March 12

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MMXI

March 12 in recent years

2011 (Saturday)

2010 (Friday)

2009 (Thursday)

2008 (Wednesday)

2007 (Monday)

2006 (Sunday)

2005 (Saturday)

2004 (Friday)

2003 (Wednesday)

2002 (Tuesday)

March 12 is the 71st day of the year (72nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 294 days remaining until the end of the year.

Events

• 538 – Vitiges, king of the Ostrogoths ends his siege of Rome and retreats to Ravenna, leaving the city in the hands of the victorious Roman general, Belisarius.
• 1622 – Ignatius of Loyola and Francis Xavier, founders of the Jesuits, are canonized as saints by the Catholic Church.
• 1664 – New Jersey becomes a colony of England.
• 1689 – The Williamite War in Ireland begins.
• 1811 – Peninsular War: A day after a successful rear guard action, French Marshal Michel Ney once again successfully delayed the pursuing Anglo-Portuguese force at the Battle of Redinha.
• 1868 – Henry O'Farrell attempts to assassinate Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh.
• 1881 – Andrew Watson makes his Scotland debut as the world's first black international football player and captain.
• 1912 – The Girl Guides (later renamed the Girl Scouts of the USA) are founded in the United States.
• 1913 – Canberra Day: The future capital of Australia is officially named Canberra. (Melbourne remained temporary capital until 1927 while the new capital is still under construction.)
• 1918 – Moscow becomes the capital of Russia again after Saint Petersburg held this status for 215 years.
• 1922 – Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan formed The Transcaucasian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic
• 1928 – In California, the St. Francis Dam fails; the resulting floods kill over 600 people.
• 1930 – Mahatma Gandhi leads a 200-mile march, known as the Salt March, to the sea in defiance of British opposition, to protest the British monopoly on salt.
• 1933 – Great Depression: Franklin D. Roosevelt addresses the nation for the first time as President of the United States. This is also the first of his "fireside chats".
• 1934 – Konstantin Päts and General Johan Laidoner stage a coup in Estonia, and ban all political parties.
• 1938 – Anschluss: German troops occupy Austria.
• 1940 – Winter War: Finland signs the Moscow Peace Treaty with the Soviet Union, ceding almost all of Finnish Karelia. Finnish troops and the remaining population are immediately evacuated.
• 1947 – The Truman Doctrine is proclaimed to help stem the spread of Communism.
• 1950 – The Llandow air disaster occurs near Sigingstone, Wales, in which 80 people die when their aircraft crashed, making it the world's deadliest air disaster at the time.
• 1964 – New Hampshire Lottery: New Hampshire becomes the first U.S. state to legally sell lottery tickets in the 20th century.
• 1966 – Suharto takes over from Sukarno to become President of Indonesia.
• 1968 – Mauritius achieves independence.
• 1971 – The March 12 Memorandum is sent to the Demirel government of Turkey and the government resigns.
• 1992 – Mauritius becomes a republic while remaining a member of the Commonwealth of Nations.
• 1993 – Several bombs explode in Bombay (Mumbai), 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 its nuclear sites.
• 1993 – The Blizzard of 1993 – Snow begins to fall across the eastern portion of the US with tornadoes, thunder snow storms, high winds and record low temperatures. The storm lasts for 30 hours.
• 1994 – The Church of England ordains its first female priests.
• 1999 – Former Warsaw Pact members the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland join NATO.
• 2003 – Zoran Đinđić, Prime Minister of Serbia, is assassinated in Belgrade.
• 2004 – The President of South Korea, Roh Moo-hyun, is impeached by its national assembly: the first such impeachment in the nation's history.
• 2009 – Financier Bernard Madoff plead guilty in New York to scamming $18 billion, the largest in Wall Street history.
• 2011 – A reactor at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant melts and explodes and releases radioactivity into the atmosphere a day after Japan's earthquake.

