November 12



Events

Up to 1900 
 764 – Tibetan troops occupy Chang'an, the capital of the Chinese Tang Dynasty, for fifteen days.
 1028 – Future Byzantine empress Zoe marries Romanus Argyrus according to the wishes of dying Constantine VIII
 1439 – Plymouth, England, becomes the first town incorporated by the English Parliament.
 1555 - The English Parliament decides that Roman Catholicism will be the state religion of England.
 1602 - Sebastian Viscaino lands at, and names, San Diego, California.
 1793 - Jean Sylvain Bailly, the first Mayor of Paris, is executed on the guillotine.
 1892 - William Heffelfinger becomes the first professional American football player on record, taking part in his first paid game for the Allegheny Athletic Association.
 1893 - The Treaty of the Durand is signed between present-day Pakistan and Afghanistan; the Durand Line has become the international border between the two countries.

1901  2000 
 1905 - Newly-independent Norway holds a referendum on its system of government. Most voters decide to have a monarch as their Head of State, over having a president.
 1908 - An explosion at a mine shaft in Hamm, present-day North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, kills 348 people.
 1912 - The bodies of Robert Falcon Scott and his men are found on the Ross Ice Shelf.
 1918 – Austria becomes a republic.
 1920 - Italy and the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes sign the Treaty of Rapallo.
 1927 – Leon Trotsky is expelled from the Soviet Communist Party, leaving Joseph Stalin with complete control of the Soviet Union.
 1928 - The ship SS Vestris sinks around 200 miles (320 kilometers) off Hampton Roads, Virginia, killing over 110 people.
 1933 - Hugh Gray takes the first-known photograph alleged to show the Loch Ness Monster.
 1936 – The San Francisco Bay Bridge is opened.
 1942 – World War II: The Naval Battle of Guadalcanal between Japanese and American forces begins near Guadalcanal. The battle lasts for three days.
 1944 – World War II: The Royal Air Force launches one of the most successful bombing attacks of war and sinks the German battleship Tirpitz off the coast of Norway.
 1945 - Sudirman is elected as the first commander-in-chief of the Indonesian Armed Forces.
 1948 - In Tokyo, an international war crimes tribunal sentences seven Japanese military and government officials, including Hideki Tojo, to death for their roles in World War II.
 1956 - Morocco, Sudan and Tunisia join the UN.
 1958 - A team of rock climbers led by Warren Harding completes the first successful climb of the "Nose" on El Capitan in Yosemite Valley, California.
 1968 - Equatorial Guinea joins the UN.
 1969 – Vietnam War: My Lai Massacre – Independent investigative journalist Seymour Hersh breaks the My Lai story.
 1970 - The Oregon Highway Division attempt to destroy a rotting bleached sperm whale with explosives, leading to the now-infamous "exploding whale" incident.
 1973 - It is announced that Gerald Ford is to succeed Spiro Agnew as Vice President of the United States.
 1975 – The Comoros join the UN.
 1980 – The Voyager 1 space probe takes images of Saturn's rings.
 1981 - The Space Shuttle Columbia launches on its second flight.
 1982 – In the Soviet Union, Yuri Andropov is selected to become the general secretary of the Soviet Communist Party's Central Committee, succeeding the late Leonid Brezhnev.
 1982 – Polish Solidarity leader Lech Walesa is released.
 1985 - Xavier Suarez becomes Miami's first Cuban-American Mayor.
 1990 – Crown Prince Akihito is formally installed as Emperor Akihito of Japan, becoming the 125th Japanese monarch. He had already succeeded his father Hirohito, who died on January 7, 1989.
 1990 - Tim Berners-Lee publishes a formal proposal for the World Wide Web.
 1991 – Dili Massacre: Indonesian forces opened fire on a crowd of student protesters in Dili, East Timor.
 1994 - Chandrika Kumaratunga becomes President of Sri Lanka.
 1995 - Mozambique joins the Commonwealth. As a former Portuguese colony, it is the first Commonwealth member not to have had any historical links with the present-day United Kingdom.
 1995 - Azerbaijan holds its first parliamentary elections.
 1996 - A Saudi Arabian Airlines Boeing 747 and a Kazakh Ilyushin II-76 cargo plane collide in mid-air near New Delhi, India, killing 349 people in the deadliest mid-air collision to date.
 1997 - Ramzi Yousef is found guilty of planning the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.

