On This Day … 18 September

Events

  • 324 – Constantine the Great decisively defeats Licinius in the Battle of Chrysopolis, establishing Constantine’s sole control over the Roman Empire.
  • 1048 – Battle of Kapetron between a combined Byzantine-Georgian army and a Seljuq army.
  • 1066 – Norwegian king Harald Hardrada lands with Tostig Godwinson at the mouth of the Humber River and begins his invasion of England.
  • 1454 – Thirteen Years’ War: In the Battle of Chojnice, the Polish army is defeated by the Teutonic knights.
  • 1544 – The expedition of Juan Bautista Pastene makes landfall in San Pedro Bay, southern Chile, claiming the territory for Spain.
  • 1739 – The Treaty of Belgrade is signed, whereby Austria cedes lands south of the Sava and Danube rivers to the Ottoman Empire.
  • 1759 – French and Indian War: The Articles of Capitulation of Quebec are signed.
  • 1810 – First Government Junta in Chile. Though supposed to rule only during the Peninsular War in Spain (refer to French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars), it is in fact the first step towards independence from Spain, and is commemorated as such.
  • 1812 – The 1812 Fire of Moscow dies down after destroying more than three-quarters of the city. Napoleon returns from the Petrovsky Palace to the Moscow Kremlin, spared from the fire.
  • 1864 – American Civil War: John Bell Hood begins the Franklin–Nashville Campaign in an unsuccessful attempt to draw William Tecumseh Sherman back out of Georgia.
  • 1898 – The Fashoda Incident triggers the last war scare between Britain and France.
  • 1914 – The Irish Home Rule Act becomes law, but is delayed until after World War I.
  • 1931 – The Mukden Incident gives Japan a pretext to invade and occupy Manchuria.
  • 1939 – World War II: The Polish government of Ignacy Mościcki flees to Romania.
  • 1939 – World War II: The radio show Germany Calling begins transmitting Nazi propaganda.
  • 1940 – World War II: The British liner SS City of Benares is sunk by German submarine U-48; those killed include 77 child refugees.
  • 1943 – World War II: Adolf Hitler orders the deportation of Danish Jews.
  • 1944 – World War II: The British submarine HMS Tradewind torpedoes Jun’yō Maru, killing 5,600, mostly slave labourers and POWs.
  • 1944 – World War II: The Battle of Arracourt begins.
  • 1945 – General Douglas MacArthur moves his general headquarters from Manila to Tokyo.
  • 1947 – The National Security Act reorganises the United States government’s military and intelligence services.
  • 1948 – Operation Polo is terminated after the Indian Army accepts the surrender of the army of Hyderabad.
  • 1961 – United Nations (UN). Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjöld dies in an air crash while attempting to negotiate peace in the Katanga region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
  • 1982 – The Sabra and Shatila massacre in Lebanon comes to an end.
  • 1988 – The 8888 Uprising in Myanmar comes to an end.
  • 1997 – The Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention is adopted.
  • 2007 – Buddhist monks join anti-government protesters in Myanmar, starting what some call the Saffron Revolution.
  • 2015 – Two security personnel, 17 worshippers in a mosque, and 13 militants are killed during a Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan attack on a Pakistan Air Force base on the outskirts of Peshawar.
  • 2016 – The 2016 Uri attack in Jammu and Kashmir, India by terrorist group Jaish-e-Mohammed results in the deaths of nineteen Indian Army soldiers and all four attackers.
  • Navy Day (Croatia).

People (Births)

  • 1091 – Andronikos Komnenos, Byzantine prince and general (d. 1130/31).
  • 1606 – Zhang Xianzhong, Chinese rebel leader (d. 1647).
  • 1878 – James O. Richardson, American admiral (d. 1974).
  • 1889 – Leslie Morshead, Australian general, businessman, and educator (d. 1959).
  • 1893 – William March, American soldier and author (d. 1954).
  • 1904 – Jose de Rivera, American soldier and sculptor (d. 1985).
  • 1933 – Bob Bennett, American soldier and politician (d. 2016).
  • 1944 – Charles L. Veach, American colonel, pilot, and astronaut (d. 1995).
  • 1969 – Brad Beven, Australian triathlete.
  • 1971 – Lance Armstrong, American cyclist.
  • 1972 – Brigitte Becue, Belgian swimmer.
  • 1977 – Kieran West, English rower.

People (Deaths)

  • 893 – Zhang Xiong, Chinese warlord.
  • 1598 – Toyotomi Hideyoshi, Japanese daimyō (b. 1536).
  • 1862 – Joseph K. Mansfield, American general (b. 1803).
  • 1944 – Robert G. Cole, American colonel, Medal of Honour recipient (b. 1915).
  • 1987 – Américo Tomás, Portuguese admiral and politician, 14th President of Portugal (b. 1894).
  • 2015 – Mario Benjamín Menéndez, Argentinian general and politician (b. 1930).
Advertisements

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.