Events on October 18 40
Year 320
Pappus of Alexandria, Greek philosopher, observes an eclipse of the Sun and writes a commentary on The Great Astronomer (Almagest).
Year 614
King Chlothar II promulgates the Edict of Paris (Edictum Chlotacharii), a sort of Frankish Magna Carta that defend the rights of the Frankish nobles while it excludes Jews from all civil employment in the Frankish Kingdom.
Year 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.
Year 1356
Basel earthquake, the most significant historic seismological event north of the Alps, destroys the town of Basel, Switzerland.
Year 1540
Spanish conquistador Hernando de Soto's forces destroy the fortified town of Mabila in present-day Alabama, killing Tuskaloosa.
Year 1561
In Japan the fourth Battle of Kawanakajima was fought between the forces of Uesugi Kenshin and Takeda Shingen; resulting in a draw.
Year 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.
Year 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.
Year 1748
Signing of the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle ends the War of the Austrian Succession.
Year 1851
Herman Melville's Moby-Dick is first published as The Whale by Richard Bentley of London.
Year 1860
The Second Opium War finally ends at the Convention of Peking with the ratification of the Treaty of Tientsin, an unequal treaty.
Year 1867
United States takes possession of Alaska after purchasing it from Russia for $7.2 million. Celebrated annually in the state as Alaska Day.
Year 1912
First Balkan War: King Peter I of Serbia issues a declaration "To the Serbian People", as his country joins the war.
Year 1921
The Crimean Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic is formed as part of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic.
Year 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.
Year 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.
Year 1944
World War II: Soviet Union begins the liberation of Czechoslovakia from Nazi Germany.
Year 1944
World War II: The state funeral of Field Marshal Erwin Rommel takes place in Ulm, Germany.
Year 1945
The USSR's nuclear program receives plans for the United States plutonium bomb from Klaus Fuchs at the Los Alamos National Laboratory.
Year 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.
Year 1945
Argentine military officer and politician Juan Perón marries actress Eva Duarte.
Year 1951
The Studio for Electronic Music was established at the West German Broadcasting facility in Cologne, Germany, making the first modern music studio.
Year 1963
Félicette, a black and white female Parisian stray cat becomes the first cat launched into space.
Year 1967
The Soviet probe Venera 4 reaches Venus and becomes the first spacecraft to measure the atmosphere of another planet.
Year 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.
Year 1979
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) begins allowing people to have home satellite earth stations without a federal government license.
Year 1991
The Supreme Council of Azerbaijan adopts a declaration of independence from the Soviet Union.
Year 2003
Bolivian gas conflict: Bolivian President Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada, is forced to resign and leave Bolivia.
Year 2007
Karachi bombing: A suicide attack on a motorcade carrying former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto kills 139 and wounds 450 more. Bhutto herself was uninjured.