Sun · 27 SepMoon 99%Field Kp 4 · active Quote · Marcus Aurelius Riddle of the day Card of the dayHow today feels →

This day in history

This day in history: 18 April

Events, births and deaths on this date, ordered by how many people look them up.

Share

← Previous day17 Apr

Events47

Born on this day · Died on this day137 · 67

Next day →19 Apr

Key facts

251 historical events, births and deaths are listed for 18 April.
Entries come from Wikipedia’s day pages and are ordered by page views.
2026: Seven people are killed and fourteen others are injured in a mass shooting in Kyiv, Ukraine

Holidays and observances

Army Day (Iran)

Christian feast day: Anthusa of Constantinople

Christian feast day: April 18 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)

Christian feast day: Blessed Marie of the Incarnation

Christian feast day: Blessed Savina Petrilli

Christian feast day: Cyril VI of Constantinople (Eastern Orthodox Church)

Christian feast day: Eleutherius and Antia

Christian feast day: Galdino della Sala

Christian feast day: Molaise of Leighlin

Christian feast day: Perfectus

Coma Patients' Day (Poland)

Friend's Day (Brazil)

Events

2026Seven people are killed and fourteen others are injured in a mass shooting in Kyiv, Ukraine

2019A redacted version of the Mueller report is released to the United States Congress and the public.

2018Anti-government protests start in Nicaragua.

2018King Mswati III of Swaziland announces that his country's name will change to Eswatini.

1996The Israeli military commits the Qana massacre in a deliberate shelling of a United Nations compound near the village of Qana in southern Lebanon, killing 106 Lebanese civilians who were taking shelter there and wounding over 100 more.

1988In Israel John Demjanjuk is sentenced to death for war crimes committed in World War II, although the verdict is later overturned.

1988The United States launches Operation Praying Mantis against Iranian naval forces in the largest naval battle since World War II.

1980The Republic of Zimbabwe (formerly Rhodesia) comes into being, with Canaan Banana as the country's first President. The Zimbabwean dollar replaces the Rhodesian dollar as the official currency.

1980The town of Elmore City, Oklahoma holds its first dance in the town's history.

1978The Ba Chúc massacre begins, which precipitates the Cambodian–Vietnamese War the same year.

1972East African Airways Flight 720 crashes during a rejected takeoff from Addis Ababa Bole International Airport in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, killing 43.

1955Twenty-nine nations meet at Bandung, Indonesia, for the first Asian-African Conference.

1954Gamal Abdel Nasser seizes power in Egypt.

1949The Republic of Ireland Act comes into force, declaring Éire to be a republic and severing Ireland's "association" with the Commonwealth of Nations.

1947The Operation Big Bang, the largest non-nuclear man-made explosion to that time, destroys bunkers and military installations on the North Sea island of Heligoland, Germany.

1946Jackie Robinson makes his regular season debut for the Montreal Royals of the International League, to make them the first integrated modern professional baseball team.

1946The International Court of Justice holds its inaugural meeting in The Hague, Netherlands.

1945Italian resistance movement: In Turin, despite the harsh repressive measures adopted by Nazi-fascists, a great pre-insurrectional strike begins.

1945World War II: Over 1,000 bombers attack the small island of Heligoland, Germany.

1943World War II: Operation Vengeance, Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto is killed when his aircraft is shot down by U.S. fighters over Bougainville Island.

1942Pierre Laval becomes Prime Minister of Vichy France.

1942World War II: The Doolittle Raid on Japan: Tokyo, Yokohama, Kobe and Nagoya are bombed.

1939Robert Menzies, who became Australia's longest-serving prime minister, is elected as leader of the United Australia Party after the death of Prime Minister Joseph Lyons.

1938Superman debuts in Action Comics #1 (cover dated June 1938).

1930A fire kills 118 people at a wooden church in the small Romanian town of Costești, most of them schoolchildren, after starting during Good Friday services.

1916World War I: During a mine warfare in high altitude on the Dolomites, the Italian troops conquer the Col di Lana held by the Austrian army.

1915World War I: French pilot Roland Garros is shot down and glides to a landing on the German side of the lines.

1912The Cunard liner RMS Carpathia brings 705 survivors from the RMS Titanic to New York City.

1909Joan of Arc is beatified in Rome.

1906The 7.9 Mwearthquake and fire destroy much of San Francisco, California, killing more than 3,000 people, making one of the worst natural disasters in American history.

1902The 7.5 Mw Guatemala earthquake shakes Guatemala with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe), killing between 800 and 2,000.

1899The St. Andrew's Ambulance Association is granted a royal charter by Queen Victoria.

1897The Greco-Turkish War is declared between Greece and the Ottoman Empire.

1864Battle of Dybbøl: A Prussian-Austrian army defeats Denmark and gains control of Schleswig. Denmark surrenders the province in the following peace settlement.

1857The Spirits Book by Allan Kardec is published, marking the birth of Spiritualism in France.

1847American victory at the battle of Cerro Gordo opens the way for invasion of Mexico.

1831The University of Alabama is founded in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.

