August 18 - Events

Events

• 1572 – Marriage in Paris, France of the Huguenot King Henry IV of Navarre to Margaret of Valois, in a supposed attempt to reconcile Protestants and Catholics.
• 1587 – Virginia Dare, granddaughter of Governor John White of the Colony of Roanoke, becomes the first English child born in the Americas.
• 1590 – John White, the governor of the Roanoke Colony, returns from a supply trip to England and finds his settlement deserted.
• 1634 – Urbain Grandier, accused and convicted of sorcery, is burned alive in Loudun, France.
• 1783 – A huge fireball meteor is seen across Great Britain as it passes over the east coast.
• 1838 – The Wilkes Expedition, which would explore the Puget Sound and Antarctica, weighs anchor at Hampton Roads in 1838
• 1848 – Camila O'Gorman and Ladislao Gutierrez are executed on the orders of Argentine dictator Juan Manuel de Rosas.
• 1864 – American Civil War: Battle of Globe Tavern – Union forces try to cut a vital Confederate supply-line into Petersburg, Virginia, by attacking the Wilmington and Weldon Railroad.
• 1868 – French astronomer Pierre Janssen discovers helium.
• 1870 – Franco-Prussian War: Battle of Gravelotte is fought.
• 1877 – Asaph Hall discovers Martian moon Phobos.
• 1891 – Major hurricane strikes Martinique, leaving 700 dead.
• 1903 – German engineer Karl Jatho allegedly flies his self-made, motored gliding airplane four months before the first flight of the Wright brothers.
• 1917 – A Great Fire in Thessaloniki, Greece destroys 32% of the city leaving 70,000 individuals homeless.
• 1920 – The Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution is ratified, guaranteeing women's suffrage.
• 1938 – The Thousand Islands Bridge, connecting New York, United States with Ontario, Canada over the Saint Lawrence River, is dedicated by U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
• 1942 – A group of freedom fighter of Sherpur hoisted the Tricoloure at Mohammadabad Tehsil, Ghazipur India
• 1948 – The Australian cricket team completed a 4–0 Ashes series win over England during their undefeated Invincibles tour.
• 1950 – Julien Lahaut, the chairman of the Communist Party of Belgium is assassinated by far-right elements.
• 1958 – Vladimir Nabokov's controversial novel Lolita is published in the United States.
• 1958 – Brojen Das from Bangladesh swims across the English Channel in a competition, as the first Bangali as well as the first Asian to ever do it. He became first among 39 competitors.
• 1963 – American civil rights movement: James Meredith becomes the first black person to graduate from the University of Mississippi.
• 1965 – Vietnam War: Operation Starlite begins – United States Marines destroy a Viet Cong stronghold on the Van Tuong peninsula in the first major American ground battle of the war.
• 1966 – Vietnam War: the Battle of Long Tan ensues after a patrol from the 6th Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment clashes with a Viet Cong force in Phuoc Tuy province.
• 1971 – Vietnam War: Australia and New Zealand decide to withdraw their troops from Vietnam.
• 1976 – In the Korean Demilitarized Zone at Panmunjom, the Axe murder incident results in the death of two US soldiers.
• 1977 – Steve Biko is arrested at a police roadblock under the Terrorism Act No 83 of 1967 in King William's Town, South Africa. He would later die of the injuries sustained during this arrest bringing attention to South Africa's apartheid policies.
• 1983 – Hurricane Alicia hits the Texas coast, killing 22 people and causing over USD$1 billion in damage (1983 dollars).
• 1989 – Leading presidential hopeful Luis Carlos Galán is assassinated near Bogotá in Colombia.
• 2005 – A Massive power blackout hits the Indonesian island of Java, affecting almost 100 million people, the one of the largest and most widespread power outages in history.
• 2008 – President of Pakistan Pervez Musharraf resigns due to the threat of impeachment.