April 18

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.
 * 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.
 * 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 advancement by sea begins; Paul Revere and other riders warn the countryside of the troop movements.
 * 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.
 * 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 Guatemala earthquake shakes Guatemala with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe), killing between 800 and 2,000.
 * 1906 – The 7.9 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 RMS Carpathia brings 705 survivors from the RMS Titanic 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.
 * 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.
 * 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.
 * 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.
 * 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.
 * 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.
 * 1949 – The Republic of Ireland Act comes into force, declaring Éire to be a republic and severing Ireland "association" with the Commonwealth of Nations.
 * 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.
 * 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.
 * 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.
 * 2018 – King Mswati III of Swaziland announces that his country's name will change to Eswatini.
 * 2018  – Anti-government protests start in Nicaragua.
 * 2019 – A redacted version of the Mueller report is released to the United States Congress and the public.

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)

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)
 * 1884 – Jaan Anvelt, Estonian educator and politician (d. 1937)
 * 1889 – Jessie Street, Australian activist (d. 1970)
 * 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)

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
 * 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
 * 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
 * 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
 * 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
 * 1954 – Robert Greenberg, American pianist and composer
 * 1956 – Eric Roberts, American actor
 * 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
 * 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
 * 1963 – Eric McCormack, Canadian-American actor
 * 1963  – Conan O'Brien, American television host, comedian, and podcaster
 * 1964 – Niall Ferguson, Scottish historian and academic
 * 1967 – Maria Bello, American actress
 * 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
 * 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
 * 1973  – Haile Gebrselassie, Ethiopian runner
 * 1974 – Edgar Wright, English filmmaker
 * 1976 – Melissa Joan Hart, American actress
 * 1979 – Kourtney Kardashian, American television personality
 * 1981 – Audrey Tang, Taiwanese computer scientist and academic
 * 1983 – Miguel Cabrera, Venezuelan baseball player
 * 1984 – America Ferrera, American actress
 * 1985 – Łukasz Fabiański, Polish footballer
 * 1986 – Tina Bru, Norwegian politician
 * 1988 – Vanessa Kirby, English actress
 * 1989 – Jessica Jung, South Korean-American singer, songwriter, actress, author, fashion designer and businesswoman
 * 1989  – Alia Shawkat, American actress
 * 1990 – Wojciech Szczęsny, Polish footballer
 * 1992 – Chloe Bennet, American actress
 * 1993 – Mika Zibanejad, Swedish ice hockey player
 * 1994 – Aminé, American singer-songwriter
 * 1995 – Divock Origi, Belgian footballer
 * 1996 – Ski Mask the Slump God, American rapper
 * 2001 – PinkPantheress, English singer, songwriter, and record producer

Pre-1600

 * 727 – Agallianos Kontoskeles, Byzantine commander and rebel leader
 * 850 – Perfectus, Spanish monk and martyr
 * 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
 * 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
 * 1552 – John Leland, English poet and historian (b. 1502)
 * 1555 – Polydore Vergil, English historian (b. 1470)
 * 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)

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)
 * 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)
 * 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)
 * 1917 – Vladimir Serbsky, Russian psychiatrist and academic (b. 1858)
 * 1923 – Savina Petrilli, Italian religious leader (b. 1851)
 * 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)
 * 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)
 * 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)
 * 2022 – Harrison Birtwistle, British composer (b. 1934)
 * 2024 – Crandell Addington, American Hall of Fame poker player. (death announced on this date) (b. 1938)
 * 2024 – Dickey Betts, American guitarist, singer, songwriter and composer (b. 1943)
 * 2024 – Mandisa, American gospel singer (b. 1976)

Holidays and observances

 * Christian feast day:
 * Apollonius the Apologist
 * Corebus
 * Cyril VI of Constantinople (Eastern Orthodox Church)
 * Eleutherius and Antia
 * Galdino della Sala
 * Molaise of Leighlin
 * Perfectus
 * April 18 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
 * 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