December 18

### Up to 1900

- 218 BC – Battle of the Trebia, Hannibal's first great victory over the Roman Republic.
- 1271 – Kublai Khan renames his Empire Yuan.
- 1352 – Innocent VI is elected Pope.
- 1622 – Portuguese forces score a military victory over the Kingdom of Kongo at the Battle of Mbumbi in present-day Angola.
- 1642 – Abel Tasman lands at Mohua Golden Bay becoming the first European in New Zealand.
- 1644 – Christina of Sweden reaches the age 18, allowing her to govern alone.
- 1776 – North Carolina's Constitution is ratified.
- 1777 – The United States celebrates it first Thanksgiving Day. The holiday is nowadays celebrated in late November.
- 1787 – New Jersey becomes the third state to ratify the United States Constitution.
- 1793 – Surrender of the frigate _La Lutine_ by French Royalists to Lord Samuel Hood.
- 1865 – Slavery is abolished in the United States, with the passing of the 13th Amendment.
- 1867 – The last coach of a Lake Shore Railway train derails, plunges down a gully and catches fire in Angola, New York, killing 49 people.
- 1878 – The Al-Thani family takes over the government of Qatar.
- 1878 – French passenger steamer _Byzantin_ collides with British steamer _Rinaldo_ and sinks in a storm in the Dardanelles, Turkey, killing 150 people.
- 1884 – Swedish newspaper Svenska Dagbladet is published for the first time.
- 1888 – Richard Wetherill and his brother-in-law discover the ancient Native American ruins of Cliff Palace in Mesa Verde.
- 1892 – Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker Suite premiers in St. Petersburg.
- 1894 – Women in South Australia become the first in Australia to gain the right to vote and to be elected to Parliament.
- 1898 – Gaston de Chasseloup-Laubat sets the officially recognized land-speed record of 39.245 miles per hour (63.159 kilometers per hour) in Jeantaud electric car.

### 1901 – 2000

- 1912 – Piltdown Man is "discovered". It is later revealed to be a hoax.
- 1914 – Egypt becomes a British Protectorate.
- 1916 – The Battle of Verdun ends in World War I.
- 1917 – The United States Congress passes the 18th Amendment to the United States Constitution, to enact prohibition of alcohol.
- 1921 – Soccer: Poland plays its first-ever match, losing 1-0 to Hungary.
- 1925 – António Maria da Silva becomes the last Prime Minister of the First Portuguese Republic.
- 1926 – _The Makropulos Affair_, an opera by the Czech composer Leoš Janáček, premieres in Brno, the Czech Republic.
- 1932 – The Chicago Bears defeat the Portsmouth Spartans 9–0 in the first-ever NFL championship game in Chicago.
- 1939 – World War II: The Battle of Heligoland Bight, the first major air battle of the war, begins.
- 1944 – The first edition of the French newspaper _Le Monde_ is published.
- 1944 – Typhoon Cobra hits the island of Luzon in the Philippines, killing 790 people.
- 1956 – Japan joins the UN.
- 1958 – Niger becomes an autonomous state within the French Community on December 4, 1958, after the establishment of the Fifth French Republic. Following full independence on August 3, 1960, however, membership was allowed to lapse.
- 1958 – Project SCORE, the world's first communications satellite, is launched.
- 1961 – Indonesia invades New Guinea to annex western New Guinea, formerly known as Netherlands New Guinea.
- 1961 – Indian troops enter the then-Portuguese colonies of Goa and Daman and Diu, leading to them becoming part of India.
- 1965 – Japan and South Korea begin formal relations
- 1966 – Saturn's moon Epimetheus is discovered by Richard L. Walker, and then lost for 12 years
- 1969 – Capital punishment is ended in the United Kingdom.
- 1971 – The Capitol Reef National Park is created in Utah.
- 1971 – Alaska: The Alaska Native Claims Settlements Act takes effect.
- 1973 – The Soyuz 13 is launched.
- 1975 – Louis Sylvain Goma becomes Prime Minister of the Republic of the Congo.
- 1978 – Dominica joins the UN.
- 1990 – International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families is adopted.
- 1992 – Kim Young-sam is elected President of South Korea, ending a period of military rule.
- 1995 – A Lockheed L-188 Electra of Congolese Trans Service Airlift airline crashes shortly after take-off from Jumba, Angola, killing 141 people, with 3 surviving the crash.
- 1996 – "Ebonics" is declared a language or dialect by the outgoing school board of Oakland, California, whose vote was overturned by the incoming board.
- 1997 – Kim Dae Jung is elected President of South Korea.
- 1997 – HTML 4.0 is released by the World Wide Web Consortium.

