July 12 is the 193rd day of the year (194th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 172 days remaining until the end of the year.
Up to 1900
- 927 – Aethelstan, King of England, secures a pledge from Constantine II of Scotland that he (Constantine) will not ally with Viking Kings, beginning the process of unifying Great Britain.
- 1191 – Third Crusade: Saladin's garrison surrenders to Philip Augustus, ending the two-year siege of Acre.
- 1470 – The Ottoman Empire capture Euboea.
- 1493 – Hartmann Schedel's Nuremberg Chronicle, one of the best-documented early printed books, is published.
- 1543 – King Henry VIII of England married his sixth and last wife, Catherine Parr at Hampton Court Palace.
- 1561 – Moscow's St. Basil's Cathedral is consecrated.
- 1562 – Diego de Landa, acting Bishop of Yucatán, burns the sacred books of the Maya.
- 1573 – Spanish forces under the Duke of Alva capture Haarlem after a seven-month siege.
- 1580 – The Ostrog Bible is published. It is one of the early printed Bibles in a Slavic language.
- 1690 – Williamite War in Ireland: Battle of the Boyne (Gregorian calendar) – The army of William III of England defeats that of the deposed King James VII of Scotland and II of England.
- 1691 – Williamite War in Ireland: Battle of Aughrim (Julian calendar) – The decisive victory of William III's forces in Ireland.
- 1730 – Lorenzo Corsini, in old age and almost blind, becomes Pope Clement XII.
- 1759 – Seven Years' War – French and Indian War: British cannon start firing on French at Quebec City, from Lévis, Quebec.
- 1776 – James Cook begins his voyage.
- 1801 – French Revolutionary Wars: British Royal Navy ships inflict heavy damage against Spanish and French ships in the Second Battle of Algeciras.
- 1806 – Sixteen German imperial states leave the Holy Roman Empire and formed the Confederation of the Rhine. On the same day, Liechtenstein is granted full sovereignty.
- 1812 – War of 1812: The United States invades Canada at Windsor, Ontario.
- 1862 – Medal of Honor authorized by the United States Congress.
- 1879 – The National Guards Unit of Bulgaria is founded.
- 1892 – A hidden lake bursts out of a glacier on the side of Mont Blanc, flooding the valley below and killing around 200 villagers and holidaymakers in Saint Gervais.
1901 – 2000
- 1906 – French military officer Alfred Dreyfus is rehabilitated after his wrongful conviction in the so-called Dreyfus Trial over 12 years earlier.
- 1913 – Second Balkan War: Serbian forces begin their siege of the Bulgarian city of Vidin.
- 1917 – World War I: German troops first use mustard gas.
- 1917 – Bisbee Deportation: Vigilantes kidnap and deport near 1,300 striking miners and others from Bisbee, Arizona.
- 1918 – Imperial Japanese Navy battleship Kawachiblows up at Shunan, Western Honshu, killing 621 people.
- 1920 – In the Soviet-Lithuanian Peace Treaty, Soviet Russia recognizes Lithuanian independence.
- 1924 – The marathon at the 1924 Summer Olympics in Paris is run in the heat of 45 degrees Celsius. Only 15 out of 38 runners reach the finish line. Paavo Nurmi of Finland finishes first.
- 1932 – Lambeth Bridge, London, opened by King George V of the United Kingdom
- 1932 – Hedley Verity establishes a first-class record by taking all ten wickets for only ten runs against Nottinghamshire on a pitch affected by a storm.
- 1933 – Congress passes the first federal minimum wage law in the United States: 33 cents per hour.
- 1943 – World War II: Battle of Kursk – German and Soviet forces engage in largest tank engagement of all time.
- 1950 – René Pleven becomes Prime Minister of France.
- 1960 – Orlyonok, the main Young Pioneer camp of the Russian SFSR, is founded.
- 1961 – Due to heavy rain, two reservoirs in the Indian state of Maharashtra break, causing heavy flooding in the city of Pune, killing 1,000 to 2,000 people.
- 1962 – The Rolling Stones perform their first concert at the Marquee Club in London.
- 1967 – Four days of race riots begin in Newark, New Jersey that will claim the lives of 27 people.
- 1970 – Fire destroys the wooden home of Norwegian composer Geir Tveitt. 90 percent of his output is destroyed.
- 1971 – The Australian Aboriginal Flag is flown for the first time.
- 1973 – The 1973 National Archives Fire destroys the entire 6th floor of the National Personnel Records Center.
- 1975 – São Tomé and Príncipe declare independence.
- 1979 – The island nation of Kiribati declares independence.
