September 18 in History

The United States Capitol, often called the Capitol or the Capitol Building, is the seat of the United States Congress, the legislative branch of the federal government. It is located on Capitol Hill at the eastern end of the National Mall in Washington, D.C. Although no longer at the geographic center of the national capital, the U.S. Capitol forms the origin point for the street-numbering system of the district as well as its four quadrants. Like the principal buildings of the executive and judicial branches, the Capitol is built in a neoclassical style and has a white exterior.

The First Government Junta of Chile, officially the Provisional Government Junta of the Kingdom in the name of Ferdinand VII, was the organization established to rule post-colonial Chile following the deposition and imprisonment of King Ferdinand VII of Spain by Napoleon Bonaparte. It was the earliest step in the Chilean struggle for independence, and the anniversary of its establishment is celebrated as the national day of Chile.

Tiffany & Co. is an American luxury jewelry and specialty design house owned by the French conglomerate LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton, and headquartered on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan. Tiffany is known for its luxury goods, particularly its sterling silver and diamond jewelry. These goods are sold at Tiffany stores, online, and through corporate merchandising. Its name and branding are licensed to Coty for fragrances and to the Franco-Italian company EssilorLuxottica for eyewear.

The Fugitive Slave Act or Fugitive Slave Law was a statute passed by the 31st United States Congress on September 18, 1850, as part of the Compromise of 1850 between Southern interests in slavery and Northern Free-Soilers.

The Second Opium War, also known as the Second Anglo-Chinese War or Arrow War, was fought between the United Kingdom and France against the Qing dynasty of China between 1856 and 1860. It was the second major conflict in the Opium Wars, which were fought over the right to import opium to China, and resulted in a second defeat for the Qing and the forced legalisation of the opium trade. It caused many Chinese officials to believe that conflicts with the Western powers were no longer traditional wars, but part of a looming national crisis.

The Confederate States of America (CSA), also known as the Confederate States (C.S.), the Confederacy, or the South, was an unrecognized breakaway republic in the Southern United States from 1861 to 1865. It comprised 11 U.S. states that declared secession: South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Texas, Virginia, Arkansas, Tennessee, and North Carolina. These states fought against the United States during the American Civil War.

John Bell Hood was a Confederate general during the American Civil War.

The current Constitution of the State of Maryland, which was ratified by the people of the state on September 18, 1867, forms the basic law for the U.S. state of Maryland. It replaced the short-lived Maryland Constitution of 1864 and is the fourth constitution under which the state has been governed. It was last amended in 2024.

Jay Cooke & Company was a U.S. bank that operated from 1861 to 1873. Headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, with branches in New York City and Washington, D.C., the bank helped underwrite the Union Civil War effort. It was the first "wire" brokerage house, pioneering the use of telegraph messages to confirm securities transactions with clients. The bank became overextended in the building of the Northern Pacific Railway and failed, contributing to the Panic of 1873.

The Pacific Exchange was an American regional stock exchange in California, from 1956 to 2006. Its main exchange floor and building were in San Francisco, California, with a branch building in Los Angeles, California.

Veal Oscar is a culinary creation consisting of sauteed veal cutlets topped with crab meat, and an emulsified butter sauce such as Hollandaise or Béarnaise. Traditionally, Veal Oscar is garnished with two white asparagus spears.

The 1906 Hong Kong typhoon was a tropical cyclone that hit Hong Kong on 18 September 1906. The typhoon caused property damage exceeding a million pounds sterling, affected international trade, and took the lives of around 15,000 people.

The Government of Ireland Act 1914, also known as the Home Rule Act, and before enactment as the Third Home Rule Bill, was an Act passed by the Parliament of the United Kingdom intended to provide home rule for Ireland. It was the third such bill introduced by a Liberal government during a 28-year period in response to agitation for Irish Home Rule.

Frederick Douglass "Fritz" Pollard was an American professional football player and coach. In 1921, he became the first African-American head coach in the National Football League (NFL). Pollard and Bobby Marshall were the first two African-American players in the NFL in 1920. He is also recognized as the first Black quarterback in NFL history, playing the position for the Hammond Pros in 1923. Football pioneer Walter Camp called Pollard "one of the greatest runners these eyes have ever seen."

The Rif War was an armed conflict fought from 1921 to 1926 between Spain and Berber tribes of the mountainous Rif region of northern Morocco.

The Military Government of Santo Domingo was a provisional military government established during the American occupation of the Dominican Republic that lasted from May 15, 1916 to September 18, 1924. The United States aimed to force the Dominicans to repay their large debts to European creditors, whose governments threatened military intervention. On May 13, 1916, Rear Admiral William B. Caperton forced the Dominican Republic's Secretary of War Desiderio Arias, who had seized power from President Juan Isidro Jimenes Pereyra, to leave Santo Domingo by threatening the city with naval bombardment.

CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network and the flagship property of the CBS Entertainment Group division of Paramount Skydance. It is one of Paramount Skydance's three flagship subsidiaries, along with Paramount Pictures and MTV.

