March 12

March 12 in recent years

2024 (Tuesday)

2023 (Sunday)

2022 (Saturday)

2021 (Friday)

2020 (Thursday)

2019 (Tuesday)

2018 (Monday)

2017 (Sunday)

2016 (Saturday)

2015 (Thursday)

March 12 is the 71st day of the year (72nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar; 294 days remain until the end of the year.

Events

Pre-1600

• 538 – Vitiges, king of the Ostrogoths ends his siege of Rome and retreats to Ravenna, leaving the city to the victorious Byzantine general, Belisarius.
• 1088 – Election of Urban II as the 159th Pope of the Catholic Church. He is best known for initiating the Crusades.
• 1158 – German city Munich (München) is first mentioned as forum apud Munichen in the Augsburg arbitration by Holy Roman Emperor Friedrich I.
• 1579 – Start of the Siege of Maastricht, part of the Eighty Years' War.

1601–1900

• 1622 – Ignatius of Loyola and Francis Xavier, founders of the Society of Jesus, are canonized by the Roman Catholic Church.
• 1689 – James II of England landed at Kinsale, starting the Williamite War in Ireland.
• 1811 – Peninsular War: A day after a successful rearguard action, French Marshal Michel Ney once again successfully delays the pursuing Anglo-Portuguese force at the Battle of Redinha.

1901–present

• 1912 – The Girl Guides (later renamed the Girl Scouts of the USA) are founded in the United States.
• 1913 – The future capital of Australia is officially named Canberra.
• 1918 – Moscow becomes the capital of Russia again after Saint Petersburg held this status for most of the period since 1713.
• 1920 – The Kapp Putsch begins when the Marinebrigade Ehrhardt is ordered to march on Berlin.
• 1928 – In California, the St. Francis Dam fails; the resulting floods kill 431 people.
• 1930 – Mahatma Gandhi begins the Salt March, a 200-mile (320 km) march to the sea to protest the British monopoly on salt in India.
• 1933 – Great Depression: Franklin D. Roosevelt addresses the nation for the first time as President of the United States. This is also the first of his "fireside chats".
• 1938 – Anschluss: German troops occupy and annex Austria.
• 1940 – Winter War: Finland signs the Moscow Peace Treaty with the Soviet Union, ceding almost all of Finnish Karelia.
• 1940 – The most destructive train accident in Finnish history kills 39 and injures 69 people in Turenki, Janakkala.
• 1942 – The Battle of Java ends with the surrender of the American-British-Dutch-Australian Command to the Japanese Empire in Bandung, West Java, Dutch East Indies.
• 1947 – Cold War: The Truman Doctrine is proclaimed to help stem the spread of Communism.
• 1950 – The Llandow air disaster kills 80 people when the aircraft they are travelling in crashes near Sigingstone, Wales. At the time this was the world's deadliest air disaster.
• 1967 – Suharto takes power from Sukarno when the People's Consultative Assembly inaugurate him as Acting President of Indonesia.
• 1968 – Mauritius gains independence from the United Kingdom.
• 1971 – The 1971 Turkish military memorandum is sent to the Süleyman Demirel government of Turkey and the government resigns.
• 1989 – Sir Tim Berners-Lee submits his proposal to CERN for an information management system, which subsequently develops into the World Wide Web.
• 1992 – Mauritius becomes a republic while remaining a member of the Commonwealth of Nations.
• 1993 – Several bombs explode in Mumbai, India, killing about 300 people and injuring hundreds more.
• 1993 – North Korea announces that it will withdraw from the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons and refuses to allow inspectors access to its nuclear sites.
• 1999 – Former Warsaw Pact members the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland join NATO.
• 2003 – Zoran Đinđić, Prime Minister of Serbia, is assassinated in Belgrade.
• 2003 – The World Health Organization officially release a global warning of outbreaks of Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS).
• 2004 – The President of South Korea, Roh Moo-hyun, is impeached by its National Assembly: the first such impeachment in the nation's history.
• 2009 – Financier Bernie Madoff pleads guilty to one of the largest frauds in Wall Street's history.
• 2011 – A reactor at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant explodes and releases radioactivity into the atmosphere a day after the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami.
• 2014 – A gas explosion in the New York City neighborhood of East Harlem kills eight and injures 70 others.
• 2018 – US-Bangla Airlines Flight 211 crashes at Tribhuvan International Airport in Katmandu, killing 51 and injuring 20.
• 2019 – In the House of Commons, the revised EU Withdrawal Bill was rejected by a margin of 149 votes.
• 2020 – The United States suspends travel from Europe due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Births

