August 18 in history — What Happened Today in History

The Soviet Union's robotic probe Luna 24 successfully lands on the Moon.

Aeroflot Flight A-13 crashes after takeoff from Baku-Bina International Airport in Azerbaijan, killing 56 people and injuring eight.

Vietnam War: Australia and New Zealand decide to withdraw their troops from Vietnam.

Vietnam War: The Battle of Long Tan ensues after a patrol from the 6th Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment clashes with a Viet Cong force in Phước Tuy Province.

Vietnam War: Operation Starlite begins: United States Marines destroy a Viet Cong stronghold on the Van Tuong peninsula in the first major American ground battle of the war.

Civil rights movement: James Meredith becomes the first African American to graduate from the University of Mississippi.

Vladimir Nabokov's controversial novel Lolita is published in the United States.

Brojen Das from Bangladesh swims across the English Channel in a competition as the first Bengali and the first Asian to do so, placing first among the 39 competitors.

Julien Lahaut, the chairman of the Communist Party of Belgium, is assassinated. The Party newspaper blames royalists and Rexists.

Kemi strike: Two protesters die in the scuffle between the police and the strikers' protest procession in Kemi, Finland.

Sukarno takes office as the first president of Indonesia, following the country's declaration of independence the previous day.

Soviet-Japanese War: Battle of Shumshu: Soviet forces land at Takeda Beach on Shumshu Island and launch the Battle of Shumshu; the Soviet Union's Invasion of the Kuril Islands commences.

World War II: The Hardest Day air battle, part of the Battle of Britain, takes place. At that point, it is the largest aerial engagement in history with heavy losses sustained on both sides.

The Thousand Islands Bridge, connecting New York, United States, with Ontario, Canada, over the Saint Lawrence River, is dedicated by U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

A lightning strike starts the Blackwater Fire of 1937 in Shoshone National Forest, killing 15 firefighters within three days and prompting the United States Forest Service to develop their smokejumper program.

The Volksempfänger is first presented to the German public at a radio exhibition; the presiding Nazi Minister of Propaganda, Joseph Goebbels, delivers an accompanying speech heralding the radio as the 'eighth great power'.

The first British Track and Field championships for women are held in London, Great Britain.

The Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution is ratified, guaranteeing women's suffrage.

A Great Fire in Thessaloniki, Greece, destroys 32% of the city leaving 70,000 individuals homeless.

German engineer Karl Jatho allegedly flies his self-made, motored gliding airplane four months before the first flight of the Wright brothers.

A major hurricane strikes Martinique, leaving 700 dead.

American astronomer Asaph Hall discovers Phobos, one of Mars's moons.

Franco-Prussian War: Battle of Gravelotte is fought.

French astronomer Pierre Janssen discovers helium.

American Civil War: Battle of Globe Tavern: Union forces try to cut a vital Confederate supply-line into Petersburg, Virginia, by attacking the Wilmington and Weldon Railroad.

The Wilkes Expedition, which would explore the Puget Sound and Antarctica, weighs anchor at Hampton Roads.

Major Gordon Laing becomes the first European to enter Timbuktu.

The Senate of Finland is established in the Grand Duchy of Finland after the official adoption of the Statute of the Government Council by Tsar Alexander I of Russia.

Morgan Sanson, French footballer

Seiya Suzuki, Japanese baseball player

Jung Eun-ji, South Korean singer-songwriter

Maia Mitchell, Australian actress and singer

Elizabeth Beisel, American swimmer

Bogdan Bogdanović, Serbian basketball player

Frances Bean Cobain, American visual artist and model

Liz Cambage, Australian basketball player

Richard Harmon, Canadian actor

Anna Akana, American actress, comedian, musician, and YouTuber

Yu Mengyu, Singaporean table tennis player

Jack Hobbs, English footballer

Eggert Jónsson, Icelandic footballer

Khaled al-Asaad, Syrian archaeologist and author (born 1932)

Roger Smalley, English-Australian pianist, composer, and conductor (born 1943)

Suvra Mukherjee, wife of Indian president Pranab Mukherjee (born 1940)

Louis Stokes, American lawyer and politician (born 1925)

Bud Yorkin, American director, producer, and screenwriter (born 1926)

Gordon Faber, American soldier and politician, 39th Mayor of Hillsboro, Oregon (born 1930)

Jim Jeffords, American captain, lawyer, and politician (born 1934)

Levente Lengyel, Hungarian chess player (born 1933)

Don Pardo, American radio and television announcer (born 1918)

Josephine D'Angelo, American baseball player (born 1924)

Jean Kahn, French lawyer and activist (born 1929)

Albert Murray, American author and critic (born 1916)

Harrison Begay, American painter (born 1917)