March 12

### Up to 1900

- 515 BC – Construction is completed on the Temple in Jerusalem.
- 1550 – Several hundred Spanish and indigenous troops under the command of Pedro Valdivia defeat an army of 60,000 Mapuche at the Battle of Penco during the Arauco War in present–day Chile.
- 1622 – Ignatius of Loyola and Saint Francis Xavier are canonized as Saints of the Roman Catholic Church.
- 1664 – New Jersey becomes a colony of Britain.
- 1689 – The Williamite War in Ireland begins.
- 1811 – Peninsular War: A day after a successful rear guard action, French Marshal Michel Neyonce again successfully delays the pursuing an Anglo–Portuguese force at the Battle of Redinha.
- 1868 – Henry O'Farrell attempts to kill Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh.
- 1871 – Karl Theodor Robert Luther discovers Jupiter's moon Amalthea.
- 1878 – Walvis Bay in present–day Namibia comes under British control.
- 1881 – Andrew Watson makes his first appearance for the Scotland national football team, as the world's first black footballer to turn out for a national side.
- 1894 – Coca-Cola is sold in bottles for the first time.

### 1901 – 2000

- 1912 – The Girl Guides (later renamed the Girl Scouts in the US) are founded in the US.
- 1913 – Canberra becomes the capital of Australia.
- 1918 – Moscow becomes the capital city of Russia.
- 1922 – Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan form the Transcaucasian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic.
- 1928 – In California, the St. Francis Dam fails, killing 400 people.
- 1930 – Mahatma Gandhi leads a 200–mile march known as _Dandi March_ to the sea in defiance of British opposition, to protest the British monopoly on salt.
- 1933 – Great Depression: Franklin Delano Roosevelt addresses the nation for the first time as President of the United States. This was also the first of his "Fireside Chats."
- 1934 – Konstantin Pats and General John Laidoner stage a coup in Estonia.
- 1934 – Japanese torpedo boat _Tomozuru_ sinks in a storm off Sasebo, Nagasaki, killing 100 out of the 113 people on board.
- 1938 – _Anschluss:_ German troops occupy Austria; annexation declared the following day.
- 1940 – Winter War: Finland signs a harsh peace treaty with the Soviet Union, ceding almost all of Finnish Karelia. Finnish troops and remaining population are immediately evacuated.
- 1947 – The Truman Doctrine is proclaimed to help stem the spread of Communism.
- 1950 – Llandow Air Disaster: In South Wales, an aircraft crashes near the village of Sigingstone, killing 80 people.
- 1951 – The _Dennis the Menace_ comic strip appears in newspapers across the US for the first time.
- 1956 – The Dow Jones Industrial Average closes above 500 for the first time (500.24)
- 1958 – In Hilversum, Netherlands, André Claveau wins the third Eurovision Song Contest for France singing "Dors, mon amour" (Sleep, my love).
- 1960 – A fire at a chemical plant in Pusan, Korea kills 68.
- 1961 – The Eiger north face is climbed outside the main climbing season for the first time.
- 1967 – Suharto takes over from Sukarno to become President of Indonesia.
- 1968 – Mauritius achieves independence.
- 1984 – National Union of Mineworkers leader Arthur Scargill, call for a nationwide strike against the economic policies of Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Margaret Thatcher.
- 1987 – Les Misérables opens on Broadway.
- 1992 – Mauritius becomes a republic while remaining a member of the British Commonwealth.
- 1993 – Several bombs explode in Bombay, India killing about 300 and injuring hundreds more.
- 1993 – North Korea nuclear weapons program: North Korea says that it plans to withdraw from the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and refuses to allow inspectors access to nuclear sites.
- 1993 – The Blizzard of '93 hits the eastern United States, with heavy snowfall, high winds and tornadoes.
- 1994 – A photo by Marmaduke Wetherell, previously touted as 'proof' of the Loch Ness monster, is confirmed to be a hoax.
- 1994 – The Church of England ordains its first female priests.
- 1997 – Mikail Markhasev is arrested in Los Angeles, California and charged with shooting Bill Cosby's 27–year–old son, Ennis Cosby.
- 1999 – Former Warsaw Pact members the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Poland join the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO).

