April 18

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Events

Pre-1600

796 – King Æthelred I of Northumbria is murdered in Corbridge by a group led by his ealdormen, Ealdred and Wada. The patrician Osbald is crowned, but abdicates within 27 days.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
1428 – Peace of Ferrara between Republic of Venice, Duchy of Milan, Republic of Florence and House of Gonzaga: ending of the second campaign of the Wars in Lombardy fought until the Treaty of Lodi in 1454, which will then guarantee the conditions for the development of the Italian Renaissance.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
1506 – The cornerstone of the current St. Peter's Basilica is laid.
1518 – Bona Sforza is crowned as queen consort of Poland.
1521 – Trial of Martin Luther begins its second day during the assembly of the Diet of Worms. He refuses to recant his teachings despite the risk of excommunication.

1601–1900

1689 – Bostonians rise up in rebellion against Sir Edmund Andros.
1738 – Real Academia de la Historia ("Royal Academy of History") is founded in Madrid.
1775 – American Revolution: The British Army advances up the Charles River in Massachusetts to destroy supplies of American militias, while Paul Revere and other riders rapidly warn the countryside.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
1783 – Three-Fifths Compromise: The first instance of black slaves in the United States of America being counted as three-fifths of persons (for the purpose of taxation), in a resolution of the Congress of the Confederation. This was later adopted in the 1787 Constitution.<ref>Story, Joseph (1833) Commentaries on the Constitution of the United States, §641 (Book 3, Chapter 9)</ref>
1831 – The University of Alabama is founded in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.
1847 – American victory at the battle of Cerro Gordo opens the way for invasion of Mexico.
1857 – "The Spirits Book" by Allan Kardec is published, marking the birth of Spiritualism in France.
1864 – Battle of Dybbøl: A Prussian-Austrian army defeats Denmark and gains control of Schleswig. Denmark surrenders the province in the following peace settlement.
1897 – The Greco-Turkish War is declared between Greece and the Ottoman Empire.
1899 – The St. Andrew's Ambulance Association is granted a royal charter by Queen Victoria.

1901–present

1902 – The 7.5 Template:M Guatemala earthquake shakes Guatemala with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe), killing between 800 and 2,000.
1906 – The 7.9 Template:M earthquake and fire destroy much of San Francisco, California, killing more than 3,000 people, making one of the worst natural disasters in American history.
1909 – Joan of Arc is beatified in Rome.
1912 – The Cunard liner Template:RMS brings 705 survivors from the Template:RMS to New York City.
1915 – World War I: French pilot Roland Garros is shot down and glides to a landing on the German side of the lines.
1916 – World War I: During a mine warfare in high altitude on the Dolomites, the Italian troops conquer the Col di Lana held by the Austrian army.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
1930 – A fire kills 118 people at a wooden church in the small Romanian town of Costești, most of them schoolchildren, after starting during Good Friday services.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
1938 – Superman debuts in Action Comics #1 (cover dated June 1938).<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
1939 – Robert Menzies, who became Australia's longest-serving prime minister, is elected as leader of the United Australia Party after the death of Prime Minister Joseph Lyons.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
1942 – World War II: The Doolittle Raid on Japan: Tokyo, Yokohama, Kobe and Nagoya are bombed.
1942 – Pierre Laval becomes Prime Minister of Vichy France.
1943 – World War II: Operation Vengeance, Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto is killed when his aircraft is shot down by U.S. fighters over Bougainville Island.
1945 – World War II: Over 1,000 bombers attack the small island of Heligoland, Germany.
1945 – Italian resistance movement: In Turin, despite the harsh repressive measures adopted by Nazi-fascists, a great pre-insurrectional strike begins.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
1946 – The International Court of Justice holds its inaugural meeting in The Hague, Netherlands.
1946 – Jackie Robinson makes his regular season debut for the Montreal Royals of the International League, to make them the first integrated modern professional baseball team.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
1947 – The Operation Big Bang, the largest non-nuclear man-made explosion to that time, destroys bunkers and military installations on the North Sea island of Heligoland, Germany.<ref name="SpiegelHelgoland">Template:Cite news</ref>
1949 – The Republic of Ireland Act comes into force, declaring Éire to be a republic and severing Ireland Template:'s "association" with the Commonwealth of Nations.<ref>Template:Cite book; Template:Cite book</ref>
1954 – Gamal Abdel Nasser seizes power in Egypt.
1955 – Twenty-nine nations meet at Bandung, Indonesia, for the first Asian-African Conference.
1972 – East African Airways Flight 720 crashes during a rejected takeoff from Addis Ababa Bole International Airport in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, killing 43.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
1980 – The Republic of Zimbabwe (formerly Rhodesia) comes into being, with Canaan Banana as the country's first President. The Zimbabwean dollar replaces the Rhodesian dollar as the official currency.
1980 – The town of Elmore City, Oklahoma holds its first dance in the town's history.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
1988 – The United States launches Operation Praying Mantis against Iranian naval forces in the largest naval battle since World War II.
1988 – In Israel John Demjanjuk is sentenced to death for war crimes committed in World War II, although the verdict is later overturned.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
1996 – The Israeli military commits the Qana massacre in a deliberate shelling of a United Nations compound near the village of Qana in southern Lebanon, killing 106 Lebanese civilians who were taking shelter there and wounding over 100 more.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
2018 – King Mswati III of Swaziland announces that his country's name will change to Eswatini.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
2018 – Anti-government protests start in Nicaragua.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
2019 – A redacted version of the Mueller report is released to the United States Congress and the public.<ref>Template:Cite news Template:Cbignore</ref>

