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This day in history: 18 October

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

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Born on this day · Died on this day255 · 127

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Key facts

434 historical events, births and deaths are listed for 18 October.
Entries come from Wikipedia’s day pages and are ordered by page views.
1944: World War II: Soviet Union begins the liberation of Czechoslovakia from Nazi Germany.

Holidays and observances

Alaska Day (Alaska, United States)

Christian feast day: Asclepiades of Antioch

Christian feast day: Isaac Jogues

Christian feast day: Luke the Evangelist

Christian feast day: Monon

Christian feast day: October 18 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)

Christian feast day: Peter of Alcantara, can also be celebrated on October 19.

Day of Restoration of Independence (Azerbaijan), celebrates the independence of Azerbaijan from the Soviet Union in 1991.

Necktie Day (Croatia)

Persons Day (Canada)

World Menopause Day

Events

1944World War II: Soviet Union begins the liberation of Czechoslovakia from Nazi Germany.

1561In Japan the fourth Battle of Kawanakajima is fought between the forces of Uesugi Kenshin and Takeda Shingen, resulting in a draw.

1967The Soviet probe Venera 4 reaches Venus and becomes the first spacecraft to measure the atmosphere of another planet.

1945The USSR's nuclear program receives plans for the United States plutonium bomb from Klaus Fuchs at the Los Alamos National Laboratory.

1991The Supreme Council of Azerbaijan adopts a declaration of independence from the Soviet Union.

1945Argentine military officer and politician Juan Perón marries actress Eva Duarte.

1898The United States takes possession of Puerto Rico from Spain.

1775American Revolutionary War: The Burning of Falmouth (now Portland, Maine).

1945A group of the Venezuelan Armed Forces, led by Mario Vargas, Marcos Pérez Jiménez and Carlos Delgado Chalbaud, stages a coup d'état against president Isaías Medina Angarita, who is overthrown by the end of the day.

1944World War II: The state funeral of Field Marshal Erwin Rommel takes place in Ulm, Germany.

1597King Philip II of Spain sends his third and final armada against England, but it ends in failure due to storms. The remaining ships are captured or sunk by the English.

1851Herman Melville's Moby-Dick is first published as The Whale by Richard Bentley of London.

1912The Kingdom of Italy and the Ottoman Empire sign the treaty of Ouchy, by which the Italo-Turkish War is ended and the Ottomans loose Libya to Italy.

1775African-American poet Phillis Wheatley is freed from slavery.

1009The Church of the Holy Sepulchre, a Christian church in Jerusalem, is completely destroyed by the Fatimid caliph Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah, who hacks the Church's foundations down to bedrock.

1081The Normans defeat the Byzantine Empire in the Battle of Dyrrhachium.

1887Johannes Brahms conducts the premiere of his Double Concerto, composed for violinist Joseph Joachim and cellist Robert Hausmann.

1867United States takes possession of Alaska after purchasing it from Russia for $7.2 million. Celebrated annually in the state as Alaska Day.

1648Boston shoemakers form the first American labor organization.

1912First Balkan War: King Peter I of Serbia issues a declaration "To the Serbian People", as his country joins the war.

1979The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) begins allowing people to have home satellite earth stations without a federal government license.

1860The Second Opium War finally ends at the Convention of Peking with the ratification of the Treaty of Tientsin, an unequal treaty.

1540Spanish conquistador Hernando de Soto's forces destroy the fortified town of Mabila in present-day Alabama, killing Tuskaloosa.

1963Félicette, a black and white female Parisian stray cat, becomes the first cat launched into space.

1016The Danes defeat the English in the Battle of Assandun.

1989The Space Shuttle Atlantis launches on STS-34 to deploy the Jupiter-bound Galileo space probe.

1599Michael the Brave, Prince of Wallachia, defeats the Army of Andrew Báthory in the Battle of Șelimbăr, leading to the first recorded unification of the Romanian people.

2019NASA Astronauts Jessica Meir and Christina Koch take part in the first all-female spacewalk when they venture out of the International Space Station to replace a power controller.

1900Count Bernhard von Bülow becomes chancellor of Germany.

629Dagobert I is crowned King of the Franks.

1977German Autumn: A set of events revolving around the kidnapping of Hanns Martin Schleyer and the hijacking of a Lufthansa flight by the Red Army Faction (RAF) comes to an end when Schleyer is murdered and various RAF members allegedly commit

1929The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council overrules the Supreme Court of Canada in Edwards v. Canada when it declares that women are considered "Persons" under Canadian law.

1922The British Broadcasting Company (later Corporation) is founded by a consortium, to establish a nationwide network of radio transmitters to provide a national broadcasting service.

1748Signing of the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle ends the War of the Austrian Succession.

614King Chlothar II promulgates the Edict of Paris (Edictum Chlotacharii), a sort of Frankish Magna Carta that defends the rights of the Frankish nobles while it excludes Jews from all civil employment in the Frankish Kingdom.