Pre-1600

• 1270 – Charles, Count of Valois (d. 1325)
• 1515 – Caspar Othmayr, German Lutheran pastor and composer (d. 1553)

1601–1900

• 1607 – Paul Gerhardt, German poet and composer (d. 1676)
• 1613 – André Le Nôtre, French gardener and architect (d. 1700)
• 1626 – John Aubrey, English historian and philosopher (d. 1697)
• 1637 – Anne Hyde, Duchess of York and Albany (d. 1671)
• 1672 – Richard Steele, Irish-Welsh journalist and politician (d. 1729)
• 1685 – George Berkeley, Irish bishop and philosopher (d. 1753)
• 1710 – Thomas Arne, English composer (d. 1778)
• 1735 – François-Emmanuel Guignard, comte de Saint-Priest, French politician and diplomat (d. 1821)
• 1753 – Jean Denis, French politician, lawyer, jurist, journalist, and historian (d. 1827)
• 1766 – Claudius Buchanan, Scottish theologian (d. 1815)
• 1781 – Frederica of Baden, Queen consort to Gustav IV Adolf of Sweden (d. 1826)
• 1784 – William Buckland, English geologist and paleontologist; Dean of Westminster (d. 1856)
• 1795 – William Lyon Mackenzie, Scottish-Canadian journalist and politician, 1st Mayor of Toronto (d. 1861)
• 1795 – George Tyler Wood, American military officer and politician (d. 1858)
• 1806 – Jane Pierce, American wife of Franklin Pierce, 15th First Lady of the United States (d. 1863)
• 1807 – James Abbott, Indian Army officer (d. 1896)
• 1815 – Louis-Jules Trochu, French military leader and politician (d. 1896)
• 1821 – John Abbott, Canadian lawyer and politician, 3rd Prime Minister of Canada (d. 1893)
• 1821 – Medo Pucić, Croatian writer and politician (d. 1882)
• 1823 – Katsu Kaishū, Japanese statesman (d. 1899)
• 1824 – Gustav Kirchhoff, Russian-German physicist and academic (d. 1887)
• 1832 – Charles Boycott, English farmer and agent (d. 1897)
• 1834 – Hilary A. Herbert, Secretary of the Navy (d. 1919)
• 1835 – Simon Newcomb, Canadian-American astronomer and mathematician (d. 1909)
• 1835 – Sigismondo Savona, Maltese educator and politician (d. 1908)
• 1837 – Alexandre Guilmant, French organist and composer (d. 1911)
• 1838 – William Henry Perkin, English chemist and academic (d. 1907)
• 1843 – Gabriel Tarde, French sociologist and criminologist (d. 1904)
• 1855 – Eduard Birnbaum, Polish-born German cantor (d. 1920)
• 1857 – William V. Ranous, American actor and director (d. 1915)
• 1858 – Adolph Ochs, American publisher (d. 1935)
• 1859 – Ernesto Cesàro, Italian mathematician (d. 1906)
• 1860 – Eric Stenbock, Estonian poet and author (d. 1895)
• 1863 – Gabriele D'Annunzio, Italian soldier, journalist, poet, and playwright (d. 1938)
• 1863 – Vladimir Vernadsky, Russian and Ukrainian mineralogist and chemist (d. 1945)
• 1864 – W. H. R. Rivers, English anthropologist, neurologist, ethnologist, and psychiatrist (d. 1922)
• 1864 – Alice Tegnér, Swedish organist, composer, and educator (d. 1943)
• 1869 – George Forbes, New Zealand politician, 22nd Prime Minister of New Zealand (d. 1947)
• 1874 – Edmund Eysler, Austrian composer (d. 1949)
• 1877 – Wilhelm Frick, German lawyer and politician, German Federal Minister of the Interior (d. 1946)
• 1878 – Gemma Galgani, Italian mystic and saint (d. 1903)
• 1880 – Henry Drysdale Dakin, English-American chemist and academic (d. 1952)
• 1881 – Väinö Tanner, Finnish politician of Social Democratic Party of Finland; the Prime Minister of Finland (d. 1966)
• 1882 – Carlos Blanco Galindo, Bolivian politician (d. 1943)
• 1883 – Sándor Jávorka, Hungarian botanist (d. 1961)
• 1888 – Walter Hermann Bucher, German-American geologist and paleontologist (d. 1965)
• 1888 – Hans Knappertsbusch, German conductor (d. 1965)
• 1890 – Evert Taube, Swedish singer-songwriter and lute player (d. 1976)
• 1896 – Jesse Fuller, American singer-songwriter and musician (d. 1976)
• 1898 – Tian Han, Chinese playwright (d. 1968)
• 1898 – Luitpold Steidle, German army officer and politician (d. 1984)
• 1899 – Ramón Muttis, Argentine footballer (d. 1955)
• 1900 – Rinus van den Berge, Dutch athlete (d. 1972)
• 1900 – Sylvi Kekkonen, Finnish writer and wife of President of Finland Urho Kekkonen (d. 1974)
• 1900 – Gustavo Rojas Pinilla, 19th President of Colombia (d. 1975)

