July 18th: This Day in History

 

Once again, it should be reiterated, that this does not pretend to be a very extensive history of what happened on this day (nor is it the most original - the links can be found down below). If you know something that I am missing, by all means, shoot me an email or leave a comment, and let me know!

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history 

The Gauls defeated the Romans in the Battle of Allia, which allowed the sacking of Rome shortly to follow. This date was famous for another event in Rome - the Great Fire that destroyed most of the city. Robespierre decided to back the French Revolution, and would ultimately become it's most important figure for a while, before falling victim to the same Terror that he had helped to unleash and allow to grow out of control. Uruguay got a liberal constitution. American President Abraham Lincoln asked for half a million volunteers for military service. During World War I, French and American forces launched the Aisne-Marne offensive. World War I, and Germany's defeat and subsequent humiliation following the war, led to huge discontent inside of Germany. The man who would eventually become the major player to manipulate this discontent and lead Germany to yet another, even more destructive war, made news on this date as well. Adolf Hitler wrote his famous autobiography, Mein Kampf, which was overlooked initially, but which could have warned the world as to what was in this man's head, before he took over and tried to turn a mad dream into a nightmarish reality. But before World War II broke out, their was the war that was viewed as a precursor to World War II- the Spanish Civil War, and it began on this date in 1936. Tojo was removed as Japanese premiere and war minister on this date in 1944, as the war was turning sour for Japan. Following his delivering on the famous guarantee that the Jets would win Super Bowl III, Joe Namath agreed to stay in the NFL. The Jets would make other news on this date, years later, as well. But before that, Australia and New Zealand announced that they would be pulling their troops out of Vietnam. Nadia Comăneci became the first woman to get perfect scores during the Olympics, on the way to a gold medal that she was on this day, which would just be one of three overall that she won. Walter Mondale became the Democratic nominee for President in 1984 on this day. Mike Tyson would meet many of the Miss Black America contestants, including one in particular that would result in his eventual conviction and prison sentence on the grounds of rape. It was on this date that the New York Jets, famous for their awesome moves that inevitably result in a championship, took a chance on American soccer goalkeeper Tony Meola. Do I really have to go into how much of a success that was?

Here's a more detailed look at events that transpired on this date throughout history:

• 390 BC - Roman-Gaulish Wars: Battle of the Allia - a Roman army is defeated by raiding Gauls, leading to the subsequent sacking of Rome.


• 64 - Great Fire of Rome begins (Nero didn't fiddle)  A great fire began that ultimately destroyed most of Rome. The emperor Nero blamed it on Christians and began the first Roman persecution of them.

Jul 18, 64: Nero's Rome burns

The great fire of Rome breaks out and destroys much of the city on this day in the year 64. Despite the well-known stories, there is no evidence that the Roman emperor, Nero, either started the fire or played the fiddle while it burned. Still, he did use the disaster to further his political agenda.  

The fire began in the slums of a district south of the legendary Palatine Hill. The area's homes burned very quickly and the fire spread north, fueled by high winds. During the chaos of the fire, there were reports of heavy looting. The fire ended up raging out of control for nearly three days. Three of Rome's 14 districts were completely wiped out; only four were untouched by the tremendous conflagration. Hundreds of people died in the fire and many thousands were left homeless.  

Although popular legend holds that Emperor Nero fiddled while the city burned, this account is wrong on several accounts. First, the fiddle did not even exist at the time. Instead, Nero was well known for his talent on the lyre; he often composed his own music. More importantly, Nero was actually 35 miles away in Antium when the fire broke out. In fact, he let his palace be used as a shelter.  

Legend has long blamed Nero for a couple of reasons. Nero did not like the aesthetics of the city and used the devastation of the fire in order to change much of it and institute new building codes throughout the city. Nero also used the fire to clamp down on the growing influence of Christians in Rome. He arrested, tortured and executed hundreds of Christians on the pretext that they had something to do with the fire.

