On this day: 18 August
Events, births and deaths on 18 August. Every date is checked against Wikidata.
Years ago today
1 year ago2025
Nothing recorded for that year.
10 years ago2016
- Deaths · Ernst Nolte
100 years ago1926
Within 10 years of that
- 1933 · Births · Roman Polanski
- 1936 · Births · Robert Redford
- 1932 · Births · Luc Montagnier
1000 years ago1026
Within 100 years of that
- 1095 · Deaths · Olaf I of Denmark
Events · 20
- 684Battle of Marj al-Rahit — one of the early battles of the Second Fitna, fought on 18 August 684
- 1304Battle of Mons-en-Pévèle — 1304 battle of the Franco-Flemish War
- 1721Sack of Shamakhi — 1721 attack of the Safavid city of Shamakhi by rebelling Sunni Lezigins
- 17831783 Great Meteor — unusually bright bolide observed on August 18, 1783
- 1823Demerara rebellion of 1823 — 1823 slave rebellion in the colony of Demerara-Essequibo (Guyana)
- 1838United States Exploring Expedition — exploring and surveying expedition, 1838 to 1842
- 1864Battle of Globe Tavern — 1864 battle of the American Civil War
- 1870Battle of Gravelotte — 1870 battle of the Franco-Prussian War
- 1937Blackwater fire of 1937 — fire in Shoshone National Forest
- 1938Thousand Islands Bridge — bridge linking Canada and the U.S.
- 1940The Hardest Day — World War II air battle part of the greater Battle of Britain
- 1945Battle of Shumshu — 1945 Russian-Japanese WWII battle
- 19491949 Kemi strike — August 1949 strike and violent clash in Finland
- 1966Battle of Long Tan — 1966 battle of the Vietnam War
- 1973Aeroflot Flight 13 — 1973 Antonov An-24 crash in Baku
- 1976Korean axe murder incident — killing of two United States Army officers by North Korean soldiers
- 1993American International Airways Flight 808 — aviation accident
- 2008Uzbin Valley ambush — 2008 military Skirmish Between Taliban and French ISAF Forces in Afghanistan
- 20112011 southern Israel cross-border attacks — 2011 series of cross-border attacks
- 20172017 Turku attack — terrorist stabbing attack in Turku, Finland, on 18 August 2017
Births · 60
- 1450(Julian date)Marko Marulić — Croatian national poet and European humanist
- 1606Maria Anna of Spain — Wife of Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand III (1606-1646)
- 1685Brook Taylor — English mathematician (1685–1731)
- 1700Baji Rao I — General of the Maratha Empire in India (1700-1740)
- 1750Antonio Salieri — Italian composer and teacher (1750–1825)
- 1774Meriwether Lewis — American explorer (1774-1809)
- 1792John Russell, 1st Earl Russell — Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, 1846–1852 and 1865–1866 (1792–1878)
- 1819Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaevna of Russia — Russian grand duchess (1819–1876); eldest daughter of Nicholas I of Russia and sister of Alexander II
- 1830Franz Joseph I of Austria — Emperor of Austria and King of Hungary (1830-1916)
- 1856Ahad Ha'am — Russian Hebrew essayist and thinker (1856–1927)
- 1867Percy Fawcett — British explorer, anthropologist and archaeologist (1867–1925)
- 1870(Julian date)Lavr Kornilov — Imperial Russian Army general (1870–1918)
- 1890Walther Funk — German economist, Nazi politician and convicted war criminal (1890-1960)
- 1906Marcel Carné — French film director (1906 – 1996)
- 1908Edgar Faure — French politician (1908-1988)
- 1917Caspar Weinberger — American politician (1917-2006)
- 1920Shelley Winters — American actress (1920–2006)
- 1921Lydia Litvyak — Soviet flying ace
- 1922Alain Robbe-Grillet — French author and film director (1922–2008)
- 1925Brian Aldiss — British science fiction writer (1925–2017)
- 1927Rosalynn Carter — First Lady of the United States from 1977 to 1981
- 1932Luc Montagnier — French virologist and joint recipient of the Nobel Prize of Physiology or Medicine (2008)
- 1933Roman Polanski — French-Polish filmmaker (born 1933)
- 1933Just Fontaine — French football player and manager (1933-2023)
- 1934Rafer Johnson — American athlete and actor (1934–2020)
Deaths · 60
- 353(Julian date)Decentius — Roman usurper
- 472Ricimer — Romanized Germanic general who effectively ruled the remaining territory of the Western Roman Empire (405-472)
- 849(Julian date)Walafrid Strabo — Carolingian priest (ca. 808–849)
- 1095(Julian date)Olaf I of Denmark — King of Denmark
- 1258(Julian date)Theodore II Laskaris — Emperor of Nicaea from 1254 to 1258
- 1276(Julian date)Adrian V — pope
- 1500(Julian date)Alfonso of Aragon — illegitimate son of Alfonso II King of Naples and his mistress Trogia Gazzela (1481-1500)
- 1503(Julian date)Alexander VI — pope of the Catholic Church 1492–1503 from the Borgia family (1430/32-1503)
- 1559(Julian date)Paul IV — pope of catholic church 1555-1559
- 1563(Julian date)Étienne de La Boétie — French judge, writer and philosopher (1530–1563)
- 1613Giovanni Artusi — Italian composer
- 1620Wanli Emperor — emperor of the Ming Dynasty (1563-1620)
- 1634Urbain Grandier — French priest
- 1642Guido Reni — Bolognese painter (1575–1642)
- 1648Ibrahim I — 18th Sultan of the Ottoman Empire (1640–1648)
- 1707William Cavendish, 1st Duke of Devonshire — English soldier, nobleman and Whig politician (1640-1707)
- 1743Jean-Baptiste Du Halde — French Jesuit historian specializing in China
- 1765Francis I, Holy Roman Emperor — Holy Roman Emperor and Grand Duke of Tuscany (1708-1765).
- 1823André-Jacques Garnerin — inventor of the frameless parachute
- 1835Friedrich Stromeyer — German Chemist
- 1841Louis de Freycinet — French navigator
- 1850Honoré de Balzac — French novelist and playwright (1799–1850)
- 1940Walter Percy Chrysler Sr. — (1875-1940) American automotive industry executive
- 1942Erwin Schulhoff — Czech composer and pianist (1894–1942)
- 1943Ali-Agha Shikhlinski — Russian and Azerbaijani general
Dates verified against Wikidata (CC0). Titles and descriptions come from Wikidata.