1901–present

• 1904 – Lyudmila Keldysh, Russian mathematician (d. 1976)
• 1905 – Takashi Shimura, Japanese actor (d. 1982)
• 1907 – Dorrit Hoffleit, American astronomer and academic (d. 2007)
• 1908 – Rita Angus, New Zealand painter (d. 1970)
• 1908 – David Marshall, Singaporean lawyer and politician, 1st Chief Minister of Singapore (d. 1995)
• 1909 – Petras Cvirka, Lithuanian author (d. 1947)
• 1910 – László Lékai, Archbishop of Esztergom and Cardinal (d. 1986)
• 1910 – Masayoshi Ōhira, Japanese politician, 68th Prime Minister of Japan (d. 1980)
• 1911 – Gustavo Díaz Ordaz, Mexican academic and politician, 49th President of Mexico (d. 1979)
• 1912 – Willie Hall, English footballer (d. 1967)
• 1912 – Irving Layton, Romanian-Canadian poet and academic (d. 2006)
• 1913 – Yashwantrao Chavan, Indian politician, 5th Deputy Prime Minister of India (d. 1984)
• 1913 – Agathe von Trapp, Hungarian-American singer and author (d. 2010)
• 1915 – Alberto Burri, Italian painter and sculptor (d. 1995)
• 1915 – Jiří Mucha, Czech journalist (d. 1991)
• 1917 – Leonard Chess, American record company executive, co-founder of Chess Records (d. 1969)
• 1917 – Millard Kaufman, American author and screenwriter (d. 2009)
• 1917 – Googie Withers, Indian-Australian actress (d. 2011)
• 1918 – Elaine de Kooning, American painter and academic (d. 1989)
• 1918 – Pádraig Faulkner, Irish Fianna Fáil politician (d. 2012)
• 1921 – Gianni Agnelli, Italian businessman (d. 2001)
• 1921 – Gordon MacRae, American actor and singer (d. 1986)
• 1922 – Jack Kerouac, American author and poet (d. 1969)
• 1922 – Lane Kirkland, American sailor and union leader (d. 1999)
• 1923 – Hjalmar Andersen, Norwegian speed skater and cyclist (d. 2013)
• 1923 – Norbert Brainin, Austrian violinist (d. 2005)
• 1923 – Wally Schirra, American captain, pilot, and astronaut (d. 2007)
• 1923 – Mae Young, American wrestler (d. 2014)
• 1925 – Leo Esaki, Japanese physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
• 1925 – Harry Harrison, American author and illustrator (d. 2012)
• 1926 – George Ariyoshi, American lawyer and politician, 3rd Governor of Hawaii
• 1926 – Arthur A. Hartman, American career diplomat (d. 2015)
• 1926 – John Clellon Holmes, American author and professor (d. 1988)
• 1926 – David Nadien, American violinist (d. 2014)
• 1927 – Raúl Alfonsín, Argentine lawyer and politician, 46th President of Argentina (d. 2009)
• 1927 – Emmett Leith, American professor of electrical engineering and co-inventor of three-dimensional holography (d. 2005)
• 1927 – Sudharmono, Indonesian politician, 5th Vice President of Indonesia (d. 2006)
• 1928 – Edward Albee, American director and playwright (d. 2016)
• 1929 – Win Tin, Burmese journalist and politician, co-founded the National League for Democracy (d. 2014)
• 1930 – Antony Acland, English former diplomat and Provost of Eton College (d. 2021)
• 1930 – Vern Law, American baseball player and manager
• 1931 – Józef Tischner, Polish priest and philosopher (d. 2000)
• 1932 – Bob Houbregs, Canadian basketball player (d. 2014)
• 1932 – Andrew Young, American pastor and politician, 14th United States Ambassador to the United Nations
• 1933 – Myrna Fahey, American actress (d. 1973)
• 1933 – Barbara Feldon, American actress
