February 18 facts for kids

2025 Calendar

February 18 in recent years

February 18 is the 49th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar; 316 days remain until the end of the year (317 in leap years). February 18th is a day filled with many interesting events throughout history. From important peace treaties to exciting discoveries and the births of famous people, let's explore what has happened on this day!

Events
Births
Deaths
Holidays and Observances
Images for kids
See also

Events

Historical Moments Before 1600

1229 – During the Sixth Crusade, Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor, signed a ten-year peace agreement with al-Kamil. This allowed Jerusalem, Nazareth, and Bethlehem to be regained without any fighting.
1268 – The Battle of Wesenberg took place between the Livonian Order and Dovmont of Pskov.
1332 – Amda Seyon I, the Emperor of Ethiopia, started his military campaigns in the southern Muslim areas.
1478 – George, Duke of Clarence, who was found guilty of going against his brother Edward IV of England, was put to death privately at the Tower of London.

Key Events from 1601 to 1900

1637 – During the Eighty Years' War, a Spanish fleet attacked an important Anglo-Dutch merchant convoy near Cornwall, England. They destroyed or captured 20 ships.
1735 – The opera Flora, or Hob in the Well became the first opera ever performed in North America, in Charleston, South Carolina.
1781 – In the Fourth Anglo-Dutch War, Captain Thomas Shirley began his journey to attack Dutch colonial outposts in Africa, which is now Ghana.
1791 – The United States Congress passed a law to make Vermont a state, effective March 4. Vermont had been an independent area for 14 years.
1797 – During the French Revolutionary Wars, Sir Ralph Abercromby and 18 British warships took over Trinidad.
1814 – A major battle of the Napoleonic Wars, the Battle of Montereau, took place.
1861 – In Montgomery, Alabama, Jefferson Davis became the temporary President of the Confederate States of America.
1861 – With Italian unification almost finished, Victor Emmanuel II of Piedmont, Savoy and Sardinia became the first King of Italy.
1873 – Vasil Levski, a Bulgarian revolutionary leader, was put to death by hanging in Sofia by the Ottoman authorities.
1885 – The famous book Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain was published in the United States.
1900 – In the Second Boer War, imperial forces faced their biggest loss of life on Bloody Sunday, the first day of the Battle of Paardeberg.

Modern History: 1901 to Today

1906 – Édouard de Laveleye created the Belgian Olympic Committee in Brussels.
1911 – The first official flight carrying airmail happened in Allahabad, British India. A 23-year-old pilot named Henri Pequet delivered 6,500 letters to Naini, about 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) away.
1915 – The Imperial German Navy started using submarines to attack ships without warning in the waters around Great Britain and Ireland.
1930 – While looking at photographs, Clyde Tombaugh discovered the dwarf planet Pluto.
1930 – Elm Farm Ollie became the first cow to fly in an airplane and also the first cow to be milked during a flight.
1932 – The Empire of Japan created the independent state of Manzhouguo (Manchuria), separate from the Republic of China. They put former Chinese Emperor Aisin Gioro Puyi in charge.
1938 – During the Second Sino-Japanese War and the events of the Nanking Massacre, the Nanking Safety Zone International Committee was renamed. The safety zone for refugees began to break apart.
1942 – During World War II, the Imperial Japanese Army began a systematic removal of people they considered hostile among the Chinese in Singapore.
1943 – In World War II, Joseph Goebbels gave his famous Sportpalast speech.
1946 – Sailors of the Royal Indian Navy mutiny began in Bombay harbor. This spread to 78 ships and 20,000 sailors across British India.
1947 – In the First Indochina War, the French gained full control of Hanoi after the Viet Minh moved to the mountains.
1954 – The first Church of Scientology was opened in Los Angeles.
1955 – The "Wasp" nuclear test shot was successfully set off at the Nevada Test Site. It was the first of fourteen tests in the Teapot series.
1957 – Dedan Kimathi, a Kenyan rebel leader, was put to death by the British colonial government.
1957 – Walter James Bolton became the last person to be legally put to death in New Zealand.
1965 – The Gambia gained its independence from the United Kingdom.
1970 – The Chicago Seven were found not guilty of planning to cause riots at the 1968 Democratic National Convention.
1972 – The California Supreme Court ruled that the state's death penalty was invalid. They changed the sentences of all inmates on death row to life imprisonment.
1977 – The Xinjiang 61st Regiment Farm fire started during Chinese New Year. A firecracker set off memorial wreaths, leading to the deaths of 694 people. It remains the deadliest fireworks accident in the world.
1977 – A thousand armed soldiers raided Kalakuta Republic, the home of Nigerian singer Fela Kuti. This led to the death of Funmilayo Anikulapo Kuti.
1977 – The Space Shuttle Enterprise test vehicle had its first "flight" while being carried on top of a Boeing 747.
1979 – Richard Petty won his sixth Daytona 500 race, a record at the time. This happened after leaders Donnie Allison and Cale Yarborough crashed on the final lap of the first NASCAR race shown live from start to finish.
1991 – The IRA set off bombs early in the morning at Paddington station and Victoria station in London.
2001 – FBI agent Robert Hanssen was arrested for spying for the Soviet Union. He was later found guilty and sentenced to life in prison.
2001 – Violence between different ethnic groups, Dayaks and Madurese, broke out in Sampit, Central Kalimantan, Indonesia. This resulted in over 500 deaths and 100,000 Madurese people being forced to leave their homes.
2003 – 192 people died when someone started a fire on a subway train in Daegu, South Korea.
2004 – Up to 295 people, including almost 200 rescue workers, died near Nishapur, Iran. This happened when a runaway freight train carrying sulfur, petrol, and fertilizer caught fire and exploded.
2010 – WikiLeaks started publishing hundreds of thousands of secret documents that were shared by the soldier now known as Chelsea Manning.
2013 – Armed robbers stole diamonds worth $50 million during a raid at Brussels Airport in Belgium.
2014 – At least 76 people were killed and hundreds injured in clashes between police and protesters in Kyiv, Ukraine.
2018 – 66 people died when Iran Aseman Airlines Flight 3704 crashed in the Dena mountains of Iran.
2021 – Perseverance, a Mars rover designed to explore Jezero crater on Mars as part of NASA's Mars 2020 mission, landed successfully.

