November 12

Events

• 954 - The 13-year-old Lothair III is crowned at the Abbey of Saint-Remi as king of the West Frankish Kingdom.
• 1028 - Future Byzantine empress Zoe takes the throne as empress consort to Romanos III Argyros.
• 1330 - Battle of Posada ends: Wallachian Voievode Basarab I defeats the Hungarian army by ambush.
• 1439 - Plymouth becomes the first town incorporated by the English Parliament.
• 1892 - Pudge Heffelfinger becomes the first professional American football player on record, participating in his first paid game for the Allegheny Athletic Association.
• 1893 - Abdur Rahman Khan accepts the Durand Line as the border between Afghanistan and the British Raj.
• 1905 - Norway holds a referendum resulting in popular approval of the Storting's decision to authorise the government to make the offer of the throne of the newly independent country.
• 1912 - King George I of Greece makes a triumphal entry into Thessaloniki after its liberation from 482 years of Ottoman rule.
• 1912 - The frozen bodies of Robert Scott and his men are found on the Ross Ice Shelf in Antarctica.
• 1918 - Austria becomes a republic. After the proclamation, a coup attempt by the communist Red Guard is defeated by the social-democratic Volkswehr.
• 1920 - Italy and the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes sign the Treaty of Rapallo.
• 1927 - Leon Trotsky is expelled from the Soviet Communist Party, leaving Joseph Stalin in undisputed control of the Soviet Union.
• 1928 - sinks approximately off Hampton Roads, Virginia, killing at least 110 passengers, mostly women and children who die after the vessel is abandoned.
• 1936 - In California, the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge opens to traffic.
• 1940 - World War II: The Battle of Gabon ends as Free French Forces take Libreville, Gabon, and all of French Equatorial Africa from Vichy French forces.
• 1940 - World War II: Soviet Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov arrives in Berlin to discuss the possibility of the Soviet Union joining the Axis Powers.
• 1941 - World War II: Temperatures around Moscow drop to -12 °C as the Soviet Union launches ski troops for the first time against the freezing German forces near the city.
• 1941 - World War II: The is destroyed during the Battle of Sevastopol.
• 1942 - World War II: Naval Battle of Guadalcanal between Japanese and American forces begins near Guadalcanal. The battle lasts for three days and ends with an American victory.
• 1944 - World War II: The Royal Air Force launches 29 Avro Lancaster bombers, which sink the German battleship Tirpitz, with 12,000 lb Tallboy bombs off Tromsø, Norway.
• 1948 - In Tokyo, the International Military Tribunal for the Far East sentences seven Japanese military and government officials, including General Hideki Tojo, to death for their roles in World War II.
• 1954 - Ellis Island ceased operations.
• 1956 - Morocco, Sudan and Tunisia join the United Nations.
• 1956 - In the midst of the Suez Crisis, Palestinian refugees are shot dead in Rafah by Israeli soldiers following the invasion of the Gaza Strip.
• 1958 - A team of rock climbers led by Warren Harding completes the first ascent of The Nose on El Capitan in Yosemite Valley.
• 1961 - Terry Jo Duperrault is the sole survivor of a series of brutal murders aboard the Ketch Bluebelle.
• 1969 - Vietnam War: Independent investigative journalist Seymour Hersh breaks the story of the My Lai Massacre.
• 1970 - The Oregon Highway Division attempts to destroy a rotting beached Sperm whale with explosives, leading to the now infamous "exploding whale" incident.
• 1970 - The 1970 Bhola cyclone makes landfall on the coast of East Pakistan becoming the deadliest tropical cyclone in history.
• 1971 - Vietnam War: As part of Vietnamization, US President Richard Nixon sets February 1, 1972 as the deadline for the removal of another 45,000 American troops from Vietnam.
• 1975 - The Comoros joins the United Nations.
• 1977 - France conducts the Oreste nuclear test as 14th in the group of 29, 1975–78 French nuclear tests series.
• 1979 - Iran hostage crisis: In response to the hostage situation in Tehran, US President Jimmy Carter orders a halt to all petroleum imports into the United States from Iran.
• 1980 - The NASA space probe Voyager I makes its closest approach to Saturn and takes the first images of its rings.
