May 18 facts for kids

Kids Encyclopedia Facts

May 18th is a day filled with many interesting events throughout history, from ancient times to today. It's a day when important leaders made big decisions, new inventions changed the world, and famous people were born or passed away. Let's explore some of the key moments that happened on this date!

Historical Events
Famous Births
Notable Deaths
Holidays and Observances
Images for kids
See also

Historical Events

Early History (Before 1600)

332 – Emperor Constantine the Great announced that people in Constantinople would receive free food.
872 – Louis II of Italy was crowned Holy Roman Emperor for the second time in Rome. He was 47 years old.
1096 – During the First Crusade, about 800 Jewish people were killed in Worms, Germany.
1152 – The future Henry II of England married Eleanor of Aquitaine. He became king two years later.
1268 – The Principality of Antioch, a crusader state, was taken over by the Mamluk Sultanate during the Siege of Antioch.
1291 – The Fall of Acre marked the end of the Crusaders' presence in the Holy Land.
1302 – The Bruges Matins happened in Bruges. Local Flemish fighters attacked and killed the French soldiers stationed there.
1388 – General Lan Yu led a Ming army to defeat the Mongol forces of Tögüs Temür at the Battle of Buyur Lake.
1499 – Alonso de Ojeda sailed from Cádiz on a journey to what is now Venezuela.
1565 – The Great Siege of Malta began. Ottoman forces tried to conquer Malta but failed.
1593 – Playwright Thomas Kyd accused Christopher Marlowe of heresy, leading to an arrest warrant for Marlowe.

Later History (1601–1900)

1631 – In Dorchester, Massachusetts, John Winthrop became the first Governor of Massachusetts.
1652 – Slavery was abolished in Rhode Island, though the law was not always followed strictly.
1695 – A large earthquake in Shannxi, China, caused much damage and killed at least 52,000 people.
1756 – The Seven Years' War started when Great Britain declared war on France.
1783 – The first United Empire Loyalists arrived in Parrtown, Canada, after leaving the United States.
1794 – The Battle of Tourcoing took place during the War of the First Coalition.
1803 – The Napoleonic Wars began again as the United Kingdom declared war on France.
1804 – Napoleon Bonaparte was declared Emperor of the French by the French Senate.
1811 – The Battle of Las Piedras was a big victory for the revolution in Uruguay, led by José Artigas.
1812 – John Bellingham was found guilty and sentenced to death for assassinating British Prime Minister Spencer Perceval.
1843 – The Free Church of Scotland separated from the Church of Scotland in Edinburgh.
1848 – The first German National Assembly opened in Frankfurt, Germany.
1860 – Abraham Lincoln won the Republican Party nomination for president.
1863 – The American Civil War's Siege of Vicksburg began.
1896 – The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Plessy v. Ferguson that "separate but equal" was constitutional.
1896 – The Khodynka Tragedy occurred in Moscow. A large crowd panic during Tsar Nicholas II's coronation festivities led to 1,389 deaths.
1900 – The United Kingdom declared Tonga a protectorate.

Modern Era (1901–present)

