Minecraft launcher will not run any version before snapshot 17w43a

Every time I install a version of Minecraft 1.12.2 or older, the download works fine, but when I click "play", the launcher tells me that an unexpected crash occurred. I tested this, and it seems to start when you go back to 1.12.2 or earlier. The oldest version of Minecraft java edition that runs is snapshot 17w43a, the very first snapshot for version 1.13.0.