18 MARCH

1901 - Filipino soldiers led by General Ananias Diokno are ambushed while trying to fight off the invading American imperialist forces in the island of Panay during the Philippine-American War; Gen. Diokno, who has been compelled to conduct a guerrilla war with a few men left in his control following the February 2 surrender of General Martin Delgado to enemy Gen. Robert P. Hughes, will patriotically refuse the American offer of the directorship of the Bureau of Agriculture.

1950 - The Belgian government falls as a plebiscite on the return of exiled King Leopold III resulted in a narrow majority; the King will be allowed to return by the parliament but he will abdicate in favor of his son Baudouin who, in turn, will rule until his death in the early 1990s.

1962 - France and Algeria sign a truce to end the Algerian War, signaling the end of 130 years of colonial French rule; beginning in 1954, Muslims belonging to the Front de Liberation Nationale embarked on a guerrilla-style war of independence and although they were contained, French President Charles de Gaulle saw the inevitability of Algerian independence and, thus, decided to forge the truce.

1992 - South Africa overwhelmingly votes yes in a referendum on instituting political reforms to end apartheid and create a power-sharing multi-racial government; apartheid, expanded racial segregation that discriminated against the black majority, was officially adopted in the 1950s but internal and international opposition to the practice eventually pressured the white government to reform.