What happened on February 18 ?

3102 BC - Epoch (origin) of the Kali Yuga- Lord Krishna is believed by Hare Krishnas and Hindus to have left the planet on this day.

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.

1332 (or 1329) - Amda Seyon I, Emperor of Ethiopia begins his campaigns in the southern Muslim provinces.

1478 - George, Duke of Clarence, convicted of treason against his older brother Edward IV of England, is privately executed in the Tower of London.

1685 - Fort St. Louis is established by a Frenchman at Matagorda Bay thus forming the basis for France's claim to Texas.

1797 - Trinidad is surrendered to a British fleet under the command of Sir Ralph Abercromby.

1814 - Battle of Montereau occurs.

1841 - The first ongoing filibuster in the United States Senate begins and lasts until March 11.

1856 - The American Party (Know-Nothings) convene in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to nominate their first Presidential candidate, former President Millard Fillmore.

1861 - In Montgomery, Alabama, Jefferson Davis is inaugurated as the provisional President of the Confederate States of America.

1861 - With the Italian unification almost complete, King Victor Emmanuel II of Piedmont, Savoy and Sardinia assumes the title of King of Italy.

1865 - In the U.S., Delaware voters reject the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, and vote to continue the practice of slavery. (Delaware finally ratifies the amendment on February 12, 1901.)

1878 - The Lincoln County War begins in Lincoln County, New Mexico.

1885 - Mark Twain's Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is published for the first time.

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 10 km away.

1913 - Raymond Poincaré becomes President of France.

1929 - First Academy Awards are announced.

1930 - While studying photographs taken in January, Clyde Tombaugh discovers Pluto.

1930 - Elm Farm Ollie becomes the first cow to fly in an airplane and also the first cow to be milked in an airplane.

1932 - The Empire of Japan declares Manzhouguo (obsolete Chinese name for Manchuria) independent from China.

1943 - The Nazis arrest the members of the White Rose movement.

1943 - Joseph Goebbels delivers the Sportpalast speech.

1948 - Eamon de Valera resigns as Taoiseach of Ireland.

1953 - The first 3D film, Bwana Devil, opens.

1953 - Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz sign an $8,000,000 contract to continue the I Love Lucy television series through 1955.

1965 - The Gambia becomes independent from the United Kingdom.

1970 - The Chicago Eight are found not guilty of conspiring to incite riots at the 1968 Democratic Party national convention.

1972 - The California Supreme Court invalidates the state's death penalty and commutes the sentences of all death row inmates to life in prison.

1977 - The Space Shuttle Enterprise test vehicle goes on its maiden "flight" while sitting on top of a Boeing 747.

1983 - Thirteen people die and one is seriously injured in the Wah Mee Massacre in Seattle, Washington, said to be the largest robbery-motivated mass-murder in American history.

1991 - The IRA explodes bombs in the early morning at both Paddington station and Victoria station in London.

1998 - Two white separatists are arrested in Nevada and accused of plotting a biological attack on New York City subways.

2001 - NASCAR legend Ralph Dale Earnhardt is killed in a crash during the last lap of the Daytona 500

2003 - Nearly 200 people die in the Daegu subway fire in South Korea

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 fertiliser catches fire and explodes.

2005 - The United Kingdom law banning fox hunting, hare coursing and other sports which kill wild mammals is enforced from this date.