12 February on the globe: what happened in the world on this day, and who was born

Upon reaching Rome, Bruno of Toul is elected as pope Leo IX and starts initiating reforms.

Pope Urban II confirms the foundation of the abbey of La Roë under Robert of Arbrissel as a community of canons regular.

The Italian professor Galeazzo di Santa Sofia performs the first post-mortem autopsy for the purposes of teaching and demonstration at the Heiligen–Geist Spital in Vienna.

English forces under Sir John Fastolf defend a supply convoy carrying rations to the army besieging Orléans in the Battle of the Herrings.

Isabella I issues an edict outlawing Islam in the Crown of Castile, forcing virtually all her Muslim subjects to convert to Christianity.

Vasco da Gama sets sail with 15 ships and 800 men from Lisbon, Portugal on his second voyage to India.

Santiago, Chile is founded by Pedro de Valdivia.

Japanese invasion of Korea: Approximately 3,000 Joseon defenders led by general Kwŏn Yul successfully repel more than 30,000 Japanese forces in the Siege of Haengju.

The Convention Parliament declares that the flight to France in 1688 by James II, the last Roman Catholic British monarch, constitutes an abdication.

A papal conclave convened to select a new pope after the death of Pope Alexander VIII.

Georgia Day: Englishman James Oglethorpe founds Georgia, the 13th colony of the Thirteen Colonies, by settling at Savannah.

Gustav III becomes the King of Sweden.

An Argentine/Chilean patriotic army, after crossing the Andes, defeats Spanish troops at the Battle of Chacabuco.

Bernardo O'Higgins formally approves the Chilean Declaration of Independence near Concepción, Chile.

The Creek cede the last of their lands in Georgia to the United States government by the Treaty of Indian Springs, and migrate west.

Ecuador annexes the Galápagos Islands.

The precursor of Michigan State University in East Lansing was founded as the United States' first agricultural college.

Antonín Dvořák's Jakobín is premiered at the National Theater in Prague.

Café Terminus bombing by Émile Henry during the Ère des attentats (1892–1894). This is considered one of the first acts of modern terrorism.

New Zealand's worst maritime disaster of the 20th century happens when the SS Penguin, an inter-island ferry, sinks and explodes at the entrance to Wellington Harbour.

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is founded.

The Xuantong Emperor, the last Emperor of China, abdicates.

Mexican football club Toluca FC was founded by a group of local businessmen and sports enthusiasts.

The Second Regional Congress of Peasants, Workers and Insurgents is held by the Makhnovshchina at Huliaipole.

Bolsheviks launch a revolt in Georgia as a preliminary to the Red Army invasion of Georgia.

George Gershwin's composition Rhapsody in Blue premiered at Aeolian Hall in New York.

USS Macon, one of the two largest helium-filled airships ever created, crashes into the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California and sinks.

The Imperial Japanese Army initiated the Battle of Pasir Panjang in Kent Ridge Park in Singapore.

A devastating tornado outbreak in Mississippi and Alabama kills 45 people and injures 427 others.

African American United States Army veteran Isaac Woodard is severely beaten by a South Carolina police officer to the point where he loses his vision in both eyes. The incident later galvanizes the civil rights movement and partially inspires Orson Welles' film Touch of Evil.

World War II: Operation Deadlight ends after scuttling 121 of 154 captured U-boats.

Christian Dior unveils a "New Look", helping Paris regain its position as the capital of the fashion world.

The largest observed iron meteorite until that time creates an impact crater in Sikhote-Alin, in the Soviet Union.

The Soviet Union launches Venera 1 towards Venus.

Construction begins on the Gateway Arch in St. Louis, Missouri.

Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 705 crashes into the Everglades shortly after takeoff from Miami International Airport, killing all 45 people on board.

Malcolm X visits Smethwick near Birmingham following the racially-charged 1964 United Kingdom general election.

Rabbi Morris Adler is fatally shot by a disgruntled congregant at Congregation Shaarey Zedek in Southfield, Michigan, United States.

Following the deaths of two employees on the job, black sanitation workers in Memphis, Tennessee, began a strike that lasted more than two months.

Vietnam War: The Phong Nhị and Phong Nhất massacre occurs, allegedly by South Korean troops.

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1970, is exiled from the Soviet Union.

One hundred women protest in Lahore, Pakistan against military dictator Zia-ul-Haq's proposed Law of Evidence. The women were tear-gassed, baton-charged and thrown into lock-up. The women were successful in repealing the law.

Cold War: The 1988 Black Sea bumping incident: The U.S. missile cruiser USS Yorktown (CG-48) is intentionally rammed by the Soviet frigate Bezzavetnyy in the Soviet territorial waters, while Yorktown claims innocent passage.

Carmen Lawrence becomes the first female Premier in Australian history when she becomes Premier of Western Australia.

The current Constitution of Mongolia comes into effect.

Two-year-old James Bulger is abducted from New Strand Shopping Centre by two ten-year-old boys, who later torture and murder him.

