On this day in History - Jul 18

390 BC -Roman-Gaulish Wars: Battle of the Allia: A Roman army is defeated by raiding Gauls, leading to the subsequent sacking of Rome.
0064 - Great fire of Rome: A fire begins to burn in the merchant area of Rome and soon burns completely out of control while Emperor Nero reportedly plays his lyre and sings while watching the blaze from a safe distance.

0715 - Muhammad bin Qasim dies (b. 0695).
1100 - Godfrey of Bouillon dies. Protector of the Holy Sepulcher, de facto King of Jerusalem.

1013 - Hermannus Contractus was born (d. 1054). Learned monk.

1100 - Godfrey of Bouillon dies. French crusader.
1195 - Battle of Alarcos, great victory of Almohad ruler Abu Yusuf Ya'qub al-Mansur over the Castilian King Alfonso VIII.
1216 - Início do pontificado do Papa Honorio III.

1334 - The bishop of Florence blesses the first foundational stone laid for the new campanile (bell tower) of the Florence Cathedral, designed by the artist Giotto di Bondone.

1488 - Alvise Cadamosto dies (b. 1432). Italian explorer.
1501 - Isabella of Burgundy was born (d. 1526). Queen of Christian II of Denmark .
1504 - Heinrich Bullinger was born (d. 1575). Swiss religious reformer.
1534 - Zacharias Ursinus was born (d. 6 May 1583). German theologian.

1536 - The authority of the Pope is declared void in England.
1552 - Rudolf II, Holy Roman Emperor was born (d. 1612).
1591 - Jacobus Gallus dies (b. 1550). Slovenian composer.
1608 - Joachim Friedrich dies (b. 1546). Elector of Brandenburg.
1610 - Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio dies (b. 1573). Italian artist.
1623 - Pope Gregory XV dies (b. 1554).
1634 - Johannes Camphuys was born (d. 1695). Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies
1635 - Robert Hooke was born (d. 3 Mar 1703). English physicist, who discovered the law of elasticity, known as Hooke's law, and invented the balance spring for clocks. Hook is the author of Micrographia (1665).

1639 - Bernhard of Saxe-Weimar dies (b. 1604). German general.

1656 - Polish-Lithuanian forces clashes with Sweden and its Brandenburg allies in the start of what is to be known as The Battle of Warsaw which ends in a decisive Swedish victory.
1656 - Bernhard Fischer von Erlach was born. Architect.

1665 - Stefan Czarniecki dies (b. 1599). Polish general.
1670 - Giovanni Bononcini was born (d. 1747). Italian composer.

1689 - Samuel Molyneux was born (d. 13 Apr 1728). British astronomer (Royal Observatory at Kew) and politician
1695 - Johannes Camphuys dies (b. 1634). Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies.
1697 - António Vieira dies in São Salvador da Baía, Brazil. Portuguese jesuit, missionary and diplomat.
1698 - Johann Heinrich Heidegger dies (b. 1633). Swiss theologian.

1718 - Saverio Bettinelli was born (d. 1808). Italian writer.

1720 - Gilbert White was born (d. 1793). English ornithologist.
1721 - Antoine Watteau dies (b. 1684). French painter.
1730 - François de Neufville, duc de Villeroi dies (b. 1644). French soldier.

1768 - Jean Robert Argand was born (d. 13 Aug 1822). Swiss mathematician who was one of the earliest to use complex numbers, which he applied to show that all algebraic equations have roots.
1792 - John Paul Jones dies (b. 1747). American naval commander.
1797 - Immanuel Hermann Fichte was born (d. 1879). German philosopher.
1808 - José Joaquim Leite Guimarães was born. Portuguese noble (Barão de Nova Cintra).
1811 - William Makepeace Thackeray was born (d. 1863). English author.
1817 - Jane Austen dies in Winchester, Hampshire (b. 16 Dec 1775). English novelist ( "Sense and Sensibility":published 1811; "Pride and Prejudice": published 1813; "Mansfield Park": published 1813; "Emma":published 1816; "Persuasion":published 1818"; Northanger Abbey":published 1818).
1818 - Louis De Geer was born (d. 1896). 1st Swedish Prime Minister.
1821 - Pauline Garcia-Viardot was born (d. 1910). French mezzo-soprano and composer.
1830 - Uruguay adopts its first constitution.
1834 - Próspero Fernández Oreamunon was born. President of Costa Rica (1882-1885).

