March 18

March 18 in recent years

2024 (Monday)

2023 (Saturday)

2022 (Friday)

2021 (Thursday)

2020 (Wednesday)

2019 (Monday)

2018 (Sunday)

2017 (Saturday)

2016 (Friday)

2015 (Wednesday)

March 18 is the 77th day of the year (78th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar; 288 days remain until the end of the year.

Events

• 1068 – An earthquake in the Levant and the Arabian Peninsula, leaves up to 20,000 dead.
• 1229 – Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor, declares himself King of Jerusalem in the Sixth Crusade.
• 1241 – First Mongol invasion of Poland: Mongols overwhelm Polish armies in Kraków in the Battle of Chmielnik and plunder the city.
• 1314 – Jacques de Molay, the 23rd and final Grand Master of the Knights Templar, is burned at the stake.
• 1438 – Albert II of Habsburg becomes Holy Roman Emperor.
• 1608 – Susenyos is formally crowned Emperor of Ethiopia.
• 1644 – The Third Anglo-Powhatan War begins in the Colony of Virginia.
• 1741 – New York governor George Clarke's complex at Fort George is burned in an arson attack, starting the New York Conspiracy of 1741.
• 1766 – American Revolution: The British Parliament repeals the Stamp Act.
• 1793 – The first modern republic in Germany, the Republic of Mainz, is declared by Andreas Joseph Hofmann.
• 1793 – Flanders Campaign of the French Revolution, Battle of Neerwinden.
• 1834 – Six farm labourers from Tolpuddle, Dorset, England are sentenced to be transported to Australia for forming a trade union.
• 1848 – March Revolution: In Berlin there is a struggle between citizens and military, costing about 300 lives.
• 1850 – American Express is founded by Henry Wells and William Fargo.
• 1865 – American Civil War: The Congress of the Confederate States adjourns for the last time.
• 1871 – Declaration of the Paris Commune; President of the French Republic, Adolphe Thiers, orders the evacuation of Paris.
• 1874 – Hawaii signs a treaty with the United States granting exclusive trade rights.
• 1892 – Former Governor General Lord Stanley pledges to donate a silver challenge cup as an award for the best hockey team in Canada; it was later named after him as the Stanley Cup.
• 1900 – AFC Ajax Amsterdam, The Netherlands's biggest and most successful football club, was founded.
• 1902 – Macario Sakay issues Presidential Order No. 1 of his Tagalog Republic.
• 1913 – King George I of Greece is assassinated in the recently liberated city of Thessaloniki.
• 1915 – World War I: During the Battle of Gallipoli, three battleships are sunk during a failed British and French naval attack on the Dardanelles.
• 1921 – The second Peace of Riga is signed between Poland and the Soviet Union.
• 1921 – The Kronstadt rebellion is suppressed by the Red Army.
• 1922 – In India, Mohandas Gandhi is sentenced to six years in prison for civil disobedience, of which he serves only two.
• 1925 – The Tri-State Tornado hits the Midwestern states of Missouri, Illinois, and Indiana, killing 695 people.
• 1937 – The New London School explosion in New London, Texas, kills 300 people, mostly children.
• 1937 – Spanish Civil War: Spanish Republican forces defeat the Italians at the Battle of Guadalajara.
• 1938 – Mexico creates Pemex by expropriating all foreign-owned oil reserves and facilities.
• 1940 – World War II: Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini meet at the Brenner Pass in the Alps and agree to form an alliance against France and the United Kingdom.
• 1942 – The War Relocation Authority is established in the United States to take Japanese Americans into custody.
• 1944 – Mount Vesuvius in Italy erupts, killing 26 people, causing thousands to flee their homes, and destroying dozens of Allied bombers.
• 1948 – Soviet consultants leave Yugoslavia in the first sign of the Tito–Stalin Split.
• 1953 – An earthquake hits western Turkey, killing 265 people.
• 1959 – The Hawaii Admission Act is signed into law.
• 1962 – The Évian Accords end the Algerian War of Independence, which had begun in 1954.
• 1965 – Cosmonaut Alexei Leonov, leaving his spacecraft Voskhod 2 for 12 minutes, becomes the first person to walk in space.
• 1967 – The supertanker Torrey Canyon runs aground off the Cornish coast.
• 1968 – Gold standard: The U.S. Congress repeals the requirement for a gold reserve to back US currency.
• 1969 – The United States begins secretly bombing the Sihanouk Trail in Cambodia, used by communist forces to infiltrate South Vietnam.
• 1970 – Lon Nol ousts Prince Norodom Sihanouk of Cambodia.
• 1971 – Peru: a landslide crashes into Yanawayin Lake, killing 200 people at the mining camp of Chungar.
• 1980 – A Vostok-2M rocket at Plesetsk Cosmodrome Site 43 explodes during a fueling operation, killing 48 people.
• 1990 – Germans in the German Democratic Republic vote in the first democratic elections in the former communist dictatorship.
• 1990 – In the largest art theft in US history, 12 paintings, collectively worth around $500 million, are stolen from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston.
• 1994 – Bosnia's Bosniaks and Croats sign the Washington Agreement, ending war between the Croatian Republic of Herzeg-Bosnia and the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and establishing the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
• 1996 – A nightclub fire in Quezon City, Philippines kills 162 people.
• 1997 – The tail of a Russian Antonov An-24 charter plane breaks off while en route to Turkey causing the plane to crash and killing all 50 people on board.
• 2014 – The parliaments of Russia and Crimea sign an accession treaty.
• 2015 – The Bardo National Museum in Tunisia is attacked by gunmen. 23 people, almost all tourists, are killed, and at least 50 other people are wounded.