Births

Notable People Born Before 1600

1201 – Nasir al-Din al-Tusi, a Persian scientist and writer.
1372 – Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani, an Egyptian judge and scholar.
1486 – Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, an Indian monk and saint.
1516 – Mary I of England, a Queen of England.
1530 – Uesugi Kenshin, a Japanese powerful lord (daimyō).
1543 – Charles III, Duke of Lorraine.
1547 – Bahāʾ al-dīn al-ʿĀmilī, who founded the Isfahan School of Islamic Philosophy.
1559 – Isaac Casaubon, a Swiss expert in ancient languages.
1589 – Henry Vane the Elder, an English politician.
1589 – Maarten Gerritsz Vries, a Dutch explorer.

Important Births from 1601 to 1900

1602 – Per Brahe the Younger, a Swedish soldier and politician.
1602 – Michelangelo Cerquozzi, an Italian painter.
1609 – Edward Hyde, 1st Earl of Clarendon, an English historian and politician.
1626 – Francesco Redi, an Italian physician.
1632 – Giovanni Battista Vitali, an Italian violinist and composer.
1642 – Marie Champmeslé, a French actress.
1658 – Charles-Irénée Castel de Saint-Pierre, a French philosopher.
1732 – Johann Christian Kittel, a German organist and composer.
1745 – Alessandro Volta, an Italian physicist who invented the battery.
1754 – Emanuel Granberg, a Finnish church painter.
1814 – Samuel Fenton Cary, an American lawyer and politician.
1817 – Lewis Armistead, an American general.
1818 – John O'Shanassy, an Irish-Australian politician and Premier of Victoria.
1818 – Konstanty Schmidt-Ciążyński, a Polish art collector.
1836 – Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, an Indian mystic.
1838 – Ernst Mach, an Austrian physicist and philosopher.
1846 – Wilson Barrett, an English actor and playwright.
1848 – Louis Comfort Tiffany, an American stained glass artist.
1849 – Alexander Kielland, a Norwegian author.
1850 – George Henschel, a German-English singer and conductor.
1855 – Jean Jules Jusserand, a French historian and diplomat.
1860 – Anders Zorn, a Swedish artist.
1862 – Charles M. Schwab, an American businessman who co-founded Bethlehem Steel.
1867 – Hedwig Courths-Mahler, a German writer.
1870 – William Laurel Harris, an American painter.
1871 – Harry Brearley, an English inventor.
1883 – Nikos Kazantzakis, a Greek philosopher and author.
1885 – Henri Laurens, a French sculptor.
1893 – Maksim Haretski, a Belarusian writer and journalist.
1890 – Edward Arnold, an American actor.
1890 – Adolphe Menjou, an American actor.
1892 – Wendell Willkie, an American lawyer and politician.
1896 – Li Linsi, a Chinese educator and diplomat.
1898 – Luis Muñoz Marín, a Puerto Rican poet and the first Governor of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.
1899 – Arthur Bryant, an English historian.