• 1934 – Francisco J. Ayala, Spanish-American evolutionary biologist and philosopher (d. 2023)
• 1936 – Virginia Hamilton, American children's books author (d. 2002)
• 1936 – Michał Heller, Polish professor of philosophy
• 1936 – Eddie Sutton, American basketball player and coach (d. 2020)
• 1937 – Zoltán Horvath, Hungarian sabre fencer
• 1937 – Zurab Sotkilava, Georgian operatic tenor (d. 2017)
• 1938 – Vladimir Msryan, Armenian actor (d. 2010)
• 1938 – Johnny Rutherford, American race car driver and sportscaster
• 1938 – Ken Spears, American writer (d. 2020)
• 1938 – Juan Horacio Suárez, Argentine bishop
• 1938 – Ron Tutt, American drummer (d. 2021)
• 1940 – Al Jarreau, American singer (d. 2017)
• 1941 – Josip Skoblar, former Croatian footballer
• 1942 – Jimmy Wynn, American baseball player (d. 2020)
• 1943 – Ratko Mladić, Serbian general
• 1944 – Erwin Mueller, former American basketball player (d. 2018)
• 1945 – Anne Summers, Australian feminist writer, editor, publisher and public servant
• 1946 – Dean Cundey, American cinematographer and film director
• 1946 – Liza Minnelli, American actress, singer and dancer
• 1946 – Frank Welker, American voice actor and singer
• 1947 – Peter Harry Carstensen, German educator and politician
• 1947 – Jan-Erik Enestam, Finland-Swedish politician
• 1947 – David Rigert, Soviet Olympic weightlifter
• 1947 – Mitt Romney, American businessman and politician, 70th Governor of Massachusetts
• 1948 – Virginia Bottomley, Scottish social worker and politician, Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
• 1948 – Kent Conrad, American politician
• 1948 – James Taylor, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
• 1949 – Rob Cohen, American director, producer, and screenwriter
• 1949 – David Mellor, British politician
• 1950 – Javier Clemente, Spanish footballer and manager
• 1952 – André Comte-Sponville, French philosopher
• 1952 – John Mitchell, English footballer
• 1952 – Yasuhiko Okudera, former Japanese footballer
• 1953 – Pavel Pinigin, former Soviet wrestler and Olympic champion
• 1954 – Anish Kapoor, Indian-English sculptor
• 1956 – Ove Aunli, former Norwegian cross-country skier
• 1956 – Stanisław Bobak, Polish ski jumper (d. 2010)
• 1956 – Steve Harris, English bass player and songwriter
• 1956 – Lesley Manville, English actress
• 1956 – Dale Murphy, American baseball player
• 1956 – Pim Verbeek, Dutch football manager (d. 2019)
• 1957 – Patrick Battiston, French footballer and coach
• 1957 – Marlon Jackson, American singer-songwriter and dancer
• 1957 – Andrey Lopatov, Soviet basketball player (d. 2022)
• 1958 – Phil Anderson, English-Australian cyclist
• 1959 – Milorad Dodik, Bosnian Serb politician and president of Republika Srpska
• 1959 – Luenell, American comedian and actress
• 1959 – Michael Walter, German luger (d. 2016)
• 1960 – Jason Beghe, American actor
• 1960 – Courtney B. Vance, American actor and painter
• 1962 – Julia Campbell, American actress
• 1962 – Andreas Köpke, German footballer
• 1962 – Chris Sanders, American illustrator and voice actor
• 1962 – Darryl Strawberry, American baseball player and minister
• 1962 – Titus Welliver, American actor
• 1963 – John Andretti, American race car driver (d. 2020)
• 1963 – Candy Costie, American swimmer
