645: Li Shiji leads Chinese forces on an attack of Liaoning during the Goguryeo Tang War.
1195: The Castilian Army led by Alfonso VIII is defeated and forced to retreat to Toledo during the Battle of Alarcos by Almohad troops.
1290: The Edict of Expulsion is issued by King Edward I of England. This act banished all Jews from England.
1389: A 13-year peace is negotiated between England and France and formalized in the Truce of Leulinghem. It’s the longest peace of the 100 Years War.
1792: Revolutionary war hero John Paul Jones dies on this day.
1806: Over 200 people are killed in Birgu, Malta, when a gunpowder magazine ignites and explodes on this date.
1863: An unsuccessful assault on Confederate Battery Wagner is attempted by the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry – one of the first African American military units during the American Civil War.
1870: The dogma of papal infallibility is decreed by the First Vatican Council.
1872: the Ballot Act of 1872 is introduced in the U.K. This act requires all local government and parliamentary elections to be held using a secret ballot.
1914: The Aviation Section of the United States Signal Corps is formed by the United States Congress.
1925: Mein Kampf is published by Adolf Hitler.
1942: Norwegian paramilitary guards and members of Germany’s SS kill almost 300 political prisoners from Yugoslavia at the Beisfjord Massacre of Norway during World War 2.
1942: The Messerschmitt Me 262 is flown for the first time using its jet engines.
1944: Japanese Prime Minister Hideki Tojo resigns his position.
Famous Birthdays on July 18
American gangster Machine Gun Kelly is born in 1895.
American author Jessamyn West is born in 1902.
American singer and actress, Harriet Nelson is born in 1909.
American comedian and actor, Red Skelton is born in 1913.
South African activist, President and Nobel Prize laureate, Nelson Mandela is born in 1918.
American psychiatrist Aaron T. Beck is born in 1921
American Colonel, astronaut and politician, John Glenn is born in 1921.
American physicist and historian, Thomas Kuhn is born in 1922.
English actor Michael Medwin is born in 1923.
English businessman and founder of Virgin Group, Richard Branson is born in 1950.
American actress Margo Martindale is born in 1951.
American actress Elizabeth McGovern is born in 1961.