On This Day — 18 August

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).

Iceland

2017

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

2017 Turku attack

2011

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

2011 southern Israel cross-border attacks

2008

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

Pervez Musharraf

2008

War of Afghanistan: The Uzbin Valley ambush occurs.

Uzbin Valley ambush

2005

A 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.

2005 Java–Bali blackout

2003

One-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.

Murders of Andrew Bagby and Zachary Turner

1993

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

American International Airways Flight 808

1989

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

Luis Carlos Galán

1983

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

Hurricane Alicia

1977

Steve 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.

Steve Biko

1976

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

Panmunjom axe murder incident

1976

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

Soviet Union

1973

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

Aeroflot Flight A-13

1971

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

Vietnam

1966

Vietnam 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.

Battle of Long Tan

1965

Vietnam 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.

Vietnam War

1963

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

Civil rights movement

1958

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

Vladimir Nabokov

1958

Brojen 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.

Brojen Das

1950

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

Julien Lahaut

1949

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

1949 Kemi strike

1945

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

Sukarno

1945

Soviet-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.

Soviet–Japanese War

1940

World 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.

World War II

1938

The 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.

Thousand Islands Bridge

1937

A 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.

Blackwater Fire of 1937

1933

The 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'.

Volksempfänger

1923

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

1923 WAAA Championships

1917

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

Great Thessaloniki Fire of 1917

1903

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

Karl Jatho

1891

A major hurricane strikes Martinique, leaving 700 dead.

1891 Martinique hurricane

1877

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

Astronomer

1870

Franco-Prussian War: Battle of Gravelotte is fought.

Franco-Prussian War

1868

French astronomer Pierre Janssen discovers helium.

Astronomer

1864

American 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.

American Civil War

1838

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

United States Exploring Expedition

1826

Major Gordon Laing becomes the first European to enter Timbuktu.

Alexander Gordon Laing

1809

The 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.

Senate of Finland

1783

A huge fireball meteor is seen across Great Britain as it passes over the east coast.

1783 Great Meteor

1721

The city of Shamakhi in Safavid Shirvan is sacked.

Shamakhi

1634

Father Urbain Grandier, accused and convicted of sorcery, is burned alive in Loudun, France.

Urbain Grandier

1612

The trials of the Pendle witches and Samlesbury witches, one of England's most famous witch trials, begin at the Lancaster Assizes.

Pendle witches

1590

John White, the governor of the Roanoke Colony, returns from a supply trip to England and finds his settlement deserted.

John White (colonist and artist)

1572

The Huguenot King Henry III of Navarre marries the Catholic Margaret of Valois, ostensibly to reconcile the feuding Protestants and Catholics of France.

Huguenots

1492

The first grammar of the Spanish language (Gramática de la lengua castellana) is presented to Queen Isabella I.

Grammar

1487

The Siege of Málaga ends with the taking of the city by Castilian and Aragonese forces.

Siege of Málaga (1487)

1304

The Battle of Mons-en-Pévèle is fought to a draw between the French army and the Flemish militias.

Battle of Mons-en-Pévèle

707

Princess Abe accedes to the imperial Japanese throne as Empress Genmei.

AD 707

684

Battle of Marj Rahit: Umayyad partisans defeat the supporters of Ibn al-Zubayr and cement Umayyad control of Syria.

Battle of Marj Rahit (684)