• 1963 – Joaquim Cruz, Brazilian runner and coach
• 1963 – Reiner Gies, German boxer
• 1963 – Ian Holloway, English footballer and manager
• 1963 – Paul Way, English golfer
• 1963 – Jake Weber, English actor
• 1964 – Dieter Eckstein, German footballer
• 1964 – Umirzak Shukeyev, Kazakh chairman of Samruk-Kazyna
• 1965 – Steve Finley, American baseball player
• 1965 – Ivari Padar, former Minister of Finance and Minister of Agriculture of the Estonian Social Democratic Party
• 1966 – David Daniels, American countertenor
• 1966 – Grant Long, American basketball player and sportscaster
• 1967 – Julio Dely Valdés, Panamanian footballer and manager
• 1968 – Tammy Duckworth, Thai-American colonel, pilot, and politician
• 1968 – Aaron Eckhart, American actor and producer
• 1969 – Graham Coxon, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
• 1969 – Jake Tapper, American journalist and author
• 1970 – Karen Bradley, English politician
• 1970 – Dave Eggers, American author and screenwriter
• 1970 – Mathias Grönberg, Swedish golfer
• 1970 – Rex Walters, American basketball player and coach
• 1971 – Raúl Mondesí, Dominican baseball player and politician
• 1971 – Isaiah Rider, American basketball player and rapper
• 1971 – Dragutin Topić, Serbian high jumper
• 1972 – Doron Sheffer, Israeli basketball player
• 1974 – Charles Akonnor, Ghanaian footballer
• 1974 – Walid Badir, Israeli footballer
• 1975 – Nicolae Grigore, Romanian footballer
• 1975 – Edgaras Jankauskas, Lithuanian footballer
• 1975 – Valérie Nicolas, French handball player
• 1975 – Srđan Pecelj, Bosnian footballer
• 1976 – Deron Quint, American ice hockey player
• 1976 – Zhao Wei, Chinese actress, film director, producer and pop singer
• 1977 – Michelle Burgher, track and field athlete
• 1977 – Ramiro Corrales, American soccer player
• 1977 – Amdy Faye, Senegalese footballer
• 1977 – Brent Johnson, American ice hockey player
• 1978 – Marco Ferreira, Portuguese footballer
• 1978 – Casey Mears, American race car driver
• 1978 – Arina Tanemura, Japanese author and illustrator
• 1979 – Charlie Bell, American basketball player and coach
• 1979 – Rhys Coiro, American actor
• 1979 – Pete Doherty, English musician, songwriter, actor, poet, writer, and artist
• 1979 – Jamie Dwyer, Australian field hockey player and coach
• 1979 – Gerard López, Spanish footballer
• 1979 – Ben Sandford, New Zealand skeleton racer
• 1979 – Edwin Villafuerte, Ecuadorian footballer
• 1979 – Tim Wieskötter, German sprint canoer
• 1980 – Césinha, Brazilian footballer
• 1980 – Becky Holliday, American pole vaulter
• 1980 – Jens Mouris, Dutch cyclist
• 1980 – Douglas Murray, Swedish ice hockey player
• 1981 – Kenta Kobayashi, Japanese wrestler and kick-boxer
• 1981 – Katarina Srebotnik, Slovenian tennis player
• 1981 – Holly Williams, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
• 1982 – Lili Bordán, Hungarian-American actress
• 1982 – Samm Levine, American actor and comedian
• 1982 – Ilya Nikulin, Russian ice hockey player
• 1982 – Hisato Satō, Japanese footballer
• 1982 – Yūto Satō, Japanese footballer
• 1982 – Tobias Schweinsteiger, German footballer
• 1983 – Atif Aslam, Pakistani singer and actor
• 1983 – Mikko Koivu, Finnish ice hockey player
• 1984 – Jaimie Alexander, American actress