Births

• 1270 – Charles of Valois, son of Philip III of France (d. 1325)
• 1478 – Giuliano di Lorenzo de' Medici, ruler of Florence (d. 1516)
• 1607 – Paul Gerhardt, German hymnist (d. 1676)
• 1613 – André Le Nôtre, French landscape architect (d. 1700)
• 1620 – Johann Heinrich Hottinger, Swiss philologist and theologian (d. 1667)
• 1626 – John Aubrey, English antiquary and writer (d. 1697)
• 1637 – Anne Hyde, wife of James II of England (d. 1671)
• 1647 – Victor-Maurice, comte de Broglie, French general (d. 1727)
• 1672 – Richard Steele, Irish writer and politician (d. 1729)
• 1685 – George Berkeley, Irish theologian (d. 1753)
• 1710 – Thomas Arne, English composer (d. 1778)
• 1718 – Joseph Damer, English politician (d. 1798)
• 1781 – Frederica of Baden, Queen of Sweden (d. 1826)
• 1806 – Jane Pierce, First Lady of the United States (d. 1863)
• 1821 – Sir John Joseph Caldwell Abbott, Canadian statesman (d. 1893)
• 1824 – Gustav Kirchhoff, German physicist (d. 1887)
• 1831 – Clement Studebaker, American automobile executive (d. 1901)
• 1832 – Charles Boycott, British land agent (d. 1897)
• 1835 – Simon Newcomb, Canadian-born American astronomer and mathematician (d. 1909)
• 1837 – Alexandre Guilmant, French organist and composer (d. 1911)
• 1838 – William Henry Perkin, English chemist (d. 1907)
• 1859 – Abraham H. Cannon, American religious figure (d. 1896)
• 1863 – Gabriele D'Annunzio, Italian writer (d. 1938)
• 1863 – Vladimir Vernadsky, Russian mineralogist (d. 1945)
• 1864 – William Halse Rivers Rivers, British psychiatrist (d. 1922)
• 1864 – Alice Tegnér, Swedish composer and organist (d. 1943)
• 1874 – Charles Weeghman, American restaurateur and owner of Chicago Cubs (d. 1938)
• 1878 – Gemma Galgani, Catholic saint and mystic (d. 1903)
• 1880 – Nikolaos Georgantas, Greek discus thrower (d. 1958)
• 1880 – Henry Drysdale Dakin, British-born American biochemist (d. 1952)
• 1881 – Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, first President of Turkey (d. 1938)
• 1881 – Gunnar Nordström, Finnish physicist (d. 1923)
• 1883 – Zoltán Meskó, Hungarian Nazi official (d. 1959)
• 1889 – Þórbergur Þórðarson, Icelandic author (d. 1974)
• 1889 – King Idris I of Libya (d. 1983)
• 1890 – Vaslav Nijinsky, Polish ballet dancer (d. 1950)
• 1890 – William Dudley Pelley, American spiritualist and politician (d. 1965)
• 1890 – Evert Taube, Swedish author and composer (d. 1976)
• 1891 – George W. Mason, American industrialist (d. 1954)
• 1895 – William C. Lee, American Army general (d. 1948)
• 1907 – Arthur Hewlett, British actor (d. 1997)
• 1907 – Dorrit Hoffleit, American astronomer (d. 2007)
• 1908 – Rita Angus, New Zealand painter (d. 1970)
• 1908 – David Saul Marshall Singaporean statesman (d. 1995)
• 1910 – Masayoshi Ohira, Japanese statesman (d. 1980)
• 1911 – Gustavo Díaz Ordaz, Mexican statesman (d. 1979)
• 1912 – Irving Layton, Canadian poet (d. 2006)
• 1912 – Paul Weston, American pianist, arranger and conductor (d. 1996)
• 1913 – Yashwantrao Chavan, Indian politician (d. 1984)
• 1914 – Julia Lennon, mother of John Lennon (d. 1958)
• 1915 – Willibald C. Bianchi, American Army officer and Medal of Honor winner (d. 1945)
• 1917 – Millard Kaufman, American screenwriter (d. 2009)
• 1917 – Googie Withers, British actress
• 1918 – Elaine de Kooning, American artist (d. 1989)