Births

Pre-1600

359 – Gratian, Roman emperor (d. 383)
588 – K'an II, Mayan ruler (d. 658)
812 – Al-Wathiq, Abbasid caliph (d. 847)
1446 – Ippolita Maria Sforza, Italian noble (d. 1484)
1480 – Lucrezia Borgia, daughter of Pope Alexander VI (d. 1519)
1503 – Henry II of Navarre (d. 1555)
1534 – William Harrison, English clergyman (d. 1593)
1580 – Thomas Middleton, English Jacobean playwright and poet (d. 1627)
1590 – Ahmed I, Ottoman Emperor (d. 1617)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

1601–1900

1605 – Giacomo Carissimi, Italian priest and composer (d. 1674)
1666 – Jean-Féry Rebel, French violinist and composer (d. 1747)
1740 – Sir Francis Baring, 1st Baronet, English banker and politician (d. 1810)
1759 – Jacques Widerkehr, French cellist and composer (d. 1823)
1771 – Karl Philipp, Prince of Schwarzenberg (d. 1820)
1772 – David Ricardo, British economist and politician (d. 1823)
1794 – William Debenham, English founder of Debenhams (d. 1863)
1813 – James McCune Smith, African-American physician, apothecary, abolitionist, and author (d. 1865)
1819 – Carlos Manuel de Céspedes, Cuban lawyer and activist (d. 1874)
1819 – Franz von Suppé, Austrian composer and conductor (d. 1895)
1838 – Paul-Émile Lecoq de Boisbaudran, French chemist and academic (d. 1912)
1854 – Ludwig Levy, German architect (d. 1907)
1857 – Clarence Darrow, American lawyer (d. 1938)
1858 – Dhondo Keshav Karve, Indian educator and activist, Bharat Ratna Awardee (d. 1962)
1858 – Alexander Shirvanzade, Armenian playwright and author (d. 1935)
1863 – Count Leopold Berchtold, Austrian-Hungarian politician and diplomat, Joint Foreign Minister of Austria-Hungary (d. 1942)
1863 – Linton Hope, English sailor and architect (d. 1920)
1863 – Siegfried Bettmann, founder of the Triumph Motorcycle Company and Mayor of Coventry (d. 1955)
1864 – Richard Harding Davis, American journalist and author (d. 1916)
1874 – Ivana Brlić-Mažuranić, Croatian author and poet (d. 1938)
1877 – Vicente Sotto, Filipino lawyer and politician (d. 1950)
1879 – Korneli Kekelidze, Georgian philologist and scholar (d. 1962)
1880 – Sam Crawford, American baseball player, coach, and umpire (d. 1968)
1882 – Isaac Babalola Akinyele, Nigerian ruler (d. 1964)
1882 – Leopold Stokowski, English conductor (d. 1977)
1883 – Aleksanteri Aava, Finnish poet (d. 1956)<ref>Runoilija Aleksanteri Aava (1883–1956) (in Finnish)</ref>
1884 – Jaan Anvelt, Estonian educator and politician (d. 1937)
1889 – Jessie Street, Australian activist (d. 1970)<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
1892 – Eugene Houdry, French-American mechanical engineer and inventor (d. 1962)
1897 – Ardito Desio, Italian geologist and cartographer (d. 2001)
1898 – Patrick Hennessy, Irish soldier and businessman (d. 1981)
1900 – Bertha Isaacs, Bahamian teacher, tennis player, politician and women's rights activist (d. 1997)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