• 1981 - Space Shuttle program: Mission STS-2, utilizing the Space Shuttle Columbia, marks the first time a manned spacecraft is launched into space twice.
• 1982 - USSR: Yuri Andropov becomes the General Secretary of the Communist Party's Central Committee, succeeding Leonid I. Brezhnev.
• 1990 - Crown Prince Akihito is formally installed as Emperor Akihito of Japan, becoming the 125th Japanese monarch.
• 1990 - Tim Berners-Lee publishes a formal proposal for the World Wide Web.
• 1991 - Santa Cruz massacre: Indonesian forces open fire on a crowd of student protesters in Dili, East Timor.
• 1995 - Erdut Agreement regarding the peaceful resolution to the Croatian War of Independence was reached.
• 1996 - A Saudi Arabian Airlines Boeing 747 and a Kazakh Ilyushin Il-76 cargo plane collide in mid-air near New Delhi, killing 349. The deadliest mid-air collision to date.
• 1997 - Ramzi Yousef is found guilty of masterminding the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.
• 1999 - The 7.2 Düzce earthquake shakes northwestern Turkey with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX. At least 845 people were killed and almost 5,000 were injured.
• 2001 - In New York City, American Airlines Flight 587, an Airbus A300 en route to the Dominican Republic, crashes minutes after takeoff from John F. Kennedy International Airport, killing all 260 on board and five on the ground.
• 2001 - War in Afghanistan: Taliban forces abandon Kabul, ahead of advancing Afghan Northern Alliance troops.
• 2003 - Iraq War: In Nasiriyah, Iraq, at least 23 people, among them the first Italian casualties of the 2003 invasion of Iraq, are killed in a suicide bomb attack on an Italian police base.
• 2003 - Shanghai Transrapid sets a new world speed record for commercial railway systems, which remains the fastest for unmodified commercial rail vehicles.
• 2011 - Silvio Berlusconi tenders his resignation as Prime Minister of Italy, effective November 16, due in large part to the European sovereign debt crisis.
• 2011 - A blast in Iran's Shahid Modarres missile base leads to the death of 17 of the Revolutionary Guards members, including Hassan Tehrani Moghaddam, a key figure in Iran's missile program.
• 2014 - The Philae lander, deployed from the European Space Agency's Rosetta probe, reaches the surface of Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko.
• 2015 - Two suicide bombers detonated explosives in Bourj el-Barajneh, Beirut, killing 43 people and injuring over 200 others.
• 2017 - The 7.3 Kermanshah earthquake shakes the northern Iran-Iraq border with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII. At least 410 people were killed and over 7,000 were injured.

  Births

• 1450 - Jacques of Savoy, Count of Romont, Prince of Savoy
• 1492 - Johan Rantzau, German general
• 1494 - Margaret of Anhalt-Köthen, Princess of Anhalt by birth, by marriage Duchess of Saxony
• 1528 - Qi Jiguang, Chinese general
• 1547 - Claude of Valois
• 1579 - Albrecht of Hanau-Münzenberg, German nobleman
• 1606 - Jeanne Mance, French-Canadian nurse, founded the Hôtel-Dieu de Montréal
• 1615 - Richard Baxter, English minister, poet, and theologian
• 1627 - Diego Luis de San Vitores, Spanish Jesuit missionary
• 1651 - Juana Inés de la Cruz, Mexican nun, poet, and scholar
• 1655 - Francis Nicholson, British Army general and colonial administrator
• 1684 - Edward Vernon, English admiral and politician
• 1729 - Louis Antoine de Bougainville, French admiral and explorer
• 1755 - Gerhard von Scharnhorst, Prussian general and politician, Prussian Minister of War
• 1780 - Piet Retief, South African ruler
• 1793 - Johann Friedrich von Eschscholtz, Livonian physician and botanist
• 1795 - Thaddeus William Harris, American entomologist and botanist
