October 18

Events
Up to 1900
320 - Pappus of Alexandria, Greek philosopher, observes a solar eclipse and writes a commentary on The Great Astronomer.
629 - King Dagobert is crowned King of the Franks.
1009 - The Church of the Holy Sepulchre, a Christian church in Jerusalem, is completely destroyed by the "mad" Fatimid caliph Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah, who hacks the Church's foundations down to bedrock.
1016 - The Danes defeat the Saxons in the Battle of Ashingdon.
1081 - The Normans defeat the Byzantine Empire in the Battle of Dyrrhachium.
1210 - Pope Innocent III excommunicates German leader Otto IV.
1356 - An earthquake destroys Basel, Switzerland.
1386 - Opening of the University of Heidelberg.
1502 - Opening of the University of Wittenberg.
1540 - Spanish conquistador Hernando de Soto's forces destroy the fortified town of Mabila in present-day Alabama.
1561 - Fourth Battle of Kawanakajima: Takeda Shingen beats Uesugi Kenshin in the climax of their ongoing conflicts
1599 - Michael the Brave, Prince of Wallachia defeats the army of Andrew Bathory in the Battle of Selimbar, leading to the first recorded unification of the Romanian people.
1685 - Louis XIV of France revokes the Edict of Nantes, which has protected French Protestants. Roman Catholicism is reinstated as the state religion in France.
1748 - Signing of the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle ends the War of the Austrian Succession.
1767 - Mason-Dixon line, survey separating Maryland from Pennsylvania is completed.
1775 - American Revolutionary War: The burning of Falmouth, present-day Portland, Maine, prompts the Continental Congress to create the Continental Navy.
1779 - American Revolutionary War: The French-American Siege of Savannah is ended.
1797 - The Treaty of Campo Formio is signed by France and Austria.
1851 - Herman Melville's Moby-Dick is first published as The Whale by Richard Bentley of London.
1860 - The Second Opium War finally ends at the Convention of Peking with the ratification of the Treaty of Tientsin, an unequal treaty.
1867 - United States takes possession of Alaska, celebrated annually in the state as (Alaska Day). On this day, Alaska also changes from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar, and the International Date Line is shifted to the west.
1898 - United States takes possession of Puerto Rico.
1901 2000
1908 - Belgium annexes the Congo Free State.
1912 - The First Balkan War begins.
1913 - The monument to the 1813 Battle of the Nations is completed in Leipzig.
1921 - The Crimean Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic is founded.
1922 - The British Broadcasting Company (later Corporation) is founded by a consortium, to establish a nationwide network of radio transmitters to provide a national broadcasting service.
1925 - The Grand Ole Opry opens.
1929 - Women are officially declared "Persons" under Canadian law.
1944 - Adolf Hitler orders the establishment of a German national militia.
1944 - Soviet Union invades Czechoslovakia
1945 - The USSR's nuclear program receives plans for the United States's plutonium bomb from Klaus Fuchs at the Los Alamos National Laboratory.
1945 - A group of the Venezuelan Armed Forces stages a military coup, overthrowing President Isaias Medina Anguarita.
1945 - Juan Peron marries Eva Peron.
1954 - Texas Instruments announces the first Transistor radio
1964 - The 1964-1965 New York World's Fair closes for its first season after a six-month run.
1967 - Soviet probe Venera 4 reaches Venus and becomes the first spacecraft to measure the atmosphere under another planet.
1968 - 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City: Bob Beamon jumps 8.90 metres in the long jump, known as the 'jump into the 21st century'.
1968 - A police raid on John Lennon and Yoko Ono's flat finds 168 grains of marijuana. They later plead guilty and are fined PS150.
1969 - Jefferson Airplane member Paul Kantner is charged with possession of marijuana on Hawaii.
1974 - The Texas Chainsaw Massacre opens in theaters.
1975 - The Saint Nazaire Bridge in western France is opened to traffic.
1976 - Bangladesh is recognized by China and established diplomatic ties with Dacca.
1977 - German 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 executed and various RAF members commit suicide. The German government states that it would never again negotiate with terrorists.
1989 - Erich Honecker resigns as leader of East Germany.
1989 - The Galileo space probe is launched.
1991 - The Supreme Council of Azerbaijan adopts a declaration of Independence from the Soviet Union.