• 1919 – Mike Stepovich, American attorney and last territorial governor of Alaska
• 1921 – Gianni Agnelli, Italian auto executive (d. 2003)
• 1921 – Ülo Jõgi, Estonian historian and anti-Soviet activist (d. 2007)
• 1921 – Gordon MacRae, American singer and actor (d. 1986)
• 1922 – Jack Kerouac, American writer (d. 1969)
• 1922 – Lane Kirkland, American labor leader (d. 1999)
• 1923 – Hjalmar Andersen, Norwegian speed skater
• 1923 – Norbert Brainin, Austrian violinist (d. 2005)
• 1923 – Clara Fraser, American feminist and activist (d. 1998)
• 1923 – Hanne Hiob, German actress (d. 2009)
• 1923 – Wally Schirra, American astronaut (d. 2007)
• 1923 – Mae Young, American professional wrestler
• 1925 – Louison Bobet, French cyclist (d. 1983)
• 1925 – Georges Delerue, French film composer (d. 1992)
• 1925 – Leo Esaki, Japanese physicist, Nobel laureate
• 1925 – Harry Harrison, American author
• 1926 – George Ariyoshi, American politician
• 1926 – DeLois Barrett Campbell, American gospel singer (d. 2011)
• 1927 – Raúl Alfonsín, Argentine politician (d. 2009)
• 1928 – Edward Albee, American dramatist
• 1928 – Thérèse Lavoie-Roux, Canadian politician and senator
• 1928 – Aldemaro Romero, Venezuelan musician (d. 2007)
• 1929 – Win Tin, Burmese journalist
• 1930 – Vernon Law, American baseball player
• 1931 – Herbert Kelleher, American airline executive
• 1931 – Billie "Buckwheat" Thomas, American actor (d. 1980)
• 1932 – Andrew Young, American civil rights activist and politician
• 1933 – Barbara Feldon, American actress and model
• 1935 – John Doherty, English footballer (d. 2007)
• 1936 – Patrick Procktor, English artist (d. 2003)
• 1936 – Eddie Sutton, American college basketball coach
• 1938 – Johnny Rutherford, American automobile racer
• 1938 – Dimitri Terzakis, Greek composer
• 1940 – Al Jarreau, American singer
• 1940 – M.A. Numminen, Finnish singer and writer
• 1940 – Joe Unger, American actor
• 1942 – Ratko Mladić, Serbian military commander
• 1942 – Jimmy Wynn, American baseball player
• 1945 – Sammy Gravano, American organized crime figure
• 1946 – Liza Minnelli, American singer and actress
• 1946 – Frank Welker, American voice actor
• 1946 – Peter Whalley, British television writer and author
• 1946 – Serge Turgeon, Canadian actor and union leader (d. 2004)
• 1947 – Kalervo Palsa, Finnish artist (d. 1987)
• 1947 – Mitt Romney, American politician
• 1947 – Peter Harry Carstensen, German politician
• 1948 – James Taylor, American musician
• 1948 – Kent Conrad, American politician
• 1948 – Virginia Bottomley, British politician
• 1949 – Rob Cohen, American film director, producer and writer
• 1949 – Moctesuma Esparza, Mexican producer and filmmaker
• 1949 – Natalia Kuchinskaya, Soviet gymnast
• 1949 – David Mellor, British QC, politician and broadcaster
• 1950 – Javier Clemente, Spanish football manager
• 1950 – Jon Provost, American actor
• 1950 – Wheeler Winston Dixon, American filmmaker, critic and author
• 1952 – Naomi Shihab Nye, American poet, songwriter, and novelist
• 1953 – Carl Hiaasen, American journalist and author
• 1953 – Ron Jeremy, American pornographic actor
• 1956 – Steve Harris, English musician
• 1956 – Dale Murphy, American baseball player
• 1957 – Patrick Battiston, French footballer
• 1957 – Marlon Jackson, American singer and musician (The Jackson 5)