1837 - Vasil Levski was born (d. 1873). Bulgarian revolutionary.
1838 - Pierre-Louis Dulong dies. French physicist and ghemost.
1841 - Coroação de D. Pedro II como Imperador do Brasil.
1845 - Tristan Corbière was born (d. 1875). French poet.

1847 - Morte de Bento Gonçalves, militar e chefe da Revolução Farroupilha.

1848 - W. G. Grace was born (d. 1915). English cricketer.

1850 - Rose Hartwick Thorpe was born (d. 1939). American poet.

1852 - António de Macedo Papança [Conde de Monsaraz] was born in Regengos (Alentejo) (d. 17 Jul 1913). Portuguese poet and politician.

1853 - Hendrik Antoon Lorentz was born (d. 4 Feb 1928). Dutch physicist, Nobel Prize for Physics colaureate (with Pieter Zeeman) in 1902 for his theory of the influence of magnetism upon electromagnetic radiation phenomena.

1857 - Louis Faidherbe, French governor of Senegal, arrives to relieve French forces at Kayes, effectively ending El Hajj Umar Tall's war on the French.

1861 - American Civil War: Skirmish at Blackburn's Ford prior to First Battle of Bull Run (1st Battle of Manassas).

1862 - Nikolai Nikolaevich Yudenich was born (d. 1933). Russian general.
1863 - American Civil War: The first formal African American military unit, the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, unsuccessfully assaults Confederate-held Fort Wagner but their valiant fighting still proves the worth of African American soldiers during the war.
1863 - Robert Gould Shaw dies (b. 1837). Colonel of the 54th Massachusetts infantry.
1864 - Ricarda Huch was born (†17 Nov 1947). German writer.
1864 - Phillip Snowden was born († 1937). British politician.

1867 - Margaret Brown was born (d. 1932). American activist, philanthropist, and RMS Titanic survivor.

1869 - Charles Palache was born (d. 5 Dec 1954). He was one of the most eminent crystallographers and mineralogists of the world.
1870 - The First Vatican Council decrees the dogma of papal infallibility.

1871 - Sada Yacco was born (d. 1946). Japanese stage actress.

1872 - The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland introduces voting by secret ballot.
1872 - Benito Juárez dies (b. 1806). President of Mexico.
1873 - Oscar II of Sweden-Norway is crowned king of Norway in Trondheim.
1881 - Larry McLean was born (d. 1921). Baseball player.
1882 - Manuel Gálvez was born. Argentinean writer.
1883 - Ricardo Arenales was born. Colombian poet.

1884 - Alberto di Jorio was born (d. 1979). Former head of the Vatican Bank and secretary of the 1958 conclave.
1884 - Ferdinand von Hochstetter dies (b. 1829). Austrian geologist.

1885 - Marino Moretti was born in Cesenatico. Italian poet and prose writer who will become a leader of the Crepuscolarismo movement in the early 20th century. His first major collection of poetry, Poesie scritte col lapis, ("Poems Written With a Pencil"), will be published in 1910 and achieve critical acclaimed.
1887 - Vidkun Quisling was born (d. 1945). Norwegian politician and traitor.
1890 - Frank Forde was born (d. 1983). Fifteenth Prime Minister of Australia.

1892 - Arthur Friedenreich was born (d. 1969). Brazilian football player.

1892 - Thomas Cook dies (b. 1808). English travel agent.
1894 - Isaac Babel was born (d. 1940). Ukrainian writer.
1895 - George Machine Gun Kelly was born (d. 1954). American gangster.
1897 - E. A. D. Eldridge was born (d. 1935). British racing driver.
1898 - Marie and Pierre Curie announce the discovery of a new element and proposed to call it polonium.
1898 - John Stuart was born (d. 1979). Scottish actor.
1899 - Felipe Pinglo Alva was born († 13 May 1936). Peruvian poeta and composer.

