History Events on March 12

Andrew Watson makes his Scotland debut as the world's first black international football player and captain.

#Andrew_Watson_(footballer,_born_1856)

The Girl Guides (later renamed the Girl Scouts of the USA) are founded in the United States.

#Girl_Guides

Several hundred Spanish and indigenous troops under the command of Pedro de Valdivia defeat an army of 60,000 Mapuche at the Battle of Penco during the Arauco War in present-day Chile.

#Spanish_Empire

Robert Holmes attacks a Dutch trade convoy, the Smyrna fleet, beginning the Rampjaar.

#Robert_Holmes_(Royal_Navy_officer)

American Civil War: The Red River Campaign begins as a US Navy fleet of 13 Ironclads and 7 Gunboats and other support ships enter the Red River.

#American_Civil_War

Ignatius of Loyola and Francis Xavier, founders of the Society of Jesus, are canonized by the Roman Catholic Church.

#Ignatius_of_Loyola

A reactor at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant melts and explodes and releases radioactivity into the atmosphere a day after Japan's earthquake.

#Fukushima_Daiichi_Nuclear_Power_Plant

Mauritius achieves independence from the United Kingdom.

#Mauritius

Great Depression: Franklin D. Roosevelt addresses the nation for the first time as President of the United States. This is also the first of his "fireside chats".

#Great_Depression

Winter War: Finland signs the Moscow Peace Treaty with the Soviet Union, ceding almost all of Finnish Karelia. Finnish troops and the remaining population are immediately evacuated.

#Winter_War

A gas explosion in the New York City neighborhood of East Harlem kills eight and injures 70 others.

#2014_East_Harlem_gas_explosion

North Korea nuclear weapons program: North Korea says that it plans to withdraw from the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons and refuses to allow inspectors access to its nuclear sites.

#North_Korea_and_weapons_of_mass_destruction

WHO officially release global warning on pandemic SARS disease.

#World_Health_Organization

Mauritius becomes a republic while remaining a member of the Commonwealth of Nations.

#Mauritius

Mahatma Gandhi begins the Salt March, a 200-mile march to the sea to protest the British monopoly on salt in India.

#Mahatma_Gandhi

In the House of Commons, the revised EU Withdrawal Bill was rejected by a margin of 149 votes.

#European_Union_(Withdrawal)_Act_2018

Former Warsaw Pact members the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland join NATO.

#Warsaw_Pact

Cold War: The Truman Doctrine is proclaimed to help stem the spread of Communism.

#Cold_War

The Kapp Putsch begins when the Marinebrigade Ehrhardt is ordered to march on Berlin.

#Kapp_Putsch

The Church of England ordains its first female priests.

#Church_of_England

The Llandow air disaster occurs near Sigingstone, Wales, in which 80 people die when their aircraft crashed, making it the world's deadliest air disaster at the time.

#Llandow_air_disaster

Konstantin Päts and General Johan Laidoner stage a coup in Estonia, and ban all political parties.

#Konstantin_Päts

The President of South Korea, Roh Moo-hyun, is impeached by its National Assembly: The first such impeachment in the nation's history.

#President_of_South_Korea

The Williamite War in Ireland begins.

#Williamite_War_in_Ireland

Zoran ?in?i?, Prime Minister of Serbia, is assassinated in Belgrade.

#Zoran_?in?i?

Moscow becomes the capital of Russia again after Saint Petersburg held this status for 215 years.

#Moscow

World War II: Pacific War: The Battle of Java ends with an ABDACOM surrender to the Japanese Empire in Bandung, West Java, Dutch East Indies.

#World_War_II

Anschluss: German troops occupy and absorb Austria.

#Anschluss

Peninsular War: A day after a successful rearguard action, French Marshal Michel Ney once again successfully delays the pursuing Anglo-Portuguese force at the Battle of Redinha.

#Peninsular_War

Suharto takes power from Sukarno when the MPRS inaugurate him as Acting President of Indonesia.

#Suharto

Coca-Cola is bottled and sold for the first time in Vicksburg, Mississippi, by local soda fountain operator Joseph A. Biedenharn.

#Coca-Cola

In California, the St. Francis Dam fails; the resulting floods kill 431 people.

#California

Vitiges, king of the Ostrogoths ends his siege of Rome and retreats to Ravenna, leaving the city in the hands of the victorious Byzantine general, Belisarius.

#Vitiges

Financier Bernard Madoff pleads guilty in New York to scamming $18 billion, the largest in Wall Street's history.

Several bombs explode in Mumbai, India, killing about 300 and injuring hundreds more.

The March 12 Memorandum is sent to the Suleyman Demirel government of Turkey and the government resigns.

First winter ascent of the North Face of the Eiger.

Italian occupation of Greece: The Italian occupying forces abandon the town of Karditsa to the partisans. On the same day, an Italian motorized column razes the village of Tsaritsani, burning 360 of its 600 houses and shooting 40 civilians.

Armenia, Georgia, and Azerbaijan form the Transcaucasian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic.

?stiklâl Mar?? is adopted in the Grand National Assembly of Turkey.

Canberra Day: The future capital of Australia is officially named Canberra. (Melbourne remains temporary capital until 1927 while the new capital is still under construction.)

Tonkin Campaign: France captures the citadel of B?c Ninh.