Today in History - Famous Events

🏰 On this day in History - December 12, 2025

1474 Isabella crowns herself queen of Castili‰ & Aragon

1916 Austria-Hungary engage in conflict with Serbia

1976 QB Joe Namath last game as a NY Jet

1981 Gambia & Senegal sign agreement to be known as Senegambia in Feb 1982

1973 Canada begins selling Olympic coins ($5 & $10 silver coins)

1969 Bill Toomey achieves world record-score (8417 points)

1975 Gas stove explodes & starts fire killing 138 (Mecca Saudi Arabia)

1991 Maastricht Treaty signed to create a European Community

1913 "Mona Lisa," stolen from Louvre Museum in 1911, recovered

1997 Japanese train builders (Maglev) claim world speed record at 332 MPH

1963 Frank Sinatra Jr returned after being kidnapped

1970 USSR performs underground nuclear test

1925 Cossack officer/ex-premier Reza Chan becomes shah of Persia

1979 Gold hits record $462.50 an ounce

1981 Wayne Gretzky scores quickest 50th goal (game 39)

1995 CBC announces Radio Canada International service to end on March 31

1987 Okla's sets NCAA record of 33 steals vs Centenary

1921 Denmark, Norway & Sweden declare neutrality in Comende war

1899 George F Bryant of Boston patents the wooden golf tee

1941 Russian 20th army recaptures Soljetsjnogorsk

1932 USSR & China resume diplomatic relations

1941 German occupying army do a house search in Paris looking for Jews

1932 S N Behrmans "Biography," premieres in NYC

1931 Japanese Govt of Imukai forms

1970 Polish government proclaims price rise

1915 1st all-metal aircraft (Junkers J-1) test flown at Dessau Germany

1968 Arthur Ashe becomes 1st black to be ranked #1 in tennis

1897 Anti-Jewish violence breaks out in Bucharest Romania

0627 Battle at Nineveh: Byzantine emperor Heraclius beats Perzen

1800 Washington DC established as capital of US

1524 Pope Clement VII approves Organization of Jewish Community of Rome

1916 1st US postage stamp picturing an airplane, 20› parcel post, issued

1996 Marlins sign their 6th free-agent since Nov 22, Moises Alou

1965 Doug Walters makes maiden Test ton in 1st Test, goes on to 155

1995 Israeli PM Shimon Peres address both house of US congress

1928 Nichols/Brownes "Wings over Europe," premieres in NYC

1951 Joe DiMaggio announces his retirement

1997 TWA 800 hearings end

1946 Tide detergent introduced

1898 1st 1st-class game between NSW & Tasmania

1920 J Hartley Manners' "Peg O' My Heart," premieres in NYC

1996 Assassination attempt on Uday (Iraqi's heir to Sadam Hussain)

1791 Bank of US opens

1928 SF Municipal Railway starts operation at Geary St (MUNI)

1950 Baseball owners vote to drop 4-year old bonus & high school rule

1811 1st newspaper on Cura‡ao (Cura‡ao Gazette & Commercial Advertiser)

1899 1st case of plague on Oahu, Hawaii

1964 Cleveland Browns' Frank Ryan sets club record of 5 TD passes

1715 Russian/Prussian troops occupy Stralsund [NS=12/23]

1962 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site

1950 16th Heisman Trophy Award: Vic Janowicz, Ohio State (HB)

