August 12

### Up to 1900

- 30 BC – Cleopatra VII, Queen of Egypt, commits suicide.
- 1099 – First Crusade: Battle of Ascalon – Crusaders defeat Saracens and the Kingdom of Jerusalem is established under Godfrey of Bouillon.
- 1121 – Battle of Didgori: The Georgian army under David IV of Georgia wins a decisive victory over the famous Seljuk commander Ilghazi.
- 1164 – Battle of Harim: Nur ad-Din Zangi defeats the Crusader armies of the County of Tripoli and the Principality of Antioch.
- 1323 – Treaty of Nöteborg – Sweden and Novgorod (Russia) regulates the border for the first time
- 1332 – Battle of Dupplin Moor – Scots under the Earl of Mar are routed by Edward Balliol.
- 1480 – Battle of Otranto: Ottoman troops behead 800 Christians for refusing to convert to Islam.
- 1499 – Battle of Zonchio: between Venetian and Ottoman fleets.
- 1596 – The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth is created.
- 1624 – The President of Louis XIII of France's royal council is arrested, leaving Cardinal Richelieu in the role of the King's principal minister.
- 1665 – The naval battle of the Bay of Bergen takes place during the Anglo–Dutch War, ending in a Dutch victory over English forces.
- 1676 – King Philip's War ends.
- 1793 – Rhone and Loire departments in France are created.
- 1806 – Santiago de Liniers, 1st Count of Buenos Aires retakes the city of Buenos Aires, Argentina, after the first British invasion.
- 1825 – Simón Bolívar become president of Colombia.
- 1831 – French intervention forces William I of the Netherlands to abandon his attempt to crush the Belgian Revolution.
- 1833 – Chicago, Illinois is incorporated as a city.
- 1851 – Isaac Singer is granted a patent for his sewing machine.
- 1854 – Count Gaston de Raousset Boulbon is executed by shooting, for his part in the Battle of Guaymas.
- 1877 – Asaph Hall discovers Deimos, a moon of Mars.
- 1881 – The National Theater in Prague burns down.
- 1883 – The last quagga dies at the Artis Magistra zoo in Amsterdam
- 1898 – Armistice ends the Spanish-American War
- 1898 – The Hawaiian flag is lowered from Iolani Palace in an elaborate annexation ceremony and replaced with the American flag to signify the transfer of sovereignty from the Republic of Hawaii to the United States.

### 1901 – 2000

- 1908 – First Model T Ford built
- 1914 – World War I – Britain declares war on Austria-Hungary; British Empire countries automatically included.
- 1914 – Beginning of the Battle of Cer between Austria-Hungary and Serbia.
- 1928 – The 1928 Summer Olympics in Amsterdam end.
- 1933 – Cuban leader Gerardo Machado is deposed by a general strike and flees the country.
- 1944 – Nazi German troops end the week–long Wola massacre, during which time 40,000 people were killed either randomly or by mass executions.
- 1944 – SS officers murder almost all residents of the Italian village of Sant'Anna di Stazzema, killing 560 people; 116 of them children.
- 1948 – The United States recognizes the government of South Korea but not the government of North Korea.
- 1950 – Korean War: Bloody Gulch massacre – American POWs are killed by the North Korean army.
- 1952 – 13 Jewish intellectuals are murdered in one night in Moscow.
- 1953 – Nuclear testing: The Soviet Union detonates its first hydrogen bomb.
- 1953 – The Greek islands of Zakynthos and Kefalonia are severely damaged by a magnitude 7.3 earthquake.
- 1958 – Art Kane photographs 57 important jazz musicians in the black and white group portrait "A Great Day in Harlem" in front of a brownstone in New York City.
- 1960 – _Echo I_, the first communications satellite, is launched.
- 1964 – South Africa is banned from the Olympics, because of its Apartheid policy. It is reinstated in the 1990s, after Nelson Mandela was released.
- 1969 – Violence erupts after the Apprentice Boys of Derry march in Northern Ireland, resulting in a three–day communal riot.
- 1976 – Between 1,000 and 3,500 Palestinians are killed in the Tel al–Zataar massacre.
- 1977 – First free flight of the Space Shuttle Enterprise.
- 1977 – The 1977 Sri Lankan riots, targeting the Tamil minority, begin. They ultimately result in the killings of around 300 Tamil people.
- 1980 – The Montevideo Treaty, creating the Latin American Integration Association, is signed.
- 1981 – The IBM PC, an early personal computer, is introduced.
- 1982 – The Debt Crisis affecting Latin America and less–developed countries begins when Mexico announces that it is unable to pay its enormous external debt.
- 1985 – Japan Airlines flight 123 Boeing 747 jumbo jet crashes into Mount Ogura, Japan killing 520, in the world's worst single–plane air disaster.
- 1990 – Sue, the largest and most complete Tyrannosaurus Rex skeleton found to–date, is discovered by Sue Hendrickson in South Dakota.
- 1992 – Canada, Mexico and the United States announce completion of negotiations for the NAFTA.
- 1994 – The Woodstock '94 rock concert takes place.
- 1994 – Major League Baseball players go on strike. The strike forces the cancellation of the World Series.
- 2000 – Russian submarine K–141 Kursk sinks in the Barents Sea.
- 2000 – Ronald Venetiaan becomes President of Suriname.

