On this day in history

August 12

27 births · 22 deaths · 5 events

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Anniversary highlights

Event anniversary

106

Battle of Warsaw

106 years ago

Born this day

1954

François Hollande

Turns 72

Oldest record

1151st

Louis II of Italy

death anniversary

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Famous births27

1552 · 474 yrs

Boris Godunov

Boris Feodorovich Godunov (Russian: Бори́с Фёдорович Годуно́в, pronounced; 12 August 1552 – 23 April 1605) was the de facto regent of Russia from 1585 to 1598 and then tsar from 1598 to 1605 following the death of Feodor I, the last of the Rurik dynasty.

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PoliticsDied aged 52

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Photo: Unknown author · Public domain

1740 · 286 yrs

Ivan VI of Russia

Ivan VI Antonovich (Russian: Иван VI Антонович; 23 August 1740 – 16 July 1764), also known as Ioann Antonovich, was Emperor of Russia from October 1740 until he was overthrown by his cousin Elizabeth Petrovna in December 1741.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

RoyaltyDied aged 23

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Photo: anonymous / Unidentified painter · Public domain

1762 · 264 yrs

George IV of the United Kingdom

George IV (George Augustus Frederick; 12 August 1762 – 26 June 1830) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and King of Hanover from 29 January 1820 until his death in 1830.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

RoyaltyDied aged 67

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Photo: Thomas Lawrence · Public domain

1774 · 252 yrs

Robert Southey

Robert Southey (12 August 1774 – 21 March 1843) was an English poet of the Romantic school, and Poet Laureate from 1813 until his death.

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LiteratureDied aged 68

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Photo: John James Masquerier · Public domain

1860 · 166 yrs

Klara Hitler

Klara Hitler (née Pölzl; 12 August 1860 – 21 December 1907) was the mother of Adolf Hitler, dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945. In 1934, Adolf Hitler honoured his mother by naming a street in Passau after her.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Notable PeopleDied aged 47

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Photo: Unknown author · Public domain

1866 · 160 yrs

Jacinto Benavente

Jacinto Benavente y Martínez (Spanish pronunciation:; 12 August 1866 – 14 July 1954) was one of the foremost Spanish dramatists of the 20th century. He was awarded the 1922 Nobel Prize in Literature "for the happy manner in which he has continued the illustrious traditions of the Spanish drama".

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

LiteratureDied aged 87

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Photo: Unknown author · Public domain

1881 · 145 yrs

Cecil B. DeMille

Cecil Blount DeMille (August 12, 1881 – January 21, 1959) was an American filmmaker and actor. Between 1914 and 1958, he created 70 features including silent and sound films.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

FilmWould be 145

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Photo: Albert Witzel · Public domain

1887 · 139 yrs

Erwin Schrödinger

Erwin Rudolf Josef Alexander Schrödinger (12 August 1887 – 4 January 1961), sometimes anglicised as Schroedinger or Schrodinger, was an Austrian theoretical physicist who developed fundamental results in quantum theory.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ScienceWould be 139

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Photo: Unknown author · Public domain

1924 · 102 yrs

Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq

Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq (12 August 1924 – 17 August 1988) was a Pakistani general who ruled Pakistan from his coup in 1977 until his death in an airplane crash in 1988. He served as the chief martial law administrator from 1977 to 1985, and as the president of Pakistan from 1978 until his death.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

PoliticsWould be 102

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Photo: Series: Reagan White House Photographs, 1/20/1981 - 1/20/1989 Collection: White House Photographic Collection, 1/20/1981 · Public domain

1930 · 96 yrs

George Soros

George Soros (born Schwartz György; August 12, 1930) is a Hungarian and American investor and philanthropist. As of September 2026, he had a net worth of US$8.6 billion.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

BusinessAge 96

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Photo: Aris Oikonomou - European Commission · CC BY 4.0

1932 · 94 yrs

Sirikit

Sirikit (born Mom Rajawongse Sirikit Kitiyakara; 12 August 1932 – 24 October 2025) was Queen of Thailand from 28 April 1950 to 13 October 2016 as the wife of King Bhumibol Adulyadej (Rama IX), her first cousin once removed. Sirikit met Bhumibol in Paris where her father served as the Thai ambassador to France.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

RoyaltyWould be 94

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Photo: Harry Pot for Anefo · CC0

1949 · 77 yrs

Mark Knopfler

Mark Freuder Knopfler (born 12 August 1949) is a British musician. He was the lead guitarist, singer and songwriter of the rock band Dire Straits from 1977 to 1995, and he is one of the two members who stayed throughout the band's existence, along with the bassist John Illsley.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

MusicAge 77

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Photo: Sebastien.gross · CC BY-SA 4.0

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Famous deaths22

AD 875 · 1151 yrs

Louis II of Italy

Louis II (825 – 12 August 875), sometimes called the Younger, was the king of Italy and emperor of the Carolingian Empire from 844, co-ruling with his father Lothair I until 855, after which he ruled alone.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

RoyaltyDied aged 49

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Photo: Johannes Berardi (chronicon casauriense) · Public domain

1484 · 542 yrs

Sixtus IV

Pope Sixtus IV (or Xystus IV, Italian: Sisto IV; born Francesco da Savona later della Rovere; (21 July 1414 – 12 August 1484) was head of the Catholic Church and leader of the Papal States from 9 August 1471 until his death in 1484.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ReligionDied aged 70

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Photo: Pedro Berruguete · Public domain

1689 · 337 yrs

Innocent XI

Pope Innocent XI (Latin: Innocentius XI; Italian: Innocenzo XI; 16 May 1611 – 12 August 1689), born Benedetto Odescalchi, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 21 September 1676 until his death on 12 August 1689.