1993 - Andreas Papandreou begins his second term as Prime Minister of Greece.
From 2001
2003 - Bolivian Gas War: President Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada is forced to resign and leave Bolivia.
2004 - World Chess Championship: Vladimir Kramnik defends his title against Hungary's Peter Leko.
2007 - A bomb attack in Karachi kills 139 people and injures 450. Benazir Bhutto, returning from exile, escapes unhurt.
2011 - Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit is released by Palestinians after over five years. In exchange, Israel releases 1,027 Palestinian prisoners.
2019 - A bomb attack in Nangarhar, Afghanistan, kills at least 62 people.
2019 - Astronauts Jessica Meir and Christina Koch perform the first all-female spacewalk.
Births
Up to 1900
1127 - Emperor Go-Shirakawa of Japan (d. 1192)
1405 - Pope Pius II (d. 1464)
1547 - Justus Lipsius, Flemish humanist (d. 1606)
1569 - Giambattista Marini, Italian poet (d. 1625)
1585 - Heinrich Schuetz, German composer (d. 1672) (October 8 in Julian calendar)
1634 - Luca Giordano, Italian artist (d. 1705)
1653 - Abraham van Riebeeck, Dutch colonial governor (d. 1713)
1663 - Prince Eugene of Savoy (d. 1736)
1668 - John George IV, Elector of Saxony (d. 1694)
1706 - Baldassare Galuppi, Italian composer (d. 1785)
1741 - Pierre Choderlos de Laclos, French general and author (d. 1803)
1753 - Joseph Bloomfield, Governor of New Jersey (d. 1823)
1777 - Heinrich von Kleist, German writer (d. 1811)
1785 - Thomas Love Peacock, English poet and dramatist (d. 1866)
1801 - Justo Jose de Urquiza, President of Argentina (d. 1870)
1804 - Mongkut (Rama IV), King of Siam (Thailand) (d. 1868)
1805 - Mariano Ospina Rodriguez, President of Colombia (d. 1885)
1822 - Midhat Pasha, 238th Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire (d. 1883)
1824 - Juan Valera, Spanish writer, diplomat and politician (d. 1905)
1831 - Frederick III of Germany (d. 1888)
1836 - Frederick August Otto Schwarz, American entrepreneur (d. 1911)
1854 - Salomon August Andree, Swedish explorer (d. 1897)
1856 - James B. Frazier, Governor of Tennessee (d. 1937)
1859 - Henri Bergson, French philosopher (d. 1941)
1865 - Arie de Jong, Dutch linguist (d. 1957)
1868 - Ernst Didring, Swedish writer (d. 1931)
1870 - D. T. Suzuki, Japanese author and Buddhist scholar (d. 1966)
1872 - Mikhail Kuzmin, Russian poet and writer (d. 1936)
1873 - Ivanoe Bonomi, Italian politician (d. 1951)
1882 - Lucien Petit-Breton, Argentine-born French cyclist (d. 1917)
1884 - Hugo Goetz, American swimmer (d. 1972)
1887 - Takashi Sakai, Japanese Governor of Hong Kong (d. 1946)
1893 - Sidney Holland, 25th Prime Minister of New Zealand (d. 1961)
1893 - George Ohsawa, Japanese philosopher (d. 1966)
1894 - Tibor Dery, Hungarian writer (d. 1977)
1894 - Yury Tynyanov, Russian writer (d. 1943)
1898 - Lotte Lenya, Austrian singer and actress (d. 1981)
1901 1950
1902 - Pascual Jordan, German physicist (d. 1980)
1902 - Miriam Hopkins, American actress (d. 1972)
1903 - Lina Radke, German athlete (d. 1983)
1905 - Jan Gies, Dutch resistance fighter (d. 1993)
1905 - Felix Houphouet-Boigny, President of Ivory Coast (d. 1993)
1906 - James Brooks, American painter (d. 1992)
1909 - Norberto Bobbio, Italian philosopher in law and political science (d. 2004)
1912 - Aurelio Sabattani, Italian cardinal (d. 2003)
1912 - Philibert Tsiranana, President of Madagascar (d. 1978)
1914 - Raymond Lambert, Swiss mountaineer (d. 1997)
1918 - Molly Geertsema, Dutch politician (d. 1991)
