What happened on February 18? There are more than 319 events that were made this day in history. Here are the important historical events, facts, and some myths about this day.
Interesting Facts & Myths About February 18
February 18 is the 49th day of the year 2024. There are 317 days remaining until the end of this year. The day of the week is Sunday. This day falls under the 7th week of the year 2024.
On this day in Tumacacori, Arizona 85640 sunrise occured at 07:01 AM and sunset occured at 06:14 PM (local time).
The zodiac sign of a person born on this day is Aquarius. The modern birthstone for this month is Amethyst while the mystical birthstone is Bloodstone.
According to the Chinese calendar, there are 346 days remaining before the start of the next Chinese New Year (January 29, 2025).
Is your birthday coming up in two days? Are you not curious to find out who is sharing your special day? Discover all the April 22 famous birthdays. There are fun facts about that day that you must know. (Sponsored link)
Historical Events For February 18
- 1229The Sixth Crusade: Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor signs a ten-year truce with al-Kamil, regaining Jerusalem, Nazareth, and Bethlehem with neither military engagements nor support from the papacy.
- 1268The Livonian Brothers of the Sword are defeated by Dovmont of Pskov in the Battle of Rakvere.
- 1332Amda Seyon I, Emperor of Ethiopia begins his campaigns in the southern Muslim provinces.
- 1478George, Duke of Clarence, convicted of treason against his older brother Edward IV of England, is executed in private at the Tower of London.
- 1637Eighty Years’ War: Off the coast of Cornwall, England, a Spanish fleet intercepts an important Anglo-Dutch merchant convoy of 44 vessels escorted by 6 warships, destroying or capturing 20 of them.
- 1745The city of Surakarta, Central Java is founded on the banks of Bengawan Solo River, and becomes the capital of the Kingdom of Surakarta.
- 1781Fourth Anglo-Dutch War: Captain Thomas Shirley opened his expedition against Dutch colonial outposts on the Gold Coast of Africa (present-day Ghana).
- 1797French Revolutionary Wars: Sir Ralph Abercromby and a fleet of 18 British warships invade Trinidad.
- 1814Napoleonic Wars: The Battle of Montereau.
- 1846Beginning of the Galician peasant revolt.
- 1861In Montgomery, Alabama, Jefferson Davis is inaugurated as the provisional President of the Confederate States of America.
- 1861With the Italian unification almost complete, Victor Emmanuel II of Piedmont, Savoy and Sardinia assumes the title of King of Italy.
- 1865Union forces under Major General William T. Sherman set the South Carolina State House on fire during the burning of Columbia.
- 1873Bulgarian revolutionary leader Vasil Levski is executed by hanging in Sofia by the Ottoman authorities.
- 1878John Tunstall is murdered by outlaw Jesse Evans, sparking the Lincoln County War in Lincoln County, New Mexico.
- 1900Second Boer War: Imperial forces suffer their worst single-day loss of life on Bloody Sunday, the first day of the Battle of Paardeberg.
- 1906Edouard de Laveleye forms the Belgian Olympic Committee in Brussels.
- 1911The first official flight with air mail takes place in Allahabad, British India, when Henri Pequet, a 23-year-old pilot, delivers 6,500 letters to Naini, about 10 km away.
- 1912New Year’s Day in Chinese calendar. Start of the year of the Water Rat in Chinese astrology.
- 1913Pedro Lascuráin becomes President of Mexico for 45 minutes; this is the shortest term to date of any person as president of any country.
- 1930Elm Farm Ollie becomes the first cow to fly in a fixed-wing aircraft and also the first cow to be milked in an aircraft.
- 1930While studying photographs taken in January, Clyde Tombaugh discovers Pluto.
- 1932The Empire of Japan declares Manzhouguo (the obsolete Chinese name for Manchuria) independent from the Republic of China.
- 1943Joseph Goebbels delivers his Sportpalast speech.
- 1943The Nazis arrest the members of the White Rose movement.
