May 12 is the 132nd day of the year in the
Gregorian calendar (133rd in
leap years). There are 233 days remaining.
- 1191 - Richard I of England marries Berengaria of Navarre.
- 1264 - The Battle of Lewes begins.
- 1328 - Nicholas V is consecrated at St Peter's Basilica[?] in Rome by the bishop of Venice.
- 1588 - Henry III of France flees Paris after Henry of Guise[?] enters the city.
- 1689 - King William's War: William III of England joins the League of Augsburg starting a war with France.
- 1780 - American Revolutionary War: Charleston, South Carolina is taken by British forces.
- 1797 - First Coalition: Napoleon I of France conquers Venice.
- 1864 - American Civil War: Battle of Spotsylvania Court House: The "Bloody Angle" - thousands of Union and Confederate soldiers die.
- 1870 - Manitoba becomes a province of Canada.
- 1881 - In North Africa, Tunisia becomes a French protectorate.
- 1885 - The four day Battle of Batoche[?], pitting rebel French Canadians against the Canadian government, comes to an end with a decisive rebel defeat.
- 1926 - UK General Strike 1926: In the United Kingdom, a general strike by trade unions ends (the strike began on May 3).
- 1932 - Ten weeks after his abduction, the infant son of Charles Lindbergh is found dead in Hopewell, New Jersey just a few miles from the Lindbergh's home.
- 1937 - Coronation of King George VI of the United Kingdom at Westminster Abbey.
- 1942 - World War II: Battle of Kharkov[?] - In the eastern Ukraine, the Soviet Army initiates its first major offensive of the war. During the battle the Soviets will take the city of Kharko[?] back from the German Army.
- 1949 - The Soviet Union lifts its Blockade of Berlin.
- 1958 - A formal North American Aerospace Defense Command agreement is signed between the United States and Canada.
- 1967 - At Queen Elizabeth Hall[?], England, Pink Floyd stages the first ever quadraphonic[?] rock concert.
- 1975 - Mayaguez incident: The Cambodian navy seizes the American merchant ship SS Mayaguez[?] in international waters.
- 1999 - David Steel becomes the first Presiding Officer (speaker) of the modern Scottish Parliament.
- 2000 - The Tate Modern opens in London
- 2002 - Former President Jimmy Carter arrives in Cuba for a five-day visit with Fidel Castro becoming first President of the United States, in or out of office, to visit the island since Castro's 1959 revolution.
- 1496 - Gustav I of Sweden (+ 1560)
- 1670 - King Frederick Augustus I of Poland (+ 1733)
- 1803 - Justus von Liebig, chemist (+ 1873)
- 1820 - Florence Nightingale, nurse (+ 1910)
- 1828 - Dante Gabriel Rossetti, poet, painter (+ 1882)
- 1845 - Gabriel Fauré, composer (+ 1924)
- 1850 - Henry Cabot Lodge, U.S. statesman (+ 1924)
- 1889 - Otto Frank, writer, father of Anne Frank (+ 1980)
- 1892 - Fritz Kortner[?], director (+ 1970)
- 1899 - Indra Devi[?], yogi (+ 2002)
- 1900 - Helene Weigel[?], actress (+ 1971)
- 1907 - Katharine Hepburn, actress
- 1910 - Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin[?], chemist (+ 1994)
- 1912 - Archibald Cox, U.S. Solicitor General and Watergate special prosecutor
- 1914 - Howard K. Smith, journalist (+ 2002)
- 1918 - Julius Rosenberg, spy (+ 1953)
- 1921 - Joseph Beuys, artist (+ 1986)
- 1921 - Farley Mowat, writer, naturalist
- 1924 - Tony Hancock, comedian (+ 1968)
- 1925 - Yogi Berra, Baseball Hall of Famer
- 1928 - Burt Bacharach, composer
- 1936 - Frank Stella, painter
- 1937 - George Carlin, comedian
- 1942 - Ian Dury, rock star (+ 2000)
- 1948 - Steve Winwood, singer ("Blind Faith", "Traffic")
- 1955 - Brett Gurewitz, guitarist for Bad Religion and NOFX
- 1962 - Emilio Estevez[?], actor
- 1966 - Stephen Baldwin, actor
- 1970 - Mike Weir, golfer
- 1357 - Alphonso IV of Portugal
- 1641 - Thomas Wentworth, Earl of Strafford
- 1845 - Janos Bacsanyi, Hungarian poet
- 1867 - Friedrich William Eduard Gerhard, German archaeologist
- 1884 - Bedrich Smetana, Czech composer
- 1889 - Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin, Russian satirist
- 1907 - Joris-Karl Huysmans, French author
- 1925 - Amy Lowell, poet
- 1935 - Jozef Pilsudski, father of modern Poland
- 1944 - Max Brand[?], author
- 1944 - Q, British writer
- 1956 - Louis Calhern, silent film actor
- 1986 - Elisabeth Bergner, actress
- 1988 - Chet Baker[?], jazz trumpeter
- 1992 - Robert Reed, actor
- 2001 - Perry Como[?], singer
Events
See Also:
May 11 - May 13 - April 12 - June 12 -- listing of all days
January, February, March, April, May, June, July,
August, September, October, November, December