1912 – The first Indian film, Shree Pundalik, was released in Mumbai.
1917 – During World War I, the Selective Service Act of 1917 was passed. This gave the U.S. President the power to draft people into the military.
1922 – Seamus Woods led an Irish Republican Army attack on police headquarters in Belfast.
1926 – Evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson disappeared in Venice, California.
1927 – Tongji University was approved as one of the first national universities in the Republic of China.
1933 – President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed an act creating the Tennessee Valley Authority.
1944 – World War II: The Battle of Monte Cassino ended after seven days. German paratroopers left Monte Cassino.
1944 – The Crimean Tatars were deported by the Soviet Union.
1948 – The First Legislative Yuan of the Republic of China met officially in Nanking.
1953 – Jacqueline Cochran became the first woman to fly faster than the sound barrier.
1955 – Operation Passage to Freedom ended. This was the evacuation of 310,000 Vietnamese people and French Army members from communist North Vietnam to South Vietnam.
1969 – Apollo program: Apollo 10 was launched into space.
1974 – India successfully tested its first nuclear weapon under project Smiling Buddha. It became the sixth nation to do so.
1977 – The Likud party won the 1977 Israeli legislative election. Menachem Begin became the sixth Prime Minister of Israel.
1980 – Mount St. Helens erupted in Washington, United States. It killed 57 people and caused $3 billion in damage.
1980 – Students in Gwangju, South Korea began protests asking for democratic changes.
1990 – A modified TGV train in France set a new rail world speed record of 515.3 km/h (320.2 mph).
1991 – Northern Somalia declared independence from the rest of Somalia, forming the Republic of Somaliland.
1993 – Riots happened in Nørrebro, Copenhagen, after a vote on the Maastricht Treaty. Police fired on civilians for the first time since World War II, injuring 11.
1994 – Israeli troops finished leaving the Gaza Strip, giving control to the Palestinian National Authority.
2005 – The Hubble Space Telescope confirmed that Pluto has two more moons, Nix and Hydra.
2006 – The government in Nepal passed a bill that reduced the power of the monarchy and made Nepal a secular country.
2009 – The LTTE were defeated by the Sri Lankan government, ending almost 26 years of fighting.
2015 – At least 78 people died in a landslide caused by heavy rains in Salgar, Colombia.
2018 – Cubana de Aviación Flight 972 crashed in Santiago de las Vegas after taking off from José Martí International Airport in Havana, Cuba. 112 of 113 people on board died.
2019 – Joe Biden announced his presidential campaign for the 2020 United States presidential election.

Famous Births

Born Before 1600

1048 – Omar Khayyám, a Persian mathematician, astronomer, and poet.
1186 – Konstantin of Rostov.
1450 – Piero Soderini, an Italian politician and diplomat.
1537 – Guido Luca Ferrero, a Roman Catholic cardinal.

Born 1601–1900

1631 – Stanislaus Papczyński, a Polish priest and saint.
1662 – George Smalridge, an English bishop.
1692 – Joseph Butler, an English bishop and theologian.
1711 – Roger Joseph Boscovich, a physicist, astronomer, and mathematician from Ragusa.
1777 – John George Children, an English chemist and zoologist.
1778 – Charles Vane, 3rd Marquess of Londonderry, an Irish soldier and diplomat.
1785 – John Wilson, a Scottish author and critic.
1797 – Frederick Augustus II of Saxony.
1822 – Mathew Brady, an American photographer and journalist.
1824 – Wilhelm Hofmeister, a German botanist.
1835 – Charles N. Sims, an American Methodist preacher and chancellor of Syracuse University.
1850 – Oliver Heaviside, an English engineer, mathematician, and physicist.
1851 – James Budd, an American lawyer and politician, and 19th Governor of California.
1851 – Simon Kahquados, a Potawatomi political activist.
1852 – Gertrude Käsebier, an American photographer.
1854 – Bernard Zweers, a Dutch composer and educator.
1855 – Francis Bellamy, an American minister and author, who wrote the Pledge of Allegiance.
1862 – Josephus Daniels, an American publisher and politician.
1867 – Minakata Kumagusu, a Japanese author, biologist, and ethnologist.
1868 – Nicholas II of Russia, the last Tsar of Russia.
1869 – Lucy Beaumont, an English-American actress.
1871 – Denis Horgan, an Irish shot putter.
1872 – Bertrand Russell, a British mathematician, historian, and philosopher, who won a Nobel Prize in Literature.
1876 – Hermann Müller, a German journalist and politician, and 12th Chancellor of Germany.
1878 – Johannes Terwogt, a Dutch rower.
1882 – Babe Adams, an American baseball player.
1883 – Eurico Gaspar Dutra, a Brazilian marshal and politician, and 16th President of Brazil.
1883 – Walter Gropius, a German-American architect.
1886 – Jeanie MacPherson, an American actress and screenwriter.
1888 – Hanna Barysiewicz, a very old woman from Belarus.
1889 – Thomas Midgley, Jr., an American chemist and engineer.
1891 – Rudolf Carnap, a German-American philosopher.
1892 – Ezio Pinza, an Italian-American actor and singer.
1895 – Augusto César Sandino, a Nicaraguan rebel leader.
1896 – Eric Backman, a Swedish runner.
1897 – Frank Capra, an Italian-American director and producer.
1898 – Faruk Nafiz Çamlıbel, a Turkish poet and author.

