and a spontaneous uprising occurs.

1689 – King William's War: William III of England joins the League of Augsburg starting a war with France.

1743 – Maria Theresa of Austria is crowned Queen of Bohemia after defeating her rival, Charles VII, Holy Roman Emperor.

1780 – American Revolutionary War: In the largest defeat of the Continental Army, Charleston, South Carolina is taken by British forces.

1797 – First Coalition: Napoleon I of France conquers Venice.

1821 – The first big battle of the Greek War of Independence against the Turks occurs in Valtetsi.

1862 – U.S. federal troops occupy Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

1863 – American Civil War: Battle of Raymond: two divisions of James B. McPherson's XVII Corps (ACW) turn the left wing of Confederate General John C. Pemberton's defensive line on Fourteen Mile Creek, opening up the interior of Mississippi to the Union Army during the Vicksburg Campaign.

1864 – American Civil War: the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House: thousands of Union and Confederate soldiers die in "the Bloody Angle".

1865 – American Civil War: the Battle of Palmito Ranch: the first day of the last major land action to take place during the Civil War, resulting in a Confederate victory.

1870 – The Manitoba Act is given the Royal Assent, paving the way for Manitoba to become a province of Canada on July 15.

1873 – Oscar II is crowned King of Sweden.

1881 – In North Africa, Tunisia becomes a French protectorate.

1885 – North-West Rebellion: the four-day Battle of Batoche, pitting rebel Métis against the Canadian government, comes to an end with a decisive rebel defeat.

1916 – James Connolly was sat on a chair and shot dead in Kilmainham Gaol in Dublin, after his role in the Easter Uprising

1926 – UK General Strike 1926: In the United Kingdom, a nine-day general strike by trade unions ends.

1932 – Ten weeks after his abduction Charles Jr., the infant son of Charles Lindbergh is found dead in Hopewell, New Jersey, just a few miles from the Lindberghs' home.

1935 – Bill Wilson and Dr. Bob Smith (founders of Alcoholics Anonymous) meet for the first time in Akron, Ohio, at the home of Henrietta Siberling.

1937 – George VI and Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon are crowned King and Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

1941 – Konrad Zuse presents the Z3, the world's first working programmable, fully automatic computer, in Berlin.

1942 – World War II: Second Battle of Kharkov: in eastern Ukraine, Red Army forces under Marshal Semyon Timoshenko launch a major offensive from the Izium bridgehead, only to be encircled and destroyed by the troops of Army Group South two weeks later.

1942 – Holocaust: 1,500 Jews are sent to gas chambers in Auschwitz.

1945 – Argentinian labour leader José Peter declares the Federación Obrera de la Industria de la Carne dissolved.

1949 – The Soviet Union lifts its blockade of Berlin.

1949 – The western occupying powers approve the Basic Law for the new German state: the Federal Republic of Germany.

1952 – Gaj Singh is crowned Maharaja of Jodhpur.

1955 – Nineteen days after bus workers went on strike in Singapore, rioting breaks out and seriously impacts Singapore's bid for independence.

1955 – Austria regains its independence as the Allied occupation following World War II ends.

1958 – A formal North American Aerospace Defense Command agreement is signed between the United States and Canada.

1962 – Douglas MacArthur delivers his Duty, Honor, Country valedictory speech at the United States Military Academy.

1965 – The Soviet spacecraft Luna 5 crashes on the Moon.

1968 – Vietnam War: North Vietnamese and Viet Cong forces attack Australian troops defending Fire Support Base Coral, east of Lai Khe in South Vietnam on the night of 12/13 May, resulting in heavy casualties on both sides and beginning the Battle of Coral-Balmoral.

1975 – Mayagüez incident: the Cambodian navy seizes the American merchant ship SS Mayaguez in international waters.

1978 – In Zaire, rebels occupy the city of Kolwezi, the mining center of the province of Shaba (now known as Katanga). The local government asks the U.S.A., France and Belgium to restore order.