1969 Bomb attack on bank in Milan, 14 killed

1862 Naval Engagement at Yazoo River, MS (USS CAIRO torpedoed)

1966 US Supreme Courts votes 4-3 allowing Braves to move to Atlanta

1957 Maj Adrian Drew flies 1,943 kph in F-101 Voodoo

1968 Rolling Stones film TV show "Rock 'n Roll Circus"-never aired

1992 Japanese crown prince Naruhito announces engagement to Masaka Owada

1997 Florida releases Alex Arias, the last original Marlin

1862 Battle of Dumfries, VA

1982 Joanne Carner/John Mahaffey wins LPGA J C Penney Golf Classic

1988 Sandra Miller of Queens sues Mike Tyson for sexual harassment

1804 Peter Gaillard of Lancaster, Pa patents a horse-drawn mower

1958 Dutch social democratic party-ministers/premier Drees dismissed

1903 Gerrit Brinkman becomes 1st Dutch traffic officer

1997 Red Sox sign Pedro Martinez to record 6 year $69 million contract

1988 PLO leader Yasi Arafat accepts Israel's right to exist

1949 AL votes 7-1 rejecting legalizing the spitball

1965 Beatles last Great Britain concert (Capitol Theatre in Cardiff Wales)

1968 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site

1870 Joseph Rainey (SC) became 1st black sworn into House of Reps

1945 Special Court of justice convicts NSB-leader Mussert to death

1941 European reservists on Java mobilizes

1991 Actor Richard Gere marries super model Cindy Crawford

1098 1st Crusaders capture & plunder Mara Syria

1986 David Boon's fourth Test century, 103 v England at Adelaide

1963 Kenya (formerly British East Africa) declares independence from UK

1871 Jules Janssen discovers dark lines in solar corona spectrum

1930 Baseball changes rule, ball bounces into stands not a HR, now a double

1987 Rollermania at MSG, Eastern Express beats Midwest Pioneers

1961 Ham radio satellite Oscar 1 launched with military Discoverer 36

1982 "Herman Van Veen: All of Him" closes at Ambassador NYC after 6 perf

1915 Aristide Briand forms French war govt

1925 Arthur Heinman coins term "motel," opens Motel Inn, San Luis Obispo

1912 R Friml/O Harbachs musical "Firefly," premieres in NYC

1985 248 US soldiers & 8 crew members die in Arrow Air charter crash

1940 British troops conquer Sidi el-Barrani

1963 Argentina asks for extradition of ex-president Peron

1993 "Kentucky Cycle" closes at Royale Theater NYC after 34 performances

1936 Chinese leader Chiang Kai-shek declares war on Japan

1937 Washington Redskins win NFL championship

1903 Turkey, Serbia, Montenegro, Greece & Bulgaria sign weapons pact

1964 Shooting starts for "Star Trek" pilot "The Cage" (Menagerie)

1906 Oscar Straus, 1st Jewish govt member, appointed Sec of Commerce

1930 Baseball Rules Committee greatly revises the rule book

1930 Start of the 1st Australia v West Indies Test (at Adelaide)

1920 Paul Claudels "L'Annonce Faite … Marie," premieres in Paris

1988 3 trains collide in London, 40 die

1957 US announces manufacture of Borazon (harder than diamond)

1986 Russian Tupolev-134 crashes in East Berlin, 70 killed

1992 NY Giants lose 19-0 to Phoenix Cardinals

1700 Utrecht/Overijssel/Buren/Leerdam/Ijsselstein adopt Gregorian calendar

1939 Russ Indigirka capsizes in blizzard off Japanese coast; 750 die

1937 NBC & RCA sends 1st mobile-TV vans onto the streets of NY

1992 58th Heisman Trophy Award: Gino Torretta, Miami-Fla (QB)

1965 Vivian Beaumont Theater opens at 65th St & Amsterdam Ave NYC

1920 Maurice Ravels ballet "La Valse," premieres in Paris

1903 Roger Casement completes report about abuses in Belgian Congo

1961 Martin Luther King Jr & 700 demonstraters arrested in Albany Ga

1993 WAQX 104.3 (Q-104) rock format replaces WNCN classic format in NYC

1987 Mookie Blaylock sets NBA record of 13 steals in a game

1985 NASA launches space vehicle S-207

1653 Barebone-parliament ends

1959 UN Committee on Peaceful Use of Outer Space is established

1858 1st Canadian coins circulated (1›, 5›, 10› & 20›)

1979 Rhodesia becomes independent nation of Zimbabwe

1937 Japanese aircraft shell & sink US gunboat Panay on Yangtze River in China. (Japan apologized & eventually paid US $2.2M in reparations)

