On This Day: 18 July

The Senones (a Gallic tribe who had invaded northern Italy) rout the army of the Roman Republic at the Battle of the Allia, at the confluence of the Tiber and Allia rivers, 11 Roman miles (16 km, 10 miles) north of Rome. The Senones would subsequently sack Rome. (This is the traditional date for the battle; in reality it was probably about three years earlier)		390 BC
The Roman emperor Julian arrives at Antioch with an expeditionary force of 60,000 men. They would stay there for nine months to launch a campaign against the Persian Empire		362
After an earlier defeat on the Catalaunian Plains, Attila lays siege to the metropolis of Aquileia (a Roman city at the head of the Adriatic Sea), which his forces would eventually destroy		452
Almohad forces defeat the Castilian army of Alfonso VIII at the Battle of Alarcos, forcing its retreat to Toledo		1195
King Edward I issues the Edict of Expulsion, banishing all Jews (numbering about 16,000) from England; this was Tisha B'Av on the Hebrew calendar, a day that commemorates many Jewish calamities		1290
The first foundation stone for Giotto's new campanile (bell tower) of Florence's Duomo is blessed by the bishop of Florence – to be laid on the following day		1334
England and France agree to the Truce of Leulinghem, inaugurating a 13–year peace – the longest period of sustained peace during the Hundred Years' War		1389
The College of Arms is reincorporated, by Royal charter signed by Queen Mary I of England and King Philip II of Spain		1555
Tsar Peter III of Russia is assassinated in the village of Ropcha, 8 days after his abdication		1762
Around 200 lives are lost when a gunpowder magazine explodes in Birgu, Malta		1806
The Anglo–Russian and Anglo–Swedish wars (both part of the Napoleonic wars) are ended by the Treaties of Orebro		1812
Pedro II (a member of the Brazilian branch of the House of Braganza) is crowned as Emperor of Brazil, aged 15, at the end of a ten–year regency period that followed the abdication of his father, Pedro I		1841
Thomas Stuart Kennedy and William Wigram, with Jean–Baptiste Croz and Johann Kronig as guides, make the first ascent of the Dent Blanche, an important peak in the Pennine Alps, in the Wallis region of Switzerland		1862
The 54^th Massachusetts Infantry – the first US regiment of black soldiers, led by white abolitionist Robert Gould Shaw – launch an unsuccessful assault on the Confederate fortress of Fort Wagner, which protects Morris Island, south of Charleston Harbor (in South Carolina). Shaw and 280 of his men die and their bodies are "thrown in a ditch"		1863
The Vatican Council decrees the Dogma of Papal Infallibility		1870
The Ballot Act introduced the requirement that parliamentary and local government elections be held by secret ballot (meeting one of the Chartists' six 1838 demands)		1872
Thomas Edison makes the first recording of a human voice		1877
Turkish forces recapture Adrianople after 4 months of occupation by the Bulgarians		1913
The US Congress forms the Aviation Section, US Signal Corps, giving official status to aircraft within the US Army for the first time		1914
Second Battle of the Marne		1918
The Cenotaph is unveiled in Whitehall		1920
The Matrimonial Causes Act gives women equal divorce rights to men		1923
The first volume of Hitler's Mein Kampf is published		1925
The Mersey (road) Tunnel is opened by King George V and Queen Mary		1934
A faction of the army, supported by fascists and led by Emilio Mola and Francisco Franco, rises up against the Second Spanish Republic in a coup d'etat, to begin the Spanish Civil War		1936
Fifteen Norwegian paramilitary guards help members of the SS to massacre 288 political prisoners from Yugoslavia at Beisfjord, Norway		1942
Germany's Messerschmitt Me 262 makes its first test flight with jet engines (fifteen months after first flying with piston engines)		1942
Hideki Tōjō resigns as Prime Minister of Japan, following numerous setbacks in the war effort		1944
The first nuclear power is produced at Schenectady, New York		1955
Disneyland opens near Annaheim, California		1955