- 1946Sailors of the Royal Indian Navy mutinied in Mumbai harbour, from where it would spread throughout British India and involve 78 ships, 20 shore establishments and 20,000 sailors
- 1954The first Church of Scientology is established in Los Angeles, California.
- 1955Operation Teapot: Teapot test shot “Wasp” is successfully detonated at the Nevada Test Site with a yield of 1.2 kilotons. Wasp is the first of fourteen shots of the Teapot series.
- 1957Kenyan rebel leader Dedan Kimathi is executed by the British colonial government.
- 1957Walter James Bolton becomes the last person legally executed in New Zealand.
- 1965The Gambia becomes independent from the United Kingdom.
- 1969Hawthorne Nevada Airlines Flight 708 crashes into Mount Whitney killing all on board.
- 1970The Chicago Seven are found not guilty of conspiring to incite riots at the 1968 Democratic National Convention.
- 1972The California Supreme Court in the case of People v. Anderson, 6 Cal.3d 628 invalidates the state’s death penalty and commutes the sentences of all death row inmates to life imprisonment.
- 1977The Space Shuttle Enterprise test vehicle is carried on its maiden “flight” on top of a Boeing 747.
- 1978The first Ironman Triathlon competition takes place on the island of Oahu, won by Gordon Haller.
- 1979Snow falls in the Sahara Desert in southern Algeria for the only time in recorded history.
- 1983Thirteen people die and one is seriously injured in the Wah Mee Massacre in Seattle, Washington. It is said to be the largest robbery-motivated mass-murder in U.S. history.
- 1991The IRA explodes bombs in the early morning at Paddington station and Victoria station in London.
- 2001FBI agent Robert Hanssen is arrested for spying for the Soviet Union. He is ultimately convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment.
- 2001Inter-ethnic violence between Dayaks and Madurese breaks out in Sampit, Indonesia, that will ultimately result in more than 500 deaths and 100,000 Madurese displaced from their homes.
- 2001Seven-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion Dale Earnhardt dies in an accident during the Daytona 500.
- 2003Nearly 200 people die in the Daegu subway fire in South Korea.
- 2004Up to 295 people, including nearly 200 rescue workers, die near Neyshabur in Iran when a runaway freight train carrying sulfur, petrol and fertilizer catches fire and explodes.
- 2007Terrorist bombs explode on the Samjhauta Express in Panipat, Haryana, India, killing 68 people.
- 2010Nigerien rebels attacked the presidential palace in Niamey and replaced President Mamadou Tandja with a ruling junta, the Supreme Council for the Restoration of Democracy.
Who Were Born On February 18?
- 1374Saint Jadwiga of Poland, queen of Poland (d. 1399)
- 1404Leon Battista Alberti, Italian painter and philosopher (d. 1472)
- 1486Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, Bengali yogi (d. 1534)
- 1516Queen Mary I of England (d. 1558)
- 1530Uesugi Kenshin, Japanese samurai and warlord (d. 1578)
- 1543Charles III, Duke of Lorraine (d. 1608)
- 1559Isaac Casaubon, French classical scholar (d. 1614)
- 1602Per Brahe, Swedish soldier (d. 1680)
- 1609Edward Hyde, 1st Earl of Clarendon, English historian (d. 1674)
- 1635Johan Göransson Gyllenstierna, Swedish statesman (d. 1680)
- 1642Marie Champmeslé, French actress (d. 1698)
- 1658Charles-Irénée Castel de Saint-Pierre, French writer (d. 1743)
