On this day: May 18

Events on May 18

• 332 Emperor Constantine the Great announces free distributions of food to the citizens in Constantinople. Wikipedia
• 1302 Armed insurrectionists massacred the occupying French garrison in Bruges, Flanders, killing approximately 2,000 people. Wikipedia
• 1388 At the Battle of Buir Lake, a Ming Chinese army led by general Lan Yu defeated the forces of Tögüs Temür, the Mongol khan of Northern Yuan. Wikipedia
• 1565 The Great Siege of Malta begins, in which Ottoman forces attempt and fail to conquer Malta. Wikipedia
• 1695 An earthquake measuring Ms 7.8 struck Shanxi Province in northern China, resulting in at least 52,600 deaths. Wikipedia
• 1812 John Bellingham is found guilty and sentenced to death by hanging for the assassination of British Prime Minister Spencer Perceval. Wikipedia
• 1863 American Civil War: General Ulysses S. Grant led his Army of the Tennessee across the Big Black River in preparation for the Siege of Vicksburg. Wikipedia
• 1896 Ruling in the landmark decision Plessy v. Ferguson, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the legality of racial segregation in public transportation under the "separate but equal" doctrine. Wikipedia
• 1926 Pentecostal evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson was reportedly kidnapped near Venice Beach in Los Angeles before reappearing five weeks later in Mexico. Wikipedia
• 1927 Disgruntled school board treasurer Andrew Kehoe set off explosives with timers and a rifle, causing the Bath School disaster in the Bath Consolidated School in Michigan, killing 44 people in the deadliest mass murder in a school in United States history. Wikipedia
• 1933 U.S. president Franklin D. Roosevelt signed an act establishing the Tennessee Valley Authority to stimulate the economic development of the Tennessee Valley, a region particularly impacted by the Great Depression. Wikipedia
• 1936 In a crime that captivated Japan, Sada Abe strangled her lover, cut off his genitals, and carried them around with her for several days until her arrest. Wikipedia
• 1944 The Soviet Union forcibly deported hundreds of thousands of Crimean Tatars to the Uzbek SSR and elsewhere in the country. Wikipedia
• 1944 World War II: Battle of Monte Cassino: Conclusion after seven days of the fourth battle as German paratroopers evacuate Monte Cassino. Wikipedia
• 1952 First Indochina War: Viet Minh forces overran a French and Laotian garrison at Muong Khoua, leaving only four survivors. Wikipedia
• 1955 Operation Passage to Freedom, the evacuation of 310,000 Vietnamese civilians, soldiers and non-Vietnamese members of the French Army from communist North Vietnam to South Vietnam following the end of the First Indochina War, ended. Wikipedia
• 1965 Eli Cohen, a spy who is credited with gathering significant intelligence used by Israel during the Six-Day War, was publicly hanged in Syria. Wikipedia
• 1974 India conducted its first nuclear test explosion at Pokhran, the first confirmed nuclear test by a nation outside the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council. Wikipedia
• 1980 Mount St. Helens explosively erupted, killing approximately 57 people in southern Washington state, reducing hundreds of square miles to wasteland, and causing more than US$1 billion in damage. Wikipedia
• 1994 Israeli troops finish withdrawing from the Gaza Strip, ceding the area to the Palestinian National Authority to govern. Wikipedia
• 1996 Ireland won the Eurovision song contest for the seventh time, the highest number of wins for any country before Sweden tied it in 2023. Wikipedia
• 2005 The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion publicly debuted at the Electronic Entertainment Expo. Wikipedia
• 2006 The Parliament of Nepal unanimously voted to strip King Gyanendra of many of his powers. Wikipedia
• 2009 The Sri Lanka Army killed Velupillai Prabhakaran, the leader and founder of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, to bring an end to the 26-year Sri Lankan civil war. Wikipedia
• 2013 Mark Carson, an openly gay man, was murdered in a hate crime incident in New York City, prompting a 1,500-person march against anti-LGBTQ violence. Wikipedia
• 2018 Cubana de Aviación Flight 0972 crashed near Santiago de las Vegas shortly after takeoff from José Martí International Airport, killing 112 of the 113 people on board. Wikipedia

