What Happened on December 18th in History
30 historical events on this date
US Secretary of State William Seward proclaims the adoption of the Thirteenth Amendment, prohibiting slavery throughout the United States.
William Henry Seward was an American politician who served as United States Secretary of State from 1861 to 1869 and earlier served as governor of New York and as a United States senator. A...
A magnitude 7.0 earthquakes strikes off the coast of Taiwan, triggering a tsunami and killing at least 580 people.
The 1867 Keelung earthquake occurred off the northern coast of Taiwan on the morning of December 18 with a magnitude of 7.0. It produced strong shaking that seriously damaged the cities of Keelung...
The Al-Thani family become the rulers of the state of Qatar.
The House of Thani is the ruling family of Qatar, with origins tracing back to the Adnanite Banu Tamim tribe. Currently, Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani leads the house.
The Nutcracker by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky premiers in Saint Petersburg, Russia.
The Nutcracker, Op. 71, is an 1892 two-act classical ballet by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, set on Christmas Eve at the foot of a Christmas tree in a child's imagination featuring a Nutcracker doll....
Gaston de Chasseloup-Laubat sets the first officially recognized land speed record of 63.159 km/h (39.245 mph) in a Jeantaud electric car.
Count Charles-François Gaston Louis Prosper de Chasseloup-Laubat was a French aristocrat and race car driver.
World War I: The Battle of Verdun ends when the second French offensive pushes the Germans back two or three kilometres, causing them to cease their attacks.
World War I, or the First World War, also known as the Great War, was a global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies and the Central Powers. Major areas of conflict included Europe and the...
The resolution containing the language of the Eighteenth Amendment to enact Prohibition is passed by the United States Congress.
The Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution established the prohibition of alcohol in the United States. The amendment was proposed by Congress on December 18, 1917, and ratified by...
The Chicago Bears defeat the Portsmouth Spartans in the first NFL playoff game to win the NFL Championship.
The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago. The Bears compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) North...
The Lanka Sama Samaja Party is founded in Ceylon.
The Lanka Sama Samaja Party, often abbreviated as LSSP, is a major Trotskyist political party in Sri Lanka. It was the first political party in Sri Lanka, having been founded in 1935 by Leslie...
World War II: The Battle of the Heligoland Bight, the first major air battle of the war, takes place.
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...
World War II: XX Bomber Command responds to the Japanese Operation Ichi-Go offensive by dropping five hundred tons of incendiary bombs on a supply base in Hankow, China.
The XX Bomber Command was a United States Army Air Forces bomber formation. Its last assignment was with Twentieth Air Force, based on Okinawa. It was inactivated on 16 July 1945.
The Supreme Court of the United States issued its decision in Korematsu v. United States supporting Franklin D. Roosevelt's Executive Order 9066 which cleared the way for the incarceration of nearly all 120,000 Japanese Americans, two-thirds of whom were U.S. citizens, born and raised in the United States.
The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over...
A violent F5 tornado wipes out the entire community of Sunfield, Illinois.
On December 18–20, 1957, a significant tornado outbreak sequence affected the southern Midwest and the South of the contiguous United States. The outbreak sequence began on the afternoon of...
Project SCORE, the world's first communications satellite, is launched.
SCORE was the world's first purpose-built communications satellite. Launched on December 18,1958, SCORE provided the first broadcast of a human voice from space. It was also the first successful...
Saturn's moon Epimetheus is discovered by astronomer Richard Walker.
Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun and the second largest in the Solar System, after Jupiter. It is a gas giant, with an average radius of about 9 times that of Earth. It has an eighth of the...
Vietnam War: President Richard Nixon announces that the United States will engage North Vietnam in Operation Linebacker II, a series of Christmas bombings, after peace talks collapsed with North Vietnam on the 13th.
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...
Soviet Soyuz Programme: Soyuz 13, crewed by cosmonauts Valentin Lebedev and Pyotr Klimuk, is launched from Baikonur in the Soviet Union.
