November 18Birthdays & History

On this day: November 18 in history

Oldest first. Tap a year to see it on the World Chronicle timeline.

1. 326The old St. Peter's Basilica is consecrated by Pope Sylvester I.Europe
2. 401The Visigoths, led by king Alaric I, cross the Alps and invade northern Italy.Europe
3. 1095The Council of Clermont begins: called by Pope Urban II, it led to the First Crusade to the Holy Land.Europe
4. 1105Maginulfo is elected Antipope Sylvester IV in opposition to Pope Paschal II.Europe
5. 1210Pope Innocent III excommunicates Holy Roman Emperor Otto IV for invading the Kingdom of Sicily after promising to recognize papal control over it.Europe
6. 1302Pope Boniface VIII issues the Papal bull Unam sanctam, claiming spiritual supremacy for the papacy.Europe
7. 1421St Elizabeth's flood: A dike in the Grote Hollandse Waard in the Netherlands breaks, killing about 10,000 people.Europe
8. 1493Christopher Columbus first sights the island now known as Puerto Rico.Latin America
9. 1601Tiryaki Hasan Pasha, an Ottoman provincial governor, routs the Habsburg forces commanded by Archduke Ferdinand II of Austria who were besieging Nagykanizsa.Middle EastEurope
10. 1626The new St. Peter's Basilica in Rome is consecrated.Europe
11. 1730The future Frederick the Great of Prussia is granted a pardon by his father and is released from confinement.Europe
12. 1760The rebuilt debtors' prison, at the Castellania in Valletta, receives the first prisoners.Europe
13. 1803The Battle of Vertières, the last major battle of the Haitian Revolution, is fought, leading to the establishment of the Republic of Haiti, the first black republic in the Western Hemisphere.Latin America
14. 1809Napoleonic Wars: In a naval action, French frigates defeat British East Indiamen in the Bay of Bengal.EuropeAsia
15. 1812Napoleonic Wars: The Battle of Krasnoi ends in French defeat, but Marshal of France Michel Ney's leadership leads to him becoming known as "the bravest of the brave".Europe
16. 1863King Christian IX of Denmark signs the November constitution that declares Schleswig to be part of Denmark. This is seen by the German Confederation as a violation of the London Protocol and leads to the German–Danish war of 1864.Europe
17. 1867An earthquake strikes the Virgin Islands, triggering the largest tsunami witnessed in the Caribbean and killing dozens.Latin America
18. 1872Susan B. Anthony and 14 other women are arrested for voting illegally in the United States presidential election of 1872.North America
19. 1883In the "day of two noons", American and Canadian railroad companies institute four standard continental time zones, ending the confusion of thousands of local times.North America
20. 1889Elisha P. Ferry is inaugurated as first governor of Washington.North America
21. 1901Britain and the United States sign the Hay–Pauncefote Treaty, which nullifies the Clayton–Bulwer Treaty and withdraws British objections to an American-controlled canal in Panama.EuropeNorth AmericaLatin America
22. 1903The Hay–Bunau-Varilla Treaty is signed by the United States and Panama, giving the United States exclusive rights over the Panama Canal Zone.North AmericaLatin America
23. 1905Prince Carl of Denmark becomes King Haakon VII of Norway.Europe
24. 1909Two United States warships are sent to Nicaragua after 500 revolutionaries (including two Americans) are executed by order of José Santos Zelaya.North AmericaLatin America
25. 1910In their campaign for women's voting rights, hundreds of suffragettes march to the British Parliament in London. Several are beaten by police, newspaper attention embarrasses the authorities, and the march is dubbed Black Friday.Europe
26. 1916World War I: First Battle of the Somme: In France, British Expeditionary Force commander Douglas Haig calls off the battle which started on July 1, 1916.Europe
27. 1918Latvia declares its independence from Russia.Europe
28. 1928Release of the animated short Steamboat Willie, the first fully synchronized sound cartoon.North America
