On this day: May 18

Events on May 18

• 872 Louis II of Italy is crowned for the second time as Holy Roman Emperor at Rome, at the age of 47. His first coronation was 28 years earlier, in 844, during the reign of his father Lothair I. Wikipedia
• 1499 Alonso de Ojeda sets sail from Cádiz on his voyage to what is now Venezuela. Wikipedia
• 1565 The Great Siege of Malta begins, in which Ottoman forces attempt and fail to conquer Malta. Wikipedia
• 1804 Napoleon Bonaparte is proclaimed Emperor of the French by the French Senate. Wikipedia
• 1811 Battle of Las Piedras: The first great military triumph of the revolution of the Río de la Plata in Uruguay led by José Artigas. Wikipedia
• 1848 Opening of the first German National Assembly (Nationalversammlung) in Frankfurt, Germany. Wikipedia
• 1860 United States presidential election: Abraham Lincoln wins the Republican Party presidential nomination over William H. Seward, who later becomes the United States Secretary of State. Wikipedia
• 1900 The United Kingdom proclaims a protectorate over Tonga. Wikipedia
• 1912 The first Indian film, Shree Pundalik by Dadasaheb Torne, is released in Mumbai. Wikipedia
• 1917 World War I: The Selective Service Act of 1917 is passed, giving the President of the United States the power of conscription. 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
• 1927 The Bath School disaster: Forty-five people, including many children, are killed by bombs planted by a disgruntled school-board member in Bath Township, Michigan. 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
• 1933 New Deal: President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs an act creating the Tennessee Valley Authority. Wikipedia
• 1944 World War II: Battle of Monte Cassino: Conclusion after seven days of the fourth battle as German paratroopers evacuate Monte Cassino. Wikipedia
• 1944 Deportation of Crimean Tatars by the Soviet Union. Wikipedia
• 1965 Israeli spy Eli Cohen is hanged in Damascus, Syria. 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
• 1980 Mount St. Helens erupts in Washington, United States, killing 57 people and causing $3 billion in damage. Wikipedia
• 1991 Northern Somalia declares independence from the rest of Somalia as the Republic of Somaliland. Wikipedia
• 1993 Riots in Nørrebro, Copenhagen, caused by the approval of the four Danish exceptions in the Maastricht Treaty referendum. Police open fire against civilians for the first time since World War II and injure 11 demonstrators. 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 A second photo from the Hubble Space Telescope confirms that Pluto has two additional moons, Nix and Hydra. Wikipedia
• 2006 The post Loktantra Andolan government passes a landmark bill curtailing the power of the monarchy and making Nepal a secular country. Wikipedia
• 2018 Cubana de Aviación Flight 972 crashes in Santiago de las Vegas after takeoff from José Martí International Airport in Havana, Cuba, killing 112 of the 113 people on board. Wikipedia
• 2019 United States presidential election: Joe Biden launches his presidential campaign. 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
• 1883 Eurico Gaspar Dutra, Brazilian marshal and politician, 16th President of Brazil (died 1974) 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
• 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
• 1919 Margot Fonteyn, British ballerina (died 1991) Wikipedia
• 1920 Pope John Paul II (died 2005) Wikipedia
• 1933 H. D. Deve Gowda, Indian farmer and politician, 11th Prime Minister of India Wikipedia
• 1947 John Bruton, Irish politician, 10th Taoiseach of Ireland (died 2024) Wikipedia
• 1948 Tom Udall, American lawyer and politician, 28th New Mexico Attorney General, United States Senator from New Mexico Wikipedia
• 1955 Chow Yun-fat, Hong Kong actor and screenwriter Wikipedia
• 1970 Tina Fey, American actress, producer, and screenwriter Wikipedia
• 1978 Ricardo Carvalho, Portuguese footballer Wikipedia
• 1979 Jens Bergensten, Swedish video game designer, co-designed Minecraft Wikipedia
• 1990 Yuya Osako, Japanese footballer Wikipedia

Died on May 18

• 526 Pope John I Wikipedia
• 947 Emperor Taizong of the Liao Dynasty Wikipedia
• 1721 Maria Barbara Carillo, victim of the Spanish Inquisition (born 1625) 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
• 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
• 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
• 2009 Velupillai Prabhakaran, Sri Lankan rebel leader, founded the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (born 1954) Wikipedia
• 2017 Chris Cornell, American singer (born 1964) Wikipedia
• 2019 Austin Eubanks, American addiction recovery advocate, survivor of the Columbine shooting (born 1981) 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

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 2026-10-09 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.