Some of the significant events which took place on August 18 taken from the leaf of History:
293 BC – The oldest known Roman temple to Venus is founded, starting the institution of Vinalia Rustica (grape harvest festival).
440 – St Sixtus III ends his reign as Catholic Pope.
1201 – The city of Riga is founded.
1289 – Pope Nicolas IV publishes degree “Supra montem”.
1541 – A Portuguese ship drifts ashore in the ancient Japanese province of Higo (modern day Kumamoto Prefecture). (Traditional Japanese date: July 27, 1541)
1564 – Spanish king Philip II joins Council of Trente.
1587 – Saul Wahl is elected King of Poland, according to legend.
1605 – Spanish army under of general Spinola conquers Lingen.
1612 – Pendle Witch trial begins with 10 people acussed of witchcraft in Lancaster, England, key witness 9 year-old boy.
1634 – Urbain Grandier, accused and convicted of sorcery, is burned alive in Loudun, France.
1636 – The Covenant of the Town of Dedham, Massachusetts is first signed.
1674- Jean Racine’s “Iphigénie” premieres in Versailles.
1686 – Giovanni Cassini reports seeing a satellite orbiting Venus.
1700 – Swedish, English & Dutch army lands on Seeland, Denmark.
1735 – Evening Post begins publishing (Boston, Mass).
1737 – First public admittance to the Salon de Paris art exhibition at the Louvre in Paris.
1759 -19] 2nd sea battle of Lagos: England vs France.
1769 – A lightning strike on the Bastion of San Nazaro in Brescia, Italy, ignites 90 tonnes of gunpowder, killing 3,000 people.
1795 – Curacao governor De Veer sends militia to stop rebellious slaves.
1840 – French colony established in Akaroa, South Island of New Zealand.
1846 – General Stephen W Kearney’s US forces capture Santa Fe, New Mexico.
1848 – Camila O’Gorman and Ladislao Gutierrez are executed on the orders of Argentine dictator Juan Manuel de Rosas.
1858 – Netherlands & Japan sign trade agreement.
1862 – Sioux Indians begin uprising in Minnesota (it is later crushed).
1864 – 6th day of battle at Deep Bottom Run, Virginia: Confederate assault.
1864 – Battle of Petersburg: Battle of Weldon Railroad day 1 of a 3 day battle.
1868 – French Astronomer Pierre Janssen discovers helium in solar spectrum during eclipse.
1870 – Battle at Gravelotte Privat: Prussia beat France, 32,000 casualties.
1872 – 1st mail-order catalog issued by A M Ward.
1964 – USSR launch 3 Kosmos satellites.
2004 – Japanese swimmer Kosuke Kitajima wraps up the 100/200m breaststroke double at the Athens Olympics when he wins the 200m in 2:09.44, an Olympic record.
2004 – Dutch swimmer Pieter van den Hoogenband wins the coveted 100m freestyle gold medal in 48.17 ahead of Roland Schoeman of South Africa at the Athens Olympics.
2005 – Dennis Rader is sentenced to 175 years in prison for the BTK (Bind, Torture, Kill) serial killings in Sedgwick County, Kansas.
2005 – Massive power blackout hits the Indonesian island of Java, affecting almost 100 million people.
2008 – President of Pakistan Pervez Musharaf resigned due to pressure from opposition.
1930 – Canada Chief Justice: In St. John’s Newfoundland that province’s Chief Justice, William Horwood, was threatened with a stick by an irate Joseph Burnstein who had just been evicted by court order. Burnstein was frequently in trouble with the law and police abducted him before the Chief Justice was harmed.
1931 – China Yangtze River Flood: The Yangtze River in China peaks during flooding which causes the death of 3.7 million people directly and indirectly over the next several months. The Yangtze River was just one of the major rivers in China that flooded and included the Yellow river, and the Huai River.
1955 – The chief desire of all Germans was the unification of the East and the West of their country. However, the North Atlantic Treaty Alliance had kept Germany partitioned. West Germany was also a member of NATO, another factor in the division. Foreign correspondent, John Collins remarked, “The average West German is undoubtedly friendly to the West and hostile to the Communists.”
1963 – U.S.A. James Meredith: James Meredith becomes the first African American to graduate from the University of Mississippi with a degree in Political Science, he had become the first black student at the University of Mississippi on On October 1st, 1962, after having been turned down twice and with support from the then President of the United States John F. Kennedy who sent federal troops and U.S. Marshals to control riots that had broken out on the campus. Many see his enrollment and subsequent graduation as a pivotal moment in the history of civil rights in the United States.