Born 1901–Present

1901 – Henri Sauguet, a French composer.
1901 – Vincent du Vigneaud, an American biochemist and Nobel Prize in Chemistry laureate.
1902 – Meredith Willson, an American playwright and composer.
1904 – Jacob K. Javits, an American politician.
1904 – Shunryū Suzuki, a Japanese-American monk.
1905 – Ruth Alexander, a pioneering American pilot.
1905 – Hedley Verity, an English cricketer.
1907 – Irene Hunt, an American author and educator.
1909 – Fred Perry, an English tennis player.
1910 – Ester Boserup, a Danish economist.
1911 – Big Joe Turner, an American blues singer.
1912 – Richard Brooks, an American director and screenwriter.
1912 – Perry Como, an American singer and TV host.
1912 – Walter Sisulu, a South African politician.
1913 – Jane Birdwood, Baroness Birdwood, a Canadian-English publisher.
1914 – Pierre Balmain, a French fashion designer.
1914 – Boris Christoff, a Bulgarian-Italian opera singer.
1917 – Bill Everett, an American author and illustrator.
1919 – Margot Fonteyn, a British ballerina.
1920 – Pope John Paul II.
1920 – Anthony Storr, an English psychiatrist.
1921 – Joan Eardley, a British artist.
1921 – Michael A. Epstein, an English pathologist.
1922 – Bill Macy, an American actor.
1922 – Kai Winding, a Danish-American trombonist.
1923 – Jean-Louis Roux, a Canadian actor and politician.
1923 – Hugh Shearer, a Jamaican journalist and politician, and 3rd Prime Minister of Jamaica.
1924 – Priscilla Pointer, an American actress.
1924 – Jack Whitaker, an American sportscaster.
1925 – Lillian Hoban, an American author and illustrator.
1927 – Richard Body, an English politician.
1927 – Ray Nagel, an American football player and coach.
1928 – Pernell Roberts, an American actor.
1929 – Jack Sanford, an American baseball player.
1929 – Norman St John-Stevas, Baron St John of Fawsley, an English lawyer and politician.
1930 – Warren Rudman, an American politician.
1930 – Fred Saberhagen, an American author.
1931 – Don Martin, an American cartoonist.
1931 – Robert Morse, an American actor.
1931 – Kalju Pitksaar, an Estonian chess player.
1931 – Clément Vincent, a Canadian farmer and politician.
1933 – Bernadette Chirac, a French politician and First Lady of France.
1933 – H. D. Deve Gowda, an Indian politician, and 11th Prime Minister of India.
1933 – Don Whillans, an English rock climber.
1934 – Dwayne Hickman, an American actor.
1936 – Leon Ashley, an American singer-songwriter.
1936 – Türker İnanoğlu, a Turkish director and producer.
1936 – Michael Sandle, an English sculptor.
1937 – Brooks Robinson, an American baseball player.
1937 – Jacques Santer, a Luxembourger politician, and 22nd Prime Minister of Luxembourg.
1938 – Janet Fish, an American painter.
1939 – Patrick Cormack, Baron Cormack, an English politician.
1939 – Giovanni Falcone, an Italian judge.
1939 – Gordon O'Connor, a Canadian general and politician.
1940 – Erico Aumentado, a Filipino journalist and politician.
1941 – Gino Brito, a Canadian wrestler.
1941 – Malcolm Longair, a Scottish astronomer.
1941 – Miriam Margolyes, an English-Australian actress.
1942 – Nobby Stiles, an English footballer.
1943 – Jimmy Snuka, a Fijian wrestler.
1944 – Albert Hammond, an English singer-songwriter.
1944 – W. G. Sebald, a German novelist.
1946 – Frank Hsieh, a Taiwanese politician.
1946 – Reggie Jackson, an American baseball player.
1946 – Gerd Langguth, a German political scientist.
1947 – John Bruton, an Irish politician, and 10th Taoiseach of Ireland.
1947 – Gail Strickland, an American actress.
1948 – Joe Bonsall, an American country/gospel singer.
1948 – Yi Mun-yol, a South Korean author.
1948 – Richard Swedberg, a Swedish sociologist.
1948 – Tom Udall, an American politician.
1949 – Walter Hawkins, an American gospel music singer.
1949 – Rick Wakeman, an English progressive rock keyboardist.
1950 – Rod Milburn, an American hurdler.
1950 – Mark Mothersbaugh, an American singer-songwriter and painter.
1951 – Richard Clapton, an Australian singer-songwriter.
1951 – Jim Sundberg, an American baseball player.
1951 – Angela Voigt, a German long jumper.
1952 – Diane Duane, an American author.
1952 – David Leakey, an English general.
1952 – George Strait, an American singer.
1952 – Jeana Yeager, an American pilot.
1953 – Alan Kupperberg, an American author and illustrator.
1954 – Wreckless Eric, an English singer-songwriter.
1954 – Eric Gerets, a Belgian footballer.
