View Historical Events by Day: What Happened on July 18 in History?

The Great Fire of Rome begins during the reign of Emperor Nero, lasting for several days and resulting in significant destruction.

King Edward I of England issues the Edict of Expulsion, which mandated the expulsion of all Jews from England by November 1, 1290. This edict was not an isolated incident but the culmination of increasing antisemitism and restrictions imposed on Jewish communities over the preceding two centuries. The expulsion was a permanent ban that remained in effect for over 350 years. It wasn't until 1657, during the Protectorate under Oliver Cromwell, that Jews were permitted to return to England.

Adolf Hitler publishes Volume I of Mein Kampf, (My Struggle) a political and autobiographical manifesto. The book outlines many of Hitler's political beliefs, his political ideology and future plans for Germany and the world. Volume 2 was published in 1926. Hitler began Mein Kampf while imprisoned following his failed coup in Munich in November 1923 and receiving in 1924, a sentence of five years in prison. Book sales were slow but it became a bestseller in Germany following Hitler's rise to power in 1933.

General Dwight D. Eisenhower presents the first ever permanent Army commission assigned to a woman to Florence Aby Blanchfield to become a Lieutenant Coronel in the US Army. The presentation took place two days after the passage of the Army-Navy Nurse Act, which allowed Nurses to gain permanent commissioned-officer status. Blanchfield was United States Army Colonel and superintendent of the Army Nursing Corps. She was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal in 1945, and the Florence Nightingale Medal by the International Red Cross in 1951
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President Harry Truman signs the second Presidential Succession Act. The original act of 1792 had placed the Senate president pro tempore and Speaker of the House in the line of succession, but in 1886 Congress had removed them. The 1947 Executive order reinserted those officials but placed the Speaker ahead of the president pro tempore. In 1965, Senator Birch Bayh of Indiana and Representative Emanuel Celler of New York introduced joint resolutions in the Senate and House of Representatives aimed at clarifying and defining in the Constitution, the rules on Presidential succession and inability. Congress approved the 25th Amendment on 1965. The states completed ratification by February 10, 1967, and President Lyndon Johnson certified the amendment on February 23, 1967.

Romanian gymnast Nadia Elena Comăneci becomes the first gymnast to be awarded a perfect score of 10.0 at the Olympic Games. Her great achievement took place at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal where she received six more perfect 10s for other events and ended winning three gold medals becoming the youngest all-around gold medalist and one of the world's best-known gymnasts in the history of Olympic gymnastics. More

Mass shooting in the San Ysidro neighborhood of San Diego, California -  A heavily armed James Oliver Huberty enters the San Ysidro McDonald's restaurant killing twenty one people and injuring 19 others. The tragic and violent event lasted 77 minutes. The massacre ended when a police marksman sent a shot through Huberty’s chest and killed him. More

The city of Detroit files for Chapter 9 bankruptcy marking the largest municipal bankruptcy filing in U.S. history. The city faced a staggering debt of $18-20 billion, with revenue shortfalls and high pension obligations as a result of the city's long-term financial decline, high unemployment, rising crime rates, declining population and a shrinking tax base. The city officially emerged from bankruptcy in December 2014. More