12 February History
- 1294 - Kublai Khan, the conqueror of Asia, dies at the age of 80.
- 1554 - Lady Jane Grey, the Queen of England for thirteen days, is beheaded on Tower Hill. She was barely 17 years old.
- 1709 - Alexander Selkirk, the Scottish seaman whose adventures inspired the creation of Daniel Dafoe's Robinson Crusoe, is taken off Juan Fernandez Island after more than four years of living there alone.
- 1793 - The first fugitive slave law, requiring the return of escaped slaves, is passed.
- 1818 - Chile gains independence from Spain.
- 1836 - Mexican General Santa Anna crosses the Rio Grande en route to the Alamo.
- 1909 - The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is formed.
- 1912 - China becomes a republic following the overthrow of the Manchu dynasty.
- 1921 - Winston Churchill of London is appointed colonial secretary.
- 1924 - George Gershwin's groundbreaking symphonic jazz composition Rhapsody in Blue premieres with Gershwin himself playing the piano with Paul Whiteman's orchestra.
- 1929 - Charles Lindbergh announces his engagement to Anne Morrow.
- 1931 - Japan makes its first television broadcast–a baseball game.
- 1935 - The Macon, the last U.S. Navy dirigible, crashes off the coast of California, killing two people.
- 1938 - Japan refuses to reveal naval data requested by the U.S. and Britain.
- 1940 - The Soviet Union signs a trade treaty with Germany to aid against the British blockade.
- 1944 - Wendell Wilkie enters the American presidential race against Franklin D. Roosevelt.
- 1949 - Moslem Brotherhood chief Hassan el Banna is shot to death in Cairo.
- 1953 - The Soviets break off diplomatic relations with Israel after the bombing of Soviet legation.
- 1966 - The South Vietnamese win two big battles in the Mekong Delta.
- 1972 - Senator Edward Kennedy advocates amnesty for Vietnam draft resisters.
- 1974 - The Symbionese Liberation Army asks the Hearst family for $230 million in food for the poor.
- 1980 - The Lake Placid Winter Olympics open in New York.
- 1987 - A Court in Texas upholds $8.5 billion of a fine imposed on Texaco for the illegal takeover of Getty Oil.
- 1999 - The U.S. Senate fails to pass two articles of impeachment against President Bill Clinton. He had been accused of perjury and obstruction of justice by the House of Representatives.
12 February Birthdays
- 1768 - Francis II, the last Holy Roman Emperor
- 1775 - Louisa Adams, wife of John Quincy Adams
- 1809 - Charles Darwin, naturalist and influential theorist of evolution (On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection).
- 1809 - Abraham Lincoln, 16th U.S. President of the United State (1861-1865).
- 1828 - George Meredith, English poet and novelist.
- 1857 - Eugene Atget, French photographer, took over 10,000 photographs documenting Paris.
- 1874 - Auguste Perret, French architect, pioneer in designs of reinforced concrete buildings.
- 1880 - John L. Lewis, American labor leader.
- 1893 - Omar Bradley, U.S. army general during World War II.