On this day: March 18

Events on March 18

• 1571 Valletta is made the capital city of Malta. Wikipedia
• 1608 Susenyos is formally crowned Emperor of Ethiopia. Wikipedia
• 1673 English lord John Berkeley sells his half of New Jersey to the Quakers. Wikipedia
• 1793 The first modern republic in Germany, the Republic of Mainz, is declared by Andreas Joseph Hofmann. Wikipedia
• 1793 Flanders Campaign of the French Revolution, Battle of Neerwinden. Wikipedia
• 1848 Revolutions of 1848: A rebellion arises in Milan which in five days of street fighting drove Marshal Radetzky and his Austrian soldiers from the city. Wikipedia
• 1848 The premiere of William Henry Fry's Leonora in Philadelphia is the first known performance of a grand opera by an American composer. Wikipedia
• 1861 Spain would annex annex the Dominican Republic, which would last for four years. Wikipedia
• 1901 The construction of the House with Chimaeras commenced in Kyiv. Wikipedia
• 1915 First World War: In one of the largest naval battles of the Gallipoli campaign, Ottoman forces sank three Allied battleships and severely damaged three others. Wikipedia
• 1915 World War I: During the Battle of Gallipoli, three battleships are sunk during a failed British and French naval attack on the Dardanelles. Wikipedia
• 1921 The second Peace of Riga is signed between Poland and the Soviet Union. Wikipedia
• 1922 In India, Mohandas Gandhi is sentenced to six years in prison for civil disobedience, of which he serves only two. Wikipedia
• 1925 The deadliest tornado in U.S. history spawned in Missouri and traveled more than 219 miles (352 km) across Illinois and Indiana, leaving one of the longest continuous tornado tracks ever recorded. Wikipedia
• 1925 The 1925 Tri-State tornado hits the Midwestern states of Missouri, Illinois, and Indiana, killing 695 people. Wikipedia
• 1937 Spanish Civil War: Spanish Republican forces defeat the Italians at the Battle of Guadalajara. Wikipedia
• 1940 World War II: Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini meet at the Brenner Pass in the Alps and agree to form an alliance against France and the United Kingdom. Wikipedia
• 1953 An earthquake hits western Turkey, killing at least 1,070 people. Wikipedia
• 1966 United Arab Airlines Flight 749 crashes on approach to Cairo International Airport in Cairo, Egypt, killing 30 people. Wikipedia
• 1969 The United States begins secretly bombing the Sihanouk Trail in Cambodia, used by communist forces to infiltrate South Vietnam. Wikipedia
• 1970 Lon Nol ousts Prince Norodom Sihanouk of Cambodia. Wikipedia
• 1971 Peru: A landslide crashes into Yanawayin Lake, killing 200 people at the mining camp of Chungar. Wikipedia
• 1990 In the largest art theft in US history, 12 paintings, collectively worth around $500 million, are stolen from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston. Wikipedia
• 1994 Bosnia's Bosniaks and Croats sign the Washington Agreement, ending war between the Croatian Republic of Herzeg-Bosnia and the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and establishing the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Wikipedia
• 2014 The parliaments of Russia and Crimea sign an accession treaty. Wikipedia
• 2015 The Bardo National Museum in Tunisia is attacked by gunmen. Twenty-four people, almost all tourists, are killed, and at least 50 other people are wounded. Wikipedia

