Did you know
In 1991, In modern Russia's first democratic election, Boris Yeltsin is elected as the President of Russia. This featured entry focuses on the immediate decision and its direct historical impact.
June 12 in History
1991 — In modern Russia's first democratic election, Boris Yeltsin is elected as the President of Russia
June 12 spans 59 recorded events across recorded history, from 910 to 2026. Below is a curated digest of the most significant moments tied to this date.
By thisDay.info Editorial Team · — Wikipedia
Historical Events
59 events
910 – 2026
Today in history
More major events on June 12
The featured story and these ranked highlights form a quick summary. Every recorded event remains available in the chronology below.
- 1975 State of Uttar Pradesh v. Raj Narain: Judge Jagmohanlal Sinha rules against Indira Gandhi in a case on her election to the Indian Parliament, and that she should be banned from holding any public office, triggering a political crisis. Source
- 1898 Philippine Declaration of Independence: General Emilio Aguinaldo declares the Philippines' independence from Spain. Source
- 1963 NAACP field secretary Medgar Evers is murdered in front of his home in Jackson, Mississippi, by Ku Klux Klan member Byron De La Beckwith during the civil rights movement. Source
Did you know
Presidential elections were held in the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (RSFSR) on 12 June 1991. This helps explain why the event mattered beyond the initial announcement.
Did you know
This was the first ever Russian presidential election. This clarifies the institutional and public response around the event.
Did you know
The election was held roughly three months after Russians voted in favor of establishing a presidency and holding direct elections in a referendum held in March that year. This shows how the event shaped policy and public communication in the same period.
Did you know
The result was a victory for Boris Yeltsin, who received 58.6% of the vote. This helps explain why the event mattered beyond the initial announcement.
910
Battle of Augsburg: The Hungarians defeat the East Frankish army under King Louis the Child, using the famous feigned retreat tactic of the nomadic warriors.
Battle during the Hungarian invasions of Europe
1042
Constantine IX Monomachos is crowned as Byzantine Emperor, one day after his marriage to Empress Zoe Porphyrogenita.
Byzantine emperor from 1042 to 1055
1206
The Ghurid general Qutb ud-Din Aibak founds the Delhi Sultanate.
Late 8th-century–1215 Iranian dynasty from Ghor, modern Afghanistan
1240
At the instigation of Louis IX of France, an inter-faith debate, known as the Disputation of Paris, starts between a Christian monk and four rabbis.
King of France from 1226 to 1270
1381
Peasants' Revolt: In England, rebels assemble at Blackheath, just outside London.
1381 uprising in England
1418
Armagnac–Burgundian Civil War: Parisians slaughter sympathizers of Bernard VII, Count of Armagnac, along with all prisoners, foreign bankers, and students and faculty of the College of Navarre.
French dynastic war from 1407 to 1435
1429
Hundred Years' War: On the second day of the Battle of Jargeau, Joan of Arc leads the French army in their capture of the city and the English commander, William de la Pole, 1st Duke of Suffolk.
Medieval Anglo-French conflicts, 1337–1453
1550
The city of Helsinki, Finland (belonging to Sweden at the time) is founded by King Gustav I of Sweden.
Capital and most populous city of Finland
1643
The Westminster Assembly is convened by the Parliament of England, without the assent of Charles I, in order to restructure the Church of England.
1643–1653 English church reform council
1653
First Anglo-Dutch War: The Battle of the Gabbard begins, lasting until the following day.
Conflict between the Commonwealth and the Dutch Republic
1665
Thomas Willett is appointed the first mayor of New York City.
1st and 3rd Mayor of New York City (1665–66, 1667–68)
1758
French and Indian War: Siege of Louisbourg: James Wolfe's attack at Louisbourg, Nova Scotia, commences.
North American theater of the Seven Years' War
1772
French explorer Marc-Joseph Marion du Fresne and 25 of his men are killed by Māori in New Zealand.
French explorer and cartographer (1724–1772)
1775
American War of Independence: British general Thomas Gage declares martial law in Massachusetts.
The British offer a pardon to all colonists who lay down their arms. There would be only two exceptions to the amnesty: Samuel Adams and John Hancock, if captured, were to be hanged.
1776
1798
Irish Rebellion of 1798: Battle of Ballynahinch.
Part of the French Revolutionary Wars
1817
The earliest form of bicycle, the dandy horse, is driven by Karl von Drais.
Pedal-driven two-wheel vehicle
1821
Badi VII, king of Sennar, surrenders his throne and realm to Isma'il Pasha, general of the Ottoman Empire, ending the existence of that Sudanese kingdom.
Final ruler of the Funj Sultanate from 1805 to 1821
1830
Beginning of the Invasion of Algiers: Thirty-four thousand French soldiers land 27 kilometers west of Algiers, at Sidi Ferruch.
1830 campaign of the French conquest of Algeria
1864
American Civil War, Overland Campaign: Battle of Cold Harbor: Ulysses S.
Grant gives the Confederate forces under Robert E. Lee a victory when he pulls his Union troops from their position at Cold Harbor, Virginia and moves south.
1898
Philippine Declaration of Independence: General Emilio Aguinaldo declares the Philippines' independence from Spain.
1898 assertion of Philippine independence from Spanish colonial rule
1899
New Richmond tornado: The ninth deadliest tornado in U.S.
history kills 117 people and injures around 200.
1900
The Reichstag approves new legislation continuing Germany's naval expansion program, providing for construction of 38 battleships over a 20-year period.
Germany's fleet would be the largest in the world.
