# What happened on March 12 in history?

**Date:** March 12  
**Events recorded:** 40  
**Years spanned:** 538 – 2020  
**Full page:** https://thisday.info/events/march/12/

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## Featured Event

**2020** — The United States suspends travel from Europe due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

[Read more on Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States)

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## Events on this date

- **538** — Vitiges, king of the Ostrogoths, ends his siege of Rome and retreats to Ravenna, leaving the city to the victorious Byzantine general, Belisarius. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitiges))
- **1088** — Election of Urban II as the 159th Pope of the Catholic Church. He is best known for initiating the Crusades. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1088_papal_election))
- **1158** — German city Munich (München) is first mentioned as forum apud Munichen in the Augsburg arbitration by Holy Roman Emperor Friedrich I. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Munich))
- **1391** — Konrad von Wallenrode is elected the 24th Grand Master of the Teutonic Order (date is O.S.). ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Konrad_von_Wallenrode))
- **1579** — Start of the Siege of Maastricht, part of the Eighty Years' War. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Maastricht_(1579)))
- **1622** — Ignatius of Loyola and Francis Xavier, founders of the Society of Jesus, are canonized by the Roman Catholic Church. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ignatius_of_Loyola))
- **1689** — James II of England lands at Kinsale, starting the Williamite War in Ireland. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_II_of_England))
- **1811** — Peninsular War: A day after a successful rearguard action, French Marshal Michel Ney once again successfully delays the pursuing Anglo-Portuguese force at the Battle of Redinha. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peninsular_War))
- **1862** — Paddle steamer Brother Jonathan docks in Fort Victoria (now Victoria, British Columbia), carrying smallpox-infected passengers from San Francisco. The ensuing epidemic killed an estimated two-thirds of First Nations in the province of British Columbia. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brother_Jonathan_(steamer)))
- **1912** — The Girl Guides (later renamed the Girl Scouts of the USA) are founded in the United States. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Girl_Guides))
- **1913** — The future capital of Australia is officially named Canberra. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australia))
- **1918** — Moscow becomes the capital of Russia again after Saint Petersburg held this status for most of the period since 1713. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moscow))
- **1920** — The Kapp Putsch begins when the Marinebrigade Ehrhardt is ordered to march on Berlin. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kapp_Putsch))
- **1928** — In California, the St. Francis Dam fails; the resulting floods kill 431 people. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California))
- **1930** — Mahatma Gandhi begins the Salt March, a 200-mile (320 km) march to the sea to protest the British monopoly on salt in India. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahatma_Gandhi))
- **1933** — Great Depression: Franklin D. Roosevelt addresses the nation for the first time as President of the United States. This is also the first of his "fireside chats". ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Depression))
- **1938** — Anschluss: German troops occupy and annex Austria. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anschluss))
- **1940** — Winter War: Finland signs the Moscow Peace Treaty with the Soviet Union, ceding almost all of Finnish Karelia. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winter_War))
- **1940** — The most destructive train accident in Finnish history kills 39 and injures 69 people in Turenki, Janakkala. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turenki_rail_accident))
- **1942** — The Battle of Java ends with the surrender of the American-British-Dutch-Australian Command to the Empire of Japan in Bandung, West Java, Dutch East Indies. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Java_(1942)))
- **1947** — Cold War: The Truman Doctrine is proclaimed to help stem the spread of Communism. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold_War))
- **1950** — The Llandow air disaster kills 80 people when the aircraft they are travelling in crashes near Sigingstone, Wales. At the time this was the world's deadliest air disaster. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Llandow_air_disaster))
- **1967** — Suharto takes power from Sukarno when the Provisional People's Consultative Assembly inaugurate him as Acting President of Indonesia. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suharto))
- **1968** — Mauritius gains independence from the United Kingdom. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mauritius))
- **1971** — The 1971 Turkish military memorandum is sent to the Süleyman Demirel government of Turkey and the government resigns. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1971_Turkish_military_memorandum))
- **1989** — Tim Berners-Lee submits his proposal to CERN for an information management system, which subsequently develops into the World Wide Web. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Berners-Lee))
- **1992** — Mauritius becomes a republic while remaining a member of the Commonwealth of Nations. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mauritius))
- **1993** — Several bombs explode in Mumbai, India, killing about 300 people and injuring hundreds more. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1993_Bombay_bombings))
- **1993** — North Korea announces that it will withdraw from the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons and refuses to allow inspectors access to its nuclear sites. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Korea))
- **1999** — Former Warsaw Pact members the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland join NATO. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warsaw_Pact))
- **2003** — Zoran Đinđić, Prime Minister of Serbia, is assassinated in Belgrade. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zoran_%C4%90in%C4%91i%C4%87))
- **2003** — The World Health Organization officially release a global warning of outbreaks of Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS). ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Health_Organization))
- **2004** — President of South Korea, Roh Moo-hyun, is impeached by its National Assembly, the first such impeachment in the nation's history. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/President_of_South_Korea))
- **2006** — In Mahmoudiyah, Iraq, 14-year-old Abeer Qassim Hamza al-Janabi is raped and murdered by five American soldiers of the 502nd Infantry Regiment, who also murder both of her parents and her sister. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahmoudiyah%2C_Iraq))
- **2009** — Financier Bernie Madoff pleads guilty to one of the largest frauds in Wall Street's history. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernie_Madoff))
- **2011** — A reactor at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant explodes and releases radioactivity into the atmosphere a day after the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fukushima_Daiichi_Nuclear_Power_Plant))
- **2014** — A gas explosion in the New York City neighborhood of East Harlem kills eight and injures 70 others. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_East_Harlem_gas_explosion))
- **2018** — US-Bangla Airlines Flight 211 crashes at Tribhuvan International Airport in Katmandu, killing 51 and injuring 20. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/US-Bangla_Airlines_Flight_211))
- **2019** — In the House of Commons, the revised EU Withdrawal Bill was rejected by a margin of 149 votes. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Union_(Withdrawal)_Act_2018))
- **2020** — The United States suspends travel from Europe due to the COVID-19 pandemic. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States))

