Historical Events on 18 Feb

Historical Events on 18 Feb

1229 - The Sixth Crusade: Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor signs a ten-year truce with al-Kamil, regaining Jerusalem, Nazareth, and Bethlehem with neither military engagements nor support from the papacy.
1268 - The Livonian Brothers of the Sword are defeated by Dovmont of Pskov in the Battle of Rakovor.
1478 - George, Duke of Clarence, convicted of treason against his older brother Edward IV of England, is privately executed in the Tower of London.
1685 - Fort St. Louis is established by a Frenchman at Matagorda Bay thus forming the basis for France's claim to Texas.
1797 - Trinidad is surrendered to a British fleet under the command of Sir Ralph Abercromby.
1814 - The Battle of Montereau occurs.
1841 - The first ongoing filibuster in the United States Senate begins and lasts until March 11.
1856 - The American Party (Know-Nothings) convene in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to nominate their first Presidential candidate, former President Millard Fillmore.
1861 - In Montgomery, Alabama, Jefferson Davis is inaugurated as the provisional President of the Confederate States of America.
1861 - With the Italian unification almost complete, King Victor Emmanuel II of Piedmont, Savoy and Sardinia assumes the title of King of Italy.
1865 - Union forces under Major General William T. Sherman set the South Carolina State House on fire during the burning of Columbia.
1878 - John Tunstall is murdered by outlaw Jessie Evans, sparking the Lincoln County War in Lincoln County, New Mexico.
1885 - Mark Twain's Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is published for the first time.
1901 - Winston Churchill makes his maiden speech in the British House of Commons.
1911 - The first official flight with air mail takes place in Allahabad, British India, when Henri Pequet, a 23-year-old pilot, delivers 6,500 letters to Naini, about 10 km away.
1913 - Raymond Poincaré becomes President of France.
1929 - The first Academy Awards are announced.
1930 - While studying photographs taken in January, Clyde Tombaugh discovers Pluto.
1930 - Elm Farm Ollie becomes the first cow to fly in a fixed-wing aircraft and also the first cow to be milked in an aircraft.
1932 - The Empire of Japan declares Manzhouguo (obsolete Chinese name for Manchuria) independent from the Republic of China.
1943 - The Nazis arrest the members of the White Rose movement.
1943 - Joseph Goebbels delivers the Sportpalast speech.
1948 - Eamon de Valera resigns as Taoiseach of Ireland.
1954 - The first Church of Scientology is established in Los Angeles, California.
1955 - The Shot Teapot-Wasp is successfully detonated at the Nevada Test Site with a yield of 1.2 kilotons. Wasp would be the first of fourteen shots of the Teapot series.
1957 - Dedan Kimathi, a Kenyan rebel leader is executed by the British colonial government.
1965 - The Gambia becomes independent from the United Kingdom.
1969 - The Hawthorne Nevada Airlines Flight 708 disaster occurs, killing all on board.
1970 - The Chicago Seven are found not guilty of conspiring to incite riots at the 1968 Democratic National Convention.
1972 - The California Supreme Court in the case of People v. Anderson, 6 Cal.3d 628 invalidates the state's death penalty and commutes the sentences of all death row inmates to life in prison.
1977 - The Space Shuttle Enterprise test vehicle goes on its maiden "flight" while sitting on top of a Boeing 747.
1979 - Snow fell in the Sahara Desert in southern Algeria for the first and only recorded time in history.
1983 - Thirteen people die and one is seriously injured in the Wah Mee Massacre in Seattle, Washington. It is said to be the largest robbery-motivated mass-murder in U.S. history.
1991 - The IRA explodes bombs in the early morning at both Paddington station and Victoria station in London.
1998 - Two white separatists are arrested in Nevada and accused of plotting a biological attack on New York City subways.
2000 - Stjepan Mesić becomes the second president of Croatia.
2001 - FBI agent Robert Hanssen is arrested for spying for the Soviet Union. He was ultimately convicted and sentenced to life in prison.
2003 - Comet C/2002 V1 (NEAT) makes perihelion, seen by SOHO.
2003 - Nearly 200 people die in the Daegu subway fire in South Korea.
2004 - Up to 295 people, including nearly 200 rescue workers, die near Neyshabur in Iran when a run-away freight train carrying sulfur, petrol and fertiliser catches fire and explodes.
3102 BC - Epoch (origin) of the Kali Yuga.