Historical Events on February 18

Events 1 - 200 of 219

• 3102 BC Epoch (origin) of the Kali Yuga
• 749 Smoke Shell ascends to the throne of the Maya city of Copán
• 1219 Jerusalem re-taken by the Christian Crusader kingdom in a peace treaty between Holy Roman Emperor Frederik II and Egyptian ruler Al-Kamil

• 1268 The Livonian Brothers of the Sword are defeated by Dovmont of Pskov in the Battle of Rakovor.
• 1332 Amda Seyon I, Emperor of Ethiopia begins his campaigns in the southern Muslim provinces.

• 1536 Francis I, King of France and Suleiman I of the Ottoman Empire sign military and trade agreement against King Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor
• 1563 Huguenot Jean Poltrot de Mere shoots gen Francois De Guise
• 1574 Zeeland falls to Dutch rebels

• 1685 Fort St. Louis is established by a Frenchman at Matagorda Bay thus forming the basis for France's claim to Texas.
• 1688 Quakers consider drafting formal protest of slavery in Germantown, Pennsylvania
• 1713 French invade under Jacques Cassard on Curacao
• 1735 1st opera performed in America, "Flora", in Charleston, South Carolina

• 1787 Holy Roman Emperor Joseph II bans children under 8 from labor
• 1797 Trinidad is surrendered to a British fleet under the command of Sir Ralph Abercromby
• 1804 1st US land-grant college, Ohio University, Athens Ohio, chartered
• 1804 Ohio legislature approves establishment of Ohio University at Athens as the 1st university in Ohio; first classes are held in 1809

• 1828 More than 100 vessels destroyed in a storm, Gibraltar
• 1834 1st US labor newspaper, "The Man", published, NYC
• 1839 Detroit Boat Club forms (& still exists)
• 1849 1st regular steamboat service to California starts (or 02/28)
• 1850 California Legislature creates nine Bay Area counties

• 1865 Battle of Fort Moultrie, SC occupied by Federals
• 1865 Evacuation of Charleston, South Carolina
• 1865 Union troops force Confederates to abandon Ft Anderson, NC
• 1876 Direct telegraph link established between Britain and New Zealand
• 1878 John Tunstall is murdered by outlaw Jessie Evans, sparking the Lincoln County War in Lincoln County, New Mexico.
• 1879 Arabs capture Egyptian premier Nabar Pasha

• 1884 General Charles Gordon arrives in Khartoum

• 1891 Capt Archinard's army fights with Nyamina of Niger in West-Sudan

• 1896 Cave of Winds at Niagara Falls goes almost dry for first time in 50 yrs
• 1899 80°F recorded in San Francisco, California
• 1899 San Francisco named as a port of dispatch for Army transports
• 1899 Stanley Cup, Montreal Arena, Westmount, Quebec: Montreal Victorias beat Winnipeg Victorias, 3-2 to sweep series, 2-0 for CAHL
• 1900 Battle at Paardeberg, 1,270 British killed/injured
• 1900 British troops occupy Monte Christo, Natal
• 1901 H Cecil Booth patented a dust removing suction cleaner

• 1908 1st US postage stamps in rolls issued
• 1908 The American ambassador to Japan is given a note by the Japanese in which they agree to restrict Japanese emigration to the US; this becomes known as the 'Gentlemen's Agreement'

• 1911 The first official flight with air mail takes place in Allahabad, British India, when Henri Pequet, a 23-year-old pilot, delivers 6,500 letters to Naini, about 10 km away.

• 1913 President Francisco Madero of Mexico is overthrown
• 1915 Germany begins a blockade of Britain
• 1916 The last German garrison in the German colony of Cameroons surrenders
• 1917 First major strike of the Russian "February Revolution" starts at the giant Putilov factory in Petrograd [NS=Mar 3]
• 1918 Germany renews its offensive against the Russians, making dramatic gains against disorganized and dispirited Russian troops

• 1921 British troops occupy Dublin

• 1922 The Capper-Volstead Act allows farmers to buy and sell cooperatively without the risk of prosecution under antitrust laws
• 1922 WOC-AM in Davenport IA begins radio transmissions
• 1923 Belgium: Borinage-mine workers strike for higher wages

• 1927 1st US radio broadcast of "Cities Service Concerts"
• 1927 US & Canada open diplomatic relations
• 1928 Johan Grøttumsbråten of Norway wins the Nordic combined gold at the St. Moritz Winter Olympics; doubles up with the 18k cross country gold the previous day
• 1928 Norway goes 1-2 in the ski jumping at the St. Moritz Winter Olympics with Alf Andersen taking gold ahead of Sigmund Ruud