• 1984 – Shreya Ghoshal, Indian singer
• 1985 – Marco Bonanomi, Italian racing driver
• 1985 – Aleksandr Bukharov, Russian footballer
• 1985 – Ed Clancy, English track and road cyclist
• 1985 – Andriy Tovt, Ukrainian footballer
• 1986 – Martynas Andriuškevičius, Lithuanian basketball player
• 1986 – Oleh Dopilka, Ukrainian footballer
• 1986 – Danny Jones, English singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor
• 1986 – Ben Offereins, Australian runner
• 1986 – František Rajtoral, Czech footballer (d. 2017)
• 1987 – Manuele Boaro, Italian cyclist
• 1987 – Jessica Hardy, American swimmer
• 1987 – Maxwell Holt, American volleyball player
• 1987 – Teimour Radjabov, Azerbaijani chess player
• 1987 – Chris Seitz, American soccer player
• 1987 – Vadim Shipachyov, Russian ice hockey player
• 1987 – Pablo Velázquez, Paraguayan footballer
• 1988 – Sebastian Brendel, German canoe racer
• 1988 – Kostas Mitroglou, Greek footballer
• 1988 – Titi, Brazilian footballer
• 1989 – Jordan Adéoti, French footballer
• 1989 – Vytautas Černiauskas, Lithuanian footballer
• 1989 – Tyler Clary, American swimmer
• 1989 – Evgenii Dadonov, Russian ice hockey player
• 1989 – Richard Eckersley, English footballer
• 1989 – Chen Jianghua, Chinese basketball player
• 1989 – Dmitry Korobov, Belarusian ice hockey player
• 1989 – Siim Luts, Estonian footballer
• 1990 – Dont'a Hightower, American football coach and former player
• 1990 – Marvin Jones, American football player
• 1990 – Alexander Kröckel, German skeleton racer
• 1990 – Dawid Kubacki, Polish ski jumper
• 1990 – Irakli Kvekveskiri, Georgian footballer
• 1990 – Matias Myttynen, Finnish ice hockey player
• 1990 – Ilija Nestorovski, Macedonian footballer
• 1990 – Milena Raičević, Montenegrin handballer
• 1990 – Mikko Sumusalo, Finnish footballer
• 1991 – Leandro Fernandez, Argentine footballer
• 1991 – Niclas Heimann, German footballer
• 1991 – Felix Kroos, German footballer
• 1992 – Daniele Baselli, Italian footballer
• 1992 – Jordan Ferri, French footballer
• 1992 – Ciara Mageean, Irish middle-distance runner
• 1992 – Jiří Skalák, Czech footballer
• 1993 – Shehu Abdullahi, Nigerian footballer
• 1993 – Amjad Attwan, Iraqi footballer
• 1993 – Anton Shramchenko, Belarusian footballer
• 1994 – Katie Archibald, Scottish track cyclist
• 1994 – Jerami Grant, American basketball player
• 1994 – Christina Grimmie, American singer-songwriter (d. 2016)
• 1994 – Tyler Patrick Jones, American actor
• 1996 – Serhou Guirassy, French footballer
• 1996 – Karim Hafez, Egyptian footballer
• 1996 – Robert Murić, Croatian footballer
• 1996 – Cene Prevc, Slovenian ski jumper
• 1997 – Dean Henderson, English footballer
• 1997 – Allan Saint-Maximin, French footballer
• 1997 – Felipe Vizeu, Brazilian footballer
• 1998 – Carsen Edwards, American basketball player
• 1998 – Mecole Hardman, American football player
• 1998 – Daniel Samohin, Israeli figure skater
• 1998 – Elizaveta Ukolova, Czech figure skater
• 2001 – Max Duggan, American football player
• 2001 – Kim Min-kyu, South Korean singer and actor
• 2003 – Andrea Brillantes, Filipino actress and model
• 2003 – Malina Weissman, American actress and model
• 2004 – DannyLux, American singer-songwriter
• 2008 – Emma Kok, Dutch singer

