12 March
March 12 is the 71st day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (72nd in Leap years). There are 294 days remaining.
Events
- 515 BC - Construction is completed on the Temple in Jerusalem.
- 1664 - New Jersey becomes a colony of Britain.
- 1894 - For the first time Coca-Cola is sold in bottles.
- 1912 - The Girl Guides (later renamed the Girl Scouts in the US) are founded in the US.
- 1913 - Canberra becomes the capital of Australia.
- 1928 - In California, the St. Francis Dam fails killing 400.
- 1930 - Mahatma Gandhi leads a 200-mile march protest 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."
- 1938 - Anschluss: German troops occupy Austria; annexation declared the following day.
- 1940 - Winter War: Finland signs a harsh peace treaty with the Soviet Union, ceeding almost all of Finnish Karelia. Finnish troops and remaining population were immediately evacuated.
- 1947 - The Truman Doctrine is proclaimed to help stem the spread of Communism.
- 1951 - The Dennis the Menace comic strip appears in newspapers across the USA for the first time.
- 1968 - Mauritius achieves independence.
- 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.
- 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 joined NATO.
- 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.
- 2004 - Roh Moo-hyun, President of South Korea is impeached by its national assembly for the first time in the nation's history.
Births
- 1607 - Paul Gerhardt, hymnist, (d. 1676)
- 1613 - Anne Hyde, first wife of King James II of England
- 1626 - John Aubrey, antiquary and writer (d. 1697)
- 1685 - George Berkeley, theologist, (d. 1753)
- 1718 - Joseph Damer, Dorset landowner and MP
- 1806 - Jane Pierce, First Lady of the United States, (d. 1863)
- 1831 - Clement Studebaker, automobile pioneer
- 1896 - Sir John Abbott, third Prime Minister of Canada, (d. 1893)
- 1824 - Gustav Kirchhoff, physicist, lends his name to Kirchhoff's Laws, (d. 1887)
- 1863 - Gabriele D'Annunzio, Italian poet, dramatist, daredevil, war hero and politician (d. 1938)
- 1881 - Kemal Atatürk, founder and first president of the Turkish Republic, (d. 1938)
- 1888 - Vaslav Nijinsky, ballet dancer, (d. 1950)
- 1912 - Irving Layton, poet
- 1921 - Gianni Agnelli, manager of Fiat, (d. 2003)
- 1921 - Gordon MacRae, singer, actor, (d. 1986)
- 1922 - Jack Kerouac, writer, (d. 1969)
- 1923 - Wally Schirra, astronaut
- 1925 - Harry Harrison, science fiction author
- 1928 - Edward Albee, dramatist
- 1932 - Andrew Young, civil rights activist, politician, ambassador to the United Nations
- 1940 - Al Jarreau, singer
- 1946 - Liza Minnelli, singer and actress
- 1947 - Kalervo Palsa, Finnish artist, (d. 1987)
- 1948 - James Taylor, musician
- 1953 - Ron Jeremy, pornographic film actor
- 1953 - Carl Hiaasen, author
- 1957 - Steve Harris, musician ("Iron Maiden")
- 1962 - Darryl Strawberry, baseball player
- 1963 - Joaquim Cruz, Brazilian runner
- 1969 - Graham Coxon, musician
Deaths
- 604 - Pope Gregory I
- 1507 - Cardinal Cesare Borgia, son of Pope Alexander VI (b. 1475)
- 1889 - Emperor Johannes IV of Ethiopia
- 1925 - Sun Yat Sen, Chinese revolutionary, politician (b. 1866)
- 1935 - Michel Pupin, telephone pioneer
- 1937 - Charles-Marie Widor, organist and composer (b. 1844)
- 1943 - Gustav Vigeland, Norwegian sculptor
- 1944 - Werner Drechsler, of U-118
- 1944 - Artur Gavazzi - Croatian geographer (b. 1861)
- 1945 - Anne Frank, diarist (b. 1929)
- 1955 - Charlie Parker, jazz saxophonist (b. 1920)
- 1984 - Arnold Ridley, British playwright and actor (b. 1896)
- 1985 - Eugene Ormandy, conductor, violinist of Hungarian origin (b. 1899
- 1998 - Beatrice Wood, artist/ceramist (b. 1893)
- 1999 - Sir Yehudi Menuhin, violinist (b. 1916)
- 2001 - Morton Downey, Jr., television personality (b. 1933)
- 2001 - Robert Ludlum, author of spy novels (b. 1927)
- 2003 - Ronnie Burk, surrealist and AIDS activist
- 2003 - Zoran Djindjic, Prime Minister of Serbia (b. 1952)
- 2003 - Howard Fast, author (b. 1914)
Holidays and observances
March 11 - March 13 - February 12 - April 12 -- listing of all days