1981 – Francis Hughes starves to death in the Maze Prison in a Republican campaign for political prisoner status to be granted to Provisional IRA prisoners.

1982 – During a procession outside the shrine of the Virgin Mary in Fátima, Portugal, security guards overpower Juan Fernandez Krohn before he can attack Pope John Paul II with a bayonet. Krohn, an ultraconservative Spanish priest opposed to the Vatican II reforms, believed that the Pope had to be killed for being an "agent of Moscow".

1998 – Four students are shot at Trisakti University, leading to widespread riots and the fall of Suharto

2002 – Former US President Jimmy Carter arrives in Cuba for a five-day visit with Fidel Castro becoming the first President of the United States, in or out of office, to visit the island since Castro's 1959 revolution.

2003 – The Riyadh compound bombings, carried out by Al Qaeda, kill 26 people.

2003 – Fifty-nine Democratic lawmakers bring the Texas Legislature to a standstill by going into hiding in a dispute over a Republican congressional redistricting plan.

2006 – Mass unrest by the Primeiro Comando da Capital begins in São Paulo (Brazil), leaving at least 150 dead.

2006 – Iranian Azeris interpret a cartoon published in an Iranian magazine as insulting, resulting in massive riots throughout the country.

2007 – Riots in which over 50 people are killed and over 100 are injured take place in Karachi upon the arrival in town of the Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry.

2008 – An earthquake (measuring around 8.0 magnitude) occurs in Sichuan, China, killing over 69,000 people.

2008 – U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement conducts the largest-ever raid of workplace and arrests nearly 400 immigrants for identity theft and document fraud.

