What Happened on August 18th in History
30 historical events on this date
The Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution is ratified, guaranteeing women's suffrage.
The Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution prohibits the United States and its states from denying the right to vote to citizens of the United States on the basis of sex, in effect...
The first British Track and Field championships for women are held in London, Great Britain.
The 1923 WAAA Championships were the first national track and field championships for women in the United Kingdom. The tournament was held on 18 August 1923, at the Oxo Sport Grounds in Downham,...
The VolksempfÀnger is first presented to the German public at a radio exhibition; the presiding Nazi Minister of Propaganda, Joseph Goebbels, delivers an accompanying speech heralding the radio as the 'eighth great power'.
The VolksempfÀnger was a range of low-cost vacuum tube radio receivers produced in Germany during the 1930s. It was developed by engineer Otto Griessing at the request of Joseph Goebbels, the Reich...
A lightning strike starts the Blackwater Fire of 1937 in Shoshone National Forest, killing 15 firefighters within three days and prompting the United States Forest Service to develop their smokejumper program.
On August 18, 1937, a lightning strike started the Blackwater Fire in Shoshone National Forest, approximately 35 miles (56Â km) west of Cody, Wyoming, United States. Fifteen firefighters were killed...
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.
The Thousand Islands International Bridge is an American-maintained international bridge system over the Saint Lawrence River connecting northern New York in the United States with southeastern...
World War II: The Hardest Day air battle, part of the Battle of Britain, takes place. At that point, it is the largest aerial engagement in history with heavy losses sustained on both sides.
World War II, or the Second World War, was a global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies and the Axis powers. Nearly all of the world's countries participated. Tanks and aircraft played major...
Sukarno takes office as the first president of Indonesia, following the country's declaration of independence the previous day.
Sukarno was an Indonesian statesman, activist, and revolutionary who served as the first president of Indonesia from 1945 to 1967.
Soviet-Japanese War: Battle of Shumshu: Soviet forces land at Takeda Beach on Shumshu Island and launch the Battle of Shumshu; the Soviet Union's Invasion of the Kuril Islands commences.
The SovietâJapanese War was a campaign of the Second World War that began with the Soviet invasion of Manchuria following the Soviet declaration of war against Japan on 8 August 1945. The Soviet...
1949 Kemi strike: Two protesters die in the scuffle between the police and the strikers' protest procession in Kemi, Finland.
The 1949 Kemi strike was a strike in JulyâAugust 1949 by the workers of Kemi Oy in the Northern Finnish town of Kemi. On August 18 the strike escalated on a violent clash called "Kemi Bloody...
Julien Lahaut, the chairman of the Communist Party of Belgium, is assassinated. The Party newspaper blames royalists and Rexists.
Julien-Victor Lahaut was a Belgian politician and communist activist who served as president of the Communist Party of Belgium from 1945 to 1950. An important figure during the German occupation of...
Vladimir Nabokov's controversial novel Lolita is published in the United States.
Vladimir Vladimirovich Nabokov, also known by the pen name Vladimir Sirin, was a Russian and American novelist, poet, translator, and entomologist.
Brojen Das from Bangladesh swims across the English Channel in a competition as the first Bengali and the first Asian to do so, placing first among the 39 competitors.
Brojen Das was a Bangladeshi swimmer who was the first Asian to swim across the English Channel and the first person to cross it six times.
Civil rights movement: James Meredith becomes the first African American to graduate from the University of Mississippi.
The civil rights movement was a social movement in the United States from 1954 to 1968 which aimed to abolish legalized racial segregation, discrimination, and disenfranchisement in the country,...
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.
The Vietnam War was an armed conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia fought between North Vietnam and South Vietnam and their allies. North Vietnam was supported by the Soviet Union and China, while...
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 PhÆ°á»c Tuy Province.
The Battle of Long Tan took place in a rubber plantation near Long TĂąn, in PhÆ°á»c Tuy Province, South Vietnam, during the Vietnam War. The action was fought between Viet Cong (VC) and People's Army...
Vietnam War: Australia and New Zealand decide to withdraw their troops from Vietnam.
Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam (SRV), is a country at the eastern edge of Mainland Southeast Asia. With an area of about 331,000 square kilometres and a population of over...
Aeroflot Flight A-13 crashes after takeoff from Baku-Bina International Airport in Azerbaijan, killing 56 people and injuring eight.
Aeroflot Flight A-13 was a scheduled Soviet domestic passenger flight from Baku, Azerbaijan to Fort-Shevchenko in Kazakhstan that crashed on 18 August 1973 shortly after takeoff, killing 56 of the...
The Korean axe murder incident in Panmunjom results in the deaths of two US Army officers.
The Panmunjom axe murder incident, also known as the Korean axe atrocity incident, was the killing of two United Nations Command officers, Captain Arthur Bonifas and First Lieutenant Mark Barrett,...
The Soviet Union's robotic probe Luna 24 successfully lands on the Moon.
The Soviet Union, officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until its dissolution in 1991. It was the world's...
Steve Biko is arrested at a police roadblock under Terrorism Act No. 83 of 1967 in King William's Town, South Africa. He later dies from injuries sustained during this arrest, bringing attention to South Africa's apartheid policies.
Bantu Stephen Biko OMSG was a South African anti-apartheid activist. Ideologically an African nationalist and African socialist, he was at the forefront of a grassroots anti-apartheid campaign known...
Hurricane Alicia hits the Texas coast, killing 21 people and causing over US$1 billion in damage (1983 dollars).
Hurricane Alicia was a small but powerful tropical cyclone that caused significant destruction in the Greater Houston area of Southeast Texas in August 1983. Although Alicia was a relatively small...
Leading presidential hopeful Luis Carlos GalĂĄn is assassinated near BogotĂĄ in Colombia.
Luis Carlos GalĂĄn Sarmiento was a Colombian liberal politician and journalist who ran for the Presidency of Colombia on two occasions, the first time for the political movement New Liberalism that...
American International Airways Flight 808 crashes at Leeward Point Field at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in GuantĂĄnamo Bay, Cuba, injuring the three crew members.
American International Airways Flight 808 was a cargo flight operated by American International Airways that crashed on 18 August 1993, while attempting to land at Leeward Point Field at the...
One-year-old Zachary Turner is murdered in Newfoundland by his mother, who was awarded custody despite facing trial for the murder of Zachary's father. The case was documented in the film Dear Zachary and led to reform of Canada's bail laws.
Zachary Andrew Turner was a Canadian child from St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, who was killed by his mother, Shirley Jane Turner, in a murderâsuicide. At the time, Shirley had been released...
A massive power blackout hits the Indonesian island of Java; affecting almost 100 million people, it is one of the largest and most widespread power outages in history.
The 2005 JavaâBali Blackout was a power outage across Java and Bali on 18 August 2005, affecting some 100 million people.
The President of Pakistan, Pervez Musharraf, resigns under threat of impeachment.
Pervez Musharraf was a Pakistani politician and military officer who served as the tenth president of Pakistan from 2001 to 2008. He overthrew Nawaz Sharif's government in the 1999 coup d'Ă©tat and...
War of Afghanistan: The Uzbin Valley ambush occurs.
French International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) troops were ambushed by Afghan Taliban insurgents, with heavy casualties, in the Uzbin Valley outside the village of SpÄáč Kunday in the Surobi...
A terrorist attack on Israel's Highway 12 near the Egyptian border kills 16 and injures 40.
On August 18, 2011, a series of cross-border attacks with parallel attacks and mutual cover was carried out in southern Israel on Highway 12 near the Egyptian border by a squad of presumably twelve...
The Turku terror attack occurs in Finland when a knifeman kills two and injures eight.
The 2017 Turku attack occurred on 18 August 2017 at around 16:02â16:05 (UTC+3) when 10 people were stabbed in central Turku, Southwest Finland. Two women were killed in the attack and eight people...
One hundred activists, officials, and other concerned citizens in Iceland hold a funeral for Okjökull glacier, which has completely melted after having once covered six square miles (15.5 km2).
Iceland is a Nordic island country between the Arctic Ocean and the North Atlantic Ocean, located on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between Europe and North America. It is culturally and politically linked...