### From 2001

- 2002 – In Texas, Andrea Yates is found guilty of drowning her five children on June 20, 2001. She is later sentenced to life in prison.
- 2003 – Zoran Djindjic, Prime Minister of Serbia, assassinated in Belgrade.
- 2003 – Elizabeth Smart, a kidnapped teenager is found and returned to her family in Utah.
- 2004 – Roh Moo-hyun, President of South Korea is impeached by its national assembly for the first time in the nation's history.
- 2005 – Tung Chee Hwa, the first Chief Executive of Hong Kong, stepped down from his post after his resignation is approved by the Chinese central government.
- 2010 – The Winter Paralympics begin in Vancouver.
- 2011 – Fukushima nuclear disaster: After the previous day's earthquake and tsunami in northeastern Japan, the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Plant fails in several reactors, causing a nuclear disaster, as explosions occur.
- 2014 – An explosion at the New York City neighborhood of East Harlem kills 8 people and injures around 70.
- 2017 – A landslide at a landfill site outside Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, kills 72 people.
- 2019 – British Prime Minister Theresa May loses a second vote on her Brexit deal in the House of Commons.

### Up to 1900

- 1270 – Charles, Count of Valois, son of Philip III of France (d. 1325)
- 1479 – Giuliano de' Medici, Duke of Nemours, ruler of Florence (d. 1516)
- 1607 – Paul Gerhardt, German hymnist (d. 1676)
- 1620 – Johann Heinrich Hottinger, Swiss philologist and theologian (d. 1667)
- 1626 – John Aubrey, English writer (d. 1697)
- 1637 – Anne Hyde, wife of James VII of Scotland/James II of England (d. 1671)
- 1685 – George Berkeley, Irish philosopher (d. 1753)
- 1710 – Thomas Arne, English composer (d. 1778)
- 1713 – Johann Adolph Hass, German instrument maker (d. 1771)
- 1728 – Anton Raphael Mengs, German painter (d. 1779)
- 1763 – Martin Chittenden, American politician, Governor of Vermont (d. 1840)
- 1769 – Archibald Campbell, British general (d. 1843)
- 1781 – Frederica of Baden, Queen of Sweden (d. 1826)
- 1795 – George T. Wood, 2nd Governor of Texas (d. 1858)
- 1806 – Jane Pierce, First Lady of the United States (d. 1863)
- 1821 – John Abbott, 3rd Prime Minister of Canada (d. 1893)
- 1821 – Luitpold, Prince of Bavaria (d. 1912)
- 1824 – Gustav Kirchhoff, German physicist (d. 1887)
- 1832 – Charles Boycott, British land agent (d. 1897)
- 1835 – Simon Newcomb, Canadian–American astronomer and mathematician (d. 1909)
- 1837 – Alexandre Guilmant, French organist and composer (d. 1911)
- 1838 – William Henry Perkin, English chemist (d. 1907)
- 1851 – Theodore Thurston Geer, American politician, 10th Governor of Oregon (d. 1924)
- 1858 – Adolph Ochs, American newspaper publisher (d. 1935)
- 1863 – Gabriele D'Annunzio, Italian writer and politician (d. 1938)
- 1864 – Alice Tegnér, Swedish composer and organist (d. 1943)
- 1864 – W. H. R. Rivers, English anthropologist neurologist, ethnologist and psychiatrist (d. 1922)
- 1869 – George Forbes, 22nd Prime Minister of New Zealand (d. 1947)
- 1876 – Elbert Lee Trinkle, Governor of Virginia (d. 1939)
- 1878 – Gemma Galgani, Italian mystic and saint (d. 1903)
- 1881 – Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, First President of Turkey (d. 1938)
- 1884 – Vittorio Pozzo, Italian footballer and coach (d. 1968)
- 1889 – Thorbergur Thordarson, Icelandic writer (d. 1974)
- 1890 – King Idris of Libya (d. 1983)
- 1890 – Vaslav Nijinsky, Russian dancer and choreographer (d. 1950)