• 1928 USA 2 beats USA 1 by 0.5s for the 5-man bobsleigh gold medal at the St. Moritz Winter Olympics; Germany 2 takes bronze
• 1930 Cow flown & milked, milk sealed in paper containers & parachuted
• 1930 Luigi Pirandello's "Come Tu Mi Vuoi" premieres in Milan

• 1930 US astronomer Clyde Tombaugh discovers Pluto
• 1932 Japan proclaims and names Manchukuo in Manchuria, China, as an independent state
• 1932 Norway's Sonja Henie wins her 6th straight World Women's figure skating title
• 1936 NHL record 32 points scored, NY Americans (28) & Mont Maroons (24)
• 1939 Golden Gate International Exposition opens on Treasure Island
• 1942 Japanese troop land on Bali
• 1943 1st edition of Dutch resistance newspaper "Trouw"
• 1943 A syndicate headed by New York lumberman William D Cox buys MLB's Philadelphia Phillies for $850,000; 33 year-old Cox is youngest owner in baseball
• 1943 German Propaganda Minister Josef Goebbells demands "total war" from German citizens in speech at Berlin Sportpalast
• 1943 Members of student non-violent resistance group "White Rose" arrested by Nazis after distributing pamphlets in Munich, Germany
• 1944 15-year-old Joe Nuxhall signs a contract to play baseball with the Cincinnati Reds just one day after playing in a high school basketball game; debuts later that year
• 1944 Maastricht resistance fighter JAJ Janssen arrested
• 1947 24 die in a train crash in Gallitzin, Pennsylvania
• 1947 Gian Carlo Menotti's opera "Telephone" premieres in NYC
• 1951 3 City College of NY basketball players admit to accepting bribes
• 1951 Nepal becomes a constitutional monarchy
• 1951 Netherlands Radio School forms
• 1952 4th Emmy Awards: first time awards presented based on nationwide basis, "The Red Skelton Show", Sid Caesar and Imogene Coca win
• 1952 Norwegian speed skater Hjalmar Anderson wins his 3rd gold medal of the Oslo Winter Olympics when he claims the 10,000m in Olympic record 16:45.8; also wins gold in 1,500m and 5,000m
• 1953 KOLN TV channel 10 in Lincoln, NB (CBS) begins broadcasting
• 1954 The first Church of Scientology is established in Los Angeles, California
• 1955 Baghdad Pact signed, making Turkey & Iraq a defense alliance
• 1957 Kenyan freedom fighter Dedan Kimathi executed by hanging by the British colonial government

• 1960 VIII Winter Olympic Games open in Squaw Valley, California
• 1960 Walter O'Malley, LA Dodger owner, purchases Chavez Ravine for $494,000
• 1961 Henk van der Grift becomes world champion skater
• 1962 4th Daytona 500: Race winner Fireball Roberts dominates the event, leading 144 of the 200 laps
• 1962 France & Algerian Muslims negotiate truce to end 7 year war
• 1964 Muriel Resnik's "Any Wednesday" premieres in NYC
• 1964 Papandreou government takes power in Greece
• 1965 27 copper miners die in avalanche, Granduc Mountain, British Columbia

• 1965 Frank Gifford announces his retirement from football for broadcasting
• 1965 The Gambia becomes independent from the United Kingdom
• 1967 Softball pitcher Eddie Feigner strikes out 6 straight major leaguers
• 1968 After winning men's luge singles Olympic gold medal in Innsbruck (1964), Thomas Köhler of Germany teams with Klaus Bonsack to take out the doubles in Grenoble
• 1968 Britain commences a trial of year-round daylight saving time (BST - British Standard Time, one hour ahead of GMT)

• 1968 Thousands of people in West Berlin demonstrate against US involvement in the Vietnam War
• 1968 X Winter Olympic Games close in Grenoble, France
• 1969 Doug Walters scores 2nd innings century after 242 in 1st
• 1969 PLO-attack El-Al plane in Zurich Switzerland
• 1970 Chicago 7 defendants found innocent of inciting to riot

• 1972 California Supreme Court abolishes death penalty
• 1972 Giulio Andreotti sworn in as premier of Italy for the 1st time

• 1973 54-kg octopus measuring 7m across captured in Hood Canal, Washington
• 1973 Belgian Emiel Puttemans runs 3,000m indoor record 7:39.2
• 1974 NASA launches Italian satellite San Marcos C-2 (235/843 km)
• 1974 US ambassador to India Daniel Moynihan present $2,046,700,000 check
• 1975 Italy broadens abortion law
• 1977 American rock band KISS play their first concert in their hometown venue of Madison Square Garden in New York City

