March 18 is the 77th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (78th in leap years). There are 288 days remaining.
- 37 - The Roman Senate annuls Tiberius' will and proclaims Caligula emperor.
- 1229 - Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor declares himself King of Jerusalem.
- 1438 - Albert II of Habsburg becomes King of Germany
- 1673 - Lord Berkeley[?] sells his part of New Jersey to the Quakers.
- 1766 - American Revolution: The British Parliament repeals the Stamp Act, which was very unpopular in the British colonies.
- 1850 - American Express[?] is founded by Henry Wells[?] & William Fargo[?].
- 1865 - American Civil War: The Congress of the Confederate States of America adjourns for the last time
- 1874 - Hawaii signs a treaty with the United States granting exclusive trading rights.
- 1909 - Einar Dessau[?] uses a short-wave radio[?] transmitter becoming the first to broadcast as a ham radio operator.
- 1913 - George I of Greece is assassinated.
- 1915 - World War I: British attack on the Dardanelles fails.
- 1921 - The second Peace of Riga[?] expands Poland's territory.
- 1922 - In India, Mohandas Gandhi is sentenced to six years in prison for civil disobedience. He would serve only 2 years.
- 1937 - A natural gas explosion at a school in New London, Texas kills 400 (most are children).
- 1938 - Mexico nationalizes all foreign-owned oil properties within its borders.
- 1940 - World War II: Axis powers - Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini meet at Brenner Pass in the Alps and agree to form an alliance against France and the United Kingdom.
- 1944 - World War II: Nazi forces occupy Hungary.
- 1945 - World War II: 1,250 American bombers attack Berlin.
- 1953 - An earthquake hits western Turkey killing 250.
- 1959 - American President Dwight D. Eisenhower signs bill allowing for Hawaiian statehood.
- 1962 - France and Algeria sign an agreement ending the Algerian War.
- 1965 - Cosmonaut Aleksei Leonov becomes the first person to walk in space from spacecraft Voskhod 2.
- 1968 - Gold standard: The United States Congress repeals the requirement for a gold reserve to back US currency.
- 1970 - Lon Nol ousts Prince Norodom Sihanouk of Cambodia
- 1971 - A landslide at Chungar[?], Peru crashes into Lake Yanahuani[?] killing 200.
- 1974 - Oil embargo[?]: Most OPEC nations end a five-month oil embargo against the United States, Europe and Japan.
- 1980 - In Russia, a Vostok rocket explodes on its launch pad during a fueling operation killing 50.
- 1989 - In Egypt, a 4,400-year-old mummy is found in the Pyramid of Cheops[?].
- 1990 - 12 paintings, collectively worth $100 million, are stolen by two thieves posing as police officers from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum[?] in Boston, Massachusetts. This is the largest art theft in US history and the paintings (as of 2003) have not been recovered.
- 1992 - Microsoft ships Windows 3.1
- 1997 - The tail of a Russian An-24[?] charter plane breaks off while en-route to Turkey causing the plane to crash killing all 50 on board and later the grounding of all An-24s.
- 1782 - John Calhoun, Vice President of the United States (+ 1850)
- 1837 - Grover Cleveland, President of the United States (+ 1908)
- 1844 - Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, composer (+ 1908)
- 1858 - Rudolf Diesel, inventor of the compression ignition engine[?] (+ 1913)
- 1869 - Neville Chamberlain, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (+ 1940)
- 1877 - Edgar Cayce, psychic (+ 1945)
- 1886 - Edward Everett Horton, actor (+ 1970)
- 1903 - O. E. Plauen[?], illustrator and cartoonist (+ 1944)
- 1905 - Robert Donat, actor (+ 1958)
- 1905 - Thomas Townsend Brown, scientist (+ 1985)
- 1922 - Egon Bahr[?], politician
- 1926 - Peter Graves[?], actor
- 1927 - George Plimpton, writer
- 1932 - John Updike, author
- 1936 - Frederik Willem de Klerk, South African politician
- 1938 - Charley Pride[?], country musician
- 1941 - Wilson Pickett, singer
- 1950 - Brad Dourif[?], actor
- 1959 - Luc Besson, producer, writer, director
- 1963 - Vanessa Williams, actress, singer, Miss America
- 1964 - Irene Cara[?], actress, singer
- 1964 - Bonnie Blair[?], Olympic gold medalist in speed skating
- 1970 - Queen Latifah, singer, actress
See Also: March 17 -
March 19 -
February 18 -
April 18 --
listing of all days
January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December