June 18Birthdays & History

On this day: June 18 in history

Oldest first. Tap a year to see it on the World Chronicle timeline.

1. 618Li Yuan becomes Emperor Gaozu of Tang, initiating three centuries of Tang dynasty rule over China.Asia
2. 656Ali becomes Caliph of the Rashidun Caliphate.Middle East
3. 860Byzantine–Rus' War: A fleet of about 200 Rus' vessels sails into the Bosphorus and starts pillaging the suburbs of the Byzantine capital Constantinople.EuropeMiddle East
4. 1053Battle of Civitate: Three thousand Norman horsemen of Count Humphrey rout the troops of Pope Leo IX.Europe
5. 1155Pope Adrian IV crowns Frederick Barbarossa as Holy Roman Emperor.Europe
6. 1156The treaty of Benevento between Pope Adrian IV and William I of Sicily is concluded.Europe
7. 1264The Parliament of Ireland meets at Castledermot in County Kildare, the first definitively known meeting of this Irish legislature.Europe
8. 1265A draft Byzantine–Venetian treaty is concluded between Venetian envoys and Emperor Michael VIII Palaiologos, but is not ratified by Doge Reniero Zeno.Europe
9. 1391Tokhtamysh–Timur war: Battle of the Kondurcha River: Timur defeats Tokhtamysh of the Golden Horde in present-day southeast Russia.Europe
10. 1429Charles VII's army defeats an English army under John Talbot at the Battle of Patay during the Hundred Years' War. The English lost 2,200 men, over half their army, crippling their efforts during this segment of the war.Europe
11. 1633Charles I is crowned King of Scots at St Giles' Cathedral, Edinburgh.Europe
12. 1684The charter of the Massachusetts Bay Colony is revoked via a scire facias writ issued by an English court.North AmericaEurope
13. 1757Battle of Kolín between Prussian forces under Frederick the Great and an Austrian army under the command of Field Marshal Count Leopold Joseph von Daun in the Seven Years' War.Europe
14. 1778American Revolutionary War: The British Army abandons Philadelphia.North AmericaEurope
15. 1799Action of 18 June 1799: A frigate squadron under Rear-admiral Jean-Baptiste Perrée is captured by the British fleet under Lord Keith.Europe
16. 1803Haitian Revolution: The Royal Navy led by Rear-Admiral John Thomas Duckworth commence the blockade of Saint-Domingue against French forces.Latin AmericaEurope
17. 1812The United States declaration of war upon the United Kingdom is signed by President James Madison, beginning the War of 1812.North AmericaEurope
18. 1815Napoleonic Wars: The Battle of Waterloo results in the defeat of Napoleon Bonaparte by the Duke of Wellington and Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher, forcing Napoleon to abdicate the throne of France for the second and last time.EuropeOceania
19. 1822Konstantinos Kanaris blows up the Ottoman navy's flagship at Chios, killing the Kapudan Pasha Nasuhzade Ali Pasha.Middle East
20. 1837St. Joseph Mutiny: African soldiers in the 1st West India Regiment – led by former slave trader Daaga – launch a rebellion in the British colony of Trinidad in an attempt to escape to Africa.AfricaAsiaEurope
21. 1858Charles Darwin receives a paper from Alfred Russel Wallace that includes nearly identical conclusions about evolution as Darwin's own, prompting Darwin to publish his theory.EuropeAsia
22. 1859First ascent of Aletschhorn, second summit of the Bernese Alps.Europe
23. 1873Susan B. Anthony is fined $100 for attempting to vote in the 1872 presidential election.North America
24. 1887The Reinsurance Treaty between Germany and Russia is signed.Europe
25. 1906Sultan Abdelaziz of Morocco ratifies the agreement reached in the Algeciras Conference in a personal decree.Africa
26. 1907Most resistance societies in Santiago return to work, bringing an end to the 1907 Chilean general strike.Latin America
27. 1908Japanese immigration to Brazil begins when 781 people arrive in Santos aboard the ship Kasato-Maru.AsiaLatin America
28. 1908The University of the Philippines is established.Asia
