July 18 in History

Historical Events on July 18

477 BC

Battle of the Cremera as part of the Roman-Etruscan Wars. Veii ambushes and defeats the Roman army.
390 BC

Roman-Gaulish Wars: Battle of the Allia: A Roman army is defeated by raiding Gauls, leading to the subsequent sacking of Rome.
AD 64

The Great Fire of Rome causes widespread devastation and rages on for six days, destroying half of the city.
362

Roman-Persian Wars: Emperor Julian arrives at Antioch with a Roman expeditionary force (60,000 men) and stays there for nine months to launch a campaign against the Persian Empire.
452

Sack of Aquileia: After an earlier defeat on the Catalaunian Plains, Attila lays siege to the metropolis of Aquileia and eventually destroys it.
645

Chinese forces under general Li Shiji besiege the strategic fortress city of Anshi (Liaoning) during the Goguryeo-Tang War.
1195

Battle of Alarcos: Almohad forces defeat the Castilian army of Alfonso VIII and force its retreat to Toledo.
1290

King Edward I of England issues the Edict of Expulsion, banishing all Jews (numbering about 16,000) from England; this was Tisha B'Av on the Hebrew calendar, a day that commemorates many Jewish calamities.
1334

The bishop of Florence blesses the first foundation stone for the new campanile (bell tower) of the Florence Cathedral, designed by the artist Giotto di Bondone.
1389

France and England agree to the Truce of Leulinghem, inaugurating a 13-year peace, the longest period of sustained peace during the Hundred Years' War.
1391

Tokhtamysh-Timur war: Battle of the Kondurcha River: Timur defeats Tokhtamysh of the Golden Horde in present-day southeast Russia.
1555

The College of Arms is reincorporated by Royal charter signed by Queen Mary I of England and King Philip II of Spain.
1792

John Paul Jones, the Revolutionary War naval hero, dies in his apartment. Commander Jones, remembered as one of the most daring and successful naval commanders of the American Revolution, was born in Scotland, on July 6, 1747.
1806

A gunpowder magazine explosion in Birgu, Malta, kills around 200 people.
1812

The Treaties of Orebro end both the Anglo-Russian and Anglo-Swedish Wars.
1841

Coronation of Emperor Pedro II of Brazil.
1857

Louis Faidherbe, French governor of Senegal, arrives to relieve French forces at Kayes, effectively ending El Hajj Umar Tall's war against the French.
1862

First ascent of Dent Blanche, one of the highest summits in the Alps.
1863

American Civil War: Second Battle of Fort Wagner: One of the first formal African American military units, the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, supported by several white regiments, attempts an unsuccessful assault on Confederate-held Battery Wagner.
1870

The First Vatican Council decrees the dogma of papal infallibility.
1872

The Ballot Act 1872 in the United Kingdom introduced the requirement that parliamentary and local government elections be held by secret ballot.
1914

The U.S. Congress forms the Aviation Section, U.S. Signal Corps, giving official status to aircraft within the U.S. Army for the first time.
1925

Adolf Hitler publishes Mein Kampf.
1942

World War II: During the Beisfjord massacre in Norway, 15 Norwegian paramilitary guards help members of the SS to kill 288 political prisoners from Yugoslavia.
1942

The Germans test fly the Messerschmitt Me 262 using its jet engines for the first time.
1944

World War II: Hideki Tōjō resigns as Prime Minister of Japan because of numerous setbacks in the war effort.
1966

Human spaceflight: Gemini 10 is launched from Cape Kennedy on a 70-hour mission that includes docking with an orbiting Agena target vehicle.
1966

A racially charged incident in a bar sparks the six-day Hough riots in Cleveland, Ohio; 1,700 Ohio National Guard troops intervene to restore order.
1968

Intel is founded in Mountain View, California.
1969

U.S. Senator Ted Kennedy crashes his car into a tidal basin at Chappaquiddick Island, Massachusetts, killing his passenger, campaign specialist Mary Jo Kopechne.
1976

Nadia Comăneci becomes the first person in Olympic Games history to score a perfect 10 in gymnastics at the 1976 Summer Olympics.
1982

Two hundred sixty-eight Guatemalan campesinos ("peasants" or "country people") are slain in the Plan de Sánchez massacre.
1984

McDonald's massacre in San Ysidro, California: In a fast-food restaurant, James Oliver Huberty opens fire, killing 21 people and injuring 19 others before being shot dead by police.
1992

A picture of Les Horribles Cernettes was taken, which became the first ever photo posted to the World Wide Web.
1994

The bombing of the Asociación Mutual Israelita Argentina (Argentine Jewish Community Center) in Buenos Aires kills 85 people (mostly Jewish) and injures 300.
1994

Rwandan genocide: The Rwandan Patriotic Front takes control of Gisenyi and north western Rwanda, forcing the interim government into Zaire and ending the genocide.
1995

On the Caribbean island of Montserrat, the Soufrière Hills volcano erupts. Over the course of several years, it devastates the island, destroying the capital, forcing most of the population to flee.
1996

Storms provoke severe flooding on the Saguenay River, beginning one of Quebec's costliest natural disasters ever.
1996

Battle of Mullaitivu: The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam capture the Sri Lanka Army's base, killing over 1200 soldiers.
2012

At least seven people are killed and 32 others are injured after a bomb explodes on an Israeli tour bus at Burgas Airport, Bulgaria.
2013

The Government of Detroit, with up to $20 billion in debt, files for the largest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history.

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