• 1815 - Elizabeth Cady Stanton, American activist
• 1817 - Bahá'u'lláh, Persian spiritual leader, founded the Bahá'í Faith
• 1833 - Alexander Borodin, Russian composer and chemist
• 1840 - Auguste Rodin, French sculptor and illustrator, created The Thinker
• 1842 - John William Strutt, 3rd Baron Rayleigh, English physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
• 1848 - Eduard Müller, Swiss lawyer and politician, 51st President of the Swiss Confederation
• 1850 - Mikhail Chigorin, Russian chess player and theoretician
• 1866 - Sun Yat-sen, Chinese physician and politician, 1st President of the Republic of China
• 1872 - William Fay, Irish actor and producer
• 1881 - Olev Siinmaa, Estonian-Swedish architect
• 1881 - Maximilian von Weichs, German field marshal
• 1886 - Günther Dyhrenfurth, German geologist and mountaineer
• 1886 - Ben Travers, English author and playwright
• 1889 - DeWitt Wallace, American publisher and philanthropist, co-founded Reader's Digest
• 1890 - Lily Kronberger, Hungarian figure skater
• 1892 - Tudor Davies, Welsh tenor and actor
• 1894 - Thorleif Schjelderup-Ebbe, Norwegian zoologist and comparative psychologist
• 1895 - Manuel Alonso Areizaga, Spanish tennis player
• 1895 - Nima Yooshij, Iranian poet and academic
• 1896 - Salim Ali, Indian ornithologist and author
• 1897 - Karl Marx, German composer and conductor
• 1898 - Leon Štukelj, Slovenian gymnast
• 1900 - Stanley Graham, New Zealand mass murderer
• 1901 - James Luther Adams, American minister and theologian
• 1903 - Jack Oakie, American actor
• 1904 - Max Hoffman, Austrian-born car importer and businessman
• 1905 - Louise Thaden, American pilot
• 1906 - George Dillon, American soldier and poet
• 1908 - Harry Blackmun, American lawyer and judge
• 1910 - Dudley Nourse, South African cricketer
• 1911 - Buck Clayton, American trumpet player and academic
• 1914 - Peter Whitehead, English race car driver
• 1915 - Roland Barthes, French philosopher, theorist, and critic
• 1916 - Paul Emery, English race car driver
• 1916 - Jean Papineau-Couture, Canadian composer and academic
• 1917 - Jo Stafford, American singer
• 1919 - France Štiglic, Slovenian film director and screenwriter
• 1920 - Richard Quine, American actor, director, and screenwriter
• 1922 - Tadeusz Borowski, Polish poet, author, and journalist
• 1922 - Kim Hunter, American actress
• 1923 - Ian Graham, English archaeologist and explorer
• 1923 - Rubén Bonifaz Nuño, Mexican poet and scholar
• 1924 - Sam Jones, American bassist, cellist, and composer
• 1926 - Robert Goff, Baron Goff of Chieveley, English lawyer and judge
• 1927 - František Šťastný, Czech motorcycle racer and sportscaster
• 1927 - Yutaka Taniyama, Japanese mathematician and theorist
• 1929 - Michael Ende, German author and fiction writer
• 1929 - Grace Kelly, American actress, later Princess Grace of Monaco
• 1930 - Bob Crewe, American singer-songwriter and producer
• 1934 - Charles Manson, American cult leader
• 1934 - John McGahern, Irish author and educator
• 1934 - Vavá, Brazilian footballer and manager
• 1938 - Denis DeJordy, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
• 1938 - Benjamin Mkapa, Tanzanian journalist and politician, 3rd President of Tanzania
• 1938 - Mort Shuman, American singer-songwriter and pianist
• 1939 - Lucia Popp, Slovak soprano
• 1940 - Amjad Khan, Indian actor & director
• 1940 - Michel Audet, Canadian economist and politician
• 1940 - Jürgen Todenhöfer, German judge and politician
• 1943 - Errol Brown, Jamaican-English singer-songwriter
• 1943 - Brian Hyland, American pop singer
• 1943 - Wallace Shawn, American actor, comedian and playwright
• 1943 - Björn Waldegård, Swedish race car driver
• 1943 - John Walker, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