1955 – Chow Yun-fat, a Hong Kong actor.
1956 – Catherine Corsini, a French director.
1956 – John Godber, an English playwright.
1957 – Michael Cretu, a Romanian-German keyboard player.
1957 – Henrietta Moore, an English anthropologist.
1958 – Rubén Omar Romano, an Argentinian-Mexican footballer and coach.
1958 – Toyah Willcox, an English singer-songwriter and actress.
1959 – Graham Dilley, an English cricketer.
1959 – Jay Wells, a Canadian ice hockey player.
1960 – Brent Ashton, a Canadian ice hockey player.
1960 – Jari Kurri, a Finnish ice hockey player.
1960 – Yannick Noah, a French tennis player.
1961 – Russell Senior, an English singer-songwriter.
1963 – Marty McSorley, a Canadian ice hockey player.
1963 – Sam Vincent, an American basketball player.
1964 – Ignasi Guardans, a Spanish politician.
1966 – Renata Nielsen, a Polish-Danish long jumper.
1966 – Michael Tait, an American singer-songwriter.
1967 – Nina Björk, a Swedish journalist.
1967 – Heinz-Harald Frentzen, a German race car driver.
1967 – Nancy Juvonen, an American screenwriter and producer.
1967 – Mimi Macpherson, an Australian environmentalist.
1968 – Philippe Benetton, a French rugby player.
1968 – Ralf Kelleners, a German race car driver.
1969 – Troy Cassar-Daley, an Australian singer-songwriter.
1969 – Martika, an American singer-songwriter and actress.
1969 – Antônio Carlos Zago, a Brazilian footballer.
1970 – Javier Cárdenas, a Spanish singer and TV presenter.
1970 – Tina Fey, an American actress, producer, and screenwriter.
1970 – Tim Horan, an Australian rugby player.
1970 – Billy Howerdel, an American guitarist.
1970 – Vicky Sunohara, a Canadian ice hockey player.
1971 – Brad Friedel, an American soccer player.
1971 – Mark Menzies, a Scottish politician.
1971 – Nobuteru Taniguchi, a Japanese race car driver.
1972 – Turner Stevenson, a Canadian ice hockey player.
1973 – Donyell Marshall, an American basketball player.
1973 – Aleksandr Olerski, an Estonian footballer.
1974 – Nelson Figueroa, an American baseball player.
1975 – Jem, a Welsh singer-songwriter.
1975 – John Higgins, a Scottish snooker player.
1975 – Jack Johnson, an American singer-songwriter.
1975 – Ingvild Kjerkol, a Norwegian politician.
1976 – Ron Mercer, an American basketball player.
1976 – Marko Tomasović, a Croatian pianist.
1976 – Oleg Tverdovsky, a Ukrainian-Russian ice hockey player.
1977 – Lee Hendrie, an English footballer.
1977 – Danny Mills, an English footballer.
1977 – Li Tie, a Chinese footballer.
1978 – Ricardo Carvalho, a Portuguese footballer.
1978 – Marcus Giles, an American baseball player.
1978 – Charles Kamathi, a Kenyan runner.
1979 – Jens Bergensten, a Swedish video game designer, who co-designed Minecraft.
1979 – Mariusz Lewandowski, a Polish footballer.
1979 – Michal Martikán, a Slovak slalom canoeist.
1979 – Milivoje Novaković, a Slovenian footballer.
1979 – Julián Speroni, an Argentinian footballer.
1980 – Reggie Evans, an American basketball player.
1980 – Michaël Llodra, a French tennis player.
1980 – Diego Pérez, a Uruguayan footballer.
1981 – Mahamadou Diarra, a Malian footballer.
1981 – Ashley Harrison, an Australian rugby league player.
1982 – Jason Brown, an English footballer.
1982 – Marie-Ève Pelletier, a Canadian tennis player.
1983 – Gary O'Neil, an English footballer.
1983 – Luis Terrero, a Dominican baseball player.
1983 – Vince Young, an American football player.
1984 – Ivet Lalova, a Bulgarian sprinter.
1984 – Simon Pagenaud, a French race car driver.
1984 – Darius Šilinskis, a Lithuanian basketball player.
1984 – Joakim Soria, a Mexican baseball player.
1984 – Niki Terpstra, a Dutch cyclist.
1985 – Oliver Sin, a Hungarian painter.
1985 – Henrique Sereno, a Portuguese footballer.
1986 – Kevin Anderson, a South African tennis player.
1988 – Taeyang, a South Korean singer.
1990 – Dimitri Daeseleire, a Belgian footballer.
1990 – Yuya Osako, a Japanese footballer.
1990 – Josh Starling, an Australian rugby league player.
1992 – Adwoa Aboah, a British fashion model.
1993 – Stuart Percy, a Canadian ice hockey player.
1993 – Jessica Watson, an Australian sailor.
1998 – Polina Edmunds, an American figure skater.
1999 – Laura Omloop, a Belgian singer-songwriter.
2000 – Ryan Sessegnon, an English footballer.
2000 – Steven Sessegnon, an English footballer.
2001 – Emma Navarro, an American tennis player.
2002 – Alina Zagitova, a Russian figure skater.
2009 – Hala Finley, an American actress.