64  Nero’s Rome burns HISTORY.com Editors  Great Fire Of Rome Getty Images  Published: November 13, 2009  Last Updated: July 16, 2025:             

https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/july-19/neros-rome-burns


1290 - King Edward I of England orders expulsion of Jews

1330 - Battle of Velbuzd

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

• 1536 - The authority of the pope was declared void in England.

1572 - Willem van Orange recognized as viceroy of Holland/Friesland/Utrecht

1588 - Admiral Howard beats Spanish Armada

1630 - Spanish troops occupy Mantua

1656 - -20] Battle at Warsaw: Swedish king Karel X Gustaafbeats Johan II Kasimir & occupies Warsaw

1696 - Czar Peter I's fleet occupies Azov at mouth of Don River

1716 - Decree orders all Jews expelled from Brussels

1737 - Battle at Banja Luka: Turkish army beats Austrians

1743 - "The New York Weekly Journal" published the first half-page newspaper ad.

1753 - Lemuel Haynes, escapes from slave holder in Framingham Mass

1766 - Society of the Dutch Literary forms

1768 - Boston Gazette publishes "Liberty Song," America's 1st patriotic song

Bust of the "Incorruptible" French Revolutionary Maximilien Robespierre

• 1789 - Robespierre, a deputy from Arras, France, decided to back the French Revolution.

1812 - Great Britain signed the Treaty of Orebro, making peace with Russia and Sweden.

1814 - British capture Prairie du Chien (Wisc)

• 1830 - Uruguay adopted a liberal constitution.

• 1853 - Completion of Grand Trunk Line, trains begin running over 1st North American railroad between Portland, Maine & Montreal 

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

1861 - Battle of Blackburn's Ford, VA US57 CS68 - Manassas -

1862 - Battle of Newburgh, IN - captured by Union forces

1863 - Battle of Fort Wagner, SC - Second assault US1500 CS174

1864 - President Lincoln asks for 500,000 volunteers for milt service

1870 - Pontifical infalliability proclaimed

1872 - The Ballot Act was passed in Great Britain, providing for secret election ballots.



• 1907 - French troops occupy Casablanca

1912 - Chicago Cubs get 21 hits but lose to Philadelphia Phillies in 11 innings

1913 - After 68 straight innings Christy Mathewson gives up a walk

1914 - US army air service 1st comes into being, in Signal Corps

1914 - Six planes of the U.S. Army helped to form an aviation division called the Signal Corps.

1915 - 2nd Battle of Isonzo begins & ends with loss of 280,000 men

1915 - Boston Braves start move from last place to become world series champs

1918 - US and French forces launch Aisne-Marne offensive in WW I

July 18, 1918: Allies begin major counter-offensive in Second Battle of the Marne

Three days after a German offensive near the Marne River in the Champagne region of France meets with failure, Allied forces launch a major counterattack on July 18, 1918, ending the Second Battle of the Marne and decisively turning the tide of the war toward an Allied victory.  

After forces commanded by the German general Erich von Ludendorff fall painfully short of their objectives near the city of Reims on July 15–largely due to the deceptive Allied strategy of planting a line of false, lightly-manned trenches in front that would leave their real front line undamaged by the preliminary German bombardment–the Allied supreme commander, Ferdinand Foch, authorized a major counteroffensive. The Allied attack, which began in the early morning hours of July 18, 1918, was carried out by 24 divisions of the French army, as well as troops from the United States, Britain and Italy, pressing forward in some 350 tanks against the German salient.  

As Crown Prince Wilhelm, a commander of the German forces at the Marne, recalled of the events of July 18: "Without artillery preparation, simply following the sudden rolling barrage, supported by numerous deep-flying aircraft and with unprecedented masses of tanks, the enemy infantry–including a number of American divisions–unleashed the storm against the 9th and 7th Armies at 5:40 in the morning." The French 6th and 10th Armies led the infantry advance, pushing forward five miles on the first day of the offensive alone. Meanwhile, the French 5th and 9th Armies launched supplementary attacks to the west. By the time the Germans ordered a retreat on July 20, the Allied counteroffensive in the Second Battle of the Marne had driven the Germans back from Chateau-Thierry to Soissons on the Aisne River, effectively reversing all the gains made in the region during the entire German spring offensive of 1918.  