29. 1920The Troubles in Ulster (1920–1922) begin with a week of sectarian violence in Derry.Europe
30. 1928Aviator Amelia Earhart becomes the first woman to fly in an aircraft across the Atlantic Ocean (she is a passenger; Wilmer Stultz is the pilot and Lou Gordon the mechanic).North AmericaEurope
31. 1935Police in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, clash with striking longshoremen, resulting in a total of 60 injuries and 24 arrests.North AmericaEurope
32. 1940World War II: Appeal of 18 June by Charles de Gaulle.Europe
33. 1940World War II: The "Finest Hour" speech is delivered by Winston Churchill.Europe
34. 1945William Joyce ("Lord Haw-Haw") is charged with treason for his pro-German propaganda broadcasting during World War II.Europe
35. 1946Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia, a Socialist, calls for a Direct Action Day against the Portuguese in Goa.Europe
36. 1948Britain, France and the United States announce that on June 21, the Deutsche Mark will be introduced in western Germany and West Berlin. Over the next six days, Communists increasingly restrict access to Berlin.EuropeNorth America
37. 1948Columbia Records introduces the long-playing record album in a public demonstration at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York City.North America
38. 1953The Egyptian revolution of 1952 ends with the overthrow of the Muhammad Ali dynasty and the declaration of the Republic of Egypt.Middle East
39. 1953A United States Air Force C-124 crashes and burns near Tachikawa, Japan, killing 129.North AmericaAsia
40. 1954Carlos Castillo Armas leads an invasion force across the Guatemalan border, setting in motion the 1954 Guatemalan coup d'état.Latin America
41. 1958Benjamin Britten's one-act opera Noye's Fludde premieres at the Aldeburgh Festival.Europe
42. 1965Vietnam War: The United States Air Force uses B-52 bombers to attack guerrilla fighters in South Vietnam.AsiaNorth America
43. 1972Staines air disaster: One hundred eighteen people are killed when a BEA H.S. Trident crashes minutes after takeoff from London's Heathrow Airport.Europe
44. 1979SALT II is signed by the United States and the Soviet Union.North AmericaEurope
45. 1981The Lockheed F-117 Nighthawk, the first operational aircraft initially designed around stealth technology, makes its first flight.North America
46. 1982Italian banker Roberto Calvi's body is discovered hanging beneath Blackfriars Bridge in London, England.Europe
47. 1983Mona Mahmudnizhad, together with nine other women of the Baháʼí Faith, is sentenced to death and hanged in Shiraz, Iran, over her religious beliefs.Middle East
48. 1983Space Shuttle program: STS-7, astronaut Sally Ride becomes the first American woman in space.North America
49. 1984A major clash between about 5,000 police and a similar number of striking miners takes place at Orgreave, South Yorkshire, during the 1984–85 UK miners' strike.Europe
50. 1994The Troubles: Members of the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) attack a crowded pub with assault rifles in Loughinisland, Northern Ireland. Six Catholic civilians are killed and five wounded. It was crowded with people watching the 1994 FIFA World Cup.Europe
51. 1998Propair Flight 420 crashes near Montréal–Mirabel International Airport in Quebec, Canada, killing 11.North America
52. 2006The first Kazakh space satellite, KazSat-1, is launched.Asia
53. 2007The Charleston Sofa Super Store fire kills nine firefighters in Charleston, South Carolina.North America
54. 2009The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO), a NASA robotic spacecraft is launched.North America
55. 2018An earthquake of magnitude 6.1 strikes northern Osaka.Asia
56. 2023Titan, a submersible operated by OceanGate Expeditions, implodes in the North Atlantic Ocean while attempting to view the wreck of the Titanic, killing all five people on board, including OceanGate co-founder and CEO Stockton Rush.World

Source: Wikipedia "June 18" / CC BY-SA 4.0