Today In History - April 12

1111 Pope Paschalis II crowns Henry V, Roman emperor
1204 4th Crusade occupies and plunders Constantinople
1385 John without Fear marries Margaretha of Brabant
1545 French king Francois I orders protestants of Vaudois to be killed
1583 William of Orange marries Louise de Coligny
1606 England adopts Union Jack as its flag
1648 University of Harderwijk Netherlands solemn opens
1654 England, Ireland and Scotland united
1709 1st edition of Tattler magazine in England
1713 Dutch State-Gen signs peace with France: Netherlands loses Orange Princedom
1770 Townsend Acts repealed
1776 Halifax resolution for independence adopted by North Carolina
1782 Battle at Les Saintes West-Indies: British fleet beats French
1787 Philadelphia's Free African Society forms
1811 1st U.S. colonists on Pacific coast arrive at Cape Disappointment, WA
1844 Texas became a U.S. territory
1857 Gustave Flaubert's "Madame Bovary" published
1859 Hibernia Savings and Loan Society of San Francisco incorporates
1861 Fort Sumter, South Carolina is shelled by Confederacy, starting Civil War
1862 Union troops occupy Fort Pulaski Georgia
1864 Battle of Blair's Landing Louisiana
1864 Confederate Gen Nathan Bedford Forrest captures Fort Pillow, Tennessee
1869 North Carolina legislature passes anti-Klan Law
1877 British annex Transvaal, in South Africa
1877 Catcher's mask 1st used in a baseball game
1883 French troops under Lt-colonel Borgnis-Desbordes occupy Bamako Senegal
1887 Henrik Ibsen's "Rosmersholm," premieres in Oslo
1894 British and Belgian secret accord on dividing Central-Africa
1898 Army transfers Yerba Buena Island in San Francisco Bay to Navy
1905 Hippodrome arena opens in New York City
1930 Wilfred Rhodes ends Test Cricket career aged 52 years 165 days
1931 Joe McCarthy debuts as New York Yankee manager
1931 Spanish voters reject the monarchy
1932 Emmanuel Chabriers and Balanchines ballet premieres in Monte Carlo
1933 Moffatt Field commissioned
1934 Highest velocity wind ever recorded on Mt Washington, NH, 231 mph
1935 "Your Hit Parade," debuts on radio
1935 Germany prohibits publishing "not-Arian" writers
1935 Royal Proclamation sets design of Canada's new Jubilee Silver Dollar
1938 1st U.S. law requiring medical tests for marriage licenses
1938 Stanley Cup: Chicago Blackhawks beat Toronto Maple Leafs, 3 games to 1
1940 Italy annexes Albania
1940 NFL cuts clipping penalty from 25 yards to 15 yards
1941 Stanley Cup: Boston Bruins sweep Detroit Red Wings in 4 games
1941 Vichy-France's head of government Admiral Dalan consults with Hitler
1942 9th Golf Masters Championship: Byron Nelson wins, shooting a 280
1942 Japan kills about 400 Filipino officers in Bataan
1943 Allies conquer Soussa, North-Africa
1943 Dutch Catholic University Nijmegen closed
1944 Lillian Hellman's "Searching Wind," premieres in New York City
1945 Canadian troops liberate Nazi concentration camp Westerbork, Netherlands
1945 Harry Truman sworn in as 33rd pres
1945 Richard Strauss completes his "Metamorphosis"
1945 U.S. liberates Buchenwald concentration camp
1946 Syria gains independence from France
1954 Bill Haley and Comets records "Rock Around Clock"
1954 Joe Turner releases "Shake, Rattle and Roll"
1955 1st game in Kansas City, Kansas City A's beat Detroit Tigers, 6-2
1955 Salk polio vaccine safe and effective; 4 billion dimes marched
1956 Bandaranaike government forms in Ceylon
1957 Jim Spalding set a 2088 pin nine-game bowling record
1957 U.S.S.R. performs atmospheric nuclear test
1958 12th NBA Championship: St. Louis Hawks beat Bost Celtics, 4 games to 2
1958 Flemish Open air museum opens in Bokrijk
1959 13th Tony Awards: J B and Redhead win
1959 Betsy Rawls wins LPGA Babe Didrikson-Zaharias Golf Open
1959 France Observator reports torture practice by French army in Algeria
1960 Bert Haanstra wins Oscar for "Glass"
1960 Bill Veeck and Chicago Comiskey Park debuts "Exploding Scoreboard"
1961 3rd Grammy Awards: Theme From a Summer Place, Ray Charles wins 4
1961 Douglas MacArthur declines offer to become baseball commissioner
1961 Yuri Gagarin becomes 1st person to orbit Earth in Vostok 1
1962 San Mateo County withdraws from BART district, San Francisco Bay area
1963 Beatles "From Me to You" is released in UK
1963 Birmingham police use dogs and cattle prods on peaceful demonstrators
1964 28th Golf Masters Championship: Arnold Palmer wins, shooting a 276
1964 Sandra Haynie wins LPGA Baton Rouge Ladies' Golf Open Invitational
1966 1st B-52 bombing on North Vietnam
1966 Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium opens; Pirates beat Braves 3-2
1966 Rocker Jan Berry crashes his corvette into a parked truck
1979 Soyuz 33 returns to Earth
1980 BCMA, Black Consciousness Movement of Azania, forms
1981 45th Golf Masters Championship: Tom Watson wins, shooting a 280
1981 Donna Caponi Young wins LPGA American Defender/WRAL Golf Classic
1981 Emmy News and Documentaries Award presentation
1981 Maiden voyage of space shuttle Columbia
1982 3 CBS employees shot to death in New York City parking lot
1983 Harold Washington becomes Chicago's 1st black mayor
1983 U.S.S.R. performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk U.S.S.R.
1985 U.S. Olympic Committee endorses a boycott of Moscow games
1987 51st Golf Masters Championship: Larry Mize wins, shooting a 285
1988 Frank Robinson replaces Cal Ripkin as manager of Baltimore Orioles
1988 Harvard University patents genetically engineered mouse
1988 Sonny Bono elected mayor of Palm Springs California
1989 3rd Soul Train Music Awards: Anita Baker
1989 Peter Ueberroth deal to purchase Eastern Airlines falls through
1990 Greyhound Bus hires new drivers to replace strikers
1990 James Brown moves to a work-release center after serving 15 months
1991 2,500th episode of Entertainment Tonight airs
1991 Nepalese Congress party wins general elections
1991 U.S. announces closing of 31 major U.S. military bases
1992 "Streetcar Named Desire" opens at Ethel Barrymore New York City for 137 performances
1992 2nd lowest NBA scoring game - Detroit Piston 72, New York Knicks 61
1992 53rd PGA Seniors Golf Championship: Lee Trevino
1992 56th Golf Masters Championship: Fred Couples wins, shooting a 275
1992 Actress Lisa Bonet files for divorce from singer Lenny Kravitz
1992 Earthquake rocks Germany
1992 Lynn Gunther of California threatens to blow herself up in front of U.N.
1992 Matt Young no-hits Cleveland, but loses 2-1
1992 New York Mets lose 1st 3 home games for 1st time since 1962
1992 Trump Shuttle becomes U.S. Air Shuttle

Today In History - April 12

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