December 18

Events
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 - Antonio Maria da Silva becomes the last Prime Minister of the First Portuguese Republic.
1926 - The Makropulos Affair, an opera by the Czech composer Leos Janacek, 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.
Births
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 Holmes, 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 author (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 Ramon Agosti, Argentine general and politician (d. 1997)
1927 - Romeo 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 - Jozef 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 Canizares, 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 Sanchez 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 Sidibe, 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 Soukupova, 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
Deaths
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 Mohorovicic, 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 Becaud, 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, author and scholar (b. 1913)
2011 - Vaclav 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 Barriere, 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
Days of the year