Born on March 18

• 1782 John C. Calhoun, American lawyer and politician, 7th Vice President of the United States (died 1850) Wikipedia
• 1800 Harriet Smithson, Irish actress, the first wife and muse of Hector Berlioz (died 1854) Wikipedia
• 1813 Christian Friedrich Hebbel, German poet and playwright (died 1864) Wikipedia
• 1828 Randal Cremer, English activist and politician, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1908) Wikipedia
• 1837 Grover Cleveland, American lawyer and politician, 22nd and 24th President of the United States (died 1908) Wikipedia
• 1842 Stéphane Mallarmé, French poet and critic (died 1898) Wikipedia
• 1844 Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, Russian composer and academic (died 1908) Wikipedia
• 1858 Rudolf Diesel, German engineer, invented the Diesel engine (died 1913) Wikipedia
• 1869 Neville Chamberlain, English businessman and politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (died 1940) Wikipedia
• 1874 Nikolai Berdyaev, Russian-French philosopher and theologian (died 1948) Wikipedia
• 1903 Galeazzo Ciano, Italian journalist and politician, Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs (died 1944) Wikipedia
• 1918 Mitchell WerBell III, American mercenary (died 1983) Wikipedia
• 1928 Fidel V. Ramos, Filipino general and politician, 12th President of the Philippines (died 2022) Wikipedia
• 1932 John Updike, American novelist, short story writer, and critic (died 2009) Wikipedia
• 1936 F. W. de Klerk, South African lawyer and politician, former State President of South Africa, Nobel Prize laureate (died 2021) Wikipedia
• 1950 Brad Dourif, American actor Wikipedia
• 1959 Luc Besson, French director, producer, and screenwriter, founded EuropaCorp Wikipedia
• 1963 Vanessa L. Williams, American model, actress, and singer Wikipedia
• 1970 Queen Latifah, American rapper, producer, and actress Wikipedia
• 1978 Hu Jun, Chinese actor[citation needed] Wikipedia
• 1979 Adam Levine, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and television personality Wikipedia
• 1989 Lily Collins, English-American actress Wikipedia

Died on March 18

• 1227 Pope Honorius III (born 1148) Wikipedia
• 1582 Juan Jauregui, attempted assassin of William I of Orange (born 1562) Wikipedia
• 1745 Robert Walpole, English politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (born 1676) Wikipedia
• 1768 Laurence Sterne, Irish novelist and clergyman (born 1713) Wikipedia
• 1913 George I of Greece (born 1845) Wikipedia
• 1936 Eleftherios Venizelos, Greek journalist, lawyer, and politician, 93rd Prime Minister of Greece (born 1864) Wikipedia
• 1947 William C. Durant, American businessman, co-founded General Motors and Chevrolet (born 1861) Wikipedia
• 1980 Erich Fromm, German psychologist and philosopher (born 1900) Wikipedia
• 1983 Umberto II of Italy (born 1904) Wikipedia
• 1996 Odysseas Elytis, Greek poet and critic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1911) Wikipedia
• 2011 Warren Christopher, American lawyer and politician, 63rd United States Secretary of State (born 1925) Wikipedia
• 2016 Guido Westerwelle, German lawyer and politician, 15th Vice-Chancellor of Germany (born 1961) Wikipedia
• 2017 Chuck Berry, American guitarist, singer and songwriter (born 1926) Wikipedia
• 2025 Kanzi, Bonobo research subject (born 1980) Wikipedia

Holidays and observances

• Anniversary of the Oil Expropriation (Mexico) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Blessed Aimée-Adèle Le Bouteiller Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Alexander of Jerusalem Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Anselm of Lucca Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Cyril of Jerusalem Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Edward the Martyr Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Fridianus Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Salvator Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: March 18 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics) Wikipedia
• Flag Day (Aruba) Wikipedia
• Gallipoli Memorial Day (Turkey) Wikipedia
• Men's and Soldiers' Day (Mongolia) Wikipedia
• Ordnance Factories' Day (India) Wikipedia
• Sheelah's Day (Ireland, Canada, Australia) Wikipedia
• Teacher's Day (Syria) Wikipedia

The events, births, deaths and observances above are from the English Wikipedia article “March 18” and the articles it links to (authors and history), retrieved 2026-10-09 through the Wikimedia “On this day” feed. They are licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0; this selection is shared under the same licence. We picked the 26 events, 22 births and 14 deaths with the widest coverage across Wikipedia's language editions (counted from Wikidata) and sorted them by year; the wording is unchanged apart from removing references to pictures.