On this day: September 18

Events on September 18

• 96 Nerva, the first of the "Five Good Emperors" of ancient Rome, came to power following the assassination of his predecessor Domitian. Wikipedia
• 324 Constantine the Great decisively defeated Licinius in the Battle of Chrysopolis, establishing Constantine's sole control over the Roman Empire and ending the Tetrarchy. Wikipedia
• 324 Constantine the Great decisively defeats Licinius in the Battle of Chrysopolis, establishing Constantine's sole control over the Roman Empire. Wikipedia
• 1048 Byzantine–Seljuk wars: Byzantine forces defeated their Seljuk opponents in the flanks of the nocturnal Battle of Kapetron, but learned of their Georgian allies' defeat in the centre the next morning. Wikipedia
• 1796 War of the First Coalition: General Franz Petrasch's Austrian and Imperial troops stormed the French-held bridgehead over the Rhine river. Wikipedia
• 1860 Second Opium War: Battle of Zhangjiawan: Now heading towards Beijing after having recently occupied Tianjin, the allied Anglo-French force engages and defeats a larger Qing Chinese army at Zhangjiawan. Wikipedia
• 1860 Wars of Italian Unification: Battle of Castelfidardo: Royal Sardinian Army defeats forces of the Papal States, resulting in the conquest of Umbria and Marche by the Kingdom of Italy. Wikipedia
• 1863 American Civil War: The Battle of Chickamauga begins between Confederate and Union forces. It involves the second highest amount of casualties for any American Civil War battle apart from Gettysburg. Wikipedia
• 1864 American Civil War: John Bell Hood begins the Franklin–Nashville Campaign in an unsuccessful attempt to draw William Tecumseh Sherman back out of Georgia. Wikipedia
• 1875 The Indianola hurricane dissipated over Mississippi after killing around eight hundred people in Texas. Wikipedia
• 1918 World War I: The Central Powers' defeat at the Battle of Dobro Pole played a role in the Bulgarian withdrawal from the war and led to the subsequent liberation of Vardar Macedonia. Wikipedia
• 1919 In the Netherlands, a law granting full voting rights to women is granted royal assent by Queen Wilhelmina. Wikipedia
• 1926 A hurricane devastates Miami, Florida, killing 372 people. Wikipedia
• 1932 The body of actress Peg Entwistle is discovered by police, two days after her suicide by jumping off of the Hollywoodland sign. Wikipedia
• 1934 The Soviet Union is admitted to the League of Nations. Wikipedia
• 1939 World War II: The Polish government of Ignacy Mościcki flees to Romania. Wikipedia
• 1950 TV Tupi Difusora, the first television station to broadcast in Brazil, begins transmissions on Channel 3 in São Paulo. Wikipedia
• 1950 Korean War: The Korean People's Army retreated from the Battle of the Pusan Perimeter after six weeks of fighting, marking the farthest that the KPA would advance in the war. Wikipedia
• 1950 Korean War: U.S. Eighth Army and United Nations forces break out of the Pusan Perimeter in southeast Korea. Wikipedia
• 1954 Finnish president J. K. Paasikivi becomes the first Western head of state to be awarded the highest honor of the Soviet Union, the Order of Lenin. Wikipedia
• 1962 Burundi, Jamaica, Rwanda and Trinidad and Tobago are admitted to the United Nations. Wikipedia
• 1981 While posing as an aristocrat, Belgian serial killer Nestor Pirotte murdered an antiques dealer in Brussels, for which crime he was sentenced to death. Wikipedia
• 1988 The Magna Charta Universitatum, asserting key principles essential to the free operation of universities, is signed in Bologna by the rectors of 388 institutions of higher learning, to commemorate the 900th anniversary of the University of Bologna. Wikipedia
• 1989 An attempted coup d'état against Burkina Faso president Blaise Compaoré is uncovered and foiled. Wikipedia
• 1990 Liechtenstein becomes a member of the United Nations. Wikipedia
• 2013 A VIA Rail train crashes into a double-decker bus at a train station in Ottawa, Canada, killing six people and injuring 35 others. Wikipedia