Notable Deaths

Died Before 1600

526 – Pope John I.
893 – Stephen I of Constantinople.
932 – Ma Shaohong, a general of Later Tang.
947 – Emperor Taizong of Liao of the Liao Dynasty.
978 – Frederick I, duke of Upper Lorraine.
1065 – Frederick, Duke of Lower Lorraine.
1096 – Minna of Worms, a Jewish martyr killed during the Worms massacre (1096).
1160 – King Eric IX of Sweden.
1297 – Nicholas Longespee, Bishop of Salisbury.
1401 – Vladislaus II of Opole.
1410 – Rupert of Germany, Count Palatine of the Rhine.
1550 – Jean, Cardinal of Lorraine.
1551 – Domenico di Pace Beccafumi, an Italian painter.

Died 1601–1900

1675 – Stanisław Lubieniecki, a Polish astronomer.
1675 – Jacques Marquette, a French-American missionary and explorer.
1692 – Elias Ashmole, an English astrologer.
1721 – Maria Barbara Carillo, a victim of the Spanish Inquisition.
1733 – Georg Böhm, a German organist and composer.
1780 – Charles Hardy, an English-American admiral and Colonial Governor of New York.
1781 – Túpac Amaru II, a Peruvian indigenous rebel leader.
1792 – Levy Solomons, a Canadian merchant.
1795 – Robert Rogers, an English colonel.
1799 – Pierre Beaumarchais, a French playwright.
1800 – Alexander Suvorov, a Russian general.
1807 – John Douglas, a Scottish bishop.
1808 – Elijah Craig, an American minister, known for inventing Bourbon whiskey.
1844 – Richard McCarty, an American politician.
1853 – Lionel Kieseritzky, an Estonian-French chess player.
1867 – Clarkson Stanfield, an English painter.
1889 – Isabella Glyn, a Scottish-English actress.
1900 – Félix Ravaisson-Mollien, a French archaeologist and philosopher.