- 1979 – Reinhold Messner and Michael Dacher climb to the top of K2 without oxygen supplies.
- 1979 – Disco Demolition Night held at Comiskey Park in Chicago, Illinois
- 1993 – A magnitude 7.8 earthquake off the shore of Hokkaido, Japan launches a devastating tsunami, killing 202 on the small island of Okushiri.
- 1998 – KDE 1.0 released.
- 1998 – 1998 FIFA World Cup: The France national football team beats the Brazil national football team 3–0, to win the FIFA World Cup for the first time, and in front of their home support. Before the final, there had been controversy over whether Brazil's Ronaldo would play in the game.
From 2001
- 2002 – Gay rights: The Superior Court of Ontario orders Ontario to recognize same-sex marriages.
- 2004 – An earthquake strikes in Posočje, Slovenia, with 2 dead, and measuring 4.9 on the Richter scale.
- 2004 – Pedro Santana Lopes is officially appointed Prime Minister of Portugal.
- 2005 – Prince Albert II is enthroned as ruler of the Principality of Monaco.
- 2006 – War erupts between Israel and Lebanon.
- 2012 – A tank truck explosion in Okogie, Nigeria, kills over 100 people.
- 2013 – Malala Yousafzai speaks at the UN Headquarters on her 16th birthday, in support of education for all.
- 2013 – A train crash near Paris kills 6 people.
- 2014 – 2014 FIFA World Cup: After being humiliated a few days earlier (7-1) by the Germany national football team in the Semi-Final, the Brazil national football team, hosting the tournament, also loses the Third-Place play-off against the Netherlands national football team, 3–0.
- 2016 – A train collision in Apulia, South-eastern Italy, kills 27 people.
- 2017 – A massive iceberg, 5,800 square kilometres (2,200 square miles) large, breaks away from the Larsen C ice shelf in Antarctica.
- 2017 – Malta's parliament votes to legalise same-sex marriage.
- 2018 – US President Donald Trump starts a four-day visit to the United Kingdom.
- 2019 – Asasey hotel attack: Gunmen storm the Asasey hotel in Kismayo, Somalia, killing 26 people.
Up to 1850
- 100 BC – Gaius Julius Caesar, Roman soldier and politician (d. 44 BC)
- 1394 – Ashikaga Yoshinori, Japanese shogun (d. 1441)
- 1468 – Juan del Encina, poet and composer
- 1596 – Tsar Michael I of Russia (d. 1645)
- 1607 – Jean Petitot, Swiss painter (d. 1691)
- 1675 – Evaristo Felice Dall'Abaco, Italian composer and violinist (d. 1742)
- 1730 – Josiah Wedgwood, English potter (d. 1795)
- 1784 – Juan Mora Fernandez, Costa Rican Head of State (d. 1854)
- 1803 – Peter Chanel, French priest and saint (d. 1841)
- 1807 – Thomas Hawksley, English civil engineer (d. 1893)
- 1813 – Claude Bernard, French physiologist (d. 1878)
- 1817 – Henry David Thoreau, American writer and philosopher (d. 1862)
- 1819 – Charles Kingsley, English writer (d. 1875)
- 1824 – Eugène Boudin, French painter (d. 1898)
- 1828 – Nikolay Chernyshevsky, Russian philosopher (d. 1889)
- 1849 – Sir William Osler, Canadian physician, writer, professor of medicine (d. 1919)
- 1850 – Otto Schoetensack, German anthropologist (d. 1912)
1851 – 1900
- 1852 – Hipólito Yrigoyen, President of Argentina (d. 1933)
- 1854 – George Eastman, American inventor (d. 1932)
- 1854 – Juan Gualberto Gómez, Cuban revolutionary leader (d. 1933)
- 1855 – Edward 'Ned' Hanlan, rower (d. 1908)
- 1861 – Anton Arensky, Russian composer, pianist and educator (d. 1906)
- 1863 – Albert Calmette, French physician (d. 1933)
- 1863 – Paul Drude, German physicist (d. 1906)
- 1864 – George Washington Carver, American botanist (d. 1943)
- 1868 – Stefan George, German poet (d. 1933)
- 1870 – Louis II of Monaco (d. 1949)
- 1876 – Max Jacob, French poet (d. 1944)
- 1880 – Tod Browning, American movie director (d. 1962)
- 1884 – Amedeo Modigliani, Italian painter and sculptor (d. 1920)
- 1886 – Jean Hersholt, Danish movie director and actor (d. 1956)