1899 - Horatio Alger, Jr. dies (b. 1832). American writer.

1900 - Nathalie Sarraute was born (d. 1999). French writer.
1902 - Jessamyn West was born (d. 1984). American writer.
1903 - Chill Wills was born (d. 1978). American actor.
1906 - Clifford Odets was born (d. 1963). American writer.
1906 - S. I. Hayakawa was born in Vancouver, British Columbia (d. 1992). American semanticist and politician. The author of Language in Thought and Action will maintain: "In a real sense, people who have read good literature have lived more than people who cannot or will not read.... It is not true that we have only one life to live, we can live as many more lives and as many kinds of lives as we wish".
1908 - Lupe Vélez was born (d. 1944). Mexican actress.
1908 - Mildred Lisette Norman was born. American peace activist, earned the moniker Peace Pilgrim
1909 - Andrei Gromyko was born (d. 1989). Soviet diplomat and President
1909 - Harriet Nelson was born (d. 1994). American singer and actress.

1909 - Mohammed Daoud Khan was born (d. 1978). Afghani President.

1909 - María Guadalupe Villalobos Vélez (Lupe Vélez) was born (d. 13 Dec 1944). Mexican actress.

1911 - Hume Cronyn was born (d. 2003). American actor.
1913 - Red Skelton was born (d. 1997). American actor and comedian.
1914 - The United States Army's Signal Corps is formed, giving definite status to its air service for the first time.

1914 - Gino Bartali was born (d. 2000). Italian cyclist.
1916 - Johnny Hopp was born (d. 2003). American baseball player.

1916 - Benjamin C. Truman dies. American journalist and author.
1917 - Henri Salvador was born. French singer.
1918 - Nelson Mandela was born. President of South Africa, Nobel Peace Prize laureate.

1918 - Grand Duchess Elizabeth Fyodorovna dies (b. 1864).
1920 - Eric Brandon was born (d. 1982). British racing driver.
1921 - John Glenn was born. American astronaut and politician.
1922 - Thomas Kuhn was born (d. 1996). American philosopher. Author of The Structure of Scientific Revolutions (1962), one of the most influential works of history and philosophy written in the 20th century.
1923 - Jerome H. Lemelson was born (d. 1997). American inventor.

1924 - Inge Sørensen was born. Danish swimmer.
1924 - Àngel Guimerà dies. Poet and dramatist.
1925 - Shirley Strickland was born. Australian athlete.
1925 - Adolf Hitler publishes his personal manifesto Mein Kampf.
1925 - Shirley Strickland was born. Australian athlete.

1925 - Louis Nazaire Bégin dies (b. 1840). Roman Catholic cardinal and Archbishop of Quebec.
1926 - Margaret Laurence was born (d. 1987). Canadian writer.

1926 - Robert Sloman was born (d. 2005). English writer.
1927 - Kurt Masur was born. Silesian-born conductor.
1927 - Ludwig Harig was born. Writer.

1929 - Dick Button was born. American figure skater.
1929 - Screamin' Jay Hawkins was born (d. 2000). American singer.

1930 - Inauguração do Estádio Centenário - Uruguai.

1930 - Burt Kwouk was born. English actor.

1932 - The United States and Canada sign a treaty to develop the Saint Lawrence Seaway.
1933 - Yevgeny Yevtushenko was born. Russian poet (Babi Yar).

1933 - Syd Mead was born. American industrial and conceptual designer.
1933 - Jean Yanne was born (d. 2003). French film actor and director.

1934 - Darlene Conley was born (d. 2007). American actress.

1934 - Roger Reynolds was born. American composer and teacher.

1934 - Francisco Lacerda dies (b. 1869). Portuguese composer.

1935 - Jayendra Saraswathi was born. Hindu religious leader.
1936 - Spanish Civil War: The rebellion reaches peninsular Spain and conquers Galicia, west Castile, west Andalucia and Aragon.
1936 - Ted Harris was born. Canadian ice hockey player.
1937 - Roald Hoffman was born. Polish-born chemist, Nobel Prize laureate.
1937 - Hunter S. Thompson was born (d. 2005). American journalist and author.