People Born from 1901 to Today

1903 – Nikolai Podgorny, a Ukrainian engineer and politician.
1906 – Hans Asperger, an Austrian pediatrician.
1909 – Wallace Stegner, an American novelist.
1914 – Pee Wee King, an American singer and fiddler.
1915 – Phyllis Calvert, an English actress.
1915 – Joe Gordon, an American baseball player.
1918 – Freddie Blassie, an American wrestler.
1919 – Jack Palance, an American actor.
1920 – Rolande Falcinelli, a French organist and composer.
1921 – Mary Amdur, an American toxicologist.
1921 – Oscar Feltsman, a Ukrainian-Russian pianist and composer.
1922 – Eric Gairy, a Grenadan politician and first Prime Minister of Grenada.
1922 – Helen Gurley Brown, an American journalist and author.
1922 – Connie Wisniewski, an American baseball player.
1925 – George Kennedy, an American actor.
1926 – Wallace Berman, an American painter.
1927 – Fazal Mahmood, a Pakistani cricketer.
1929 – Len Deighton, an English historian and author.
1929 – André Mathieu, a Canadian pianist and composer.
1931 – Johnny Hart, an American cartoonist.
1931 – Toni Morrison, an American novelist and Nobel Prize winner.
1932 – Miloš Forman, a Czech-American director.
1933 – Yoko Ono, a Japanese-American artist and musician.
1933 – Bobby Robson, an English footballer and manager.
1933 – Mary Ure, a Scottish-English actress.
1934 – Audre Lorde, an American writer and activist.
1936 – Jean M. Auel, an American author.
1939 – Claude Ake, a Nigerian political scientist.
1940 – Fabrizio De André, an Italian singer-songwriter.
1941 – Irma Thomas, an American singer.
1946 – Michael Buerk, an English journalist.
1946 – Jess Walton, an American actress.
1947 – Dennis DeYoung, an American musician.
1950 – Nana Amba Eyiaba I, a Ghanaian queen mother.
1950 – John Hughes, an American director and producer.
1950 – Cybill Shepherd, an American actress.
1951 – Queen Komal of Nepal.
1951 – Isabel Preysler, a Filipino-Spanish journalist.
1952 – Randy Crawford, an American jazz singer.
1952 – Maurice Lucas, an American basketball player.
1952 – Juice Newton, an American singer.
1954 – John Travolta, an American actor and singer.
1955 – Lisa See, an American writer.
1957 – Marita Koch, a German sprinter.
1957 – Vanna White, an American television personality.
1959 – Jayne Atkinson, an English-American actress.
1960 – Andy Moog, a Canadian ice hockey player.
1960 – Greta Scacchi, an Italian-Australian actress.
1964 – Matt Dillon, an American actor.
1965 – Dr. Dre, an American rapper and producer.
1966 – Phillip DeFreitas, a Dominican-English cricketer.
1967 – Roberto Baggio, an Italian footballer.
1967 – Colin Jackson, a Welsh sprinter.
1968 – Molly Ringwald, an American actress.
1969 – Alexander Mogilny, a Russian ice hockey player.
1971 – Thomas Bjørn, a Danish golfer.
1974 – Carrie Ann Baade, an American painter.
1974 – Radek Černý, a Czech footballer.
1974 – Julia Butterfly Hill, an American environmentalist.
1974 – Jillian Michaels, an American personal trainer.
1975 – Gary Neville, an English footballer.
1977 – Ike Barinholtz, an American actor and comedian.
1977 – Kristoffer Polaha, an American actor.
1980 – Nik Antropov, a Kazakhstani-Canadian ice hockey player.
1980 – Regina Spektor, a Russian-American musician.
1981 – Andrei Kirilenko, a Russian-American basketball player.
1981 – Alex Ríos, an American baseball player.
1982 – Christian Tiffert, a German footballer.
1983 – Kara Braxton, an American basketball player.
1983 – Jermaine Jenas, an English footballer.
1983 – Jason Maxiell, an American basketball player.
1984 – Carlos Kameni, a Cameroonian footballer.
1986 – Kyle Weaver, an American basketball player.
1988 – Roman Neustädter, a German-Russian footballer.
1988 – Sarah Sutherland, an American actress.
1988 – Maiara Walsh, an American-Brazilian actress.
1989 – Sonja Vasić, a Serbian basketball player.
1990 – Monica Aksamit, an American saber fencer.
1990 – Didi Gregorius, a Dutch baseball player.
1990 – Cody Hodgson, a Canadian ice hockey player.
1990 – Bryan Oviedo, a Costa Rican footballer.
1991 – Sebastian Neumann, a German footballer.
1992 – Le'Veon Bell, an American football player.
1992 – Martin Marinčin, a Slovak ice hockey player.
1992 – Logan Miller, an American actor.
1993 – Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, an American basketball player.
1994 – J-Hope, a South Korean rapper, singer, and dancer.
1994 – Paul Zipser, a German basketball player.
1995 – Nathan Aké, a Dutch footballer.
1996 – Tyler Dorsey, an American-Greek basketball player.
2000 – Zakaria Aboukhlal, a Moroccan footballer.
2000 – Giacomo Raspadori, an Italian footballer.
2001 – Tanguy Coulibaly, a French footballer.
2001 – Jaime Jaquez Jr., an American basketball player.