- 1745Alessandro Volta, Italian physicist (d. 1827)
- 1814Samuel Fenton Cary, American-born U. S. Congressman (d. 1900)
- 1817Lewis A. Armistead, American Confederate general (d. 1863)
- 1818Pedro Figueredo, Cuban poet, musician, revolutionary (d. 1870)
- 1836Sri Ramakrishna, Indian Bengali guru of Swami Vivekananda (d. 1886)
- 1838Ernst Mach, Austrian physicist (d. 1916)
- 1841Gergely Luthár, Hungarian Slovene writer (d. 1925)
- 1846Wilson Barrett, English playwright (d. 1904)
- 1848Louis Comfort Tiffany, American glass artist (d. 1933)
- 1849Alexander Kielland, Norwegian author (d. 1906)
- 1850George Henschel, German-British baritone, conductor, composer (d. 1934)
- 1859Sholom Aleichem, Russian Yiddish humorist (d. 1916)
- 1862Charles M. Schwab, American steel magnate (d. 1939)
- 1870William Laurel Harris, American mural painter and writer (d. 1924)
- 1871Harry Brearley, English inventor (d. 1948)
- 1878Harriet Bosse, Swedish–Norwegian actress (d. 1961)
- 1883Madan Lal Dhingra, Indian Revolutionary (d. 1909)
- 1883Nikos Kazantzakis, Greek author (d. 1957)
- 1884Andrew Watson Myles, Canadian politician (d. 1970)
- 1890Adolphe Menjou, American actor (d. 1963)
- 1890Edward Arnold, American actor (d. 1956)
- 1892Wendell Willkie, American politician (d. 1944)
- 1897Charles Kuentz, German-born French WW1 veteran and centenarian (d. 2005)
- 1898Enzo Ferrari, founder of Ferrari (d. 1988)
- 1898Luis Muñoz Marín, Puerto Rican poet (d. 1980)
- 1901Reginald Sheffield, British actor (d. 1957)
- 1902Walter Herbert, German-born conductor and impresario (d. 1975)
- 1903Nikolai Podgorny, Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet (d. 1983)
- 1905Queenie Leonard, American actress (d. 2002)
- 1906Hans Asperger, Austrian pediatrician (d. 1980)
- 1907Oscar Brodney, American screenwriter (d. 2008)
- 1909Tuppy Owen-Smith, South African cricketer and English rugby union player (d. 1990)
- 1909Wallace Stegner, American writer (d. 1993)
- 1914Pee Wee King, American country musician and songwriter (d. 2000)
- 1915Phyllis Calvert, British actress (d. 2002)
- 1916Jean Drapeau, Canadian politician, mayor of Montreal (d. 1999)
- 1918Jane Loevinger, American psychologist (d. 2008)
- 1919Jack Palance, American actor (d. 2006)
- 1920Bill Cullen, American game show host (d. 1990)
- 1920Eric Gairy, Grenadan politician (d. 1997)
- 1922Allan Melvin, American actor (d. 2008)
- 1922Connie Wisniewski, American baseball player [AAGPBL] (d. 1995)
- 1922Helen Gurley Brown, American editor
- 1922Joe Tipton, American baseball player (d. 1994)
- 1922Juhan Smuul, Estonian author (d. 1971)
- 1924Humberto Fernández Morán, Venezuelan scientist (d. 1999)
- 1924Louis Laberge, Canadian labour union leader (d. 2002)
- 1924Nicolo Rizzuto, Sicilian-born Canadian organized crime figure (d. 2010)
- 1925George Kennedy, American actor
- 1925Marcel Barbeau, Canadian artist
- 1926Nalini Jaywant, Indian actress (d. 2010)
- 1926Wallace Berman, American artist
- 1927John Warner, American politician, 61st United States Secretary of the Navy and American politician
- 1927Luis Arroyo, Puerto Rican baseball player
- 1927Peter Fryer English Marxist writer and journalist (d. 2006)
- 1928Tom Johnson, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 2007)
- 1929André Mathieu, Canadian composer (d. 1968)
- 1929Len Deighton, British author
- 1930Gahan Wilson, American cartoonist
- 1931Bob St. Clair, American football player
- 1931Johnny Hart, American cartoonist (d. 2007)