- 1892 – Bruno Schulz, Polish writer and painter (d. 1942)
- 1892 – Harry Piel, actor, movie director, and producer (d. 1963)
- 1895 – Kirsten Flagstad, Norwegian soprano (d. 1962)
- 1895 – R. Buckminster Fuller, American architect (d. 1983)
- 1895 – Oscar Hammerstein II, American lyricist (d. 1960)
1901 – 1950
- 1902 – Günther Anders, philosopher and writer (d. 1992)
- 1904 – Pablo Neruda, Chilean poet, Nobel Prize recipient (d. 1973)
- 1905 – Prince John of the United Kingdom (d. 1919)
- 1906 – Pietro Tordi, Italian actor (d. 1990)
- 1908 – Milton Berle, American comedian (d. 2002)
- 1909 – Joe DeRita, American actor and comedian (d. 1993)
- 1909 – Fritz Leonhardt, German engineer (d. 1999)
- 1913 – Willis Lamb, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2008)
- 1916 – Robert E. Gilka, American photojournalist (d. 2013)
- 1917 – Andrew Wyeth, American artist (d. 2009)
- 1920 – Beah Richards, American actress (d. 2000)
- 1920 – Pierre Berton, Canadian journalist and writer (d. 2004)
- 1922 – Mark Hatfield, U.S. Senator and Governor from Oregon (d. 2011)
- 1922 – Michael Ventris, English architect and philologist (d. 1956)
- 1923 – René Favaloro, Argentine heart surgeon (d. 2000)
- 1923 – Jonás Gómez Gallo, Chilean businessman and politician (d. 2019)
- 1925 – Roger B. Smith, American automobile executive
- 1926 – Carl Adam Petri, German mathematician and computer scientist (d. 2010)
- 1926 – Siti Hasmah Mohamad Ali, spouse of Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad
- 1927 – Conte Candoli, American trumpeter (d. 2001)
- 1928 – Jo Myong-rok, North Korean politician (d. 2010)
- 1928 – Elias James Corey, American chemist
- 1928 – Kathy Staff, English actress (d. 2008)
- 1930 – Gordon Pinsent, Canadian actor, director, and writer
- 1932 – Otis Davis, American runner
- 1932 – Monte Hellman, American movie director, producer and editor
- 1932 – Eddy Wally, Belgian singer (d. 2016)
- 1933 – Brian Cant, English actor, presenter and writer (d. 2017)
- 1933 – Donald E. Westlake, American writer (d. 2008)
- 1934 – Van Cliburn, American pianist (d. 2013)
- 1935 – Roy Barraclough, English actor (d. 2017)
- 1935 – Hans Tilkowski, German footballer
- 1937 – Bill Cosby, American comedian and actor
- 1937 – Lionel Jospin, former Prime Minister of France
- 1937 – Michel Louvin, Canadian singer
- 1938 – Jaishankar, Indian actor (d. 2000)
- 1943 – Paul Silas, American basketball player and coach
- 1943 – Christine McVie, singer, musician, and songwriter (Fleetwood Mac)
- 1944 – Delia Ephron, American author, screenwriter and playwright
- 1945 – Leopoldo Mastelloni, Italian actor
- 1946 – Valentina Tolkunova, Russian singer (d. 2010)
- 1946 – Gareth Edwards, Welsh rugby player
- 1947 – Wilko Johnson, English singer-songwriter, guitarist and actor
- 1948 – Richard Simmons, American fitness trainer, actor, comedian, producer and writer
- 1948 – Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Sufi musician (d. 1997)
- 1948 – Jay Thomas, American actor (d. 2017)
- 1948 – Ben Burtt, American sound designer
- 1948 – Walter Egan, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1950 – Eric Carr, American drummer (Kiss) (d. 1991)
- 1950 – Gilles Meloche, Canadian ice hockey player
1951 – 1975
- 1951 – Cheryl Ladd, American actress and singer
- 1952 – Voja Antonic, Serbian inventor and journalist
- 1952 – Irina Bokova, Bulgarian politician, Director-General of UNESCO
- 1952 – Philip Taylor Kramer, American bass player (Iron Butterfly) (d. 1995)
- 1952 – Liz Mitchell, Jamaican performer (Boney M)
- 1953 – John Ausonius, Swedish criminal
- 1954 – Wolfgang Dremmler, German footballer
- 1955 – Jimmy LaFave, American singer-songwriter and folk musician (d. 2017)
- 1956 – Mario Soto, Dominican baseball player
- 1957 – Dave Semenko, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 2017)
