History Events on February 12

The current Constitution of Mongolia comes into effect.

#Constitution_of_Mongolia

NEAR Shoemaker spacecraft touches down in the "saddle" region of 433 Eros, becoming the first spacecraft to land on an asteroid.

#NEAR_Shoemaker

The Xuantong Emperor, the last Emperor of China, abdicates.

#Puyi

One hundred women protest in Lahore, Pakistan against military dictator Zia-ul-Haq's proposed Law of Evidence. The women were tear-gassed, baton-charged and thrown into lock-up. The women were successful in repealing the law.

#Lahore

The Soviet Union launches Venera 1 towards Venus.

#Venera_1

Ecuador annexes the Galápagos Islands.

#Ecuador

English forces under Sir John Fastolf defend a supply convoy carrying rations to the army besieging Orléans in the Battle of the Herrings.

#John_Fastolf

Phong Nh? and Phong Nh?t massacre.

#Phong_Nh?_and_Phong_Nh?t_massacre

Cold War: The 1988 Black Sea bumping incident: The U.S. missile cruiser USS Yorktown (CG-48) is intentionally rammed by the Soviet frigate Bezzavetnyy in the Soviet territorial waters, while Yorktown claims innocent passage.

#Cold_War

George Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue received its premiere in a concert titled "An Experiment in Modern Music", in Aeolian Hall, New York, by Paul Whiteman and his band, with Gershwin playing the piano.

#George_Gershwin

The city of San Francisco begins issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples in response to a directive from Mayor Gavin Newsom.

#San_Francisco

Colgan Air Flight 3407 crashes into a house in Clarence Center, New York while on approach to Buffalo Niagara International Airport, killing all on board and one on the ground.

#Colgan_Air_Flight_3407

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1970, is exiled from the Soviet Union.

#Aleksandr_Solzhenitsyn

Christian Dior unveils a "New Look", helping Paris regain its position as the capital of the fashion world.

#Christian_Dior

Pope Francis and Patriarch Kirill sign an Ecumenical Declaration in the first such meeting between leaders of the Catholic and Russian Orthodox Churches since their split in 1054.

#Pope_Francis

Isabella I issues an edict outlawing Islam in the Crown of Castile, forcing virtually all her Muslim subjects to convert to Christianity.

#Isabella_I_of_Castile

Construction begins on the Gateway Arch in St. Louis, Missouri.

#Gateway_Arch

New Zealand's worst maritime disaster of the 20th century happens when the SS Penguin, an inter-island ferry, sinks and explodes at the entrance to Wellington Harbour.

#SS_Penguin

The Convention Parliament declares that the flight to France in 1688 by James II, the last Roman Catholic British monarch, constitutes an abdication.

#Convention_Parliament_(1689)

Carmen Lawrence becomes the first female Premier in Australian history when she becomes Premier of Western Australia.

#Carmen_Lawrence

Santiago, Chile is founded by Pedro de Valdivia.

#Santiago

Bernardo O'Higgins formally approves the Chilean Declaration of Independence near Concepción, Chile.

#Bernardo_O'Higgins

United States President Bill Clinton is acquitted by the United States Senate in his impeachment trial.

#Bill_Clinton

Bolsheviks launch a revolt in Georgia as a preliminary to the Red Army invasion of Georgia.

#Bolsheviks

In Washington, D.C., the first stone of the Lincoln Memorial is put into place.

#Lincoln_Memorial

The largest observed iron meteorite until that time creates an impact crater in Sikhote-Alin, in the Soviet Union.

#Sikhote-Alin_meteorite

An Argentine/Chilean patriotic army, after crossing the Andes, defeats Spanish troops at the Battle of Chacabuco.

#Argentina

USS Macon, one of the two largest helium-filled airships ever created, crashes into the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California and sinks.

#USS_Macon_(ZRS-5)

Malcolm X visits Smethwick following the racial charged 1964 general election.

#Malcolm_X

World War II: Operation Deadlight ends after scuttling 121 of 154 captured U-boats.

#Operation_Deadlight

The country known as the Republic of Macedonia renames itself the Republic of North Macedonia in accordance with the Prespa agreement, settling a long-standing naming dispute with Greece.

An Iran Airtour Tupolev Tu-154 crashes in the mountains outside Khorramabad, Iran while descending for a landing at Khorramabad Airport, killing 119.

The trial of Slobodan Miloševi?, the former President of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, begins at the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague, Netherlands. He dies four years later before its conclusion.

Four thieves break into the National Gallery of Norway and steal Edvard Munch's iconic painting The Scream.

Two-year-old James Bulger is abducted from New Strand Shopping Centre by two ten-year-old boys, who later torture and murder him.

African American United States Army veteran Isaac Woodard is severely beaten by a South Carolina police officer to the point where he loses his vision in both eyes. The incident later galvanizes the civil rights movement and partially inspires Orson Welles' film Touch of Evil.

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is founded.

Anarchist Émile Henry hurls a bomb into the Cafe Terminus in Paris, killing one person and wounding 20.

Michigan State University is established.

The Creek cede the last of their lands in Georgia to the United States government by the Treaty of Indian Springs, and migrate west.

Gustav III becomes the King of Sweden.

Georgia Day: Englishman James Oglethorpe founds Georgia, the 13th colony of the Thirteen Colonies, by settling at Savannah.

Japanese invasion of Korea: Approximately 3,000 Joseon defenders led by general Kwon Yul successfully repel more than 30,000 Japanese forces in the Siege of Haengju.