1204 Constantinople fell to the Crusaders during the Fourth Crusade on April 12, 1204, the Monday before Easter. The Crusaders initially intended to capture Jerusalem, but instead diverted to Constantinople after being hired by the Venetians to assist in a dispute with the Byzantine Empire. The Crusaders attacked and sacked the city, causing widespread destruction and looting. The crusaders set up their own kingdom based in the city, but within ten years it had collapsed.
1606 On the orders of King James I and VI, the flags of St George and St Andrew became the official union flag for maritime use on April 12, 1606. The creation of the Union Flag was a visual symbol of the union of England and Scotland. The Cross of St Patrick was added in 1801. The first known instance of a flag being flown at half-mast was on the English ship Heart’s Ease in 1612 following the death of its master.
1776 The fourth North Carolina Provincial Congress passed the Halifax Resolves on April 12, 1776. It was the first official action in the American colonies calling for independence from Great Britain during the American Revolution. The Halifax Resolves were significant because they went beyond mere grievances against the British government and called for a complete break with Great Britain.
1606 On the orders of King James I and VI, the flags of St George and St Andrew became the official union flag for maritime use on April 12, 1606. The creation of the Union Flag was a visual symbol of the union of England and Scotland. The Cross of St Patrick was added in 1801. The first known instance of a flag being flown at half-mast was on the English ship Heart’s Ease in 1612 following the death of its master.
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| Union flag |
1776 The fourth North Carolina Provincial Congress passed the Halifax Resolves on April 12, 1776. It was the first official action in the American colonies calling for independence from Great Britain during the American Revolution. The Halifax Resolves were significant because they went beyond mere grievances against the British government and called for a complete break with Great Britain.
1814 After the Battle of Toulouse, which was fought on April 12, 1814, an aide brought the commander of the Allied British-Portuguese and Spanish army, the Duke of Wellington, the news of Napoleon's abdication. The Duke of Wellington - a famously stoic individual - broke into an impromptu flamenco dance, spinning around on his heels and clicking his fingers.
1849 Louis Napoléon first met Eugénie de Montijo after he had become president of the Second Republic at a reception at the Elysée Palace on April 12, 1849. Her beauty immediately attracted him.
They married in 1853. The Empress Eugenie held sway over the world of feminine fashions. Her royal couturier (designer) was Charles Frederick Worth, an Englishman, who established the first fashion house in Paris during the 1850s.
1861 The American Civil War began on April 12, 1861 when the Confederate troops opened fire at 4.30am on Fort Sumter in Charleston harbor forcing its surrender. In response to the attack, President Lincoln called for 75,000 volunteers to suppress the rebellion. The first Union shot of the Civil War was fired by Captain Abner Doubleday two and a half hours later at Fort Sumter in response.
1912 Pioneering nurse Clara Barton died on April 12, 1912. A hospital nurse in the American Civil War, Clara Barton later became involved with the International Red Cross while visiting Europe. In 1881 she founded the American Red Cross. She was noteworthy for doing humanitarian work at a time when relatively few women worked outside the home.
1928 The Stanford Daily reported on April 12, 1928 that Mathias Blau of Chicago convinced his wife to have all her teeth pulled. He then refused to buy her dentures because it was "cheaper to feed her soup than solid food." Mrs Blau took him to court and her husband was told to get her two new sets of teeth and at least a beef steak a week.
1849 Louis Napoléon first met Eugénie de Montijo after he had become president of the Second Republic at a reception at the Elysée Palace on April 12, 1849. Her beauty immediately attracted him.
They married in 1853. The Empress Eugenie held sway over the world of feminine fashions. Her royal couturier (designer) was Charles Frederick Worth, an Englishman, who established the first fashion house in Paris during the 1850s.
1861 The American Civil War began on April 12, 1861 when the Confederate troops opened fire at 4.30am on Fort Sumter in Charleston harbor forcing its surrender. In response to the attack, President Lincoln called for 75,000 volunteers to suppress the rebellion. The first Union shot of the Civil War was fired by Captain Abner Doubleday two and a half hours later at Fort Sumter in response.
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| View of Fort Sumter from the sandbar, 1865. |
1912 Pioneering nurse Clara Barton died on April 12, 1912. A hospital nurse in the American Civil War, Clara Barton later became involved with the International Red Cross while visiting Europe. In 1881 she founded the American Red Cross. She was noteworthy for doing humanitarian work at a time when relatively few women worked outside the home.
