June 18

What happened that day?

• 2009: The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO), a NASA robotic spacecraft is launched.
• 2007: The Charleston Sofa Super Store fire happened in Charleston, South Carolina, killing nine firefighters.
• 2006: The first Kazakh space satellite, KazSat-1 is launched.
• 1994: The Troubles: Members of the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) attack a crowded pub with assault rifles in Loughinisland, Northern Ireland. Six Catholic civilians are killed and five wounded. It was crowded with people watching the 1994 FIFA World Cup.
• 1984: A major clash between about 5,000 police and a similar number of miners takes place at Orgreave, South Yorkshire, during the 1984-85 UK miners' strike.
• 1983: Mona Mahmudnizhad together with nine other Bahá'í women, is sentenced to death and hanged in Shiraz, Iran over her religious beliefs.
• 1983: Space Shuttle program: STS-7, Astronaut Sally Ride becomes the first American woman in space.
• 1982: Italian banker Roberto Calvi's body is discovered hanging beneath Blackfriars Bridge in London, England.
• 1981: The Lockheed F-117 Nighthawk, the first operational aircraft initially designed around stealth technology, makes its first flight.
• 1979: SALT II is signed by the United States and the Soviet Union.
• 1972: Staines air disaster: One hundred eighteen are killed when a BEA H.S. Trident crashes two minutes after take off from London's Heathrow Airport.
• 1965: Vietnam War: The United States uses B-52 bombers to attack National Liberation Front guerrilla fighters in South Vietnam.
• 1954: Carlos Castillo Armas leads an invasion force across the Guatemalan border, setting in motion the 1954 Guatemalan coup d'état
• 1953: A United States Air Force C-124 crashes and burns near Tachikawa, Japan, killing 129.
• 1953: The [Egypt](https://wikipedia.org/wiki/Egypt#Modern_history)ian revolution of 1952 ends with the overthrow of the Muhammad Ali dynasty and the declaration of the Republic of Egypt.
• 1948: Columbia Records introduces the long-playing record album in a public demonstration at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York City.
• 1946: Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia, a Socialist, calls for a Direct Action Day against the Portuguese in Goa.
• 1945: William Joyce ("Lord Haw-Haw") is charged with treason for his pro-German propaganda broadcasting during World War II.
• 1940: The "Finest Hour" speech is delivered by Winston Churchill.
• 1940: Appeal of 18 June by Charles de Gaulle.
• 1935: Police in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, clash with striking longshoremen, resulting in a total 60 injuries and 24 arrests.
• 1930: Groundbreaking ceremonies for the Franklin Institute are held.
• 1928: Aviator Amelia Earhart becomes the first woman to fly in an aircraft across the Atlantic Ocean (she is a passenger; Wilmer Stultz is the pilot and Lou Gordon the mechanic).
• 1923: Checker Taxi puts its first taxi on the streets.
• 1908: The University of the Philippines is established.
• 1908: Japanese immigration to Brazil begins when 781 people arrive in Santos aboard the ship Kasato-Maru.
• 1900: Empress Dowager Cixi of China orders all foreigners killed, including foreign diplomats and their families.
• 1887: The Reinsurance Treaty between Germany and Russia is signed.
• 1873: Susan B. Anthony is fined $100 for attempting to vote in the 1872 presidential election.
• 1859: First ascent of Aletschhorn, second summit of the Bernese Alps.
• 1858: Charles Darwin receives a paper from Alfred Russel Wallace that includes nearly identical conclusions about evolution as Darwin's own, prompting Darwin to publish his theory.
• 1830: French invasion of Algeria.
• 1815: [Napoleon](https://wikipedia.org/wiki/Napoleon)ic Wars: The Battle of Waterloo results in the defeat of Napoleon Bonaparte by the Duke of Wellington and Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher forcing him to abdicate the throne of France for the second and last time.
• 1812: The United States declaration of war upon the United Kingdom is signed by President James Madison.
• 1799: Action of 18 June 1799: A frigate squadron under Rear-admiral Perrée is captured by the British fleet under Lord Keith
• 1778: American Revolutionary War: British troops abandon Philadelphia.
• 1757: Battle of Kolín between Prussian forces under Frederick the Great and an Austrian army under the command of Field Marshal Count Leopold Joseph von Daun in the Seven Years' War.
• 1684: The charter of the Massachusetts Bay Colony is revoked via a scire facias writ issued by an English court.
• 1633: Charles I is crowned King of Scots at St Giles' Cathedral, Edinburgh
• 1429: French forces under the leadership of Joan of Arc defeat the main English army under Sir John Fastolf at the Battle of Patay. This turns the tide of the Hundred Years' War.
• 1264: The Parliament of Ireland meets at Castledermot in County Kildare, the first definitively known meeting of this Irish legislature.
• 1178: Five Canterbury monks see what is possibly the Giordano Bruno crater being formed. It is believed that the current oscillations of the Moon's distance from the Earth (on the order of meters) are a result of this collision.
• 1053: Battle of Civitate: Three thousand horsemen of Norman Count Humphrey rout the troops of Pope Leo IX.
• 860: Byzantine-Rus' War: A fleet of about 200 Rus' vessels sails into the Bosphorus and starts pillaging the suburbs of the Byzantine capital Constantinople.
• 656: Ali becomes Caliph of the Rashidun Caliphate
• 618: Li Yuan becomes Emperor Gaozu of Tang, initiating three centuries of Tang dynasty rule over China.