List of May 18 Historical Events and Facts

• Tweet

This Day In History: List of May 18 Historical Events and Facts

• 1152: Henry II of England marries Eleanor of Aquitaine.
• 1268: The Principality of Antioch, a crusader state, falls to the Mamluk Sultan Baibars in the Battle of Antioch.
• 1302: Bruges Matins, the nocturnal massacre of the French garrison in Bruges by members of the local Flemish militia.
• 1498: Vasco da Gama reaches the port of Calicut, India.
• 1593: Playwright Thomas Kyd’s accusations of heresy lead to an arrest warrant for Christopher Marlowe.
• 1631: In Dorchester, Massachusetts, John Winthrop takes the oath of office and becomes the first Governor of Massachusetts.
• 1652: Rhode Island passes the first law in North America making slavery illegal.
• 1756: The Seven Years’ War begins when Great Britain declares war on France.
• 1763: Fire destroys a large part of Montreal, Quebec.
• 1783: First United Empire Loyalists reach Parrtown , New Brunswick, Canada after leaving the United States.
• 1803: Napoleonic Wars: The United Kingdom revokes the Treaty of Amiens and declares war on France.
• 1804: Napoleon Bonaparte is proclaimed Emperor of the French by the French Senate.
• 1811: Battle of Las Piedras: The first great military triumph of the revolution of the RÌo de la Plata in Uruguay led by Jose Artigas.
• 1812: John Bellingham is found guilty and sentenced to death by hanging for the assassination of British Prime Minister Spencer Perceval.
• 1843: The Disruption in Edinburgh of the Free Church of Scotland from the Church of Scotland.
• 1848: Opening of the first German National Assembly in Frankfurt, Germany.
• 1860: Abraham Lincoln wins the Republican Party presidential nomination over William H.

Seward, who later becomes the United States Secretary of State.

• 1863: American Civil War: The Siege of Vicksburg begins.
• 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.
• 1897: Dracula, a novel by Irish author Bram Stoker is published.
• 1900: The United Kingdom proclaims a protectorate over Tonga.
• 1910: The Earth passes through the tail of Comet Halley.
• 1917: World War I: The Selective Service Act of 1917 is passed, giving the President of the United States the power of conscription.
• 1926: Evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson disappears while visiting a Venice, California beach.
• 1927: The Bath School Disaster: forty-five people are killed by bombs planted by a disgruntled school-board member in Michigan.
• 1933: New Deal: President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs an act creating the Tennessee Valley Authority.
• 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 government.
• 1948: The First Legislative Yuan of the Republic of China officially convenes in Nanking.
• 1953: Jackie Cochran becomes the first woman to break the sound barrier.
• 1956: First ascent of Lhotse 8,516 meters, by a Swiss team.
• 1958: An F-104 Starfighter sets a world speed record of 2,259.82 km/h .
• 1959: Launch of the National Liberation Committee of Cute d’Ivoire in Conakry, Guinea.
• 1969: Apollo program: Apollo 10 is launched.
• 1974: Nuclear test: under project Smiling Buddha, India successfully detonates its first nuclear weapon becoming the sixth nation to do so.
• 1974: Completion of the Warsaw radio mast, the tallest construction ever built at the time.

It collapsed on August 8, 1991.

• 1980: 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens: Mount St. Helens erupts in Washington, United States, killing 57 people and causing $3 billion in damage.
• 1980: Gwangju Massacre: students in Gwangju, South Korea begin demonstrations calling for democratic reforms.
• 1983: In Ireland, the government launches a crackdown, with the leading Dublin pirate Radio Nova being put off the air.
• 1990: In France, a modified TGV train achieves a new rail world speed record of 515.3km/h .
• 1991: Northern Somalia declares independence from the rest of Somalia as the Republic of Somaliland but is not recognised by the international community.
• 1992: The Archivist of the United States officially announces the Twenty-seventh Amendment to the United States Constitution.
• 2006: The post Loktantra Andolan government passes a landmark bill curtailing the power of the monarchy and making Nepal a secular country.
• 2009: Sri Lankan Civil War: The LTTE are defeated by the Sri Lankan government, ending almost 26 years of fighting between the two sides.