Births

• 1401 – Emperor Shōkō, 101st Japanese Emperor (d. 1428)
• 1496 – Gustav I of Sweden (d. 1560)
• 1590 – Cosimo II de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany (d. 1621)
• 1622 – Louis de Buade de Frontenac, Governor General of New France (d. 1698)
• 1626 – Louis Hennepin, Flemish missionary (d. 1705)
• 1670 – King Augustus II of Poland (d. 1733)
• 1700 – Luigi Vanvitelli, Italian architect (d. 1773)
• 1725 – Louis Philippe I, Duke of Orléans (d. 1785)
• 1739 – Johann Baptist Vanhal, Bohemian composer (d. 1813)
• 1754 – Franz Anton Hoffmeister, German composer and music publisher (d. 1812)
• 1755 – Giovanni Battista Viotti, Italian violinist and composer (d. 1824)
• 1767 – Manuel de Godoy, Spanish statesman (d. 1851)
• 1803 – Justus von Liebig, German chemist (d. 1873)
• 1804 – Robert Baldwin, Canadian politician (d. 1858)
• 1806 – Johan Vilhelm Snellman, Finnish statesman (d. 1881)
• 1812 – Edward Lear, British artist and poet (d. 1888)
• 1814 – Adolf von Henselt, German composer and pianist (d. 1889)
• 1820 – Florence Nightingale, British nurse (d. 1910)
• 1825 – Orélie-Antoine de Tounens, French adventurer in Araucania and Patagonia (d. 1878)
• 1828 – Dante Gabriel Rossetti, British painter (d. 1882)
• 1829 – Pavlos Carrer, Greek composer (d. 1896)
• 1839 – Tôn Thất Thuyết, the leading mandarin of Vietnam's Nguyễn Dynasty (d. 1913)
• 1840 – Alejandro Gorostiaga, Chilean military, participated on Battle of Huamachuco (d. 1912)
• 1842 – Jules Massenet, French composer (d. 1912)
• 1845 – Gabriel Fauré, French composer (d. 1924)
• 1850 – Henry Cabot Lodge, U.S. statesman (d. 1924)
• 1867 – Hugh Trumble, Australian cricketer (d. 1938)
• 1872 – Anton Korošec, Slovenian political leader (d. 1940)
• 1874 – Clemens von Pirquet, Austrian physician (d. 1929)
• 1880 – Lincoln Ellsworth, American explorer (d. 1951)
• 1885 – Paltiel Daykan, Russian-born Israeli jurist (d. 1969)
• 1889 – Yvonne de Bray, French actress (d. 1954)
• 1889 – Otto Frank, father of Anne Frank (d. 1980)
• 1892 – Fritz Kortner, Austrian-born director (d. 1970)
• 1895 – William Giauque, American chemist, Nobel laureate (d. 1982)
• 1895 – Jiddu Krishnamurti, Indian philosopher (d. 1986)
• 1899 – Indra Devi, Latvian Yoga Instructor (d. 2002)
• 1900 – Helene Weigel, German actress (d. 1971)
• 1900 – Joseph Rochefort, American naval officer and cryptanalyst (d. 1976)
• 1903 – Wilfrid Hyde-White, British actor (d. 1991)
• 1905 – Édouard Rinfret, Canadian politician and judge (d. 1994)
• 1907 – Leslie Charteris, British author and screenwriter (d. 1993)
• 1907 – Katharine Hepburn, American actress (d. 2003)
• 1910 – Charles B. Fulton, American jurist (d. 1996)
• 1910 – Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin, British biochemist, Nobel laureate (d. 1994)
• 1910 – Gordon Jenkins, American conductor and composer (d. 1984)
• 1914 – Bertus Aafjes, Dutch poet (d. 1993)
• 1914 – Howard K. Smith, American journalist (d. 2002)
• 1914 – James Bacon, American entertainment columnist and reporter (d. 2010)
• 1916 – Albert Murray, American writer
• 1917 – Frank Clair, American-born Canadian football coach (d. 2005)
• 1918 – Julius Rosenberg, American-born spy for the Soviet Union (d. 1953)
• 1918 – Mary Kay Ash, American businesswoman (d. 2001)
• 1919 – Gerald Bales, Canadian organist and composer (d. 2002)
• 1921 – Joseph Beuys, German artist (d. 1986)
• 1921 – Farley Mowat, Canadian writer and naturalist
• 1922 – Marco Denevi, Argentine writer (d. 1998)