1901–present

1901 – Al Lewis, American songwriter (d. 1967)
1901 – László Németh, Hungarian dentist, author, and playwright (d. 1975)
1902 – Waldemar Hammenhög, Swedish author (d. 1972)
1902 – Giuseppe Pella, Italian politician, 32nd Prime Minister of Italy (d. 1981)
1904 – Pigmeat Markham, African-American comedian, singer, and dancer (d. 1981)
1905 – Sydney Halter, Canadian lawyer and businessman (d. 1990)
1905 – George H. Hitchings, American physician and pharmacologist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1998)
1907 – Miklós Rózsa, Hungarian-American composer and conductor (d. 1995)
1911 – Maurice Goldhaber, Ukrainian-American physicist and academic (d. 2011)
1914 – Claire Martin, Canadian author (d. 2014)
1915 – Joy Davidman, Polish-Ukrainian American poet and author (d. 1960)
1916 – Carl Burgos, American illustrator (d. 1984)
1918 – Gabriel Axel, Danish-French actor, director, and producer (d. 2014)
1918 – André Bazin, French critic and theorist (d. 1958)
1918 – Shinobu Hashimoto, Japanese director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2018)
1918 – Clifton Hillegass, American publisher, founded CliffsNotes (d. 2001)
1918 – Tony Mottola, American guitarist and composer (d. 2004)
1919 – Virginia O'Brien, American actress and singer (d. 2001)
1919 – Esther Afua Ocloo, Ghanaian entrepreneur and pioneer of microlending (d. 2002)
1920 – John F. Wiley, American football player and coach (d. 2013)
1921 – Jean Richard, French actor and singer (d. 2001)
1922 – Barbara Hale, American actress (d. 2017)
1924 – Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2005)
1925 – Marcus Schmuck, Austrian mountaineer and author (d. 2005)
1926 – Doug Insole, English cricketer (d. 2017)
1927 – Samuel P. Huntington, American political scientist, author, and academic (d. 2008)
1927 – Tadeusz Mazowiecki, Polish journalist and politician, Prime Minister of Poland (d. 2013)
1928 – Karl Josef Becker, German cardinal and theologian (d. 2015)
1928 – Otto Piene, German sculptor and academic (d. 2014)
1929 – Peter Hordern, English soldier and politician (d. 2024)
1930 – Clive Revill, New Zealand actor and singer (d. 2025)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
1930 – Jean Guillou, French organist (d. 2019)<ref name="Schott">Template:Cite web</ref>
1931 – Bill Miles, American director and producer (d. 2013)
1934 – James Drury, American actor (d. 2020)
1934 – George Shirley, African-American tenor and educator
1935 – Costas Ferris, Egyptian-Greek actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
1936 – Roger Graef, American-English criminologist, director, and producer (d. 2022)
1936 – Vladimir Hütt, Estonian physicist and philosopher (d. 1997)
1937 – Keiko Abe, Japanese marimba player and composer<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
1937 – Jan Kaplický, Czech architect, designed the Selfridges Building (d. 2009)
1939 – Glen Hardin, American pianist and arranger
1939 – Thomas J. Moyer, American lawyer and judge (d. 2010)
1940 – Joseph L. Goldstein, American biochemist and geneticist, Nobel Prize laureate
1940 – Mike Vickers, English guitarist, saxophonist, and songwriter
1941 – Michael D. Higgins, Irish sociologist and politician, 9th President of Ireland<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
1942 – Michael Beloff, English lawyer and academic
1942 – Robert Christgau, American journalist and critic
1942 – Jochen Rindt, German-Austrian racing driver (d. 1970)
1944 – Kathy Acker, American author and poet (d. 1997)
1944 – Philip Jackson, Scottish sculptor and photographer
1945 – Bernard Arcand, Canadian anthropologist and author (d. 2009)
1946 – Hayley Mills, English actress<ref name="bell">Template:Cite book</ref>
1947 – Moses Blah, Liberian general and politician, 23rd President of Liberia (d. 2013)
