This is a list of selected August 18 anniversaries that appear in the "On this day" section of the Main Page. To suggest a new item, in most cases, you can be bold and edit this page. Please read the selected anniversaries guidelines before making your edit. However, if your addition might be controversial or on a day that is or will soon be on the Main Page, please post your suggestion on the talk page instead.
Please note that the events listed on the Main Page are chosen based more on relative article quality and to maintain a mix of topics, not based solely on how important or significant their subjects are. Only four to five events are posted at a time and thus not everything that is "most important and significant" can be listed. In addition, an event is generally not posted this year if it is also the subject of the scheduled featured article, featured list or picture of the day.
To report an error when this appears on the Main Page, see Main Page errors. Please remember that this list defers to the supporting articles, so it is best to achieve consensus and make any necessary changes there first.
Images
Use only ONE image at a time
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Marguerite de Valois -
Phobos -
Pierre Jules Janssen -
Helium atom nucleus
Ineligible
| Blurb | Reason |
|---|---|
| Long Tan Day in Australia (1966) | lead too long |
| 1572 – French Wars of Religion: Margaret of Valois was wedded to Huguenot King Henry of Navarre, in an attempt to reconcile Protestants and Catholics. | refimprove |
| 1917 – A fire destroyed about 9,500 homes in Thessaloniki, Greece, leaving 70,000 homeless. | {{refimprove}} |
| 2008 – President of Pakistan Pervez Musharraf resigned under impeachment pressure. | out of date |
Eligible
- 1590 – On the third birthday of his granddaughter Virginia Dare, the first English child born in the Americas, John White, governor of the Roanoke Colony in present-day North Carolina, US, returned from England only to find the settlement deserted.
- 1877 – Asaph Hall discovered Phobos, the larger of Mars' two moons, six days after discovering Deimos, the other one.
- 1891 – A hurricane struck Martinique, killing about 700 people, injuring at least 1,000 others, and obliterating houses, trees, and crops across the entire island.
- 1948 – Australia completed a 4–0 Ashes series win, earning them the nickname of "The Invincibles" for being the first Test cricket match side to play an entire tour of England without losing a match.
- 1976 – North Korean soldiers killed two American soldiers in the Joint Security Area of the Korean Demilitarized Zone, heightening tensions over a 100-foot (30 m) poplar tree that blocked the line of sight between a United Nations Command checkpoint and an observation post.
Notes
- Deimos (moon) appears on August 12, so Phobos should not appear in the same year
- 1783 – An unusually bright meteor procession blazed across the night sky over Great Britain.
- 1864 – American Civil War: At the Battle of Globe Tavern, Union forces attempted to sever the Weldon Railroad during the Siege of Petersburg.
- 1868 – Astronomer Pierre Janssen discovered helium while analyzing the chromosphere of the sun during a total solar eclipse in Guntur, India.
- 1920 – The Nineteenth Amendment (authors Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony pictured) to the United States Constitution was ratified, guaranteeing women's suffrage in America.
- 1966 – Vietnam War: Members from D Company of the 6th Battalion of the Royal Australian Regiment were surrounded and attacked on all sides by a much larger Viet Cong unit at the Battle of Long Tan, but held them off for several hours until reinforcements arrived.
- 1989 – Leading Colombian presidential candidate Luis Carlos Galán was assassinated during a public demonstration in the town of Soacha, Cundinamarca.