2019Riots in Chile's capital Santiago escalate into open battles, with attacks reported at nearly all of the city's 164 Metro stations. President Sebastián Piñera later announces a 15-day state of emergency in the capital.

1779American Revolutionary War: The Franco-American Siege of Savannah is lifted.

1377Andronikos IV Palaiologos and his young son John are crowned by patriarch Macarius of Constantinople.

1921The Crimean Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic is formed as part of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic.

320Pappus of Alexandria, Greek philosopher, observes an eclipse of the Sun and writes a commentary on The Great Astronomer (Almagest).

Born on this day

1992Barry Keoghan, Irish actor

2000Sophie Thatcher, American actress

1994Pascal Wehrlein, German-Mauritian race car driver

1992John John Florence, American surfer

1996Terance Mann, American basketball player

1994Enhō Akira, Japanese sumo wrestler

1993Ivan Cavaleiro, Portuguese footballer

1998Janalynn Castelino, Italian-Indian singer-songwriter

1991Roly Bonevacia, Dutch footballer

1991Toby Regbo, English actor

1991Tyler Posey, American actor and musician

1991Zohran Mamdani, American politician, mayor of New York City

1990Bristol Palin, American public speaker and reality television personality

1990Brittney Griner, American basketball player

1990Drew Crawford, American basketball player

1989Joy Lauren, American actress, director, and producer

1989Laci Green, American YouTube personality, video blogger, sex educator, and activist

1989Riisa Naka, Japanese model and actress

1988Tessa Schram, Dutch director and actress

1987Freja Beha Erichsen, Danish model

1987Zac Efron, American actor and singer

1986Wilma Elles, German actress and fashion designer

1985Andrew Garcia, American singer-songwriter and guitarist

1985Yoenis Céspedes, Cuban baseball player

1984Esperanza Spalding, American singer-songwriter and bassist

1984Freida Pinto, Indian actress and model

1984Lindsey Vonn, American skier

1984Milo Yiannopoulos, British journalist and public speaker

1984Robert Harting, German discus thrower

1983Dante, Brazilian footballer

1982Mark Sampson, Welsh footballer and manager

1982Michael Dingsdag, Dutch footballer

1982Simon Gotch, American wrestler

1982Thierry Amiel, French singer-songwriter

1981Greg Warren, American football player

1981Nathan Hauritz, Australian cricketer

1981Tina Hergold, Slovenian tennis player

1980Birsen Yavuz, Turkish sprinter and hurdler

1979Damon Scott, British entertainer

1979Jaroslav Drobný, Czech footballer

Died on this day

2025Lia Smith, American diver and transgender rights advocate.

2025Sam Rivers, American bassist (born 1977)

2025Yang Chen-Ning, Chinese theoretical physicist (born 1922)

2024Ginés González García, Argentine politician and physician (born 1945)

2024Yehuda Bauer, Israeli historian of the Holocaust (born 1926)

2022Harvey Wollman, American politician, 26th Governor of South Dakota (born 1935)

2021Colin Powell, American military leader and statesman, 65th Secretary of State (born 1937)

2020René Felber, 81st President of the Swiss Confederation (born 1933)

2019Rui Jordão, Angolan-born Portuguese footballer (born 1952)

2018Abdel Rahman Swar al-Dahab, 5th President of the Sudan (born 1934)

2018Lisbeth Palme, Swedish child psychologist, former chairwoman of UNICEF (born 1931)

2017Marino Perani, Italian football player and manager (born 1939)

2015Frank Watkins, American bass player (born 1968)

2015Gamal El-Ghitani, Egyptian journalist and author (born 1945)

2015Paul West, English-American author, poet, and academic (born 1930)

2015Robert Dickerson, Australian painter (born 1924)

2015Robert W. Farquhar, American engineer (born 1932)

2014Edward Regan, American academic and politician (born 1930)

2014Mariano Lebrón Saviñón, Dominican author and academic (born 1922)

2014Sidney Shapiro, American-Chinese author and translator (born 1915)

2013Allan Stanley, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (born 1926)

2013Bill Young, American sergeant and politician (born 1930)

2013Bum Phillips, American football player and coach (born 1923)

2013Tom Foley, American lawyer and politician, 57th Speaker of the United States House of Representatives (born 1929)

2012Albert Lee Ueltschi, American pilot and businessman, founded FlightSafety International (born 1917)

2012Brain Damage, American wrestler (born 1977)

2012David S. Ware, American saxophonist and composer (born 1949)

2012George Mattos, American pole vaulter (born 1929)

2012Slater Martin, American basketball player and coach (born 1925)

2012Sylvia Kristel, Dutch model and actress (born 1952)

Quote of the day

“The unexamined life is not worth living.”

Socrates

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

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