Did you know
In 1912, First Balkan War: King Peter I of Serbia issues a declaration "To the Serbian People", as his country joins the war. This featured entry focuses on the immediate decision and its direct historical impact.
October 18 in History
1912 — First Balkan War: King Peter I of Serbia issues a declaration "To the Serbian People", as his country joins the war
October 18 spans 50 recorded events across recorded history, from 33 to 2019. Below is a curated digest of the most significant moments tied to this date.
By thisDay.info Editorial Team · — Wikipedia
Historical Events
50 events
33 – 2019
Today in history
More major events on October 18
The featured story and these ranked highlights form a quick summary. Every recorded event remains available in the chronology below.
- 1991 The Supreme Council of Azerbaijan adopts a declaration of independence from the Soviet Union. Source
- 1963 Félicette, a black and white female Parisian stray cat, becomes the first cat launched into space. Source
- 1860 The Second Opium War finally ends at the Convention of Peking with the ratification of the Treaty of Tientsin, an unequal treaty. Source
Did you know
The First Balkan War lasted from October 1912 to May 1913 and involved actions of the Balkan League against the Ottoman Empire. This helps explain why the event mattered beyond the initial announcement.
Did you know
The Balkan states' combined armies overcame the initially numerically inferior and strategically disadvantaged Ottoman armies, achieving rapid success. This clarifies the institutional and public response around the event.
Did you know
In 1912, First Balkan War: King Peter I of Serbia issues a declaration "To the Serbian People", as his country joins the war had consequences that extended beyond the first headline. The key context is the institutions involved, the policy shift, and how the public response evolved afterward.
Did you know
In 1912, First Balkan War: King Peter I of Serbia issues a declaration "To the Serbian People", as his country joins the war had consequences that extended beyond the first headline. The key context is the institutions involved, the policy shift, and how the public response evolved afterward.
33
Heartbroken by the deaths of her sons Nero and Drusus, and banished to the island of Pandateria by Tiberius, Agrippina the Elder dies of self-inflicted starvation.
Fourth decade of the first century AD
320
Pappus of Alexandria, Greek philosopher, observes an eclipse of the Sun and writes a commentary on The Great Astronomer (Almagest).
4th-century Greek mathematician (c. 290–350)
614
King Chlothar II promulgates the Edict of Paris (Edictum Chlotacharii), a sort of Frankish Magna Carta that defends the rights of the Frankish nobles while it excludes Jews from all civil employment in the Frankish Kingdom.
Frankish king (584–629)
629
Dagobert I is crowned King of the Franks.
King of the Franks in Austrasia, Neustria, and Burgundy
1009
The Church of the Holy Sepulchre, a Christian church in Jerusalem, is completely destroyed by the Fatimid caliph Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah, who hacks the Church's foundations down to bedrock.
Church in Jerusalem
1016
The Danes defeat the English in the Battle of Assandun.
Ethnic group native to Denmark
1081
The Normans defeat the Byzantine Empire in the Battle of Dyrrhachium.
European ethnic group
1166
Michael the Syrian, one of the most important Syriac historians, is consecrated as Syriac Orthodox Patriarch at the Mor Bar Sauma Monastery.
79th patriarch and 12th-century saint & chronicler of the Syriac Orthodox Church
1281
Pope Martin IV excommunicates King Peter III of Aragon for usurping the crown of Sicily (a sentence renewed on 7 May and 18 November 1282).
Head of the Catholic Church from 1281 to 1285
1356
Basel earthquake, the most significant historic seismological event north of the Alps, destroys the town of Basel, Switzerland.
6.0–7.1 MW earthquake in Switzerland
1540
Spanish conquistador Hernando de Soto's forces destroy the fortified town of Mabila in present-day Alabama, killing Tuskaloosa.
Spanish explorer and conquistador (c.1479–1542)
1561
In Japan the fourth Battle of Kawanakajima is fought between the forces of Uesugi Kenshin and Takeda Shingen, resulting in a draw.
Country in East Asia
1565
Ships belonging to the Matsura clan of Japan fail to capture the Portuguese trading carrack in the Battle of Fukuda Bay, the first recorded naval battle between Japan and the West.
Japanese samurai family
1597
King Philip II of Spain sends his third and final armada against England, but it ends in failure due to storms.
The remaining ships are captured or sunk by the English.
1599
Michael the Brave, Prince of Wallachia, defeats the Army of Andrew Báthory in the Battle of Șelimbăr, leading to the first recorded unification of the Romanian people.
16th-century ruler of Wallachia, Moldavia, and Transylvania
1630
Frendraught Castle in Scotland, the home of James Crichton of Frendraught, burns down.
Mansion in Aberdeenshire, Scotland
1648
Boston shoemakers form the first American labor organization.