• 1944 - Booker T. Jones, American pianist, saxophonist, songwriter, and producer
• 1944 - Al Michaels, American sportscaster
• 1945 - Michael Bishop, American author and educator
• 1945 - Neil Young, Canadian singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
• 1945 - Judith Roitman, American mathematician and academic
• 1946 - Alexandra Charles, Swedish businesswoman
• 1947 - Buck Dharma, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
• 1947 - Patrice Leconte, French director and screenwriter
• 1948 - Hassan Rouhani, Iranian lawyer and politician; 7th President of Iran
• 1949 - Ron Lapointe, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
• 1949 - Jack Reed, American soldier and politician
• 1950 - Barbara Fairchild, American country and gospel singer-songwriter
• 1953 - Baaba Maal, Senegalese singer-songwriter and guitarist
• 1954 - Paul McNamee, Australian tennis player
• 1955 - Les McKeown, Scottish pop singer
• 1957 - Tim Samaras, American engineer, storm chaser
• 1958 - Megan Mullally, American actress and singer
• 1958 - Mykola Vynnychenko, Ukrainian race walker
• 1959 - Vincent Irizarry, American actor
• 1959 - Toshihiko Sahashi, Japanese composer
• 1960 - Maurane, Belgian singer and actress
• 1961 - Nadia Comăneci, Romanian gymnast and coach
• 1961 - Enzo Francescoli, Uruguayan footballer
• 1962 - Kuniko Asagi, Japanese actress and television host
• 1962 - Jon Dough, American porn actor, director, and producer
• 1962 - Mariella Frostrup, Norwegian journalist and actress
• 1962 - Mark Hunter, Canadian ice hockey player, coach, and manager
• 1962 - Neal Shusterman, American author and poet
• 1962 - Naomi Wolf, American author and activist
• 1964 - Vic Chesnutt, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
• 1964 - David Ellefson, American bass player and songwriter
• 1964 - Wang Kuang-hui, Taiwanese baseball player and coach
• 1964 - Barbara Stühlmeyer, German musicologist, church musician and writer
• 1965 - Lex Lang, American voice actor and producer
• 1967 - Bassim Al-Karbalaei, Iraqi Eulogy Reciter
• 1967 - Disco Inferno, American wrestler and manager
• 1967 - Iryna Khalip, Belarusian journalist
• 1967 - Michael Moorer, American boxer
• 1967 - Grant Nicholas, Welsh singer-songwriter and guitarist
• 1968 - Kathleen Hanna, American singer-songwriter
• 1968 - Sammy Sosa, Dominican-American baseball player
• 1968 - Aaron Stainthorpe, English-German singer-songwriter
• 1969 - Ian Bremmer, American political scientist and author
• 1969 - Jason Cundy, English footballer and sportscaster
• 1969 - Rob Schrab, American writer and artist
• 1970 - Elektra, American wrestler, model, and dancer
• 1970 - Tonya Harding, American figure skater
• 1970 - Sarah Harmer, Canadian singer-songwriter and guitarist
• 1970 - Oscar Strasnoy, French-Argentine composer
• 1971 - Chen Guangcheng, Chinese-American lawyer and activist
• 1972 - Vassilios Tsiartas, Greek footballer
• 1973 - Radha Mitchell, Australian actress
• 1974 - Alessandro Birindelli, Italian footballer
• 1975 - Kiara Bisaro, Canadian mountain biker
• 1975 - Jason Lezak, American swimmer
• 1976 - Tevin Campbell, American R&B singer-songwriter and actor
• 1976 - Judith Holofernes, German singer-songwriter and guitarist
• 1976 - Richelle Mead, American author and educator
• 1976 - Mirosław Szymkowiak, Polish footballer and journalist
• 1977 - Benni McCarthy, South African footballer
• 1977 - Lee Murray, English mixed martial artist
• 1978 - Alexandra Maria Lara, Romanian-German actress
• 1978 - Mista, Spanish footballer
• 1978 - Ashley Williams, American actress
• 1979 - Matt Cappotelli, American wrestler and trainer
• 1979 - Chad Cornes, Australian footballer
• 1979 - Cote de Pablo, Chilean actress
