Historical Events on February 18, Facts & Special Events On This Day - CalendarZ

Historical Events on February 18

1229
The Sixth Crusade: Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor signs a ten-year truce with al-Kamil, regaining Jerusalem, Nazareth, and Bethlehem with neither military engagements nor support from the papacy.
1268
The Livonian Order is defeated by Dovmont of Pskov in the Battle of Rakvere.
1332
Amda Seyon I, Emperor of Ethiopia begins his campaigns in the southern Muslim provinces.
1478
George, Duke of Clarence, convicted of treason against his older brother Edward IV of England, is executed in private at the Tower of London.
1637
Eighty Years' War: Off the coast of Cornwall, England, a Spanish fleet intercepts an important Anglo-Dutch merchant convoy of 44 vessels escorted by six warships, destroying or capturing 20 of them.
1745
The city of Surakarta, Central Java is founded on the banks of Bengawan Solo River, and becomes the capital of the Sunanate of Surakarta Hadiningrat.
1766
A mutiny by captive Malagasy begins at sea on the slave ship Meermin, leading to the ship's destruction on Cape Agulhas in present-day South Africa and the recapture of the instigators.
1781
Fourth Anglo-Dutch War: Captain Thomas Shirley opens his expedition against Dutch colonial outposts on the Gold Coast of Africa (present-day Ghana).
1791
Congress passes a law admitting the state of Vermont to the Union, effective 4 March, after that state had existed for 14 years as a de facto independent largely unrecognized state.
1797
French Revolutionary Wars: Sir Ralph Abercromby and a fleet of 18 British warships invade Trinidad.
1814
Napoleonic Wars: The Battle of Montereau.
1861
In Montgomery, Alabama, Jefferson Davis is inaugurated as the provisional President of the Confederate States of America.
1861
With Italian unification almost complete, Victor Emmanuel II of Piedmont, Savoy and Sardinia assumes the title of King of Italy.
1865
American Civil War: Union forces under Major General William T. Sherman set the South Carolina State House on fire during the burning of Columbia.
1873
Bulgarian revolutionary leader Vasil Levski is executed by hanging in Sofia by the Ottoman authorities.
1878
John Tunstall is murdered by outlaw Jesse Evans, sparking the Lincoln County War in Lincoln County, New Mexico.
1885
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain is published in the United States.
1900
Second Boer War: Imperial forces suffer their worst single-day loss of life on Bloody Sunday, the first day of the Battle of Paardeberg.
1906
Édouard de Laveleye forms the Belgian Olympic Committee in Brussels.
1911
The first official flight with airmail takes place from Allahabad, United Provinces, British India (now India), when Henri Pequet, a 23-year-old pilot, delivers 6,500 letters to Naini, about 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) away.
1930
While studying photographs taken in January, Clyde Tombaugh discovers Pluto.
1930
Elm Farm Ollie becomes the first cow to fly in a fixed-wing aircraft and also the first cow to be milked in an aircraft.
1932
The Empire of Japan declares a puppet state of Manzhouguo (the obsolete Chinese name for Manchuria) independent from the Republic of China and installed former Chinese Emperor Aisin Gioro Puyi as Chief Executive of the State.
1938
Second Sino-Japanese War: During the Nanking Massacre the Nanking Safety Zone International Committee is renamed "Nanking International Rescue Committee" and the safety zone in place for refugees falls apart.
1942
World War II: The Imperial Japanese Army begins the systematic extermination of perceived hostile elements among the Chinese in Singapore.
1943
World War II: The Nazis arrest the members of the White Rose movement.
1943
World War II: Joseph Goebbels delivers his Sportpalast speech.
1946
Sailors of the Royal Indian Navy mutiny in Bombay harbour, from where the action spreads throughout the Provinces of British India, involving 78 ships, twenty shore establishments and 20,000 sailors
1947
First Indochina War: The French gain complete control of Hanoi after forcing the Viet Minh to withdraw to mountains.
1954
The first Church of Scientology is established in Los Angeles.
1955
Operation Teapot: Teapot test shot "Wasp" is successfully detonated at the Nevada Test Site with a yield of 1.2 kilotons. Wasp is the first of fourteen shots in the Teapot series.
1957
Kenyan rebel leader Dedan Kimathi is executed by the British colonial government.
1957
Walter James Bolton becomes the last person legally executed in New Zealand.
1965
The Gambia becomes independent from the United Kingdom.
1970
The Chicago Seven are found not guilty of conspiring to incite riots at the 1968 Democratic National Convention.
1972
The California Supreme Court in the case of People v. Anderson, (6 Cal.3d 628) invalidates the state's death penalty and commutes the sentences of all death row inmates to life imprisonment.
1977
The Space Shuttle Enterprise test vehicle is carried on its maiden "flight" on top of a Boeing 747.
1983
Thirteen people die and one is seriously injured in the Wah Mee massacre in Seattle. It is said to be the largest robbery-motivated mass-murder in U.S. history.
1991
The IRA explodes bombs in the early morning at Paddington station and Victoria station in London.
2001
FBI agent Robert Hanssen is arrested for spying for the Soviet Union. He is ultimately convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment.
2001
Seven-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion Dale Earnhardt dies in an accident during the Daytona 500.
2001
Sampit conflict: Inter-ethnic violence between Dayaks and Madurese breaks out in Sampit, Central Kalimantan, Indonesia, ultimately resulting in more than 500 deaths and 100,000 Madurese displaced from their homes.
2003
Nearly 200 people die in the Daegu subway fire in South Korea.
2004
Up to 295 people, including nearly 200 rescue workers, die near Nishapur, Iran when a runaway freight train carrying sulfur, petrol and fertilizer catches fire and explodes.
2007
WikiLeaks publishes the first of hundreds of thousands of classified documents disclosed by the soldier now known as Chelsea Manning.
2013
Armed robbers steal a haul of diamonds worth $50 million during a raid at Brussels Airport in Belgium.
2014
At least 76 people are killed and hundreds are injured in clashes between riot police and demonstrators in Kiev, Ukraine.

February 18 Birthdays

February 18 Deaths