Casualties at the Marne were staggering, with Germany losing 168,000 soldiers to death or injury, compared with 95,000 for the French, 13,000 for the British and 12,000 for the U.S. After the disaster at the Marne, Ludendorff was forced to call off a planned German offensive further north, in the Flanders region stretching between France and Belgium, which he had envisioned as Germany's best hope of victory. In the end, the Second Battle of the Marne marked the last large-scale German offensive of World War I.

1918  Second Battle of the Marne begins with final German offensive HISTORY.com Editors  Published: November 16, 2009  Last Updated: January 31, 2025:

https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/july-15/second-battle-of-the-marne-begins-with-final-german-offensive

1921 - Black Sox trial begins in Chicago

1923 - England's House of Lords accepts new divorce law

1924 - KPD points out Rote Frontkampferbund against Nazi

• 1925 - Hitler publishes Mein Kampf

July 18, 1925: Mein Kampf is published 

On this day in 1925, Volume One of Adolf Hitler's philosophical autobiography, Mein Kampf, is published. It was a blueprint of his agenda for a Third Reich and a clear exposition of the nightmare that will envelope Europe from 1939 to 1945. The book sold a total of 9,473 copies in its first year.  

Hitler began composing his tome while sitting in Landsberg prison, convicted of treason for his role in the infamous Beer Hall Putsch in which he and his minions attempted to stage a coup and grasp control of the government in Bavaria. It ended in disaster, with some allies deserting and others falling into the hands of the authorities. Hitler was sentenced to five years' imprisonment (he would serve only nine months). His time in the old fortress at Landsberg was hardly brutal; he was allowed guests and gifts, and was treated as something of a cult hero. He decided to put his leisure time to good use and so began dictating Volume One of his opus magnus to Rudolph Hess, a loyal member of the German National Socialist Party and fellow revolutionary.  

The first part of Mein Kampf, subtitled "A Reckoning," is a 400-plus page diatribe on the problems besetting Germany—the French, who wished to dismember Germany; the lack of lebesraum, "living space," and the need to expand east into Russia; and the baleful influence of "mongrel" races. For Hitler, the state was not an economic entity, but a racial one. Racial purity was an absolute necessity for a revitalized Germany. "[F]or men do not perish as the result of lost wars, but by the loss... of pure blood."  

As for leadership, Hitler's Third Reich would mimic the Prussian ideal of absolute authoritarian rule. "There must be no majority decisions, but only responsible persons... Surely every man will have advisers... but the decision will be made by one man."  

So there it was: War with France, war with Russia, the elimination of "impure" races, and absolute dictatorship. Hitler laid out his political agenda a full 14 years before the outbreak of war.  

Volume Two of Mein Kampf, focusing on national socialism, was published in 1927. Sales of the complete work remained mediocre throughout the 1920s. It was not until 1933, the first year of Hitler's tenure as chancellor of Germany, that sales soared to over 1 million. Its popularity reached the point where it became a ritual to give a newly married couple a copy.

1925  Hitler’s “Mein Kampf” is published HISTORY.com Editors  Mein Kampf Roger Viollet via Getty Images  Published: November 16, 2009  Last Updated: July 16, 2025:

https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/july-18/mein-kampf-is-published

1930 - SHO soccer team forms in Old Beijerland

1931 - First air-conditioned ship (Mariposa) launched

• 1932 - Belgium, Luxembourg & Netherlands sign Unity treaty

1932 - The U.S. and Canada signed a treaty to develop the St. Lawrence Seaway.

1935 - Amsterdam city council accept city growth plan through the year 2000 Spanish Dictator Francisco FrancoSpanish Dictator Francisco Franco

Flag of Ethiopia

The Lion of Judah Emblem of the Ethiopian Empire

• 1935 - Ethiopian King Haile Selassie urged his countrymen to fight to the last man against the invading Italian army.