The Soyuz programme is a human spaceflight programme initiated by the Soviet Union in the early 1960s. The Soyuz spacecraft was originally part of a Moon landing project intended to put a Soviet...
United Airlines Flight 2860 crashes near Kaysville, Utah, killing all three crew members on board.
United Airlines Flight 2860 was a scheduled domestic cargo flight in the United States from San Francisco, California, to Chicago, Illinois, with an intermediate stop added at Salt Lake City, Utah....
SA de Transport Aérien Flight 730 crashes near Madeira Airport in Funchal, Madeira, Portugal, killing 36.
SA de Transport Aérien Flight 730 was a Sud Aviation SE-210 Caravelle 10R aircraft, registered as HB-ICK, that crashed on approach to Funchal Airport, Madeira, on December 18, 1977.
First flight of the Russian heavy strategic bomber Tu-160, the world's largest combat aircraft, largest supersonic aircraft and largest variable-sweep wing aircraft built.
Heavy bombers are bomber aircraft capable of delivering the largest payload of air-to-ground weaponry and longest range of their era. Archetypal heavy bombers have therefore usually been among the...
A Lockheed L-188 Electra crashes in Jamba, Cuando, Angola, killing 141 people.
The Lockheed L-188 Electra is an American turboprop airliner built by Lockheed. First flown in 1957, it was the first large turboprop airliner built in the United States. With its fairly high...
NASA launches into orbit the Terra platform carrying five Earth Observation instruments, including ASTER, CERES, MISR, MODIS and MOPITT.
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is an independent agency of the U.S. federal government responsible for the United States' civil space program and for research in aeronautics and...
California gubernatorial recall: Then Governor of California Gray Davis announces that the state would face a record budget deficit of $35 billion, roughly double the figure reported during his reelection campaign one month earlier.
The 2003 California gubernatorial recall election was a special election permitted under California state law. It resulted in voters replacing incumbent Democratic Governor Gray Davis with Arnold...
The Chadian Civil War begins when rebel groups, allegedly backed by neighbouring Sudan, launch an attack in Adré.
The Chadian Civil War of 2005–2010 began on 18 December 2005. Since its independence from France in 1960, Chad has been swamped by civil wars between the Arab-Muslims of the north and the...
The first of a series of floods strikes Malaysia. The death toll of all flooding is at least 118, with over 400,000 people displaced.
The 2006–2007 Southeast Asian floods were a series of floods that mostly affected Malaysia from 18 December 2006 to 13 January 2007. The floods were caused by above average rainfall, which was...
United Arab Emirates holds its first-ever elections.
The United Arab Emirates (UAE), also known simply as the Emirates, is a country in West Asia, situated at the eastern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is a federal semi-constitutional monarchy made...
Kellingley Colliery, the last deep coal mine in Great Britain, closes.
Kellingley Colliery, known affectionately as the 'Big K', was a deep coal mine in North Yorkshire, England, 3.6 miles (5.8 km) east of Ferrybridge power station. It was owned and operated by UK Coal.
Amtrak Cascades passenger train 501, derailed near DuPont, Washington, a city in United States near Olympia, Washington killing six people, and injuring 70 others.
The Amtrak Cascades is a passenger train route in the Pacific Northwest, operated by Amtrak in partnership with the U.S. states of Washington and Oregon. It is named after the Cascade mountain range...
The United States House of Representatives impeaches Donald Trump for the first time.
Donald Trump, serving as the 45th president of the United States, was impeached for the first time on December 18, 2019; however, he was not removed from office. On that date, the House of...
Argentina win the FIFA World Cup final, defeating title holders France 4–2 on penalties following a 3–3 draw after extra time.
The Argentina national football team, nicknamed la Albiceleste, represents Argentina in men's international football and is administered by the Argentine Football Association, the governing body of...