1969 – U.S.A. Woodstock: Although Woodstock was supposed to run for 3 days on the 15th, 16th and 17th of August bands were still playing on the 18th to the tens of thousands of fans that had not left the Woodstock Music and Art Fair and the final musician to close the concert was none other than the great Jimi Hendrix.
1969 – Northern Ireland Pope Paul VI: In Northern Ireland, Pope Paul VI called for Catholics and Protestants to have, “reciprocal pardon and mutual agreement.” However, British troops enforced an uneasy peace in Northern Ireland and Catholics and Protestants remained behind barricades. A police station in Crossmaglen was attacked on Sunday and in London 1,000 Irish demonstrators protested outside the Ulster Office.
1971 – Following protests in Australia and New Zealand over the Vietnam War both countries announce troop withdrawal by the end of the year leaving America isolated in its Vietnam Policy.
1977 – France Marcel Bich: Sixty-three year old French Baron, Marcel Bich, came into his title and fortune by founding the Bic pens company. He rose from being a door-to-door salesman to baron and business tycoon. Bich owned the largest fleet of 12 meter yachts in the world and competed in many American contests with his boats. 1982 – Wang Labs Enters Chapter 11: Following a long period of growth and little competition to its Word Processing systems, as the PC starts to increase it’s market share and new Word Processing Software appears WANG LABS is forced into chapter 11 bankruptcy.
1983 – Hurricane Alicia makes landfall near Galveston, Texas with winds in excess of 100 MPH, leaving 22 dead and causing more than two billion dollars in damages.
1989 – Israel Palestinians Strike: In the Gaza Strip, Palestinians stopped working at their jobs in Israel. The protest was ordered by militants in response to the issuing of computerized identity cards by the Israeli government. The strike closed down shops, educational facilities, and businesses.
1996 – Fruit crops and African plants were in danger of dying because 900 million African bees died. The death of the bees was caused by intermingling them with foreign bees that were imported from the Cape. Non-native bees interfered with the mating process of the African bees.
2001 – Philippines Hotel Fire: A fire at the Manor Hotel in a suburb of the capital Manila has left 75 dead with a further 70 missing, the cause of the fire in the six story hotel is not known.
2005 – 100 million living in Java and Bali are left without power for up to 7 hrs following a major transmission line failure, currently ranked as the worst power outage in history.
2006 – Sgt. Major Joel Arnold of the “Ironman Battalion” recently fought in Iraq and was wounded. He is one of 500 soldiers in Iraq that came from Iowa. Arnold relates that in Iraq sometimes the thermometer gets up to 140 degrees and a friend of his said that it felt like his fingernails were on fire. However, Arnold mentioned that the army food was good, they had air conditioning sometimes, and were provided with Internet, telephones, and video conferences. These amenities however do not ensure that the soldiers will come home alive.
2006 – China 60hr work week at Apple iPod plant: Following negative commentary by the British and American press Apple have released findings from an internal audit of it’s iPod supplier factory in China. The report has reported that the hours worked at the factory were “excessive” and will be changed to enforce a “normal” 60-hour week, Apple has not denied that the average wage at the plant is about $60 per month. In response to reports of child labor the auditors could find no proof of child labor at the supplier. The plant where iPod’s are manufactured is a massive operation with 32,000 staff living on-site at the plant which includes housing, banks, hospital, supermarkets, and a variety of recreational facilities including soccer fields, a swimming pool, TV lounges and Internet cafes.
2007 – Afghanistan Kidnapping: A German Christian aid worker was kidnapped by a criminal organization unrelated to the Taliban in Kabul. The kidnapping of this woman at gunpoint marked the first kidnapping of a foreigner in the Afghan capital of Kabul in two years. She was released by her captors only a few days after the kidnapping.
2008 – Nepal New Prime Minister: The chairman of the Communist Party of Nepal was sworn in as the Prime Minister of Nepal after large political changes in prior months. Prachanda, the Maoist leader, was known as a rebel leader before his party gained a majority of seats in the assembly.
2009 – United States Tom Barrett: Mayor of the US city of Milwaukee, Tom Barrett, was injured while trying to protect a woman and a child from an attack. The mayor intervened in a domestic dispute after leaving the state fair with his family. Barrett was praised by US President Obama for his courage.
2012 – Limbless Man Completes Five Continent Swim: French swimmer Philippe Croizon completed a swim to link five continents using custom made flippers. The swimmer who lost all his limbs in an electrocution accident hoped his accomplishments would inspire other disabled people.
2013 – Around 10,000 Syrian refugees crossed the border of Iraqi Kurdistan one day, with another 10,000 crossing the border earlier in the week. The United Nations stated that the reason so many refugees were showing up was unclear and that they and other agencies were having a difficult time coping with the large amount of people.
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