May
12
International
Nurses Day
In January
1974, the decision was made to celebrate the day on 12 May as
it is the anniversary of the birth of Florence Nightingale,
who is widely considered the founder of modern nursing. Each
year, ICN prepares and distributes the International Nurses'
Day Kit. The kit contains educational and public information
materials, for use by nurses everywhere.
Events
May
12
254 – Pope
Stephen I succeeds Pope Lucius I as the 23rd pope.
304 – Roman Emperor Diocletian orders the beheading of the 14-year-old
Pancras of Rome.
922 – After much hardship, Abbasid envoy Ahmad ibn Fadlan arrived
in the lands of Volga Bulgars.
1191 – Richard I of England marries Berengaria of Navarre who
is crowned Queen consort of England the same day.
1264 – The Battle of Lewes, between King Henry III of England
and the rebel Simon de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester, begins.
1328 – Antipope Nicholas V, a claimant to the papacy, is consecrated
in Rome by the Bishop of Venice.
1364 – Jagiellonian University, the oldest university in Poland,
is founded in Kraków, Poland.
1551 – National University of San Marcos, the oldest university
in the Americas, is founded in Lima, Peru.
1588 – French Wars of Religion: Henry III of France flees Paris
after Henry of Guise enters the city and a spontaneous uprising
occurs.
1689 – King William's War: William III of England joins the
League of Augsburg starting a war with France.
1743 – Maria Theresa of Austria is crowned Queen of Bohemia
after defeating her rival, Charles VII, Holy Roman Emperor.
1780 – American Revolutionary War: In the largest defeat of
the Continental Army, Charleston, South Carolina is taken by
British forces.
1797 – First Coalition: Napoleon I of France conquers Venice.
1821 – The first big battle of the Greek War of Independence
against the Turks occurs in Valtetsi.
1862 – U.S. federal troops occupy Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
1863 – American Civil War: Battle of Raymond: two divisions
of James B. McPherson's XVII Corps (ACW) turn the left wing
of Confederate General John C. Pemberton's defensive line on
Fourteen Mile Creek, opening up the interior of Mississippi
to the Union Army during the Vicksburg Campaign.
1864 – American Civil War: the Battle of Spotsylvania Court
House: thousands of Union and Confederate soldiers die in "the
Bloody Angle".
1865 – American Civil War: the Battle of Palmito Ranch: the
first day of the last major land action to take place during
the Civil War, resulting in a Confederate victory.
1870 – The Manitoba Act is given the Royal Assent, paving the
way for Manitoba to become a province of Canada on July 15.
1873 – Oscar II is crowned King of Sweden.
1881 – In North Africa, Tunisia becomes a French protectorate.
1885 – North-West Rebellion: the four-day Battle of Batoche,
pitting rebel Métis against the Canadian government, comes to
an end with a decisive rebel defeat.
1905 – Swedish King Oscar II excommunicates Norway, thus granting
Norway its independence. Celebrated as Tolfte Maj throughout
Sweden.
1908 – Nathan Stubblefield receives patent for wireless telephone.
1916 – James Connolly was sat on a chair and shot dead in Kilmainham
Gaol in Dublin, after his role in the Easter Uprising
1926 – UK General Strike 1926: In the United Kingdom, a nine-day
general strike by trade unions ends.
1926 – The Italian-built airship Norge becomes the first vessel
to fly over the North Pole.
1932 – Ten weeks after his abduction Charles Jr., the infant
son of Charles Lindbergh is found dead in Hopewell, New Jersey,
just a few miles from the Lindberghs' home.
1933 – The Agricultural Adjustment Act is enacted to restrict
agricultural production by paying farmers subsidies.
1935 – Bill Wilson and Dr. Bob Smith (founders of Alcoholics
Anonymous) meet for the first time in Akron, Ohio, at the home
of Henrietta Siberling.
1937 – George VI and Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon are crowned King and
Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
1941 – Konrad Zuse presents the Z3, the world's first working
programmable, fully automatic computer, in Berlin.