• 1979 - Lucas Glover, American golfer
• 1979 - Corey Maggette, American basketball player and sportscaster
• 1979 - Matt Stevic, Australian footballer and umpire
• 1980 - Shaun Cooper, American bass player
• 1980 - Nur Fettahoğlu, German-Turkish journalist and actress
• 1980 - Ryan Gosling, Canadian actor, producer and singer
• 1980 - Charlie Hodgson, English rugby player
• 1981 - Annika Becker, German pole vaulter
• 1981 - DJ Campbell, English footballer
• 1981 - Sergio Floccari, Italian footballer
• 1982 - Anne Hathaway, American actress
• 1982 - Mikele Leigertwood, English footballer
• 1983 - Charlie Morton, American baseball player
• 1984 - Sepp De Roover, Belgian footballer
• 1984 - Omarion, American singer, songwriter, actor and dancer
• 1984 - Jorge Masvidal, American mixed martial artist
• 1984 - Sandara Park, South Korean singer, dancer, and actress
• 1984 - Conrad Rautenbach, Zimbabwean race car driver
• 1984 - Yan Zi, Chinese tennis player
• 1985 - Arianny Celeste, American model and actress
• 1985 - Adlène Guedioura, French-Algerian footballer
• 1986 - Ignazio Abate, Italian footballer
• 1986 - Nedum Onuoha, English footballer
• 1987 - Jason Day, Australian golfer
• 1987 - Kengo Kora, Japanese actor
• 1987 - Bryan Little, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1988 - Russell Westbrook, American basketball player
• 1989 - Hiroshi Kiyotake, Japanese footballer
• 1990 - Florent Manaudou, French swimmer
• 1990 - Harmeet Singh, Norwegian footballer
• 1990 - Siim-Sander Vene, Estonian basketball player
• 1991 - Gijs Van Hoecke, Belgian cyclist
• 1992 - Trey Burke, American basketball player
• 1992 - Adam Larsson, Swedish ice hockey player
• 1993 - Luguelín Santos, Dominican sprinter
• 1994 - Guillaume Cizeron, French ice dancer

  Deaths

• 607 - Pope Boniface III
• 657 - Livinus, Irish apostle
• 973 - Burchard III, Frankish nobleman
• 975 - Notker Physicus, Swiss painter
• 1035 - Cnut the Great, Danish-English king
• 1087 - William I, Count of Burgundy
• 1094 - Duncan II of Scotland
• 1202 - Canute VI of Denmark
• 1209 - Phillipe de Plessis, Grand Master of the Knights Templar
• 1218 - Henry de Abergavenny, Prior of Abergavenny and Bishop of Llandaff
• 1347 - John of Viktring, Austrian chronicler and political advisor
• 1375 - John Henry, Margrave of Moravia
• 1434 - Louis III of Anjou
• 1555 - Stephen Gardiner, English bishop and politician, English Secretary of State
• 1555 - Yang Jisheng, Ming dynasty official and Confucian martyr
• 1555 - Zhang Jing, Ming Chinese general
• 1562 - Pietro Martire Vermigli, Italian theologian
• 1567 - Anne de Montmorency, French general and diplomat
• 1572 - Henry of Stolberg, German nobleman
• 1595 - John Hawkins, English admiral and shipbuilder
• 1623 - Josaphat Kuncevyc, Lithuanian archbishop
• 1667 - Hans Nansen, Danish politician
• 1671 - Thomas Fairfax, English general and politician
• 1742 - Friedrich Hoffmann, German physician and chemist
• 1793 - Jean Sylvain Bailly, French astronomer, mathematician, and politician, 1st Mayor of Paris
• 1793 - Lord George Gordon, English politician
• 1836 - Juan Ramón Balcarce, Argentinian general and politician, 6th Governor of Buenos Aires Province
• 1847 - William Christopher Zeise, Danish chemist who prepared Zeise's salt, one of the first organometallic compounds
• 1865 - Elizabeth Gaskell, English author
• 1896 - Joseph James Cheeseman, Liberian politician, 12th President of Liberia
• 1902 - William Henry Barlow, English engineer
• 1916 - Percival Lowell, American astronomer, mathematician, and author
• 1933 - John Cady, American golfer
• 1933 - F. Holland Day, American photographer and publisher
• 1939 - Norman Bethune, Canadian physician and humanitarian
