History Events on April 12

Harold Washington is elected as the first black mayor of Chicago.

#Harold_Washington

Sir Frank Whittle ground-tests the first jet engine designed to power an aircraft, at Rugby, England.

#Frank_Whittle

Samuel Doe takes control of Liberia in a coup d'état, ending over 130 years of minority Americo-Liberian rule over the country.

#Samuel_Doe

The Soviet nuclear-powered submarine K-33 collides with the Finnish merchant vessel M/S Finnclipper in the Danish straits.

#Soviet_Union

Soldiers marching on the Broughton Suspension Bridge in Manchester, England, cause it to collapse.

#Broughton_Suspension_Bridge

Gordian II loses the Battle of Carthage against the Numidian forces loyal to Maximinus Thrax and is killed. Gordian I, his father, subsequently commits suicide.

#Gordian_II

Jim Gary's "Twentieth Century Dinosaurs" exhibition opens at the Smithsonian Institution National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C. He is the only sculptor ever invited to present a solo exhibition there.

#Jim_Gary

The Euro Disney Resort officially opens with its theme park Euro Disneyland; the resort and its park's name are subsequently changed to Disneyland Paris.

#Disneyland_Park_(Paris)

American Civil War: The Andrews Raid (the Great Locomotive Chase) occurs, starting from Big Shanty, Georgia (now Kennesaw).

#Great_Locomotive_Chase

United States President Bill Clinton is cited for contempt of court for giving "intentionally false statements" in a civil lawsuit; he is later fined and disbarred.

#Bill_Clinton

The Crusaders of the Fourth Crusade breach the walls of Constantinople and enter the city, which they completely occupy the following day.

#Crusades

U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt dies in office; Vice President Harry S. Truman becomes President upon Roosevelt's death.

#Franklin_D._Roosevelt

SMS Zrínyi, one of the last pre-dreadnought battleships built by the Austro-Hungarian Navy, is launched.

#SMS_Zrínyi

American Revolution: With the Halifax Resolves, the North Carolina Provincial Congress authorizes its Congressional delegation to vote for independence from Britain.

#American_Revolution

Anthemius is elevated to Emperor of the Western Roman Empire.

#Anthemius

American Civil War: Battle of Fort Sumter. The war begins with Confederate forces firing on Fort Sumter, in the harbor of Charleston, South Carolina.

#American_Civil_War

American Civil War: The Battle of Fort Pillow: Confederate forces kill most of the African American soldiers that surrendered at Fort Pillow, Tennessee.

#Battle_of_Fort_Pillow

Rocksprings, Texas was hit by an F5 tornado that destroyed 235 of the 247 buildings in the town and killed 72 townspeople and injured 205; third deadliest tornado in Texas history.

#Rocksprings,_Texas

Shapur I becomes co-emperor of the Sasanian Empire with his father Ardashir I.

#Shapur_I

American Civil War: Mobile, Alabama, falls to the Union Army.

#Mobile,_Alabama

The first launch of a Space Shuttle (Columbia) takes place: The STS-1 mission.

#Space_Shuttle

World War II: The U.S. Ninth Army under General William H. Simpson crosses the Elbe River astride Magdeburg, and reached Tangermünde—only 50 miles from Berlin.

#World_War_II

The Froberg mutiny ends when the remaining mutineers blow up the magazine of Fort Ricasoli.

#Froberg_mutiny

A suicide bomber penetrates the Green Zone and detonates in a cafeteria within a parliament building, killing Iraqi MP Mohammed Awad and wounding more than twenty other people.

#2007_Iraqi_Parliament_bombing

Transbrasil Flight 303, a Boeing 727, crashes on approach to Hercílio Luz International Airport, in Florianópolis, Brazil. 55 out of the 58 people on board are killed.

#Transbrasil_Flight_303

The polio vaccine, developed by Dr. Jonas Salk, is declared safe and effective.

#Polio_vaccine

The strongest surface wind gust in the world at the time of 231 mph, is measured on the summit of Mount Washington, New Hampshire. It has since been surpassed.

#Wind_speed

The United Kingdom annexes the Transvaal.

#United_Kingdom

Cold War: Space Race: The Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin becomes the first human to travel into outer space and perform the first manned orbital flight, Vostok 1.

#Cold_War

Zimbabwe officially abandons the Zimbabwean dollar as its official currency.

#Zimbabwe

Duke Old?ich of Bohemia deposes and blinds his brother Jaromír who flees to Poland.

#Old?ich,_Duke_of_Bohemia

World War I: Canadian forces successfully complete the taking of Vimy Ridge from the Germans.

#World_War_I

King Edwin of Northumbria is converted to Christianity by Paulinus, bishop of York.

#Edwin_of_Northumbria

Alexander Ypsilantis is declared leader of Filiki Eteria, a secret organization to overthrow Ottoman rule over Greece.

#Alexander_Ypsilantis

The Bremen, a German Junkers W 33 type aircraft, takes off for the first successful transatlantic aeroplane flight from east to west.

#Bremen_(aircraft)

The Great Fire of Valparaíso ravages the Chilean city of Valparaíso, killing 16, displacing nearly 10,000, and destroying over 2,000 homes.

Two suicide bombers kill three Chadian soldiers and injure dozens of civilians at a market in Kidal, Mali.

A suicide bomber blows herself up at the entrance to Jerusalem's Mahane Yehuda Market, killing seven people and wounding 104.

Soviet submarine K-8, carrying four nuclear torpedoes, sinks in the Bay of Biscay four days after a fire on board.

The U.S. Auto-Lite strike begins, culminating in a five-day melee between Ohio National Guard troops and 6,000 strikers and picketers.

Shanghai massacre of 1927: Chiang Kai-shek orders the Communist Party of China members executed in Shanghai, ending the First United Front.

The Union Flag is adopted as the flag of English and Scottish ships.