1918 - Bobby Troup, American actor, jazz pianist and singer-songwriter (d. 1999)
1918 - Konstantinos Mitsotakis, Greek politician, former Prime Minister of Greece (d. 2017)
1919 - Pierre Trudeau, 15th Prime Minister of Canada (d. 2000)
1919 - Anita O'Day, American singer (d. 2006)
1919 - Camilla Williams, American opera singer (d. 2012)
1920 - Melina Mercouri, Greek actress and politician (d. 1994)
1921 - Jesse Helms, American politician (d. 2008)
1921 - Jerry Cooke, American photographer (d. 2005)
1923 - Paulo Amaral, Brazilian footballer (d. 2008)
1923 - Julius Nespral, German actor
1923 - Jessie Mae Hemphill, American blues electric guitarist and singer-songwriter (d. 2008)
1923 - Boris Sagal, Ukrainian-American film director (d. 1981)
1924 - Egil Hovland, Norwegian composer (d. 2013)
1925 - Ramiz Alia, Albanian politician (d. 2011)
1925 - N. D. Tiwari, Indian politician (d. 2018)
1926 - Chuck Berry, American singer and musician (d. 2017)
1926 - Yoram Gross, Polish-Australian animation producer and director (d. 2015)
1926 - Klaus Kinski, German actor (d. 1991)
1927 - George C. Scott, American actor, producer and director (d. 1999)
1928 - Ernest Simoni, Albanian cardinal
1929 - Violeta Chamorro, former President of Nicaragua
1930 - Frank Carlucci, American politician, 16th United States Secretary of Defense (d. 2018)
1932 - Rene Bliard, French footballer (d. 2009)
1932 - Vytautas Landsbergis, Lithuanian politician
1933 - Firuz Mustafayev, Azerbaijani politician (d. 2018)
1933 - Ludovico Scarfiotti, Italian racing driver (d. 1968)
1934 - Inger Stevens, Swedish actress (d. 1970)
1934 - Kir Bulychev, Russian science fiction writer (d. 2003)
1934 - Sylvie Joly, French actress (d. 2015)
1935 - Peter Boyle, American actor (d. 2006)
1938 - Bo Holmstrom, Swedish journalist (d. 2017)
1938 - Guy Roux, French football manager
1939 - Flavio Cotti, Swiss politician
1939 - Mike Ditka, American football player and coach
1939 - Lee Harvey Oswald, suspected assassin of John F. Kennedy (d. 1963)
1941 - Timothy Bell, Baron Bell, British advertising and public relations executive (d. 2019)
1943 - Andrej Bajuk, Slovenian banker and politician (d. 2011)
1943 - Christine Charbonneau, Canadian singer-songwriter (d. 2014)
1945 - Huell Howser, American TV host (d. 2013)
1945 - Kate Pretty, English archaeologist
1946 - Dafydd Elis-Thomas, Welsh politician (Plaid Cymru)
1947 - Paul Chuckle, English comedian
1947 - Job Cohen, Dutch politician
1948 - Ntozake Shange, American poet and playwright (d. 2018)
1949 - Erwin Sellering, German politician
1950 - Om Puri, Indian actor and singer (d. 2017)
1950 - Wendy Wasserstein, American playwright (d. 2006)
1951 1975
1952 - Patrick Morrow, Canadian mountaineer
1952 - Chuck Lorre, American scriptwriter, director and producer
1952 - Jim Ratcliffe, English businessman
1955 - Rita Verdonk, Dutch politician
1956 - Martina Navratilova, Czech-born tennis player
1957 - Catherine Ringer, French singer-songwriter, dancer and actress
1957 - Jon Lindstrom, American actor, director, producer and screenwriter
1958 - Kjell Samuelsson, Swedish ice hockey player
1958 - Julio Olarticoechea, Argentine footballer
1958 - Stacy Allison, American mountaineer
1959 - Mauricio Funes, former President of El Salvador
1959 - Ernesto Canto, Mexican athlete
1960 - Craig Mello, American biochemist and winner of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
1960 - Jean-Claude Van Damme, Belgian bodybuilder and actor
1961 - Wynton Marsalis, American musician
1962 - Vincent Spaho, American actor and director
