Famous Events For January 18 – Today In History

January 18: Today in History – Historical Events

Early Centuries – January 18 Historic Events – Before the 1700s

1. 18th Jan 1126: Emperor Huizong renounced the Chinese thorn in favor of his son Emperor Qinzong.
2. 18th Jan 1307: Rudolf was made King of Bohemia by his father King Albrecht I of Germany.
3. 18th Jan 1478: On this day the grand Duke Ivan II of Moscow occupied Novgorod.
4. 18th Jan 1535: The city of Lima in Peru was founded on this day by the Spanish Conqueror Francisco Pizarro.
5. 18th Jan 1562: Pope Pious IV, on this day, reopened the Council of Trent for its third and final session.

19th Century – January 18 This Day That Year – The 1800s

6. 18th Jan 1866: On this day Wesley College was established in the Australian city of Melbourne.
7. 18th Jan 1871: German statesman Otto Von Bismarck and Keiser Wilhelm I proclaimed a second German Empire on this day.
8. 18th Jan 1884: This day marks the departure of General Charles Gordon from London to Khartoum.
9. 18th Jan 1884: Dr. William Price set a legal precedent for cremation in his attempt to cremate the body of his infant son.
10. 18th Jan 1896: On this day the X-ray machine was demonstrated for the first time in New York City in the US.
11. 18th Jan 1896: It was on this day that the British troops occupied Kumasi in West Africa.

20th Century – Important Events On This Day January 18th – The 1900s

12. 18th Jan 1901: On this day the County Commissioner of Tioga County was awarded money to build three different iron bridges, one across the river Tioga to replace the “Richards Bridge”, another in the township of Blass to cross the Babb’s Creek at Landum and the third across Zimmerman Creek in the Morris Township.
13. 18th Jan 1903: On this day the first transatlantic radio transmission to originate in the US is sent by a transmitter in Massachusetts.
14. 18th Jan 1905: On this day the French government at Combes falls
15. 18th Jan 1911: This day marks the first shipboard landing of a plane, Tanforan Park to USS Pennsylvania.
16. 18th Jan 1912: Explorer Robert Scott of Britain arrived on this day at the South Pole only to find that he was behind Norwegian explorer Ronal Amundsen by a month.
17. 18th Jan 1913: On this day Turkey and Greece were engaged in a sea battle near Troy.
18. 18th Jan 1915: On this day, in a bid to increase its power in South East-Asia, issued the “Twenty-one demands” to the Republic of China.

19. 18th Jan 1915: A train crash in Mexico kills 600 people. The train crashed at Colima-Guadalajara Mexico.
20. 18th Jan 1916: A small meteorite strikes a house near the village of Baxter in Stone Country Missouri. The chondrite-type meteorite weighed 611 grams.
21. 18th Jan 1918: It was announced in Connecticut newspapers on this day that the hope was to elect enough people in the Congress in favor of repealing the 28th amendment which outlawed the manufacture, transportation, and sale of United States for the 18th amendment had become very unpopular in the United States.
22. 18th Jan 1919: On this day the Bentley Motor Company was established.
23. 18th Jan 1919: It was on this day that the Paris Peace Conference opened to draw up the treaties to formally bring to an end the Great War or World War I.
24. 18th Jan 1920: On this day the Polish flag was blessed. The blessing of the flag was officiated by Reverent Augustyn Krauso, pastor of St Joseph Polish National Catholic Church.
25. 18th Jan 1923: The first telegraph message from the Netherlands to the Dutch East Indies was sent on this day.
26. 18th Jan 1929: Soviet Prime Minister Joseph Stalin recommends on this day that Trotsky be banned on or after Politburo.
27. 18th Jan 1933: On this day the White Sands National Monument in New Mexico was established.

28. 18th Jan 1941: On this day the British forces launch a counter-offensive against the Italians in East Africa.
29. 18th Jan 1942: On this day Nazis arrested Frans Geodhart and Wiardi Beckman.
30. 18th Jan 1943: The Soviets declare to have broken the Nazi siege on Leningrad.
31. 18th Jan 1943: On this day rationing was introduced in the US for bread and metal. Pre-sliced bread was banned to reduce the consumption of metal parts.
32. 18th Jan 1943: This day marked the first uprising of the Warsaw ghetto against the Nazis.
33. 18th Jan 1944: The government had taken control of railroad operations in the US. On this day labor disputes were settled and the railroads were handed back by the government to the original owners.
34. 18th Jan 1945: On this day the Soviet Army captures Krakow in Poland.
35. 18th Jan 1947: A small river steamer sank in the river Yangtze on this day. The mishap resulted in the death of 400 people.

