What are the important events that happened on August 12? Here are historical events, facts, and some myths about this day.

August 12: Facts & Myths About This Day

August 12 is the 224^th day of the year 2025 in the Gregorian calendar. There are 141 days remaining until the end of this year. The day of the week is Tuesday.

Under the Julian calendar, this day is July 30, 2025 – a Tuesday. Both day of the week are the same but did you notice the difference with the Gregorian calendar?

When this day started, 1,754,956,800 seconds has elapsed since midnight of January 1, 1970 – the Unix epoch.

Strange as it may, if we name this day after a polygon then it will be called ‘dihectaicosatetragon’ day.

Leo is the zodiac sign of a person born on this day. Peridot is the modern birthstone for this month. Diamond is the mystical birthstone from Tibetan origin that dates back over a thousand years.

According to the lunisolar Chinese calendar, there are 189 days remaining before the start of the next Chinese New Year.

The ancient Maya civilization believes that the end of the world will happen on December 21, 2012. There are now 4,617 days since this fabled cataclysmic event.

August 12: This Day In History

It is the peak of the Perseid meteor shower. It is also known as the “Glorious Twelfth” in the UK, as it marks the traditional start of the grouse shooting season.

August 12 Historical Events

• 30 BC –
  Cleopatra VII Philopator, the last ruler of the Egyptian Ptolemaic dynasty, commits suicide, allegedly by means of an asp bite.
• 1676 –
  Praying Indian John Alderman shoots and kills Metacomet, the Wampanoag war chief, ending King Philip’s War.
• 1877 –
  Asaph Hall discovers the Mars moon Deimos.
• 1883 –
  The last quagga dies at the Artis Magistra zoo in Amsterdam.
• 1944 –
  Alençon is liberated by General Leclerc, the first city in France to be liberated from the Nazis by French forces.
• 1964 –
  Charlie Wilson, one of the Great Train Robbers, escapes from Winson Green Prison in Birmingham, England.
• 1977 –
  The Sri Lankan riots of 1977, targeting the minority Sri Lankan Tamil people, begin, less than a month after the United National Party came to power. Over 300 Tamils are killed.
• 1980 –
  The Montevideo Treaty, establishing the Latin American Integration Association, is signed.
• 1982 –
  Mexico announces it is unable to pay its enormous external debt, marking the beginning of a debt crisis that spreads to all of Latin America and the Third World.
• 2007 –
  The bulk carrier M/V New Flame collides with the oil tanker Torm Gertrud at the southernmost tip of Gibraltar, ending up partially submerged.

Who were born on August 12?

• 1604 –
  Tokugawa Iemitsu, Japanese shogun (d. 1651)
• 1899 –
  Ben Sealey, Trinidadian West Indies cricketer (d. 1963)
• 1904 –
  Tamás Lossonczy, Hungarian painter (d. 2009)
• 1919 –
  Vikram Sarabhai, Indian physicist (d. 1971)
• 1924 –
  Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, 6th President of Pakistan (d. 1988)
• 1928 –
  Bob Buhl, American baseball player (d. 2001)
• 1942 –
  Hans-Wilhelm Müller-Wohlfahrt, German physician
• 1950 –
  Jim Beaver, American actor and writer
• 1978 –
  Hayley Wickenheiser, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1981 –
  Tony Capaldi, Northern Irish footballer

Who died on August 12?

• 875 –
  Louis II of Italy, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 825)
• 1588 –
  Alfonso Ferrabosco the elder, Italian composer (b. 1543)
• 1809 –
  Mikhail Kamensky, Russian field marshal (b. 1738)
• 1896 –
  Thomas Chamberlain, American Civil War military figure (b. 1841)
• 1914 –
  John Philip Holland, Irish submarine designer (b. 1840)
• 1941 –
  Bobby Peel, English cricketer (b. 1857)
• 1984 –
  Lenny Breau, American jazz guitarist (b. 1941)
• 1989 –
  William Shockley, American physicist, Nobel laureate (b. 1910)
• 1996 –
  Mark Gruenwald, American comic book writer and editor (b. 1953)
• 1996 –
  Robert Gravel, French-Canadian actor and theatrical director (b. 1945)