Gemini 10, crewed by John W. Young and Michael Collins, is launched from Cape Kennedy on a 70–hour mission that includes docking with an uncrewed orbiting Agena target vehicle		1955
A racially charged incident in a bar sparks six days of rioting in Cleveland, Ohio; 1,700 Ohio National Guard troops intervene to restore order		1966
General Arif of Iraq is deposed after a military coup		1968
Intel is founded in Mountain View, California (Santa Clara County, Silicon Valley)		1968
John Stonehouse returns to Britain to face 21 charges of fraud, forgery and conspiracy		1975
14–year–old Romanian gymnast Nadia Comăneci becomes the first person to score a perfect 10 in Olympic gymnastics competition		1976
Vietnam becomes a member of the United Nations		1977
Joyce McKinney, wanted in Britain for kidnapping and sexually abusing a Mormon missionary, is arrested in the USA		1979
At the height of the Guatemalan Civil War, and as part of the government's "scorched earth" policy, 268 campesinos ('peasants') – mainly women and children of Mayan ethnicity – are massacred by Government troops in the village of Plan de Sánchez		1982
A car bomb at the US Embassy in Beirut kills over 50 and injures over 100		1983
James Huberty, a 41–year–old security guard, kills 21 people and injures 19 others at a McDonald's in San Diego; this is the United States's deadliest mass shooting by a lone gunman, up to this date		1984
Daniel Arap Moi, president of Kenya, demonstrates his commitment to conservation by burning 12 tons of stockpiled ivory, worth £1.6 million		1989
Talks between the USA and Vietnam over the future of Cambodia begin in Washington		1990
Patricia Cahill (17) and Karen Smith (18), from the English Midlands, are arrested in Bangkok after being found with 32 kg (70 lb) of heroin in their luggage		1990
Silvano de Gennaro, an analyst in the Computer Science department at CERN, takes a photograph of Les Horribles Cernettes – an all–female parody pop group formed by CERN staff – which would become one of the first photgraphs to be posted on the World Wide Web		1992
85 people are killed, and around 300 injured, in a suicide bombing of the Argentine Jewish Community Centre in Buenos Aires. The Iranian government and the Hezbollah militia (based in Lebanon) are suspected of carrying it out		1994
The Rwandan Patriotic Front takes control of the city of Gisenyi and north western Rwanda, forcing the interim government into Zaire and ending the Rwandan genocide		1994
The Soufrière Hills volcano, on the Caribbean island of Montserrat (a British Overseas Territory), erupts – devastating the island, destroying the capital Plymouth, and forcing most of the population to flee over the next several years		1995
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam capture the Sri Lanka Army's base at Mullaitivu, killing over 1,200 soldiers		1996
One of the costliest natural disasters in the history of Quebec begins, as two weeks of constant rain lead to severe flooding on the Saguenay River		1996
Paul Lawrie, 30, becomes the first Scot to win the Open Championship for 68 years (at Carnoustie)		1999
Alex Salmond resigns as leader of the Scottish National Party		2000
Dr. David Kelly, UK government weapons expert and the principal source for a BBC report that disputed the government's claim that Iraq had developed weapons of mass destruction, is found dead at Harrowdown Hill, approximately two miles from his home in Abingdon, Oxfordshire		2003
At least seven people are killed and 32 others are injured, in a suicide bomb attack on an bus carrying Israeli tourists at Burgas Airport, Bulgaria. The Iranian government and the Hezbollah militia (based in Lebanon) are suspected of being responsible		2012
The Government of Detroit, being up to $20 billion in debt, files for the largest municipal bankruptcy in US history		2013
36 people are killed, and 33 others injured, in an arson attack on one of Japan's most famous anime studios, in Kyoto. The perpetrator himself sustains severe burns, and persists in accusing the studio of plagiarising a novel that he sent it to be considered for publication		2019

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On This Day: 18 July