From 2001 
 2001 – Taliban forces abandon Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan, ahead of advancing Northern Alliance troops.
 2001 – A plane crash in the New York Borough of Queens kills all (260) of those on board, and 5 people on the ground. American Airlines Flight 587 had come down shortly after take-off and was bound for the Dominican Republic.
 2003 - Iraq War: In Nasiriya, Iraq, at least 23 people, including the war's first Italian casualties, are killed in a suicide bomb attack on the Italian police base.
 2003 - Shanghai Transrapid sets a new world speed record, 501 kilometers per hour (311 miles per hour), for commercial railways systems, which remains the fastest for unmodified commercial rail vehicles.
 2004 – Official Guided by Voices Day in Los Angeles, California.
 2004 – Resignation of Colin Powell as United States Secretary of Defense.
 2010 - The 16th Asian Games begin in Guangzhou, China.
 2011 – In the wake of an economic crisis, Silvio Berlusconi resigns as Prime Minister of Italy. Mario Monti is selected to replace him shortly after.
 2013 - One World Trade Center is announced as being the tallest building in the United States.
 2014 - The Philae lander from the European Space Agency's Rosetta probe lands on the surface of the Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. It is the first man-made object to land on a comet.
 2015 - At least 40 people are killed in suicide bomb attacks in Beirut, Lebanon.
 2017 - A magnitude 7.3 earthquake strikes the Iran-Iraq border area, killing at least 450 people and injuring hundreds.

Births

Up to 1900 
 1493 – Bartolomeo Bandelli, Italian sculptor (d. 1560)
 1528 - Qi Jiquang, Chinese general (d. 1588)
 1547 – Claude of Valois, French princess (d. 1575)
 1615 – Richard Baxter, English clergyman (d. 1691)
 1651 - Juana Inés de la Cruz, Mexican nun and poet (d. 1695)
 1679 - Firmin Bauzit, French scholar (d. 1767)
 1729 – Louis Antoine de Bougainville, French explorer (d. 1811)
 1746 - Jacques Charles, French physicist (d. 1823)
 1755 – Gerhard von Scharnhorst, Prussian general (d. 1813)
 1774 - Charles Bell, Scottish physiologist and anatomist (d. 1842)
 1790 – Letitia Christian Tyler, American First Lady, wife of John Tyler (d. 1842)
 1815 – Elizabeth Cady Stanton, American women's rights activist (d. 1902)
 1817 – Baha'u'llah, religious leader of the Baha'i faith (d. 1892)
 1830 - Brynjulf Bergslien, Norwegian sculptor (d. 1898)
 1833 – Alexander Borodin, Russian composer (d. 1887)
 1840 – Auguste Rodin, French sculptor (d. 1917)
 1841 - Preston Lea, Governor of Delaware (d. 1916)
 1842 – John Strutt, 3rd Baron Raleigh, English physicist (d. 1919)
 1850 – Mikhail Chigorin, Russian chess player (d. 1908)
 1865 – Sun Yat-sen, Chinese revolutionary and politician (d. 1925)
 1872 - William Fay, Irish actor and theatre musician (d. 1947)
 1881 - Olev Siinmaa, Estonian architect (d. 1948)
 1882 - Infanta María Teresa of Spain (d. 1912)
 1883 - James W. Mott, American politician (d. 1945)
 1886 - Ben Travers, British playwright (d. 1980)
 1890 - Lily Kronberger, Hungarian figure skater (d. 1974)
 1891 - Seth Barnes Nicholson, American astronomer (d. 1963)
 1892 - Tudor Davies, Welsh operatic tenor (d. 1958)
 1895 - Amandus Adamson, Estonian sculptor (d. 1929)
 1898 - Leon Stukelj, Slovenian gymnast (d. 1999)

1901  1950 
 1901 - James Luther Adams, American theologian (d. 1994)
 1903 - Jack Oakie, American actor (d. 1978)
 1908 - Harry Blackmun, United States Supreme Court justice (d. 1999)
 1911 - Buck Clayton, American jazz trumpeter (d. 1991)
 1911 – Chad Varah, British founder of the Samaritans telephone helpline (d. 2007)
 1915 – Roland Barthes, French writer and philosopher (d. 1980)
 1917 - Jo Stafford, American singer (d. 2008)
 1920 - Richard Quine, American actor (d. 1989)
 1922 - Kim Hunter, American actress (d. 2002)
 1923 – Loriot, German comedian, humorist, producer and writer (d. 2011)
 1923 - Rubén Bonifaz Nuño, Mexican poet and scholar (d. 2013)
 1924 - Sam Jones, American jazz musician (d. 1981)
 1928 - Bob Holness, South African-born television presenter and actor (d. 2012)
 1929 – Michael Ende, German writer (d. 1995)
 1929 – Grace Kelly, American actress and Princess of Monaco (d. 1982)
 1930 - Bob Crewe, American songwriter, dancer, singer and record producer (d. 2014)
 1931 - Norman Y. Mineta, American politician
 1933 – Jalal Talabani, President of Iraq (d. 2017)
 1934 – Vavá, Brazilian footballer (d. 2002)
 1934 - Leonid Stein, Soviet-Ukrainian chess player (d. 1973)
 1934 – Charles Manson, American cult leader (d. 2017)
 1935 – Lyudmila Gurchenko, Russian actress and singer (d. 2011)
 1936 – Heiner Zieschang, German mathematician (d. 2004)
 1936 - Mills Lane, American boxer, referee, lawyer and judge
 1937 - Richard H. Truly, American astronaut
 1938 – Benjamin Mkapa, former President of Tanzania
 1938 - Mort Shuman, American singer-songwriter (d. 1991)
 1939 - Lucia Popp, Slovakian soprano (d. 1993)
 1939 - Ruby Nash Garnett, American singer
 1940 - Jürgen Todenhöfer, German judge and politician
 1941 - Cristina Peri Rossi, Uruguayan writer
 1943 – Errol Brown, English singer (d. 2015)
 1943 - Bjorn Waldegard, Swedish rally driver (d. 2014)
 1943 - Wallace Shawn, American actor and playwright
 1944 - Booker T. Jones, American rock musician
 1944 - Al Michaels, American sportscaster
 1945 - Dale Schlueter, American basketball player (d. 2014)
 1945 – Neil Young, Canadian singer
 1946 – Krister Henriksson, Swedish actor
 1948 - Hassan Rouhani, President of Iran
 1949 – Jack Reed, American politician

