From Historynet: Today in History December 18

1118              Afonso the Battler , the Christian King of Aragon captures Saragossa, Spain, causing a major blow to Muslim Spain.

1812              Napoleon Bonaparte arrives in Paris after his disastrous campaign in Russia.

1862              Nathan Bedford Forrest engages and defeats a Federal cavalry force near Lexington in his continued effort to disrupt supply lines.

1862              Union General Ulysses S. Grant announces the organization of his army in the West. Sherman, Hurlbut, McPherson, and McClernand are to be corps commanders.

1865              Slavery is abolished in the United States. The 13th Amendment is formally adopted into the U.S. Constitution, ensuring that "neither slavery nor involuntary servitude... shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction."

1915              In a single night, about 20,000 Australian and New Zealand troops withdraw from Gallipoli, Turkey, undetected by the Turks defending the peninsula.

1916              The Battle of Verdun ends with the French and Germans each having suffered more than 330,000 killed and wounded in 10 months. It was the longest engagement of World War I.

1925              Soviet leaders Lev Kamenev and Grigori Zinoviev break with Joseph Stalin.

1940              Adolf Hitler issues his secret plans for the invasion of the Soviet Union--Operation Barbarossa.

1941              Defended by 610 fighting men, the American-held island of Guam falls to more than 5,000 Japanese invaders in a three-hour battle.

1941              Japan invades Hong Kong.

1942              Adolf Hitler  meets with 

Benito Mussolini   and Pierre Laval .

1944              Japanese forces are repelled from northern Burma by British troops.

1951              North Koreans give the United Nations a list of 3,100 POWs.

1956              Japan is admitted to the United Nations.

1960              A rightist government is installed under Prince Boun Oum in Laos as the United States resumes arms shipments.

1965              U.S. Marines attack VC units in the Que Son Valley during Operation Harvest Moon.

1970              An atomic leak in Nevada forces hundreds of citizens to flee the test site.

1972              President Richard M. Nixon declares that the bombing of North Vietnam will continue until an accord can be reached (Operation Linebacker II).

1989              The European Economic Community and the Soviet Union sign an agreement on trade and economic communication.

2002              California Gov. Gray Davis announces the state faces a record budget deficit; the looming $35 billion shortfall is almost double the amount reported a month earlier during the state's gubernatorial campaign.

2005              Civil war begins in Chad with a rebel assault on Adre; the rebels are believed to be backed by Chad's neighbor, Sudan.

2008              United Arab Emirates holds it first-ever elections.

2010              In an opening act of Arab Spring, anti-government protests erupt in Tunisia.