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This day in history

This day in history: 18 August

Events, births and deaths on this date, ordered by how many people look them up.

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Born on this day · Died on this day213 · 103

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Key facts

369 historical events, births and deaths are listed for 18 August.
Entries come from Wikipedia’s day pages and are ordered by page views.
2019: One hundred activists, officials, and other concerned citizens in Iceland hold a funeral for Okjökull glacier, which has completely melted after having once covered six square miles (15.5 km2).

Holidays and observances

Arbor Day (Pakistan)

Armed Forces Day (North Macedonia)

Birthday of Virginia Dare (Roanoke Island)

Christian feast day: Agapitus of Palestrina

Christian feast day: Alberto Hurtado

Christian feast day: August 18 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)

Christian feast day: Daig of Inniskeen

Christian feast day: Evan (or Inan)

Christian feast day: Fiacre

Christian feast day: Florus and Laurus

Christian feast day: Helena of Constantinople (Roman Catholic Church)

Constitution Day (Indonesia)

Events

2019One hundred activists, officials, and other concerned citizens in Iceland hold a funeral for Okjökull glacier, which has completely melted after having once covered six square miles (15.5 km2).

2017The Turku terror attack occurs in Finland when a knifeman kills two and injures eight.

2011A terrorist attack on Israel's Highway 12 near the Egyptian border kills 16 and injures 40.

2008The President of Pakistan, Pervez Musharraf, resigns under threat of impeachment.

2008War of Afghanistan: The Uzbin Valley ambush occurs.

2005A massive power blackout hits the Indonesian island of Java; affecting almost 100 million people, it is one of the largest and most widespread power outages in history.

2003One-year-old Zachary Turner is murdered in Newfoundland by his mother, who was awarded custody despite facing trial for the murder of Zachary's father. The case was documented in the film Dear Zachary and led to reform of Canada's bail laws

1993American International Airways Flight 808 crashes at Leeward Point Field at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, injuring the three crew members.

1989Leading presidential hopeful Luis Carlos Galán is assassinated near Bogotá in Colombia.

1983Hurricane Alicia hits the Texas coast, killing 21 people and causing over US$1 billion in damage (1983 dollars).

1977Steve Biko is arrested at a police roadblock under Terrorism Act No. 83 of 1967 in King William's Town, South Africa. He later dies from injuries sustained during this arrest, bringing attention to South Africa's apartheid policies.

1976The Korean axe murder incident in Panmunjom results in the deaths of two US Army officers.

1976The Soviet Union's robotic probe Luna 24 successfully lands on the Moon.

1973Aeroflot Flight A-13 crashes after takeoff from Baku-Bina International Airport in Azerbaijan, killing 56 people and injuring eight.

1971Vietnam War: Australia and New Zealand decide to withdraw their troops from Vietnam.

1966Vietnam War: The Battle of Long Tan ensues after a patrol from the 6th Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment clashes with a Viet Cong force in Phước Tuy Province.

1965Vietnam War: Operation Starlite begins: United States Marines destroy a Viet Cong stronghold on the Van Tuong peninsula in the first major American ground battle of the war.

1963Civil rights movement: James Meredith becomes the first African American to graduate from the University of Mississippi.

1958Brojen Das from Bangladesh swims across the English Channel in a competition as the first Bengali and the first Asian to do so, placing first among the 39 competitors.

1958Vladimir Nabokov's controversial novel Lolita is published in the United States.

1950Julien Lahaut, the chairman of the Communist Party of Belgium, is assassinated. The Party newspaper blames royalists and Rexists.

1949Kemi strike: Two protesters die in the scuffle between the police and the strikers' protest procession in Kemi, Finland.

1945Soviet-Japanese War: Battle of Shumshu: Soviet forces land at Takeda Beach on Shumshu Island and launch the Battle of Shumshu; the Soviet Union's Invasion of the Kuril Islands commences.

1945Sukarno takes office as the first president of Indonesia, following the country's declaration of independence the previous day.

1940World War II: The Hardest Day air battle, part of the Battle of Britain, takes place. At that point, it is the largest aerial engagement in history with heavy losses sustained on both sides.

1938The Thousand Islands Bridge, connecting New York, United States, with Ontario, Canada, over the Saint Lawrence River, is dedicated by U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

1937A lightning strike starts the Blackwater Fire of 1937 in Shoshone National Forest, killing 15 firefighters within three days and prompting the United States Forest Service to develop their smokejumper program.

1933The Volksempfänger is first presented to the German public at a radio exhibition; the presiding Nazi Minister of Propaganda, Joseph Goebbels, delivers an accompanying speech heralding the radio as the 'eighth great power'.

1923The first British Track and Field championships for women are held in London, Great Britain.

1920The Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution is ratified, guaranteeing women's suffrage.

1917A Great Fire in Thessaloniki, Greece, destroys 32% of the city leaving 70,000 individuals homeless.

1903German engineer Karl Jatho allegedly flies his self-made, motored gliding airplane four months before the first flight of the Wright brothers.

1891A major hurricane strikes Martinique, leaving 700 dead.

