August 12 is the 224th day of the year (225th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar; 141 days remain until the end of the year.
1901–present
1914 – World War I: France, the United Kingdom and the British Empire declare war on Austria-Hungary.[11] 1914 – World War I: The Battle of Halen a.k.a. Battle of the Silver Helmets a clash between large Belgian and German cavalry formations at Halen, Belgium.
1944 – Waffen-SS troops massacre 560 people in Sant'Anna di Stazzema.
1944 – Nazi German troops end the week-long Wola massacre, during which time at least 40,000 people are killed indiscriminately or in mass executions.
1944 – Alençon is liberated by General Philippe Leclerc de Hauteclocque, the first city in France to be liberated from the Nazis by French forces.
1948 – Between 15 and 150 unarmed members of the Khudai Khidmatgar movement are killed by Pakistani police.
1950 – Korean War: Bloody Gulch massacre: Seventy-five American POWs are massacred by the North Korean Army.
1952 – The Night of the Murdered Poets: Thirteen prominent Jewish intellectuals are murdered in Moscow, Russia, Soviet Union.
1953 – Thermonuclear bomb testing: The Soviet atomic bomb project continues with the detonation of 'RDS-6s' (Joe 4) using a 'layered' scheme.
1953 – The 7.2 Ms Ionian earthquake shakes the southern Ionian Islands with a maximum Mercalli intensity of X (Extreme). Between 445 and 800 people are killed.
1960 – Echo 1A, NASA's first successful communications satellite, is launched.[12] 1964 – South Africa is banned from the Olympic Games due to the country's racist policies.
1969 – Violence erupts after the Apprentice Boys of Derry march in Derry, Northern Ireland, resulting in a three-day communal riot known as the Battle of the Bogside.
1976 – Between 1,000 and 3,500 Palestinians are killed in the Tel al-Zaatar massacre, one of the bloodiest events of the Lebanese Civil War.
1977 – The first free flight of the Space Shuttle Enterprise.
1977 – The Sri Lanka Riots: Targeting the minority Sri Lankan Tamils, begin, less than a month after the United National Party came to power. Over 300 Tamils are killed.
1981 – The IBM Personal Computer is released.
1984 – An infamous brawl takes place at the Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium between the Atlanta Braves and San Diego Padres.[13] 1985 – Japan Air Lines Flight 123, a Boeing 747, crashes into Osutaka ridge in Gunma Prefecture, Japan, killing 520, becoming the worst single-plane air disaster.
1990 – Sue, the largest and most complete Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton found to date, is discovered by Sue Hendrickson in South Dakota.
1992 – Canada, Mexico and the United States announce completion of negotiations for the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).
1994 – Major League Baseball players go on strike, eventually forcing the cancellation of the 1994 World Series.
2000 – The Russian Navy submarine Kursk explodes and sinks in the Barents Sea during a military exercise, killing her entire 118-man crew.
2015 – At least two massive explosions kill 173 people and injure nearly 800 more in Tianjin, China.
2016 – Syrian civil war: The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) capture the city of Manbij from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).[14][15][16][17] 2017 – The Unite the Right rally occurs in Charlottesville, Virginia, leading to the deaths of 3 and injuring nearly 50 more.[18] 2018 – Thirty-nine civilians, including a dozen children, are killed in an explosion at a weapons depot in Sarmada, Syria.[19] 2021 – Six people, five victims and the perpetrator are killed in Keyham, Plymouth in the worst mass shooting in the UK since 2010.[20] Jewish prisoners.
1944 – World War II: The Nazis begin a week-long massacre of between 40,000 and 50,000 civilians and prisoners of war in Wola, Poland.
1949 – In Ecuador, an earthquake destroys 50 towns and kills more than 6,000.
1949 – In Montana, 12 smokejumper firefighters and 1 US Forest Service fire guard are killed in the Mann Gulch Fire.[19] 1957 – American Bandstand, a show dedicated to the teenage 'baby-boomers' by playing the songs and showing popular dances of the time, debuts on the ABC television network.
1960 – Burkina Faso, then known as Upper Volta, becomes independent from France.
1962 – Apartheid: Nelson Mandela is jailed. He would not be released until 1990.
1962 – American actress Marilyn Monroe is found dead at her home from a drug overdose.
1963 – Cold War: The United States, the United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union sign the Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty.
1964 – Vietnam War: Operation Pierce Arrow: American aircraft from carriers USS Ticonderoga and USS Constellation bomb North Vietnam in retaliation for strikes against U.S. destroyers in the Gulf of Tonkin.
1965 – The Indo-Pakistani war of 1965 begins as Pakistani soldiers cross the Line of Control dressed as locals.
1966 – A group of red guards at Experimental High in Beijing, including Deng Rong and Liu Pingping, daughters of Deng Xiaoping and Liu Shaoqi respectively, beat the deputy vice principal, Bian Zhongyun, to death with sticks after accusing her of counter-revolutionary revisionism, producing one of the first fatalities of the Cultural Revolution.[20]