1937 - Roald Hoffman was born. Polish-born American chemist and Nobel Prize for Chemistry co-laureate in 1981, with Fukui Kenichi of Japan, for their independent investigations of the mechanisms of chemical reactions.

1937 - Julian Bell dies killed in the Spanish Civil War (b. 1908). British poet

1938 - Douglas "Wrong Way" Corrigan arrives in Ireland.

1938 - Paul Verhoeven was born. Dutch film director.
1938 - Ian Stewart was born. British pianist for the Rolling Stones.
1939 - Dion DiMucci was born. American singer.
1939 - Brian Auger was born. British musician.
1939 - Edward Gramlich was born (d. 2007). American economics professor.
1939 - Jerry Moore was born. American football coach.

1940 - Democratic National Convention, Chicago: President Franklin D. Roosevelt is nominated for an unprecedented third term in office.

1941 - Frank Farian was born. German music producer.

1940 - James Brolin was born. American actor.
1940 - Joe Torre was born. Baseball player and manager.

1941 - Lonnie Mack was born. American guitarist and singer.
1941 - Martha Reeves was born. American singer.
1942 - World War II: The Germans test fly the Messerschmitt Me-262 using only its jets for the first time.

1942 - Adolf Ogi was born. Swiss politician.

1942 - Bobby Susser was born. American songwriter and record producer.
1942 - Giacinto Facchetti was born (d. 2006). Italian football player.

1944 - World War II: Hideki Tojo resigns as Prime Minister of Japan due to numerous setbacks in the war effort.

1944 - Thomas Sturge Moore dies (b. 1870). English poet, author and artist.

1946 - Leo Madder was born. Belgian actor.

1947 - President Harry S. Truman signs the Presidential Succession Act into law which places the Speaker of the United Stated House of Representatives Senate President Pro Tempore next in the line of succession after the United States Vice President.
1947 - Steve Forbes was born. American entrepreneur and politician.
1947 - Steven W. Mahoney was born. Canadian politician.
1948 - Hartmut Michel was born. German biochemist who, along with Johann Deisenhofer and Robert Huber, received the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1988 for their determination of the three-dimensional structure of certain proteins that are essential for photosynthesis.
1948 - Herman Gummerus dies (b. 1877). Finnish historian and politician.
1949 - Vítězslav Novák dies (b. 1870). Czech composer.
1950 - Jack Layton was born. Canadian politician.
1950 - Kostas Eleftherakis was born. Greek footballer.
1950 - Jerome Barkum was born. American football player.
1950 - Sir Richard Branson was born. British entrepreneur.

1950 - Glenn Hughes was born (d. 2001). American singer (Village People).

1951 - Jersey Joe Walcott KOs Ezzard Charles in 5 for heavyweight belt.

1951 - Elio Di Rupo was born. Belgian politician.

1951 - Margo Martindale was born. American actress.

1952 - Baby Consuelo was born. Brazilian singer and composer.

1952 - Paul Saintenoy dies (b. 1862). Belgian architect.
1953 - Rock star Elvis Presley made his first recording in Sun Studios.

1953 - Lucy Booth dies (b. 1868). The fifth daughter of William and Catherine Booth.
1954 - Ricky Skaggs was born. American country/bluegrass musician.
1954 - George Machine Gun Kelly dies (b. 1895). American gangster.

1955 - Bernd Fasching was born. Austrian painter and sculptor

1956 - Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian (Portugal) is created.
1956 - Razor Shines was born. Major and Minor league baseball player, manager and coach
1957 - Nick Faldo was born. English golfer.
1958 - Henri Farman dies (b. 1874). French aviator and aircraft constructor who developed ailerons (1908) to solve the enormously difficult and dangerous problems of lateral control
1960 - Anne-Marie Johnson was born. American actress.

1961 - Elizabeth McGovern was born. American-born actress.
1962 - Golpe militar no Perú depõe o presidente Manuel Prado.