1914
Massacre of Phocaea: Turkish irregulars slaughter 50 to 100 Greeks and expel thousands of others in an ethnic cleansing operation in the Ottoman Empire.
1914 killing of Greeks in the Ottoman Empire
1921
Mikhail Tukhachevsky orders the use of chemical weapons against the Tambov Rebellion, bringing an end to the peasant uprising.
Russian and Soviet military leader (1893–1937)
1935
A ceasefire is negotiated between Bolivia and Paraguay, ending the Chaco War.
Country in South America
1939
Shooting begins on Paramount Pictures' Dr.
Cyclops, the first horror film photographed in three-strip Technicolor.
1939
The Baseball Hall of Fame opens in Cooperstown, New York.
Professional sports hall of fame in New York, U.S.
1940
World War II: Thirteen thousand British and French troops surrender to General Erwin Rommel at Saint-Valery-en-Caux.
Global conflict (1939–1945)
1942
Anne Frank receives a diary for her thirteenth birthday.
German-born diarist and Holocaust victim (1929–1945)
1943
The Holocaust: Germany liquidates the Jewish Ghetto in Brzeżany, Poland (now Berezhany, Ukraine).
Around 1,180 Jews are led to the city's old Jewish graveyard and shot.
1944
World War II: Battle of Carentan: American paratroopers of the 101st Airborne Division secure the town of Carentan, Normandy, France.
1944 battle of World War II
1950
An Air France Douglas DC-4 crashes near Bahrain International Airport, killing 46 people.
Pair of aircraft accidents in Bahrain
1954
Pope Pius XII canonises Dominic Savio, who was 14 years old at the time of his death, as a saint, making him at the time the youngest unmartyred saint in the Roman Catholic Church.
In 2017, Francisco and Jacinta Marto, aged ten and nine at the time of their deaths, are declared as saints.
1963
NAACP field secretary Medgar Evers is murdered in front of his home in Jackson, Mississippi, by Ku Klux Klan member Byron De La Beckwith during the civil rights movement.
American civil rights organization
1963
The film Cleopatra, starring Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, is released in US theaters.
It was the most expensive film made at the time.
1964
Anti-apartheid activist and ANC leader Nelson Mandela's original 5-year sentence is extended to life sentence for high treason together with Denis Goldberg, Ahmed Kathrada, Govan Mbeki, Raymond Mhlaba, Andrew Mlangeni, Elias Motsoaledi and Walter Sisulu in the Rivonia Trial for sabotage in South Africa.
South African system of racial segregation
1967
The United States Supreme Court in Loving v.
Virginia declares all U.S. state laws that prohibit interracial marriage to be unconstitutional.
1975
State of Uttar Pradesh v.
Raj Narain: Judge Jagmohanlal Sinha rules against Indira Gandhi in a case on her election to the Indian Parliament, and that she should be banned from holding any public office, triggering a political crisis.
1979
Bryan Allen wins the second Kremer prize for a man-powered flight across the English Channel in the Gossamer Albatross.
Hang glider pilot
1981
The first of the Indiana Jones film franchise, Raiders of the Lost Ark, is released in theaters.
American film franchise
1982
A nuclear disarmament rally and concert is held in New York City.
Most populous city in the United States
1987
The Central African Republic's former emperor Jean-Bédel Bokassa is sentenced to death for crimes he had committed during his 13-year rule.
Country in Central Africa
1987
Cold War: At the Brandenburg Gate, U.S.
President Ronald Reagan publicly challenges Mikhail Gorbachev to tear down the Berlin Wall.
1988
Austral Líneas Aéreas Flight 046, a McDonnell Douglas MD-81, crashes short of the runway at Libertador General José de San Martín Airport, killing all 22 people on board.
1988 aviation accident
1990
Russia Day: The parliament of the Russian Federation formally declares its sovereignty.
National holiday of the Russian Federation (12 June)
1991
Kokkadichcholai massacre: The Sri Lankan Army massacres 152 minority Tamil civilians in the village of Kokkadichcholai near the Eastern Province town of Batticaloa.
1991 mass killing of Sri Lankan Tamils by the Sri Lankan military
1993
An election takes place in Nigeria and is won by Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola.
Its results are later annulled by the military government of Ibrahim Babangida.
1999
Kosovo War: Operation Joint Guardian begins when a NATO-led United Nations peacekeeping force, Kosovo Force (KFor), enters the province of Kosovo in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.
1998–1999 armed conflict in the Balkans
2009
A disputed presidential election in Iran leads to wide-ranging local and international protests.
2014
Between 1,095 and 1,700 Shia Iraqi people are killed in an attack by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant on Camp Speicher in Tikrit, Iraq.
It is the second deadliest act of terrorism in history, only behind 9/11.
2016
Forty-nine civilians are killed and 58 others injured in an attack on a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida, United States; the gunman, Omar Mateen, is killed in a gunfight with police.
2016 mass shooting in Florida, U.S.
2018
United States President Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un of North Korea hold the first meeting between leaders of their two countries in Singapore.
Country primarily in North America
2019
Kassym-Jomart Tokayev is inaugurated as the second president of Kazakhstan.
President of Kazakhstan since 2019
2024
A fire in a residential building in Mangaf, Kuwait City kills at least 50 people.
2024 residential building fire in Kuwait
2025
Air India Flight 171, a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, crashes shortly after takeoff into the B.
J. Medical College, Ahmedabad, India, killing 241 out of 242 onboard as well as 19 on the ground. This marked the first fatal crash and hull loss of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner.
2026
South African-American businessman Elon Musk becomes the first US$ trillionaire with the initial public offering of SpaceX.
Businessman and public official (born 1971)