### From 2001

- 2002 – _The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers_, the second movie in Peter Jackson's _The Lord of the Rings_ movie trilogy, opens in theaters.
- 2002 – California Governor Gray Davis announces that the state would face a record budget deficit of $35 billion, roughly double the figure reported during his reelection campaign one month earlier; the budget issue was used to support his 2003 recall from office.
- 2003 – The Simple English Wikipedia begins using the MediaWiki software.
- 2005 – Civil war begins in Chad.
- 2005 – Evo Morales is elected President of Bolivia.
- 2006 – Flooding begins in Malaysia, which will result in 118 deaths.
- 2006 – The United Arab Emirates holds its first elections.
- 2017 – Sebastian Kurz becomes Chancellor of Austria, leading a right-wing coalition government.
- 2019 – The United States House of Representatives votes for the first impeachment of Donald Trump.

### Up to 1900

- 1392 – John VIII Palaeologus, Byzantine Emperor (d. 1448)
- 1418 – Albert VI, Archduke of Austria (d. 1463)
- 1575 – Michelangelo Galilei, Italian composer (d. 1631)
- 1626 – Christina of Sweden (d. 1689)
- 1661 – Christopher Polhem, Swedish scientist and inventor (d. 1751)
- 1662 – James Douglas, 2nd Duke of Queensberry, Scottish politician (d. 1711)
- 1707 – Charles Wesley, English hymn composer (d. 1788)
- 1718 – Grand Duchess Anna Leopoldovna of Russia (d. 1746)
- 1734 – Jean-Baptiste Rey, French conductor and composer (d. 1810)
- 1768 – Marie-Guillemine Benoist, French painter (d. 1826)
- 1778 – Joseph Grimaldi, English clown (d. 1837)
- 1788 – Camille Pleyel, French pianist (d. 1855)
- 1803 – William Allen, 31st Governor of Ohio (d. 1879)
- 1824 – John Hall, 12th Prime Minister of New Zealand (d. 1907)
- 1825 – Charles Griffin, American general (d. 1876)
- 1828 – Viktor Rydberg, Swedish writer (d. 1895)
- 1835 – Lyman Abbott, American writer (d. 1922)
- 1847 – Augusta Holmès, French composer (d. 1903)
- 1848 – Roger Allin, 4th Governor of North Dakota (d. 1936)
- 1849 – Henrietta Edwards, Canadian women's rights activist (d. 1931)
- 1856 – J. J. Thomson, English physicist (d. 1940)
- 1861 – Lionel Monckton, English composer (d. 1924)
- 1863 – Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria (d. 1914)
- 1868 – Carlo Perosi, Italian cardinal (d. 1930)
- 1870 – Saki (Hector Hugh Munro), British writer (d. 1916)
- 1873 – Francis Burton Harrison, American politician (d. 1957)
- 1879 – Joseph Stalin, Georgian-born leader of the Soviet Union (d. 1953)
- 1879 – Paul Klee, Swiss-born painter (d. 1940)
- 1882 – Richard Maury, American-Argentine engineer (d. 1950)
- 1883 – Raimu, French actor (d. 1946)
- 1884 – Emil Starkenstein, Czech clinical pharmacologist (d. 1942)
- 1886 – Ty Cobb, American baseball player (d. 1961)
- 1887 – Bhikhari Thakur, Indian actress, singer and playwright (d. 1971)
- 1888 – Gladys Cooper, English actress (d. 1971)
- 1888 – Robert Moses, American urban planner (d. 1981)
- 1890 – Edwin Howard Armstrong, American engineer (d. 1954)
- 1897 – Fletcher Henderson, American pianist, bandleader and composer (d. 1952)
- 1899 – Peter Wessel Zapffe, Norwegian philosopher and writer (d. 1990)