- 1959 – King Tupou VI of Tonga
- 1959 – Charlie Murphy, American actor and writer (d. 2016)
- 1960 – Corynne Charby, French model, actress and singer
- 1961 – Masaaki Mori, Japanese footballer
- 1961 – Shiva Rajkumar, Indian actor, singer and producer
- 1962 – Luc De Vos, Belgian musician and writer (d. 2014)
- 1962 – Dean Wilkins, English footballer
- 1964 – Gaby Roslin, English television presenter
- 1966 – Annabel Croft, English tennis player
- 1966 – Tamsin Greig, English actress
- 1966 – Ana Torrent, Spanish actress
- 1967 – Richard Herring, English comedian
- 1967 – John Petrucci, American guitarist
- 1967 – Bruny Surin, Haitian–Canadian athlete
- 1969 – Jesse Pintado, American guitarist (d. 2006)
- 1969 – Chantal Jouanno, French politician
- 1971 – Kristi Yamaguchi, American figure skater
- 1972 – Travis Best, NBA player
- 1973 – Magoo, American rapper
- 1973 – Christian Vieri, Italian footballer
- 1974 – Stelios Giannakopoulos, Greek footballer
- 1974 – Sharon den Adel, Dutch singer and composer
- 1974 – Gregory Helms, American professional wrestler
- 1975 – Cheyenne Jackson, American actor and singer
- 1975 – Carolina Kasting, Brazilian actress
- 1975 – Anastassia Michaeli, Israeli journalist, television presenter and politician
From 1976
- 1976 – Anna Friel, English actress
- 1977 – Brock Lesnar, American professional wrestler
- 1978 – Topher Grace, American actor
- 1978 – Michelle Rodriguez, American actress
- 1980 – Tom Price, Welsh actor
- 1982 – Antonio Cassano, Italian footballer
- 1984 – Gareth Gates, English singer
- 1984 – Michael McGovern, Northern Irish footballer
- 1985 – Emil Hegle Svendsen, Norwegian biathlete
- 1985 – Paulo Vitor Barreto, Brazilian footballer
- 1986 – Simone Laudehr, German footballer
- 1986 – Didier Digard, French footballer
- 1986 – Krystal Forscutt, Australian model, actress and singer
- 1988 – Patrick Beverley, American basketball player
- 1989 – Nick Palmieri, American ice hockey player
- 1989 – Phoebe Tonkin, Australian actress and model
- 1991 – James Rodríguez, Colombian footballer
- 1991 – Erik Per Sullivan, American actor
- 1992 – Eoghan Quigg, Northern Irish singer
- 1995 – Luke Shaw, English footballer
- 1995 – Jordyn Wieber, American artistic gymnast
- 1996 – Jordan Romero, American mountain climber
- 1996 – Moussa Dembélé, French footballer
- 1997 – Malala Yousafzai, Pakistani activist for education
Up to 1900
- 783 – Bertrada, wife of Pippin III (b. 720)
- 1441 – Ashikaga Yoshinori, Japanese shogun (b. 1394)
- 1536 – Erasmus, Dutch writer and philosopher (b. around 1466)
- 1645 – Tsar Michael I of Russia (b. 1596)
- 1664 – Stefano della Bella, Italian printmaker (b. 1610)
- 1682 – Jean Picard, French astronomer (b. 1620)
- 1712 – Richard Cromwell, Lord Protector of England, Scotland, and Ireland (b. 1626)
- 1742 – Evaristo Felice Dall'Abaco, Italian composer (b. 1675)
- 1773 – Johann Joachim Quantz, German flutist and composer (b. 1697)
- 1804 – Alexander Hamilton, 1st United States Secretary of the Treasury (b. 1755)
- 1838 – Ezra Butler, American politician, Governor of Vermont (b. 1763)
- 1845 – Henrik Wergeland, Norwegian writer (b. 1808)
- 1845 – Ludwig Persius, Prussian architect (b. 1803)
- 1855 – Pavel Nakhimov, Russian admiral (b. 1802)
- 1849 – Dolley Madison, First Lady of the United States (b. 1768)
- 1892 – Alexander Cartwright, American inventor of baseball (b. 1820)
1901 – 2000
- 1901 – Richard B. Hubbard, 17th Governor of Texas (b. 1832)
- 1910 – Charles Stewart Rolls, British engineer and aviator (b. 1887)
- 1918 – Dragutin Lerman, Croatian explorer (b. 1864)
- 1923 – William P. Dillingham, Governor of Vermont (b. 1843)
- 1926 – Gertrude Bell, English archaeologist, writer, spy, and administrator (b. 1868)
- 1931 – Nathan Söderblom, Swedish clergyman, Nobel Peace Prize laureate (b. 1866)