### From 2001

- 2004 – Lee Hsien Loong is sworn in as Singapore's 3rd Prime Minister.
- 2004 – Sweden announces that it has reached a population of 9 million.
- 2005 – The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter space probe, of NASA, is sent to the planet Mars.
- 2010 – Desi Bouterse becomes President of Suriname.
- 2012 – The 2012 Summer Olympics in London end. The Great Britain team, hosting the event, finishes with 29 gold medals, coming third behind the United States and China.
- 2014 – Iranian–born Maryam Mirzakhani becomes the first woman to win the Fields Medal, one of the biggest prizes in mathematics.
- 2015 – Two explosions at a warehouse storing chemicals kill about 173 people in the city of Tianjin, China, and injure hundreds more.
- 2017 – A car attack occurs in Unite the Right rally.
- 2018 – NASA launches the unmanned Parker Solar Probe to study the Sun at close range and the solar wind.
- 2018 – The first multi–sport European Championships in Glasgow and Berlin come to an end.

### Up to 1900

- 1503 – King Christian III of Denmark and Norway (died 1559)
- 1517 – Peter Ernst I von Mansfeld-Vorderort, Stadholder of the Netherlands (died 1604)
- 1566 – Infanta Isabella Clara Eugenia of Spain (died 1633)
- 1604 – Tokugawa Iemitsu, 3rd Tokugawa shogun (died 1651)
- 1629 – Tsar Alexei I of Russia (died 1676)
- 1643 – King Afonso IV of Portugal (died 1683)
- 1644 – Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber, Bohemian composer (died 1704)
- 1681 – Vitus Bering, Danish explorer (died 1741)
- 1720 – Konrad Ekhof, German actor (died 1778)
- 1762 – King George IV of the United Kingdom (died 1830)
- 1774 – Robert Southey, English poet and biographer (died 1843)
- 1781 – Robert Mills, American architect (died 1855)
- 1816 – Ion Ghica, Romanian mathematician and politician (died 1897)
- 1831 – Helena Blavatsky, Russian writer (died 1891)
- 1837 – Sven Berggren, Swedish naturalist and botanist (died 1917)
- 1843 – Colmar von der Goltz, Prussian field marshal (died 1916)
- 1856 – Diamond Jim Brady, American businessman and philanthropist (died 1917)
- 1859 – Katharine Lee Bates, American poet (died 1929)
- 1860 – Klara Hitler, mother of Adolf Hitler (died 1907)
- 1866 – Jacinto Benavente, Spanish writer (died 1954)
- 1866 – Henrik Sillem, Dutch target shooter (died 1907)
- 1867 – Edith Hamilton, German–American writer, teacher and classicist (died 1963)
- 1871 – Gustavs Zemgals, 2nd President of Latvia (died 1939)
- 1872 – Princess Marie Louise of Schleswig-Holstein (died 1956)
- 1876 – Mary Roberts Rinehart, American writer (died 1958)
- 1877 – Albert Bartha, Hungarian general and politician (died 1960)
- 1880 – Christy Mathewson, American Baseball Hall of Famer (died 1925)
- 1880 – Radclyffe Hall, British writer (died 1943)
- 1881 – Cecil B. DeMille, American director (died 1959)
- 1883 – Pauline Frederick, American stage and movie actress (died 1938)
- 1885 – Jean Cabannes, French physicist (died 1959)
- 1886 – Keith Murdoch, Australian journalist (died 1952)
- 1887 – Erwin Schrödinger, Austrian physicist (died 1961)
- 1889 – Zerna Sharp, American writer and educator (died 1981)
- 1892 – Alfred Lunt, actor (died 1977)
- 1896 – Ejner Federspiel, Danish actor (died 1981)
- 1897 – Maurice Fernandes, Guyanese cricketer (died 1981)