### 1901 – 1950

- 1908 – David Marshall, 1st Chief Minister of Singapore (d. 1995)
- 1910 – Masayoshi Ohira, Japanese statesman (d. 1980)
- 1911 – Gustavo Díaz Ordaz, President of Mexico (d. 1979)
- 1912 – Paul Weston, American pianist, arranger and conductor (d. 1996)
- 1913 – Yashwantrao Chavan, Indian politician (d. 1984)
- 1913 – Agathe von Trapp, Austrian–American singer (d. 2010)
- 1914 – Julia Lennon, John Lennon's mother (d. 1958)
- 1917 – Leonard Chess, American company executive (d. 1969)
- 1918 – Elaine de Kooning, American artist (d. 1989)
- 1919 – Michael Stepovich, Territorial Governor of Alaska, last–surviving territorial Governor in the US (d. 2014)
- 1921 – Gianni Agnelli, Italian automobile executive (d. 2003)
- 1921 – Ulo Jogi, Estonian anti–Soviet activist (d. 2007)
- 1921 – Gordon MacRae, American singer and actor (d. 1986)
- 1922 – Jack Kerouac, American writer (d. 1969)
- 1923 – Wally Schirra, American astronaut (d. 2007)
- 1923 – Clara Fraser, American activist (d. 1998)
- 1923 – Hanne Hiob, German actress (d. 2009)
- 1923 – Hjalmar Andersen, Norwegian speed skater (d. 2013)
- 1923 – Mae Young, American wrestler (d. 2014)
- 1924 – Mary Lee Woods, British mathematician and computer programmer (d. 2017)
- 1925 – Leo Esaki, Japanese physicist
- 1925 – Harry Harrison, American writer (d. 2012)
- 1925 – Georges Delerue, French movie score composer (d. 1992)
- 1926 – Gudrun Ure, Scottish actress
- 1926 – George Ariyoshi, American politician, former Governor of Hawaii
- 1926 – Minerva Mirabal, Dominican activist (d. 1960)
- 1927 – Raul Alfonsin, President of Argentina (d. 2009)
- 1927 – Ragne Tangen, Norwegian children's television presenter (d. 2015)
- 1928 – Edward Albee, American dramatist (d. 2016)
- 1930 – Win Tin, Burmese politician (d. 2014)
- 1931 – Robert B. Oakley, American diplomat (d. 2014)
- 1932 – Andrew Young, 14th United States Ambassador to the United Nations
- 1933 – Ken Hodgkisson, English footballer (d. 2018)
- 1933 – Barbara Lee Feldon, American actress and model
- 1935 – Valentyna Shevchenko, Soviet–Ukrainian politician
- 1936 – Eddie Sutton, American college basketball coach
- 1937 – Valentina Eiduka, Latvian javelin thrower and coach
- 1940 – Al Jarreau, American singer (d. 2017)
- 1940 – M. A. Numminen, Finnish singer and writer
- 1942 – Jimmy Wynn, American baseball player
- 1943 – Ratko Mladic, Serbian military commander, currently on trial for war crimes
- 1946 – Liza Minnelli, American singer and actress
- 1946 – Frank Welker, American actor
- 1947 – Mitt Romney, American politician, former Governor of Massachusetts and Presidential candidate
- 1947 – Peter Harry Carstensen, German politician, former Prime Minister of Schleswig-Holstein
- 1948 – James Taylor, American musician
- 1948 – Kent Conrad, American politician
- 1948 – Roger Mullin, Scottish politician
- 1948 – Virginia Bottomley, Scottish politician
- 1949 – David Mellor, English journalist, lawyer and politician
- 1950 – Javier Clemente, Spanish football manager