- 1934 – Ole Evinrude, Norwegian-American inventor (b. 1877)
- 1935 – Alfred Dreyfus, French military officer (b. 1859)
- 1944 – Theodore Roosevelt, Jr., American general and politician (b. 1887)
- 1945 – Boris Galerkin, Russian mathematician and engineer (b. 1871)
- 1945 – Wolfram Freiherr von Richthofen, German field marshal (b. 1895)
- 1947 – Jimmie Lunceford, American saxophonist and bandleader (b. 1902)
- 1949 – Douglas Hyde, first President of Ireland (b. 1860)
- 1950 – Elsie De Wolfe, actress and interior decorator (b. 1865)
- 1960 – Buddy Adler, American movie producer (b. 1909)
- 1962 – Roger Wolfe Kahn, American band leader (b. 1907)
- 1969 – Henry George Lamond, Australian novelist (b. 1885)
- 1978 – Esmond Harmsworth, 2nd Viscount Rothermere, English politician and media magnate (b. 1898)
- 1979 – Minnie Riperton, American singer (b. 1947)
- 1982 – Kenneth More, English actor (b. 1914)
- 1988 – Josh Logan, movie director and writer
- 1990 – Joao Saldanha, Brazilian footballer, manager and journalist (b. 1917)
- 1996 – John Chancellor, American television journalist (b. 1927)
- 1996 – Jonathan Melvoin, musician and keyboardist (The Smashing Pumpkins) (b. 1961)
- 1998 – Jimmy Driftwood, American singer-songwriter and banjo player (b. 1907)
- 1999 – Bill Owen, British actor (b. 1914)
- 1999 – Rajendra Kumar, Indian actor (b. 1929)
From 2001
- 2003 – Benny Carter, American musician (b. 1907)
- 2007 – Kesha Wizzart, British singer (b. 1988)
- 2008 – Tony Snow, American journalist (b. 1955)
- 2010 – Günter Behnisch, German architect (b. 1922)
- 2010 – Harvey Pekar, American comic book writer and artist (b. 1939)
- 2011 – Sherwood Schwartz, American screenwriter and producer (b. 1916)
- 2012 – Dara Singh, Indian wrestler and actor (b. 1928)
- 2013 – Pran, Indian actor (b. 1920)
- 2013 – Amar Bose, American sound engineer and entrepreneur (b. 1929)
- 2013 – Alan Whicker, English broadcaster (b. 1925)
- 2014 – Nestor Basterretxea, Basque artist (b. 1924)
- 2014 – Valeriya Novodvorskaya, Russian liberal politician (b. 1950)
- 2014 – Emil Bobu, Romanian politician (b. 1927)
- 2014 – Kenneth J. Gray, American politician (b. 1924)
- 2014 – Alberto Cassano, Argentine engineer and academic (b. 1935)
- 2015 – Chenjerai Hove, Zimbabwean writer (b. 1956)
- 2015 – Cheng Siwei, Chinese economist (b. 1935)
- 2015 – Tenzin Delek Rinpoche, Tibetan Buddhist monk (b. 1950)
- 2015 – Javier Krahe, Spanish singer-songwriter (b. 1944)
- 2016 – Zygmunt Zimowski, Polish Roman Catholic prelate (b. 1949)
- 2017 – Chuck Blazer, American soccer administrator (b. 1945)
- 2017 – Gerrit Braks, Dutch politician (b. 1933)
- 2017 – Sam Glanzman, American comic artist (b. 1924)
- 2017 – Tamara Miansarova, Russian pop singer (b. 1931)
- 2017 – Ray Phiri, South African jazz musician (b. 1947)
- 2017 – Tod Sloan, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1927)
- 2018 – Abbas Amir-Entezam, Iranian politician and political prisoner (b. 1932)
- 2018 – Alain Fauré, French politician (b. 1962)
- 2018 – Roger Perry, American actor (b. 1933)
- 2018 – Dada Vaswani, Indian spiritual leader and writer (b. 1918)
- 2018 – Robert Wolders, Dutch actor (b. 1936)
- 2018 – Xerardo Fernández Albor, Spanish politician, President of Galicia (b. 1917)
- 2019 – Fernando J. Corbató, American computer scientist (b. 1926)
- 2019 – Hodan Nalayeh, Somali-Canadian journalist (b. 1976)
- 2019 – Claudio Naranjo, Chilean psychiatrist (b. 1932)
- 2019 – M. J. Radhakrishnan, Indian cinematographer (b. 1957/1958)
- 2019 – Jean-Pierre Worms, French sociologist and politician (b. 1934)
- Independence Day in Kiribati and São Tomé and Príncipe
- Second Day of Naadam (Mongolia)
- The Twelfth, or Orangeman's Day, commemorating the Battle of the Boyne (Northern Ireland)
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