On This Day … 12 December

Events

  • 627 – Battle of Nineveh: A Byzantine army under Emperor Heraclius defeats Emperor Khosrau II’s Persian forces, commanded by General Rhahzadh.
  • 884 – King Carloman II dies after a hunting accident.
  • 1388 – Maria of Enghien sells the lordship of Argos and Nauplia to the Republic of Venice.
  • 1862 – American Civil War: USS Cairo sinks on the Yazoo River.
  • 1901 – Guglielmo Marconi receives the first transatlantic radio signal (the letter “S” [***] in Morse Code), at Signal Hill in St John’s, Newfoundland.
  • 1935 – Lebensborn Project, a Nazi reproduction programme, is founded by Heinrich Himmler.
  • 1937 – Second Sino-Japanese War: USS Panay incident: Japanese aircraft bomb and sink US gunboat USS Panay on the Yangtze river in China.
  • 1939 – HMS Duchess sinks after a collision with HMS Barham off the coast of Scotland with the loss of 124 men.
  • 1941 – World War II: Fifty-four Japanese A6M Zero fighters raid Batangas Field, Philippines. Jesús Villamor and four Filipino fighter pilots fend them off; César Basa is killed.
  • 1941 – Adolf Hitler declares the imminent extermination of the Jews at a meeting in the Reich Chancellery.
  • 1945 – The People’s Republic of Korea is outlawed in the South, by order of the United States Army Military Government in Korea.
  • 1946 – United Nations Security Council Resolution 13 relating to acceptance of Siam to United Nations is adopted.
  • 1956 – United Nations Security Council Resolution 121 relating to acceptance of Japan to United Nations is adopted
  • 1985 – Arrow Air Flight 1285, a McDonnell Douglas DC-8, crashes after takeoff in Gander, Newfoundland, killing all 256 people on board, including 236 members of the United States Army’s 101st Airborne Division.
  • 2012 – North Korea successfully launches its first satellite, Kwangmyŏngsŏng-3 Unit 2.

People (Births)

  • 1526 – Álvaro de Bazán, 1st Marquis of Santa Cruz, Spanish admiral (d. 1588).
  • 1724 – Samuel Hood, 1st Viscount Hood, English admiral and politician (d. 1816).
  • 1806 – Stand Watie, American general (d. 1871).
  • 1830 – Joseph Orville Shelby, Confederate general (d. 1897).
  • 1876 – Alvin Kraenzlein, American hurdler and runner (d. 1928).
  • 1881 – Louise Thuliez, French school teacher, resistance fighter during World War I and World War II and author (d. 1966).
  • 1920 – Josef Doležal, Czech race walker (d. 1999).
  • 1933 – Christa Stubnick, German sprinter.
  • 1969 – Wilfred Kirochi, Kenyan runner.
  • 1969 – Fiona May, English-Italian long jumper.
  • 1969 – Michael Möllenbeck, German discus thrower.
  • 1971 – Sammy Korir, Kenyan runner.
  • 1972 – Wilson Kipketer, Kenyan-Danish runner.
  • 1972 – Georgios Theodoridis, Greek sprinter.
  • 1974 – Bernard Lagat, Kenyan-American runner.
  • 1977 – Yoel Hernández, Cuban hurdler.
  • 1977 – Dean Macey, English decathlete and bobsledder.
  • 1980 – Dejene Berhanu, Ethiopian runner (d. 2010).
  • 1986 – Nina Kolarič, Slovenian long jumper.
  • 1990 – Nixon Chepseba, Kenyan runner.

People (Deaths)

  • 1941 – César Basa, Filipino lieutenant and pilot (b. 1915).
  • 1966 – Karl Ruberl, Austrian-American swimmer (b. 1880).
  • 1975 – Richard Baggallay, English colonel and cricketer (b. 1884).
  • 1994 – Stuart Roosa, American colonel, pilot, and astronaut (b. 1933).
  • 1998 – Lawton Chiles, American soldier, lawyer, and politician, 41st Governor of Florida (b. 1930).
  • 1998 – Morris Udall, American captain and politician (b. 1922).
  • 2003 – Heydar Aliyev, Azerbaijani general and politician, 3rd President of Azerbaijan (b. 1923).
  • 2007 – François al-Hajj, Lebanese general (b. 1953).
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