June 18 belongs to Laia Casas

On June 18, 1815, Napoleon Bonaparte was definitively defeated by the Duke of Wellington and Marshal Blücher at the Battle of Waterloo in present-day Belgium. The defeat ended Napoleon's "Hundred Days" and the First French Empire. Napoleon was exiled to the island of Saint Helena, where he died in 1821. Waterloo became synonymous with a definitive and irreversible defeat.

On June 18, 1940, General Charles de Gaulle broadcast from London the "Appeal of June 18" on the BBC, refusing to accept France's armistice with Germany and calling on all free Frenchmen to continue the fight. De Gaulle, who had arrived in London the day before, thereby became the symbol of Free France. The speech was broadcast to France, but very few actually heard it live.

On June 18, 1983, astronaut Sally Ride became the first American woman to travel to space, aboard the shuttle Challenger on mission STS-7. Ride, who was 32, spent six days in orbit. She had been selected from more than 8,000 candidates. On her return, she became one of the most admired women in America and devoted the rest of her life to promoting science education.