October 12 in history — What Happened Today in History

Pervez Musharraf takes power in Pakistan from Nawaz Sharif through a bloodless coup.

The former Autonomous Soviet Republic of Abkhazia declares its independence from Georgia.

The Sidi Daoud massacre in Algeria kills 43 people at a fake roadblock.

New Zealand holds its first general election under the new mixed-member proportional representation system, which led to Jim Bolger's National Party forming a coalition government with Winston Peters's New Zealand First.

The Magellan spacecraft burns up in the atmosphere of Venus.

Iran Aseman Airlines Flight 746 crashes near Natanz, Iran, killing all 66 people on board.

A 5.8 earthquake occurred in Cairo, Egypt. At least 510 died.

Two officers of the Victoria Police are gunned down execution-style in the Walsh Street police shootings, Australia.

The Provisional Irish Republican Army fail to assassinate Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and her cabinet. The bomb kills five people and wounds at least 31 others.

Japan's former Prime Minister Tanaka Kakuei is found guilty of taking a $2 million bribe from the Lockheed Corporation, and is sentenced to four years in jail.

Typhoon Tip becomes the largest and most intense tropical cyclone ever recorded.

Hua Guofeng succeeds Mao Zedong as paramount leader of China.

Indian Airlines Flight 171 crashes at Santacruz Airport in Bombay, India, killing 95.

President Nixon nominates House Minority Leader Gerald R. Ford as the successor to Vice President Spiro T. Agnew.

The 2,500 year celebration of the Persian Empire begins.

Vietnam War: Vietnamization continues as President Richard Nixon announces that the United States will withdraw 40,000 more troops before Christmas.

Equatorial Guinea becomes independent from Spain.

A bomb explodes on board Cyprus Airways Flight 284 while flying over the Mediterranean Sea, killing 66.

The Soviet Union launches the Voskhod 1 into Earth orbit as the first spacecraft with a multi-person crew, and the first flight without pressure suits.

After nearly 23 years of imprisonment, Reverend Walter Ciszek, a Jesuit missionary, was released from the Soviet Union.

The Columbus Day Storm strikes the U.S. Pacific Northwest with record wind velocities. There was at least U.S. $230 million in damages and 46 people died.

Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev pounds his shoe on a desk at the United Nations to protest a Philippine assertion.

At the national congress of the American Popular Revolutionary Alliance in Peru, a group of leftist radicals are expelled from the party who later form APRA Rebelde.

World War II: Desmond Doss is the first conscientious objector to receive the U.S. Medal of Honor.

The Lao Issara took control of Laos' government and reaffirmed the country's independence.

World War II: The Axis occupation of Athens comes to an end.

The military Alcatraz Citadel becomes the civilian Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary.

An iron lung respirator is used for the first time at Boston Children's Hospital.

Ketel Marte, Dominican baseball player

Jake McCabe, American ice hockey player

Josh Hutcherson, American actor and producer

Nicolao Dumitru, Italian footballer

Henri Lansbury, English footballer

Anna Ohmiya, Japanese curler

Sam Whitelock, New Zealand rugby player

Calum Scott, British singer

Marvin Ogunjimi, Belgian footballer

Ioannis Maniatis, Greek footballer

Sergio Peter, German footballer

Cristhian Stuani, Uruguayan footballer

Tyler Blackburn, American actor

Margarita D'Amico, Venezuelan journalist (born 1938)

Abdallah Kigoda, Tanzanian politician, 8th Tanzanian Minister of Industry and Trade (born 1953)

Joan Leslie, American actress, dancer, and vaudevillian (born 1925)

Ali Mazrui, Kenyan-American political scientist, philosopher, and academic (born 1933)

Graham Miles, English snooker player (born 1941)

Roberto Telch, Argentinian footballer and coach (born 1943)

George Herbig, American astronomer and academic (born 1920)

Oscar Hijuelos, American author and academic (born 1951)

Hans Wilhelm Longva, Norwegian diplomat (born 1942)

Malcolm Renfrew, American chemist and academic (born 1910)

James Coyne, Canadian lawyer and banker, 2nd Governor of the Bank of Canada (born 1910)

Norm Grabowski, American hot rod builder and actor (born 1933)

Sukhdev Singh Kang, Indian judge and politician, 14th Governor of Kerala (born 1931)