What are the important events that happened on December 12? Here are historical events, facts, and some myths about this day.

December 12: Facts & Myths About This Day

December 12 is the 347^th day of the year 2024 in the Gregorian calendar. There are 19 days remaining until the end of this year. The day of the week is Thursday.

Under the Julian calendar, this day is November 29, 2024 – a Thursday. Both day of the week are the same but did you notice the difference with the Gregorian calendar?

When this day started, 28,899,360 minutes has elapsed since midnight of January 1, 1970 – the Unix epoch.

Strange as it may, if we name this day after a polygon then it will be called ‘trihectatetracontaheptagon’ day.

Sagittarius is the zodiac sign of a person born on this day. Turquoise is the modern birthstone for this month. Onyx is the mystical birthstone from Tibetan origin that dates back over a thousand years.

According to the lunisolar Chinese calendar, there are 48 days remaining before the start of the next Chinese New Year.

The ancient Maya civilization believes that the end of the world will happen on December 21, 2012. There are now 4,374 days since this fabled cataclysmic event.

December 12 Historical Events

• 1098 –
  First Crusade: Massacre of Ma'arrat al-Numan – Crusaders breach the town’s walls and massacre about 20,000 inhabitants. After finding themselves with insufficient food, they resort to cannibalism.
• 1925 –
  The Majlis of Iran votes to crown Reza Khan as the new Shah of Persia.
• 1937 –
  USS Panay incident: Japanese aircraft bomb and sink US gunboat USS Panay on the Yangtze River in China.
• 1941 –
  World War II: USMC F4F “Wildcats” sink the first 4 major Japanese ships off Wake Island.
• 1946 –
  A fire at a New York City ice plant spreads to a nearby tenement killing 37 people.
• 1950 –
  Paula Ackerman, the first woman appointed to perform rabbinical functions in the United States, leads the congregation in her first services.
• 1979 –
  Coup d'état of December Twelfth: South Korean Army Major General Chun Doo-hwan orders the arrest of Army Chief of Staff General Jeong Seung-hwa without authorization from President Choi Kyu-ha, alleging involvement in the assassination of ex-President Park Chung Hee.
• 1979 –
  The unrecognised state of Zimbabwe Rhodesia returns to British control and resumes using the name Southern Rhodesia.
• 1985 –
  Arrow Air Flight 1285 crashes after takeoff in Gander, Newfoundland, killing 256, including 236 members of the United States Army’s 101st Airborne Division.
• 1988 –
  The Clapham Junction rail crash kills thirty-five and injures hundreds after two collisions of three commuter trains – one of the worst train crashes in the United Kingdom.

Who were born on December 12?

• 1574 –
  Anne of Denmark, queen consort of James I of England (d. 1619)
• 1919 –
  Olivia Barclay, English astrologer (d. 2001)
• 1931 –
  Lionel Blair, English actor and choreographer
• 1949 –
  Bill Nighy, English actor
• 1962 –
  Mike Golic, American football player
• 1967 –
  Deke Sharon, American musician
• 1972 –
  Wilson Kipketer, Danish middle-distance runner
• 1980 –
  Nicolae Dorin Goian, Romanian footballer
• 1981 –
  Pedro Ríos Maestre, Spanish footballer
• 1986 –
  Thomas Wansey, English actor

Who died on December 12?

• 1766 –
  Johann Christoph Gottsched, German writer (b. 1700)
• 1843 –
  King William I of the Netherlands, (b. 1772)
• 1894 –
  Sir John Sparrow David Thompson, fourth Prime Minister of Canada (b. 1845)
• 1939 –
  Douglas Fairbanks, American actor (b. 1883)
• 1970 –
  Doris Blackburn, Australian politician (b. 1889)
• 1985 –
  Anne Baxter, American actress (b. 1923)
• 1998 –
  Marco Denevi, Argentine writer (b. 1922)
• 2001 –
  Jean Richard, French actor (b. 1921)
• 2002 –
  Dee Brown, American author (b. 1908)
• 2006 –
  Al Shugart, pioneering American computer engineer and co-founder of Seagate Technology (b. 1930)