TODAY IN HISTORY: MAY 18

May 18 1901
Total eclipse of the sun was observed in Mauritius.

May 18 1902 - Boer War: Peace
Boer negotiators travelled from Vereeniging to Pretoria to present their proposals for surrender to British representatives: Lord Milner and Lord Kitchener. They were asking for a continued independence of the former republics.

May 18 1903
The British High Commissioner to South Africa, Lord Alfred Milner, proposed that educated and prosperous non-whites should be allowed to vote in local elections throughout South Africa (as is the currently the case in the Cape Colony).

May 18 1904
The infamous Moroccan bandit, Raizuli, kidnapped an American citizen, Ion H Perdicaris.

May 18 1911
Following a successful coup against his brother Abd al-Aziz IV, the new Moroccan Sultan Abd al-Hafid requested aid from France and Spain to put down a revolt. French General Moinier entered Fez, Morocco, without resistance.

May 18 1920: Pope John Paul II Born
On May 18, 1920, Karol Jozef Wojtyla was born in the Polish town of Wadowice, 35 miles southwest of Krakow.Wojtyla went on to become Pope John Paul II, history’s most well-traveled pope and the first non-Italian to hold the position since the 16th century. After high school, the future pope enrolled at Krakow’s Jagiellonian University, where he studied philosophy and literature and performed in a theater group. During World War II, Nazis occupied Krakow and closed the university, forcing Wojtyla to seek work in a quarry and, later, a chemical factory. By 1941, his mother, father, and only brother had all died, leaving him the sole surviving member of his family.

Although Wojtyla had been involved in the church his whole life, it was not until 1942 that he began seminary training. When the war ended, he returned to school at Jagiellonian to study theology, becoming an ordained priest in 1946. He went on to complete two doctorates and became a professor of moral theology and social ethics. On July 4, 1958, at the age of 38, he was appointed auxiliary bishop of Krakow by Pope Pius XII. He later became the city’s archbishop, where he spoke out for religious freedom while the church began the Second Vatican Council, which would revolutionize Catholicism. He was made a cardinal in 1967, taking on the challenges of living and working as a Catholic priest in communist Eastern Europe. Once asked if he feared retribution from communist leaders, he replied, “I’m not afraid of them. They are afraid of me.”

Wojtyla was quietly and slowly building a reputation as a powerful preacher and a man of both great intellect and charisma. Still, when Pope John Paul I died in 1978 after only a 34-day reign, few suspected Wojtyla would be chosen to replace him. But, after seven rounds of balloting, the Sacred College of Cardinals chose the 58-year-old, and he became the first-ever Slavic pope and the youngest to be chosen in 132 years.

May 18 1941 - World War II: East Africa
The 5th Indian Division, part of General William Platt's Northern Force, took Amba Alagi after 18 days of fighting. The Italian commander, Duke d'Aosta, was the last one to leave the fortress.

May 18 1953
During Muslim-Nationalist riots for independence in Nigeria, at least 32 people were killed.

May 18 1956
The members of a 19-strong French patrol had been discovered hacked to death in the mountains between Algiers and Constantine. This was just the latest in a series of such acts by Arab nationalists protesting against French rule in Algeria.

May 18 1980: Mount St. Helens Erupted
Mount St. Helens in Washington erupted, causing a massive avalanche and killing 57 people on this day in 1980. Ash from the volcanic eruption fell as far away as Minnesota.

Seismic activity at Mount St. Helens, which is 96 miles south of Seattle, began on March 16. A 4.2-magnitude tremor was recorded four days later and then, on March 23-24, there were 174 different recorded tremors. The first eruption occurred on March 27, when a 250-foot wide vent opened up on top of the mountain. Ash was blasted 10,000 feet in the air, some of which came down nearly 300 miles away in Spokane. The ash caused static electricity and lightning bolts.

Authorities issued a hazard watch for a 50-mile radius around the mountain. The National Guard set up road blocks to prevent access to the area, but these were easily avoided by using the region’s unguarded logging roads. Many residents of the area evacuated, but a substantial number refused. Harry Truman, 84—no relation to the former president—was one resident who refused to move and, after receiving a great deal of positive media coverage for his decision, became a national icon as well as, later, the subject of a local memorial.

Throughout April, scientists watched a bulge on the north side of Mount St. Helens grow larger and larger. Finally, on May 18 at 8:32 a.m., a sudden 5.1-magnitude earthquake and eruption rocked the mountain. The north side of the peak rippled and blasted out ash at 650 miles per hour. A cloud of ash, rocks, gas and glacial ice roared down the side of the mountain at 100 mph. Fourteen miles of the Toutle River were buried up to 150 feet deep in the debris. Magma, at 1,300 degrees Fahrenheit, flowed for miles.

The 24-megaton blast demolished a 230-square-mile area around the mountain. Geologist Dave Johnson was the closest to the eruption when it blew. He was on his radio that morning and was only able to say, Vancouver, Vancouver, this is it! before his truck was pushed over a ridge and he was killed.

May 18 2001: Shrek Released
On this day in 2001, the fledgling movie studio Dreamworks SKG, founded by Hollywood heavyweights Steven Spielberg, Jeffrey Katzenberg and David Geffen, released what became its most successful film to date: the animated feature Shrek.

Based on William Steig’s 1990 children’s book, Shrek was vividly re-imagined by Dreamworks animators as a subversive twist on the classic Beauty and the Beast story. The studio had originally signed the comedian Chris Farley to provide the voice for the titular green ogre, and his death in December 1997 temporarily set the project back, as the character of Shrek had been tailored to his personality and voice. After Mike Myers signed on, he lent his own spin to the character, including a thick Scottish accent with the flavor of Myers’ native Canada.

The film turned many of the sentimental clichés of fairy tales on their heads, with sympathetic portrayals of traditionally villainous figures such as ogres and dragons. In the world of Shrek, Prince Charming is a bumbling fool, while the ogre emerges as the romantic hero. Alongside Myers, Eddie Murphy was allowed to improvise in his role as the Donkey, Cameron Diaz voiced Princess Fiona and John Lithgow was the scheming Lord Farquaad. In an unusual marketing strategy for an animated film, the big-name cast members were promoted as the stars of the film, as opposed to the animated characters themselves.

Dreamworks entered Shrek in the Cannes Film Festival, where it was the first animated entry to compete there since 1974. It won no prizes, but began generating great word-of-mouth. Released in May 2001 to rave reviews, the film made $42 million in its opening weekend–the biggest DreamWorks opening ever, topping Ridley Scott’s blockbuster historical epic Gladiator. Shrek’s success helped establish Dreamworks as a force to be reckoned with in Hollywood, especially in the field of animation, where it emerged as a viable rival to Walt Disney Pictures. At the next year’s Academy Awards, Shrek beat out Disney’s Monsters, Inc. to win the Oscar for Best Animated Feature (the first-ever Oscar given in that category); it was also nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay.

When the American Film Institute released its lists of the 10 best films in 10 different genres in 2008, Shrek came in at No. 8, and was the only non-Disney film to make the list. Myers, Murphy and Diaz would reprise their roles in two successful sequels, released in 2004 and 2007. In December 2008, a Shrek musical opened on Broadway.

Source: history.com ,africanhistory.about.com