152 things happened on 12 October, from 539 BC to 2024. UK stories come first, then the rest of the world.
1537 · 489 years ago
Edward VI was the only surviving son of King Henry VIII and his third wife, Jane Seymour. He became King of England and Ireland in 1547 and was crowned at just nine years old. Because he was so young, a council of advisers governed for him. He was the first E…
UK history first: stories from England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
UK story
English soldiers and their Burgundian allies began the Siege of Orléans in France. A siege is when an army surrounds a town to try to force it to give in. This one became a turning point in the Hundred Years' War, a long series of wars between England and France. It lasted into 1429, when the French won the first victory led by Joan of Arc.
UK story
A British squadron of warships led by Rear-Admiral Charles Knowles attacked a Spanish squadron off Havana. Knowles had been hoping to catch the Spanish treasure fleet. The battle lasted three days and the British came out on top. It was part of the War of Jenkins' Ear, a war with a very odd name, fought between Great Britain and Spain from 1739 to 1748.
UK story
The British in India enact the Criminal Tribes Act, naming many local communities "Criminal Tribes".
The army of Cyrus the Great of Persia captured Babylon, bringing the Babylonian empire to an end. This date is given in the old Julian calendar. Cyrus founded the Achaemenid Empire, which became the largest empire the world had yet seen. His victory also ended the rule of the last local royal family of Mesopotamia and gave Persia control of the Fertile Crescent.
The explorer Christopher Columbus, sailing across the Atlantic for Spain, landed on an island in the Caribbean. He believed he had reached the East Indies, the lands and islands of Asia. His voyages were the first known European contact with the Caribbean. They started a chain of events that led to Europeans taking control of large parts of the Americas.
The French balloonist Jeanne Geneviève Garnerin became the first woman to make a parachute descent. She came down from a height of 900 metres, riding in the basket, called a gondola, beneath a hot-air balloon. A parachute works by catching the air, which slows down a falling object. Parachutes are now used by people leaping from aircraft, and even to help land spacecraft on other planets.
President Theodore Roosevelt officially renamed the American president's home. Its official name had been the Executive Mansion, but from now on it was the White House. The building is in Washington, D.C., and every US president has lived there since John Adams in 1800. Roosevelt had become president that year at 42, the youngest person ever to take the job.
Doctors at Boston Children's Hospital in the USA used an iron lung for the first time. It helped an eight-year-old girl who had been paralysed by polio, an illness that can stop muscles working. The iron lung is a large machine that encloses most of the body. It changes the air pressure inside to help the patient breathe. Modern ventilators have now mostly replaced it.
During a meeting of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev is said to have banged his shoe on his desk. He was protesting about a speech by Lorenzo Sumulong, a delegate from the Philippines. The story is famous, although it is not completely certain exactly what happened. Khrushchev led the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964.
Typhoon Tip, a huge storm in the western Pacific Ocean, reached the lowest air pressure ever recorded at sea level anywhere in the world: 870 millibars. Tip is the largest and most intense tropical cyclone ever recorded. A tropical cyclone is a fast-spinning storm with strong winds and heavy rain. In the north-western Pacific, these storms are called typhoons.
The Nichiren Shōshū branch of Buddhism is founded in Japan.
In the Treaty of Salynas, Lithuania cedes Samogitia to the Teutonic Knights.
Chen Yanxiang, the only person from Indonesia known to have visited dynastic Korea, reached Seoul after having set out from Java four months before.
The Salem witch trials are ended by a letter from Province of Massachusetts Bay Governor William Phips.
America's first insane asylum opens.
The first celebration of Columbus Day is held in New York City.
The cornerstone of Old East, the oldest state university building in the United States, is laid at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
The Peasants' War began in Overmere, Southern Netherlands, with peasants taking up arms against the French occupiers.
The citizens of Munich hold the first Oktoberfest in celebration of the marriage of Crown Prince Louis of Bavaria and Princess Therese of Saxe-Hildburghausen.
Pedro I of Brazil is proclaimed the emperor.
The city of Manizales, Colombia, is founded by 'The Expedition of the 20'.
An M 7.7–8.3 earthquake off the Greek island of Crete cause major damage as far as Egypt and Malta.