Deaths

People Who Died Before 1600

675 – Colmán, a bishop.
814 – Angilbert, a Frankish monk.
901 – Thābit ibn Qurra, an Arab astronomer.
999 – Gregory V, a pope.
1139 – Yaropolk II, a Grand Prince.
1218 – Berthold V, a duke.
1225 – Hugh Bigod, 3rd Earl of Norfolk, a Norman nobleman.
1294 – Kublai Khan, a Mongol emperor.
1379 – Albert II, a duke.
1397 – Enguerrand VII, a French nobleman.
1455 – Fra Angelico, an Italian priest and painter.
1478 – George Plantagenet, 1st Duke of Clarence, an English nobleman.
1502 – Hedwig Jagiellon, a duchess.
1535 – Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa, a German magician and theologian.
1546 – Martin Luther, a German priest and leader of the Protestant Reformation.
1564 – Michelangelo, a famous Italian sculptor and painter.

People Who Died from 1601 to 1900

1654 – Jean-Louis Guez de Balzac, a French author.
1658 – John Villiers, 1st Viscount Purbeck, an English courtier.
1683 – Nicolaes Pieterszoon Berchem, a Dutch painter.
1695 – William Phips, a governor of Massachusetts.
1712 – Louis, Dauphin of France.
1743 – Anna Maria Luisa de' Medici, an Italian noblewoman.
1748 – Otto Ferdinand von Abensberg und Traun, an Austrian field marshal.
1772 – Count Johann Hartwig Ernst von Bernstorff, a Danish politician.
1778 – Joseph Marie Terray, a French economist.
1780 – Kristijonas Donelaitis, a Lithuanian pastor and poet.
1788 – John Whitehurst, an English geologist and clockmaker.
1803 – Johann Wilhelm Ludwig Gleim, a German poet.
1851 – Carl Gustav Jacob Jacobi, a German mathematician.
1873 – Vasil Levski, a Bulgarian activist.
1880 – Nikolay Zinin, a Russian organic chemist.
1893 – Serranus Clinton Hastings, an American lawyer and politician.

People Who Died from 1901 to Today

1902 – Charles Lewis Tiffany, an American businessman who founded Tiffany & Co..
1910 – Lucy Stanton, an American activist.
1915 – Frank James, an American soldier.
1933 – James J. Corbett, an American boxer and actor.
1938 – David King Udall, an American missionary and politician.
1956 – Gustave Charpentier, a French composer.
1960 – Gertrude Vanderbilt, an American stage actress.
1966 – Grigory Nelyubov, a Soviet pilot.
1967 – J. Robert Oppenheimer, an American physicist.
1969 – Dragiša Cvetković, a Serbian lawyer and politician.
1977 – Andy Devine, an American actor.
1981 – Jack Northrop, an American engineer who founded the Northrop Corporation.
1982 – Ngaio Marsh, a New Zealand author.
2001 – Balthus, a Polish-Swiss painter.
2001 – Dale Earnhardt, an American race car driver.
2014 – Mavis Gallant, a Canadian-French author.
2014 – Maria Franziska von Trapp, an Austrian-American singer.
2015 – Elchanan Heilprin, a rabbi.
2019 – Alessandro Mendini, an Italian designer and architect.
2020 – Flavio Bucci, an Italian actor.

Holidays and Observances

Christian feast day:
- Bernadette Soubirous (France)
- Colmán of Lindisfarne
- Flavian of Constantinople
- Geltrude Comensoli
- Simeon of Jerusalem (Western Christianity)
- February 18 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
Dialect Day (Amami Islands, Japan)
Independence Day, celebrates the independence of the Gambia from the United Kingdom in 1965
Kurdish Students Union Day (Iraqi Kurdistan)
National Democracy Day, celebrates the 1951 overthrow of the Rana dynasty (Nepal)

Images for kids

A friendly robot for kids.