Born on September 18

• 53 Trajan, Roman emperor (died 117) Wikipedia
• 524 Kan Bahlam I, ruler of Palenque (died 583) Wikipedia
• 1587 Francesca Caccini, Italian singer-songwriter and lute player (died 1640) Wikipedia
• 1709 Samuel Johnson, English lexicographer and poet (died 1784) Wikipedia
• 1765 Pope Gregory XVI (died 1846) Wikipedia
• 1819 Léon Foucault, French physicist and academic (died 1868) Wikipedia
• 1858 Kate Booth, English Salvation Army officer (died 1955) Wikipedia
• 1876 James Scullin, Australian journalist and politician, 9th Prime Minister of Australia (died 1953) Wikipedia
• 1883 Andre Morize, professor of French literature at Harvard University (died 1957) Wikipedia
• 1905 Greta Garbo, Swedish-American actress (died 1990) Wikipedia
• 1907 Edwin McMillan, American physicist and chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1991) Wikipedia
• 1908 Victor Ambartsumian, Georgian-Armenian astrophysicist, astronomer, and academic (died 1996) Wikipedia
• 1910 Joseph F. Enright, American submarine captain in the United States Navy Wikipedia
• 1954 Steven Pinker, Canadian-American psychologist, linguist, and author Wikipedia
• 1961 James Gandolfini, American actor and producer (died 2013) Wikipedia
• 1971 Anna Netrebko, Russian-Austrian soprano and actress Wikipedia
• 1971 Lance Armstrong, American cyclist Wikipedia
• 1971 Jada Pinkett Smith, American actress Wikipedia
• 1973 Mark Shuttleworth, South African-English businessman Wikipedia
• 1973 James Marsden, American actor Wikipedia
• 1976 Ronaldo, Brazilian footballer Wikipedia
• 1998 Christian Pulisic, American soccer player Wikipedia

Died on September 18

• 96 Domitian, Roman emperor (born AD 51) Wikipedia
• 411 Constantine III, Roman usurper Wikipedia
• 1180 Louis VII, king of France (born 1120) Wikipedia
• 1598 Toyotomi Hideyoshi, Japanese daimyō (born 1536) Wikipedia
• 1783 Leonhard Euler, Swiss mathematician and physicist (born 1707) Wikipedia
• 1872 Charles XV of Sweden (born 1826) Wikipedia
• 1896 Hippolyte Fizeau, French physicist and academic (born 1819) Wikipedia
• 1911 Pyotr Stolypin, Russian lawyer and politician, 3rd Prime Minister of Russia (born 1862) Wikipedia
• 1961 Dag Hammarskjöld, Swedish economist and diplomat, 2nd Secretary-General of the United Nations, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1905) Wikipedia
• 1967 John Cockcroft, English physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1897) Wikipedia
• 1970 Jimi Hendrix, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (born 1942) Wikipedia
• 2011 Jamey Rodemeyer, American teenage activist (born 1997) Wikipedia
• 2020 Ruth Bader Ginsburg, United States Supreme Court justice (born 1933) Wikipedia
• 2024 Salvatore Schillaci, Italian footballer (born 1964) Wikipedia

Holidays and observances

• Christian feast day: Ariadne of Phrygia Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Constantius (Theban Legion) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Edward Bouverie Pusey (Episcopal Church) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Eustorgius I Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Joseph of Cupertino Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Józef Kut Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Methodius of Olympus Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Richardis Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: September 18 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics) Wikipedia
• Day of National Music (Azerbaijan) Wikipedia
• Island Language Day (Okinawa Prefecture, Japan) Wikipedia
• National Day or Dieciocho (Chile) Wikipedia
• National HIV/AIDS and Aging Awareness Day (United States) Wikipedia
• Navy Day (Croatia) Wikipedia
• World Water Monitoring Day Wikipedia

The events, births, deaths and observances above are from the English Wikipedia article “September 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.