Important Events From This day in History – 12 May

Today in History

• 2008 A massive earthquake rocks China

  The magnitude 7.9 quake killed 69,000 people, left 18,000 missing, and displaced 4.8 million. It was China’s deadliest earthquake since the Tangshan earthquake in 1976, which killed over 240,000 people.

• 1998 Violent clashes follow the killing of four protesters in Jakarta, Indonesia

  The riots eventually led to the resignation of President Suharto.

• 1994 The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict ends

  Armenian and Azerbaijani diplomats had formalized the ceasefire that went into effect on May 12 with the signing of the Bishkek Protocol a week earlier. The conflict itself is still unresolved.

• 1982 A Spanish priest attempts to assassinate Pope John Paul II

  Juan Mara Fernández y Krohn opposed the Second Vatican Council’s reforms and thought the Pope was a Communist agent. John Paul II was only slightly injured.

• 1941 The world’s first programmable, fully automatic computer is presented

  Konrad Zuse, a German inventor, created the Z3. An air raid destroyed the original machine. The Deutsches Museum in Munich has a replica.