1815Napoleon is defeated at Waterloo
Napoleon had escaped from exile on Elba in February 1815 and retaken power in France. Europe’s powers declared him an outlaw and gathered their armies, and he struck first, marching into what is now Belgium to beat the British-led allied army under the Duke of Wellington and the Prussians under Gebhard von Blücher before they could join forces. On 16 June he defeated the Prussians at Ligny while Marshal Ney held Wellington at Quatre-Bras, but neither enemy was destroyed.
On 18 June 1815, near the village of Waterloo south of Brussels, Napoleon attacked Wellington’s army along a ridge at Mont-Saint-Jean. He delayed his assault until midday to let the ground dry after heavy rain, and the time allowed Blücher’s Prussians to march to Wellington’s aid. Repeated French attacks, including massed cavalry charges and a final advance by the Imperial Guard, failed to break the allied line, and as the Prussians pressed on the French flank the French army collapsed. Napoleon abdicated four days later and was exiled to Saint Helena, where he died in 1821.
Read the full storyHistory & Timeline →Source: Britannica: Battle of Waterloo ↗
1940De Gaulle calls on France to fight on
In June 1940 German armies broke through in northern France and advanced on Paris. Charles de Gaulle, a tank commander recently made a junior minister, opposed any surrender. When Marshal Philippe Pétain became head of government and announced on 17 June that France must seek an armistice, de Gaulle flew to London the same morning, determined to continue the war from abroad.
With Winston Churchill’s permission, he spoke on the BBC’s French service on the evening of 18 June 1940. France had lost a battle, he said, but not the war, and he invited French officers, soldiers and engineers who were in Britain, or could reach it, to get in touch with him. Few in France heard the broadcast, and no recording of it was made, but it became the founding act of the Free French movement. De Gaulle went on to lead the Free French through the war and returned to Paris at its liberation in 1944.
Read the full storyHistory & Timeline →Source: Fondation Charles de Gaulle: The appeal of 18 June ↗
1953Egypt abolishes its monarchy and becomes a republic
On 23 July 1952 a group of army officers calling themselves the Free Officers seized power in Cairo. They forced King Farouk to abdicate in favour of his infant son and sent him into exile. The popular General Muhammad Naguib became the public face of the new regime, while real influence lay increasingly with the younger officers of the Revolutionary Command Council, led by Gamal Abdel Nasser.
On 18 June 1953 the council formally abolished the monarchy, ending the rule of the dynasty founded by Muhammad Ali in the early 19th century, and declared Egypt a republic with Naguib as its first president. His time in office was short. A power struggle with Nasser followed, and in November 1954 Naguib was removed and placed under house arrest, leaving Nasser as Egypt’s leader.
Read the full storyHistory & Timeline →Source: Britannica: Egypt, the revolution and the republic ↗
1908The first Japanese emigrants arrive in Brazil
In the early 1900s Brazil’s coffee plantations in São Paulo state were short of labour, while in Japan a growing population and hard times in the countryside pushed many families to look abroad. After the two governments reached agreement, a company was engaged to recruit contract workers in Japan to work on the coffee farms.
The ship Kasato Maru sailed from Kobe and, after a voyage of about 50 days, docked at the port of Santos on 18 June 1908 with 781 contracted emigrants on board. Conditions on the plantations proved hard and many of the first arrivals soon moved on, but more ships followed. Brazil now has the largest population of Japanese descent outside Japan, and 18 June is marked in Brazil as the Day of Japanese Immigration.
Read the full storyHistory & Timeline →Source: National Diet Library of Japan: The ship Kasato-maru ↗
1812The United States declares war on Britain
While Britain fought Napoleon, it tried to cut off France’s trade and stopped American merchant ships at sea, often seizing sailors and forcing them to serve in the Royal Navy. Americans also blamed Britain for encouraging Native American resistance on the north-western frontier. On 1 June 1812 President James Madison sent Congress a message listing these grievances and asking it to consider war.
The House of Representatives voted for war, and on 17 June the Senate followed by 19 votes to 13. Madison signed the act on 18 June 1812, the first declaration of war under the Constitution. The War of 1812 brought American invasions of Canada, the burning of Washington in 1814 and a US victory at New Orleans, and ended in a peace treaty that left the borders unchanged.
Read the full storyHistory & Timeline →Source: US National Archives: 1812, Congress’s first declaration of war ↗
