Events on December 12 47
Year 627
Battle of Nineveh: A Byzantine army under Emperor Heraclius defeats Emperor Khosrau II's Persian forces, commanded by General Rhahzadh.
Year 884
King Carloman II dies after a hunting accident. He is succeeded by his cousin, emperor Charles the Fat, who for the last time reunites the Frankish Empire.
Year 1098
First Crusade: Siege of Ma'arrat al-Numan: Crusaders breach the town's walls and massacre about 20,000 inhabitants. After finding themselves with insufficient food, they reportedly resort to cannibalism.
Year 1388
Mary of Enghien sells the lordship of Argos and Nauplia to the Republic of Venice.
Year 1408
The Order of the Dragon, a monarchical chivalric order, is created by Sigismund of Luxembourg, then king of Hungary.
Year 1781
American Revolutionary War: Second Battle of Ushant: A British fleet led by HMS Victory defeats a French fleet.
Year 1787
Pennsylvania becomes the second state to ratify the United States Constitution, five days after Delaware became the first.
Year 1862
American Civil War: USS Cairo sinks on the Yazoo River, becoming the first armored ship to be sunk by a controlled mine.
Year 1866
Oaks explosion: The worst mining disaster in England kills 361 miners and rescuers.
Year 1870
Joseph H. Rainey of South Carolina becomes the second black U.S. congressman, the first being Hiram Revels.
Year 1901
Guglielmo Marconi receives the first transatlantic radio signal (the letter "S" [***] in Morse Code), at Signal Hill in St John's, Newfoundland.
Year 1911
King George V of the United Kingdom and Mary of Teck are enthroned as Emperor and Empress of India.
Year 1915
President of the Republic of China, Yuan Shikai, announces his intention to reinstate the monarchy and proclaim himself Emperor of China.
Year 1917
In Nebraska, Father Edward J. Flanagan founds Boys Town as a farm village for wayward boys.
Year 1925
The Majlis of Iran votes to crown Reza Khan as the new Shah of Iran, starting the Pahlavi dynasty.
Year 1935
Lebensborn Project, a Nazi reproduction program, is founded by Heinrich Himmler.
Year 1936
Xi'an Incident: The Generalissimo of the Republic of China, Chiang Kai-shek, is kidnapped by Zhang Xueliang.
Year 1937
Second Sino-Japanese War: USS Panay incident: Japanese aircraft bomb and sink U.S. gunboat USS Panay on the Yangtze river in China.
Year 1939
Winter War: Battle of Tolvajärvi: Finnish forces defeat those of the Soviet Union in their first major victory of the conflict.
Year 1939
HMS Duchess sinks after a collision with HMS Barham off the coast of Scotland with the loss of 124 men.
Year 1940
World War II: Approximately 70 people are killed in the Marples Hotel, Fitzalan Square, Sheffield, as a result of a German air raid.
Year 1941
World War II: Fifty-four Japanese A6M Zero fighters raid Batangas Field, Philippines. Jesús Villamor and four Filipino fighter pilots fend them off; César Basa is killed.
Year 1941
World War II: The United Kingdom declares war on Bulgaria. Hungary and Romania declare war on the United States. India declares war on Japan.
Year 1941
Adolf Hitler declares the imminent extermination of the Jews at a meeting in the Reich Chancellery
Year 1942
World War II: German troops begin Operation Winter Storm, an attempt to relieve encircled Axis forces during the Battle of Stalingrad.
Year 1946
A fire at an ice plant in Hudson Heights, Manhattan spreads to an adjacent tenement, killing 37 people.
Year 1948
Malayan Emergency: Batang Kali massacre: Fourteen members of the Scots Guards stationed in Malaya allegedly massacre 24 unarmed civilians and set fire to the village.
Year 1950
Paula Ackerman, the first woman appointed to perform rabbinical functions in the United States, leads the congregation in her first services.
Year 1964
Prime Minister Jomo Kenyatta becomes the first President of the Republic of Kenya.
Year 1969
Years of Lead: Piazza Fontana bombing: The offices of Banca Nazionale dell'Agricoltura in Piazza Fontana, Milan, are bombed.
Year 1979
Coup d'état of December Twelfth: South Korean Army Major General Chun Doo-hwan orders the arrest of Army Chief of Staff General Jeong Seung-hwa without authorization from President Choi Kyu-ha, alleging involvement in the assassination of ex-President Park Chung-hee.
Year 1979
President of Pakistan Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq confers Nishan-e-Imtiaz on Nobel laureate Dr Abdus Salam.
Year 1979
The unrecognised state of Zimbabwe-Rhodesia returns to British control and resumes using the name Southern Rhodesia.
Year 1979
The 8.2 Mw Tumaco earthquake shakes Colombia and Ecuador with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent), killing 300-600, and generating a large tsunami.
Year 1983
The Australian Labor government led by Prime Minister Bob Hawke and Treasurer Paul Keating floats the Australian dollar.
Year 1984
Maaouya Ould Sid'Ahmed Taya becomes the third president of Mauritania after a coup d'état against Mohamed Khouna Ould Haidalla while the latter is attending a summit.
Year 1985
Arrow Air Flight 1285, a McDonnell Douglas DC-8, crashes after takeoff in Gander, Newfoundland, killing all 256 people on board, including 236 members of the United States Army's 101st Airborne Division.
Year 1988
The Clapham Junction rail crash kills thirty-five and injures hundreds after two collisions of three commuter trains—one of the worst train crashes in the United Kingdom.
Year 2001
Prime Minister of Vietnam Phan Văn Khải announces the decision on upgrading the Phong Nha-Kẻ Bàng nature reserve to a national park, providing information on projects for the conservation and development of the park and revised maps.
Year 2012
North Korea successfully launches its first satellite, Kwangmyŏngsŏng-3 Unit 2, using an Unha-3 carrier rocket.