### 1951 – 1975

- 1952 – Jon Provost, American actor
- 1952 – Yasuhiko Okudera, Japanese footballer
- 1953 – Carl Hiaasen, American journalist and writer
- 1953 – Madhav Kumar Nepal, Nepalese politician
- 1953 – Ron Jeremy, American actor
- 1954 – Anish Kapoor, Indian–British sculptor and artist
- 1956 – Michael Catain, American businessman and convicted criminal
- 1956 – Pim Verbeek, Dutch football manager
- 1956 – Steve Harrison, British musician (Iron Maiden)
- 1957 – Jerry Levine, American actor and director
- 1957 – Patrick Battiston, French footballer
- 1957 – Marlon Jackson, American singer and musician
- 1958 – Alan Sneddon, Scottish footballer
- 1959 – Mark Easton, Scottish journalist
- 1962 – Andreas Köpke, German footballer
- 1962 – Darryl Strawberry, American baseball player
- 1963 – Ian Holloway, English footballer and manager
- 1963 – Joaquim Cruz, Brazilian runner
- 1963 – Princess Farahnaz Pahlavi of Iran
- 1965 – Coleen Nolan, British singer (The Nolans)
- 1967 – Massimiliano Frezzato, Italian author
- 1968 – Tammy Duckworth, United States Senator for Illinois
- 1968 – Aaron Eckhart, American actor
- 1969 – Graham Coxon, British musician (Blur)
- 1970 – Karen Bradley, British politician
- 1971 – Andy Nicol, Scottish rugby player
- 1971 – Isaiah Rider, American basketball player
- 1972 – Hector Luis Bustamente, Colombian actor
- 1975 – Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson, Prime Minister of Iceland
- 1975 – Kéllé Bryan, English singer

### From 1976

- 1976 – Zhao Wei, Chinese actress
- 1979 – Pete Doherty, English musician
- 1979 – Shaun Rodgers, American football player
- 1980 – Douglas Murray, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1980 – Ruth Hunt, Welsh activist
- 1981 – Kristjan Makke, Estonian basketball player
- 1981 – Peter Waterfield, English diver
- 1982 – Hisato Sato, Japanese footballer
- 1982 – Yuto Sato, Japanese footballer
- 1982 – Tobias Schweinsteiger, German footballer
- 1983 – Mikko Koivu, Finnish ice hockey player
- 1984 – Jaimie Alexander, American actress
- 1985 – Stromae, Belgian singer, rapper and producer
- 1985 – Bradley Wright-Phillips, English footballer
- 1986 – Danny Jones, English singer (McFly)
- 1987 – Jessica Hardy, American swimmer
- 1987 – Teimour Radjabov, Azerbaijani chess player
- 1987 – Rico Vonck, Dutch darts player
- 1990 – Lawrence Clarke, English athlete
- 1991 – Felix Kroos, German footballer
- 1992 – Scott Robinson, Scottish footballer
- 1994 – Christina Grimmie, American pianist and singer-songwriter (d. 2016)
- 1994 – Tyler Patrick Jones, American actor
- 1994 – Katie Archibald, Scottish track cyclist
- 1995 – Kanon Fukuda, Japanese singer and voice actress
- 1999 – Sakura Oda, Japanese singer
- 2004 – Zhang Qiongyue, Chinese rifle shooter

### Up to 1900

- 417 – Pope Innocent I
- 604 – Pope Gregory I
- 1289 – King Demetre II of Georgia (b. 1259)
- 1316 – King Stephen Dragutin of Serbia (b. 1253)
- 1374 – Emperor Go-Kogon of Japan (b. 1336)
- 1447 – Shah Rukh, ruler of Persia and Transoxonia (b. 1377)
- 1507 – Cesare Borgia, Italian general and statesman (b. 1475)
- 1628 – John Bull, English composer (b. 1562)
- 1648 – Tirso de Molina, Spanish dramatist and poet (b. 1571)
- 1699 – Peder Griffenfeld, Danish statesman (b. 1635)
- 1820 – Alexander Mackenzie, Scottish explorer (b. 1764)
- 1832 – Friedrich Kuhlau, German composer (b. 1786)
- 1872 – Zeng Guofan, Chinese politician and general (b. 1811)
- 1894 – Ilarion Pryanishnikov, Russian painter (b. 1840)
- 1898 – Zacharias Topelius, Finnish–Swedish writer (b. 1818)
- 1899 – Julius Vogel, Prime Minister of New Zealand (b. 1835)