1947 – Jerzy Stuhr, Polish actor, director, and screenwriter
1947 – James Woods, American actor and producer
1948 – Régis Wargnier, French director, producer, and screenwriter
1950 – Grigory Sokolov, Russian pianist and composer
1953 – Rick Moranis, Canadian-American actor, comedian, singer and screenwriter
1953 – Sk. Mujibur Rahman, Bengali politician<ref name=bio>Template:Cite book</ref>
1954 – Robert Greenberg, American pianist and composer
1956 – Eric Roberts, American actor<ref name=":0">Template:Cite web</ref>
1958 – Gabi Delgado-López, Spanish-German singer, co-founder of D.A.F. (d. 2020)
1958 – Malcolm Marshall, Barbadian cricketer and coach (d. 1999)
1959 – Susan Faludi, American journalist, author and feminist<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
1960 – Yelena Zhupiyeva-Vyazova, Ukrainian runner
1961 – Jane Leeves, English actress and dancer
1961 – John Podhoretz, American journalist and author
1962 – Jeff Dunham, American ventriloquist and comedian<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
1963 – Eric McCormack, Canadian-American actor<ref name=":0" />
1963 – Conan O'Brien, American television host, comedian, and podcaster<ref name=":1">Template:Cite web</ref>
1964 – Niall Ferguson, Scottish historian and academic
1967 – Maria Bello, American actress<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
1969 – Keith DeCandido, American author
1970 – Saad Hariri, Saudi Arabian-Lebanese businessman and politician, 33rd Prime Minister of Lebanon
1970 – Willie Roaf, American football player<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
1971 – David Tennant, Scottish actor
1972 – Rosa Clemente, American journalist and activist
1972 – Eli Roth, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
1973 – Derrick Brooks, American football player<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
1973 – Haile Gebrselassie, Ethiopian runner
1974 – Edgar Wright, English filmmaker<ref>Template:Cite web Template:Dead link Template:Cbignore</ref>
1976 – Melissa Joan Hart, American actress<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
1979 – Kourtney Kardashian, American television personality<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
1981 – Audrey Tang, Taiwanese Minister of Digital Affairs and programmer
1983 – Miguel Cabrera, Venezuelan baseball player<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
1984 – America Ferrera, American actress<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
1985 – Łukasz Fabiański, Polish footballer<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
1986 – Tina Bru, Norwegian politician<ref>Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref>
1988 – Vanessa Kirby, English actress<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
1989 – Jessica Jung, South Korean-American singer, songwriter, actress, author, fashion designer and businesswoman<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
1989 – Alia Shawkat, American actress<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
1990 – Wojciech Szczęsny, Polish footballer<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
1992 – Chloe Bennet, American actress<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
1993 – Mika Zibanejad, Swedish ice hockey player<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
1994 – Aminé, American singer-songwriter<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
1995 – Divock Origi, Belgian footballer<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
1996 – Ski Mask the Slump God, American rapper<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
2001 – PinkPantheress, English singer, songwriter, and record producer<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Deaths