### 1901 – 1950

- 1904 – George Stevens, American director (d. 1975)
- 1907 – Lawrence Lucie, American guitarist (d. 2009)
- 1907 – Christopher Fry, British writer and dramatist (d. 2005)
- 1908 – Paul Siple, American geographer and explorer (d. 1969)
- 1911 – Jules Dassin, American movie director (d. 2008)
- 1912 – Givi Javakhishvili, 12th Prime Minister of Georgia (d. 1985)
- 1912 – Benjamin O. Davis, Jr., American general (d. 2002)
- 1913 – Willy Brandt, Chancellor of West Germany (d. 1992)
- 1916 – Betty Grable, American actress (d. 1973)
- 1916 – Anselm Strauss, American sociologist (d. 1996)
- 1917 – Ossie Davis, American actor and activist (d. 2005)
- 1920 – Merlyn Rees, Welsh politician; d. 2006
- 1921 – Yuri Nikulin, Russian actor (d. 1997)
- 1922 – Larry D. Mann, Canadian-American actor (d. 2014)
- 1922 – Esther Lederberg, American microbiologist (d. 2006)
- 1923 – Lotti van der Gaag, Dutch sculptor and painter (d. 1999)
- 1923 – Edwin Bramall, English army officer (d. 2019)
- 1924 – Orlando Ramón Agosti, Argentine general and politician (d. 1997)
- 1927 – Roméo LeBlanc, 25th Governor General of Canada (d. 2009)
- 1927 – Ramsey Clark, 66th United States Attorney General
- 1928 – Mirza Tahir Ahmad, Indian-Pakistani Muslim leader (d. 2003)
- 1929 – Józef Glemp, Polish cardinal (d. 2013)
- 1929 – Bob Jane, Australian racing driver and entrepreneur; d. 2018
- 1931 – Allen Klein, American music manager (d. 2009)
- 1932 – Roger Smith, American actor
- 1933 – Lonnie Brooks, American singer and guitarist (d. 2017)
- 1934 – Marc Rich, Belgian-American businessman (d. 2013)
- 1934 – Boris Volynov, Soviet-Russian cosmonaut
- 1934 – John Bingham, 7th Earl of Lucan (Lord Lucan), British aristocrat and murder suspect (not seen since 1974)
- 1938 – Chas Chandler, English bass player and producer (The Animals) (d. 1996)
- 1939 – Harold E. Varmus, American scientist
- 1939 – Sandro Lopopolo, Italian boxer (d. 2014)
- 1940 – Bram Morrison, Canadian singer and musician (Sharon, Lois & Bram)
- 1941 – Sam Andrews, American musician (d. 2015)
- 1941 – Prince William of Gloucester, British nobleman (d. 1972)
- 1943 – Keith Richards, English guitarist (Rolling Stones)
- 1943 – Bobby Keys, American saxophonist (d. 2014)
- 1946 – Steven Spielberg, American movie director
- 1946 – Steve Biko, South African anti–Apartheid activist (d. 1977)
- 1948 – Bill Nelson, English musician
- 1949 – David A. Johnston, American volcanologist (d. 1980)
- 1949 – Laurent Voulzy, French singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1950 – Gillian Armstrong, Australian director
- 1950 – Sarath Fonseka, Sri Lankan military commander and politician