1966 - Angela Visser, Dutch model and actress
1968 - Lisa Chappell, New Zealand actress and singer
1968 - Michael Stich, German tennis player
1973 - James Foley, American journalist (d. 2014)
1974 - Robbie Savage, Welsh footballer
1974 - Peter Svensson, Swedish musician (The Cardigans)
1975 - Zhou Xun, Chinese actress and singer
From 1976
1977 - Ryan Nelsen, New Zealand footballer
1977 - Kunal Kapoor, Indian actor
1978 - Mike Tindall, English rugby player
1979 - Jaroslav Drobny, Czech footballer
1979 - 'Ana Po'uhila, Tongan shot putter, hammer and discus thrower
1979 - Hikaru Kawamura, Japanese model
1979 - Ne-Yo, American singer
1982 - Svetlana Loboda, Ukrainian singer and composer
1982 - Mark Sampson, Welsh football coach
1983 - Dante, Brazilian footballer
1984 - Freida Pinto, Indian actress and model
1984 - Robert Harting, German hammer thrower
1984 - Lindsey Vonn, American skier
1984 - Esperanza Spalding, American bassist and singer
1984 - Jennifer Ulrich, German actress
1984 - Justin Mapp, American soccer player
1984 - Milo Yiannopoulos, English journalist
1985 - Yoenis Cespedes, Cuban baseball player
1987 - Freja Beha Erichsen, Danish model
1987 - Zac Efron, American singer and actor
1988 - Sam Quek, English field hockey player
1989 - Joy Lauren, American actress
1990 - Carly Schroeder, American actress
1990 - Bristol Palin, daughter of Sarah Palin
1991 - Tyler Posey, American actor
1992 - John John Florence, American surfer
Deaths
Up to 1900
325 - Jin Mingdi, Chinese Emperor of the Jin Dynasty (b. 299)
707 - Pope John VII
1035 - Sancho of Navarre, King of Navarre
1141 - Leopold IV of Austria, Duke of Bavaria
1417 - Pope Gregory XII
1480 - Uhwudong, Korean dancer and poet (b. 1441)
1503 - Pope Pius III (b. 1439)
1541 - Margaret Tudor, Queen of Scotland (b. 1489)
1545 - John Taverner, English composer and organist (b. 1490)
1558 - Mary of Hungary (b. 1605)
1564 - Johannes Acronius Frisius, German physician and mathematician (b. 1520)
1646 - Isaac Jogues, French priest, missionary and martyr (b. 1607)
1667 - Emperor Fasilides of Ethiopia (b. 1603)
1744 - Sarah Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough (b. 1660)
1769 - Yohannes I, Emperor of Ethiopia
1845 - Dominique, comte de Cassini, French cartographer and astronomer (b. 1748)
1865 - Henry Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1784)
1871 - Charles Babbage, English mathematician and inventor (b. 1791)
1886 - Philipp Franz von Siebold, German physician (b. 1796)
1889 - Antonio Meucci, Italian inventor (b. 1808)
1893 - Charles Gounod, French composer (b. 1818)
1901 2000
1911 - Alfred Binet, French psychologist (b. 1857)
1921 - Ludwig III of Bavaria (b. 1845)
1931 - Thomas Edison, American inventor (b. 1847)
1934 - Santiago Ramon y Cajal, Spanish doctor, won the 1906 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, (b. 1852)
1941 - Manuel Teixeira Gomes, 7th President of Portugal (b. 1860)
1942 - Mikhail Nesterov, Russian painter (b. 1862)
1948 - Walther von Brauchitsch, German field marshal (b. 1881)
1948 - Philip Collier, 14th Premier of Western Australia (b. 1873)
1954 - Einar Jonsson, Icelandic sculptor (b. 1874)
1955 - Jose Ortega y Gasset, Spanish philosopher and sociologist (b. 1883)
1959 - Boughera El Ouafi, Algerian athlete (b. 1898)
1965 - Henry Travers, British actor (b. 1874)
1966 - Elizabeth Arden, Canadian businesswoman (b. 1880)
1973 - Leo Strauss, German-American philosopher (b. 1899)
1973 - Walt Kelly, American cartoonist (b. 1913)
1976 - Viswanatha Satyanarayana, Indian poet (b. 1895)
1977 - German Autumn deaths:
