125 things happened on 12 February, from AD 41 to 2026. UK stories come first, then the rest of the world.
1809 · 217 years ago
Charles Darwin was an English naturalist, geologist and biologist. From 1831 to 1836 he went on a five-year voyage aboard HMS Beagle, collecting wildlife and fossils. He argued that all living things share ancestors and change over time through natural select…
UK history first: stories from England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
UK story
During the Hundred Years' War, the English were besieging the French city of Orléans. French and Scottish forces attacked a convoy bringing them supplies, but Sir John Fastolf's English troops won. The carts held weapons and cannonballs, and also barrels of herring for the meat-free days of Lent. The fish gave the battle its unusual name.
UK story
The Convention Parliament declared that King James II had abdicated, or given up the throne, by fleeing to France in 1688. It handed the crowns of England and Ireland to William III and Mary II. James was the last Catholic monarch of England, Scotland and Ireland. His removal, known as the Glorious Revolution, confirmed that Parliament had more power than the Crown.
UK story
World War II: Operation Deadlight ends after scuttling 121 of 154 captured U-boats.
UK story
Malcolm X visits Smethwick near Birmingham following the racially-charged 1964 United Kingdom general election.
Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama left Lisbon with 15 ships and 800 men on his second voyage to India. His first voyage, in 1497–1499, had found the first sea route from Europe to India. His ships sailed around the southern tip of Africa and across the Indian Ocean. This opened up European trade in spices such as pepper and cinnamon.
Chile's Declaration of Independence from the Spanish Empire was formally approved by its leader, Bernardo O'Higgins. A ceremony of independence was held on the same day, exactly one year after the Battle of Chacabuco. O'Higgins was a major leader of Chile's successful struggle for independence. He is seen as one of the country's founding fathers.
Ecuador annexed the Galápagos Islands, which means it officially made them part of the country. These volcanic islands lie in the Pacific Ocean, around the equator, far to the west of South America. They are famous for animals and plants found nowhere else on Earth. Charles Darwin studied them in the 1830s, and they inspired his theory of evolution by natural selection.
Puyi, the last emperor of China, gave up the throne. He had become emperor of the Qing dynasty in 1908, when he was just two years old. After the Xinhai Revolution, the Empress Dowager Longyu signed the abdication for him. Puyi was allowed to keep his title and to go on living in the Forbidden City.
George Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue was first performed at Aeolian Hall in New York City. The piece, for solo piano and jazz band, mixes classical music with the sounds of jazz. Bandleader Paul Whiteman had asked Gershwin to write it, and Gershwin played the piano himself. The concert was called 'An Experiment in Modern Music'.
NASA's robotic space probe NEAR Shoemaker touched down on Eros, a stony asteroid with a long, stretched shape. It was the first spacecraft ever to land on an asteroid. Before landing, it had spent a year orbiting Eros and studying it from close by. Eros was the first near-Earth asteroid ever discovered.
Pope Francis, head of the Catholic Church, met Patriarch Kirill, head of the Russian Orthodox Church, at Havana's airport in Cuba. It was the first time leaders of these two churches had ever met. Together they signed a statement known as the Havana Declaration. The Catholic and Orthodox churches had split apart long before, in the Great Schism of 1054.
Upon reaching Rome, Bruno of Toul is elected as pope Leo IX and starts initiating reforms.
Pope Urban II confirms the foundation of the abbey of La Roë under Robert of Arbrissel as a community of canons regular.
The Italian professor Galeazzo di Santa Sofia performs the first post-mortem autopsy for the purposes of teaching and demonstration at the Heiligen–Geist Spital in Vienna.
Queen Isabella I issued an edict outlawing Islam in the Crown of Castile, forcing virtually all her Muslim subjects to convert to Christianity.
Santiago, Chile is founded by Pedro de Valdivia.
Japanese invasion of Korea: Approximately 3,000 Joseon defenders led by general Kwŏn Yul successfully repel more than 30,000 Japanese forces in the Siege of Haengju.