1962 - Lee Arenberg was born. American actor.
1962 - Jack Irons was born. American drummer (Pearl Jam, Red Hot Chili Peppers).
1963 - Al Snow was born. American professional wrestler.
1963 - Martín Torrijos Espino was born. President of Panama.
1963 - Mike Greenwell was born. Baseball player.
1964 - Wendy Williams was born. American radio host.

1965 - Zond 3 launched.
1966 - Gemini 10 launched.

1966 - Lori Alan was born. American actress.
1966 - Bobby Fuller dies (b. 1942). American rock singer and guitarist.
1967 - Castello Branco dies (b. 1900). 35th President of Brasil (15 Apr1964 - 15 Mar 1967).
1967 - Vin Diesel was born. American actor.
1968 - Vietnam War: The two-day Honolulu Conference begins in Honolulu, Hawaii between US President Lyndon B. Johnson and South Vietnamese President Nguyen Van Thieu.
1968 - Intel ( inventor of the microchip) is incorporated.

1968 - Corneille Heymans dies (b. 28 Mar 1892). Belgian physiologist who received the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 1938 for his discovery of the regulatory effect on respiration of sensory organs associated with the carotid artery in the neck and with the aortic arch leading from the heart (1927-29).

1969 - After a party on Chappaquiddick Island, Senator Ted Kennedy from Massachusetts drives an Oldsmobile off a wooden bridge into a tide-swept pond and his passenger, Mary Jo Kopechne, dies.

1969 - Masanori Murakawa was born. Japanese professional wrestler.

1969 - Barbara Pepper dies at 57. Actress (Doris Ziffel-Green Acres).
1969 - Mary Jo Kopechne dies (b. 1940). American aide to Robert F. Kennedy.
1969 - Apollo 11 makes preparations for landing on the Moon.

1971 - Penny Hardaway was born. American basketball player.
1972 - Staines air disaster - 118 killed as plane crashes 2 minutes after take off from London Heathrow Airport

1973 - Jack Hawkins dies (b. 1910). English film actor.

1974 - Portugal - Tomada de posse do 2º. Governo Provisório: Vasco dos Santos Gonçalves assume o cargo de primeiro-ministro. Vitorino Magalhães Godinho é o Ministro da Educação e Cultura.
1974 - Alan Morrison was born. British poet.
1975 - Torii Hunter was born. Baseball player.
1975 - Daron Malakian was born. American guitarist (System of a Down).
1975 - Torii Hunter was born. Bbaseball player.
1976 - Gymnast Nadia Comaneci, aged 14, scores first ever perfect 10 at the Olympics.

1976 - Elsa Pataky was born. Spanish actress.

1977 - Vietnam joins the United Nations.
1977 - Dylan Lane was born. American television host.
1977 - Alfian bin Sa'at was born. Singaporean writer, poet and playwright.
1977 - Elysio de Moura dies in Coimbra (b. 3 Ago 1877, em Braga). Portuguese psychiatrist.

1978 - Ben Sheets was born. Baseball player.

1978 - Melissa Theuriau was born. French newscaster.
1978 - Shane Horgan was born. Irish rugby player.

1978 - Verónica Romeo was born. Spanish singer.
1979 - Deion Branch was born. Football player.
1979 - Jared Hess was born. American film director and screenwriter.
1979 - Joey Mercury was born. American professional wrestler.
1979 - Jermaine Paul was born. American musician.

1979 - Rick Baxter was born. American politician.
1980 - Rocco Pitanga was born in Rio de Janeiro. Brazilian actor.

1980 - Catalina Maya was born in Medellin. Colombian top model and actress.

1980 - Kristen Bell was born. American actress.

1980 - Bobby Henderson was born. American writer, founded the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster.

1982 - 268 campesinos are slain in the Plan de Sánchez massacre in Ríos Montt's Guatemala.
1982 - Priyanka Chopra was born. Indian actress and Miss World 2000

1982 - Ryan Cabrera was born. American musician and TV host.
1982 - Lionel Daunais dies (b. 1902). French canadian baritone singer and composer.
1983 - Aaron Gillespie was born. American drummer (Underoath).
1984 - McDonald's massacre in San Ysidro, California: In a fast-food resturant, James Oliver Huberty kills 21 people and injures 19 others before being shot dead by police.
1985 - Chace Crawford was born. American actor.

