December 12

627 – Battle of Nineveh: A Byzantine army under Emperor Heraclius defeats Emperor Khosrau II's Persian forces, commanded by General Rhahzadh. 1388 – Maria of Enghien sells the lordship of Argos and Nauplia to the Republic of Venice. 1787 – Pennsylvania becomes the second state to ratify the US Constitution. 1862 – American Civil War: sinks on the Yazoo River. 1866 – Oaks explosion: The worst mining disaster in England kills 361 miners and rescuers. 1870 – Joseph H. Rainey of South Carolina becomes the second black U.S. congressman. 1901 – Guglielmo Marconi receives the first transatlantic radio signal (the letter "S" [•••] in Morse Code), at Signal Hill in St John's, Newfoundland. 1915 – Yuan Shikai declares the establishment of the Empire of China and proclaims himself Emperor. 1917 – Father Edward J. Flanagan founds Boys Town as a farm village for wayward boys. 1935 – Lebensborn Project, a Nazi reproduction program, is founded by Heinrich Himmler. 1937 – Second Sino-Japanese War: USS Panay incident: Japanese aircraft bomb and sink U.S. gunboat on the Yangtze river in China. 1939 – sinks after a collision with off the coast of Scotland with the loss of 124 men. 1939 – Winter War: The Battle of Tolvajärvi, also known as the first major Finnish victory in the Winter War, begins. 1941 – World War II: Fifty-four Japanese A6M Zero fighters raid Batangas Field, Philippines. Jesús Villamor and four Filipino fighter pilots fend them off; César Basa is killed. 1941 – The Holocaust: Adolf Hitler declares the imminent extermination of the Jews at a meeting in the Reich Chancellery. 1945 – The People's Republic of Korea is outlawed in the South, by order of the United States Army Military Government in Korea. 1946 – United Nations Security Council Resolution 13 relating to acceptance of Siam (now Thailand) to the United Nations is adopted. 1956 – United Nations Security Council Resolution 121 relating to acceptance of Japan to the United Nations is adopted. 1963 – Kenya declares independence from Great Britain.