Georgia Day: Englishman James Oglethorpe founds Georgia, the 13th colony of the Thirteen Colonies, by settling at Savannah.
Gustav III becomes the King of Sweden.
An Argentine/Chilean patriotic army, after crossing the Andes, defeats Spanish troops at the Battle of Chacabuco.
The Creek cede the last of their lands in Georgia to the United States government by the Treaty of Indian Springs, and migrate west.
The precursor of Michigan State University in East Lansing was founded as the United States' first agricultural college.
Antonín Dvořák's Jakobín is premiered at the National Theater in Prague.
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is founded.
Mexican football club Toluca FC was founded by a group of local businessmen and sports enthusiasts.
Bolsheviks launch a revolt in Georgia as a preliminary to the Red Army invasion of Georgia.
The Imperial Japanese Army initiated the Battle of Pasir Panjang in Kent Ridge Park in Singapore.
Christian Dior unveils a "New Look", helping Paris regain its position as the capital of the fashion world.
The largest observed iron meteorite until that time creates an impact crater in Sikhote-Alin, in the Soviet Union.
The Soviet Union launches Venera 1 towards Venus.
Construction begins on the Gateway Arch in St. Louis, Missouri.
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1970, is exiled from the Soviet Union.
While claiming the right of innocent passage through Soviet territorial waters in the Black Sea, the American cruiser USS Yorktown and destroyer USS Caron were bumped by Soviet warships.
Carmen Lawrence becomes the first female Premier in Australian history when she becomes Premier of Western Australia.
The current Constitution of Mongolia comes into effect.
United States President Bill Clinton is acquitted by the United States Senate in his impeachment trial.
The country known as the Republic of Macedonia renames itself the Republic of North Macedonia in accordance with the Prespa agreement, settling a long-standing naming dispute with Greece.
In the first general election since the July Revolution in Bangladesh, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, led by Tarique Rahman, wins a landslide victory upon returning to power after almost 19 years. A referendum held alongside was also approved by the majority of voters.
Every answer is somewhere on this page. Have a go, then check!
In which year was Charles Darwin born?
C: 1809. 1809 — that’s 217 years ago. Find it on the page
In which year did this happen: “English troops win the Battle of the Herrings in France”?
B: 1429. 1429 — that’s 597 years ago. Find it on the page
Which of these happened first?
B: English troops win the Battle of the Herrings in France. 2001: NEAR Shoemaker becomes the first spacecraft to land on an asteroid · 1429: English troops win the Battle of the Herrings in France · 1689: Parliament declares that James II has given up the throne Find it on the page
“Parliament declares that James II has given up the throne” happened in 1689. How many years ago was that?
B: 337 years. 2026 − 1689 = 337. Find it on the page
Famous people whose birthday is 12 February.
UK story
Charles Darwin was an English naturalist, geologist and biologist. From 1831 to 1836 he went on a five-year voyage aboard HMS Beagle, collecting wildlife and fossils. He argued that all living things share ancestors and change over time through natural selection. He explained his theory of evolution in his famous book On the Origin of Species in 1859.
Abraham Lincoln was the 16th president of the United States, from 1861 to 1865. Born in a one-room log cabin in Kentucky, he taught himself and became a lawyer. As president, he led his country through the American Civil War and played a major role in ending slavery. He was born on exactly the same day as the English scientist Charles Darwin.
Well-known people who died on 12 February.
Festivals, holidays and saints’ days celebrated on 12 February somewhere in the world.
Content note: these entries mention things like war, violence, deaths, disasters or crime. They are part of history, but they can be upsetting. Grown-ups and teachers: you may want to read them first. They come straight from Wikipedia and have not been rewritten for children.
Stories with a heading have been written for young readers by A Day in the Past, using the linked articles as sources. Other entries show text from Wikipedia’s “February 12” page and its “On this day” feed, written by Wikipedia contributors and shared under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 licence. Each “Read more” link goes to the article an entry is based on. Photos are credited under each picture. Spotted a mistake? Please tell us.