TODAY in HISTORY

Today is Thursday, April 12, the 102nd day of 2018. There are 263 days left in the year.

238 Gordian II loses the Battle of Carthage against the Numidian forces loyal to Maximinus Thrax and is killed. 240 Shapur I becomes coemperor of the Sasanian Empire with his father Ardashir I.

627 King Edwin of Northumbria is converted to Christianity by Paulinus, bishop of York.

1167 King Karl Sverkersson of Sweden is murdered on Visingsö.

1204 The Crusaders of the Fourth Crusade breach the walls of Constantinople and enter the city, which they completely occupy the following day. 1545 French King Francois I orders protestants of Vaudois to be killed. 1606 England adopts the Union Flag, replaced in 1801 by current Union Flag the Union 1612 Simone Cantarini, Italian painter and engraver was born on this day. 1639 Martin Lister, English naturalist and physician was born on this day. 1648 University of Harderwijk Neth solemn opens. 1776 American Revolution: With the Halifax Resolves, the North Carolina Provincial Congress authorizes its Congressional delegation to vote for independence from Britain. 1820 Alexander Ypsilantis is declared leader of Filiki Eteria, a secret organization to overthrow Ottoman rule over Greece. 1861 American Civil War: Battle of Fort Sumter. The war begins with Confederate forces firing on Fort Sumter, in the harbor of Charleston, South Carolina. 1917 Canadian forces successfully complete the taking of Vimy Ridge from the Germans. 1927 Kuomintang leader Chiang Kai- shek begins counter revolution in Shanghai 1963 The Soviet nuclearpowered submarine K- 33 collides with the Finnish merchant vessel M/ S Finnclipper in the Danish straits. 1980 Samuel Doe takes control of Liberia in a coup d’etat, ending over 130 years of minority AmericoLiberian rule over the country.

1990 Jim Gary's

"Twentieth Century Dinosaurs" exhibition opens at the Smithsonian Institution National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D. C. He is the only sculptor ever invited to present a solo exhibition there.

1999 United States President Bill Clinton is cited for contempt of court for giving "intentionally false statements" in a civil lawsuit; he is later fined and disbarred. 2013 At least two suicide bombers kill three Chadian soldiers and injure dozens of civilians at a market in Kidal, Mali.