July 12

Events

Pre-1600

* 70 – The armies of Titus attack the walls of Jerusalem after a six-month siege. Three days later they breach the walls, which enables the army to destroy the Second Temple.
* 927 – King Constantine II of Scotland, King Hywel Dda of Deheubarth, Ealdred of Bamburgh and King Owain of the Cumbrians accepted the overlordship of King Æthelstan of England, leading to seven years of peace in the north.
* 1191 – Third Crusade: Saladin's garrison surrenders to Philip Augustus, ending the two-year siege of Acre.
* 1470 – The Ottomans capture Euboea.
* 1488 – Joseon Dynasty official Choe Bu returned to Korea after months of shipwrecked travel in China.
*1493 – Hartmann Schedel's ''Nuremberg Chronicle'', one of the best-documented early printed books, is published.
* 1527 – Lê Cung Hoàng ceded the throne to Mạc Đăng Dung, ending the Lê dynasty and starting the Mạc dynasty.
* 1543 – King Henry VIII of England marries his sixth and last wife, Catherine Parr, at Hampton Court Palace.
* 1562 – Fray Diego de Landa, acting Bishop of Yucatán, burns the sacred idols and books of the Maya.
* 1576 – Mughal Empire annexes Bengal after defeating the Bengal Sultanate at the Battle of Rajmahal.
*1580 – The Ostrog Bible, one of the early printed Bibles in a Slavic language, is published.

1601–1900

*1691 – Battle of Aughrim (Julian calendar): The decisive victory of William III of England's forces in Ireland.
* 1776 – Captain James Cook begins his third voyage.
* 1789 – In response to the dismissal of the French finance minister Jacques Necker, the radical journalist Camille Desmoulins gives a speech which results in the storming of the Bastille two days later.
* 1790 – The Civil Constitution of the Clergy is passed in France by the National Constituent Assembly.
*1799 – Ranjit Singh conquers Lahore and becomes Maharaja of the Punjab (Sikh Empire).
* 1801 – British ships inflict heavy damage on Spanish and French ships in the Second Battle of Algeciras.
* 1806 – At the insistence of Napoleon, Bavaria, Baden, Württemberg and thirteen minor principalities leave the Holy Roman Empire and form the Confederation of the Rhine.
*1812 – The American Army of the Northwest briefly occupies the Upper Canadian settlement at what is now at Windsor, Ontario.
*1862 – The Medal of Honor is authorized by the United States Congress.

1901–present

*1913 – Serbian forces begin their siege of the Bulgarian city of Vidin; the siege is later called off when the war ends.
* 1913 – The Second Revolution breaks out against the Beiyang government, as Li Liejun proclaims Jiangxi independent from the Republic of China.
* 1917 – The Bisbee Deportation occurs as vigilantes kidnap and deport nearly 1,300 striking miners and others from Bisbee, Arizona.
* 1918 – The Imperial Japanese Navy battleship '' Kawachi'' blows up at Shunan, western Honshu, Japan, killing at least 621.
* 1920 – The Soviet–Lithuanian Peace Treaty is signed, by which Soviet Russia recognizes the independence of Lithuania.
*1943 – German and Soviet forces engage in the Battle of Prokhorovka, one of the largest armored engagements of all time.
* 1948 – Israeli Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion orders the expulsion of Palestinians from the towns of Lod and Ramla.
* 1960 – Orlyonok, the main Young Pioneer camp of the Russian SFSR, is founded.
*1961 – Indian city Pune floods due to failure of the Khadakwasla and Panshet dams, killing at least two thousand people.
* 1961 – ČSA Flight 511 crashes at Casablanca–Anfa Airport in Morocco, killing 72.
* 1962 – The Rolling Stones perform for the first time at London's Marquee Club.
*1963 – Pauline Reade, 16, disappears in Gorton, England, the first victim in the Moors murders.
* 1967 – Riots begin in Newark, New Jersey – The Australian Aboriginal Flag is flown for the first time.
* 1973 – A fire destroys the entire sixth floor of the National Personnel Records Center of the United States.
*1975 – São Tomé and Príncipe declare independence from Portugal.
* 1979 – The island nation of Kiribati becomes independent from the United Kingdom.
*1995 – Chinese seismologists successfully predict the 1995 Myanmar–China earthquake, reducing the number of casualties to 11.
* 1998 – The Ulster Volunteer Force attacked a house in Ballymoney, County Antrim, Northern Ireland with a petrol bomb, killing the Quinn brothers.
*2001 – Space Shuttle program: Space Shuttle ''Atlantis'' is launched on mission STS-104, carrying the ''Quest'' Joint Airlock to the International Space Station.
*2006 – The 2006 Lebanon War begins.
* 2007 – U.S. Army Apache helicopters engage in airstrikes against armed insurgents in Baghdad, Iraq, where civilians are killed; footage from the cockpit is later leaked to the Internet.
*2012 – Syrian Civil War: Government forces target the homes of rebels and activists in Tremseh and kill anywhere between 68 and 150 people.
* 2012 – A tank truck explosion kills more than 100 people in Okobie, Nigeria.
*2013 – Six people are killed and 200 injured in a French passenger train derailment in Brétigny-sur-Orge.