Deaths

Pre-1600

• 417 – Innocent I, pope of the Catholic Church
• 604 – Gregory I, pope of the Catholic Church (b. 540)
• 1022 – Symeon the New Theologian (b. 949)
• 1160 – Al-Muqtafi, caliph of the Abbasid Caliphate (b. 1096)
• 1316 – Stefan Dragutin (b. c. 1244)
• 1322 – Humphrey de Bohun, 4th Earl of Hereford, English general and politician, Lord High Constable of England (b. 1276)
• 1539 – Thomas Boleyn, 1st Earl of Wiltshire, English diplomat and politician (b. 1477)

1601–1900

• 1699 – Peder Griffenfeld, Danish politician (b. 1635)
• 1898 – Zachris Topelius, Finnish-Swedish journalist, historian, and author (b. 1818)

1901–present

• 1916 – Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach, Austrian author (b. 1830)
• 1925 – Sun Yat-sen, Chinese physician and politician, 1st President of the Republic of China (b. 1866)
• 1929 – Asa Griggs Candler, American businessman and politician, 44th Mayor of Atlanta (b. 1851)
• 1935 – Mihajlo Pupin, Serbian-American physicist and chemist (b. 1858)
• 1942 – William Henry Bragg, English physicist, chemist, and mathematician, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1862)
• 1943 – Gustav Vigeland, Norwegian sculptor (b. 1869)
• 1946 – Ferenc Szálasi, Hungarian soldier and politician, Head of State of Hungary (b. 1897)
• 1949 – Wilhelm Steinkopf, German chemist (b. 1879)
• 1954 – Marianne Weber, German sociologist and suffragist (b. 1870)
• 1955 – Charlie Parker, American saxophonist and composer (b. 1920)
• 1955 – Theodor Plievier, German author best known for his anti-war novel (b. 1892)
• 1957 – Josephine Hull, American actress (b. 1877)
• 1971 – Eugene Lindsay Opie, American physician and pathologist (b. 1873)
• 1973 – Frankie Frisch, American baseball player and manager (b. 1898)
• 1974 – George D. Sax, American banker and businessman (b. 1904)
• 1985 – Eugene Ormandy, Hungarian-American violinist and conductor (b. 1899)
• 1989 – Maurice Evans, English-American actor (b. 1901)
• 1991 – Ragnar Granit, Finnish-Swedish neuroscientist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1900)
• 1991 – William Heinesen, Faroese author, poet, and author (b. 1900)
• 1992 – Lucy M. Lewis, American potter (b. 1890)
• 1998 – Beatrice Wood, American painter and potter (b. 1893)
• 1999 – Yehudi Menuhin, American-Swiss violinist and conductor (b. 1916)
• 1999 – Bidu Sayão, Brazilian-American soprano (b. 1902)
• 2000 – Aleksandar Nikolić, Yugoslav basketball coach (b. 1924)
• 2001 – Morton Downey Jr., American singer-songwriter, actor, and talk show host (b. 1933)
• 2001 – Robert Ludlum, American author (b. 1927)
• 2001 – Victor Westhoff, Dutch botanist and academic (b. 1916)