- 1931Toni Morrison, American writer, Nobel laureate
- 1932Miloš Forman, Czech film director
- 1933Mary Ure, Scottish actress (d. 1975)
- 1933Sir Bobby Robson, English football player and manager (d. 2009)
- 1933Yoko Ono, Japanese-born American singer and performance artist
- 1934Audre Lorde, Caribbean poet and activist (d. 1992)
- 1935Janette Oke, Canadian writer
- 1935Michel Aoun, Lebanese prime minister
- 1936Dick Duff, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1936Jean Auel, American writer
- 1938István Szabó, Hungarian film director
- 1938Manny Mota, Dominican baseball player
- 1938Sadanoyama Shinmatsu, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 50th Yokozuna
- 1939Claude Ake, Nigerian political scientist
- 1939Dal Maxvill, American baseball player
- 1939Marek Janowski, Polish-born conductor
- 1940Fabrizio De André, Italian singer-songwriter (d. 1999)
- 1941Irma Thomas, American singer
- 1943Graeme Garden, Scottish writer
- 1944Pat Bowlen, American sports team owner (Denver Broncos)
- 1945Judy Rankin, American golfer
- 1946Jean-Claude Dreyfus, French actor
- 1946Michael Buerk, British newsreader
- 1947Carlos Lopes, Portuguese athlete
- 1947Dennis DeYoung, American musician (Styx)
- 1947Eliot Lance Engel, American politician
- 1947Princess Christina of the Netherlands
- 1948Georg Brunnhuber, German politician
- 1948Keith Knudsen, American drummer and songwriter (The Doobie Brothers) (d. 2005)
- 1948Sinéad Cusack, Irish actress
- 1949Gary Ridgway, American serial killer
- 1950Cybill Shepherd, American actress
- 1950John Hughes, American film director (d. 2009)
- 1950Michel Gauthier, Canadian politician
- 1951Isabel Preysler, Philippines-born Spanish socialite
- 1952Juice Newton, American singer
- 1952Maurice Lucas, American basketball player (d. 2010)
- 1953Robbie Bachman, Canadian drummer (Bachman–Turner Overdrive)
- 1954Charlie Fowler, American mountaineer (d. 2006)
- 1954John Travolta, American actor
- 1955Miles Tredinnick, English playwright
- 1955Raymond Rougeau, Canadian wrestler
- 1956Paul Reed Smith, American luthier
- 1956Ted Gärdestad, Swedish singer (d. 1997)
- 1957Marita Koch, German athlete
- 1957Vanna White, American game show presenter
- 1958Gar Samuelson, American drummer (d. 1999)
- 1958Giovanni Lavaggi, Italian racing driver
- 1958Lucie Visser, Dutch actress and model
- 1960Andy Moog, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1960Carol McGiffin, British TV and radio presenter
- 1960Greta Scacchi, Australian actress
- 1960Tony Anselmo, American animator
- 1961Cosmo Wilson, American concert lighting designer
- 1961Hironobu Kageyama, Japanese singer
- 1962Julie Strain, American actress
- 1962Moe Lemay, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1963Henry Winter, English football journalist
- 1964Matt Dillon, American actor
- 1964Paul Hanley, British musician (The Fall, Tom Hingley and the Lovers)
- 1965Dr. Dre, American record producer and rapper
- 1965Gregory Scott Johnson, American murderer (d. 2005)
- 1966Guy Ferland, American television director
- 1967Harry Van Barneveld, Belgian judoka
- 1967Marco Aurélio, Brazilian footballer
- 1967Roberto Baggio, Italian footballer
- 1967Tracey Edmonds, American film and television producer
- 1967Yongyoot Thongkongtoon, Thai film director and producer
- 1968Molly Ringwald, American actress
- 1969Alexander Mogilny, Russian ice hockey player
