è successo un 18 Agosto

1920 : Amendment on the right of women to vote is ratified


On August 18, 1920, in the United States, the 19th Amendment to the Constitution, giving women the right to vote is ratified by Tennessee. The majority of two thirds of the States which ratified it having been reached, the amendment entered into force.

1931 : The flood of the Yangtze River at its highest level


On August 18, 1931, in China, the flooding of the Yangtze River reached its peak. Crops were destroyed and diseases such as dysentery and typhoid were spreading. Within months, 3.7 million people died directly or indirectly because of the floods.

1977 : Steve Biko arrested


On August 18, 1977, in South Africa, the anti-apartheid activist Steve Biko was arrested by police and interrogated and tortured for 22 hours at Port Elizabeth before falling into a coma. He died on September 12 shortly after arriving in a prison in Pretoria, allegedly on hunger strike. The truth was revealed by the journalists Donald Woods and Helen Zille and had a great impact in the world. 10,000 people attended his funeral.

1991 : Coup against Gorbachev


On August 18, 1991, the President of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev, is placed under house arrest in Crimea by the hard line of his government, leaders of the army and the KGB who declared the state of emergency and tried to take control of the country. Gorbatchev had undertaken a series of reforms of the country (perestroika) and a policy of openness (glasnost).
Boris Yeltsin, President of the Republic of Russia, who thought that the reforms did not go fast enough, decided to call the people to rally against the coup and when the army came to arrest him in the parliament of Russia, it found it locked and defended by armed civilians. Yeltsin urged the soldiers to step back and the soldiers decided to join the resistance. The coup was a failure.
Gorbachev returned to power and accentuated the reforms (dissolution of the communist party, independence of the Baltic states, market economy ...) before resigning in December 1991.

2005 : Black-out on the islands of Java and Bali


On August 18, 2005, in Indonesia, a gigantic power outage broke out at 10:23 on the island of Java and spread progressively to other central Java and Bali. 100 million people were without electricity. Power was restored at the end of the afternoon.

Citazione del giorno : 18 Agosto

Steve Biko
The most potent weapon of the oppressor is the mind of the oppressed.

Compleanni : 18 Agosto

Franz Joseph I, Imperatore d'Austria (1830)
Lucienne Boyer, Cantante francese (1903)
Marcel Carné, Regista francese (1906)
Edgar Faure, Uomo politico francese (1908)
Caspar Weinberger, Uomo politico americano (1917)
Lydia Litvyak, Combattente nella Air Force sovietico (1921)
Alain Robbe-Grillet, Scrittore francese (1922)
Hugues Aufray, Cantante francese (1929)
Luc Montagnier, Virologo francese, Premio Nobel per la Fisiologia e Medicina (1932)
Roman Polanski, Regista polacco (1933)
Robert Redford, Attore e regista americano (1936)
Patrick Swayze, Attore americano (1952)
Carole Bouquet, Attrice francese (1957)
Madeleine Stowe, Attrice americana (1958)
Felipe Calderón, 56o Presidente del Messico (1962)
Everlast , Musicista americano (1969)
Edward Norton, Attore americano (1969)
Christian Slater, Attore americano (1969)
Malcolm-Jamal Warner, Attore americano (1970)
Preeti Jhangiani, Attrice indiana (1980)
Mika, Cantante inglese (1983)
Inge Dekker, Nuotatrice olandese (1985)
Ross McCormack, Calciatore scozzese (1986)
Elizabeth Beisel, Nuotatrice americana (1992)

Ci hanno lasciato un 18 Agosto

Wanli, Imperatore della Cina (1620)
Louis de Freycinet, Esploratore francese (1841)
Honoré de Balzac, Scrittore francese (1850)
Walter Chrysler, Fondatore della Chrysler Corporation (1940)
Anita Loos, Sceneggiatrice americana (1981)
Robert Novak, Giornalista americano (2009)
Kim Dae-jung, 15o Presidente della Corea del Sud, premio Nobel per la Pace (2009)
Altre date
Vue mer : crédit photo Aseed