#TodayInHistory – May 12
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May 12 – Some important events on this day
1215 ππΌ English barons serve ultimatum on King John which eventually leads to the creation and signing of the Magna Carta.
1777 ππΌ 1st ice cream advertisement (Philip Lenzi in the NY Gazette) π¦
1789 ππΌ William Wilberforce makes his first major speech on abolition in the UK House of Commons, reasoning the slave trade morally reprehensible and an issue of natural justice
1792 ππΌ Toilet that flushes itself at regular intervals is patented π½
1888 ππΌ Crouching start 1st used in track and field by Charles Sherrill of Yale
1940 ππΌ Nazi blitzkrieg and conquest of France begins with the crossing of the Muese River
1941 ππΌ Konrad Zuse presents the Z3, the world’s first working programmable, fully automatic computer, in Berlin
1943 ππΌ Axis forces in North Africa surrender
2002 ππΌ Former US President Jimmy Carter arrives in Cuba for a five-day visit with Fidel Castro becoming first President of the United States, in or out of office, to visit the island since Castro’s 1959 revolution.
2008 ππΌ Wenchuan earthquake, measuring 7.8 in magnitude occurs in Sichuan, China, killing over 87,000, injuring 374,643 and leaving homeless between 4.8 million and 11 million people.