### 1901 – 1925

- 1902 – Mohammad Hatta, Vice President of Indonesia (died 1980)
- 1902 – Pope Cyril VI of Alexandria, Egyptian Coptic Church leader (died 1971)
- 1903 – Mario Nasalli Rocca di Corneliano, Italian cardinal (died 1988)
- 1904 – Tsarevich Alexei Nikolaevich of Russia, heir to the throne of Russia (died 1918)
- 1906 – Harry Hopman, Australian tennis player (died 1985)
- 1906 – Tedd Pierce, animator (died 1972)
- 1907 – Benjamin Sheares, 2nd President of Singapore (died 1981)
- 1907 – Joe Besser, actor, comedian; member of the Three Stooges (died 1988)
- 1910 – Yusof bin Ishak, first President of Singapore (died 1970)
- 1910 – Gustav Lantschner, Austrian skier (died 2011)
- 1910 – Heinrich Sutermeister, Swiss composer (died 1995)
- 1911 – Cantinflas (Mario Moreno Reyes), Mexican actor, comedian and filmmaker (died 1993)
- 1912 – Feroze Gandhi, Indian politician and journalist (died 1960)
- 1913 – Richard L. Bare, American film director (died 2015)
- 1914 – Gerd Buchdahl, German philosopher (died 2001)
- 1918 – Sid Bernstein, American record producer (died 2013)
- 1919 – Vikram Sarabhai, Indian physicist (died 1971)
- 1919 – Margaret Burbidge, English–American astrophysicist
- 1924 – Hajo Meyer, German–Dutch physicist (died 2014)
- 1924 – Muhammad Zia ul-Haq, Leader of Pakistan (died 1988)
- 1924 – Derek Shackleton, English cricketer, coach and umpire (died 2007)
- 1925 – Norris McWhirter, co–founder of the Guinness Book of World Records (died 2004)
- 1925 – Ross McWhirter, co–founder of the Guinness Book of World Records (died 1975)
- 1925 – Thor Vilhjalmsson, Icelandic writer (died 2011)
- 1925 – Dale Bumpers, American politician, 38th Governor of Arkansas (died 2016)

### 1926 – 1950

- 1926 – John Derek, actor (died 1998)
- 1927 – Don Shepherd, Welsh cricketer (died 2017)
- 1928 – Bob Buhl, American Major League Baseball player (died 2001)
- 1928 – Porter Wagoner, American country and western singer (died 2007)
- 1929 – Buck Owens, American country and western singer (died 2006)
- 1930 – George Soros, American businessman
- 1930 – Jacques Tits, Belgian mathematician
- 1931 – William Goldman, American screenwriter (died 2018)
- 1932 – Sirikit, Queen consort of Thailand
- 1935 – Jan Popluhar, Slovakian footballer (died 2011)
- 1935 – John Cazale, American actor (died 1978)
- 1936 – André Kolingba, President of the Central African Republic (died 2010)
- 1937 – Walter Dean Myers, American writer and poet (died 2014)
- 1939 – George Hamilton, American actor
- 1939 – Roy Romanow, Canadian politician, 12th Premier of Saskatchewan
- 1939 – David King, South African chemist and academic
- 1941 – Dana Ivey, American actress and singer
- 1942 – Martin Seligman, American psychologist
- 1945 – Dorothy E. Denning, American computer scientist
- 1945 – Jean Nouvel, French architect
- 1946 – Terry Nutkins, English television presenter and writer (died 2012)
- 1947 – Stefano Benni, Italian writer and journalist
- 1948 – Siddaramaiah, Indian politician, 22nd Chief Minister of Karnataka
- 1949 – Mark Knopfler, British musician (Dire Straits)
- 1949 – Terry Oldfield, British musician and composer
- 1949 – Fernando Collor de Mello, former President of Brazil
- 1950 – George McGinnis, American basketball player