1985 - Panagiotis Lagos was born. Greek footballer.

1985 - Shahnawaz Bhutto dies. Son of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto.
1986 - A tornado is broadcast live on KARE television in Minnesota when the station's helicopter pilot makes a chance encounter.
1986 - The motion picture Aliens opens in theaters.
1987 - Gilberto Freyre dies (b. 1900). Brasilian writer. Organizer of the first northeastern regionalist congress in Recife. Casa-grande e senzala (The Masters and the Slaves, 1933), the story of Brazil's Portuguese colonizers and their African slaves, is his best-known work.
1988 - Nico dies (b. 1938). German-born American model and singer.

1988 - Joly Braga Santos dies (b. 14 May 1924). Portuguese composer.

1989 - Donnie Moore dies (suicide) (b. 1954). Baseball player.
1989 - Rebecca Schaeffer actress (My Sister Sam) is shot by a fan at 21
1990 - Yoon Boseon dies (b. 1897). President of South Korea
1990 - Eliana Macedo dies. Brasilian actress.
1990 - Karl Menninger dies (b. 1896). American psychiatrist.
1990 - Gerry Boulet dies (b. 1946). Quebec rock singer.
1990 - Johnny Wayne dies (b. 1918). Canadian comedian.

1992 - The ten victims of the La Cantuta massacre disappeared from their university in Lima.
1994 - AMIA Bombing: An explosion in Buenos Aires destroys a building housing several Jewish organizations, killing 85 and injuring many more.
1995 - On the Caribbean island of Montserrat, the Soufriere Hills volcano erupts. Over the course of several years, it devastates the island, destroying the capital and forcing most of the population to flee.

1995 - Fabio Casartelli dies (b. 1970). Italian cyclist.
1996 - Storms provoke severe flooding on the Saguenay River in Quebec, beginning one of Canada's costliest natural disasters ever.

1996 - In an event very similar to the Oklahoma tornado that would occur three years later, a tornado ranking as a F5 hit the town of Oakfield, Wisconsin.
1997 - 8000 low-caste Indians riot in Mumbai (Bombay) following a funeral for 10 children who had been killed by police.

1997 - Gene Shoemaker dies (b. 28 Apr 1928). American planetary geologist.

1997 - Eugene Merle Shoemaker dies (b. 1928). American astronomer.

1998 - A 23-foot tidal wave kills nearly 3,000 people in Papua New Guinea.

1998 - Nixzmary Brown was born (d. 2006). Child abuse victim.

1999 - David Cone pitches perfect game for New York Yankees against Montreal Expos, win 6-0.
2001 - In Baltimore, Maryland, a 60-car train derails in a tunnel, sparking a fire that will last days and virtually shut down downtown Baltimore.
2001 - Fabio Taglioni dies (b. 1920). Italian automotive engineer.

2001 - James Hatfield dies (b. 1958). American author.
2002 - Victor Emery dies (b. 1933). British theoretical physicist.
2002 - Gérson de Abreu dies. Brazilian actor.
2004 - Paul Foot dies (b. 1937). British journalist.

2004 - Seleção brasileira masculina de Voleibol vence a Itália e conquista o 4º título da Liga Mundial.
2005 - Lançada a Antologia República dos Poetas, no Museu da República, no Rio de Janeiro (Brasil). É a primeira marca oficial do movimento poético que explodia na cidade desde 1999.

2005 - William Westmoreland dies (b. 1914). U.S. Army general.

2005 - Bill Hicke dies (b. 1938). Canadian ice hockey player.

2005 - Franz Weissmann dies (b. 1911). Brazilian sculptor.

2006 - Raul Cortez dies (b. 1932). Brazilian actor.

2007 - George Caiazzo dies. American professional wrestler.
2007 - Jerry Hadley dies (b. 1952). American opera singer.
2007 - Kenji Miyamoto dies (b. 1908). Japanese communist politician.

Uruguay - Constitution Day.