The Mukden incident was a false flag event staged by Japanese military personnel as a pretext for the 1931 Japanese invasion of Manchuria. On September 18, 1931, Lieutenant Suemori Kawamoto of the Independent Garrison Unit of the 29th Japanese Infantry Regiment detonated a small quantity of dynamite close to a railway line owned by Japan's South Manchuria Railway near Mukden. The explosion was so weak that it failed to destroy the track, and a train passed over it minutes later. The Imperial Japanese Army accused Chinese dissidents of the act and responded with a full invasion that led to the occupation of Manchuria, in which Japan established its puppet state of Manchukuo five months later.

The Soviet Union, officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until its dissolution in 1991. It was the world's third-most populous country, largest by area, and bordered twelve countries. A diverse multinational state, it was organized as a federal union of national republics, the largest and most populous being the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic. In practice, its government and economy were highly centralized. As a one-party state governed by the Communist Party, it was the flagship communist state. Its capital and largest city was Moscow.

Germany Calling was an English language propaganda radio programme, broadcast by Nazi German radio to audiences in the British Isles and North America during the Second World War. Every broadcast began with the station announcement: "Germany calling! Here are the Reichssender Hamburg, station Bremen". Today, it is best known for its employment of several radio presenters jointly known as Lord Haw-Haw — most notably, William Joyce, who was German radio's most prominent English language speaker and to whom the name gradually came to be exclusively applied.

The history of Jews in Denmark goes back to the 1600s. Although there were very likely Jewish merchants, sailors, and others who entered Denmark during the Middle Ages, no efforts were made to establish a Jewish community. At present, the Jewish community in Denmark comprises about 6,000 persons.

Operation Market Garden was an Allied military operation during the Second World War fought in the German-occupied Netherlands from 17 to 25 September 1944. Its objective was to create a salient spanning 62 miles (100 km) into German territory with a bridgehead over the Nederrijn, creating an Allied invasion route into northern Germany. This was to be achieved by two sub-operations: seizing nine bridges with combined American, British and Polish airborne forces ("Market") followed by British land forces swiftly following over the bridges ("Garden").

Douglas MacArthur was an American general who served as a top commander during World War II and the Korean War, achieving the rank of General of the Army. He served with distinction in World War I; as chief of staff of the United States Army from 1930 to 1935; as Supreme Commander, Southwest Pacific Area, from 1942 to 1945; as Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers overseeing the occupation of Japan from 1945 to 1951; and as head of the United Nations Command in the Korean War from 1950 to 1951. MacArthur was nominated for the Medal of Honor three times, and awarded it for his WWII service in the Philippines. He is one of only five people to hold the rank of General of the Army, and the only person to hold the rank of Field Marshal in the Philippine Army.

The Annexation of Hyderabad was a military operation launched in September 1948 that resulted in the annexation of the princely state of Hyderabad by India, which was dubbed a "police action".

The Korean War was an armed conflict fought on the Korean Peninsula between North Korea and South Korea and their allies. North Korea was supported by China and the Soviet Union, while South Korea was supported by the United Nations Command (UNC) led by the United States.

Juho Kusti Paasikivi was a Finnish politician who served as the president of Finland from 1946 to 1956. Representing the Finnish Party until its dissolution in 1918 and then the National Coalition Party, he previously served as senator, member of parliament, envoy to Stockholm (1936–1939) and Moscow (1940–1941), and Prime Minister of Finland. He also held several other positions of trust, and was an influential figure in Finnish economics and politics for over fifty years.

The Bank of America Corporation is an American multinational investment bank and financial services holding company headquartered at the Bank of America Corporate Center in Charlotte, North Carolina, with investment banking and auxiliary headquarters in Manhattan. The bank was founded by the merger of NationsBank and Bank of America in 1998. It is the second-largest banking institution in the United States and the second-largest bank in the world by market capitalization, both after JPMorgan Chase. Bank of America is one of the Big Four banking institutions of the United States, and one of eight systemically important financial institutions in the United States. It serves about 10 percent of all American bank deposits, in direct competition with JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, and Wells Fargo. Its primary financial services revolve around commercial banking, wealth management, and investment banking. Through mergers, the oldest branch of the Bank of America franchise dates back to 1784, when Massachusetts Bank was chartered, becoming the first federally chartered joint-stock-owned bank in the United States. Another branch of its history goes back to the American-based Bank of Italy, founded by Amadeo Pietro Giannini in 1904, which provided various banking services to Italian immigrants who faced service discrimination at the time. Headquartered in San Francisco, California, Giannini acquired Banca d'America e d'Italia in 1922 and eventually did business as Bank of America.

Dag Hjalmar Agne Carl Hammarskjöld was a Swedish economist and diplomat who served as the second Secretary-General of the United Nations from April 1953 until his death in a plane crash in September 1961. As of 2026, he remains the youngest person to have held the post, having been only 47 years old when he was elected. He was a son of Hjalmar Hammarskjöld, who served as Prime Minister of Sweden from 1914 to 1917.