• 1958 – Matt Millen, American football player
• 1960 – Kipp Lennon, American singer
• 1960 – Minoru Niihara, Japanese singer
• 1960 – Maki Nomiya, Japanese singer (Pizzicato Five)
• 1960 – Courtney B. Vance, American actor
• 1961 – Joseph Facal, Canadian politician
• 1962 – Darryl Strawberry, American baseball player
• 1962 – Julia Campbell, American actress
• 1963 – Ian Holloway, English football manager
• 1963 – Joaquim Cruz, Brazilian runner
• 1963 – Princess Farahnaz Pahlavi of Iran
• 1965 – Steve Finley, American baseball player
• 1965 – Shawn Gilbert, American baseball player
• 1965 – Steve Levy, American sports journalist
• 1965 – Coleen Nolan, British singer
• 1965 – Liza Umarova, Chechen torch singer
• 1966 – Grant Long, American basketball player
• 1966 – John Thompson III, American basketball coach
• 1967 – Julio Dely Valdes, Panamanian footballer
• 1968 – Aaron Eckhart, American actor
• 1968 – Tammy Duckworth, American politician, military aviator
• 1969 – Graham Coxon, English musician (Blur)
• 1969 – Jake Tapper, American journalist
• 1970 – Dave Eggers, American writer, editor, and publisher
• 1970 – Ray Prewitt, American actor
• 1970 – Roy Khan, Norwegian singer (Kamelot)
• 1970 – John Nemechek, American NASCAR driver (d. 1997)
• 1970 – Rex Walters, American basketball player
• 1971 – Tony Eveready, American adult film actor
• 1971 – Isaiah Rider, American basketball player
• 1972 – Hector Luis Bustamante, Colombian actor
• 1972 – James Maritato, American wrestler
• 1974 – Chris Parr, American basketball player
• 1974 – Steve Price, Australia rugby league player
• 1975 – Kelle Bryan, English singer
• 1975 – Todd Rock, American state legislator
• 1975 – Annabel Port, English radio presenter
• 1976 – Panagiotis Bahramis, Greek footballer
• 1976 – Zhao Wei, Chinese actress
• 1977 – Ramiro Corrales, American footballer
• 1978 – Masuimi Max, American model
• 1978 – Christianne Klein, American journalist and television personality
• 1978 – Casey Mears, American auto racer
• 1978 – Claudio Sanchez, American musician (Coheed and Cambria)
• 1978 – Arina Tanemura, Japanese manga artist
• 1979 – Rhys Coiro, American actor
• 1979 – Pete Doherty, English musician
• 1979 – Nidia Guenard, American wrestler
• 1979 – Shaun Rogers, American football player
• 1979 – Edwin Villafuerte, Ecuadorian footballer
• 1979 – Jamie Dwyer, Australian hockey player
• 1980 – John-Paul Lavoisier, American actor
• 1980 – Douglas Murray, Swedish ice hockey player
• 1981 – Maurizio Lauro, Italian footballer
• 1981 – Kenta Kobayashi, Japanese wrestler
• 1982 – Samm Levine, American actor
• 1982 – Zach Miner, American baseball player
• 1982 – Tobias Schweinsteiger, German footballer
• 1983 – Atif Aslam, Pakistani singer
• 1984 – Jaimie Alexander, American actress
• 1984 – Shreya Ghoshal, Indian singer
• 1985 – Bradley Wright-Phillips, English footballer
• 1986 – Danny Jones, English singer (McFly)
• 1986 – Ben Offereins, Australian athlete
• 1987 – Chris Seitz, American footballer
• 1987 – Teimour Radjabov, Azerbaijani chess player
• 1988 – Konstantinos Mitroglou, Greek footballer
• 1989 – Tyler Clary, American swimmer
• 1994 – Tyler Patrick Jones, American actor
• 1994 – Christina Grimmie, American singer, songwriter, pianist
• 1995 – Kanon Fukuda, Japanese singer