### 1901 – 2000

- 1914 – George Westinghouse, American entrepreneur and engineer (b. 1846)
- 1916 – Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach, Austrian writer (b. 1830)
- 1925 – Sun Yat-sen, Chinese revolutionary and politician (b. 1866)
- 1929 – Asa Griggs Candler, American businessman (b. 1851)
- 1932 – Ivar Kreuger, Swedish businessman (b. 1880)
- 1935 – Mihajlo Idvorski Pupin, Serbian–American physicist and chemist (b. 1858)
- 1937 – Charles-Marie Widor, French organist and composer (b. 1844)
- 1942 – Robert Bosch, German industrialist (b. 1861)
- 1943 – Gustav Vigeland, Norwegian sculptor (b. 1869)
- 1945 – Anne Frank, German–born Dutch Jewish diarist and Holocaust victim (b. 1929)
- 1946 – Ferenc Szalasi, Hungarian politician (b. 1897)
- 1947 – Winston Churchill, American novelist (b. 1871)
- 1955 – Charlie Parker, American jazz saxophonist (b. 1920)
- 1963 – Arthur Grimsdell, English footballer and cricketer (b. 1894)
- 1978 – John Cazale, American actor (b. 1935)
- 1985 – Eugene Ormandy, Hungarian conductor (b. 1899)
- 1991 – Ragnar Granit, Finnish neuroscientist (b. 1900)
- 1991 – William Heinesen, Faroese writer, poet and artist (b. 1900)
- 1991 – LeRoy Collins, Governor of Florida (b. 1909)
- 1992 – Heinz Kühn, German politician (b. 1912)
- 1995 – Juanin Clay, American actress (b. 1949)
- 1998 – Judge Dread, English musician (b. 1945)
- 1999 – Yehudi Menuhin, American–born violinist (b. 1916)

### From 2001

- 2001 – Robert Ludlum, American writer (b. 1927)
- 2002 – Spyros Kyprianou, Cypriot politician (b. 1932)
- 2003 – Zoran Djindjic, President of Serbia and Montenegro (b. 1952)
- 2003 – Lynne Thigpen, American actress (b. 1948)
- 2006 – Victor Sokolov, Russian dissident, journalist and priest (b. 1947)
- 2008 – Lazare Ponticelli, Italian–French supercentenarian and World War I veteran (b. 1897)
- 2010 – Miguel Delibes, Spanish writer (b. 1920)
- 2013 – Clive Burr, British musician (Iron Maiden) (b. 1957)
- 2014 – Vera Chytilova, Czech movie director (b. 1929)
- 2014 – José Policarpo, Portuguese cardinal (b. 1936)
- 2014 – Richard Coogan, American actor (b. 1914)
- 2014 – Ola L. Mize, American colonel (b. 1931)
- 2014 – Jackie Gaughan, American casino owner and gambler (b. 1920)
- 2014 – Jean Vallée, Belgian songwriter (b. 1941)
- 2014 – David Sive, American environmental lawyer (b. 1922)
- 2014 – Paul C. Donnelly, American aerospace pioneer (b. 1923)
- 2014 – Kjell Nupen, Norwegian artist (b. 1955)
- 2015 – Terry Pratchett, English writer (b. 1948)
- 2015 – Michael Graves, American architect (b. 1934)
- 2015 – Ada Jafri, Pakistani poet (b. 1924)
- 2016 – Rafiq Azad, Bangladeshi poet (b. 1941)
- 2016 – Lloyd Shapley, American economist (b. 1923)
- 2016 – Erik Duval, Belgian computer scientist (b. 1965)
- 2017 – Murray Ball, New Zealand cartoonist (b. 1939)
- 2017 – Horst Ehmke, German politician (b. 1927)
- 2017 – Probyn Inniss, Saint Kitts and Nevis lawyer (b. 1936)
- 2017 – Ray Hassall, English politician (b. 1943)
- 2018 – Nokie Edwards, American musician and actor (b. 1935)
- 2018 – Rudolf Mang, German weightlifter (b. 1950)
- 2018 – Oleg Tabakov, Russian actor (b. 1935)
- 2018 – Henry Minarik, American football player (b. 1927)
- 2019 – Eurico Miranda, Brazilian football chairman and politician (b. 1944)

## Observances

- National Day of Mauritius
- Youth Day (Zambia)
- Arbor Day (China and Taiwan)
- Aztec New Year