Events on January 18 44
Year 474
Seven-year-old Leo II succeeds his maternal grandfather Leo I as Byzantine emperor. He dies ten months later.
Year 1126
Emperor Huizong abdicates the Chinese throne in favour of his son Emperor Qinzong.
Year 1591
King Naresuan of Siam kills Crown Prince Mingyi Swa of Burma in single combat, for which this date is now observed as Royal Thai Armed Forces day.
Year 1778
James Cook is the first known European to discover the Hawaiian Islands, which he names the "Sandwich Islands".
Year 1788
The first elements of the First Fleet carrying 736 convicts from Great Britain to Australia arrive at Botany Bay.
Year 1871
Wilhelm I of Germany is proclaimed Kaiser Wilhelm in the Hall of Mirrors of the Palace of Versailles (France) towards the end of the Franco-Prussian War. Wilhelm already had the title of German Emperor since the constitution of 1 January 1871, but he had hesitated to accept the title.
Year 1884
Dr. William Price attempts to cremate the body of his infant son, Jesus Christ Price, setting a legal precedent for cremation in the United Kingdom.
Year 1911
Eugene B. Ely lands on the deck of the USS Pennsylvania stationed in San Francisco Bay, the first time an aircraft landed on a ship.
Year 1913
First Balkan War: A Greek flotilla defeats the Ottoman Navy in the Naval Battle of Lemnos, securing the islands of the Northern Aegean Sea for Greece.
Year 1915
Japan issues the "Twenty-One Demands" to the Republic of China in a bid to increase its power in East Asia.
Year 1941
World War II: British troops launch a general counter-offensive against Italian East Africa.
Year 1958
Willie O'Ree, the first African Canadian National Hockey League player, makes his NHL debut with the Boston Bruins.
Year 1960
Capital Airlines Flight 20 crashes into a farm in Charles City County, Virginia, killing all 50 aboard, the third fatal Capital Airlines crash in as many years.
Year 1967
Albert DeSalvo, the "Boston Strangler", is convicted of numerous crimes and is sentenced to life imprisonment.
Year 1969
United Airlines Flight 266 crashes into Santa Monica Bay killing all 32 passengers and six crew members.
Year 1974
A Disengagement of Forces agreement is signed between the Israeli and Egyptian governments, ending conflict on the Egyptian front of the Yom Kippur War.
Year 1977
Scientists identify a previously unknown bacterium as the cause of the mysterious Legionnaires' disease.
Year 1977
SFR Yugoslavia's Prime minister, Džemal Bijedić, his wife and six others are killed in a plane crash in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Year 1978
The European Court of Human Rights finds the United Kingdom's government guilty of mistreating prisoners in Northern Ireland, but not guilty of torture.
Year 1981
Phil Smith and Phil Mayfield parachute off a Houston skyscraper, becoming the first two people to BASE jump from objects in all four categories: buildings, antennae, spans (bridges), and earth (cliffs).
Year 1983
The International Olympic Committee restores Jim Thorpe's Olympic medals to his family.
Year 1990
Washington, D.C. Mayor Marion Barry is arrested for drug possession in an FBI sting.
Year 1993
Martin Luther King, Jr. Day is officially observed for the first time in all 50 states.
Year 2003
A bushfire kills four people and destroys more than 500 homes in Canberra, Australia.
Year 2005
The Airbus A380, the world's largest commercial jet, is unveiled at a ceremony in Toulouse, France
Year 2007
The strongest storm in the United Kingdom in 17 years kills 14 people and Germany sees the worst storm since 1999 with 13 deaths. Hurricane Kyrill causes at least 44 deaths across 20 countries in Western Europe.
Year 2009
Gaza War: Hamas announces they will accept Israel Defense Forces offer of a ceasefire, ending the assault.