36. 18th Jan 1948: The University of Ibadan in Nigeria began its first course on this day.
37. 18th Jan 1949: W. Dawson headed the Congressional Standing Committee, making it the first Congressional Standing Committee to be headed by a Negro.
38. 18th Jan 1951: On this day it was for the first time a lie detector was used in the Netherlands.
39. 18th Jan 1951: On this day Hermann Flake was sentenced to death because of the “hate campaign carried out against GDR.
40. 18th Jan 1954: On this day Fanfani forms the Italian government.
41. 18th Jan 1956: On this day the German Democratic Republic formed its army, the National People’s Army.
42. 18th Jan 1960: On this day a joint defense treaty was signed by the U.S. and Japan.
43. 18th Jan 1960: Flight 20 of Capital Airlines crashed in Virginia on this day killing 50 people on board.

44. 18th Jan 1960: On this day a woman who was admitted to a mental hospital for treatment of depression was discharged after three weeks. She shot at her children and her husband. Her husband and three children died while two of her children survived.
45. 18th Jan 1961: On this day the Afro-Shirazi party of Zanzibar won one seat by a single vote and parliament by a single seat.
46. 18th Jan 1962: To reveal Viet Cong guerrillas the US begins spraying foliage in Vietnam.
47. 18th Jan 1962: This day marks the closure of Southern University due to demonstrations.
48. 18th Jan 1962: On this day the US performed the nuclear test at its test site in Nevada.
49. 18th Jan 1964: On this day plans for setting up World Trade Center were announced in New York City.
50. 18th Jan 1964: On this day a Helicopter belonging to the US was reported shot down by communists in Vietnam near the mouth of the Mekong River. Two from America, one from Britain, and one from Vietnam were killed.

51. 18th Jan 1967: On this day the United States performed a Nuclear test at its test site in Nevada.
52. 18th Jan 1967: Alberto De Salvo, who claimed to have murdered 13 women in the Boston area, known also as the Boston Strangler was on this day sentenced to life in prison.
53. 18th Jan 1968: A nuclear test was conducted by the U.S.S.R. in Eastern Kazakhstan on this day.
54. 18th Jan 1969: Extraordinary rainfall caused a series of landslides on this day in the US killing nearly 100 people.
55. 18th Jan 1969: On this day there was an air crash in Santa Monica Bay. United Airlines Flight 266 crashed killing 38 people on board.
56. 18th Jan 1969: On this day the Vietnam peace talks between 4 parties began in Paris.
57. 18th Jan 1970: A new world record was created in 500m skating by Hasse Borges when he skated the distance in 38.9 seconds.
58. 18th Jan 1972: On this day the Prime Minister of Northern Ireland Brian Faulkner banned all parades and marches in Northern Ireland till the end of the year.
59. 18th Jan 1972: In southern Rhodesia the former Prime Minister and his daughter were arrested for support of black majority rule in the country.
60. 18th Jan 1974: On this day a weapons accord was signed by Israel and Egypt.
61. 18th Jan 1977: A crowded commuter train crashed into a steel bridge in Australia causing the bridge to collapse. Hundreds of passengers were trapped under tons of rubble.

62. 18th Jan 1980: On this day gold reached the $1000 an ounce mark.
63. 18th Jan 1981: On this day on stage obscenity results in the arrest of Wendy O Williams in Milwaukee.
64. 18th Jan 1981: Iran offers $ 7.9 billion in frozen assets, which was accepted by the United States.
65. 18th Jan 1983: On this day the medals of Jim Trope were restored by the IOC, 70 years after they were taken away from him for being paid $25 in semi-pro baseball.
66. 18th Jan 1986: On this day the 24th space shuttle 61-C of Mission Colombia 7 returned to Earth.
67. 18th Jan 1988: On this day there was an airline crash in South West China. All 108 on board died.
68. 18th Jan 1989: On this day IBM reported an increase of 10.4% in earnings compared to the previous year.
69. 18th Jan 1990: On this day Marion Barry the Mayor of Washington DC was arrested in a drug sting.
70. 18th Jan 1990: South Africa stated that it is considering a ban on the African National Congress.
71. 18th Jan 1991: Iraq launched its SCUD missile on Israel on this day.
72. 18th Jan 1991: The United States acknowledged the fact that its Army and CIA had paid General Manual Noriega of Panama a sum of $320,000 over his career.
73. 18th Jan 1991: On this day financial problems drive Eastern Airlines out of business after 62 years.