29. 1929Grand Banks earthquake: Off the south coast of Newfoundland in the Atlantic Ocean, a Richter magnitude 7.2 submarine earthquake, centered on the Grand Banks, breaks 12 submarine transatlantic telegraph cables and triggers a tsunami that destroys many south coast communities in the Burin Peninsula.North America
30. 1940World War II: German leader Adolf Hitler and Italian Foreign Minister Galeazzo Ciano meet to discuss Benito Mussolini's disastrous Italian invasion of Greece.Europe
31. 1943World War II: In the first action of the Berlin Air Offensive, four hundred and forty Royal Air Force planes bomb Berlin causing only light damage and killing 131. The RAF loses nine aircraft and 53 air crew.Europe
32. 1944The Popular Socialist Youth is founded in Cuba.Latin America
33. 1947The Ballantyne's Department Store fire in Christchurch, New Zealand, kills 41; it is the worst fire disaster in the history of New Zealand.Oceania
34. 1949The Iva Valley Shooting occurs after the coal miners of Enugu in Nigeria go on strike over withheld wages; 21 miners are shot dead and 51 are wounded by police under the supervision of the British colonial administration of Nigeria.AfricaEurope
35. 1961Vietnam War: United States President John F. Kennedy sends 18,000 military advisors to South Vietnam.AsiaNorth America
36. 1963The Bell Telephone Company introduces the first push-button telephone.North America
37. 1970U.S. President Richard Nixon asks the U.S. Congress for $155 million in supplemental aid for the Cambodian government.North AmericaAsia
38. 1971Oman declares its independence from the United Kingdom.Middle EastEurope
39. 1978In Jonestown, Guyana, Jim Jones leads his Peoples Temple to a mass murder–suicide that claimed 918 lives in all, 909 of them in Jonestown itself, including over 270 children.Latin America
40. 1978The McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet makes its first flight, at the Naval Air Test Center in Maryland, United States.North America
41. 1983Aeroflot Flight 6833 is hijacked en route from Tbilisi to Leningrad. After returning to Tbilisi, the aircraft is subsequently raided on the ground, resulting in seven deaths.Europe
42. 1985The first comic of Calvin and Hobbes is published in ten newspapers.North America
43. 1987King's Cross fire: In London, 31 people die in a fire at the city's busiest underground station, King's Cross St Pancras.Europe
44. 1991Shiite Muslim kidnappers in Lebanon release Anglican Church envoys Terry Waite and Thomas Sutherland.Middle East
45. 1991After an 87-day siege, the Croatian city of Vukovar capitulates to the besieging Yugoslav People's Army and allied Serb paramilitary forces.Europe
46. 1991The autonomous Croatian Community of Herzeg-Bosnia, which would in 1993 become a republic, was established in Bosnia and Herzegovina.Europe
47. 1993In the United States, the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) is approved by the House of Representatives.North America
48. 1993In South Africa, 21 political parties approve a new constitution, expanding voting rights and ending white minority rule.Africa
49. 1996A fire occurs on a train traveling through the Channel Tunnel from France to England causing several injuries and damaging approximately 500 metres (1,600 ft) of tunnel.Europe
50. 1999At Texas A&M University, the Aggie Bonfire collapses killing 12 students and injuring 27 others.North America
51. 2002Iraq disarmament crisis: United Nations weapons inspectors led by Hans Blix arrive in Iraq.Middle East
52. 2003The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court rules 4–3 in Goodridge v. Department of Public Health that the state's ban on same-sex marriage is unconstitutional and gives the state legislature 180 days to change the law making Massachusetts the first state in the United States to grant marriage rights to same-sex couples.North America
53. 2012Pope Tawadros II of Alexandria becomes the 118th Pope of the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria.EuropeMiddle East
54. 2013NASA launches the MAVEN probe to Mars.North America
55. 2020The Utah monolith, built sometime in 2016 is discovered by state biologists of the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources.North America

Source: Wikipedia "November 18" / CC BY-SA 4.0