- 1969Jason Sutter, American drummer (Smash Mouth, American Hi-Fi)
- 1969Tomaž Humar, Slovenian mountaineer (d. 2009)
- 1970Andy Williams, British musician (Doves)
- 1970Jez Williams, British musician (Doves)
- 1970Raine Maida, Canadian musician (Our Lady Peace)
- 1970Susan Egan, American actress
- 1971Constantin Popa, Romanian-born Israeli basketball player
- 1971Merritt Gant, American thrash metal guitarist
- 1973Claude Makélélé, French footballer
- 1973Shawn Estes, American baseball player
- 1974Carrie Ann Baade, American painter
- 1974Jamey Carroll, American baseball player
- 1974Jillian Michaels, American fitness trainer
- 1974Julia Butterfly Hill, American environmental activist
- 1974Ruby Dhalla, Canadian politician
- 1974Yevgeny Kafelnikov, Russian tennis player
- 1975Gary Neville, English footballer
- 1975Keith Gillespie, Irish footballer
- 1975Sarah Brown, American actress
- 1975Simon Kvamm, Danish singer and comedian
- 1976Chanda Rubin, American tennis player
- 1976Leilani Munter, American race car driver
- 1977Chrissie Wellington, British tri-athlete
- 1977Ike Barinholtz, American actor
- 1977Kátia, Brazilian footballer
- 1977Sean Watkins, American guitarist and songwriter
- 1978Josip Šimunić, Croatian footballer
- 1978Oliver Pocher, German comedian
- 1980Nikolai Antropov, Kazakh ice hockey player
- 1980Regina Spektor, Russian/American singer and songwriter
- 1981Alex Rios, American baseball player
- 1981Andrei Kirilenko, Russian basketball player
- 1981Ivan Sproule, Irish footballer
- 1981Kim Jae Won, South Korean actor
- 1981Larry Sweeney, American professional wrestler
- 1982Juelz Santana, American rapper
- 1983Jason Maxiell, American basketball player
- 1983Jermaine Jenas, English footballer
- 1983Troy Bienemann, American football player
- 1984Kathrin Wörle, German tennis player
- 1984Ricardo Salampessy, Indonesian footballer
- 1985Anton Ferdinand, English footballer
- 1985Chelsea Hobbs, American actress
- 1985Lee Boyd Malvo, Jamaican spree killer
- 1985Todd Lasance, Australian actor
- 1986Marc Torrejón, Spanish footballer
- 1987Vicente Guaita, Spanish footballer
- 1988Maiara Walsh, American actress
- 1988Max, South Korean singer (TVXQ)
- 1988Shane Lyons, American actor and chef
- 1989Vicente, Brazilian footballer
- 1990Cody Hodgson, Canadian hockey player
- 1990Park Shin-hye, South Korean actress
- 1991Henry Surtees, English racing driver (d. 2009)
- 1991Malese Jow, American actress and singer
- 1991Sebastian Neumann, German footballer
- 1992Logan Miller, American actor
Who Died On February 18?
- 806Tarasius, Patriarch of Constantinople (b. 730)
- 814Angilbert, Frankish monk and confidant of Charlemagne
- 901Thabit ibn Qurra, Arab astronomer and mathematician (b. 826)
- 999Pope Gregory V (b. 972)
- 1139Prince Yaropolk II of Kiev (b. 1082)
- 1294Kublai Khan, Mongol Emperor (b. 1215)
- 1379Albert II of Mecklenburg (b. 1318)
- 1405Tamerlane, Mongol Emperor (b. 1336)
- 1455Fra Angelico, Italian artist (b. 1395)
- 1478George, Duke of Clarence, brother of Kings Edward IV of England and Richard III of England (b. 1449)
- 1535Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa, astrologer and alchemist (b. 1486)
- 1546Martin Luther, German religious reformer (b. 1483)
- 1564Michelangelo, Italian artist and sculptor (b. 1475)
- 1583Antonio Francesco Grazzini, Italian writer (b. 1503)
- 1654Jean-Louis Guez de Balzac, French writer (b. 1594)
- 1683Nicolaes Pieterszoon Berchem, Dutch painter (b. 1620)