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## Notable births on March 12

- **2008** — **Emma Kok** — Dutch singer ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emma_Kok))
- **2004** — **DannyLux** — American singer-songwriter ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DannyLux))
- **2003** — **Andrea Brillantes** — Filipino actress and model ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrea_Brillantes))
- **2003** — **Malina Weissman** — American actress and model ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malina_Weissman))
- **2001** — **Max Duggan** — American football player ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Duggan))
- **2001** — **Kim Min-kyu** — South Korean singer and actor ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kim_Min-kyu_(entertainer)))
- **1998** — **Carsen Edwards** — American basketball player ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carsen_Edwards))
- **1998** — **Mecole Hardman** — American football player ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mecole_Hardman))
- **1998** — **Daniel Samohin** — Israeli figure skater ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Samohin))
- **1998** — **Elizaveta Ukolova** — Czech figure skater ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizaveta_Ukolova))

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## Notable deaths on March 12

- **2022** — **Gertraud Gruber** — German beautician and businesswoman (born 1921) ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gertraud_Gruber))
- **2021** — **Ronald DeFeo Jr.** — American criminal (born 1951) ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amityville_murders))
- **2016** — **Rafiq Azad** — Bangladeshi poet and author (born 1942) ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rafiq_Azad))
- **2016** — **Felix Ibru** — Nigerian architect and politician, Governor of Delta State (born 1935) ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felix_Ibru))
- **2016** — **Lloyd Shapley** — American mathematician and economist, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1923) ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lloyd_Shapley))
- **2015** — **Willie Barrow** — American minister and activist (born 1924) ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willie_Barrow))
- **2015** — **Michael Graves** — American architect and academic, designed the Portland Building and the Humana Building (born 1934) ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Graves))
- **2015** — **Ada Jafri** — Pakistani poet and author (born 1924) ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ada_Jafri))
- **2015** — **Terry Pratchett** — English journalist, author, and screenwriter (born 1948) ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry_Pratchett))
- **2014** — **Věra Chytilová** — Czech actress, director, and screenwriter (born 1929) ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V%C4%9Bra_Chytilov%C3%A1))

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## About this page

This is a machine-readable Markdown summary of [thisday.info/events/march/12/](https://thisday.info/events/march/12/).  
Historical data is sourced from [Wikipedia/Wikimedia](https://www.wikipedia.org) under [CC BY-SA](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/).  
Editorial framing and site content © thisday.info.