August 18

Events

• 684 - Battle of Marj Rahit: Umayyad partisans defeat the supporters of Ibn al-Zubayr and cement Umayyad control of Syria.
• 1304 - The Battle of Mons-en-Pévèle is fought to a draw between the French army and the Flemish militias.
• 1487 - The Siege of Málaga ends with the taking of the city by Castilian and Aragonese forces.
• 1572 - Marriage in Paris, France, of the Huguenot King Henry III of Navarre to Margaret of Valois, in a supposed attempt to reconcile Protestants and Catholics.
• 1590 - John White, the governor of the Roanoke Colony, returns from a supply trip to England and finds his settlement deserted.
• 1612 - The trial of the Pendle witches, one of England's most famous witch trials, begins at Lancaster Assizes.
• 1634 - Urbain Grandier, accused and convicted of sorcery, is burned alive in Loudun, France.
• 1721 - The city of Shamakhi in Safavid Shirvan is sacked.
• 1783 - A huge fireball meteor is seen across Great Britain as it passes over the east coast.
• 1826 - Major Gordon Laing becomes the first non-Muslim to enter Timbuktu.
• 1838 - The Wilkes Expedition, which would explore the Puget Sound and Antarctica, weighs anchor at Hampton Roads.
• 1848 - Camila O'Gorman and Ladislao Gutierrez are executed on the orders of Argentine dictator Juan Manuel de Rosas.
• 1864 - American Civil War: Battle of Globe Tavern: Union forces try to cut a vital Confederate supply-line into Petersburg, Virginia, by attacking the Wilmington and Weldon Railroad.
• 1868 - French astronomer Pierre Janssen discovers helium.
• 1870 - Franco-Prussian War: Battle of Gravelotte is fought.
• 1891 - Major hurricane strikes Martinique, leaving 700 dead.
• 1903 - German engineer Karl Jatho allegedly flies his self-made, motored gliding airplane four months before the first flight of the Wright brothers.
• 1917 - A Great Fire in Thessaloniki, Greece destroys 32% of the city leaving 70,000 individuals homeless.
• 1920 - The Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution is ratified, guaranteeing women's suffrage.
• 1923 - First British Track and Field championships for women, London.
• 1938 - The Thousand Islands Bridge, connecting New York, United States with Ontario, Canada over the Saint Lawrence River, is dedicated by U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
• 1940 - World War II: The Hardest Day air battle, part of the Battle of Britain. At that point, the largest aerial engagement in history with heavy losses sustained on both sides.
• 1945 - Sukarno takes office as the first president of Indonesia, following the country's declaration of independence the previous day.
• 1950 - Julien Lahaut, the chairman of the Communist Party of Belgium is assassinated by far-right elements.
• 1958 - Vladimir Nabokov's controversial novel Lolita is published in the United States.
• 1958 - Brojen Das from Bangladesh swims across the English Channel in a competition, as the first Bengali and the first Asian to do so. He came first among 39 competitors.
• 1963 - Civil rights movement: James Meredith becomes the first African American to graduate from the University of Mississippi.
• 1965 - Vietnam War: Operation Starlite begins: United States Marines destroy a Viet Cong stronghold on the Van Tuong peninsula in the first major American ground battle of the war.
• 1966 - Vietnam War: The Battle of Long Tan ensues after a patrol from the 6th Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment clashes with a Viet Cong force in Phước Tuy Province.
• 1971 - Vietnam War: Australia and New Zealand decide to withdraw their troops from Vietnam.
• 1976 - In the Korean Demilitarized Zone at Panmunjom, the Axe murder incident results in the death of two US soldiers.
• 1977 - Steve Biko is arrested at a police roadblock under the Terrorism Act No. 83 of 1967 in King William's Town, South Africa. He later dies from injuries sustained during this arrest bringing attention to South Africa's apartheid policies.
• 1983 - Hurricane Alicia hits the Texas coast, killing 21 people and causing over US$1 billion in damage.
• 1989 - Leading presidential hopeful Luis Carlos Galán is assassinated near Bogotá in Colombia.
• 2003 - One-year-old Zachary Turner is murdered in Newfoundland by his mother, who was awarded custody despite facing trial for the murder of Zachary's father. The case was documented in the film and led to reform of Canada's bail laws.
• 2005 - A massive power blackout hits the Indonesian island of Java, affecting almost 100 million people, one of the largest and most widespread power outages in history.
• 2008 - President of Pakistan Pervez Musharraf resigns under threat of impeachment.
• 2008 - War of Afghanistan: Uzbin Valley ambush occurs.
