December 12 in History

Maria of Enghien, also known as Marie of Enghien or d'Enghien (after 1363–1392/1393), was the Lady of Argos and Nauplia in Frankish Greece from 1376 or 1377 to 1388. She inherited the estate from her father, Guy of Enghien, when she was a minor. Her paternal uncle, Louis of Enghien, served as her regent. Louis gave Maria in marriage to a Venetian patrician, Pietro Cornaro, in 1377. Maria moved to Venice, but she was involved in the administration of her lordship. After her husband died, she sold the lordship to the Republic of Venice for a regular income in 1388.

The Second Sino-Japanese War was fought between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan and its puppet states between 1937 and 1945, following a period of conflict localized to Manchuria that started in 1931. It is often regarded as the beginning of World War II in Asia, as the wars became heavily intertwined after Japan attacked the United States. It was the largest Asian war in the 20th century. On 18 September 1931, the Japanese staged the Mukden incident, a false flag event fabricated to justify their invasion of Manchuria and establishment of the puppet state of Manchukuo. This is sometimes marked as the beginning of the war. From 1931 to 1937, China and Japan engaged in skirmishes, including in Shanghai and in Northern China. Nationalist and Chinese Communist Party (CCP) forces, respectively led by Chiang Kai-shek and Mao Zedong, had fought each other in the Chinese Civil War since 1927. In late 1933, Chiang Kai-shek encircled the Chinese Communists in an attempt to finally destroy them, forcing the Communists into the Long March, resulting in the Communists losing around 90% of their men. As a Japanese invasion became imminent, Chiang eventually formed a United Front with the Communists in 1936, a process that was hastened by the Xi'an Incident. The war is considered to have begun on 7 July 1937 after the Marco Polo Bridge incident near Beijing, which escalated into full-scale Japanese invasion of the rest of China. Following the protracted Battle of Shanghai, the Japanese captured the capital of Nanjing in 1937 and perpetrated the Nanjing Massacre. After failing to stop the Japanese capture of Wuhan in 1938, China's de facto capital at the time, the Nationalist government relocated to Chongqing in the Chinese interior. After the Sino-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact, Soviet aid bolstered the National Revolutionary Army and Air Force. By 1939, after Chinese victories at Changsha and with Japan's lines of communication stretched deep into the interior, the war reached a stalemate. The Japanese were unable to defeat CCP forces in Shaanxi, who waged a campaign of sabotage and guerrilla warfare. In November 1939, Nationalist forces launched a large scale winter offensive, and in August 1940, CCP forces launched the Hundred Regiments Offensive in central China. In retaliation, Japanese forces implemented massive scorched earth policies in North and Central China, killing millions of civilians. In April 1941, Soviet aid was halted with the Soviet–Japanese Neutrality Pact. In December 1941, Japan launched a surprise attack on Pearl Harbor and declared war on the United States and the United Kingdom. The US increased its aid to China under the Lend-Lease Act, becoming its main financial and military supporter. The British Empire supported the Chinese forces against Japan by sending supplies through the Burma Road, linking British colonies in India and Burma to China. Chinese forces also fought with British Empire forces against the Japanese in the Burma campaign to restore Allied usage after the Japanese occupied most of the Burma Road. With Burma cut off, the United States Army Air Forces airlifted material over the Himalayas. In 1944, Japan launched Operation Ichi-Go, the invasion of Henan and Changsha. In 1945, the Chinese Expeditionary Force resumed its advance in Burma and completed the Ledo Road linking India to China. China launched large counteroffensives in South China, repulsed a failed Japanese invasion of West Hunan, and recaptured Japanese occupied regions of Guangxi. Japan formally surrendered on 2 September 1945, following the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Soviet declaration of war and subsequent invasion of Manchuria, Inner Mongolia and Korea. The war resulted in the deaths of around 20 million people, mostly Chinese civilians. Japan carried out the largest attacks in the history of biological warfare, causing at least 200,000 deaths, and used chemical weapons including lethal blister agents. China was recognized as one of the Big Four Allied powers in World War II and one of the "Four Policemen", which formed the foundation of the United Nations. It regained Taiwan and became one of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council. The Japanese surrender ceremony that ended World War II in China, occurred in Nanjing on 9 September 1945. The forces of the Imperial Japanese Army agreed with the Allies terms to cease all armed conflict in the Pacific. During the 15-minute ceremony, General Yasuji Okamura, Commander-in-Chief of the Chinese Expeditionary Force of the Imperial Japanese Army, signed the surrender document which was written in both Japanese and Chinese. The unconditional surrender was overseen and accepted by Kuomintang General He Yingqin, the Chinese representative of Allies of World War II and the commander-in-chief of the Republic of China National Revolutionary Army and British Major-General Eric Hayes. The Chinese Civil War resumed in 1946, ending with a communist victory and the Proclamation of the People's Republic of China in 1949, while the government of the Republic of China relocated to Taiwan.

United Nations Security Council Resolution 121, adopted unanimously on December 12, 1956, after examining the application of Japan for membership in the United Nations, the UN Security Council recommended to the General Assembly that Japan be admitted. The United States first invited Japan to join the UN in 1955 but their admission was vetoed by The Soviet Union in protest of the Republic of China vetoing membership for the Mongolian People's Republic as a part of a 18 nation membership nomination process. The USSR proposed a second resolution to admit both Mongolia and Japan together; the draft resolution was voted upon with only the USSR in favor, and the 10 other members abstaining.

An earthquake occurred at 02:59 local time on 12 December 1979, with the epicenter just offshore from the border between Ecuador and Colombia, near the port city of Tumaco. With a moment magnitude of 8.2 and a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent), it triggered a major tsunami, which was responsible for most of the estimated 300–600 deaths. The hardest hit area was Colombia's Nariño Department.

The coup d'état of December Twelfth or the 12·12 Military Insurrection (Korean: 12·12 군사 반란; Hanja: 十二十二軍事反亂) was a mutiny which took place on 12 December 1979, in South Korea, where a secret society of military officers known as Hanahoe led by Major General Chun Doo-hwan mutinied against the Chief of Staff of the Republic of Korea Army General Jeong Seung-hwa. The coup led to Chun strengthening his military and political position in South Korea, leading to his outright seizure of power as president in 1980.

On 12 December 1999, a Mw 7.3 earthquake struck the northern coast of Zambales in the Philippines. It was felt in various provinces on the island of Luzon including as far north as Ilocos Norte and as far south as Quezon. This is the second earthquake with a magnitude of 7 to hit the area in 10 years with a Mw 7.7 earthquake having occurred in 1990 which killed more than 2,000 people.

Grandmaster (GM) is a title awarded to chess players by the world chess organization FIDE. Apart from World Champion, Grandmaster is the highest title a chess player can attain. Once achieved, the title is held for life.