On This Day: 12 April

Constantinople captured by the armies of the Fourth Crusade		1204
Union Jack adopted as the official flag of Great Britain		1606
Second trial of Galileo by the Inquisition begins		1633
The Tatler first published		1709
Battle of Montenotte: Napoleon defeats the Austrians and Sardinians		1796
Battle of Tugela: English settlers defeat the Zulus		1838
Gustave Flaubert signs the dedication to Madame Bovary		1857
Siege of Fort Sumter, South Carolina, begins the American Civil War		1861
Britain annexes the Transvaal, causing deep resentment amongst the Boers		1877
President Warren Hastings declares that the USA can have no part in the League of Nations		1921
US president Franklin D. Roosevelt dies; succeeded by Harry S. Truman (formerly vice president)		1945
Bill Haley and his comets record Rock Around the Clock		1954
Dr. Jonas Salk announces that his polio vaccine is both safe and effective		1955
Yuri Gagarin becomes the first man in space, circling the earth once and taking 1 hour 48 minutes		1961
Space shuttle Columbia launched		1981
General Leopoldo Galtieri imprisoned by his fellow generals		1983
A NATO missile strikes a passenger train in Serbia, killing at least nine people		1999
US Secretary of State Colin Powell postpones his meeting with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat after a suicide bombing kills six Israelis and injures 80 in Jerusalem		2002