Today in Mediterranean history: The following events took place in different regions of the Mediterranean on March 12th:
538 AD: Vitiges, King of Ostrogothic Italy, lifts the siege of Rome before withdrawing to Ravenna. The city would thus fall the hands of victorious Byzantine General Belisarius. Later, Vitiges would be taken captive by the Byzantines to Constantinople where he would die in 542.
1354 Peter IV of Aragon founds the Sertorian University of Huesca, which is today one of Spain’s most prestigious universities.
1376: An earthquake hit Venice, Italy.
1790 The French National Assembly permits the sale of church land by French municipalities in the aftermath of the French Revolution.
1919: An independence movement against British colonialism is launched in Egypt. Egypt’s nationalism is among the strongest in the MENA region.
1971: Hafez Al Assad is elected as President of the Arab Republic of Syria. Al Assad would rule until his death in 2000 when he was succeeded by his son Bashar Al Assad who is Syria’s current president.
1986: The Spanish vote in favour of joining NATO.
