This is a list of selected February 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. Before doing so, please review the selected anniversaries guidelines. If your suggestion is potentially controversial or relates to a day currently or soon to appear on the Main Page, post it on the talk page instead.
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- Events listed on the Main Page are selected based on article quality and to provide a diverse range of topics, rather than solely on the importance or significance of the events.
- Only four or five events are featured each day; therefore, not all important or significant events can be included.
- An event is generally excluded if it is already the subject of the scheduled featured article or picture of the day.
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King Victor Emmanuel II of Italy
Victor Emanuel II of Italy. 5 silver lire
Royal Swedish Dramatic Theatre
Joseph Goebbels
Statue of Dedan Kimathi
Vasil Levski
Ineligible
| Blurb | Reason |
|---|---|
| 1268 – A coalition of Russian medieval states defeated the Livonian Brothers of the Sword at the Battle of Rakovor near present-day Rakvere, Estonia. | refimprove, needs rewrite |
| 1861 – With Italian unification almost complete, Victor Emmanuel II of Piedmont, Savoy and Sardinia assumed the title King of Italy. | more footnotes |
| 1908 – The Royal Dramatic Theatre in Stockholm, Sweden's national stage for "spoken drama", opened with playwright August Strindberg's play Master Olof. | no footnotes |
| 1911 – The first official flight with airmail took place when pilot Henri Pequet carried 6,500 letters from Allahabad to Naini, British India, about 13 kilometres (8 mi) away. | refimprove |
| 1932 – The Empire of Japan established Manchukuo, a puppet state in northeastern China during the Sino-Japanese War. | needs more footnotes |
| 1946 - President Harry Truman signed the Rescission Act of 1946, denying veteran benefits to military forces of the Government of the Commonwealth of the Philippines and guerillas in the Philippines during the Japanese Occupation. | short |
| 1954 – The Church of Scientology, the largest organization devoted to the practice and the promotion of the Scientology belief system, was incorporated in Los Angeles. | refimprove sections, {{sync}} |
| 1970 – An American jury acquitted the "Chicago Seven" of conspiracy and inciting riots stemming from protests during the 1968 Democratic National Convention. | refimprove section |
| 2003 – An arsonist started a fire aboard a Daegu Metropolitan Subway train in Daegu, South Korea, killing almost two hundred passengers. | refimprove |
Eligible
- 1873 – Vasil Levski, the national hero of Bulgaria, was executed in Sofia by Ottoman authorities for his efforts to establish an independent Bulgarian republic.
- 1878 – Competition between two merchants in Lincoln County, New Mexico Territory, U.S., turned into a range war when a member of one faction was murdered by the other.
- 1942 – World War II: The Imperial Japanese Army began the systematic extermination of perceived hostile elements among Chinese Singaporeans.
- 1943 – Joseph Goebbels, Hitler's propaganda minister, delivered the "total war speech" to motivate the German people when the tide of World War II was turning against Germany.
- 1946 – Sailors of the Royal Indian Navy began a total strike on board ship and shore establishments at Bombay harbour that grew into a mutiny involvingover 10,000 sailors
- 2001 – American FBI agent Robert Hanssen was arrested for having spied for the KGB and GRU over a 22-year period.
- 2001 – Inter-ethnic violence between Dayaks and Madurese broke out in Sampit, Indonesia, that would ultimately result in more than 500 deaths and 100,000 Madurese displaced from their homes.
- 2010 – Rebels attacked the presidential palace in Niamey, Niger, and replaced President Mamadou Tandja with a ruling junta, the Supreme Council for the Restoration of Democracy.
February 18: Independence Day in The Gambia (1965)
Enterprise on the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft
- 1637 – Eighty Years' War: Off the coast of Cornwall, a Spanish fleet intercepted an Anglo-Dutch merchant convoy of 44 vessels and 6 warships, destroying or capturing 20 of them.
- 1766 – A mutiny by captive Malagasy began on the slave ship Meermin, leading to the ship's destruction on Cape Agulhas in present-day South Africa and the recapture of the instigators.
- 1957 – Kenyan independence leader Dedan Kimathi, who spearheaded the Mau Mau Uprising, was executed by British authorities, who saw him as a terrorist.
- 1977 – NASA's first Space Shuttle, Enterprise, made its test flight atop the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft (pictured).
- 2007 – Terrorist bombs exploded on the Samjhauta Express train in Panipat, Haryana, India, killing 68 people.
Bobby Robson (b. 1933) · J. Robert Oppenheimer (d. 1967)
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