• 1977 Space Shuttle Enterprise takes its maiden flight affixed atop a Boeing 747 Shuttle Aircraft Carrier
• 1977 West Indies cricket fast bowlers Joel Garner (4/130) and (Colin Croft 3/85) debut in drawn 1st Test v Pakistan at Bridgetown, Barbados
• 1978 1st Iron Man Triathlon (swim, bike ride, marathon) held, Kona, Hawaii
• 1979 -52°F (-47°C), Old Forge, New York (state record)

• 1979 Mini-series "Roots: Next Generations" premieres on ABC TV
• 1979 NASA launches space vehicle S-202

• 1979 Snow falls in Sahara Desert

• 1980 East German cross country skier Barbara Petzold wins first of 2 gold medals at the Lake Placid Winter Olympics in women's 10k; also takes gold as part of 4 x 5k relay team
• 1980 Pierre Elliott Trudeau's Liberal Party wins Canadian elections
• 1980 Soviet figure skater Irina Rodnina wins her 3rd consecutive Olympic pairs title at Lake Placid; gold medals with husband Alexander Zaitsev (1976, 80) and Alexei Ulanov (1972)

• 1983 Indiana Pacers lose, 121-94 in Milwaukee; begin a 28 NBA game losing streak on the road
• 1983 Right wing Lanny McDonald becomes the first player in NHL franchise Calgary Flames' history to score 50 goals in a season in a 5-1 loss to Buffalo Sabres
• 1984 East German figure skater Katarina Witt wins first of 2 consecutive women's singles gold medals at the Sarajevo Winter Olympics; also wins gold in Calgary (1988)
• 1984 Finnish cross-country skier Marja-Liisa Hämäläinen wins the 20k gold medal at the Sarajevo Winter Olympics; sweeps all 3 individual events, also winning 5k and 10k events

• 1984 Revised concordat between Italy & Vatican signed

• 1986 San Antonio guard Alvin Robertson scores NBA's 2nd quadruple double-20 points, 11 rebounds, 10 assists & 10 steals in 120-114 win over Phoenix Suns

• 1988 Federal Road Safety Corps is established in Nigeria

• 1992 American amateur astronomer Peter Collins discovers Nova Cygni 1992, observed from Boulder, Colorado

• 1994 Shreveport Pirates join Canadian Football League as 4th US-based team; fold 1995
• 1996 38th Daytona 500: Dale Jarrett wins his 2nd Great American race ahead of Dale Earnhardt and Ken Schrader

• 1998 Two white separatists are arrested in Nevada and accused of plotting a biological attack on New York City subways.
• 2000 Stjepan Mesić becomes the second President of Croatia
• 2001 43rd Daytona 500: Michael Waltrip wins tragic race; last lap crash claims life of Dale Earnhardt, prompting sport to implement new safety procedures

• 2003 Comet C/2002 V1 (NEAT) makes perihelion, seen by SOHO.
• 2003 Nearly 200 people die in the Daegu subway fire in South Korea

• 2004 Up to 295 people, including nearly 200 rescue workers, die near Neyshabur in Iran when a run-away freight train carrying sulfur, petrol and fertiliser catches fire and explodes.
• 2007 49th Daytona 500: Kevin Harvick wins by 0.02s over Mark Martin in the closest finish since the first race at Daytona in 1959

• 2009 The Directorate General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics announced that the Taiwanese economy has contracted an unprecedented 8.36% in the fourth quarter of 2008; thus placing the country in a technical recession

• 2013 $50 million worth of diamonds is stolen in an armed robbery at Brussels Airport, Belgium
• 2013 15 people are killed by flooding and landslides in Indonesia
• 2014 American snowboarder David Wise wins first of 2 consecutive Olympic halfpipe gold medals in Sochi; wins again in Pyeongchang (2018)
• 2014 Netherlands sweeps the medals in the men's 1,000m speed skating at the Sochi Winter Olympics; Jorrit Bergsma wins gold ahead of teammates Sven Kramer and Bob de Jong
• 2014 Police clash with protesters in Bangkok, Thailand

• 2018 60th Daytona 500: Austin Dillon wins after multi-car wreck sends race into overtime (207 laps) ahead of rookie Darrell Wallace Jr
• 2018 After taking out the men's combined gold medal, Austrian alpine skier Marcel Hirscher wins the giant slalom at the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics
• 2018 Aseman Airlines flight crashes in the Zagros mountains, Iran, killing all 66 on board
• 2018 Frenchman Martin Fourcade wins his 2nd of 3 gold medals at the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics in the 15k mass start biathlon; also wins men's 12.5k pursuit & mixed relay
• 2018 Syrian government forces begin a new offensive on Eastern Ghouta in Syria's civil war

• 2019 25-year old murder of a woman solved when police in Minnesota run DNA though a genealogy site and find suspect

• 2019 British parliamentary committee issues scathing report on Facebook, accusing company of breaking privacy laws, calling for new regulations

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