Born on May 18

• 1048 Omar Khayyám, Persian mathematician, astronomer, and poet (died 1131) Wikipedia
• 1711 Roger Joseph Boscovich, Ragusan physicist, astronomer, and mathematician (died 1787) Wikipedia
• 1850 Oliver Heaviside, English engineer, mathematician, and physicist (died 1925) Wikipedia
• 1868 Nicholas II of Russia (died 1918) Wikipedia
• 1872 Bertrand Russell, British mathematician, historian, and philosopher, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1970) Wikipedia
• 1876 Hermann Müller, German journalist and politician, 12th Chancellor of Germany (died 1931) Wikipedia
• 1883 Walter Gropius, German-American architect, designed the John F. Kennedy Federal Building (died 1969) Wikipedia
• 1888 (O.S.) Hanna Barysevich, the oldest female resident of Belarus not registered by the Guinness Book of Records. (died 2007) Wikipedia
• 1891 Rudolf Carnap, German-American philosopher and academic (died 1970) Wikipedia
• 1895 Augusto César Sandino, Nicaraguan rebel leader (died 1934) Wikipedia
• 1897 Frank Capra, Italian-American director, producer, and screenwriter (died 1991) Wikipedia
• 1901 Vincent du Vigneaud, American biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1978) Wikipedia
• 1912 Perry Como, American singer and television host (died 2001) Wikipedia
• 1914 Boris Christoff, Bulgarian-Italian opera singer (died 1993) Wikipedia
• 1919 Margot Fonteyn, British ballerina (died 1991) Wikipedia
• 1920 Pope John Paul II (died 2005) Wikipedia
• 1955 Chow Yun-fat, Hong Kong actor and screenwriter Wikipedia
• 1960 Yannick Noah, French tennis player Wikipedia
• 1970 Tina Fey, American actress, producer, and screenwriter Wikipedia
• 1978 Ricardo Carvalho, Portuguese footballer Wikipedia
• 1979 Milivoje Novaković, Slovenian footballer Wikipedia
• 1990 Yuya Osako, Japanese footballer Wikipedia

Died on May 18

• 526 Pope John I Wikipedia
• 1799 Pierre Beaumarchais, French playwright and publisher (born 1732) Wikipedia
• 1800 Alexander Suvorov, Russian general (born 1729) Wikipedia
• 1909 Isaac Albéniz, Spanish pianist and composer (born 1860) Wikipedia
• 1909 George Meredith, English novelist and poet (born 1828) Wikipedia
• 1910 Eliza Orzeszkowa, Polish author and publisher (born 1841) Wikipedia
• 1911 Gustav Mahler, Austrian composer and conductor (born 1860) Wikipedia
• 1922 Charles Louis Alphonse Laveran, French physician and parasitologist, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1845) Wikipedia
• 1941 Werner Sombart, German economist and sociologist (born 1863) Wikipedia
• 1973 Jeannette Rankin, American social worker and politician (born 1880) Wikipedia
• 1980 Ian Curtis, English singer-songwriter (born 1956) Wikipedia
• 1981 William Saroyan, American novelist, playwright, and short story writer (born 1908) Wikipedia
• 2007 Pierre-Gilles de Gennes, French physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1932) Wikipedia
• 2017 Chris Cornell, American singer (born 1964) Wikipedia

Holidays and observances

• Christian feast day: Ælfgifu of Shaftesbury Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Blessed Blandine Merten Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Eric IX of Sweden Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Felix of Cantalice Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Pope John I Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Venantius of Camerino Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: May 18 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics) Wikipedia
• Baltic Fleet Day (Russia) Wikipedia
• Day of Remembrance of Crimean Tatar genocide (Ukraine) Wikipedia
• Independence Day (Somaliland) (unrecognized) Wikipedia
• International Museum Day Wikipedia
• National Speech Pathologist Day (United States) Wikipedia
• Revival, Unity, and Poetry of Magtymguly Day (Turkmenistan) Wikipedia
• Teacher's Day (Syria) Wikipedia

Sources

• Wikipedia — “May 18” — events, births, deaths and observances (text under CC BY-SA 4.0) (checked 2026-10-15)
• Wikipedia — “Selected anniversaries/May 18” — the anniversaries editors chose for the date and the article each one is about (checked 2026-10-15)
• Wikidata — in how many language editions each entry's own article exists, used to fill the lists (CC0) (checked 2026-10-15)
• vacanza/holidays (open-source holiday rules, MIT licence) — holiday rules used to build the lists (checked 2026-10-15)

The events, births, deaths and observances above are from the English Wikipedia article “May 18” and the articles it links to (authors and history), retrieved 2026-10-15 through the Wikimedia “On this day” feed. They are licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0; this selection is shared under the same licence. Every anniversary that Wikipedia's editors selected for May 18 stays on the list; the remaining places, up to 26 events, 22 births and 14 deaths, go to the entries whose own article — about the event itself, or else the person or thing it is about — appears in the most language editions (counted from Wikidata); an article about a person or thing, which covers far more than one day, counts half. An entry with no article of its own counts, also at half, by the least covered article it links, and one that links only places counts for nothing. Each list runs by year, and the wording is unchanged apart from removing references to pictures, audio and video.