18
February
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February 18 in History
2007
Terrorist bombs explode on the Samjhauta Express in Panipat, Haryana, India, killing 68 people.
2004
Up to 295 people, including nearly 200 rescue workers, die near Neyshabur in Iran when a run-away freight train carrying sulfur, petrol and fertilizer catches fire and explodes.
2003
Comet C/2002 V1 (NEAT) makes perihelion, seen by the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory.
Nearly 200 people die in the Daegu subway fire in South Korea.
2001
Dale Earnhardt dies in an accident in the final turn of the final lap of the Daytona 500.
FBI agent Robert Hanssen is arrested for spying for the Soviet Union. He is ultimately convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment.
1998
Two white separatists are arrested in Nevada and accused of plotting a biological attack on New York City subways.
1991
The IRA explodes bombs in the early morning at Paddington station and Victoria station in London.
1983
Thirteen people die and one is seriously injured in the Wah Mee Massacre in Seattle, Washington. It is said to be the largest robbery-motivated mass-murder in U.S. history.
1979
Snow falls in the Sahara Desert in southern Algeria for the only time in recorded history.
1977
The Space Shuttle ''Enterprise'' test vehicle is carried on its maiden "flight" on top of a Boeing 747.
1972
The California Supreme Court in the case of ''People v. Anderson'', 6 Cal.3d 628 invalidates the state's death penalty and commutes the sentences of all death row inmates to life imprisonment.
1970
The Chicago Seven are found not guilty of conspiring to incite riots at the 1968 Democratic National Convention.
1969
Hawthorne Nevada Airlines Flight 708 crashes into Mount Whitney killing all on board.
1965
The Gambia becomes independent from the United Kingdom.
1957
Kenyan rebel leader Dedan Kimathi is executed by the British colonial government.
1955
Operation Teapot: Teapot test shot "Wasp" is successfully detonated at the Nevada Test Site with a yield of 1.2 kilotons. Wasp is the first of fourteen shots of the Teapot series.
1954
The first Church of Scientology is established in Los Angeles, California.
1948
Eamon de Valera resigns as Taoiseach of Ireland.
1943
Joseph Goebbels delivers his ''Sportpalast'' speech.
The Nazis arrest the members of the White Rose movement.
1932
The Empire of Japan declares Manzhouguo (the obsolete Chinese name for Manchuria) independent from the Republic of China.
1930
While studying photographs taken in January, Clyde Tombaugh discovers Pluto.
Elm Farm Ollie becomes the first cow to fly in a fixed-wing aircraft and also the first cow to be milked in an aircraft.
1929
The first Academy Awards are announced.
1913
Raymond Poincaré becomes President of France.
1911
The first official flight with air mail takes place in Allahabad, British India, when Henri Pequet, a 23-year-old pilot, delivers 6,500 letters to Naini, about {{Convert|10|km|mi}} away.
1906
Edouard de Laveleye forms the Belgian Olympic Committee in Brussels.
1901
Winston Churchill makes his maiden speech in the House of Commons.
1885
Mark Twain's ''Adventures of Huckleberry Finn'' is published for the first time.
1878
John Tunstall is murdered by outlaw Jessie Evans, sparking the Lincoln County War in Lincoln County, New Mexico.
1873
Bulgarian revolutionary leader Vasil Levski is executed by hanging in Sofia by the Ottoman authorities.
1865
Union forces under Major General William T. Sherman set the South Carolina State House on fire during the burning of Columbia.
1861
With the Italian unification almost complete, Victor Emmanuel II of Piedmont, Savoy and Sardinia assumes the title of King of Italy.
In Montgomery, Alabama, Jefferson Davis is inaugurated as the provisional President of the Confederate States of America.
1856
The ''Know-Nothings'' convene in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to nominate their first Presidential candidate, former President Millard Fillmore.
1846
Beginning of the Galician peasant revolt.
1841
The first ongoing filibuster in the United States Senate begins and lasts until March 11.
1814
Napoleonic Wars: The Battle of Montereau.
1797
Trinidad is surrendered to a British fleet under the command of Sir Ralph Abercromby.
1745
The city of Surakarta, Central Java is founded on the banks of Bengawan Solo River, and becomes the capital of the Kingdom of Surakarta.
1685
Fort St. Louis is established by a Frenchman at Matagorda Bay thus forming the basis for France's claim to Texas.
1478
George, Duke of Clarence, convicted of treason against his older brother Edward IV of England, is executed in private at the Tower of London.
1332
Amda Seyon I, Emperor of Ethiopia begins his campaigns in the southern Muslim provinces.
1268
The Livonian Brothers of the Sword are defeated by Dovmont of Pskov in the Battle of Rakvere.
1229
The Sixth Crusade: Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor signs a ten-year truce with al-Kamil, regaining Jerusalem, Nazareth, and Bethlehem with neither military engagements nor support from the papacy.