Behind History For December 12 – Today in History

Behind History For December 12

1911 – Capital of India to be shifted from Calcutta to Delhi on this day.

1911 – King George V and Mary of Teck from United Kingdom are enthroned as Emperor and Empress of India.

1915 – President of the Republic of China, Yuan Shikai, announces his intention to form a government and proclaim himself Emperor of China.

1917 – In Nebraska, Father Edward J. Flanagan founds Boys Town (an orphanage for boys).

1918 – The Flag of Estonia is raised at the top the Pikk Hermann ( tower of the Toompea Castle, on Toompea hill in Tallinn) for the first time.

 

1925 – Pahlavi dynasty was started with the leadership of Reza Khan as the new shah of Iran.

1935 – Lebensborn Project, a Nazi reproduction or breeding program, is founded by Heinrich Himmler.

1937 – Second Sino-Japanese War: USS Panay incident (Japanese attack on American Gun Boat) on the Yangtze river in China.

1939 – Winter War: Battle of Tolvajärvi: Finnish forces defeat those of the Soviet Union in their first major victory of the conflict.

1939 – HMS Duchess (D Class destroyer ship for Royal Navy) sinks after a collision with HMS Barham off the coast of Scotland with the loss of 124 men.

1940 – World War II: Approximately 70 people are killed in the Marples Hotel, Fitzalan Square, Sheffield, as a result of a German air raid.

1941 – World War II: Fifty-four Japanese A6M Zero fighters raid Batangas Field, Philippines. Jesús Villamor and four Filipino fighter pilots fend them off; César Basa is killed.

1941 – World War II: The United Kingdom declares war on Bulgaria. Hungary and Romania declare war on the United States. India declares war on Japan.

 

1941 – Adolf Hitler declares the imminent extermination of the Jews at a meeting in the Reich Chancellery.

1942 – World War II: German troops begin Operation Winter Storm, an attempt to relieve encircled Axis forces during the Battle of Stalingrad.

1946 – A fire at an ice plant in Hudson Heights, Manhattan spreads to an adjacent tenement, killing 37 people.

1946 – United Nations Security Council Resolution 13 relating to acceptance of Siam to United Nations is adopted.

1948 – Malayan Emergency: Batang Kali massacre: Fourteen members of the Scots Guards stationed in Malaya allegedly massacre 24 unarmed civilians and set fire to the village.

1950 – Paula Ackerman, the first woman appointed to perform rabbinical functions in the United States, leads the congregation in her first services.

1956 – Beginning of the Irish Republican Army’s “Border Campaign”.

1956 – United Nations Security Council Resolution 121 relating to acceptance of Japan to United Nations is adopted.

 

1963 – Kenya gains its independence from the United Kingdom.

1964 – Prime Minister Jomo Kenyatta becomes the first President of the Republic of Kenya.

1969 – Years of Lead: Piazza Fontana bombing: The offices of Banca Nazionale dell’Agricoltura in Piazza Fontana, Milan, are bombed.

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 – President of Pakistan Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq confers Nishan-e-Imtiaz on Nobel laureate Dr Abdus Salam.

1979 – The unrecognised state of Zimbabwe-Rhodesia returns to British control and resumes using the name Southern Rhodesia.

1979 – The 8.2 Mw  Tumaco earthquake shakes Colombia and Ecuador with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent), killing 300–600, and generating a large tsunami.

 

1983 – The Australian Labor government led by Prime Minister Bob Hawke and Treasurer Paul Keating floats the Australian dollar.

1984 – Maaouya Ould Sid’Ahmed Taya becomes the third president of Mauritania after a coup d’état against Mohamed Khouna Ould Haidalla while the latter is attending a summit.

1985 – Arrow Air Flight 1285, a McDonnell Douglas DC-8, crashes after takeoff in Gander, Newfoundland, killing all 256 people on board, 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.

1991 – The Russian Federation withdraws from the Treaty on the Creation of the USSR.

2000 – The United States Supreme Court releases its decision in Bush v. Gore.

2001 – Prime Minister of Vietnam Phan Văn Khải announces the decision on upgrading the Phong Nha–Kẻ Bàng nature reserve to a national park, providing information on projects for the conservation and development of the park and revised maps.

2012 – North Korea successfully launches its first satellite, Kwangmyŏngsŏng-3 Unit 2, using an Unha-3 carrier rocket.

2015 – The Paris Agreement relating to United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change is adopted.