### 1951 – 1975

- 1951 – Andrzej Blumenfeld, Polish actor (died 2017)
- 1953 – Carlos Mesa, former President of Bolivia
- 1954 – François Hollande, former President of France
- 1954 – Sam J. Jones, American actor
- 1954 – CY Leung, 3rd Chief Executive of Hong Kong
- 1954 – Pat Metheny, American guitarist
- 1957 – Amanda Redman, English actress
- 1960 – Laurent Fignon, French cyclist (died 2010)
- 1960 – Steven Hartley, English actor
- 1961 – Roy Hay, English guitarist, keyboardist and composer (Culture Club)
- 1963 – Koji Kitao, Japanese sumo wrestler
- 1965 – Peter Krause, American actor, director and producer
- 1966 – Tobias Ellwood, English politician
- 1967 – Andrey Plotnikov, Russian race walker
- 1970 – Alan Brown, Scottish politician
- 1970 – Toby Perkins, English politician
- 1971 – Rebecca Gayheart, American actress
- 1971 – Pete Sampras, American tennis player
- 1972 – Del the Funky Homosapien, American rapper and producer
- 1972 – Takanohana Kōji, Japanese sumo wrestler (65th Yokozuna)
- 1972 – Mark Kinsella, Irish footballer
- 1973 – Mark Iuliano, Italian footballer
- 1973 – Richard Reid, alleged Al-Qaida operative; "the shoe bomber"
- 1973 – Muqtada al-Sadr, Iraqi theologian and political leader
- 1975 – Casey Affleck, American actor

### From 1976

- 1976 – Wednesday 13, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1976 – Brad Lukowich, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1976 – Richard McCourt, English comedian and actor
- 1976 – Henry Tuilagi, Samoan rugby player
- 1976 – Antoine Walker, American basketball player
- 1977 – Jesper Gronkjaer, Danish footballer
- 1979 – Austra Skujyte, Lithuanian athlete
- 1980 – Royda Demirer, Turkish actress
- 1981 – Djibril Cissé, French footballer
- 1982 – Alexandros Tzorvas, Greek footballer
- 1983 – Klaas-Jan Huntelaar, Dutch footballer
- 1983 – Kana Asumi, Japanese voice actress and singer
- 1986 – Kateryna Bondarenko, Ukrainian tennis player
- 1988 – Tyson Fury, English boxer
- 1988 – Justin Gaston, American singer-songwriter, model and actor
- 1988 – Leah Pipes, American actress
- 1989 – Tom Cleverley, English footballer
- 1990 – Mario Balotelli, Italian footballer
- 1992 – Cara Delevingne, English model and actress
- 1993 – Luna, South Korean actress, singer and dancer
- 1998 – Stefanos Tsitsipas, Greek tennis player

### Up to 1900

- 30 BC – Cleopatra VII, Egyptian Queen (born 69 BC)
- 875 – Louis II of Italy, Holy Roman Emperor
- 1424 – Yongle Emperor of China (born 1360)
- 1484 – George of Trebizond, Greek philosopher (born 1395)
- 1512 – Alessandro Achillini, Italian philosopher (born 1463)
- 1633 – Jacopo Peri, Italian composer (born 1561)
- 1648 – Ibrahim I, Ottoman Sultan (born 1615)
- 1674 – Philippe de Champaigne, French painter (born 1602)
- 1689 – Pope Innocent XI (born 1611)
- 1809 – Mikhail Kamensky, Russian field marshal (born 1738)
- 1827 – William Blake, English poet (born 1757)
- 1848 – George Stephenson, English engineer (born 1781)
- 1849 – Albert Gallatin, American politician (born 1761)
- 1861 – Eliphalet Remington, American inventor and businessman (born 1793)
- 1891 – James Russell Lowell, American poet and critic (born 1819)
- 1900 – Wilhelm Steinitz, German chess player (born 1836)
- 1900 – James Edward Keeler, American astrophysicist (born 1857)