• 1946 - Albert Bond Lambert, American golfer and pilot
• 1946 - Madan Mohan Malaviya, Indian academic and politician, President of the Indian National Congress
• 1948 - Umberto Giordano, Italian composer
• 1950 - Lesley Ashburner, American hurdler
• 1950 - Julia Marlowe, English-American actress
• 1955 - Alfréd Hajós, Hungarian swimmer and architect, designed the Grand Hotel Aranybika
• 1955 - Tin Ujević, Croatian poet and translator
• 1955 - Sarah Wambaugh, American political scientist, world authority on plebiscites
• 1958 - Gustaf Söderström, Swedish shot putter, discus thrower, and tug of war competitor
• 1962 - Roque González Garza, Mexican general and acting president
• 1965 - Taher Saifuddin, Indian spiritual leader, 51st Da'i al-Mutlaq
• 1969 - Liu Shaoqi, Chinese politician, 2nd Chairman of the People's Republic of China
• 1971 - Johanna von Caemmerer, German mathematician
• 1972 - Rudolf Friml, Czech-American pianist and composer
• 1972 - Tommy Wisdom, English race car driver and journalist
• 1976 - Mikhail Gurevich, Russian engineer, co-founded Mikoyan
• 1976 - Walter Piston, American composer and academic
• 1981 - William Holden, American actor
• 1986 - Minoru Yasui, American lawyer and activist
• 1987 - Cornelis Vreeswijk, Dutch-Swedish singer-songwriter, actor, and poet
• 1990 - Eve Arden, American actress and comedian
• 1991 - Gabriele Tinti, Italian actor
• 1993 - H. R. Haldeman, American diplomat, 4th White House Chief of Staff
• 1994 - Wilma Rudolph, American sprinter and educator
• 1997 - Carlos Surinach, Spanish-American composer and conductor
• 1998 - Roy Hollis, English footballer
• 1998 - Sally Shlaer, American mathematician and engineer
• 2000 - Franck Pourcel, French conductor and composer
• 2001 - Albert Hague, German-American actor and composer
• 2001 - Tony Miles, English chess player and theoretician
• 2003 - Jonathan Brandis, American actor
• 2003 - Cameron Duncan, New Zealand director and screenwriter
• 2003 - Penny Singleton, American actress
• 2003 - Tony Thompson, American drummer
• 2007 - K. C. Ibrahim, Indian cricketer
• 2007 - Ira Levin, American novelist, playwright, and songwriter
• 2008 - Catherine Baker Knoll, American educator and politician, 30th Lieutenant Governor of Pennsylvania
• 2008 - Mitch Mitchell, English drummer
• 2010 - Henryk Górecki, Polish composer
• 2012 - Hans Hammarskiöld, Swedish photographer
• 2012 - Sergio Oliva, Cuban-American bodybuilder
• 2012 - Daniel Stern, American psychologist and theorist
• 2013 - Steve Rexe, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
• 2013 - Konrad Rudnicki, Polish astronomer and academic
• 2013 - Aleksandr Serebrov, Russian engineer and astronaut
• 2013 - John Tavener, English composer and educator
• 2013 - Kurt Trampedach, Danish painter and sculptor
• 2014 - Ravi Chopra, Indian director and producer
• 2014 - Warren Clarke, English actor, director, and producer
• 2014 - Marge Roukema, American educator and politician
• 2014 - Valery Senderov, Russian mathematician and academic
• 2015 - Márton Fülöp, Hungarian footballer
• 2015 - Jihadi John, terrorist
• 2016 - Lupita Tovar, Mexican-American actress
• 2016 - Mahmoud Abdel Aziz, Egyptian Actor
• 2018 - Stan Lee, American comic book writer, editor, and publisher

  Holidays and observances

• Birth of Sun Yat-Sen, also Doctors' Day and Cultural Renaissance Day.
• Christian feast day:
• *Arsatius
• *Astrik of Pannonhalma
• *Cumméne Fota
• *Cunibert
• *Emilian of Cogolla
• *Imerius of Immertal
• *Josaphat Kuntsevych
• *Lebuinus
• *Livinus of Ghent
• *Machar
• *Margarito Flores García
• *Nilus of Sinai
• *Patiens
• *René d'Angers
• *Theodore the Studite
• *Ymar
• *November 12
• Constitution Day
• Father's Day
• National Health Day
• National Youth Day
• World Pneumonia Day