July 18

From Wikipedia, a free encyclopedia written in simple English for easy reading.

[edit] Births

• 1918 - Nelson Mandela, South African politician
• 1937 - Hunter S. Thompson, American writer
• 1939 - Dion (DiMucci), American musician

[edit] Deaths

• 1610 - Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, Italian artist (b. 1573)
• 1623 - Pope Gregory XV
• 1695 - Johannes Camphuys, Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies (b. 1634)
• 1698 - Johann Heinrich Heidegger, Swiss theologian (b. 1633)
• 1721 - Antoine Watteau, French painter
• 1730 - François de Neufville, duc de Villeroi, French soldier (b. 1644)
• 1792 - John Paul Jones, American naval commander (b. 1747)
• 1817 - Jane Austen, English novelist (b. 1775)
• 1863 - Robert Gould Shaw Colonel of the 54th Massachusetts infantry.
• 1872 - Benito Juárez, President of Mexico
• 1892 - Thomas Cook, pioneer travel agent
• 1949 - Vítězslav Novák, composer
• 1988 - Nico, German-American model and singer
• 1990 - Yoon Boseon, President of South Korea
• 1995 - Fabio Casartelli, professional cyclist
• 2001 - Fabio Taglioni, Italian automotive engineer
• 2004 - Paul Foot, British journalist

[edit] Events

• 390 BC - Battle of the Allia: A Roman army is defeated by raiding Gauls, leading to the subsequent sacking of Rome.
• 64 - Great fire of Rome: A fire begins to burn in the merchant area of Rome and soon burns completely out of control while Emperor Nero reportedly plays his lyre and sings while watching the blaze from a safe distance.
• 1195 - Battle of Alarcos, great victory of Almohad ruler Abu Yusuf Ya'qub al-Mansur over the Castilian King Alfonso VIII
• 1830 - Uruguay adopts its first constitution.
• 1863 - American Civil War: The first formal African American military unit, the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, unsuccessfully assaults Confederate-held Fort Wagner but their valiant fighting still proves the worth of African American soldiers during the war.
• 1873 - Oscar II of Sweden-Norway is crowned king of Norway in Trondheim
• 1898 - Marie and Pierre Curie announce the discovery of a new element and proposed to call it polonium.
• 1914 - The United States Army's Signal Corps is formed, giving definite status to its air service for the first time.
• 1925 - Adolf Hitler publishes his personal manifesto Mein Kampf.
• 1942 - World War II: The Germans test fly the Messerschmitt Me-262 using only its jets for the first time.
• 1944 - World War II: Hideki Tojo resigns as Prime Minister of Japan due to numerous setbacks in the war effort.
• 1947 - President Harry S. Truman signs the Presidential Succession Act into law which places the Speaker of the House and the Senate President Pro Tempore next in the line of succession after the United States Vice President.
• 1968 - Vietnam War: The two-day Honolulu Conference begins in Honolulu, Hawaii between US President Lyndon B. Johnson and South Vietnamese President Nguyen Van Thieu.
• 1968 - Intel incorporated.
• 1969 - After a party on Chappaquiddick Island, Senator Ted Kennedy from Massachusetts drives an Oldsmobile off a wooden bridge into a tide-swept pond and his passenger, Mary Jo Kopechne, dies.
• 1969 - Apollo 11 makes preparations for landing on the Moon.
• 1976 - Gymnast Nadia Comaneci, aged 14, scores first ever perfect 10 at the Olympics.
• 1982 - 268 campesinos are slain in the Plan de Sánchez massacre in Ríos Montt's Guatemala.
• 1984 - McDonald's massacre in San Ysidro, California: In a fast-food resturant, James Oliver Huberty kills 21 people and injures 19 others before being shot dead by police.
• 1986 - A tornado is broadcast live on KARE television in Minnesota when the station's helicopter pilot makes a chance encounter.
• 1986 - The motion picture Aliens opens in theaters.
• 1992 - The ten victims of the La Cantuta massacre disappeared from their university in Lima.
• 1994 - In Buenos Aires, an explosion destroys a building housing several Jewish organizations killing 96 and injuring many more.
• 1995 - On the Caribbean island of Montserrat, the Soufriere Hills volcano erupts. Over the course of several years, it devastates the island, destroying the capital and forcing most of the population to flee.
• 1996 - Storms provoke severe flooding on the Saguenay River in Quebec, beginning one of Canada's costliest natural disasters ever.
• 1996 - In an event very similar to the Oklahoma tornado that would occur three years later, a tornado ranking as a F5 hit the town of Oakfield, Wisconsin.
• 2001 - In Baltimore, Maryland, a 60-car train derailment occurs in a tunnel sparking a fire that will last days and virtually shut down downtown Baltimore.