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ReligionDied aged 78

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Photo: Jacob Ferdinand Voet · Public domain

1827 · 199 yrs

William Blake

William Blake (28 November 1757 – 12 August 1827) was an English poet, painter and printmaker. Largely unrecognised during his life, Blake has become a seminal figure in the history of the poetry and visual art of the Romantic Age.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ArtDied aged 69

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Photo: Thomas Phillips · Public domain

1848 · 178 yrs

George Stephenson

George Stephenson (9 June 1781 – 12 August 1848) was an English civil engineer and mechanical engineer. Renowned as the "Father of Railways", Stephenson was considered by the Victorians as a great example of diligent application and thirst for improvement.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

TechnologyDied aged 67

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Photo: Unknown author · Public domain

1900 · 126 yrs

Wilhelm Steinitz

William Steinitz (born Wilhelm Steinitz; May 14, 1836 – August 12, 1900) was a Bohemian-Austrian, and later American, chess player. From 1886 to 1894, he was the first World Chess Champion.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

SportsDied aged 64

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Photo: Schumann, Fritz · Public domain

1901 · 125 yrs

Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld

Nils Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld (18 November 1832 – 12 August 1901) was a Finland-Swedish aristocrat, geologist, mineralogist and Arctic explorer. He was a member of the noble Nordenskiöld family of scientists and held the title of a friherre (baron).

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ExplorationDied aged 68

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Photo: Appert, Ernest Charles (Châteauroux, 10–09–1831 - en 1890), photographe · CC0

1928 · 98 yrs

Leoš Janáček

Leoš Janáček (Czech:; 3 July 1854 – 12 August 1928) was a Czech composer, music theorist, folklorist, and teacher. He was inspired by Moravian and other Slavic music, including Eastern European folk music, to create an original, modern musical style.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

MusicDied aged 74

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Photo: Anonymous Unknown author · Public domain

1955 · 71 yrs

James Batcheller Sumner

James Batcheller Sumner (November 19, 1887 – August 12, 1955) was an American biochemist. He discovered that enzymes can be crystallized, for which he shared the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1946 with John Howard Northrop and Wendell Meredith Stanley.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ScienceWould be 138

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Photo: Unknown author · Public domain

1955 · 71 yrs

Thomas Mann

Paul Thomas Mann (6 June 1875 – 12 August 1955) was a German novelist, short story writer, social critic, philanthropist, essayist, and the 1929 Nobel Prize in Literature laureate. His highly symbolic and ironic epic novels and novellas are noted for their insight into the psychology of the artist and the intellectual.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

LiteratureDied aged 80

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Photo: Nobel Foundation · Public domain

1964 · 62 yrs

Ian Fleming

Ian Lancaster Fleming (28 May 1908 – 12 August 1964) was a British writer best known for his postwar James Bond series of spy novels.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

LiteratureWould be 118

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Photo: Erich Hartmann · Public domain

1973 · 53 yrs

Walter Rudolf Hess

Walter Rudolf Hess (17 March 1881 – 12 August 1973) was a Swiss physiologist who won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1949 for mapping the areas of the brain involved in the control of internal organs. He shared the prize with Egas Moniz.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ScienceWould be 145

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Photo: Nobel Foundation · Public domain

Showing 12 of 22

Events5

1099 · 927 yrs

Battle of Ascalon

The Battle of Ascalon took place on 12 August 1099 shortly after the capture of Jerusalem. Often considered the last action of the First Crusade, the Crusader army led by Godfrey of Bouillon defeated and drove off a Fatimid army of Egypt.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

War

1920 · 106 yrs

Battle of Warsaw

The Battle of Warsaw (Polish: Bitwa Warszawska; Russian: Варшавская битва, Varshavskaya bitva), also known as the Miracle on the Vistula (Polish: Cud nad Wisłą), was a series of battles that resulted in a decisive Polish victory and complete disintegration of the Red Army in August 1920 during the Polish–Soviet War.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

War

1949 · 77 yrs

Fourth Geneva Convention

The Geneva Convention (IV) relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War (French: Convention relative à la protection des personnes civiles en temps de guerre), more commonly referred to as the Fourth Geneva Convention or Geneva Convention IV (abbreviated as GCIV), is one of the four treaties of the…

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Politics

2015 · 11 yrs

2015 Tianjin explosions

On 12 August 2015, a series of explosions at the Port of Tianjin in Tianjin, Northern China, killed 173 people, according to official reports, and injured hundreds of others. The explosions occurred at a container storage station in the Binhai New Area of Tianjin, China.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Disaster

2026 · 0 yrs

Solar eclipse of 12 August 2026

A total solar eclipse occurred at the Moon's descending node of orbit on Wednesday, 12 August 2026, with a magnitude of 1.0386. Totality occurred in a narrow path across Earth's surface, with the partial solar eclipse visible over a surrounding region thousands of kilometres wide.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Science

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