1797War of the First Coalition: The Peace of Leoben is signed by Napoleon Bonaparte and Maximilian, Count of Merveldt, creating an armistice between France and Austria, setting the stage for the Treaty of Campo Formio and ending the War of the

1783Three-Fifths Compromise: The first instance of black slaves in the United States of America being counted as three-fifths of persons (for the purpose of taxation), in a resolution of the Congress of the Confederation. This was later adopted

1775American Revolution: The British Army advances up the Charles River in Massachusetts to destroy supplies of American militias, while Paul Revere and other riders rapidly warn the countryside.

Born on this day

1996Ski Mask the Slump God, American rapper

1995Divock Origi, Belgian footballer

1994Aminé, American singer-songwriter

1993Mika Zibanejad, Swedish ice hockey player

1992Chloe Bennet, American actress

1990Wojciech Szczęsny, Polish footballer

1989Alia Shawkat, American actress

1988Vanessa Kirby, English actress

1986Tina Bru, Norwegian politician

1985Łukasz Fabiański, Polish footballer

1984America Ferrera, American actress

1983Miguel Cabrera, Venezuelan baseball player

1981Audrey Tang, Taiwanese Minister of Digital Affairs and programmer

1979Kourtney Kardashian, American television personality

1979Matt Cooper, Australian rugby league player

1976Andrew Ng, British-born American artificial intelligence researcher

1976Melissa Joan Hart, American actress

1974Edgar Wright, English filmmaker

1973Derrick Brooks, American football player

1973Haile Gebrselassie, Ethiopian runner

1972Eli Roth, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter

1972Rosa Clemente, American journalist and activist

1971David Tennant, Scottish actor

1970Saad Hariri, Saudi Arabian-Lebanese businessman and politician, 33rd Prime Minister of Lebanon

1970Willie Roaf, American football player

1969Keith DeCandido, American author

1964Niall Ferguson, Scottish historian and academic

1963Conan O'Brien, American television host, comedian, and writer

1962Jeff Dunham, American ventriloquist and comedian

1961Jane Leeves, English actress and dancer

1961John Podhoretz, American journalist and author

1960Yelena Zhupiyeva-Vyazova, Ukrainian runner

1959Susan Faludi, American journalist, author and feminist

1958Gabi Delgado-López, Spanish-German singer, co-founder of D.A.F. (died 2020)

1958Malcolm Marshall, Barbadian cricketer and coach (died 1999)

1954Michael Salvatori, American composer

1954Robert Greenberg, American pianist and composer

1953Rick Moranis, Canadian-American actor, comedian, singer and screenwriter

1953Sk. Mujibur Rahman, Bengali politician

1950Grigory Sokolov, Russian pianist and composer

Died on this day

2024Dickey Betts, American guitarist, singer, songwriter and composer (born 1943)

2024Mandisa, American gospel singer (born 1976)

2022Harrison Birtwistle, British composer (born 1934)

2019Lyra McKee, Irish journalist (born 1990)

2014Brian Priestman, English conductor and academic (born 1927)

2014Guru Dhanapal, Indian director and producer (born 1959)

2014Sanford Jay Frank, American screenwriter and producer (born 1954)

2013Anne Williams, English activist (born 1951)

2013Goran Švob, Croatian philosopher and author (born 1947)

2012Dick Clark, American television host and producer, founded Dick Clark Productions (born 1929)

2012K. D. Wentworth, American author (born 1951)

2012René Lépine, Canadian businessman and philanthropist (born 1929)

2012Robert O. Ragland, American musician (born 1931)

2008Germaine Tillion, French ethnologist and anthropologist (born 1907)

2004Kamisese Mara, Fijian politician, 2nd President of Fiji (born 1920)

2002Thor Heyerdahl, Norwegian ethnographer and explorer (born 1914)

1995Arturo Frondizi, Argentinian lawyer and politician, 32nd President of Argentina (born 1908)

1988Oktay Rıfat Horozcu, Turkish poet and playwright (born 1914)

1974Marcel Pagnol, French author, playwright, and director (born 1895)

1965Guillermo González Camarena, Mexican engineer (born 1917)

1964Ben Hecht, American director, producer, and screenwriter (born 1894)

1963Meyer Jacobstein, American academic and politician (born 1880)

1958Maurice Gamelin, Belgian-French general (born 1872)

1955Albert Einstein, German-American physicist, engineer, and academic (born 1879)

1951Óscar Carmona, Portuguese field marshal and politician, 11th President of Portugal (born 1869)

1947Jozef Tiso, Slovak priest and politician, President of Slovakia (born 1887)

1945Ernie Pyle, American journalist and soldier (born 1900)

1945John Ambrose Fleming, English physicist and engineer, invented the vacuum tube (born 1849)

1943Isoroku Yamamoto, Japanese admiral (born 1884)

1942Aleksander Mitt, Estonian speed skater (born 1903)

Quote of the day

“The happiness of your life depends upon the quality of your thoughts.”

Marcus Aurelius

Questions people ask

Where do the entries come from?

From Wikipedia’s on-this-day pages for this language, updated once a day and ordered by how often each article is read.

This day in history

Every question has its own page

Journal

What you should know, before others do

Weekly insights. One article. One practice. No noise.

Cookies

We use essential cookies to run the platform. Analytics and marketing cookies are only turned on once you consent — you can change your choice at any time.