Hanns Martin Schleyer, German politician (b. 1915) (killed)
Andreas Baader, member of the Red Army Faction (b. 1943) (suicide)
Gudrun Ensslin, member of the Red Army Faction (b. 1940) (suicide)
Jan-Carl Raspe, member of the Red Army Faction (b. 1944) (suicide)
1978 - Ramon Mercader, assassin of Leon Trotsky (b. 1914)
1982 - Bess Truman, First Lady of the United States (b. 1885)
1982 - Pierre Mendes France, French politician (b. 1907)
1982 - John Robarts, Canadian politician, 17th Premier of Ontario (b. 1917)
1984 - Henri Michaux, French painter and poet (b. 1899)
1987 - Adriaan Ditvoorst, Dutch movie director and screenwriter (b. 1940)
1988 - Frederick Ashton, British dancer and choreographer (b. 1904)
2000 - Julie London, American singer and actress (b. 1926)
From 2001
2001 - Micheline Ostermeyer, French athlete and musician (b. 1922)
2002 - Nikolai Rukavishnikov, cosmonaut (b. 1932)
2003 - Preston Smith, Governor of Texas (b. 1912)
2003 - Manuel Vazquez Montalban, Spanish writer (b. 1939)
2004 - K. M. Veerappan, Indian criminal (b. 1952)
2006 - Marc Hodler, Swiss skiing official (b. 1918)
2006 - Mario Francesco Pompedda, Italian cardinal (b. 1929)
2007 - Lucky Dube, South African musician (b. 1964)
2007 - William J. Crowe, American admiral and diplomat (b. 1925)
2008 - Dee Dee Warwick, American jazz musician (b. 1931)
2011 - Norman Corwin, American radio broadcaster (b. 1910)
2012 - Slater Martin, American basketball player (b. 1925)
2013 - Tom Foley, American politician, former Speaker of the United States House of Representatives (b. 1929)
2013 - Bill Young, American politician (b. 1930)
2014 - Rachel Makinson, Australian research scientist (b. 1917)
2014 - Joanne Borgella, American singer (b. 1982)
2014 - Paul Craft, American musician and songwriter (b. 1938)
2015 - Gamal El-Ghitani, Egyptian writer (b. 1945)
2015 - Frank Watkins, American musician (b. 1968)
2017 - Eamonn Campbell, Irish guitarist and record producer (b. 1946)
2017 - Marino Perani, Italian footballer (b. 1939)
2017 - Yeoh Tiong Lay, Malaysian businessman (b. 1929)
2017 - Ricardo Vidal, Filipino cardinal (b. 1931)
2017 - Issam Zahreddine, Syrian Republican Guard Major General (b. 1961)
2017 - Brent Briscoe, American actor and screenwriter (b. 1961)
2017 - Helen DeVos, American philanthropist and political donor (b. 1927)
2018 - Abdul Raziq Achakzai, Afghan officer (b. 1979)
2018 - Ayub Bachchu, Bangladeshi singer-songwriter (b. 1962)
2018 - Anthea Bell, British translator (b. 1936)
2018 - Abdel Rahman Swar al-Dahab, former President of Sudan (b. 1934)
2018 - Danny Leiner, American film director (b. 1961)
2018 - Lisbet Palme, Swedish child psychologist, wife of Olof Palme (b. 1931)
2018 - Dick Slater, American professional wrestler (b. 1951)
2018 - N. D. Tiwari, Indian politician (b. 1925)
2019 - Nicolas Diaz, Chilean politician and cardiologist (b. 1929)
2019 - Michael Flaksman, American cellist (b. 1946)
2019 - Horace Romano Harre, New Zealand-British philosopher and psychologist (b. 1927)
2019 - Mark Hurd, American businessman (b. 1957)
2019 - Rui Jordao, Angolan-Portuguese footballer (b. 1952)
2019 - William Milliken, American politician, 42nd Governor of Michigan (b. 1922)
2019 - Mike Reilly, American football player (b. 1942)
2019 - Mikhail Innokentyevich Semyonov, Russian politician (b. 1938)
2019 - Meir Shamgar, Israeli lawyer and politician (b. 1925)
2021 - Colin Powell, American General and politician (b. 1937)
Observances
Alaska Day
Persons Day (Canada)
Necktie Day (Croatia)
Days of the year