1928 The Stanford Daily reported on April 12, 1928 that Mathias Blau of Chicago convinced his wife to have all her teeth pulled. He then refused to buy her dentures because it was "cheaper to feed her soup than solid food." Mrs Blau took him to court and her husband was told to get her two new sets of teeth and at least a beef steak a week.
1934 On April 12, 1934, the Mount Washington Observatory in New Hampshire, United States recorded a surface wind gust of 231 mph (372 km/h) at the summit of Mount Washington. This is the strongest wind gust ever recorded on the surface of the Earth outside of a tropical cyclone or tornado, and it remains the record for the highest wind gust ever observed in the Northern Hemisphere.
1934 Tender Is the Night, F. Scott Fitzgerald's fourth and final completed novel, was first published in Scribner's Magazine between January–April, 1934 in four issues. It was then published on April 12, 1934. A story about insanity, alcoholism and glamorous lives which metamorphosed into wretched ones, it was influenced by the descent into madness of the author's wife Zelda and the strain on their marriage. It took Fitzgerald nine years to complete.
1937 At the age of 24, RAF fighter pilot Frank Whittle patented a new kind of aircraft - the turbojet - in 1930, but his new design was so radical that the military wouldn't fund it, nor would any manufacturers, Seven years later he found a few private backers and on April 12, 1937, Whittle ground-tested the first jet engine designed to power an aircraft at Thomson-Houston factory, Rugby, England.
1945 Cyanide pills were distributed to audience members of the last Berlin Philharmonic concert on April 12, 1945 as Allied forces approached Berlin and the surrender of Germany seemed imminent. It is believed that the cyanide pills were distributed by members of the Hitler Youth, who were a Nazi youth organization.
1945 On the morning of April 12, President Franklin D. Roosevelt was sitting in a leather chair signing letters. Just before lunch was to be served, he dropped his pen and uttered his last words "I have a terrific headache." Then he slumped forward in his chair and lost consciousness. A doctor was summoned and he was carried to bed—it was immediately obvious that he had suffered a massive cerebral hemorrhage. At 3.31pm Franklin Roosevelt was pronounced dead. He was 63.
1945 President Roosevelt's death was greeted with shock and grief across the United States and around the world. but he should have known he would die in office. William Harrison elected 1840, Abraham Lincoln elected 1860, James Garfield elected 1880, William McKinley elected (2nd term) 1900, Warren Harding elected 1920; Roosevelt was elected for his 3rd term in 1940. They all died in office. In 1960 John F Kennedy was elected and of course he didn’t survive his presidency.
1945 When in 1944, President Franklin D Roosevelt ran for re-election he chose Harry S Truman as his Vice President. On April 12, 1945, shortly after his fourth inauguration, Roosevelt died. When Eleanor Roosevelt informed Harry Truman that the president had passed away. He asked if there was anything he could do for her and she replied, "Is there anything we can do for you? For you are the one in trouble now."
1947 The novelist Tom Clancy was born on April 12, 1947, at Franklin Square Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland to Catherine Clancy and U.S. Postal Service worker, Thomas Clancy. Originally an insurance agent, his literary career began in 1984 when he sold his first military thriller book, The Hunt for Red October. Due to the limited technology of the 1980s, the novel had to be saved on ten floppy disks.
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| First Edition |
1937 At the age of 24, RAF fighter pilot Frank Whittle patented a new kind of aircraft - the turbojet - in 1930, but his new design was so radical that the military wouldn't fund it, nor would any manufacturers, Seven years later he found a few private backers and on April 12, 1937, Whittle ground-tested the first jet engine designed to power an aircraft at Thomson-Houston factory, Rugby, England.
1945 Cyanide pills were distributed to audience members of the last Berlin Philharmonic concert on April 12, 1945 as Allied forces approached Berlin and the surrender of Germany seemed imminent. It is believed that the cyanide pills were distributed by members of the Hitler Youth, who were a Nazi youth organization.
1945 On the morning of April 12, President Franklin D. Roosevelt was sitting in a leather chair signing letters. Just before lunch was to be served, he dropped his pen and uttered his last words "I have a terrific headache." Then he slumped forward in his chair and lost consciousness. A doctor was summoned and he was carried to bed—it was immediately obvious that he had suffered a massive cerebral hemorrhage. At 3.31pm Franklin Roosevelt was pronounced dead. He was 63.
1945 President Roosevelt's death was greeted with shock and grief across the United States and around the world. but he should have known he would die in office. William Harrison elected 1840, Abraham Lincoln elected 1860, James Garfield elected 1880, William McKinley elected (2nd term) 1900, Warren Harding elected 1920; Roosevelt was elected for his 3rd term in 1940. They all died in office. In 1960 John F Kennedy was elected and of course he didn’t survive his presidency.