The Uddevalla Suffrage Association was founded in Uddevalla, Sweden, with the purpose of bringing about universal suffrage.
The Pledge of Allegiance of the United States was first used in public schools to coincide with the opening of the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago.
A statue of Austin Blair (pictured) was dedicated in a ceremony that attracted up to 30,000 people to Lansing, Michigan.
Foundation of Coritiba Foot Ball Club.
The United States Department of Justice acquired a military prison on Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay, to be transformed into the last-resort Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary.
The military Alcatraz Citadel becomes the civilian Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary.
World War II: The Axis occupation of Athens comes to an end.
World War II: Desmond Doss is the first conscientious objector to receive the U.S. Medal of Honor.
The Lao Issara took control of Laos' government and reaffirmed the country's independence.
Il Canto degli Italiani is adopted as national anthem by the newly formed Italian Republic.
After nearly 23 years of imprisonment, Reverend Walter Ciszek, a Jesuit missionary, was released from the Soviet Union.
The Soviet Union launches the Voskhod 1 into Earth orbit as the first spacecraft with a multi-person crew, and the first flight without pressure suits.
Equatorial Guinea becomes independent from Spain.
Vietnam War: Vietnamization continues as President Richard Nixon announces that the United States will withdraw 40,000 more troops before Christmas.
The 2,500 year celebration of the Persian Empire begins.
President Nixon nominates House Minority Leader Gerald R. Ford as the successor to Vice President Spiro T. Agnew.
Hua Guofeng succeeds Mao Zedong as paramount leader of China.
The Magellan spacecraft burns up in the atmosphere of Venus.
New Zealand holds its first general election under the new mixed-member proportional representation system, which led to Jim Bolger's National Party forming a coalition government with Winston Peters's New Zealand First.
The former Autonomous Soviet Republic of Abkhazia declares its independence from Georgia.
The second Chinese human spaceflight, Shenzhou 6, is launched, carrying two cosmonauts in orbit for five days.
The Finnish Yle TV2 channel's Ajankohtainen kakkonen current affairs program airs controversial Homoilta episode (literally "gay night"), which leads to the resignation of almost 50,000 Finns from the Evangelical Lutheran Church.
The European Union wins the 2012 Nobel Peace Prize.
The United States announces its decision to withdraw from UNESCO. Israel immediately follows.
Eliud Kipchoge from Kenya becomes the first person to run a marathon in less than two hours with a time of 1:59:40 in Vienna.
Every answer is somewhere on this page. Have a go, then check!
In which year was Edward VI born?
A: 1537. 1537 — that’s 489 years ago. Find it on the page
In which year did this happen: “British and Spanish warships clash in the Battle of Havana”?
C: 1748. 1748 — that’s 278 years ago. Find it on the page
Which of these happened first?
B: The English army begins the Siege of Orléans in France. 1960: Khrushchev is said to bang his shoe on a desk at the United Nations · 1428: The English army begins the Siege of Orléans in France · 1748: British and Spanish warships clash in the Battle of Havana Find it on the page
“The English army begins the Siege of Orléans in France” happened in 1428. How many years ago was that?
C: 598 years. 2026 − 1428 = 598. Find it on the page
Famous people whose birthday is 12 October.
UK story
Edward VI was the only surviving son of King Henry VIII and his third wife, Jane Seymour. He became King of England and Ireland in 1547 and was crowned at just nine years old. Because he was so young, a council of advisers governed for him. He was the first English monarch to be brought up as a Protestant, and he died in 1553.
UK story
Ralph Vaughan Williams was an English composer who wrote music for more than sixty years. His works include operas, ballets, songs and nine symphonies. He was strongly influenced by English folk songs and by music from Tudor times. His music marked a big change for British composers, who had mostly followed a German style in the 1800s.
Well-known people who died on 12 October.
Festivals, holidays and saints’ days celebrated on 12 October somewhere in the world.
In Brazil, this is Children's Day, a celebration in honour of children. Many countries hold a Children's Day, but they choose different dates. The idea of an International Children's Day was first announced in Geneva in 1925, at a world conference about children's welfare. World Children's Day is held on 20 November.
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 “October 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.