Events on August 18 37
Year 684
Battle of Marj Rahit: Umayyad partisans defeat the supporters of Ibn al-Zubayr and cement Umayyad control of Syria.
Year 1304
The Battle of Mons-en-Pévèle is fought to a draw between the French army and the Flemish militias.
Year 1487
The Siege of Málaga ends with the taking of the city by Castilian and Aragonese forces.
Year 1572
Marriage in Paris, France, of the Huguenot King Henry III of Navarre to Margaret of Valois, in a supposed attempt to reconcile Protestants and Catholics.
Year 1587
Virginia Dare, granddaughter of Governor John White of the Colony of Roanoke, becomes the first English child born in the Americas.
Year 1590
John White, the governor of the Roanoke Colony, returns from a supply trip to England and finds his settlement deserted.
Year 1612
The trial of the Pendle witches, one of England's most famous witch trials, begins at Lancaster Assizes.
Year 1634
Urbain Grandier, accused and convicted of sorcery, is burned alive in Loudun, France.
Year 1783
A huge fireball meteor is seen across Great Britain as it passes over the east coast.
Year 1838
The Wilkes Expedition, which would explore the Puget Sound and Antarctica, weighs anchor at Hampton Roads.
Year 1848
Camila O'Gorman and Ladislao Gutierrez are executed on the orders of Argentine dictator Juan Manuel de Rosas.
Year 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.
Year 1903
German engineer Karl Jatho allegedly flies his self-made, motored gliding airplane four months before the first flight of the Wright brothers.
Year 1917
A Great Fire in Thessaloniki, Greece destroys 32% of the city leaving 70,000 individuals homeless.
Year 1920
The Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution is ratified, guaranteeing women's suffrage.
Year 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.
Year 1940
World War II: The Hardest Day air battle, part of the Battle of Britain. At that point, the largest aerial engagement in history with heavy losses sustained on both sides.
Year 1945
Sukarno takes office as the first president of Indonesia, following the country's declaration of independence the previous day.
Year 1950
Julien Lahaut, the chairman of the Communist Party of Belgium is assassinated by far-right elements.
Year 1958
Vladimir Nabokov's controversial novel Lolita is published in the United States.
Year 1958
Brojen Das from Bangladesh swims across the English Channel in a competition, as the first Bengali and the first Asian to do so. He came first among 39 competitors.
Year 1963
Civil Rights Movement: James Meredith becomes the first African American to graduate from the University of Mississippi.
Year 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.
Year 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.
Year 1971
Vietnam War: Australia and New Zealand decide to withdraw their troops from Vietnam.
Year 1976
In the Korean Demilitarized Zone at Panmunjom, the Axe murder incident results in the death of two US soldiers.
Year 1977
Steve Biko is arrested at a police roadblock under the 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.
Year 1983
Hurricane Alicia hits the Texas coast, killing 22 people and causing over US$1 billion in damage (1983 dollars).
Year 1989
Leading presidential hopeful Luis Carlos Galán is assassinated near Bogotá in Colombia.
Year 2003
One year old Zachary Tuner is murdered in Newfoundland by his mother who was awarded custody despite facing trial for the murder of Zachary's father. The case led to reform of Canada's bail laws.
Year 2005
A massive power blackout hits the Indonesian island of Java, affecting almost 100 million people, one of the largest and most widespread power outages in history.
Year 2017
2 people are killed and 8 injured in Turku in the first terrorist attack in Finland in over 70 years.