1942 – World War II: Second Battle of Kharkov: in eastern Ukraine,
Red Army forces under Marshal Semyon Timoshenko launch a major
offensive from the Izium bridgehead, only to be encircled and
destroyed by the troops of Army Group South two weeks later.
1942 – World War II: The U.S. tanker Virginia was torpedoed
in the mouth of the Mississippi River by the German U-Boat U-507.
1942 – Holocaust: 1,500 Jews are sent to gas chambers in Auschwitz.
1945 – Argentinian labour leader José Peter declares the Federación
Obrera de la Industria de la Carne dissolved.
1948 – Wilhelmina, Queen regnant of the Kingdom of the Netherlands
cedes throne.
1949 – The Soviet Union lifts its blockade of Berlin.
1949 – The western occupying powers approve the Basic Law for
the new German state: the Federal Republic of Germany.
1952 – Gaj Singh is crowned Maharaja of Jodhpur.
1955 – Nineteen days after bus workers went on strike in Singapore,
rioting breaks out and seriously impacts Singapore's bid for
independence.
1955 – Austria regains its independence as the Allied occupation
following World War II ends.
1958 – A formal North American Aerospace Defense Command agreement
is signed between the United States and Canada.
1962 – Douglas MacArthur delivers his Duty, Honor, Country valedictory
speech at the United States Military Academy.
1965 – The Soviet spacecraft Luna 5 crashes on the Moon.
1968 – Vietnam War: North Vietnamese and Viet Cong forces attack
Australian troops defending Fire Support Base Coral, east of
Lai Khe in South Vietnam on the night of 12/13 May, resulting
in heavy casualties on both sides and beginning the Battle of
Coral-Balmoral.
1975 – Mayagüez incident: the Cambodian navy seizes the American
merchant ship SS Mayaguez in international waters.
1978 – In Zaire, rebels occupy the city of Kolwezi, the mining
center of the province of Shaba (now known as Katanga). The
local government asks the U.S.A., France and Belgium to restore
order.
1981 – Francis Hughes starves to death in the Maze Prison in
a Republican campaign for political prisoner status to be granted
to Provisional IRA prisoners.
1982 – During a procession outside the shrine of the Virgin
Mary in Fátima, Portugal, security guards overpower Juan Fernandez
Krohn before he can attack Pope John Paul II with a bayonet.
Krohn, an ultraconservative Spanish priest opposed to the Vatican
II reforms, believed that the Pope had to be killed for being
an "agent of Moscow".
1998 – Four students are shot at Trisakti University, leading
to widespread riots and the fall of Suharto
2002 – Former US President Jimmy Carter arrives in Cuba for
a five-day visit with Fidel Castro becoming the first President
of the United States, in or out of office, to visit the island
since Castro's 1959 revolution.
2003 – The Riyadh compound bombings, carried out by Al Qaeda,
kill 26 people.
2003 – Fifty-nine Democratic lawmakers bring the Texas Legislature
to a standstill by going into hiding in a dispute over a Republican
congressional redistricting plan.
2006 – Mass unrest by the Primeiro Comando da Capital begins
in São Paulo (Brazil), leaving at least 150 dead.
2006 – Iranian Azeris interpret a cartoon published in an Iranian
magazine as insulting, resulting in massive riots throughout
the country.
2007 – Riots in which over 50 people are killed and over 100
are injured take place in Karachi upon the arrival in town of
the Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry.
2008 – An earthquake (measuring around 8.0 magnitude) occurs
in Sichuan, China, killing over 69,000 people.
2008 – U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement conducts the
largest-ever raid of workplace and arrests nearly 400 immigrants
for identity theft and document fraud.
Holidays
and observances
Christian
Feast Day:
Blessed Imelda
Blessed Joan of Portugal
Crispoldus
Dominic de la Calzada
Epiphanius of Salamis
Florence Nightingale, Nurse, CE 1910 (Anglican Communion)
Modoald
Nereus, Achilleus, Domitilla, and Pancras
Patriarch Germanus I of Constantinople (Eastern Church)
Philip of Agira
May 12 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
J.V. Snellman’s Day, also Day of Finnishness. (Finland)
International Nurses Day (International)
For details, contact Datacentre
|