1945 When in 1944, President Franklin D Roosevelt ran for re-election he chose Harry S Truman as his Vice President. On April 12, 1945, shortly after his fourth inauguration, Roosevelt died. When Eleanor Roosevelt informed Harry Truman that the president had passed away. He asked if there was anything he could do for her and she replied, "Is there anything we can do for you? For you are the one in trouble now."
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| Roosevelt/Truman poster from 1944 |
1947 The novelist Tom Clancy was born on April 12, 1947, at Franklin Square Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland to Catherine Clancy and U.S. Postal Service worker, Thomas Clancy. Originally an insurance agent, his literary career began in 1984 when he sold his first military thriller book, The Hunt for Red October. Due to the limited technology of the 1980s, the novel had to be saved on ten floppy disks.
1954 On April 12, 1954, Bill Haley recorded "Rock Around the Clock" at Pythian Temple studios in New York City. At the time, Billboard magazine compiled charts in three different categories: Best Sellers in Stores, Most Played By Disc Jockeys, and Most Played in Juke Boxes. The song topped all three becoming the first rock and roll record to reach #1 on the Billboard charts. The recording is widely considered to have brought rock and roll into mainstream culture around the world.
1955 Dr. Jonas Salk, the associate professor of bacteriology and head of the Virus Research Laboratory at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, began working on the polio vaccine in 1948. After several years of research, clinical trials using the Salk vaccine and a placebo began on nearly two million US schoolchildren. On April 12, 1955, it was announced that the vaccine was effective and safe. Soon, Dr Jonas Salk's polio vaccine was being distributed nationally in the US.
1961 Yuri Gagarin was the first human in space aboard the spacecraft Vostok 1. Gagarin was born in the Smolensk region of the Soviet Union. He became a pilot in 1957 and on April 12, 1961 completed one orbit of the Earth, taking 108 minutes from launch to landing. The world's first astronaut sarcastically commented that upon reaching outer space during his spaceflight, he failed to see God.
1975 American-French actress, singer and dancer Josephine Baker died at Paris' Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital, aged 68, on April 12, 1975 after suffering a cerebral hemorrhage. She received a full Roman Catholic funeral which was held at L'Église de la Madeleine and was the only American-born woman to receive full French military honors at her funeral, After a family service at Saint-Charles Church in Monte Carlo, Baker was interred at Monaco's Cimetière de Monaco.
1981 The Space Shuttle Columbia (OV-102) was the first Space Shuttle to fly into space, on April 12, 1981. The first partially reusable orbital spacecraft, it was launched by the USA on the 20th anniversary of Yuri Gagarin's flight. It was named after a US Navy ship that circumnavigated the world in 1836. Columbia was also the name of the Apollo 11 Lunar Excursion Module.
2009 The Zimbabwe dollar was abandoned as its national currency on April 12, 2009 after hyperinflation had led to an inflation rate of 79.6 billion per cent. The country has since been using the U.S. Dollar, the South African Rand, and the Botswana Pula.
1961 Yuri Gagarin was the first human in space aboard the spacecraft Vostok 1. Gagarin was born in the Smolensk region of the Soviet Union. He became a pilot in 1957 and on April 12, 1961 completed one orbit of the Earth, taking 108 minutes from launch to landing. The world's first astronaut sarcastically commented that upon reaching outer space during his spaceflight, he failed to see God.
1975 American-French actress, singer and dancer Josephine Baker died at Paris' Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital, aged 68, on April 12, 1975 after suffering a cerebral hemorrhage. She received a full Roman Catholic funeral which was held at L'Église de la Madeleine and was the only American-born woman to receive full French military honors at her funeral, After a family service at Saint-Charles Church in Monte Carlo, Baker was interred at Monaco's Cimetière de Monaco.
1981 The Space Shuttle Columbia (OV-102) was the first Space Shuttle to fly into space, on April 12, 1981. The first partially reusable orbital spacecraft, it was launched by the USA on the 20th anniversary of Yuri Gagarin's flight. It was named after a US Navy ship that circumnavigated the world in 1836. Columbia was also the name of the Apollo 11 Lunar Excursion Module.
2009 The Zimbabwe dollar was abandoned as its national currency on April 12, 2009 after hyperinflation had led to an inflation rate of 79.6 billion per cent. The country has since been using the U.S. Dollar, the South African Rand, and the Botswana Pula.
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