May 12 in History
1588
May 12, 1588:Henry III, King of France, flees Paris after Henry I, Duke of Guise’s entry into the city resulted in the Day of Barricades (the unplanned public uprising against Henry III’s policies).
1640
May 12, 1640:Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford and chief advisor to King Charles, I is executed.
1780
May 12, 1780:The British are successful in their siege of Charleston, South Carolina, after American general, Benjamin Lincoln surrenders his troops.
1926
May 12, 1926:The first undisputed flight over the North Pole is undertaken on Norge, a semi-rigid airship. This is achieved by Roald Amundsen, a Norwegian explorer; Lincoln Ellsworth, an American polar explorer; and Umberto Nobile, an Italian aeronautic engineer.
1937
May 12, 1937:George VI’s coronation as the King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions takes place at Westminster Abbey five months after he ascended the throne following his brother, Edward VIII’s abdication.
1949
May 12, 1949:The Soviet Union ends the Berlin Blockade after 323 days.
1972
May 12, 1972:The Rolling Stones release their double album titled “Exile on Main Street”.
2002
May 12, 2002:Jimmy Carter becomes the first US President to visit Cuba since Fidel Castro’s revolution of 1959.
2008
May 12, 2008:The Sichuan earthquake strikes, resulting in the loss of over 90,000 lives.