Births

Pre-1600

* 100 BC – Julius Caesar, Roman politician and general (d. 44 BC)
* 1394 – Ashikaga Yoshinori, Japanese shōgun (d. 1441)
*1468 – Juan del Encina, Spanish poet, playwright, and composer (probable; d. 1530)
* 1477 – Jacopo Sadoleto, Italian cardinal (d. 1547)
* 1549 – Edward Manners, 3rd Earl of Rutland (d. 1587)

1601–1900

* 1628 – Henry Howard, 6th Duke of Norfolk (d. 1684)
* 1651 – Margaret Theresa of Spain (d. 1673)
*1675 – Evaristo Felice Dall'Abaco, Italian violinist and composer (d. 1742)
* 1712 – Sir Francis Bernard, 1st Baronet, Colonial governor of New Jersey and Massachusetts Bay (d. 1779)
*1730 – Josiah Wedgwood, English potter, founded the Wedgwood Company (d. 1795)
* 1803 – Peter Chanel, French priest and saint (d. 1841)
* 1807 – Thomas Hawksley, English engineer and academic (d. 1893)
* 1813 – Claude Bernard, French physiologist and academic (d. 1878)
* 1817 – Henry David Thoreau, American essayist, poet, and philosopher (d. 1862)
* 1817 – Alvin Saunders, Territorial Governor and Senator from Nebraska (d. 1899)
* 1821 – D. H. Hill, American general and academic (d. 1889)
* 1824 – Eugène Boudin, French painter (d. 1898)
* 1828 – Nikolay Chernyshevsky, Russian philosopher and critic (d. 1889)
* 1849 – William Osler, Canadian physician and author (d. 1919)
* 1850 – Otto Schoetensack, German anthropologist and academic (d. 1912)
*1852 – Hipólito Yrigoyen, Argentinian lawyer and politician, 19th President of Argentina (d. 1933)
*1854 – George Eastman, American businessman, founded Eastman Kodak (d. 1933)
* 1855 – Ned Hanlan, Canadian rower, academic, and businessman (d. 1908)
*1857 – George E. Ohr, American potter (d. 1918)
*1861 – Anton Arensky, Russian pianist, composer, and educator (d. 1906)
* 1863 – Albert Calmette, French physician, bacteriologist, and immunologist (d. 1933)
* 1863 – Paul Drude, German physicist and academic (d. 1906)
*1868 – Stefan George, German poet and translator (d. 1933)
* 1870 – Louis II, Prince of Monaco (d. 1949)
*1872 – Emil Hácha, Czech lawyer and politician, 3rd President of Czechoslovakia (d. 1945)
*1876 – Max Jacob, French poet, painter, and critic (d. 1944)
* 1876 – Alphaeus Philemon Cole