On this day in history - May 18

What Happened On This Day – May 18

• 2009 The Sri Lankan Civil War ends

  The 25-year conflict between the government and the separatist Tamil Tigers had claimed up to 100,000 lives. It ended with the Tigers' defeat.

• 1980 Mount St. Helens erupts

  The eruption killed 57 people. A large part of the previously cone-shaped volcano was replaced by a massive crater; its summit is now some 1300 feet (400 meters) lower than before the eruption.

• 1927 45 people die in the United States' worst school massacre

  In the Bath school disaster, a disgruntled school board member set off several bombs at the Bath Consolidated School and other locations in Michigan.

• 1848 The first German National Assembly gathers in Frankfurt

  The assembly constituted the first freely elected parliament of Germany. It produced a constitution that provided the basis for today's constitution of Germany (Grundgesetz).

• 1804 Napoleon Bonaparte is appointed Emperor of the French

  Even today, the French leader, a native of Corsica, is widely known for his successful military campaigns - and his final defeat at the Battle of Waterloo.