Aeroflot Flight 213 was a regularly scheduled passenger flight operated by Aeroflot from Chersky Airport to Keperveyem Airport. On 18 September 1962, the Ilyushin Il-14 operating this flight crashed shortly after takeoff. All 27 passengers and five crew members were killed.

The Addams Family is an American Gothic sitcom based on Charles Addams's New Yorker cartoons. With an ensemble cast, the 30-minute television series took the unnamed characters in the single-panel gag cartoons and gave them names, backstories, and a household setting. The series was spearheaded by David Levy, who created and developed it with Donald Saltzman in cooperation with cartoonist Addams, who gave each character a name and description. Shot in black-and-white, The Addams Family aired for two seasons on ABC from September 18, 1964, to April 8, 1966, for a total of 64 episodes — its opening theme was composed and sung by Vic Mizzy.

The Bahamas, officially the Commonwealth of the Bahamas, is an archipelagic country located within the Lucayan Archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean. The country comprises more than 3,000 islands, cays and islets in the Atlantic Ocean, located north of Cuba and north-west of the island of Hispaniola and the Turks and Caicos Islands, southeast of the US state of Florida and east of the Florida Keys. The capital and largest city is Nassau on the island of New Providence. The Royal Bahamas Defence Force describes the Bahamas' territory as encompassing 470,000 km2 (180,000 sq mi) of ocean space.

Voyager 1 is a space probe launched by NASA on September 5, 1977, as part of the Voyager program, to study the outer Solar System and the interstellar space beyond the Sun's heliosphere. It was launched 16 days after its twin, Voyager 2. It communicates through the NASA Deep Space Network (DSN) to receive routine commands and to transmit data to Earth. Real-time distance and velocity data are provided by NASA and JPL. At a distance of 172.59 AU as of March 2026, it is the most distant human-made object from Earth. Voyager 1 is also projected to reach a distance of one light day from Earth in November 2026.

The National Assembly is the lower house of the bicameral French Parliament under the Fifth Republic, the upper house being the Senate. The National Assembly's legislators are known as députés or deputies.

The 8888 Uprising, also known as the 1988 Uprising, was a series of nationwide protests, marches, and riots in Burma that peaked in August 1988. Key events occurred on 8 August 1988 and therefore it is commonly known as the "8888 Uprising". The protests began as a student movement and were organised largely by university students at the Rangoon Arts and Sciences University and the Rangoon Institute of Technology.

The Magna Charta Universitatum is a two-page document produced by the University of Bologna and the European Rectors' Conference in 1988 in Bologna, Italy. It identifies key principles that are asserted to be essential for the operation of universities, including academic freedom and institutional autonomy. Initially signed by the rectors of 388 higher education institutions, the number of signatories has subsequently grown to about 1000, with the aim to recognize and celebrate university traditions and to encourage cooperation among European universities. The document is intended to serve as a universal inspiration and is as such open to universities throughout the world and not only those located in Europe.

Liechtenstein, officially the Principality of Liechtenstein, is a doubly landlocked country in the Central European Alps. It is located between Austria to the east and north-east and Switzerland to the north-west, west and south.

Robert Edward Turner III is an American entrepreneur, television producer, media proprietor, and philanthropist. He founded the Cable News Network (CNN), the first 24-hour cable news channel. In addition, he founded WTBS, which pioneered the superstation concept in cable television, as well as television network TNT.

Anthrax is an infection caused by the bacterium Bacillus anthracis or Bacillus cereus biovar anthracis. Infection typically occurs by contact with the skin, inhalation, or intestinal absorption. Symptom onset occurs between one day and two months after the infection is contracted. The skin form presents with a small blister with surrounding swelling that often turns into a painless ulcer with a black center. The inhalation form presents with fever, chest pain, and shortness of breath. The intestinal form presents with diarrhea, abdominal pains, nausea, and vomiting.

The Saffron Revolution was a series of economic and political protests and demonstrations that took place during August, September and October 2007 in Myanmar. The protests were triggered by the decision of the national military government to remove subsidies on the sales prices of fuel. The national government is the only supplier of fuels and the removal of the price subsidy immediately caused diesel and petrol prices to increase by 66–100% and the price of compressed natural gas for buses to increase 500% in less than a week.

Philippe Croizon is a French athlete and the first quadruple amputee to swim across the English Channel and to run the Rally Dakar.

A referendum on Scottish independence from the United Kingdom was held in Scotland on 18 September 2014. The referendum question was "Should Scotland be an independent country?", which voters answered with "Yes" or "No". The "No" side won with 2,001,926 (55.3%) voting against independence and 1,617,989 (44.7%) voting in favour. The turnout of 84.6% was the highest recorded for an election or referendum in the United Kingdom since the January 1910 general election, which was held before the introduction of universal suffrage.

The 2016 Uri attack was carried out on 18 September 2016 by four militants from Jaish-e-Mohammed against an Indian Army brigade headquarters near the town of Uri in the Indian Jammu and Kashmir. 19 Indian soldiers were killed in the attack, and 19–30 others were injured. It was reported by the BBC as having been "the deadliest attack on security forces in Kashmir in two decades".