On This Day — 18 July

2019

A man sets fire to an anime studio in Fushimi-ku, Kyoto, Japan, killing 36 people and injuring dozens of others.

Kyoto Animation arson attack

2014

The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant requires Christians to either accept dhimmi status, emigrate from ISIL lands, or be killed.

Islamic State

2013

The Government of Detroit, with up to $20 billion in debt, files for the largest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history.

Government of Detroit

2012

At least seven people are killed and 32 others are injured after a bomb explodes on an Israeli tour bus at Burgas Airport, Bulgaria.

2012 Burgas bus bombing

2002

A Consolidated PB4Y-2 Privateer crashes near Estes Park, Colorado, killing both crew members.

Consolidated PB4Y-2 Privateer

1996

Storms provoke severe flooding on the Saguenay River, beginning one of Quebec's costliest natural disasters ever.

Saguenay flood

1996

Battle of Mullaitivu: The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam capture the Sri Lanka Army's base, killing over 1,200 soldiers.

Battle of Mullaitivu (1996)

1995

On the Caribbean island of Montserrat, the Soufrière Hills volcano erupts. Over the course of several years, it devastates the island, destroying the capital, forcing most of the population to flee.

Montserrat

1994

The bombing of the Asociación Mutual Israelita Argentina (Argentine Jewish Community Center) in Buenos Aires kills 85 people (mostly Jewish) and injures 300.

AMIA bombing

1994

Rwandan genocide: The Rwandan Patriotic Front takes control of Gisenyi and north western Rwanda, forcing the interim government into Zaire and ending the genocide.

Rwandan genocide

1992

A picture of Les Horribles Cernettes was taken, which became the first ever photo posted to the World Wide Web.

Les Horribles Cernettes

1984

McDonald's massacre in San Ysidro, California: James Oliver Huberty kills 21 people and injures 19 others before being shot dead by police.

San Ysidro McDonald's massacre

1982

Two hundred sixty-eight Guatemalan campesinos ("peasants" or "country people") are slain in the Plan de Sánchez massacre.

Guatemala

1981

A Canadair CL-44 and Sukhoi Su-15 collide in mid-air near Yerevan, Armenia, killing four.

Canadair CL-44

1979

A landslide occurs on the Iliwerung volcano in Indonesia, triggering a tsunami that kills over 530 and leaves 700 missing.

Iliwerung

1976

Nadia Comăneci becomes the first person in Olympic Games history to score a perfect 10 in gymnastics at the 1976 Summer Olympics.

Nadia Comăneci

1970

An Antonov An-22 of the Soviet Air Forces crashes into the Atlantic Ocean, killing all 23 aboard.

Antonov An-22

1968

Intel is founded in Mountain View, California.

Intel

1966

Human spaceflight: Gemini 10 is launched from Cape Kennedy on a 70-hour mission that includes docking with an orbiting Agena target vehicle.

Human spaceflight

1966

A racially charged incident in a bar sparks the six-day Hough riots in Cleveland, Ohio; 1,700 Ohio National Guard troops intervene to restore order.

Hough riots

1944

World War II: Hideki Tōjō resigns as Prime Minister of Japan because of numerous setbacks in the war effort.

Hideki Tojo

1942

World War II: During the Beisfjord massacre in Norway, 15 Norwegian paramilitary guards help members of the SS to kill 288 political prisoners from Yugoslavia.

World War II

1942

The Germans test fly the Messerschmitt Me 262 using its jet engines for the first time.

Messerschmitt Me 262

1925

Adolf Hitler publishes Mein Kampf.

Adolf Hitler

1914

The U.S. Congress forms the Aviation Section, U.S. Signal Corps, giving official status to aircraft within the U.S. Army for the first time.

United States Congress

1872

The Ballot Act 1872 in the United Kingdom introduced the requirement that parliamentary and local government elections be held by secret ballot.

Ballot Act 1872

1870

The First Vatican Council decrees the dogma of papal infallibility.

First Vatican Council

1863

American Civil War: Second Battle of Fort Wagner: One of the first formal African American military units, the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, supported by several white regiments, attempts an unsuccessful assault on Confederate-held Battery Wagner.

American Civil War

1862

First ascent of Dent Blanche, one of the highest summits in the Alps.

Dent Blanche

1857

Louis Faidherbe, French governor of Senegal, arrives to relieve French forces at Kayes, effectively ending El Hajj Umar Tall's war against the French.

Louis Faidherbe

1841

Coronation of Emperor Pedro II of Brazil.

Pedro II of Brazil

1812

The Treaties of Orebro end both the Anglo-Russian and Anglo-Swedish Wars.

Treaties of Örebro

1806

A gunpowder magazine explosion in Birgu, Malta, kills around 200 people.

1806 Birgu polverista explosion

1723

Johann Sebastian Bach leads the first performance of his cantata Erforsche mich, Gott, und erfahre mein Herz, BWV 136, in Leipzig on the eighth Sunday after Trinity.

Johann Sebastian Bach

1555

The College of Arms is reincorporated by Royal charter signed by Queen Mary I of England and King Philip II of Spain.

College of Arms

1507

In Brussels, Prince Charles I is crowned Duke of Burgundy and Count of Flanders, a year after inheriting the title.

Brussels

1389

France and England agree to the Truce of Leulinghem, inaugurating a 13-year peace, the longest period of sustained peace during the Hundred Years' War.

Kingdom of France

1334

The bishop of Florence blesses the first foundation stone for the new campanile (bell tower) of the Florence Cathedral, designed by the artist Giotto di Bondone.

Florence

1290

King Edward I of England issues the Edict of Expulsion, banishing all Jews (numbering about 16,000) from England.

Edward I

1195

Battle of Alarcos: Almohad forces defeat the Castilian army of Alfonso VIII and force its retreat to Toledo.

Battle of Alarcos

645

Chinese forces under general Li Shiji besiege the strategic fortress city of Anshi (Liaoning) during the Goguryeo–Tang War.

Li Shiji

452

Sack of Aquileia: After an earlier defeat on the Catalaunian Plains, Attila lays siege to the metropolis of Aquileia and eventually destroys it.

Sack of Aquileia

362

Roman–Persian Wars: Emperor Julian arrives at Antioch with a Roman expeditionary force (60,000 men) and stays there for nine months to launch a campaign against the Persian Empire.

Roman–Persian wars

-477

Battle of the Cremera as part of the Roman–Etruscan Wars. Veii ambushes and defeats the Roman army.

Battle of the Cremera