Flag of Spain

• 1936 - The Spanish Civil War began as Gen. Francisco Franco led an uprising of army troops based in Spanish North Africa.

1942 - The German Me-262, the first jet-propelled aircraft to fly in combat, made its first flight.

1938 - Douglas "Wrong Way" Corrigan arrives in Ireland-left NY for Calif

1940 - 1st successful helicopter flight, Stratford, Ct

1940 - British government signs Bruma law under Japanese pressure

1940 - Democratic Convention nominates FDR for a 3rd term

• 1941 - SS drowns 40 Jews in Dvina River, Belorussia

1942 - 1st legal NJ horse race in 50 years; Garden State Park track opens

1942 - Messerschmitt Me 262 Schwalbe, 1st jet fighter, takes 1st flight

1942 - World War II: the Germans test fly the Messerschmitt Me-262 using only its jet engines for the first time.

1943 - British assault on Catania Sicily



1944 - U.S. troops captured Saint-Lo, France, ending the battle of the hedgerows.

• 1944 - Hideki Tojo was removed as Japanese premier and war minister due to setbacks suffered by his country in World War II.

1944 - 7:45 Operation-Goodwood: British assault east of Caen

1944 - Allies air raid railways at Vaires Paris

1944 - Arne Andersson runs world record 1 mile (4:01.6)

1944 - British Mosquito's attack Cologne and Berlin

1944 - British air raid on German convoy SW of Helgoland

1944 - British troops occupy Bourquebus hill range Normandy

1944 - Polish troops under gen Anders occupy Ancona Italy

1944 - US troop march into St-Lo

1947 - British seize "Exodus 1947" ship of Jewish immigrants to Palestine

• 1947 - King George VI signs Indian Independence Bill

Bust of American President Harry Truman

• 1947 -  U.S. President Truman signed the Presidential Succession Act, which placed the Speaker of the House and the Senate President Pro Tempore next in the line of succession after the vice president.

1947 - US begins administering Trust Territory of Pacific Islands



• 1951 - Uruguay accepts its constitution



1955 - 1st electric power generated from atomic energy sold commercially

1955 - 280 mm rain in Martinstown, Dorset (UK-record)

1956 - Erno Gero succeeds Matyas Rákosi as party leader of Hungary


• 1960 - 1st UN troops reach Congo


1960 - Premier Kishi of Japan, resigns

1961 - Commissioner Ford Frick rules Babe Ruth's record of 60 HR in 154-game sched in 1927, must be broken in 1st 154 of 162 games

1962 - Minnesota Twins Bob Allison & Harmon Killebrew hit grand slams in 1st inn and Harmon Killebrew connect in a club-record, 11-run 1st inning

1963 - Failed military coup in Syria

1964 - Race riot in Harlem (NYC); riots spread to Bedford-Stuyvesant (Bkln)

1964 - Pete Rose (Cincinnati Reds) hit the only grand slam home run of his career.

1965 - Zond 3 launched to fly by Moon, enters solar orbit

Bust of Carl Sagan

• 1966 - Carl Sagan turns 1 billion seconds old

1966 - Gemini 10 launched (John Young & Michael Collins)

1967 - Silver hits record $1.87 an ounce in NY

1968 - Intel incorporates

1968 - The Intel Corporation is founded in Santa Clara, California

1969 - Joe Namath agrees to sell interest in Bachelors 3, to stay in NFL

1970 - "Boy Friend" closes at Ambassador Theater NYC after 119 performances

1970 - Arthur Brown arrested for stripping on stage in Palemo Sicily


• 1971 - New Zealand and Australia announced they would pull their troops out of Vietnam.