Deaths

• 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-Kōgon of Japan (b. 1336)
• 1447 – Shah Rukh, ruler of Persia and Transoxonia (b. 1377)
• 1507 – Cesare Borgia, Italian general and statesman (b. 1475)
• 1608 – Koriki Kiyonaga, Japanese warlord (b. 1530)
• 1628 – John Bull, English composer
• 1648 – Tirso de Molina, Spanish writer (b. 1571)
• 1681 – Frans van Mieris, Sr., Dutch painter (b. 1635)
• 1699 – Peder Griffenfeld, Danish statesman (b. 1635)
• 1757 – Giuseppe Galli-Bibiena, Italian architect/painter (b. 1696)
• 1790 – Andreas Hadik, Austro-Hungarian general (b. 1710)
• 1832 – Friedrich Kuhlau, German composer (b. 1786)
• 1858 – William James Blacklock, British landscape painter (b. 1816)
• 1872 – Zeng Guofan, Chinese politician and general (b. 1811)
• 1894 – Illarion Pryanishnikov, Russian painter (b. 1840)
• 1898 – Zacharias Topelius, Finnish-Swedish writer (b. 1818)
• 1908 – Edmondo De Amicis, Italian children's writer (b. 1846)
• 1909 – Joe Petrosino, American police lieutenant (b. 1860)
• 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)
• 1925 – Gergely Luthár, Hungarian Slovene writer (b. 1841)
• 1929 – Asa Griggs Candler, American businessman (b. 1851)
• 1930 – Alois Jirásek, Czech writer (b. 1851)
• 1930 – William George Barker, Canadian fighter ace (b. 1894)
• 1937 – Jenő Hubay, Hungarian violinist (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)
• 1944 – Artur Gavazzi, Croatian geographer (b. 1861)
• 1945 – Friedrich Fromm, German Army Officer (b. 1861)
• 1946 – Ferenc Szálasi, Hungarian politician (executed) (b. 1897)
• 1947 – Winston Churchill, American novelist (b. 1871)
• 1955 – Charlie Parker, American jazz saxophonist (b. 1920)
• 1973 – Frankie Frisch, American baseball player (b. 1898)
• 1974 – George D. Sax, American entrepreneur (b. 1904)
• 1978 – John Cazale, American actor (b. 1935)
• 1978 – Gene Moore, American baseball player (b. 1909)
• 1984 – Arnold Ridley, English playwright and actor (b. 1896)
• 1985 – Eugene Ormandy, Hungarian conductor (b. 1899)
• 1987 – Woody Hayes, American football coach (b. 1913)
• 1989 – Maurice Evans, English-born actor (b. 1901)
• 1990 – Wallace Breem, British author (b. 1926)
• 1991 – Ragnar Granit, Finnish neuroscientist, Nobel laureate (b. 1900)
• 1991 – William Heinesen, Faroese writer, poet and artist (b. 1900)
• 1995 – Juanin Clay, American actress (b. 1949)
• 1998 – Judge Dread, English musician (b. 1945)
• 1998 – Jozef Kroner, Slovak actor (b. 1924)
• 1998 – Beatrice Wood, American artist and ceramist (b. 1893)
• 1999 – Yehudi Menuhin, American-born violinist (b. 1916)
• 2001 – Morton Downey, Jr., American television talk show host (b. 1933)
• 2001 – Robert Ludlum, American author (b. 1927)
• 2002 – Spyros Kyprianou, Cypriot politician (b. 1932)
• 2002 – Jean-Paul Riopelle, Canadian painter and sculptor (b. 1923)
• 2003 – Zoran Đinđić, Prime Minister of Serbia (b. 1952)
• 2003 – Howard Fast, American author (b. 1914)
• 2003 – Andrei Kivilev, Kazakh cyclist (b. 1973)
• 2003 – Lynne Thigpen, American actress (b. 1948)
• 2005 – Bill Cameron, Canadian journalist (b. 1943)
• 2005 – Stavros Koujioumtzis, Greek songwriter (b. 1932)
• 2006 – Victor Sokolov, Russian dissident journalist and priest (b. 1947)
• 2007 – Hege Nerland, Norwegian politician (b. 1966)
• 2008 – Jorge Guinzburg, Argentine journalist, producer and media host (b. 1949)
• 2008 – Lazare Ponticelli, French soldier (b. 1897)
• 2010 – Miguel Delibes, Spanish novelist (b. 1920)

Holidays and observances

• Arbor Day (China and Taiwan)
• Christian Feast Day:
  • Fina
  • Maximilian the martyr
  • Pope Gregory I (Eastern Orthodox Church, Eastern Catholic Church, and Episcopal Church in the United States)
  • Theophanes the Confessor
  • March 12 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
• Girl Scout Birthday (United States)
• Grækarismessa (Mass of St. Gregory). According to tradition, the oystercatcher, the Faroes' national bird returns this day. This event is celebrated in the capital, Tórshavn (Faroe Islands)
• National Day (Mauritius)
• World Day Against Cyber Censorship (requested by Reporters Without Borders and Amnesty International in 2009)

External links

• BBC: On This Day
• The New York Times: On This Day
• On This Day in Canada

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