• 2017 - The first terrorist attack ever sentenced as a crime in Finland kills two and injures eight.
• 2019 - 100 activists, officials, and other concerned citizens in Iceland hold a funeral for Okjökull glacier, which has completely melted after once covering six square miles.

  Births

• 1305 - Ashikaga Takauji, Japanese Shōgun
• 1450 - Marko Marulić, Croatian poet and author
• 1458 - Lorenzo Pucci, Catholic cardinal
• 1497 - Francesco Canova da Milano, Italian composer
• 1542 - Charles Neville, 6th Earl of Westmorland
• 1579 - Countess Charlotte Flandrina of Nassau
• 1587 - Virginia Dare, granddaughter of Governor John White of the Colony of Roanoke, first child born to English parents in the Americas
• 1596 - Jean Bolland, Flemish priest and hagiographer
• 1605 - Henry Hammond, English churchman and theologian
• 1606 - Maria Anna of Spain
• 1629 - Agneta Horn, Swedish writer
• 1657 - Ferdinando Galli-Bibiena, Italian architect and painter
• 1685 - Brook Taylor, English mathematician and theorist
• 1692 - Louis Henri, Duke of Bourbon
• 1700 - Baji Rao I, first Peshwa of Maratha Empire
• 1720 - Laurence Shirley, 4th Earl Ferrers, English politician
• 1750 - Antonio Salieri, Italian composer and conductor
• 1754 - François, marquis de Chasseloup-Laubat, French general and engineer
• 1774 - Meriwether Lewis, American soldier, explorer, and politician
• 1792 - John Russell, 1st Earl Russell, English politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
• 1803 - Nathan Clifford, American lawyer, jurist, and politician, 19th United States Attorney General
• 1807 - B. T. Finniss, Australian politician, 1st Premier of South Australia
• 1819 - Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaevna of Russia
• 1822 - Isaac P. Rodman, American general and politician
• 1830 - Franz Joseph I of Austria
• 1831 - Ernest Noel, Scottish businessman and politician
• 1834 - Marshall Field, American businessman, founded Marshall Field's
• 1841 - William Halford, English-American lieutenant, Medal of Honor recipient
• 1855 - Alfred Wallis, English painter and illustrator
• 1857 - Libert H. Boeynaems, Belgian-American bishop and missionary
• 1863 - Jean Leon Gerome Ferris, American painter
• 1869 - Carl Rungius, German-American painter and educator
• 1870 - Lavr Kornilov, Russian general and explorer
• 1879 - Alexander Rodzyanko, Russian general
• 1885 - Nettie Palmer, Australian poet and critic
• 1887 - John Anthony Sydney Ritson, English rugby player, mines inspector, engineer and professor of mining
• 1890 - Walther Funk, German economist and politician, Reich Minister of Economics
• 1893 - Burleigh Grimes, American baseball player and manager
• 1893 - Ernest MacMillan, Canadian conductor and composer
• 1896 - Jack Pickford, Canadian-American actor and director
• 1898 - Clemente Biondetti, Italian race car driver
• 1900 - Ruth Bonner, Soviet Communist activist, sentenced to a labor camp during Joseph Stalin's Great Purge
• 1900 - Ruth Norman, American religious leader
• 1902 - Adamson-Eric, Estonian painter
• 1902 - Margaret Murie, American environmentalist and author
• 1903 - Lucienne Boyer, French singer
• 1904 - Max Factor, Jr., American businessman
• 1905 - Enoch Light, American bandleader, violinist, and recording engineer
• 1906 - Marcel Carné, French director and screenwriter
• 1906 - Curtis Jones, American blues pianist and singer
• 1908 - Edgar Faure, French historian and politician, 139th Prime Minister of France
• 1908 - Olav H. Hauge, Norwegian poet and gardener
• 1908 - Bill Merritt, New Zealand cricketer and sportscaster
• 1909 - Gérard Filion, Canadian businessman and journalist
• 1910 - Herman Berlinski, Polish-American pianist, composer, and conductor
• 1910 - Robert Winters, Canadian colonel, engineer, and politician, 26th Canadian Minister of Public Works
• 1911 - Amelia Boynton Robinson, American activist
• 1911 - Klara Dan von Neumann, Hungarian computer scientist and programmer
• 1912 - Otto Ernst Remer, German general
• 1913 - Romain Maes, Belgian cyclist
• 1914 - Lucy Ozarin, United States Navy lieutenant commander and psychiatrist