1877American astronomer Asaph Hall discovers Phobos, one of Mars's moons.

1870Franco-Prussian War: Battle of Gravelotte is fought.

1868French astronomer Pierre Janssen discovers helium.

1864American Civil War: Battle of Globe Tavern: Union forces try to cut a vital Confederate supply-line into Petersburg, Virginia, by attacking the Wilmington and Weldon Railroad.

1838The Wilkes Expedition, which would explore the Puget Sound and Antarctica, weighs anchor at Hampton Roads.

1826Major Gordon Laing becomes the first European to enter Timbuktu.

1809The Senate of Finland is established in the Grand Duchy of Finland after the official adoption of the Statute of the Government Council by Tsar Alexander I of Russia.

Born on this day

2006Summer McIntosh, Canadian swimmer

2004Kevin McGonigle, American baseball player

2002Bart Verbruggen, Dutch footballer

1999Cassius Stanley, American basketball player

1998Brian To'o, Australian-Samoan rugby league player

1998Clairo, American singer-songwriter

1998Nick Fuentes, American far-right political commentator

1997Josephine Langford, Australian actress

1997Renato Sanches, Portuguese footballer

1995Alīna Fjodorova, Latvian figure skater

1995Parker McKenna Posey, American actress

1994Madelaine Petsch, American actress and YouTuber

1994Morgan Sanson, French footballer

1994Seiya Suzuki, Japanese baseball player

1993Jung Eun-ji, South Korean singer-songwriter

1993Maia Mitchell, Australian actress and singer

1992Bogdan Bogdanović, Serbian basketball player

1992Elizabeth Beisel, American swimmer

1992Frances Bean Cobain, American visual artist and model

1991Liz Cambage, Australian basketball player

1991Richard Harmon, Canadian actor

1989Anna Akana, American actress, comedian, musician, and YouTuber

1989Yu Mengyu, Singaporean table tennis player

1988Eggert Jónsson, Icelandic footballer

1988G-Dragon, South Korean rapper, singer-songwriter and record producer

1988Jack Hobbs, English footballer

1987Joanna Jędrzejczyk, Polish mixed martial artist

1987Justin Wilson, American baseball player

1986Evan Gattis, American baseball player

1986Ross McCormack, Scottish footballer

1985Bryan Ruiz, Costa Rican footballer

1985Inge Dekker, Dutch swimmer

1984Robert Huth, German footballer

1984Sigourney Bandjar, Dutch footballer

1983Cameron White, Australian cricketer

1983Mika, Lebanese-born English recording artist and singer-songwriter

1981César Delgado, Argentinian footballer

1981Dimitris Salpingidis, Greek footballer

1980Bart Scott, American football player

1980Esteban Cambiasso, Argentinian footballer

Died on this day

2026Bill Rasmussen, American sports director, co-founded ESPN (born 1932)

2024Alain Delon, French-Swiss actor (born 1935)

2024Phil Donahue, American talk show host and producer (born 1935)

2024Ruth Johnson Colvin, American author and educator, founded ProLiteracy Worldwide (born 1916)

2023Al Quie, American politician, 35th Governor of Minnesota (born 1923)

2023Lolita, the second-oldest orca in captivity (born ca. 1966)

2020Ben Cross, English stage and film actor (born 1947)

2018Denis Edozie, Nigerian Supreme Court judge (born 1935)

2018Kofi Annan, Ghanaian diplomat and seventh Secretary-General of the United Nations (born 1938)

2017Bruce Forsyth, English television presenter and entertainer (born 1928)

2017Zoe Laskari, Greek actress and beauty pageant winner (born 1944)

2016Ernst Nolte, German historian (born 1923)

2015Bud Yorkin, American director, producer, and screenwriter (born 1926)

2015Khaled al-Asaad, Syrian archaeologist and author (born 1932)

2015Louis Stokes, American lawyer and politician (born 1925)

2015Roger Smalley, English-Australian pianist, composer, and conductor (born 1943)

2015Suvra Mukherjee, wife of Indian president Pranab Mukherjee (born 1940)

2014Don Pardo, American radio and television announcer (born 1918)

2014Gordon Faber, American soldier and politician, 39th Mayor of Hillsboro, Oregon (born 1930)

2014Jim Jeffords, American captain, lawyer, and politician (born 1934)

2014Levente Lengyel, Hungarian chess player (born 1933)

2013Albert Murray, American author and critic (born 1916)

2013Jean Kahn, French lawyer and activist (born 1929)

2013Josephine D'Angelo, American baseball player (born 1924)

2012Harrison Begay, American painter (born 1917)

2012Jesse Robredo, Filipino public servant and politician, 23rd Secretary of the Interior and Local Government (born 1958)

2012John Kovatch, American football player (born 1920)

2012Ra. Ki. Rangarajan, Indian journalist and author (born 1927)

2012Scott McKenzie, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (born 1939)

2010Benjamin Kaplan, American scholar and jurist (born 1911)

Quote of the day

“Waste no more time arguing about what a good man should be. Be one.”

Marcus Aurelius

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From Wikipedia’s on-this-day pages for this language, updated once a day and ordered by how often each article is read.

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