74. 18th Jan 1991: Today’s tennis match between Boris Beaker and Omer Camporese was the longest in the Australian Open. It lasted 5 hours and eleven minutes. Beaker won the match.
75. 18th Jan 1993: For the first time all the 50 states in the United States observed this day as Martin Luther King Jr. holiday.
76. 18th Jan 1995: Pope Paul II begins his tour of Australia on this day.
77. 18th Jan 1996: This day marked massive protests against the construction of the A34 Newberry bypass in Southern England. Several environment-friendly organizations took part in the protest which included the Council of British Archeology, Greenpeace UK, The Royal Society of Protection of Birds, etc.
78. 18th Jan 1996: On this day Lisa Marie Presley, daughter of Elvis Presley filed a divorce petition, for divorce from Michel Johnson whom she had married in 1994.
79. 18th Jan 1997: Boerge Ousland the Norwegian explorer became the first to cross the Antarctic alone. He had earlier traveled for 64 days on skies and foot.
80. 18th Jan 1997: On this day the Hutu militia members in North West Rwanda killed 3 Spanish aid workers, and 3 soldiers and seriously wounded another.

21st Century – January 18 This Day In History – The 2000s

81. 18th Jan 2002: On this day the Sierra Leone Civil War came to an end.
82. 18th Jan 2003: A bushfire in Canberra, Australia destroys more than 500 homes. 4 people were killed.
83. 18th Jan 2005: On this day Air Bus A 380, the largest commercial jet was unveiled in Paris.
84. 18th Jan 2006: On this day there was a crash in the Japanese Share market due to selling pressure caused by the result of the investigation on Livedoor, which was accused of possible fraud. Following the crash exchange suspended share dealing from 1440 local time.
85. 18th Jan 2007: The Bush fire in Victoria and South Australia continues to burn because of very high temperatures, 40°C. The fire lasted for 69 days burning 1,154,828 hectares, the longest in Victoria’s history.
86. 18th Jan 2007: Storm strikes Europe. The strongest storm in 17 years in the UK kills 14, Worst storm since 1999 kills 13 in Germany. It causes 44 deaths across 20 countries.
87. 18th Jan 2008: On this day United Nations named George Clooney as a UN messenger of peace.
88. 18th Jan 2010: A massive magnitude earthquake had occurred a week before in the capital city of Haiti and the original death toll was put at 50,000. The death toll was on this day estimated to cross 200,000.
89. 18th Jan 2010: Text message surveillance begins in China. It blocked customers from the country’s two largest operators from sending lewd messages.
90. 18th Jan 2011: The US Federal Communications Commission approved the $ 28 million merger between Comcast and NBC Universal.
91. 18th Jan 2011: On this day an independent senator from Connecticut Joe Lieberman announced that he would not seek re-election in 2012.
92. 18th Jan 2012: On this day there was a Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) blackout. becomes the largest protest in the history of the Internet.
93. 18th Jan 2012: On this day a new Neptune-sized exoplanet was discovered by an armature astronomer in Peterborough, England.
94. 18th Jan 2012: On this day Francesco Shettino, captain of the sunken cruise ship Costa Concordia, admitted navigational error for the ship to capsize.
95. 18th Jan 2013: NASA scientists were the first in laser communication when they successfully beamed Leonardo da Vinci’s “Mona Lisa” to a spacecraft that was orbiting the moon in the lunar recognizance orbit.
96. 18th Jan 2013: On this day the US announced that it would recognize Somalia and open diplomatic relations with the new government in Somalia.
97. 18th Jan 2014: Lewis Clarke of Bristol created a new world record on this day. At the age of 16, he was the youngest person to trek to the South Pole.
98. 18th Jan 2015: On this day Pope Francis held a mass in Manila, Philippines to encourage people to protect the young and promote peace. Six million people attended the mass.
99. 18th Jan 2015: South African cricketer A B de Villiers scores a century in 31 balls against West Indies. It is the fastest century in record in ODI cricket.
100. 18th Jan 2016: A report published by Oxfam, an organization working to find solutions to poverty states that 62 richest people in the world are as wealthy as half the world’s population.

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