- 1712Louis, duc de Bourgogne, heir to the throne of France (b. 1682)
- 1718Pierre Antoine Motteux, French-born English dramatist (b. 1663)
- 1743Anna Maria Luisa de' Medici, last of the Medicis (b. 1667)
- 1748Otto Ferdinand von Abensberg und Traun, Austrian field marshal (b. 1677)
- 1772Johann Hartwig Ernst, Count von Bernstorff, Danish statesman (b. 1712)
- 1778Joseph Marie Terray, French statesman (b. 1715)
- 1780Kristijonas Donelaitis, Lithuanian poet (b. 1714)
- 1788John Whitehurst, English clockmaker and scientist (b. 1713)
- 1803Johann Wilhelm Ludwig Gleim, German poet (b. 1719)
- 1842Thomas Hazlehurst, English soap and alkali manufacturer (b. 1779)
- 1851Carl Gustav Jakob Jacobi, German mathematician (b. 1804)
- 1873Vasil Levski, Bulgarian Revolutionist (b. 1837)
- 1893Serranus Clinton Hastings, American politician (b. 1814)
- 1895Karl Abs, German professional wrestler (b. 1851)
- 1900Clinton L. Merriam, American politician (b. 1824)
- 1902Charles Lewis Tiffany, American founder of Tiffany & Co. (b. 1812)
- 1906John Batterson Stetson, American manufacturer (b. 1830)
- 1911Billy Murdoch, Australian cricketer (b. 1854)
- 1923Alois Rašín, Czechoslovak politician, Minister of Finance (b. 1867)
- 1931Milan Šufflay, Croatian politician (b. 1879)
- 1933James J. Corbett, American boxer (b. 1866)
- 1938David King Udall, American politician (b. 1851)
- 1942Albert Payson Terhune, American author (b. 1872)
- 1945Ivan Chernyakhovsky, Russian general (b. 1906)
- 1956Gustave Charpentier, French composer (b. 1860)
- 1957Dedan Kimathi, Kenyan rebel leader (b. 1920)
- 1957Henry Norris Russell, American astronomer (b. 1877)
- 1964Joseph-Armand Bombardier, Canadian inventor and industrialist (b. 1907)
- 1966Robert Rossen, American screenwriter, producer, and director (b. 1908)
- 1967Dragiša Cvetković, Kingdom of Yugoslavia prime minister (b. 1893)
- 1967J. Robert Oppenheimer, American physicist (b. 1904)
- 1973Frank Costello, Italian-born gangster (b. 1891)
- 1976Wallace Berman, American Artist
- 1977Andy Devine, American actor (b. 1905)
- 1978Maggie McNamara, American actress (b. 1928)
- 1981John Knudsen Northrop, American aircraft manufacturer (b. 1895)
- 1982Ngaio Marsh, New Zealand author (b. 1895)
- 1993Erwin Thiesies, German rugby player and coach (b. 1908)
- 1993Jacqueline Hill, British actress (b. 1929)
- 1993Kerry Von Erich, American professional wrestler (b. 1960)
- 1995Bob Stinson, American guitarist (b. 1959)
- 1997Emily Hahn, American writer (b. 1905)
- 1998Harry Caray, American baseball broadcaster (b. 1914)
- 1998Robbie James, Welsh footballer (b. 1957)
- 1999Noam Pitlik, American actor and director (b. 1932)
- 2000Willy Maltaite, Belgian comics creator (b. 1927)
- 2001Balthus, Polish-born painter (b. 1908)
- 2001Dale Earnhardt, American race car driver (b. 1951)
- 2001Eddie Mathews, American baseball player (b. 1931)
- 2003Isser Harel, Israeli Mossad leader (b. 1912)
- 2004Jean Rouch, French filmmaker and ethnologist (b. 1917)
- 2006Richard Bright, American actor (b. 1937)
- 2008Mickey Renaud, Canadian professional ice hockey player (b. 1988)
- 2008Mihaela Mitrache, Romanian actress, (b. 1955)
- 2008Sir Richard Knowles, British politician (b. 1917)
- 2009Al-Tayyib Salih, Sudanese novelist and columnist (b. 1929)
- 2009Miika Tenkula, Finnish guitarist (b. 1974)
- 2010John Babcock, Last known Canadian veteran of World War I (b. 1900)
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