Today in History – February 12 in History
What happened on this day in history – February 12 in History
| 1294 | Kublai Khan, the conqueror of Asia, dies at the age of 80. | |
| 1554 | Lady Jane Grey, the Queen of England for thirteen days, is beheaded on Tower Hill. She was barely 17 years old. | |
| 1709 | Alexander Selkirk, the Scottish seaman whose adventures inspired the creation of Daniel Dafoe’s Robinson Crusoe, is taken off Juan Fernandez Island after more than four years of living there alone. | |
| 1793 | The first fugitive slave law, requiring the return of escaped slaves, is passed. | |
| 1818 | Chile gains independence from Spain. | |
| 1836 | Mexican General Santa Anna crosses the Rio Grande en route to the Alamo. | |
| 1909 | The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is formed. | |
| 1912 | China becomes a republic following the overthrow of the Manchu dynasty. | |
| 1921 | Winston Churchill of London is appointed colonial secretary. | |
| 1924 | George Gershwin’s groundbreaking symphonic jazz composition Rhapsody in Blue premieres with Gershwin himself playing the piano with Paul Whiteman’s orchestra. | |
| 1929 | Charles Lindbergh announces his engagement to Anne Morrow. | |
| 1931 | Japan makes its first television broadcast–a baseball game. | |
| 1935 | The Macon, the last U.S. Navy dirigible, crashes off the coast of California, killing two people. | |
| 1938 | Japan refuses to reveal naval data requested by the U.S. and Britain. | |
| 1940 | The Soviet Union signs a trade treaty with Germany to aid against the British blockade. | |
| 1944 | Wendell Wilkie enters the American presidential race against Franklin D. Roosevelt. | |
| 1949 | Moslem Brotherhood chief Hassan el Banna is shot to death in Cairo. | |
| 1953 | The Soviets break off diplomatic relations with Israel after the bombing of Soviet legation. | |
| 1966 | The South Vietnamese win two big battles in the Mekong Delta. | |
| 1972 | Senator Edward Kennedy advocates amnesty for Vietnam draft resisters. | |
| 1974 | The Symbionese Liberation Army asks the Hearst family for $230 million in food for the poor. | |
| 1980 | The Lake Placid Winter Olympics open in New York. | |
| 1987 | A Court in Texas upholds $8.5 billion of a fine imposed on Texaco for the illegal takeover of Getty Oil. | |
| 1999 | The U.S. Senate fails to pass two articles of impeachment against President Bill Clinton. He had been accused of perjury and obstruction of justice by the House of Representatives. | |
| Born on February 12 | ||
| 1768 | Francis II, the last Holy Roman Emperor | |
| 1775 | Louisa Adams, wife of John Quincy Adams | |
| 1809 | Charles Darwin, naturalist and influential theorist of evolution (On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection). | |
| 1809 | Abraham Lincoln, 16th U.S. President of the United State (1861-1865). | |
| 1828 | George Meredith, English poet and novelist. | |
| 1857 | Eugene Atget, French photographer, took over 10,000 photographs documenting Paris. | |
| 1874 | Auguste Perret, French architect, pioneer in designs of reinforced concrete buildings. | |
| 1880 | John L. Lewis, American labor leader. | |
| 1893 | Omar Bradley, U.S. army general during World War II. | |