• 1915 - Max Lanier, American baseball player and manager
• 1916 - Neagu Djuvara, Romanian historian, journalist, and diplomat
• 1916 - Moura Lympany, English pianist
• 1917 - Caspar Weinberger, American captain, lawyer, and politician, 15th United States Secretary of Defense
• 1918 - Cisco Houston, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
• 1919 - Wally Hickel, American businessman and politician, 2nd Governor of Alaska
• 1920 - Godfrey Evans, English cricketer
• 1920 - Bob Kennedy, American baseball player and manager
• 1920 - Shelley Winters, American actress
• 1921 - Lydia Litvyak, Russian lieutenant and pilot
• 1921 - Zdzisław Żygulski, Polish historian and academic
• 1922 - Alain Robbe-Grillet, French director, screenwriter, and novelist
• 1923 - Katherine Victor, American actress
• 1925 - Brian Aldiss, English author and critic
• 1925 - Pierre Grondin, Canadian surgeon and academic
• 1925 - Anis Mansour, Egyptian journalist and author
• 1927 - Rosalynn Carter, First Lady of the United States from 1977 to 1981
• 1928 - Marge Schott, American businesswoman
• 1928 - Sonny Til, American R&B singer
• 1929 - Hugues Aufray, French singer-songwriter
• 1930 - Liviu Librescu, Romanian-American engineer and academic
• 1930 - Rafael Pineda Ponce, Honduran academic and politician
• 1931 - Bramwell Tillsley, Canadian 14th General of The Salvation Army
• 1931 - Hans van Mierlo, Dutch journalist and politician, Deputy Prime Minister of the Netherlands
• 1931 - Grant Williams, American film, theater and television actor
• 1932 - Luc Montagnier, French virologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
• 1933 - Just Fontaine, Moroccan-French footballer and manager
• 1933 - Roman Polanski, French-Polish director, producer, screenwriter, and actor
• 1934 - Vincent Bugliosi, American lawyer and author
• 1934 - Roberto Clemente, Puerto Rican-American baseball player and soldier
• 1934 - Gulzar, Indian poet, lyricist and film director
• 1934 - Michael May, German-Swiss race car driver and engineer
• 1935 - Gail Fisher, American actress
• 1935 - Hifikepunye Pohamba, Namibian lawyer and politician, 2nd President of Namibia
• 1936 - Robert Redford, American actor, director, and producer
• 1937 - Sheila Cassidy, English physician and author
• 1939 - Maxine Brown, American soul/R&B singer-songwriter
• 1939 - Robert Horton, English businessman
• 1939 - Johnny Preston, American pop singer
• 1940 - Adam Makowicz, Polish-Canadian pianist and composer
• 1940 - Gil Whitney, American journalist
• 1943 - Martin Mull, American actor and comedian
• 1943 - Gianni Rivera, Italian footballer and politician
• 1943 - Carl Wayne, English singer and actor
• 1944 - Paula Danziger, American author
• 1944 - Robert Hitchcock, Australian sculptor and illustrator
• 1945 - Sarah Dash, American singer-songwriter and actress
• 1945 - Värner Lootsmann, Estonian lawyer and politician
• 1945 - Lewis Burwell Puller, Jr., American soldier, lawyer, and author
• 1948 - James Jones, English bishop
• 1948 - John Scarlett, English intelligence officer
• 1949 - Nigel Griggs, English bass player, songwriter, and producer
• 1950 - Dennis Elliott, English drummer and sculptor
• 1952 - Elayne Boosler, American actress, director, and screenwriter
• 1952 - Patrick Swayze, American actor and dancer
• 1952 - Ricardo Villa, Argentinian footballer and coach
• 1953 - Louie Gohmert, American captain, lawyer, and politician
• 1953 - Marvin Isley, American R&B bass player and songwriter
• 1954 - Umberto Guidoni, Italian astrophysicist, astronaut, and politician
• 1955 - Bruce Benedict, American baseball player and coach
• 1955 - Taher Elgamal, Egyptian-American cryptographer
• 1955 - Tan Dun, Chinese composer
• 1956 - John Debney, American composer and conductor
• 1956 - Sandeep Patil, Indian cricketer and coach
• 1956 - Jon Schwartz, American drummer and producer
• 1956 - Kelly Willard, American singer-songwriter
• 1956 - Rainer Woelki, German cardinal
• 1957 - Denis Leary, American comedian, actor, producer, and screenwriter
• 1957 - Ron Strykert, Australian singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
