May 18

Historic Events

2026

A shooting carried out by two gunmen at the Islamic Center of San Diego results in the deaths of five people, including the perpetrators. ›

2019

United States presidential election: Joe Biden launches his presidential campaign. ›

2018

A school shooting at Santa Fe High School in Texas kills ten people. ›

2018

Cubana de Aviación Flight 972 crashes in Santiago de las Vegas after takeoff from José Martí International Airport in Havana, Cuba, killing 112 of the 113 people on board. ›

2015

At least 78 people die in a landslide caused by heavy rains in the Colombian town of Salgar. ›

2009

The LTTE are defeated by the Sri Lankan government, ending almost 26 years of fighting between the two sides. ›

2006

The post Loktantra Andolan government passes a landmark bill curtailing the power of the monarchy and making Nepal a secular country. ›

2005

A second photo from the Hubble Space Telescope confirms that Pluto has two additional moons, Nix and Hydra. ›

1994

Israeli troops finish withdrawing from the Gaza Strip, ceding the area to the Palestinian National Authority to govern. ›

1993

Riots in Nørrebro, Copenhagen, caused by the approval of the four Danish exceptions in the Maastricht Treaty referendum. Police open fire against civilians for the first time since World War II and injure 11 demonstrators. ›

1991

Northern Somalia declares independence from the rest of Somalia as the Republic of Somaliland. ›

1990

In France, a modified TGV train achieves a new rail world speed record of 515.3 km/h (320.2 mph). ›

1980

Mount St. Helens erupts in Washington, United States, killing 57 people and causing $3 billion in damage. ›

1980

Students in Gwangju, South Korea begin demonstrations calling for democratic reforms. ›

1980

Rioting spreads to Miami's mostly African-American neighborhoods of Overtown and Liberty City following the previous day's courthouse protests. ›

1977

Likud party wins the 1977 Israeli legislative election, with Menachem Begin, its founder, as the sixth Prime Minister of Israel. ›

1974

Nuclear weapons testing: Under project Smiling Buddha, India successfully detonates its first nuclear weapon becoming the sixth nation to do so. ›

1973

Aeroflot Flight 109 is hijacked mid-flight and the aircraft is subsequently destroyed when the hijacker's bomb explodes, killing all 82 people on board. ›

1972

During approach to Kharkiv International Airport, Aeroflot Flight 1491 crashes near Ruska Lozova, killing all 112 aboard. ›

1969

Apollo program: Apollo 10 is launched. ›

1965

Israeli spy Eli Cohen is hanged in Damascus, Syria. ›

1962

The French government and representatives of the Provisional Government of the Algerian Republic reach a settlement to end the Algerian war in the Évian Accords. ›

1955

Operation Passage to Freedom, the evacuation of 310,000 Vietnamese civilians, soldiers and non-Vietnamese members of the French Army from communist North Vietnam to South Vietnam following the end of the First Indochina War, ends. ›

1953

Jacqueline Cochran becomes the first woman to break the sound barrier. ›

1948

The First Legislative Yuan of the Republic of China officially convenes in Nanking. ›

1944

World War II: Battle of Monte Cassino: Conclusion after seven days of the fourth battle as German paratroopers evacuate Monte Cassino. ›

1944

Deportation of Crimean Tatars by the Soviet Union. ›

1933

New Deal: President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs an act creating the Tennessee Valley Authority. ›

1927

The Bath School disaster: Forty-five people, including many children, are killed by bombs planted by a disgruntled school-board member in Bath Township, Michigan. ›

1927

After being founded for 20 years, the Nationalist government approves Tongji University to be among its first national universities. ›

1926

Evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson disappears in Venice, California. ›

1922

Seamus Woods and Roger McCorley lead an Irish Republican Army attack on the headquarters of the Royal Irish Constabulary in Belfast. ›

1917

World War I: The Selective Service Act of 1917 is passed, giving the President of the United States the power of conscription. ›

1912

The first Indian film, Shree Pundalik by Dadasaheb Torne, is released in Mumbai. ›

1900

The United Kingdom proclaims a protectorate over Tonga. ›

1896

The United States Supreme Court rules in Plessy v. Ferguson that the "separate but equal" doctrine is constitutional. ›

1896

Khodynka Tragedy: A mass panic on Khodynka Field in Moscow during the festivities of the coronation of Russian Tsar Nicholas II results in the deaths of 1,389 people. ›

1863

American Civil War: Union forces under Ulysses S. Grant begin the Siege of Vicksburg during the Vicksburg campaign in order to take full control of the Mississippi River. ›

1860

United States presidential election: Abraham Lincoln wins the Republican Party presidential nomination over William H. Seward, who later becomes the United States Secretary of State. ›

1848

Opening of the first German National Assembly (Nationalversammlung) in Frankfurt, Germany. ›

1843

The Disruption in Edinburgh of the Free Church of Scotland from the Church of Scotland. ›

1812

John Bellingham is found guilty and sentenced to death by hanging for the assassination of British Prime Minister Spencer Perceval. ›

1811

Battle of Las Piedras: The first great military triumph of the revolution of the Río de la Plata in Uruguay led by José Artigas. ›

1804

Napoleon Bonaparte is proclaimed Emperor of the French by the French Senate. ›

1803

Napoleonic Wars: The United Kingdom revokes the Treaty of Amiens and declares war on France. ›

1794

Battle of Tourcoing during the Flanders Campaign of the War of the First Coalition. ›

1783

First United Empire Loyalists reach Parrtown (later called Saint John, New Brunswick), Canada, after leaving the United States. ›

1756

The Seven Years' War begins when Great Britain declares war on France. ›

1695

The 1695 Linfen earthquake in Shannxi, Qing dynasty causes extreme damage and kills at least 52,000 people. ›

1652

Slavery in Rhode Island is abolished, although the law is not rigorously enforced. ›

1631

In Dorchester, Massachusetts, John Winthrop takes the oath of office and becomes the first Governor of Massachusetts. ›

1593

Playwright Thomas Kyd's accusations of heresy lead to an arrest warrant for Christopher Marlowe. ›

1565

The Great Siege of Malta begins, in which Ottoman forces attempt and fail to conquer Malta. ›

1499

Alonso de Ojeda sets sail from Cádiz on his voyage to what is now Venezuela. ›

1388

During the Battle of Buyur Lake, General Lan Yu leads a Ming army forward to crush the Mongol hordes of Tögüs Temür, the Khan of Northern Yuan. ›

1302

Bruges Matins, the nocturnal massacre of the French garrison in Bruges by members of the local Flemish militia. ›

1291

Fall of Acre, the end of Crusader presence in the Holy Land. ›

1268

The Principality of Antioch, a crusader state, falls to the Mamluk Sultan Baibars in the Siege of Antioch. ›

1152

The future Henry II of England marries Eleanor of Aquitaine. He would become king two years later, after the death of his cousin once removed King Stephen of England. ›

1096

First Crusade: Around 800 Jews are massacred in Worms, Germany. ›

1012

Pope Benedict VIII begins his papacy following the death of his predecessor Pope Sergius IV earlier that month. ›

872

Louis II of Italy is crowned for the second time as Holy Roman Emperor at Rome, at the age of 47. His first coronation was 28 years earlier, in 844, during the reign of his father Lothair I. ›

332

Emperor Constantine the Great announces free distributions of food to the citizens in Constantinople. ›