October 18 Historical Events

The following events took place on October 18. The list is arranged in chronological order.

Found 41 events. Showing 1 - 30.

• 320
  Pappus of Alexandria, Greek philosopher, observes an eclipse of the Sun and writes a commentary on The Great Astronomer (Almagest).
• 614
  King Chlothar II promulgates the Edict of Paris (Edictum Chlotacharii), a sort of Frankish Magna Carta that defend the rights of the Frankish nobles while it excludes Jews from all civil employment in the Frankish Kingdom.
• 629
  Dagobert I is crowned King of the Franks.
• 1009
  The Church of the Holy Sepulchre, a Christian church in Jerusalem, is completely destroyed by the Fatimid caliph Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah, who hacks the Church’s foundations down to bedrock.
• 1016
  The Danes defeat the Saxons in the Battle of Assandun.
• 1081
  The Normans defeat the Byzantine Empire in the Battle of Dyrrhachium.
• 1210
  Pope Innocent III excommunicates Otto IV, Holy Roman Emperor.
• 1356
  Basel earthquake, the most significant historic seismological event north of the Alps, destroys the town of Basel, Switzerland.
• 1386
  Opening of Heidelberg University.
• 1540
  Spanish conquistador Hernando de Soto’s forces destroy the fortified town of Mabila in present-day Alabama, killing Tuskaloosa.
• 1599
  Michael the Brave, Prince of Wallachia, defeats the Army of Andrew Báthory in the Battle of Șelimbăr, leading to the first recorded unification of the Romanian people.
• 1648
  Boston Shoemakers form first American labor organization.
• 1748
  Signing of the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle ends the War of the Austrian Succession.
• 1775
  African-American poet Phillis Wheatley is freed from slavery.
• 1775
  American Revolutionary War: The Burning of Falmouth (now Portland, Maine).

• 1779
  American Revolutionary War: The Franco-American Siege of Savannah is lifted.
• 1797
  Treaty of Campo Formio is signed between France and Austria
• 1851
  Herman Melville’s Moby-Dick is first published as The Whale by Richard Bentley of London.
• 1860
  The Second Opium War finally ends at the Convention of Peking with the ratification of the Treaty of Tientsin, an unequal treaty.
• 1867
  United States takes possession of Alaska after purchasing it from Russia for $7.2 million. Celebrated annually in the state as Alaska Day.
• 1898
  The United States takes possession of Puerto Rico from Spain.
• 1912
  First Balkan War: King Peter I of Serbia issues a declaration “To the Serbian People”, as his country joins the war.
• 1914
  The Schoenstatt Movement is founded in Germany.
• 1921
  The Crimean Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic is formed as part of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic.
• 1922
  The British Broadcasting Company (later Corporation) is founded by a consortium, to establish a nationwide network of radio transmitters to provide a national broadcasting service.
• 1929
  The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council overrules the Supreme Court of Canada in Edwards v. Canada when it declares that women are considered “Persons” under Canadian law.
• 1944
  World War II: Soviet Union begins the liberation of Czechoslovakia from Nazi Germany.
• 1945
  The USSR’s nuclear program receives plans for the United States plutonium bomb from Klaus Fuchs at the Los Alamos National Laboratory.
• 1945
  A group of the Venezuelan Armed Forces, led by Mario Vargas, Marcos Pérez Jiménez and Carlos Delgado Chalbaud, stages a coup d'état against president Isaías Medina Angarita, who is overthrown by the end of the day.
• 1945
  Argentine military officer and politician Juan Perón marries actress Eva “Evita” Duarte.