• 1958 - Didier Auriol, French race car driver
• 1958 - Madeleine Stowe, American actress
• 1959 - Tom Prichard, American wrestler and trainer
• 1960 - Mike LaValliere, American baseball player
• 1960 - Fat Lever, American basketball player and sportscaster
• 1961 - Huw Edwards, Welsh-English journalist and author
• 1961 - Timothy Geithner, American banker and politician, 75th United States Secretary of the Treasury
• 1961 - Bob Woodruff, American journalist and author
• 1962 - Felipe Calderón, Mexican lawyer and politician, 56th President of Mexico
• 1962 - Geoff Courtnall, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
• 1964 - Andi Deris, German singer and songwriter
• 1964 - Mark Sargent, Australian rugby league player
• 1964 - Kenny Walker, American basketball player and sportscaster
• 1965 - Ikue Ōtani, Japanese voice actress
• 1966 - Gustavo Charif, Argentinian director and producer
• 1967 - Daler Mehndi, Indian Punjabi singer, songwriter and record producer
• 1967 - Brian Michael Bendis, American author and illustrator
• 1969 - Mark Kuhlmann, German rugby player and coach
• 1969 - Edward Norton, American actor
• 1970 - Jason Furman, American economist and politician
• 1970 - Malcolm-Jamal Warner, American actor and producer
• 1971 - Patrik Andersson, Swedish footballer
• 1971 - Richard David James, English musician composer
• 1974 - Nicole Krauss, American novelist and critic
• 1977 - Paraskevas Antzas, Greek footballer
• 1977 - Even Kruse Skatrud, Norwegian musician and educator
• 1978 - Andy Samberg, American actor and comedian
• 1979 - Stuart Dew, Australian footballer
• 1980 - Esteban Cambiasso, Argentinian footballer
• 1980 - Rob Nguyen, Australian race car driver
• 1980 - Ryan O'Hara, Australian rugby league player
• 1980 - Bart Scott, American football player
• 1980 - Jeremy Shockey, American football player
• 1981 - César Delgado, Argentinian footballer
• 1981 - Dimitris Salpingidis, Greek footballer
• 1983 - Mika, Lebanese-born English recording artist and singer-songwriter
• 1983 - Cameron White, Australian cricketer
• 1984 - Sigourney Bandjar, Dutch footballer
• 1984 - Robert Huth, German footballer
• 1985 - Inge Dekker, Dutch swimmer
• 1985 - Bryan Ruiz, Costa Rican footballer
• 1986 - Evan Gattis, American baseball player
• 1986 - Ross McCormack, Scottish footballer
• 1987 - Joanna Jędrzejczyk, Polish mixed martial artist
• 1988 - Jack Hobbs, English footballer
• 1988 - Eggert Jónsson, Icelandic footballer
• 1988 - G-Dragon, South Korean rapper, singer-songwriter and record producer
• 1992 - Elizabeth Beisel, American swimmer
• 1992 - Bogdan Bogdanović, Serbian basketball player
• 1993 - Jung Eun-ji, South Korean singer-songwriter
• 1993 - Maia Mitchell, Australian actress and singer
• 1994 - Morgan Sanson, French footballer
• 1995 - Alīna Fjodorova, Latvian figure skater
• 1997 - Renato Sanches, Portuguese footballer

  Deaths

• 353 - Decentius, Roman usurper
• 440 - Pope Sixtus III
• 472 - Ricimer, Roman general and politician
• 670 - Fiacre, Irish hermit
• 673 - Kim Yu-shin, general of Silla
• 849 - Walafrid Strabo, German monk and theologian
• 1095 - King Olaf I of Denmark
• 1211 - Narapatisithu, king of Burma
• 1227 - Genghis Khan, Mongolian emperor
• 1258 - Theodore II Laskaris, emperor of Nicea
• 1276 - Pope Adrian V
• 1318 - Clare of Montefalco, Italian nun and saint
• 1430 - Thomas de Ros, 8th Baron de Ros, English soldier and politician
• 1500 - Alfonso of Aragon, Spanish prince
• 1502 - Knut Alvsson, Norwegian nobleman and politician
• 1503 - Pope Alexander VI
• 1550 - Antonio Ferramolino, Italian architect and military engineer
• 1559 - Pope Paul IV
• 1563 - Étienne de La Boétie, French judge and philosopher
• 1600 - Sebastiano Montelupi, Italian businessman
• 1613 - Giovanni Artusi, Italian composer and theorist
• 1620 - Wanli Emperor of China
• 1625 - Edward la Zouche, 11th Baron Zouche, English diplomat
• 1634 - Urbain Grandier, French priest
• 1642 - Guido Reni, Italian painter and educator
• 1648 - Ibrahim of the Ottoman Empire
• 1683 - Charles Hart, English actor