1967 US launches Pioneer 8 into solar orbit

1897 Rudolph Dirks' 1st Katzenjammer cartoon strip in NY Journal

1913 Hebrew language officially used to teach in Palestinian schools

1677 Brandenburgs army occupies Stettin

1997 SWAT team shoots John E Armstrong in Fla, freeing 2 young hostages

1917 French troop train derails in French Alps killing 543

1792 In Vienna, Ludwig Von Beethoven (22) receives 1st lesson in music composition from Franz Joseph Haydn

1925 Last Qajar Shah of Iran deposed; Rexa Shah Pahlavi takes over

1209 Frederik II crowns himself Roman Catholic king

1615 Simon Marius, is 1st to observe Andromeda galaxy through a telescope

1993 "Any Given Day" closes at Longacre Theater NYC after 32 performances

1900 National Negro Anthem, "Lift Every Voice & Sing," composed

1958 Fergie Gupte takes 9-102 with leggies v W Indies at Kanpur

1942 German offensive in South Western Stalingrad

1982 $9,800,000 in cash stolen from money transport car in NYC

1955 1st prototype of hovercraft patented by Brit eng Christoper Cockerell

1479 Jews are expelled from Schlettstadt Alsace by Emperor Frederick III

1926 Leningrad: premier of Dmitri Sjostakovitsj' 1st Pianoconcert

1946 UN accepts 6 Manhattan blocks as a gift from John D Rockefeller Jr

1970 Small Astronomy Satellite Explorer 42 launched to study X-rays

1990 US accuses Iraq of dragging its feet on dates for talks

1975 Sara Jane Moore pled guilty to trying to kill Pres Gerald Ford

1992 Julia Kurotchkina, 18, of Russia, crowned 42nd Miss World

1802 James Madison re-elected president of US, E Gerry vice-pres

1787 Pennsylvania becomes 2nd state to ratify US constitution

1769 Pope Clement XIV proclaims a universal jubilee

1995 Amendment to make it illegal to physically desecrate the flag turned down by senate 63-36 (need 2/3 vote)

1915 Russian troops overrun Hamadan, Persia

1906 China votes for universal human rights

1991 NJ Nets set NBA record of 22 blocks beating Nuggets 121-81

1946 Ice plant collapses, shearing a tenement building & burying 38

1878 Joseph Pulitzer begins publishing "St Louis Dispatch"

1901 Marconi receives 1st transatlantic radio signal, England to US

1986 South African journalist Zwelakhe Sisulu arrested

1988 NYC Subway system adds new stations (Z line)

1991 Tampa Bay Bucaneer Dexter Manley, retires after failing drug test

1923 Aswan Dam in Nile begins operation

1947 United Mine Workers union withdrew from AFL

1980 US's copyright law amended to include computer programs

1884 1st Test match played at the Adelaide Oval

1527 Composer Adrian Willaert moves from Milan to Venice

1990 US ambassador to Kuwait, Nathaniel Howell leaves Kuwait

1907 Bust of Queen Nefertete found in El-Amarna, Egypt

1991 Orion Pictures filed Chapter 11 for bankruptcy protection

1965 Gale Sayers of Chicago Bears scores 6 TDs, ties NFL record

1973 San Diego files anti-trust against NL (stopping Padres move to DC)

1997 Fed judge sentences Autumn Jackson, who claims to be Bill Cosby's daughter, to 26 months for trying to extort $40 million from him

1822 Mexico officially recognized as an independent nation by US

1924 Irving Fisher patents archiving system with index cards

1986 James "Bone Crusher" Smith TKO's WBA champ Tim Witherspoon in MSG

1995 NBA referees return to work after striking

1969 "Hello Dolly" with Barbra Striesand premieres

1997 Carlos the Jackal, "professional revolutionary" goes on trial in Paris

1982 57th Australian Womens Tennis: C Evert beats M Navratilova (63 26 63)

1957 Jerry Lee Lewis weds his cousin Myra Gale Brown, 13, while still married to his 1st wife Jane Mitcham

1992 6.8-7.5 earthquake strikes Flores Island (tsunami kills 3,000)

1916 Worst train disaster ever (Modane France-543 killed)

1981 "1st" closes at Martin Beck Theater NYC after 37 performances

1923 1st "Keystone Kops" film, titled "Hoffmeyer's Legacy"

1928 National Council of Young Israel convenes

1985 DC-8 crashes near Gander, Newfoundland; 258 die

1952 Dallas Texans (former Boston Yanks) play last game, last original team

1977 Yanks purchase Andy Messersmith from Braves

1953 Chuck Yeager reaches Mach 2.43 in Bell X-1A rocket plane

1983 A truck bomb explodes at US Embassy in Kuwait

1917 Rev Edward Flanagan forms Boys Town outside Omaha, Neb

1904 CMS McClellans "Leah Kleschna," premieres in NYC

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