1951  1975 
 1952 - Ernie Fletcher, 60th Governor of Kentucky
 1952 - Stuart Cosgrove, Scottish broadcaster and journalist
 1955 - Louan Gideon, American actress (d. 2014)
 1955 - Les McKeown, Scottish singer
 1957 - Tim Samaras, American storm chaser (d. 2013)
 1957 - Cécilia Attias, former First Lady of France
 1958 – Megan Mullally, American actress
 1959 - Toshihiko Sahashi, Japanese composer
 1960 - Maurane, Belgian singer (d. 2018)
 1961 – Nadia Comaneci, Romanian gymnast
 1961 – Enzo Francescoli, Uruguayan footballer
 1962 - Naomi Wolf, American author and feminist
 1962 - Mariella Frostrup, Norwegian-British journalist
 1962 - Mark Hunter, Canadian ice hockey player, coach and manager
 1963 - Susumu Terajimi, Japanese actor
 1964 - Danny Ellefson, American musician
 1964 – Thomas Berthold, German footballer
 1964 – Vic Chesnutt, American musician (d. 2009)
 1964 - Michael Kremer, American economist
 1965 - Eddie Mair, Scottish journalist
 1968 - Aya Hisakawa, Japanese voice actress and singer
 1968 – Kathleen Hanna, American musician and activist
 1968 – Sammy Sosa, Dominican baseball player
 1970 – Tonya Harding, American figure skater
 1971 - Chen Guangcheng, Chinese human rights activist
 1973 - Radha Mitchell, American actress
 1974 – Alessandro Birindelli, Italian footballer
 1975 - Katherine Grainger, Scottish rower
 1975 – Dario Simic, Croatian footballer

From 1976 
 1976 – Miroslaw Szymkowiak, Polish footballer
 1977 – Benni McCarthy, South African footballer
 1978 - Eric Addo, Ghanaian footballer
 1978 - Ashley Williams, American actress
 1980 – Ryan Gosling, Canadian actor
 1980 - Charlie Hodgson, English rugby player
 1981 - D. J. Campbell, English footballer
 1982 - Maxim Tchoudov, Russian biathlete
 1982 – Anne Hathaway, American actress
 1983 – Carlton Cole, English footballer
 1984 - Omarion, American singer
 1985 - Adlène Guedioura, French-Algerian footballer
 1987 - Bryan Little, Canadian ice hockey player
 1988 - Russell Westbrook, American basketball player
 1988 - Paul Samaras, American storm chaser (d. 2013)
 1989 - Hiroshi Kiyotake, Japanese footballer
 1990 - Taulupe Faletau, Welsh rugby union player
 1990 - Florent Manaudou, French swimmer
 1990 - James McCarthy, Irish footballer
 1992 - Adam Larsson, Swedish ice hockey player
 1992 - Giulietta, Australian singer
 1992 - Trey Burke, American basketball player
 2001 - Raffey Cassidy, English actress