• 1922 – Bob Goldham, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 1991)
• 1924 – Alexander Esenin-Volpin, Russian mathematician
• 1924 – Tony Hancock, British comedian (d. 1968)
• 1924 – Maxine Cooper Gomberg, American actress (d. 2009)
• 1925 – Yogi Berra, American baseball player
• 1928 – Burt Bacharach, American composer
• 1928 – Henry Cosby, American songwriter (d. 2002)
• 1929 – Dollard St. Laurent, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1929 – Sam Nujoma, first President of Namibia
• 1930 – Jesús Franco, Spanish film director
• 1933 – Andrey Voznesensky, Russian poet
• 1935 – Felipe Alou, Dominican baseball player and manager
• 1935 – Johnny Bucyk, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1936 – Guillermo Endara, President of Panama (d. 2009)
• 1936 – Tom Snyder, American television personality (d. 2007)
• 1936 – Frank Stella, American painter
• 1937 – Beryl Burton, British cyclist (d. 1996)
• 1937 – George Carlin, American comedian (d. 2008)
• 1937 – Susan Hampshire, British actress
• 1938 – Millie Perkins, American film actress
• 1939 – Miltiadis Evert, Greek politician
• 1939 – Reg Gasnier, Australian Rugby League footballer
• 1939 – Ron Ziegler, U.S. White House Press Secretary (d. 2003)
• 1939 – Jalal Dabagh, Kurdish politician
• 1940 – Norman Whitfield, American songwriter and producer (d. 2008)
• 1942 – Ian Dury, British musician (d. 2000)
• 1942 – Michel Fugain, French singer and songwriter
• 1942 – Billy Swan, American songwriter and singer
• 1943 – Linda Dano, American Actress
• 1944 – Chris Patten, British politician
• 1945 – Alan Ball, Jr., English footballer (d. 2007)
• 1945 – Nicky Henson, British actor
• 1945 – Ian McLagan, British keyboardist (Small Faces)
• 1945 – Patrick Ricard, French businessman
• 1946 – L. Neil Smith, American science fiction author
• 1946 – Daniel Libeskind, American architect
• 1947 – Michael Ignatieff, Canadian politician
• 1947 – Micheline Lanctôt, American film actor, director and screenwriter
• 1947 – Catherine Yronwode, American writer and editor
• 1948 – David Heineman, American politician, current governor of Nebraska
• 1948 – Joe Tasker, British mountaineer (d. 1982)
• 1948 – Steve Winwood, British musician (The Spencer Davis Group; Traffic)
• 1950 – Bruce Boxleitner, American actor
• 1950 – Gabriel Byrne, Irish actor
• 1950 – Louise Portal, French Canadian actress
• 1950 – Billy Squier, American singer and musician
• 1951 – George Karl, American basketball player and head coach
• 1951 – Joe Nolan, American baseball players
• 1952 – Norbert Stolzenburg, German footballer
• 1953 – Kevin Grevey, American basketball player
• 1955 – Kix Brooks, American country singer (Brooks & Dunn)
• 1956 – Bernie Federko, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1956 – Sergio Marchi, Canadian diplomat and politician
• 1956 – Glenn Robbins, Australian comedian
• 1956 – Asad Rauf, Pakistani cricket umpire
• 1957 – Lou Whitaker, American baseball player
• 1958 – Andreas Petroulakis, Greek political caricaturist
• 1958 – Eric Singer, American drummer
• 1959 – Ving Rhames, American actor
• 1959 – Ray Gillen, American singer (d. 1993)
• 1960 – Paul Arcand, Quebec radio host, journalist and film director
• 1960 – Ian Khan, British racing driver
• 1961 – Paul Begala, American political commentator
• 1961 – Billy Duffy, British guitarist (The Cult)
• 1961 – Thomas Dooley, German-American soccer player
• 1961 – Lar Park Lincoln, American actress
• 1961 – Bruce McCulloch, Canadian actor
• 1962 – Emilio Estevez, American actor
