WEDNESDAY, June 18, 2025

618-Coronation of the Chinese governor Li Yuan as Emperor Gaozu of Tang, the new Emperor of China, initiating three centuries of the Tang Dynasty's rule over China

1812-War of 1812 begins as the US declares war against Britain

1815-Battle of Waterloo; Napoleon Bonaparte and France defeated by British forces under Duke of Wellington and Prussian troops under Field Marshall von Blücher

1928-American aviator Amelia Earhart becomes the first woman to fly across the Atlantic Ocean (as a passenger), landing at Burry Port, Wales

1940-Winston Churchill gives his "this was their finest hour" speech to the House of Commons urging perseverance in the war after the Dunkirk evacuation and the fall of France

1979-U.S. President Carter and Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev sign SALT II treaty limiting nuclear weapons

1986-U.S. House of Representatives approves Bill to impose stricter sanctions on Apartheid South Africa

2015-Pope Francis blames human selfishness for global warming in his encyclical, named "Laudato Si (Be Praised), On the Care of Our Common Home"