### 1951 – 1975

- 1951 – Volker Bouffier, German politician, Prime Minister of Hesse
- 1951 – Alvin E. Roth, American economist
- 1952 – Krystyna Janda, Polish actress
- 1953 – David Chipperfield, English architect
- 1954 – Ray Liotta, American actor
- 1956 – Reinhold Ewald, German physicist and astronaut
- 1956 – Ron White, American comedian and actor
- 1957 – Jonathan Cainer, English astrologer (d. 2016)
- 1958 – Geordie Walker, English guitarist
- 1963 – Pierre Nkurunziza, President of Burundi
- 1963 – Charles Oakley, American basketball player
- 1963 – Brad Pitt, American actor
- 1964 – Robson Green, English actor
- 1964 – Steve Austin, American professional wrestler
- 1966 – Gianluca Pagliuca, Italian footballer
- 1968 – Mario Basler, German footballer
- 1968 – Rachel Griffiths, Australian actress
- 1968 – Alejandro Sanz, Spanish singer
- 1968 – Casper Van Dien, American actor
- 1968 – Nina Wadia, English actress
- 1969 – Santiago Cañizares, Spanish footballer
- 1969 – Justin Edinburgh, English footballer and manager (d. 2019)
- 1970 – Rob Van Dam, American professional wrestler
- 1970 – Bridie Carter, Australian actress
- 1971 – Arantxa Sánchez Vicario, Spanish tennis player
- 1972 – Daniel Andersson, Swedish footballer
- 1973 – Lucy Worsley, English historian and television presenter
- 1974 – Knut Schreiner, Norwegian singer, guitarist and producer
- 1975 – Sia Furler, Australian singer

### From 1976

- 1977 – Axwell, Swedish DJ and producer (Swedish House Mafia)
- 1978 – Katie Holmes, American actress
- 1979 – Mamady Sidibé, Malian footballer
- 1980 – Julie Fleeting, Scottish footballer
- 1980 – Christina Aguilera, American singer
- 1980 – Neil Fingleton, English actor (d. 2017)
- 1982 – Pontus Carlsson, Swedish chess player
- 1982 – Craig Fallon, British judoka (d. 2019)
- 1985 – Heidi Andreasen, Faroese swimmer
- 1985 – Tara Conner, American model
- 1985 – Natalie Gal, Russian-American model and actress
- 1985 – Hana Soukupová, Czech model
- 1986 – Usman Khawaja, Australian cricketer
- 1987 – Ayaka, Japanese singer
- 1987 – Miki Ando, Japanese figure skater
- 1987 – Yuki Furukawa, Japanese actor
- 1987 – Dan Lydiate, Welsh rugby player
- 1988 – Lizzie Armitstead, British cyclist
- 1988 – Brianne Theissen-Eaton, Canadian heptathlete
- 1988 – Imad Wasim, Pakistani cricketer
- 1989 – Ashley Benson, American actress
- 1992 – Bridgit Mendler, American singer and actress
- 1994 – Gerard Gumbau, Spanish footballer
- 2001 – Billie Eilish, American singer and songwriter

### Up to 1900

- 821 – Theodulf, Bishop of Orleans
- 1075 – Edith of Wessex (b. 1025)
- 1133 – Hildebert, French poet and scholar (b. 1055)
- 1290 – King Magnus I of Sweden (b. 1240)
- 1495 – King Alphonso I of Naples (b. 1448)
- 1591 – Marigje Arriens, Dutch woman accused of witchcraft (b. 1520)
- 1737 – Antonio Stradivari, Italian violin maker
- 1803 – Johann Gottfried Herder, German writer (b. 1744)
- 1829 – Jean-Baptiste Lamarck, French soldier and biologist (b. 1744)
- 1848 – Bernard Bolzano, Czech mathematician (b. 1781)
- 1869 – Louis Moreau Gottschalk, American composer and pianist (b. 1829)
- 1880 – Michel Chasles, French mathematician (b. 1793)
- 1892 – Richard Owen, English biologist (b. 1804)

### 1901 – 2000

- 1922 – Carl Meyer, 1st Baronet, German-English banker and businessman (b. 1851)
- 1936 – Leonardo Torres y Quevedo, Spanish mathematician and inventor (b. 1852)
- 1936 – Andrija Mohorovičić, Croatian seismologist (b. 1857)
- 1954 – Pedro Luna, Chilean painter (b. 1896)
- 1969 – Charles Dvorak, American athlete (b. 1878)
- 1971 – Bobby Jones, American golfer (b. 1902)
- 1971 – Diana Lynn, American actress (b. 1926)
- 1974 – Harry Hooper, Baseball Hall of Famer (b. 1887)
- 1980 – Alexei Kosygin, Soviet premier (b. 1904)
- 1982 – Hans-Ulrich Rudel, highly decorated German pilot during World War II (b. 1916).
- 1990 – Anne Revere, American actress (b. 1903)
- 1990 – Paul Tortelier, French musician (b. 1914)
- 1991 – George Abecassis, English race car driver (b. 1913)
- 1992 – Mark Goodson, game show producer (b. 1915)
- 1993 – Sam Wanamaker, American actor (b. 1919)
- 1995 – Konrad Zuse, German engineer and computing pioneer (b. 1910)
- 1997 – Chris Farley, American actor and comedian (b. 1964)
- 1998 – Lev Demin, Soviet cosmonaut (b. 1926)
- 1999 – Robert Bresson, French movie director (b. 1907)
- 2000 – Kirsty MacColl, British musician (b. 1959)