• 1962 – Brett Gurewitz, American songwriter (Bad Religion) and record producer (Epitaph Records)
• 1963 – Panagiotis Fasoulas, Greek basketball player, Mayor of Piraeus
• 1963 – Gavin Hood, South African film director
• 1963 – Stefano Modena, Italian racing driver
• 1963 – Charles Pettigrew, American singer (Charles and Eddie) (d. 2001)
• 1963 – Jerry Trimble, American actor
• 1963 – Deborah Kara Unger, Canadian actress
• 1963 – Vanessa A. Williams, American actress
• 1964 – Pierre Morel, French film director
• 1966 – Stephen Baldwin, American actor
• 1966 – Bebel Gilberto, Brazilian singer
• 1967 – Paul D'Amour, American bass guitarist (Tool)
• 1967 – Joe McKinney, Irish actor
• 1968 – Mark Clark, American baseball player
• 1968 – Tony Hawk, American skateboarder
• 1968 – Scott Schwartz, American actor
• 1968 – Catherine Tate, British comedian
• 1969 – Kim Fields, American actress
• 1969 – Kevin Nalty, American YouTube personality
• 1970 – Jim Furyk, American golfer
• 1970 – Mike Weir, Canadian golfer
• 1970 – Samantha Mathis, American actress
• 1970 – Steve Palframan, South African cricketer
• 1970 – Mark Foster, British swimmer
• 1971 – Doug Basham, American professional wrestler
• 1971 – Jamie Luner, American actress
• 1973 – Kendra Kassebaum, American stage actress
• 1973 – Travis Lutter, American mixed martial arts fighter
• 1973 – Lutz Pfannenstiel, German footballer
• 1973 – Robert Tinkler, Canadian voice actor
• 1975 – Jonah Lomu, New Zealand rugby union footballer
• 1975 – Lawrence Phillips, American football player
• 1976 – Kardinal Offishall, Canadian rapper
• 1977 – Lorena Bernal, Argentine/Spanish model and actress
• 1977 – Graeme Dott, British snooker player
• 1977 – Rebecca Herbst, American actress
• 1978 – Jason Biggs, American actor
• 1978 – Malin Åkerman, Swedish-Canadian actress and model
• 1978 – Wilfred Le Bouthillier, Canadian singer
• 1978 – Aya Ishiguro, Japanese singer (Morning Musume)
• 1978 – Josh Phelps, American baseball player
• 1978 – Hossein Reza Zadeh, Iranian weightlifter
• 1979 – Andre Carter, American football player
• 1979 – Callum Chambers, Australian rules footballer
• 1979 – Robert Key, English cricketer
• 1979 – Erdinç Saçan, Turkish-Dutch politician
• 1979 – Steve Smith, American football player
• 1979 – Aaron Yoo, Korean-American actor
• 1979 – Dennis Trillo, Filipino actor and singer
• 1980 – Keith Bogans, American basketball player
• 1980 – Felipe Lopez, Puerto Rican baseball player
• 1981 – Kentaro Sato, Japanese composer
• 1981 – Rami Malek, American actor
• 1982 – David Thaxton, British stage actor and singer
• 1982 – Darren Williams, American basketball player
• 1983 – Charilaos Pappas, Greek footballer
• 1983 – Alina Kabayeva, Russian gymnast
• 1983 – Virginie Razzano, French tennis player
• 1984 – Tommaso Reato, Italian rugby player
• 1985 – Tally Hall, American footballer
• 1985 – Jeroen Simaeys, Belgian footballer
• 1986 – Emily VanCamp, Canadian actress
• 1986 – Mouhamed Sene, Senegalese basketball player
• 1987 – Gianluca Sansone, Italian footballer
• 1987 – Kieron Pollard, West Indies Cricketer
• 1988 – Marky Cielo, Filipino dancer and actor (d. 2008)
• 1988 – Marcelo Vieira da Silva Júnior, Brazilian footballer
• 1989 – Matthew Hann, American basketball player
• 1990 – Jacory Harris, American football player
• 1990 – Oliver Kragl, German footballer
• 1990 – Tobias Strobl, German footballer
• 1992 – Malcolm David Kelley, American actor
• 1995 – Luke Benward, American actor
• 1995 – Kenton Duty, American actor