• 2002 – Spyros Kyprianou, Cypriot lawyer and politician, 2nd President of Cyprus (b. 1932)
• 2002 – Jean-Paul Riopelle, Canadian painter and sculptor (b. 1923)
• 2003 – Zoran Đinđić, Serbian philosopher and politician, 6th Prime Minister of Serbia (b. 1952)
• 2003 – Howard Fast, American novelist and screenwriter (b. 1914)
• 2003 – Lynne Thigpen, American actress and singer (b. 1948)
• 2004 – Milton Resnick, Russian-American painter (b. 1917)
• 2006 – Victor Sokolov, Russian-American priest and journalist (b. 1947)
• 2008 – Jorge Guinzburg, Argentinian journalist and producer (b. 1949)
• 2008 – Lazare Ponticelli, Italian-French soldier and supercentenarian (b. 1897)
• 2010 – Miguel Delibes, Spanish journalist and author (b. 1920)
• 2011 – Nilla Pizzi, Italian singer (b. 1919)
• 2012 – Dick Harter, American basketball player and coach (b. 1930)
• 2012 – Michael Hossack, American drummer (b. 1946)
• 2012 – Friedhelm Konietzka, German-Swiss footballer and manager (b. 1938)
• 2013 – Michael Grigsby, English director and producer (b. 1936)
• 2013 – Ganesh Pyne, Indian painter and illustrator (b. 1937)
• 2014 – Věra Chytilová, Czech actress, director, and screenwriter (b. 1929)
• 2014 – Paul C. Donnelly, American scientist and engineer (b. 1923)
• 2014 – José Policarpo, Portuguese cardinal (b. 1936)
• 2015 – Willie Barrow, American minister and activist (b. 1924)
• 2015 – Michael Graves, American architect and academic, designed the Portland Building and the Humana Building (b. 1934)
• 2015 – Ada Jafri, Pakistani poet and author (b. 1924)
• 2015 – Terry Pratchett, English journalist, author, and screenwriter (b. 1948)
• 2016 – Rafiq Azad, Bangladeshi poet and author (b. 1942)
• 2016 – Felix Ibru, Nigerian architect and politician, Governor of Delta State (b. 1935)
• 2016 – Lloyd Shapley, American mathematician and economist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1923)
• 2021 – Ronald DeFeo Jr., American criminal (b. 1951)

Holidays and observances

• Arbor Day (China)
• Arbor Day (Taiwan)
• Aztec New Year
• Christian feast day:
  • Alphege
  • Bernard of Carinola (or of Capua)
  • Gorgonius, Peter Cubicularius and Dorotheus of Nicomedia
  • Mura (McFeredach)
  • Fina
  • Maximilian of Tebessa
  • Paul Aurelian
  • Pope Gregory I (Eastern Orthodox Church, Eastern Catholic Church, and Anglican Communion)
  • Theophanes the Confessor
  • March 12 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
• National Day (Mauritius)
• World Day Against Cyber Censorship
• Youth Day (Zambia)

External links

• BBC: On This Day
• The New York Times: On This Day
• Historical Events on March 12