Today In History. What Happened This Day In History
A Timeline Of Events That Occurred On This Day In History
A chronological timetable of historical events that occurred on this day in history. Historical facts of the day in the areas of military, politics, science, music, sports, arts, entertainment and more. Discover what happened today in history.
Today in History
May 18
| 526 | St. John I ends his reign as Catholic Pope. | |
| 1643 | Queen Anne, the widow of Louis XIII, is granted sole and absolute power as regent by the Paris parliament, overriding the late king's will. | |
| 1652 | A law is passed in Rhode Island banning slavery in the colonies but it causes little stir and seems unlikely to be enforced. | |
| 1792 | Russian troops invade Poland. | |
| 1802 | Britain declares war on France. | |
| 1804 | Napoleon Bonaparte becomes the Emperor of France. | |
| 1828 | The Battle of Las Piedras, between Uruguay and Brazil, ends. | |
| 1860 | Abraham Lincoln is nominated for president. | |
| 1864 | The fighting at Spotsylvania in Virginia, reaches its peak at the Bloody Angle. | |
| 1896 | The Supreme Court's decision on Plessy v. Ferguson upholds the "separate but equal" policy in the United States. | |
| 1904 | Brigand Raizuli kidnaps American Ion H. Perdicaris in Morocco. | |
| 1917 | The U.S. Congress passes the Selective Service act, calling up soldiers to fight World War I. | |
| 1931 | Japanese pilot Seiji Yoshihara crashes his plane in the Pacific Ocean while trying to be the first to cross the ocean nonstop. He is picked up seven hours later by a passing ship. | |
| 1933 | President Franklin Roosevelt signs the Tennessee Valley Authority Act. | |
| 1942 | New York ends night baseball games for the rest of World War II. | |
| 1944 | The Allies finally capture Monte Cassino in Italy. | |
| 1951 | The United Nations moves its headquarters to New York city. | |
| 1969 | Two battalions of the 101st Airborne Division assault Hill 937 but cannot reach the top because of muddy conditions. | |
| 1974 | India becomes sixth nation to explode an atomic bomb. | |
| 1980 | After rumbling for two months, Mount Saint Helens, in Washington, erupts 3 times in 24 hours. | |
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Born on May 18 |
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| 1836 | Wilhelm Steinitz, chess champion. | |
| 1868 | Nicholas II, the last Russian czar. | |
| 1872 | Bertrand Russell, English mathematician, philosopher and social reformer. | |
| 1897 | Frank Capra, film director (It's A Wonderful Life). | |
| 1902 | Meredith Willson, composer and lyricist (The Music Man). | |
| 1911 | Joseph Vernon "Big Joe" Turner, blues singer. | |
| 1918 | John Paul II [Karol Jozef Wojtyla], Roman Catholic pope. | |
| 1919 | Margot Fonteyn, English ballet dancer. | |
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