Events on May 18 51
Year 332
Constantine the Great announced free distributions of food to the citizens in Constantinople.
Year 872
Louis II of Italy is crowned for the second time as Roman Emperor at Rome, at the age of 47. His first coronation was 28 years earlier, in 844, during the reign of his father Lothair I.
Year 1152
The future Henry II of England marries Eleanor of Aquitaine. He would become king 2 years later, after the death of his cousin once removed King Stephen of England.
Year 1268
The Principality of Antioch, a crusader state, falls to the Mamluk Sultan Baibars in the Siege of Antioch.
Year 1302
Bruges Matins, the nocturnal massacre of the French garrison in Bruges by members of the local Flemish militia.
Year 1388
During the Battle of Buyur Lake, General Lan Yu leads a Chinese army forward to crush the Mongol hordes of Tögüs Temür, the Khan of Northern Yuan.
Year 1565
The Great Siege of Malta begins, in which Ottoman forces attempt and fail to conquer Malta.
Year 1593
Playwright Thomas Kyd's accusations of heresy lead to an arrest warrant for Christopher Marlowe.
Year 1631
In Dorchester, Massachusetts, John Winthrop takes the oath of office and becomes the first Governor of Massachusetts.
Year 1652
Rhode Island passes the first law in English-speaking North America making slavery illegal.
Year 1783
First United Empire Loyalists reach Parrtown (later called Saint John, New Brunswick), Canada, after leaving the United States.
Year 1794
Battle of Tourcoing during the Flanders Campaign of the War of the First Coalition.
Year 1803
Napoleonic Wars: The United Kingdom revokes the Treaty of Amiens and declares war on France.
Year 1811
Battle of Las Piedras: The first great military triumph of the revolution of the Río de la Plata in Uruguay led by José Artigas.
Year 1812
John Bellingham is found guilty and sentenced to death by hanging for the assassination of British Prime Minister Spencer Perceval.
Year 1843
The Disruption in Edinburgh of the Free Church of Scotland from the Church of Scotland.
Year 1848
Opening of the first German National Assembly (Nationalversammlung) in Frankfurt, Germany.
Year 1860
Abraham Lincoln wins the Republican Party presidential nomination over William H. Seward, who later becomes the United States Secretary of State.
Year 1896
The United States Supreme Court rules in Plessy v. Ferguson that the "separate but equal" doctrine is constitutional.
Year 1896
Khodynka Tragedy: A mass panic on Khodynka Field in Moscow during the festivities of the coronation of Russian Tsar Nicholas II results in the deaths of 1,389 people.
Year 1912
The first Indian film, Shree Pundalik by Dadasaheb Torne, is released in Mumbai.
Year 1917
World War I: The Selective Service Act of 1917 is passed, giving the President of the United States the power of conscription.
Year 1927
The Bath School disaster: Forty-five people, including many children, are killed by bombs planted by a disgruntled school-board member in Michigan.
Year 1927
After being founded for 20 years, the Government of the Republic of China approves Tongji University to be among the first national universities of the Republic of China.
Year 1933
New Deal: President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs an act creating the Tennessee Valley Authority.
Year 1944
World War II: Battle of Monte Cassino: Conclusion after seven days of the fourth battle as German paratroopers evacuate Monte Cassino.
Year 1948
The First Legislative Yuan of the Republic of China officially convenes in Nanking.
Year 1955
Operation Passage to Freedom, the evacuation of 310,000 Vietnamese civilians, soldiers and non-Vietnamese members of the French Army from communist North Vietnam to South Vietnam following the end of the First Indochina War, ends.
Year 1974
Nuclear test: Under project Smiling Buddha, India successfully detonates its first nuclear weapon becoming the sixth nation to do so.
Year 1980
Mount St. Helens erupts in Washington, United States, killing 57 people and causing $3 billion in damage.
Year 1980
Students in Gwangju, South Korea begin demonstrations calling for democratic reforms.
Year 1990
In France, a modified TGV train achieves a new rail world speed record of 515.3 km/h (320.2 mph).
Year 1991
Northern Somalia declares independence from the rest of Somalia as the Republic of Somaliland but is not recognized by the international community.
Year 1993
Riots in Nørrebro, Copenhagen, caused by the approval of the four Danish exceptions in the Maastricht Treaty referendum. Police open fire against civilians for the first time since World War II and injure 11 demonstrators.
Year 1994
Israeli troops finish retreating from the Gaza Strip after occupying it, giving the area to the Palestine to govern.
Year 2005
A second photo from the Hubble Space Telescope confirms that Pluto has two additional moons, Nix and Hydra.
Year 2006
The post Loktantra Andolan government passes a landmark bill curtailing the power of the monarchy and making Nepal a secular country.
Year 2009
The LTTE are defeated by the Sri Lankan government, ending almost 26 years of fighting between the two sides.
Year 2015
At least 78 people die in a landslide caused by heavy rains in the Colombian town of Salgar.