Deaths

• 1003 – Pope Silvester II (b. 946)
• 1012 – Pope Sergius IV
• 1382 – Queen Joan I of Naples (b. 1327)
• 1465 – Thomas Palaeologus, Titular Byzantine emperor, Despot of the Morea (b. 1409)
• 1634 – George Chapman, English writer (b. 1559)
• 1641 – Thomas Wentworth, Earl of Strafford, English statesman (b. 1593)
• 1684 – Edme Mariotte, French physicist and priest (b. 1620)
• 1699 – Lucas Achtschellinck, Flemish painter (b. 1626)
• 1700 – John Dryden, English writer (b. 1631)
• 1708 – Adolf Friedrich II of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (b. 1658)
• 1748 – Thomas Lowndes, English astronomer (b. 1692)
• 1759 – Lambert-Sigisbert Adam, French sculptor (b. 1700)
• 1784 – Abraham Trembley, Swiss naturalist (b. 1710)
• 1792 – Charles Simon Favart, French dramatist (b. 1710)
• 1796 – Johann Peter Uz, German poet (b. 1720)
• 1801 – Nicholas Repnin, Russian statesman (b. 1734)
• 1842 – Walenty Wańkowicz, Polish painter (b. 1799)
• 1845 – János Batsányi, Hungarian poet (b. 1763)
• 1856 – Jacques Philippe Marie Binet, French mathematician (b. 1786)
• 1859 – Sergei Aksakov, Russian writer (b. 1791)
• 1860 – Charles Barry, English architect (b. 1795)
• 1864 – James Ewell Brown "Jeb" Stuart, American soldier from Virginia and a Confederate Army general (b. 1833)
• 1867 – Friedrich William Eduard Gerhard, German archaeologist (b. 1795)
• 1871 – Anselme Payen, French physicist (b. 1795)
• 1876 – Georgi Benkovski, Bulgarian revolutionary (b. 1843)
• 1884 – Bedřich Smetana, Czech composer (b. 1824)
• 1889 – John Cadbury, English chocolate entrepreneur (b. 1801)
• 1907 – Joris-Karl Huysmans, French author (b. 1848)
• 1916 – James Connolly, Irish socialist and leader of the Easter Rising (b. 1868)
• 1925 – Amy Lowell, American poet (b. 1874)
• 1931 – Eugène Ysaÿe, Belgian violinist (b. 1858)
• 1935 – Józef Piłsudski, Polish statesman (b. 1867)
• 1944 – Max Brand, American author (b. 1892)
• 1944 – Arthur Quiller-Couch, English writer (b. 1863)
• 1956 – Louis Calhern, American actor (b. 1895)
• 1957 – Alfonso de Portago, Spanish bobsledder and race car driver (b. 1928)
• 1957 – Erich von Stroheim, film director and actor (b. 1885)
• 1963 – Richard Girulatis, German football manager (b. 1878)
• 1963 – Robert Kerr, Canadian sprinter (b. 1882)
• 1966 – Felix Martin Julius Steiner, German Heer and Waffen-SS officer (b. 1896)
• 1967 – John Masefield, British writer (b. 1878)
• 1970 – Nelly Sachs, German writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1891)
• 1971 – Heinie Manush, American baseball player (b. 1901)
• 1973 – Art Pollard, American racecar driver (b. 1927)
• 1978 – Robert Coogan, American actor (b. 1924)
• 1985 – Jean Dubuffet, French painter (b. 1901)
• 1986 – Elisabeth Bergner, Austrian actress (b. 1897)
• 1986 – Alicia Moreau de Justo, Argentine physician, politician, pacifist and human rights activist (b. 1885).
• 1990 – Chen Kenmin, Japanese chef (b. 1912)
• 1992 – Nikos Gatsos, Greek poet and lyricist (b. 1911)
• 1992 – Lenny Montana, American actor (b. 1926)
• 1992 – Robert Reed, American actor (b. 1932)
• 1994 – Erik Erikson, German psychoanalyst (b. 1902)
• 1994 – John Smith, British politician (b. 1938)
• 1995 – Mia Martini, Italian singer and songwriter (b. 1947)
• 1999 – Abd-al-Aziz ibn Abd-Allah ibn Baaz, Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia 1993-1999 (b. 1910)
• 1999 – Saul Steinberg, Romanian-American cartoonist (b. 1914)
• 2000 – Adam Petty, American race car driver (b. 1980)
• 2001 – Perry Como, American singer (b. 1912)
• 2001 – Alexei Tupolev, Russian aircraft designer (b. 1925)
• 2002 – Joseph Bonanno, Italian-born gangster (b. 1905)
• 2003 – Prince Sadruddin Aga Khan, French United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (b. 1933)
• 2005 – Martin Lings, English Islamic scholar (b. 1909)
• 2005 – Monica Zetterlund, Swedish actress and singer (b. 1937)
• 2006 – Hussein Maziq, Prime Minister of Libya (b. 1918)
• 2006 – Gillespie V. Montgomery, U.S. representative from Mississippi (b. 1920)
• 2007 – Mullah Dadullah Akhund, Afghan Taliban military leader
• 2007 – Teddy Infuhr, American former child actor (b. 1936)
• 2008 – Robert Rauschenberg, American artist (b. 1925)
• 2008 – Irena Sendler, Polish social worker, WWII heroine (b. 1910)
• 2009 – Antonio Vega, Spanish pop singer-songwriter (b. 1957)