### From 2001

- 2001 – Gilbert Bécaud, singer (b. 1927)
- 2002 – Ray Hnatyshyn, Governor General of Canada (b. 1934)
- 2004 – Princess Takamatsu of Japan (b. 1911)
- 2006 – Joseph Barbera, American animator (b. 1911)
- 2006 – Ruth Bernhard, American photographer (b. 1905)
- 2008 – Mark Felt, American Watergate agent, known as 'Deep Throat' (b. 1913)
- 2010 – Tommaso Padoa-Schioppa, Italian banker and politician (b. 1940)
- 2010 – Jacqueline de Romilly, French philologist, writer and scholar (b. 1913)
- 2011 – Václav Havel, Czech playwright, statesman and President of Czechoslovakia and the Czech Republic (b. 1936)
- 2012 – Mustafa Ould Salek, President of Mauritania (b. 1936)
- 2013 – Ronnie Biggs, British train robber (b. 1929)
- 2014 – Virna Lisi, Italian actress (b. 1936)
- 2014 – Mandy Rice-Davies, British model and media personality (b. 1944)
- 2014 – Ingvar Kjellson, Swedish actor (b. 1923)
- 2014 – Gideon Ben-Yisrael, Israeli politician (b. 1922)
- 2014 – Larry Smith, American record producer (b. 1951)
- 2014 – Robert Simpson, American meteorologist (b. 1912)
- 2015 – Helge Solum Larsen, Norwegian politician (b. 1969)
- 2016 – Zsa Zsa Gabor, Hungarian-American actress and socialite (b. 1917)
- 2017 – Janet Benshoof, American activist and lawyer (b. 1947)
- 2017 – Jonghyun, South Korean singer-songwriter (b. 1990)
- 2017 – Altero Matteoli, Italian politician (b. 1940)
- 2017 – Arseny Roginsky, Russian dissident and historian (b. 1946)
- 2018 – David C. H. Austin, British rose breeder (b. 1926)
- 2018 – Alex Badeh, Nigerian politician and air force officer (b. 1957)
- 2018 – Steve Daskewisz, American actor and stuntman (b. 1944)
- 2018 – Tulsi Giri, Nepalese politician (b. 1926)
- 2018 – Kazimierz Kutz, Polish film director and politician (b. 1929)
- 2018 – Peter Masterson, American playwright (b. 1934)
- 2018 – Robert Neild, British economist (b. 1924)
- 2018 – Shinobu Sekine, Japanese judoka (b. 1943)
- 2018 – Bill Slater, English footballer (b. 1927)
- 2018 – Raimo Vartia, Finnish basketball player (b. 1937)
- 2019 – Claudine Auger, French actress (b. 1941)
- 2019 – Alain Barrière, French pop singer (b. 1935)
- 2019 – Herman Boone, American football coach (b. 1935)
- 2019 – Zafar Chaudhry, Pakistani military officer (b. 1926)
- 2019 – Geulah Cohen, Israeli politician (b. 1925)
- 2019 – Leandro Despouy, Argentine politician and activist (b. 1947)
- 2019 – Ibrahim Diarra, French rugby union player (b. 1983)
- 2019 – Kenny Lynch, English singer-songwriter and actor (b. 1938)
- 2019 – Abbey Simon, American pianist (b. 1920)

## Observances

- National Day of Qatar
- New Jersey Day
- Republic Day (Niger)
- International Migrants Day
- UN day of the Arabic language