Skip to content

Home arrow Trivia Resources arrow On this day in history

On this day in History Archives

 
At PaulsQuiz.com we aim to provide you with as much information as we possibly can. That's why we have built our On This Day in History section, to do just that. Our database is forever growing, we're adding more and more events from history to help you write your quiz questions.

Simply enter a date using the drop-down boxes below and click the 'Go' button to display events from the past that ocurred on that day.
 

 
12 November, 2006
The former Soviet republic of South Ossetia holds a referendum on independence from Georgia.
12 November, 2003
Iraq war: In Nasiriya, Iraq, at least 23 people, among them the first Italian casualties of the 2003 Iraq war are killed in a suicide bomb attack on an Italian police base.
12 November, 2001
In New York City, American Airlines Flight 587, an Airbus A300 on its way to the Dominican Republic, crashes minutes after takeoff from John F. Kennedy International Airport, killing all 260 on board and five on the ground.
12 November, 2001
2001 Attack on Afghanistan: Taliban forces abandon Kabul, Afghanistan, ahead of advancing Afghan Northern Alliance troops.
12 November, 1999
The Düzce earthquake strikes Turkey with a magnitude of 7.2 on the Richter scale.
12 November, 1998
Daimler-Benz completes a merger with Chrysler to form Daimler-Chrysler.
12 November, 1997
Ramzi Yousef is found guilty of masterminding the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.
12 November, 1996
A Saudi Arabian Airlines Boeing 747 and a Kazakh Ilyushin Il-76 cargo plane collide in mid-air near New Delhi, killing 349.
12 November, 1994
Then Vice President of the United States Al Gore symbolically signs the Kyoto Protocol.
12 November, 1993
Decree of President of Kazakhstan "About introducing national currency of Republic of Kazakhstan" is issued.
12 November, 1993
The first Ultimate Fighting Championship is held in Denver, Colorado.
12 November, 1991
Dili Massacre, Indonesian forces open fire on a crowd of student protesters in Dili, East Timor.
12 November, 1990
Crown Prince Akihito is formally installed as Emperor Akihito of Japan, becoming the 125th Japanese monarch.
12 November, 1990
Tim Berners-Lee publishes a formal proposal for the World Wide Web.
12 November, 1982
In the Soviet Union, Yuri Andropov becomes the general secretary of the Soviet Communist Partys Central Committee, succeeding Leonid I. Brezhnev.
12 November, 1982
Lech Walesa, a Solidarity leader, is released from a Polish prison after eleven months.
12 November, 1981
The Space Shuttle Columbia becomes the first spacecraft to be launched twice.
12 November, 1980
The NASA space probe Voyager I makes its closest approach to Saturn and takes first images of its rings.
12 November, 1979
Iran hostage crisis: In response to the hostage situation in Tehran, US President Jimmy Carter orders a halt to all petroleum imports into the United States from Iran.
12 November, 1971
Vietnam War: As part of Vietnamization, US President Richard M. Nixon sets February 1, 1972 as the deadline for the removal of another 45,000 American troops from Vietnam.
12 November, 1970
The Oregon Highway Division attempts to destroy a rotting beached Sperm whale with explosives, leading to the now infamous exploding whale incident.
12 November, 1969
Vietnam War: My Lai Massacre - Independent investigative journalist Seymour Hersh breaks the My Lai story.
12 November, 1948
In Tokyo, an international war crimes tribunal sentences seven Japanese military and government officials to death, including General Hideki Tojo, for their roles in World War II.
12 November, 1946
A branch of the Exchange National Bank in Chicago, Illinois opens the first ten drive-up teller windows.
12 November, 1944
World War II: The Royal Air Force launches 29 Avro Lancaster bombers in one of the most successful precision bombing attacks of war and sinks the German battleship Tirpitz, with 12,000 lb Tallboy bombs off Tromsĝ, Norway.
12 November, 1942
World War II: The Naval Battle of Guadalcanal between Japanese and American forces begins near Guadalcanal, which would last for three days.
12 November, 1941
World War II: Temperatures around Moscow drop to -12 ° C and the Soviet Union launches ski troops for the first time against the freezing German forces near the city.
12 November, 1941
The Soviet cruiser "Chervona Ukraina" is destroyed during the Battle of Sevastopol.
12 November, 1938
Hermann Göring announces Nazi Germany plans to make Madagascar the "Jewish homeland", an idea that actually was first considered by 19th century journalist Theodor Herzl.
12 November, 1936
In California, the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge opens to traffic.
12 November, 1934
Laurel and Hardy: The musical Babes in Toyland debuts, featuring Oliver Hardy and Stan Laurel as comic relief.
12 November, 1933
Hugh Gray takes the first known photos of the Loch Ness Monster.
12 November, 1927
Leon Trotsky is expelled from the Soviet Communist Party, leaving Joseph Stalin in undisputed control of the Soviet Union.
12 November, 1922
The Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority is founded on the campus of Butler University in Indianapolis, Indiana.
12 November, 1920
Italy and the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes sign the Treaty of Rapallo.
12 November, 1918
Austria becomes a republic.
12 November, 1912
The frozen bodies of Robert Scott and his men are found on the Ross Ice Shelf in Antarctica.
12 November, 1905
(November 12 & November 13) Norway holds a referendum in favor of monarchy over republic.
12 November, 1893
The treaty of the Durand Line is signed between present day Pakistan and Afghanistan - the Durand Line has gained international recognition as an international border between the two sister nations.
12 November, 1847
Sir James Young Simpson, a British physician, is the first to use chloroform as an anaesthetic.
12 November, 1793
Jean Sylvain Bailly, the first Mayor of Paris, is guillotined.
12 November, 1555
The English Parliament re-establishes Catholicism.
12 November, 1439
Plymouth, England, becomes the first town incorporated by the English Parliament.
12 November, 1028
Future Byzantine empress Zoe marries Romanus Argyrus according to the wishes of the dying Constantine VIII.
12 November, 764
Tibetan troops occupy Changan, the capital of the Chinese Tang Dynasty, for fifteen days.

Choose another day in history

January

01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06 | 07 | 08 | 09 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15
16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31

February

01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06 | 07 | 08 | 09 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15
16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29

March

01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06 | 07 | 08 | 09 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15
16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31

April

01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06 | 07 | 08 | 09 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15
16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30

May

01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06 | 07 | 08 | 09 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15
16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31

June

01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06 | 07 | 08 | 09 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15
16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30

July

01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06 | 07 | 08 | 09 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15
16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31

August

01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06 | 07 | 08 | 09 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15
16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31

September

01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06 | 07 | 08 | 09 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15
16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30

October

01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06 | 07 | 08 | 09 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15
16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31

November

01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06 | 07 | 08 | 09 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15
16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30

December

01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06 | 07 | 08 | 09 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15
16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31

PaulsQuiz.com Exclusive: Free Questions in Your Inbox

Join the PaulsQuiz.com Facebook Group