Deaths

Up to 1900 
 607 - Pope Boniface III
 1035 – Canute the Great, Danish king of England, Denmark, Norway and part of Sweden (b. 995)
 1094 – King Duncan II of Scotland (b. 1060)
 1139 – King Magnus IV of Norway (b. 1115)
 1202 – King Canute VI of Denmark (b. 1163)
 1434 - King Louis III of Naples (b. 1403)
 1595 – John Hawkins, English shipbuilder, merchant, and slavetrader (b. 1532)
 1671 - Thomas Fairfax, English Civil War general (b. 1612)
 1720 - Peter Tordenskiold, Danish-Norwegian naval officer (b. 1690)
 1742 - Friedrich Hoffmann, German physician and chemist (b. 1660)
 1757 - Colley Cibber, English poet (b. 1671)
 1793 – Jean Sylvain Bailly, French politician, first Mayor of Paris (executed on the Guillotine) (b. 1736)
 1813 - J. Hector St John de Crèvecoeur, French-American writer (b. 1735) 
 1836 – Juan Ramon Balcarce, Argentine military leader and politician (b. 1773)
 1857 - Manuel Oribe, Uruguayan politician (b. 1792)
 1865 – Elizabeth Gaskell, English writer (b. 1810)

1901  2000 
 1902 - William Henry Barlow, British railway engineer (b. 1812)
 1903 – Camille Pissarro, French painter (b. 1830)
 1912 - José Canalejas, Spanish politician and writer (b. 1854)
 1916 – Percival Lowell, American astronomer (b. 1855)
 1933 - John Cady, American golfer (b. 1866)
 1933 - F. Holland Day, American photographer (b. 1864)
 1939 – Norman Bethune, Canadian doctor and humanitarian (b. 1890)
 1942 - Laura Hope Crews, American actress (b. 1879)
 1944 - Otto Blumenthal, German mathematician (b. 1876)
 1945 - James W. Mott, American politician (b. 1883)
 1946 - Albert Bond Lambert, American golfer (b. 1875)
 1946 - Madan Mohan Malaviya, Indian academic and politician (b. 1861)
 1948 – Umberto Giordano, Italian composer (b. 1867)
 1950 - Lesley Ashburner, American athlete (b. 1883)
 1958 - James Michael Curley, American politician, Governor of Massachusetts (b. 1874)
 1969 - Iskander Mirza, President of Pakistan (b. 1899)
 1969 – Liu Shaoqi, Chinese revolutionary and politician (b. 1898)
 1974 – Thorbergur Thordarson, Icelandic writer (b. 1889)
 1976 - Walter Piston, American composer (b. 1894)
 1990 – Eve Arden, American actress (b. 1908)
 1994 - Wilma Rudolph, American runner (b. 1940)
 1997 - Carlos Surinach, Spanish composer (b. 1915)
 2000 – Leah Rabin, widow of Yitzhak Rabin (b. 1928)

From 2001 
 2003 - Jonathan Brandis, American actor (b. 1976)
 2007 – Ira Levin, American writer (b. 1929)
 2008 - Mitch Mitchell, English drummer (b. 1947)
 2010 – Henryk Gorecki, Polish composer (b. 1933)
 2012 - Sergio Oliva, Cuban-born American bodybuilder (b. 1941)
 2013 - Aleksandr Serebrov, Soviet-Russian cosmonaut (b. 1944)
 2013 - John Tavener, English composer (b. 1944)
 2014 - Warren Clarke, English actor (b. 1947)
 2014 - Marge Roukema, American politician (b. 1929)
 2014 - Rebekah Gibbs, English actress (b. 1973)
 2015 - Márton Fülöp, Hungarian footballer (b. 1983)
 2015 - Aaron Shikler, American artist (b. 1922)
 2015 - Jihadi John, Kuwaiti-British terrorist (b. 1988)
 2016 - Lupita Tovar, Mexican-American actress (b. 1910)
 2017 - Bernard Panafieu, French cardinal (b. 1931)
 2017 - Jack Ralite, French politician (b. 1928)
 2017 - Edith Savage-Jennings, American activist (b. 1924)
 2017 - Liz Smith, American gossip columnist (b. 1923)
 2017 - Santiago Vernazza, Argentine footballer (b. 1928)
 2018 - Ananth Kumar, Indian politician (b. 1959)
 2018 - Stan Lee, American comic book writer, publisher and actor (b. 1922)
 2018 - Igor Luchenok, Belarussian composer (b. 1938)
 2018 - David Pearson, American racing driver (b. 1934)
 2018 - Stuart H. Walker, American yachtsman (b. 1923)
 2019 - Edwin Bramall, British army officer (b. 1923)
 2019 - Herb Dickenson, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1931)
 2019 - Bob Johnson, American baseball player (b. 1936)
 2019 - Víctor Manuel Pérez Rojas, Venezuelan Roman Catholic prelate (b. 1940)
 2019 - Mitsuhisa Taguchi, Japanese footballer (b. 1955)
 2020 - Masatoshi Koshiba, Japanese physician (b. 1926)

Observances 
 Birth of Baha'u'llah (Baha'i faith)
 Birth of Sun Yat-sen (Republic of China)
 World Pneumonia Day
 Constitution Day (Azerbaijan)

Days of the year