History Events on May 12

A train derailment in Philadelphia kills eight people and injures more than 200.

#2015_Philadelphia_train_derailment

The Soviet spacecraft Luna 5 crashes on the Moon.

#Spacecraft

The Italian-built airship Norge becomes the first vessel to fly over the North Pole.

#Norge_(airship)

Maria Theresa of Austria is crowned Queen of Bohemia after defeating her rival, Charles VII, Holy Roman Emperor.

#Maria_Theresa

The San Bernardino train disaster kills four people. A week later an underground gasoline pipeline explodes killing two more people.

#San_Bernardino_train_disaster

American Civil War: Battle of Raymond: Two divisions of James B. McPherson's XVII Corps turn the left wing of Confederate General John C. Pemberton's defensive line on Fourteen Mile Creek, opening up the interior of Mississippi to the Union Army during the Vicksburg Campaign.

#Battle_of_Raymond

War of the First Coalition: Napoleon I of France conquers Venice.

#War_of_the_First_Coalition

Antipope Nicholas V, a claimant to the papacy, is consecrated in Rome by the Bishop of Venice.

#Antipope_Nicholas_V

Wilhelmina, Queen regnant of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, cedes the throne.

#Wilhelmina_of_the_Netherlands

In North Africa, Tunisia becomes a French protectorate.

#Ottoman_Tunisia

Afriqiyah Airways Flight 771 crashes on final approach to Tripoli International Airport in Tripoli, Libya, killing 103 out of the 104 people on board.

#Afriqiyah_Airways_Flight_771

Four students are shot at Trisakti University, leading to widespread riots and the fall of Suharto.

#Trisakti_shootings

The first major battle of the Greek War of Independence against the Turks is fought in Valtetsi.

#Greek_War_of_Independence

King William's War: William III of England joins the League of Augsburg starting a war with France.

#King_William's_War

Paris knife attack: A man was fatally shot by police in Paris after killing one and injuring several others.

#2018_Paris_knife_attack

Jagiellonian University, the oldest university in Poland, is founded in Kraków.

#Jagiellonian_University

The Donner Party of pioneers departs Independence, Missouri for California, on what will become a year-long journey of hardship and cannibalism.

#Donner_Party

Cold War: The Soviet Union lifts its blockade of Berlin.

#Cold_War

American Civil War: U.S. federal troops occupy Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

#American_Civil_War

Konrad Zuse presents the Z3, the world's first working programmable, fully automatic computer, in Berlin.

#Konrad_Zuse

Richard I of England marries Berengaria of Navarre in Cyprus; she is crowned Queen consort of England the same day.

#Richard_I_of_England

Ten weeks after his abduction, Charles Jr., the infant son of Charles Lindbergh, is found dead near Hopewell, New Jersey, just a few miles from the Lindberghs' home.

#Lindbergh_kidnapping

Heinrich XI, count of the Principality of Reuss-Greiz, is elevated to Prince by Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor.

#Heinrich_XI,_Prince_Reuss_of_Greiz

National University of San Marcos, the oldest university in the Americas, is founded in Lima, Peru.

#National_University_of_San_Marcos

Former US President Jimmy Carter arrives in Cuba for a five-day visit with Fidel Castro, becoming the first President of the United States, in or out of office, to visit the island since Castro's 1959 revolution.

#Jimmy_Carter

The Duke and Duchess of York are crowned as King George VI and Queen Elizabeth of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland in Westminster Abbey.

#George_VI

In Zaire, rebels occupy the city of Kolwezi, the mining center of the province of Shaba (now known as Katanga); the local government asks the US, France and Belgium to restore order.

#Zaire

World War II: The U.S. tanker SS Virginia is torpedoed in the mouth of the Mississippi River by the German submarine U-507.

#Tanker_(ship)

American Revolutionary War: In the largest defeat of the Continental Army, Charleston, South Carolina is taken by British forces.

#American_Revolutionary_War

Massive Nepal earthquake kills 218 people and injures more than 3500.

#May_2015_Nepal_earthquake

North-West Rebellion: The four-day Battle of Batoche, pitting rebel Métis against the Canadian government, comes to an end with a decisive rebel defeat.

#North-West_Rebellion

In Southeast Asia, the North Borneo Chartered Company's territories become the British protectorate of North Borneo.

#North_Borneo_Chartered_Company

French Wars of Religion: Henry III of France flees Paris after Henry I, Duke of Guise, enters the city and a spontaneous uprising occurs.

#French_Wars_of_Religion

American Civil War: The Battle of Spotsylvania Court House: Union troops assault a Confederate salient known as the "Mule Shoe", with the fiercest fighting of the war, much of it hand-to-hand combat, occurring at "the Bloody Angle" on the northwest.

#Battle_of_Spotsylvania_Court_House

The Agricultural Adjustment Act, which restricts agricultural production through government purchase of livestock for slaughter and paying subsidies to farmers when they remove land from planting, is signed into law by President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

#Agricultural_Adjustment_Act

The Prince of Anhua rebellion begins when Zhu Zhifan kills all the officials invited to a banquet and declares his intent on ousting the powerful Ming dynasty eunuch Liu Jin during the reign of the Zhengde Emperor.

#Prince_of_Anhua_rebellion

American Civil War: The Battle of Palmito Ranch: The first day of the last major land action to take place during the Civil War, resulting in a Confederate victory.

#Battle_of_Palmito_Ranch

Zhu Wen forces Emperor Ai into abdicating, ending the Tang dynasty after nearly three hundred years of rule.

#Zhu_Wen

Vietnam War: North Vietnamese and Viet Cong forces attack Australian troops defending Fire Support Base Coral.

#Vietnam_War

World War II: Second Battle of Kharkov: In eastern Ukraine, Red Army forces under Marshal Semyon Timoshenko launch a major offensive from the Izium bridgehead, only to be encircled and destroyed by the troops of Army Group South two weeks later.

#World_War_II

A ransomware attack attacks over 400 thousand computers worldwide, targeting computers of the United Kingdom's National Health Services and Telefónica computers.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement conducts the largest-ever raid of a workplace in Postville, Iowa, arresting nearly 400 immigrants for identity theft and document fraud.

An earthquake (measuring around 8.0 magnitude) occurs in Sichuan, China, killing over 69,000 people.

Iranian Azeris interpret a cartoon published in an Iranian magazine as insulting, resulting in massive riots throughout the country.

Mass unrest by the Primeiro Comando da Capital begins in São Paulo (Brazil), leaving at least 150 dead.

The Riyadh compound bombings, carried out by al-Qaeda, kill 26 people.

During a procession outside the shrine of the Virgin Mary in Fátima, Portugal, security guards overpower Juan María Fernández y Krohn before he can attack Pope John Paul II with a bayonet.

Francis Hughes, Provisional IRA hunger striker, dies in the Maze Prison, Northern Ireland.

The Manitoba Act is given the Royal Assent, paving the way for Manitoba to become a province of Canada on July 15.

London playwright Thomas Kyd is arrested and tortured by the Privy Council for libel.

Pope Stephen I succeeds Pope Lucius I, becoming the 23rd pope of the Catholic Church.