Pre-1600

727 – Agallianos Kontoskeles, Byzantine commander and rebel leader
850 – Perfectus, Spanish monk and martyr<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
909 – Dionysius II, Syriac Orthodox patriarch of Antioch
943 – Fujiwara no Atsutada, Japanese nobleman and poet (b. 906)
963 – Stephen Lekapenos, co-emperor of the Byzantine Empire<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
1161 – Theobald of Bec, French-English archbishop (b. 1090)
1176 – Galdino della Sala, Italian archdeacon and saint
1430 – John III, Count of Nassau-Siegen, German count<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
1552 – John Leland, English poet and historian (b. 1502)<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
1555 – Polydore Vergil, English historian (b. 1470)<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
1556 – Luigi Alamanni, Italian poet and politician (b. 1495)
1567 – Wilhelm von Grumbach, German adventurer (b. 1503)
1587 – John Foxe, English historian and author (b. 1516)<ref>Template:Cite EB1911</ref>

1601–1900

1636 – Julius Caesar, English judge and politician (b. 1557)
1650 – Simonds d'Ewes, English lawyer and politician (b. 1602)
1674 – John Graunt, English demographer and statistician (b. 1620)
1689 – George Jeffreys, 1st Baron Jeffreys, Welsh judge and politician, Lord Chancellor of Great Britain (b. 1648)
1732 – Louis Feuillée, French astronomer, geographer, and botanist (b. 1660)
1742 – Arvid Horn, Swedish general and politician (b. 1664)<ref>Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref>
1763 – Marie-Josephte Corriveau, Canadian murderer (b. 1733)
1794 – Charles Pratt, 1st Earl Camden, English lawyer, judge, and politician, Lord Chancellor of Great Britain (b. 1714)
1796 – Johan Wilcke, Swedish physicist and academic (b. 1732)
1802 – Erasmus Darwin, English physician and botanist (b. 1731)
1832 – Jeanne-Elisabeth Chaudet, French painter (b. 1761)
1859 – Tatya Tope, Indian general (b. 1814)
1864 – Juris Alunāns, Latvian philologist and linguist (b. 1832)
1873 – Justus von Liebig, German chemist and academic (b. 1803)
1890 – Paweł Bryliński, Polish sculptor (b. 1814)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
1898 – Gustave Moreau, French painter and academic (b. 1826)

1901–present

1906 – Luis Martín, Spanish religious leader, 24th Superior-General of the Society of Jesus (b. 1846)
1912 – Martha Ripley, American physician (b. 1843)<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
1917 – Vladimir Serbsky, Russian psychiatrist and academic (b. 1858)
1923 – Savina Petrilli, Italian religious leader (b. 1851)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web Template:Dead link</ref>
1936 – Milton Brown, American singer and bandleader (b. 1903)
1936 – Ottorino Respighi, Italian composer and conductor (b. 1879)
1938 – George Bryant, American archer (b. 1878)
1942 – Aleksander Mitt, Estonian speed skater (b. 1903)
1942 – Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney, American heiress, sculptor and art collector, founded the Whitney Museum of American Art (b. 1875)
1943 – Isoroku Yamamoto, Japanese admiral (b. 1884)
1945 – John Ambrose Fleming, English physicist and engineer, invented the vacuum tube (b. 1849)
1945 – Ernie Pyle, American journalist and soldier (b. 1900)
1947 – Jozef Tiso, Slovak priest and politician, President of Slovakia (b. 1887)
1951 – Óscar Carmona, Portuguese field marshal and politician, 11th President of Portugal (b. 1869)
1955 – Albert Einstein, German-American physicist, engineer, and academic (b. 1879)
1958 – Maurice Gamelin, Belgian-French general (b. 1872)
1963 – Meyer Jacobstein, American academic and politician (b. 1880)
1964 – Ben Hecht, American director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1894)
1965 – Guillermo González Camarena, Mexican engineer (b. 1917)
1974 – Marcel Pagnol, French author, playwright, and director (b. 1895)
1988 – Oktay Rıfat Horozcu, Turkish poet and playwright (b. 1914)
1995 – Arturo Frondizi, Argentinian lawyer and politician, 32nd President of Argentina (b. 1908)
2002 – Thor Heyerdahl, Norwegian ethnographer and explorer (b. 1914)<ref>Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref>
2004 – Kamisese Mara, Fijian politician, 2nd President of Fiji (b. 1920)
2008 – Germaine Tillion, French ethnologist and anthropologist (b. 1907)
2012 – Dick Clark, American television host and producer, founded Dick Clark Productions (b. 1929)
2012 – René Lépine, Canadian businessman and philanthropist (b. 1929)
2012 – Robert O. Ragland, American musician (b. 1931)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
2012 – K. D. Wentworth, American author (b. 1951)
2013 – Goran Švob, Croatian philosopher and author (b. 1947)
2013 – Anne Williams, English activist (b. 1951)
2014 – Guru Dhanapal, Indian director and producer (b. 1959)
2014 – Sanford Jay Frank, American screenwriter and producer (b. 1954)
2014 – Brian Priestman, English conductor and academic (b. 1927)
2019 – Lyra McKee, Irish journalist (b. 1990)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
2022 – Harrison Birtwistle, British composer (b. 1934)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
2024 – Dickey Betts, American guitarist, singer, songwriter and composer (b. 1943)<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
2024 – Mandisa, American gospel singer (b. 1976)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Holidays and observances

Christian feast day:
Army Day (Iran)
Coma Patients' Day (Poland)
Friend's Day (Brazil)
Independence Day (Zimbabwe)
International Day For Monuments and Sites
Invention Day (Japan)
Victory over the Teutonic Knights in the Battle of the Ice (Russia; Julian Calendar)
World Amateur Radio Day<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

References

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External links

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