On this day: November 18

Events on November 18

• 401 The Visigoths, led by king Alaric I, cross the Alps and invade northern Italy. Wikipedia
• 1210 Otto IV, Holy Roman Emperor, was ex­com­mu­ni­cated by Pope Innocent III after Otto commanded him to annul the Concordat of Worms. Wikipedia
• 1493 Christopher Columbus first sights the island now known as Puerto Rico. Wikipedia
• 1583 The Siege of Godes­berg, the first major siege of the Cologne War, began. Wikipedia
• 1626 The new St. Peter's Basilica in Rome is consecrated. Wikipedia
• 1730 The future Frederick the Great of Prussia is granted a pardon by his father and is released from confinement. Wikipedia
• 1809 Napoleonic Wars: In the Bay of Bengal, a French frigate squadron captured three ships carrying recruits for the armies of the East India Company. Wikipedia
• 1865 "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County" was published, becoming the first great success of American author Mark Twain. Wikipedia
• 1872 American suffragist Susan B. Anthony was arrested and later fined $100 for having voted in the presidential election two weeks earlier. Wikipedia
• 1905 Prince Carl of Denmark becomes King Haakon VII of Norway. Wikipedia
• 1928 Release of the animated short Steamboat Willie, the first fully synchronized sound cartoon. Wikipedia
• 1956 At the Polish embassy in Moscow, a phrase in an address by Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev was translated into English as "We will bury you", prompting Western envoys to leave the room. Wikipedia
• 1961 Vietnam War: United States President John F. Kennedy sends 18,000 military advisors to South Vietnam. Wikipedia
• 1970 U.S. President Richard Nixon asks the U.S. Congress for $155 million in supplemental aid for the Cambodian government. Wikipedia
• 1977 Solomon Islands ratified the adoption of a new flag. Wikipedia
• 1978 Jim Jones led more than 900 members of the Peoples Temple to mass murder/suicide in Jonestown, Guyana, hours after some of its members assassinated U.S. Congressman Leo Ryan. Wikipedia
• 1987 An underground fire killed 31 people at King's Cross St Pancras tube station in London. Wikipedia
• 1991 The current flag of Uzbekistan was adopted, making the country the first newly independent republic in Central Asia to choose a new flag. Wikipedia
• 1991 Croatian War of Independence: The Yugoslav People's Army captured the Croatian city of Vukovar, ending an 87-day siege. Wikipedia
• 1993 In the United States, the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) is approved by the House of Representatives. Wikipedia
• 1999 Texas A&M University's Aggie Bonfire collapsed, killing 12 people and injuring 27 others, and causing the university to officially declare a hiatus on the 90-year-old annual event. Wikipedia
• 2003 With its ruling in Goodridge v. Department of Public Health, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court made the state the first in the U.S. to legalize same-sex marriage. Wikipedia
• 2011 The sandbox video game Minecraft exited beta with the official release of version 1.0. Wikipedia
• 2012 Pope Tawadros II of Alexandria becomes the 118th Pope of the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria. Wikipedia
• 2014 Two Palestinian men attacked the praying congregants of a synagogue in Jerusalem with axes, knives, and a gun, resulting in eight deaths, including the attackers themselves. Wikipedia
• 2017 Cyclone Numa, a rare "medicane", made landfall in Greece to become the worst weather event that the country had experienced since 1977. Wikipedia