Died 1901–Present

1908 – Louis-Napoléon Casault, a Canadian lawyer and judge.
1909 – Isaac Albéniz, a Spanish pianist and composer.
1909 – George Meredith, an English novelist and poet.
1910 – Eliza Orzeszkowa, a Polish author.
1910 – Pauline Viardot, a French soprano and composer.
1911 – Gustav Mahler, an Austrian composer and conductor.
1916 – Chen Qimei, a Chinese revolutionary.
1922 – Charles Louis Alphonse Laveran, a French physician and parasitologist, who won a Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.
1941 – Werner Sombart, a German economist.
1943 – Ōnishiki Daigorō, a Japanese sumo wrestler.
1947 – Hal Chase, an American baseball player.
1955 – Mary McLeod Bethune, an American educator and activist.
1956 – Maurice Tate, an English cricketer.
1958 – Jacob Fichman, an Israeli poet.
1963 – Ernie Davis, an American football player.
1968 – Frank Walsh, an Australian politician.
1971 – Aleksandr Gennadievich Kurosh, a Russian mathematician.
1973 – Jeannette Rankin, an American social worker and politician.
1974 – Harry Ricardo, an English engine designer.
1975 – Leroy Anderson, an American composer.
1980 – Reid Blackburn, an American photographer, died in the Mount St. Helens eruption.
1980 – David A. Johnston, an American volcanologist, died in the Mount St. Helens eruption.
1980 – Ian Curtis, an English singer-songwriter.
1981 – Arthur O'Connell, an American actor.
1981 – William Saroyan, an American novelist and playwright.
1987 – Mahdi Amel, a Lebanese journalist and poet.
1989 – Dorothy Ruth, an American horse breeder and author.
1990 – Jill Ireland, an English actress.
1995 – Elisha Cook, Jr., an American actor.
1995 – Alexander Godunov, a Russian-American ballet dancer and actor.
1995 – Brinsley Le Poer Trench, 8th Earl of Clancarty, an Irish ufologist.
1995 – Elizabeth Montgomery, an American actress.
1998 – Obaidullah Aleem, an Indian-Pakistani poet.
1999 – Augustus Pablo, a Jamaican singer and keyboard player.
1999 – Betty Robinson, an American runner.
2000 – Stephen M. Wolownik, a Russian-American composer.
2001 – Irene Hunt, an American author and illustrator.
2004 – Elvin Jones, an American drummer.
2006 – Jaan Eilart, an Estonian geographer and historian.
2007 – Pierre-Gilles de Gennes, a French physicist and Nobel Prize laureate.
2008 – Joseph Pevney, an American actor and director.
2008 – Roberto García-Calvo Montiel, a Spanish judge.
2009 – Dolla, an American rapper.
2009 – Wayne Allwine, an American voice actor, known for Mickey Mouse.
2009 – Velupillai Prabhakaran, a Sri Lankan rebel leader.
2012 – Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, a German opera singer.
2012 – Peter Jones, an English-Australian drummer.
2012 – Alan Oakley, an English bicycle designer, who designed the Raleigh Chopper.
2013 – Aleksei Balabanov, a Russian director.
2013 – Jo Benkow, a Norwegian politician.
2013 – Steve Forrest, an American actor.
2013 – David McMillan, an American football player.
2013 – Lothar Schmid, a German chess player.
2014 – Dobrica Ćosić, a Serbian politician.
2014 – Hans-Peter Dürr, a German physicist.
2014 – Kaiketsu Masateru, a Japanese sumo wrestler.
2014 – Chukwuedu Nwokolo, a Nigerian physician.
2014 – Wubbo Ockels, a Dutch physicist and astronaut.
2015 – Halldór Ásgrímsson, an Icelandic politician.
2015 – Raymond Gosling, an English physicist.
2015 – Jean-François Théodore, a French businessman.
2017 – Roger Ailes, an American businessman.
2017 – Chris Cornell, an American singer.
2017 – Jacque Fresco, an American engineer.
2020 – Ken Osmond, an American actor.
2021 – Charles Grodin, an American actor.
2021 – Yolanda Tortolero, a Venezuelan politician.

Holidays and Observances

Christian feast day:

* Ælfgifu of Shaftesbury * Eric IX of Sweden * Felix of Cantalice * Pope John I * Venantius of Camerino * May 18 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)

Baltic Fleet Day (Russia)
Day of Remembrance of Crimean Tatar genocide (Ukraine)
Independence Day (Somaliland) (unrecognized)
International Museum Day
National Speech Pathologist Day (United States)
Mullivaikkal Remembrance Day (Sri Lankan Tamils)
Revival, Unity, and Poetry of Magtymguly Day (Turkmenistan)
Teacher's Day (Syria)
Victory Day (Sri Lanka)
Remembrance Day (Sri Lanka)

Images for kids

A friendly robot for kids.