On This Day: 12 May

Richard I marries Berengaria of Navarre in Cyprus; she is crowned Queen consort the same day		1191
Antipope Nicholas V, a claimant to the papacy, is consecrated in Rome by the Bishop of Venice		1328
The Day of the Barricades: Henry III of France flees Paris after Henry I, Duke of Guise, enters the city and a spontaneous uprising occurs		1588
Charleston falls to British forces – the Continental Army's greatest defeat		1780
The Treaty of Paris – signed on 3 September 1783 to end the American War of Independence – takes effect		1784
Edward Jenner successfully performs the first public vaccination		1796
Canada purchases Red River Colony (Manitoba) from the Hudson Bay Company		1870
Horatio Bottomley begins publishing John Bull		1906
Seven leaders of Dublin's Easter Rising, including James Connolly and Patrick Pearse, shot		1916
A 20–ton meteorite lands near Blackstone, Virginia		1922
General Strike collapses		1926
The Italian–built airship Norge – commanded by Roald Amundsen – makes the first flight over the North Pole		1926
Ten weeks after his abduction, the body of Charles Lindbergh Jr. is found dead in Hopewell, New Jersey – just a few miles from the Lindberghs' home		1932
Alcoholics Anonymous founded by William Wilson and Dr. Robert Smith in Akron, Ohio		1935
King George VI and Queen Elizabeth are crowned in Westminster Abbey		1937
Konrad Zuse presents the Z3, the world's first working programmable, fully automatic computer, in Berlin		1941
Axis forces in North Africa surrender to the Allies		1943
Wilhelmina, Queen regnant of the Netherlands, abdicates in favour of her daughter Juliana		1948
The Soviet Union lifts its 11–month blockade of Berlin		1949
The western occupying powers approve the Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany)		1949
Bob Dylan declines an invitation to appear on the Ed Sullivan Show – it's 'too square'		1963
Soviet spacecraft Luna 5 crashes on the Moon		1965
The Rolling Stones record Satisfaction at Chess Studios, Chicago		1965
The UK voting age is reduced to 18		1969
Mick Jagger marries Bianca Morena de Macias in St. Tropez		1971
The government of Zaire asks the USA, France and Belgium to restore order after rebels occupy the city of Kolwezi, the mining center of the province of Shaba (now known as Katanga)		1978
IRA hunger striker Francis Hughes starves to death in the Maze prison		1981
Pope John Paul II survives an assassination attempt when Spanish priest Juan María Fernández y Krohn, armed with a bayonet, is overpowered by security guards		1982
The Soviet Union's last SS–20 intermediate range missiles are destroyed at Kasputin Yar, near Volgagrad		1991
Nepal holds its first multi–party elections since 1959		1991
The new Scottish parliament meets for the first time, in Edinburgh		1999
The Queen opens the new Tate Modern art gallery, in the former Bankside Power Station		2000
Former US President Jimmy Carter arrives in Cuba for a five–day visit with Fidel Castro, becoming the first current or former US President to visit the island since Castro's 1959 revolution		2002
Claire Short, Secretary of State for International Development, resigns from the Cabinet in protest over the war in Iraq, and calls for Tony Blair to stand down		2003
American entrepreneur Malcolm Glazer seizes control of Manchester United, prompting bitter protests by supporters who believe that he will not invest in players		2005
Over 69,000 lives are lost in an earthquake in Sichuan, China, measuring around 8.0		2008
The UK's National Health Service and the Spanish telecommunications company Telefónica are among the victims of a ransomware attack that targets over 400,000 computers worldwide		2017

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On This Day: 12 May