Today in History
July 12

1096		Crusaders under Peter the Hermit reach Sofia in Hungary.
1691		William III defeats the allied Irish and French armies at the Battle of Aughrim, Ireland.
1794		British Admiral Lord Nelson loses his right eye at the siege of Calvi, in Corsica.
1806		The Confederation of the Rhine is established in Germany.
1941		Moscow is bombed by the German Luftwaffe for the first time.
1954		President Dwight D. Eisenhower proposes a highway modernization program, with costs to be shared by federal and state governments.
1957		The U.S. surgeon general, Leroy E. Burney, reports that there is a direct link between smoking and lung cancer.
1974		G. Gordon Liddy, John Ehrlichman and two others are convicted of conspiracy and perjury in connection with the Watergate scandal.
1984		Democratic presidential candidate Walter Mondale chooses Geraldine Ferraro as his running mate.