This is a list of selected April 18 anniversaries that appear in the "On this day" section of the Main Page. To suggest a new item, in most cases, you can be bold and edit this page. Before doing so, please review the selected anniversaries guidelines. If your suggestion is potentially controversial or relates to a day currently or soon to appear on the Main Page, post it on the talk page instead.
Please note:
- Events listed on the Main Page are selected based on article quality and to provide a diverse range of topics, rather than solely on the importance or significance of the events.
- Only four or five events are featured each day; therefore, not all important or significant events can be included.
- An event is generally excluded if it is already the subject of the scheduled featured article or picture of the day.
To report an error in content currently on the Main Page, see Wikipedia:Main Page/Errors. If a listed event is inaccurate, please first seek consensus and update the corresponding article before making changes here.
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Images
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Damage from the 1906 San Francisco earthquake
Damage from the 1906 San Francisco earthquake
St. Peter's Basilica in 2004
Saint Peter's Basilica by Giovanni Paolo Pannini
A B-25 launching from the USS Hornet during Col. Doolittle's Raid
Ezra Pound
Roland Garros
Robert Mugabe
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Ineligible
| Blurb | Reason |
|---|---|
| ; Independence Day in Zimbabwe (1980) | refimprove sections |
| 1506 – Construction of the current St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City, to replace the old basilica built in the 4th century, began. | refimprove section |
| 1738 – By royal decree, King Philip V established the Real Academia de la Historia, tasked with studying the history of Spain. | Undue weight on controversies, lack of sourcing |
| 1847 – Mexican–American War: Winfield Scott's United States troops out-flanked and drove Santa Anna's larger Mexican army from a strong defensive position in the Battle of Cerro Gordo. | self-contradictory |
| 1906 – A major earthquake and resulting fires devastated San Francisco, killing at least 3,000 people and leaving more than half of the city's population homeless. | POTD for 2022 |
| 1923 – The New York Yankees of Major League Baseball began playing their games in the newly constructed Yankee Stadium. | refimprove section |
| 1942 – World War II: Sixteen B-25 Mitchell bombers from the aircraft carrier USS Hornet carried out the Doolittle Raid, the first Allied attack on the Japanese home islands. | refimprove section |
| 1947 – In one of the largest non-nuclear single explosive detonations in history, the Royal Navy set off 4,000 tonnes of surplus ammunition in an unsuccessful attempt to destroy the island of Heligoland, Germany. | refimprove, self-contradictory |
| 1955 – Representatives from 29 African and Asian countries met in the inaugural Bandung Conference in Indonesia to promote economic and cultural cooperation. | unsourced material, weasel words in WP voice |
| 1961 – The Soviet Pluton planetary radar performed the first successful radiolocation of the planet Venus. | outdated |
| 1983 – A suicide bomber destroyed the United States Embassy in Beirut, Lebanon, killing over 60 people with a car bomb. | needs more footnotes |
| 1988 – Iran–Iraq War: U.S. naval forces attacked Iranian forces in retaliation for damage to the American frigate USS Samuel B. Roberts due to mines in the Persian Gulf. | refimprove section |
| Lucrezia Borgia |b|1480| | refimprove section |
Eligible
- 1689 – Glorious Revolution: Provincial militia and citizens in Boston revolted, arresting officials of the Dominion of New England.
- 1775 – American Revolutionary War: Colonists Paul Revere and William Dawes, later joined by Samuel Prescott, began a midnight ride to warn residents of Lexington and Concord, Massachusetts, about the impending arrival of British troops.
- 1864 – American Civil War: African-American Union soldiers were massacred and mutilated during and after the Battle of Poison Spring.
- 1915 – World War I: Hit by ground fire, French aviation pioneer Roland Garros (pictured) landed his aircraft behind enemy lines and was taken prisoner by German forces.
- 1938 – Superman, created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster of DC Comics, made his debut in Action Comics #1, the first true superhero comic book.
- 1949 – The Republic of Ireland Act 1948 came into force, describing Ireland as a republic and ending its membership in the Commonwealth of Nations.
- 1980 – Robert Mugabe became the first prime minister of Zimbabwe, beginning a 37-year period in power.
- 1996 – Operation Grapes of Wrath: Israeli forces shelled Qana, Lebanon, killing at least 100 civilians and injuring more than 110 others at a United Nations compound.
- 2007 – A ladle spilled 30 tonnes (33 tons) of molten steel in a factory in Liaoning, China, killing 32 workers.
- 2019 – The United States Department of Justice released a redacted version of the Mueller report about the investigation of Russian influence on the U.S. presidential election to Congress and the public.
- Born/died: | Stephen Lekapenos |d|963| Gratian |b|359| Ippolita Maria Sforza |b|1445| Polydore Vergil |d|1555| John Leland |d|1552| Paul-Émile Lecoq de Boisbaudran |b|1838| Ludwig Levy |b|1854| Clara Elsene Peck |b|1883| Bertha Isaacs |b|1900| Pigmeat Markham |b|1904| Martha Ripley |d|1912| Jean Guillou |b|1930| Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney |d|1942| Robert Christgau |b|1942| Albert Einstein |d|1955| Universo 2000 |b|1963| David Tennant |b|1971| Thepchaiya Un-Nooh |b|1985| Hugh B. Cott |d|1987| Donny van de Beek |b|1997|
Notes
- Battles of Lexington and Concord appears on April 19; the midnight ride and the 1689 revolt should not appear in the same year
Ezra Pound
- 1881 – The painted ceilings of the Natural History Museum, London, were unveiled when the building opened its doors to the public.
- 1946 – The final session of the League of Nations concluded in Geneva, with delegates agreeing to transfer much of its assets to the United Nations.
- 1958 – Controversial American poet Ezra Pound (pictured) was released from St. Elizabeths Hospital, a psychiatric hospital in Washington, D.C., in which he had been incarcerated for twelve years.
- 2023 – Fox News agreed to pay Dominion Voting Systems a $787 million settlement over defamation claims related to the 2020 U.S. presidential election.
- Theobald of Bec (d. 1161)
- Waxy (d. 1818)
- Morgan Hwang (b. 1941)
- Dzsenifer Marozsán (b. 1992)