1971 - Eddy Merckx wins his 3rd Tour de France

1972 - 200,000 attend Mt Pocono rock festival in Penns

1972 - Egypt president Sadat throws 20,000 Russian military aids out

1972 - Mike Procter 8-73 with hat-trick, plus 51 & 102, Gloucs v Essex

1974 - US performs nuclear Test at Nevada Test Site

1974 - World's tallest structure, 646-m Polish radio mast, completed

1975 - Jury can't decide on trial of Dave Forbes of Boston Bruins (1st athlete indicted for excessive violence during play)



1976 - Stockhausens "Sirius," premieres in NYC

1976 - Thiokol conducts 2-min firing of space shuttle's SRB at Brigham, Ut

1976 - 14-year old Nadia Comăneci became the first person in Olympic Games history to score a perfect 10 in gymnastics at the 1976 Summer Olympics. She went on to score six more tens and win three gold medals.

1977 - Hugh Leonard's "Da," premieres in London

• 1977 - Vietnam becomes member of UN

1978 - Billy Martin suspends Reggie Jackson for not bunting

1978 - Egyptian and Israeli officials begin 2 days of talks

1979 - Gold hits record $303.85 an ounce in London

1979 - USSR performs nuclear Test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR

1980 - Billy Joel's Glass Houses album tops charts

1980 - Failed attack on Iran ex-premier Bakhtiar in Neuilly France

1980 - Federal court voids Selective Service Act as it doesn't include women

1980 - Quett Masire installed as president of Botswana

1980 - Rohini 1, 1st Indian satellite, launches into orbit

1981 - Part of Hyatt Regency Hotel KC caves in (113 killed)

1981 - Poland communist party selects ex-party leader Edward Gierek



1984 - James Huberty kills 21 McDonald's patrons in San Ysidro Calif

• 1984 - Walter F Mondale wins Democratic presidential nomination in SF




1986 - Videotapes released showing Titanic's sinksen remains

1987 - Molly Yard elected new pres of Natl Org for Women


1988 - Abu Nidal terrorists kill 9 on City of Poros cruise ship

1988 - Shooting begins on "License to Kill"

1989 - 48 cm rainfall at Rockport, West Virginia (state record)



1992 - The ten victims of the La Cantuta massacre disappear from their university in Lima.

• 1993 - Afghanistan president Ishaq Khan and premier Nawaz Sharif resign

1993 - Graeme Obree bicycles world record time (51,596 K)

1993 - Liberal-Democratic Party loses Japan's parliamentary election

1994 - Bomb attack on Jewish center AMIA in Buenos Aires, 86 killed

1994 - Comet Shoemaker-Levy collides with Jupiter

1994 - Court upholds NBA salary cap and draft rights

1994 - Crayola announces introduction of scented crayons

1994 - Houston Astros tie NL comeback record, trailing 10-0, beat Cards 15-12

1994 - NY Jets sign USA soccer goalkeeper Tony Miola as a place kicker

1995 - DC3 crashes at Antananarivo Madagaskar, 34 die

1996 - Storms provoke severe flooding on the Saguenay River, beginning one of Québec's costliest natural disasters ever.

1999 - New York Yankee David Cone pitched the 16th perfect game in baseball history.

2000 - It was announced that Christopher Reeve would direct and serve as executive producer on the TV movie "Rescuing Jeffrey."

2001 - A train derailed, involving 60 cars, in a Baltimore train tunnel. The fire that resulted lasted for six days and virtually closed down downtown Baltimore for several days. (Maryland)

2009 - Five members of one family are found murdered at Epping, New South Wales.

2012 - 6 Israeli tourists are killed and 30 injured after a bomb explodes on a tourist bus at Burgas Airport, Bulgaria

2012 - 14 people are killed after a bomb explosion at Pakistan's Orakzai Agency

2012 - Violence across Syria results in 97 deaths

2012 - Syrian suicide bombing kills three high profile government officials, including Syria's Minister of Defence

2012 - 24 people are killed after a ferry sinks off the coast of Zanzibar 2012 - Kim Jong-un is officially appointed Supreme Leader of North Korea and given the rank of Marshal in the Korean People's Army







The following links are to web sites that were used to complete this blog entry:

http://www.historyorb.com/today/events.php

http://on-this-day.com/onthisday/thedays/alldays/jul18.htm

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history

http://www.infoplease.com/dayinhistory