• 1707 - William Cavendish, 1st Duke of Devonshire, English soldier and politician, Lord Lieutenant of Derbyshire
• 1712 - Richard Savage, 4th Earl Rivers, English general and politician, Lord Lieutenant of Essex
• 1765 - Francis I, Holy Roman Emperor
• 1815 - Chauncey Goodrich, American lawyer and politician, 8th Lieutenant Governor of Connecticut
• 1823 - André-Jacques Garnerin, French balloonist and the inventor of the frameless parachute
• 1842 - Louis de Freycinet, French explorer and navigator
• 1850 - Honoré de Balzac, French novelist and playwright
• 1886 - Eli Whitney Blake, American inventor, invented the Mortise lock
• 1919 - Joseph E. Seagram, Canadian businessman and politician, founded the Seagram Company
• 1940 - Walter Chrysler, American businessman, founded Chrysler
• 1943 - Ali-Agha Shikhlinski, Azerbaijani general
• 1944 - Ernst Thälmann, German soldier and politician
• 1945 - Subhas Chandra Bose, Indian activist and politician
• 1949 - Paul Mares, American trumpet player and bandleader
• 1950 - Julien Lahaut, Belgian soldier and politician
• 1952 - Alberto Hurtado, Chilean priest, lawyer, and saint
• 1964 - Hildegard Trabant, Berlin Wall victim
• 1968 - Arthur Marshall, American pianist and composer
• 1979 - Vasantrao Naik, Indian politician
• 1981 - Anita Loos, American author and screenwriter
• 1983 - Nikolaus Pevsner, German-English historian and scholar
• 1990 - B. F. Skinner, American psychologist and philosopher, invented the Skinner box
• 1994 - Francis Raymond Shea, American bishop
• 1998 - Persis Khambatta, Indian model and actress, Femina Miss India 1965
• 2001 - David Peakall, English chemist and toxicologist
• 2002 - Dean Riesner, American actor and screenwriter
• 2003 - Tony Jackson, English singer and bassist
• 2004 - Elmer Bernstein, American composer and conductor
• 2004 - Hiram Fong, American soldier and politician
• 2005 - Chri$ Ca$h, American wrestler
• 2006 - Ken Kearney, Australian rugby player
• 2007 - Michael Deaver, American soldier and politician, White House Deputy Chief of Staff
• 2007 - Magdalen Nabb, English author
• 2009 - Kim Dae-jung, South Korean lieutenant and politician, 15th President of South Korea, Nobel Prize laureate
• 2009 - Rose Friedman, Ukrainian-American economist and author
• 2009 - Robert Novak, American journalist and author
• 2010 - Hal Connolly, American hammer thrower and coach
• 2010 - Benjamin Kaplan, American scholar and jurist
• 2012 - Harrison Begay, American painter
• 2012 - John Kovatch, American football player
• 2012 - Scott McKenzie, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
• 2012 - Ra. Ki. Rangarajan, Indian journalist and author
• 2012 - Jesse Robredo, Filipino public servant and politician, 23rd Filipino Secretary of the Interior and Local Government
• 2013 - Josephine D'Angelo, American baseball player
• 2013 - Jean Kahn, French lawyer and activist
• 2013 - Albert Murray, American author and critic
• 2014 - Gordon Faber, American soldier and politician, 39th Mayor of Hillsboro, Oregon
• 2014 - Jim Jeffords, American captain, lawyer, and politician
• 2014 - Levente Lengyel, Hungarian chess player
• 2014 - Don Pardo, American radio and television announcer
• 2015 - Khaled al-Asaad, Syrian archaeologist and author
• 2015 - Roger Smalley, English-Australian pianist, composer, and conductor
• 2015 - Suvra Mukherjee, Wife of former Indian president Pranab Mukherjee.
• 2015 - Louis Stokes, American lawyer and politician
• 2015 - Bud Yorkin, American director, producer, and screenwriter
• 2016 - Ernst Nolte, German historian
• 2017 - Bruce Forsyth, English television presenter and entertainer
• 2017 - Zoe Laskari, Greek actress and beauty pageant winner
• 2018 - Denis Edozie, Nigerian Supreme Court judge

  Holidays and observances

• Christian feast day:
• *Agapitus of Palestrina
• *Alberto Hurtado
• *Daig of Inniskeen
• *Evan
• *Fiacre
• *Florus and Laurus
• *Helena of Constantinople
• *William Porcher DuBose
• *August 18
• Arbor Day
• Armed Forces Day
• Birthday of Virginia Dare
• Constitution Day
• Long Tan Day, also called Vietnam Veterans' Day
• National Science Day