Four thieves break into the National Gallery of Norway and steal Edvard Munch's iconic painting The Scream.

United States President Bill Clinton is acquitted by the United States Senate in his impeachment trial.

NEAR Shoemaker spacecraft touches down in the "saddle" region of 433 Eros, becoming the first spacecraft to land on an asteroid.

An Iran Airtour Tupolev Tu-154 crashes in the mountains outside Khorramabad, Iran while descending for a landing at Khorramabad Airport, killing 119.

The trial of Slobodan Milošević, the former President of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, begins at the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague, Netherlands. He dies four years later before its conclusion.

Protesters in La Paz and the Bolivian government brokered a deal to end two days of rioting against a proposed salary tax.

The city of San Francisco begins issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples in response to a directive from Mayor Gavin Newsom.

Colgan Air Flight 3407 crashes into a house in Clarence Center, New York while on approach to Buffalo Niagara International Airport, killing all 49 on board and one on the ground.

Pope Francis and Patriarch Kirill sign an Ecumenical Declaration in the first such meeting between leaders of the Catholic and Russian Orthodox Churches since their split in 1054.

After being informed that its recently purchased coffin of Nedjemankh had been looted, the Metropolitan Museum of Art shuttered its ongoing exhibition Nedjemankh and His Gilded Coffin two months early and later returned the artifact to Egypt.

The country known as the Republic of Macedonia renames itself the Republic of North Macedonia in accordance with the Prespa agreement, settling a long-standing naming dispute with Greece.

In the first general election since the July Revolution in Bangladesh, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, led by Tarique Rahman, wins a landslide victory upon returning to power after almost 19 years. A referendum held alongside was also approved by the majority of voters.

Abraham Lincoln, American lawyer and statesman, 16th President of the United States (died 1865)

Charles Darwin, English naturalist, geologist, biologist and theorist (died 1882)

Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor (died 1835)

Christina Ricci, American actress and producer

Anna Pavlova, Russian-English ballerina and actress (died 1931)

Julian Schwinger, American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1994)

Ehud Barak, Israeli general and politician, 10th Prime Minister of Israel

Lou Andreas-Salomé, Russian-German psychoanalyst and author (died 1937)

Bill Russell, American basketball player and coach (died 2022)

Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, Georgian footballer

Josh Brolin, American actor

Max Beckmann, German painter and sculptor (died 1950)

Nicolás Otamendi, Argentine footballer

Omar Bradley, American general (died 1981)

Darren Aronofsky, American director, producer, and screenwriter

George Meredith, English novelist and poet (died 1909)

Julius Streicher, German publisher, founded Der Stürmer (died 1946)

Franco Zeffirelli, Italian director, producer, and politician (died 2019)

13th Dalai Lama (died 1933)

Heinrich Lenz, German-Italian physicist and academic (died 1865)

Ray Manzarek, American singer-songwriter, keyboard player, and producer (died 2013)

Juan Carlos Ferrero, Spanish tennis player

Ray Kurzweil, American computer scientist and engineer

David Graeber, American anthropologist and activist (died 2020)

Dayananda Saraswati, Indian monk and philosopher, founded Arya Samaj (died 1883)

Costa-Gavras, Greek-French director and producer

Tara Strong, Canadian-American voice actress and singer

Louisa Adams, 6th First Lady of the United States (died 1852)

Rafinha, Brazilian footballer

Lev Shestov, Russian philosopher (died 1938)

Brett Kavanaugh, American lawyer and jurist, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States

Michel Martelly, Haitian singer and politician, 56th President of Haiti

Hong Myung-bo, South Korean footballer and manager

Jesse Spencer, Australian actor and violinist

Jennifer Stone, American actress

Jan Swammerdam, Dutch biologist and zoologist (died 1680)

Gucci Mane, American rapper

Michael Ironside, Canadian actor, director, and screenwriter

Pierre Louis Dulong, French physicist and chemist (died 1838)

Friedrich de la Motte Fouqué, German author and poet (died 1843)

Britannicus, Roman son of Claudius (died 55)

David D. Friedman, American economist, physicist, and scholar

Ajda Pekkan, Turkish singer-songwriter and actress

Cotton Mather, English-American minister and author (died 1728)

Louis Renault, French engineer and businessman, co-founded Renault (died 1944)

Judy Blume, American author and educator

Maud Adams, Swedish model and actress

Mike Posner, American singer-songwriter and producer

Steve Hackett, English singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer

Johan Laidoner, Estonian-Russian general (died 1953)

Arlen Specter, American lieutenant, lawyer, and politician (died 2012)

Joe Don Baker, American actor (died 2025)

Jérémy Chardy, French tennis player

Patrick Herrmann, German footballer

Charles Pinot Duclos, French author (died 1772)

Thomas Campion, English composer, poet, and physician (died 1620)

Étienne-Louis Boullée, French architect (died 1799)

Eugène Atget, French photographer (died 1927)

Sarah Lancaster, American actress

Conrad II of Italy (died 1101)