January 18

Historic Events

2026

At least 45 people are killed and 292 others injured after two trains collide in Adamuz in the worst railway disaster in over a decade in Spain. ›

2025

The popular social media app, TikTok, is banned in the United States, after the passing of PAFACA. ›

2023

A helicopter crash in Ukraine leaves 14 people dead, including the country's Interior Minister, Denys Monastyrsky. ›

2019

An oil pipeline explosion near Tlahuelilpan, Hidalgo, Mexico, kills 137 people. ›

2018

A bus catches fire on the Samara–Shymkent road in Yrgyz District, Aktobe, Kazakhstan. The fire kills 52 passengers, with three passengers and two drivers escaping. ›

2012

More than 115,000 websites engage in an online protest against the Stop Online Piracy Act and the Protect IP Act in the US.[citation needed] The websites involved viewed the laws as infringing on the right to free speech and many of them temporarily shut down in protest. ›

2008

The Euphronios Krater is unveiled in Rome after being returned to Italy by the Metropolitan Museum of Art. ›

2007

The strongest storm in the United Kingdom in 17 years kills 14 people and Germany sees the worst storm since 1999 with 13 deaths. Cyclone Kyrill causes at least 44 deaths across 20 countries in Western Europe. ›

2005

The Airbus A380, the world's largest commercial jet, is unveiled at a ceremony in Toulouse, France ›

2003

A bushfire kills four people and destroys more than 500 homes in Canberra, Australia. ›

2002

The Sierra Leone Civil War is declared over. ›

1993

Martin Luther King, Jr. Day is officially observed for the first time in all 50 US states. ›

1990

Washington, D.C., Mayor Marion Barry is arrested for drug possession in an FBI sting. ›

1988

China Southwest Airlines Flight 4146 crashes near Chongqing Baishiyi Airport, killing all 98 passengers and 10 crew members. ›

1986

An Aerovías Sud Aviation Caravelle crashes on approach to Mundo Maya International Airport in Flores, Petén, Guatemala, killing all 94 people on board. ›

1983

The International Olympic Committee restores Jim Thorpe's Olympic medals to his family. ›

1981

Phil Smith and Phil Mayfield parachute off a Houston skyscraper, becoming the first two people to BASE jump from objects in all four categories: buildings, antennae, spans (bridges), and earth (cliffs). ›

1978

The European Court of Human Rights finds the United Kingdom's government guilty of mistreating prisoners in Northern Ireland, but not guilty of torture. ›

1977

Scientists at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announce they have identified a previously unknown bacterium as the cause of the mysterious Legionnaires' disease. ›

1977

Australia's worst rail disaster occurs at Granville, Sydney, killing 83. ›

1977

SFR Yugoslavia's Prime minister, Džemal Bijedić, his wife and six others are killed in a plane crash in Bosnia and Herzegovina. ›

1976

Lebanese Christian militias kill at least 1,000 in Karantina, Beirut. ›

1974

A Disengagement of Forces agreement is signed between the Israeli and Egyptian governments, ending conflict on the Egyptian front of the Yom Kippur War. ›

1972

Members of the Mukti Bahini lay down their arms to the government of the newly independent Bangladesh, a month after winning the war against the occupying Pakistan Army. ›

1969

United Airlines Flight 266 crashes into Santa Monica Bay killing all 32 passengers and six crew members. ›

1967

Albert DeSalvo, the "Boston Strangler", is convicted of numerous crimes and is sentenced to life imprisonment. ›

1960

Capital Airlines Flight 20 crashes into a farm in Charles City County, Virginia, killing all 50 aboard, the third fatal Capital Airlines crash in as many years. ›

1958

Willie O'Ree, the first Black Canadian National Hockey League player, makes his NHL debut with the Boston Bruins. ›

1945

World War II: Liberation of Kraków, Poland by the Red Army. ›

1943

Warsaw Ghetto Uprising: The first uprising of Jews in the Warsaw Ghetto. ›

1941

World War II: British troops launch a general counter-offensive against Italian East Africa. ›

1932

Alt Llobregat insurrection breaks out in Central Catalonia, Spain. ›

1919

World War I: The Paris Peace Conference opens in Versailles, France. ›

1919

Ignacy Jan Paderewski becomes Prime Minister of the newly independent Poland. ›

1915

Japan issues the "Twenty-One Demands" to the Republic of China in a bid to increase its power in East Asia. ›

1913

First Balkan War: A Greek flotilla defeats the Ottoman Navy in the Naval Battle of Lemnos, securing the islands of the Northern Aegean Sea for Greece. ›

1911

Eugene B. Ely lands on the deck of the USS Pennsylvania anchored in San Francisco Bay, the first time an aircraft landed on a ship. ›

1898

British colonial engineer and estate manager William Claxton Peppé discovered the Buddha's remains in Piprahwa, Uttar Pradesh, India. ›

1896

An X-ray generating machine is exhibited for the first time by H. L. Smith. ›

1886

Modern field hockey is born with the formation of The Hockey Association in England. ›

1871

Wilhelm I of Germany is proclaimed Kaiser Wilhelm in the Hall of Mirrors of the Palace of Versailles (France) towards the end of the Franco-Prussian War. Wilhelm already had the title of German Emperor since the constitution of 1 January 1871, but he had hesitated to accept the title. ›

1866

Wesley College is established in Melbourne, Australia. ›

1806

Jan Willem Janssens surrenders the Dutch Cape Colony to the British. ›

1788

The first elements of the First Fleet carrying 736 convicts from Great Britain to Australia arrive at Botany Bay. ›

1778

James Cook is the first known European to discover the Hawaiian Islands, which he names the "Sandwich Islands". ›

1701

Frederick I crowns himself King in Prussia in Königsberg. ›

1670

Henry Morgan captures Panama. ›

1586

The magnitude 7.9 Tenshō earthquake strikes Honshu, Japan, killing 8,000 people and triggering a tsunami. ›

1562

Pope Pius IV reopens the Council of Trent for its third and final session. ›

1486

King Henry VII of England marries Elizabeth of York, daughter of Edward IV, uniting the House of Lancaster and the House of York. ›

1126

Emperor Huizong abdicates the Chinese throne in favour of his son Emperor Qinzong. ›

532

Nika riots in Constantinople fail. ›

474

Seven-year-old Leo II succeeds his maternal grandfather Leo I as Byzantine emperor. He dies ten months later. ›

350

General Magnentius is proclaimed emperor by Roman aristocrats discontent with the rule of emperor Constans. ›