Born on November 18

• 1647 Pierre Bayle, French philosopher and author (died 1706) Wikipedia
• 1786 Carl Maria von Weber, German composer and conductor (probable; died 1826) Wikipedia
• 1787 Louis Daguerre, French artist, photographer and inventor (died 1851) Wikipedia
• 1832 Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld, Finnish-Swedish geologist and explorer (died 1901) Wikipedia
• 1860 Ignacy Jan Paderewski, Polish pianist, composer, and politician, 2nd Prime Minister of the Republic of Poland (died 1941) Wikipedia
• 1882 Jacques Maritain, French philosopher and author (died 1973) Wikipedia
• 1888 Frances Marion, American screenwriter, novelist and journalist (died 1973) Wikipedia
• 1897 Patrick Blackett, Baron Blackett, English physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1974) Wikipedia
• 1906 Klaus Mann, German-American novelist, short story writer, and critic (died 1949) Wikipedia
• 1906 George Wald, American neurobiologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1997) Wikipedia
• 1923 Alan Shepard, American astronaut (died 1998) Wikipedia
• 1939 Margaret Atwood, Canadian author Wikipedia
• 1939 Amanda Lear, Hong Kong-French singer-songwriter and actress Wikipedia
• 1945 Mahinda Rajapaksa, Sri Lankan lawyer and politician, 6th President of Sri Lanka Wikipedia
• 1953 Alan Moore, English author Wikipedia
• 1960 Kim Wilde, English singer-songwriter Wikipedia
• 1962 Kirk Hammett, American guitarist, songwriter, member of the thrash metal band Metallica Wikipedia
• 1963 Peter Schmeichel, Danish footballer and sportscaster Wikipedia
• 1968 Owen Wilson, American actor Wikipedia
• 1970 Mike Epps, American actor and comedian Wikipedia
• 1974 Chloë Sevigny, American actress, model, and fashion designer Wikipedia
• 1985 Allyson Felix, American sprinter Wikipedia

Died on November 18

• 1830 Adam Weishaupt, German philosopher and academic, founded the Illuminati (born 1748) Wikipedia
• 1886 Chester A. Arthur, American general, lawyer, and politician, 21st President of the United States (born 1829) Wikipedia
• 1922 Marcel Proust, French author and critic (born 1871) Wikipedia
• 1941 Walther Nernst, German chemist and physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1864) Wikipedia
• 1941 Chris Watson, Chilean-Australian journalist and politician, 3rd Prime Minister of Australia (born 1867) Wikipedia
• 1952 Paul Éluard, French poet and author (born 1895) Wikipedia
• 1962 Niels Bohr, Danish footballer, physicist, and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1885) Wikipedia
• 1965 Henry A. Wallace, American agronomist and bureaucrat, 33rd Vice President of the United States, 11th US Secretary of Agriculture (born 1888) Wikipedia
• 1976 Man Ray, American-French photographer and painter (born 1890) Wikipedia
• 1977 Kurt Schuschnigg, Italian-Austrian lawyer and politician, 15th Federal Chancellor of Austria (born 1897) Wikipedia
• 1978 Jim Jones, American cult leader, founded Peoples Temple (born 1931) Wikipedia
• 1987 Jacques Anquetil, French cyclist (born 1934) Wikipedia
• 1991 Gustáv Husák, Slovak lawyer and politician, 9th President of Czechoslovakia (born 1913) Wikipedia
• 2002 James Coburn, American actor (born 1928) Wikipedia

Holidays and observances

• Christian feast day: Abhai of Hach (Syriac Orthodox Church) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Alphaeus and Zacchaeus Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Barulas Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Constant Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Dedication of Saints Peter and Paul Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Elizabeth of Hungary (Church of England) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Juthwara Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Mabyn (Roman Catholic Church and Anglicanism) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: The main day of the Feast of the Virgen de Chiquinquirá or Chinita's Fair (Maracaibo, Venezuela) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Maudez (Mawes) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Nazarius (Nazaire) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Odo of Cluny Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Romanus of Caesarea Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Rose Philippine Duchesne Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: November 18 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics) Wikipedia
• Day of Army and Victory (Haiti) Wikipedia
• Independence Day (Morocco), celebrates the independence of Morocco from France and Spain in 1956. Wikipedia
• National Day (Oman) Wikipedia
• Proclamation Day of the Republic of Latvia celebrates the independence of Latvia from Russia in 1918. Wikipedia
• Remembrance Day of the Sacrifice of Vukovar in 1991 (Croatia) Wikipedia

Sources

• Wikipedia — “November 18” — events, births, deaths and observances (text under CC BY-SA 4.0) (checked 2026-10-15)
• Wikipedia — “Selected anniversaries/November 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 “November 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 November 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.