### 1901 – 2000

- 1901 – Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld, Swedish polar explorer (born 1832)
- 1901 – Francesco Crispi, Italian politician (born 1819)
- 1904 – William Renshaw, British tennis player (born 1861)
- 1914 – John Philip Holland, early submarine designer (born 1840)
- 1918 – Anna Held, actress and singer (born 1872)
- 1920 – Louisa Lawson, Australian writer and activist (born 1848)
- 1920 – Hermann Struve, Baltic German astronomer and mathematician (born 1854)
- 1921 – Pyotr Boborykin, Russian playwright and journalist (born 1836)
- 1922 – Arthur Griffith, Irish politician (born 1871)
- 1923 – Vatrslav Jagić, Croatian philologist (born 1838)
- 1928 – Leoš Janáček, Czech composer (born 1854)
- 1934 – Hendrik Petrus Berlage, Dutch architect (born 1856)
- 1935 – Friedrich Schottky, German mathematician (born 1851)
- 1936 – Victoria Diez Bustos de Molina, Spanish religious teacher (born 1903)
- 1941 – Freeman Freeman-Thomas, 1st Marquess of Willingdon, Governor–General of Canada and Viceroy of India (born 1866)
- 1943 – Bobby Peel, Yorkshire cricketer (born 1857).
- 1944 – Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr., American pilot, brother of John F. Kennedy (born 1915)
- 1948 – Harry Brearley, inventor of stainless steel (born 1871)
- 1955 – Thomas Mann, German writer (born 1875)
- 1955 – James B. Sumner, American chemist (born 1887)
- 1964 – Ian Fleming, British novelist (born 1908)
- 1973 – Walter Rudolf Hess, Swiss physiologist (born 1881)
- 1973 – Karl Ziegler, German chemist (born 1898)
- 1979 – Ernst Boris Chain, German biochemist, won the 1945 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1906)
- 1982 – Henry Fonda, American actor (born 1905)
- 1982 – Salvador Sanchez, world champion boxer (born 1959)
- 1985 – Manfred Winkelhock, auto racing driver (born 1951)
- 1985 – Kyu Sakamoto, Japanese singer (born 1941)
- 1989 – William Shockley, physicist (born 1910)
- 1990 – Dorothy Mackaill, English–American actress and singer (born 1903)
- 1992 – John Cage, American composer (born 1912)
- 1997 – Luther Allison, American blues musician, guitarist (born 1939)
- 1999 – Jean Drapeau, Canadian politician, 37th Mayor of Montreal (born 1916)
- 2000 – Loretta Young, American actress (born 1913)

### From 2001

- 2004 – Godfrey Hounsfield, English engineer and inventor (born 1919)
- 2007 – Merv Griffin, American television host and game show creator (born 1925)
- 2007 – Mike Wieringo, American comic book artist (born 1963)
- 2010 – Isaac Bonewits, American writer and activist (born 1949)
- 2010 – Guido de Marco, President of Malta (born 1931)
- 2013 – Prince Friso of Orange-Nassau, Dutch royal (born 1968)
- 2013 – Tompall Glaser, American country music singer (born 1933)
- 2013 – Vasiliy Mihaylovich Peskov, Russian writer (born 1930)
- 2013 – David McLetchie, Scottish politician (born 1952)
- 2014 – Lauren Bacall, American actress (born 1924)
- 2014 – Abel Laudonio, Argentine boxer and actor (born 1938)
- 2014 – Arlene Martel, American actress (born 1936)
- 2015 – Jaakko Hintikka, Finnish philosopher (born 1929)
- 2015 – Stephen Lewis, English actor (born 1926)
- 2015 – Meshulim Feish Lowy, Hungarian–Canadian rabbi (born 1921)
- 2017 – Heather Heyer, American counter–protestor (born 1985)
- 2017 – Bryan Murray, Canadian ice hockey player (born 1942)
- 2018 – Samir Amin, Egyptian–French economist (born 1931)
- 2018 – Kazimiera Utrata, Polish actress (born 1932)
- 2019 – DJ Arafat, Ivorian DJ and musician (born 1986)
- 2019 – José Luis Brown, Argentine footballer (born 1956)
- 2019 – Florin Halagian, Romanian footballer and manager (born 1939)
- 2019 – Jim Marsh, American basketball player (born 1946)
- 2019 – Hussein Salem, Egyptian–Spanish businessman (born 1933)
- 2019 – Jan Simonsen, Norwegian politician (born 1953)

## Astronomical events and holidays

- The Annual Perseid Meteor Shower occurs around this date.
- Mother's Day (Thailand)
- Glorious Twelfth (United Kingdom)
- International Youth Day (United Nations)