Organisation of workers with common goals
1748
Signing of the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle ends the War of the Austrian Succession.
Treaty ending the War of the Austrian Succession
1775
African-American poet Phillis Wheatley is freed from slavery.
Ethnic and cultural group in the United States
1775
American Revolutionary War: The Burning of Falmouth (now Portland, Maine).
1775–1783 conflict in North America
1779
American Revolutionary War: The Franco-American Siege of Savannah is lifted.
1779 siege of the American Revolutionary War
1851
Herman Melville's Moby-Dick is first published as The Whale by Richard Bentley of London.
American writer and poet (1819–1891)
1860
The Second Opium War finally ends at the Convention of Peking with the ratification of the Treaty of Tientsin, an unequal treaty.
1856–1860 war between British–French forces and China
1867
United States takes possession of Alaska after purchasing it from Russia for $7.2 million.
Celebrated annually in the state as Alaska Day.
1887
Johannes Brahms conducts the premiere of his Double Concerto, composed for violinist Joseph Joachim and cellist Robert Hausmann.
German composer and pianist (1833–1897)
1898
The United States takes possession of Puerto Rico from Spain.
U.S. territory in the Caribbean
1900
Count Bernhard von Bülow becomes chancellor of Germany.
Chancellor of the German Empire from 1900 to 1909
1914
The Schoenstatt Apostolic Movement is founded in Germany.
Roman Catholic Marian movement based in Germany
1921
The Crimean Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic is formed as part of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic.
History of Crimea (1921–1991)
1922
The British Broadcasting Company (later Corporation) is founded by a consortium, to establish a nationwide network of radio transmitters to provide a national broadcasting service.
British commercial radio broadcaster; predecessor to the BBC (1922–1926)
1929
The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council overrules the Supreme Court of Canada in Edwards v.
Canada when it declares that women are considered "Persons" under Canadian law.
1944
World War II: Soviet Union begins the liberation of Czechoslovakia from Nazi Germany.
Global conflict (1939–1945)
1944
World War II: The state funeral of Field Marshal Erwin Rommel takes place in Ulm, Germany.
German field marshal (1891–1944)
1945
The USSR's nuclear program receives plans for the United States plutonium bomb from Klaus Fuchs at the Los Alamos National Laboratory.
Country in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991
1945
A group of the Venezuelan Armed Forces, led by Mario Vargas, Marcos Pérez Jiménez and Carlos Delgado Chalbaud, stages a coup d'état against president Isaías Medina Angarita, who is overthrown by the end of the day.
Country in South America
1945
Argentine military officer and politician Juan Perón marries actress Eva Duarte.
Country in South America
1954
Texas Instruments announces the Regency TR-1, the first mass-produced transistor radio.
1954 commercial transistor radio
1963
Félicette, a black and white female Parisian stray cat, becomes the first cat launched into space.
Only cat launched into space
1967
The Soviet probe Venera 4 reaches Venus and becomes the first spacecraft to measure the atmosphere of another planet.
Country in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991
1977
German Autumn: A set of events revolving around the kidnapping of Hanns Martin Schleyer and the hijacking of a Lufthansa flight by the Red Army Faction (RAF) comes to an end when Schleyer is murdered and various RAF members allegedly commit suicide.
1977 West German murders, hostage crisis
1978
Based on the world's first children's art museum, the Henrik Igityan National Centre for Aesthetics opened in Yerevan.
Center of aesthetic education for children
1979
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) begins allowing people to have home satellite earth stations without a federal government license.
U.S. government agency
1989
The Space Shuttle Atlantis launches on STS-34 to deploy the Jupiter-bound Galileo space probe.
Space Shuttle orbiter (1985–2011)
1991
The Supreme Council of Azerbaijan adopts a declaration of independence from the Soviet Union.
Country in Eastern Europe and West Asia
1992
Merpati Nustantara Airlines Flight 5601 crashes into Mount Papandayan near the town of Garut in West Java, Indonesia, killing 31.
1992 aviation accident in Indonesia
2003
Bolivian gas conflict: Bolivian President Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada is forced to resign and leave Bolivia.
Social confrontation in Bolivia reaching its peak in 2003
2007
Karachi bombing: A suicide attack on a motorcade carrying former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto kills 139 and wounds 450 more.
Bhutto herself is uninjured.
2019
NASA Astronauts Jessica Meir and Christina Koch take part in the first all-female spacewalk when they venture out of the International Space Station to replace a power controller.
Division of NASA which trains astronauts
2019
Riots in Chile's capital Santiago escalate into open battles, with attacks reported at nearly all of the city's 164 Metro stations.
President Sebastián Piñera later announces a 15-day state of emergency in the capital.