Births

• 1075 – Al-Zamakhshari, Persian scholar and theologian (d. 1144)
• 1395 – John Holland, 2nd Duke of Exeter, English military commander (d. 1447)
• 1495 – Mary Tudor, Queen of France (d. 1533)
• 1548 – Cornelis Ketel, Dutch painter (d. 1616)
• 1552 – Polykarp Leyser the Elder, German theologian (d. 1610)
• 1555 – Francis, Duke of Anjou (d. 1584)
• 1578 – Adam Elsheimer, German painter (d. 1610)
• 1590 – Manuel de Faria e Sousa, Portuguese historian and poet (d. 1649)
• 1597 – Jérôme le Royer de la Dauversière, French religious leader, founded the Société Notre-Dame de Montréal (d. 1659)
• 1603 – Simon Bradstreet, English colonial magistrate (d. 1697)
• 1609 – Frederick III of Denmark (d. 1670)
• 1634 – Madame de La Fayette, French author (d. 1693)
• 1640 – Philippe de La Hire, French mathematician and astronomer (d. 1719)
• 1657 – Giuseppe Ottavio Pitoni, Italian organist and composer (d. 1743)
• 1690 – Christian Goldbach, Prussian-German mathematician and academic (d. 1764)
• 1701 – Niclas Sahlgren, Swedish businessman and philanthropist, co-founded the Swedish East India Company (d. 1776)
• 1733 – Christoph Friedrich Nicolai, German author and bookseller (d. 1811)
• 1780 – Miloš Obrenović, Serbian prince (d. 1860)
• 1782 – John C. Calhoun, American lawyer and politician, 7th Vice President of the United States (d. 1850)
• 1789 – Charlotte Elliott, English poet, hymn writer, editor (d. 1871)
• 1798 – Francis Lieber, German-American jurist and philosopher (d. 1872)
• 1800 – Harriet Smithson, Irish actress, the first wife and muse of Hector Berlioz (d. 1854)
• 1813 – Christian Friedrich Hebbel, German poet and playwright (d. 1864)
• 1814 – Jacob Bunn, American businessman (d. 1897)
• 1819 – James McCulloch, Scottish-Australian politician, 5th Premier of Victoria (d. 1893)
• 1820 – John Plankinton, American businessman and industrialist, also noted for philanthropy (d. 1891)
• 1823 – Antoine Chanzy, French general (d. 1883)
• 1828 – Randal Cremer, English activist and politician, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1908)
• 1837 – Grover Cleveland, American lawyer and politician, 22nd and 24th President of the United States (d. 1908)
• 1840 – William Cosmo Monkhouse, English poet and critic (d. 1901)
• 1842 – Stéphane Mallarmé, French poet and critic (d. 1898)
• 1844 – Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, Russian composer and academic (d. 1908)
• 1846 – Kicking Bear, Native American tribal leader (d. 1904)
• 1848 – Nathanael Greene Herreshoff, American architect and engineer (d. 1938)
• 1858 – Rudolf Diesel, German engineer, invented the Diesel engine (d. 1913)
• 1862 – Eugène Jansson, Swedish painter (d. 1915)
• 1863 – William Sulzer, American lawyer and politician, 39th Governor of New York (d. 1941)
• 1869 – Neville Chamberlain, English businessman and politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1940)
• 1870 – Agnes Sime Baxter, Canadian mathematician (d. 1917)
• 1874 – Nikolai Berdyaev, Russian-French philosopher and theologian (d. 1948)
• 1877 – Edgar Cayce, American mystic and psychic (d. 1945)
• 1877 – Clem Hill, Australian cricketer and engineer (d. 1945)
• 1878 – Percival Perry, 1st Baron Perry, English businessman (d. 1956)
• 1882 – Gian Francesco Malipiero, Italian composer and educator (d. 1973)
• 1884 – Bernard Cronin, English-Australian journalist and author (d. 1968)
• 1886 – Edward Everett Horton, American actor, singer, and dancer (d. 1970)
• 1890 – Henri Decoin, French director and screenwriter (d. 1969)
• 1893 – Costante Girardengo, Italian cyclist (d. 1978)
• 1893 – Wilfred Owen, English soldier and poet (d. 1918)
• 1901 – Manly Palmer Hall, Canadian mystic, author and philosopher (d. 1990)
• 1901 – William Johnson, American painter (d. 1970)
• 1903 – Galeazzo Ciano, Italian journalist and politician, Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs (d. 1944)
• 1903 – E. O. Plauen, German cartoonist (d. 1944)
• 1904 – Srečko Kosovel, Slovenian poet and author (d. 1926)
• 1904 – Margaret Tucker, Australian author and activist (d. 1996)
• 1905 – Thomas Townsend Brown, American physicist and engineer (d. 1985)
• 1905 – Robert Donat, English actor (d. 1958)
• 1907 – John Zachary Young, English zoologist and neurophysiologist (d. 1997)
• 1908 – Loulou Gasté, French composer (d. 1995)
• 1909 – Ernest Gallo, American businessman, co-founded the E & J Gallo Winery (d. 2007)
• 1909 – C. Walter Hodges, English author and illustrator (d. 2004)
• 1911 – Smiley Burnette, American singer-songwriter and actor (d. 1967)
• 1912 – Art Gilmore, American voice actor and announcer (d. 2010)
• 1913 – René Clément, French director and screenwriter (d. 1996)
• 1913 – Werner Mölders, German colonel and pilot (d. 1941)
• 1915 – Richard Condon, American author and screenwriter (d. 1996)
• 1922 – Egon Bahr, German journalist and politician, Federal Minister for Special Affairs of Germany (d. 2015)
• 1922 – Seymour Martin Lipset, American sociologist and academic (d. 2006)
• 1922 – Fred Shuttlesworth, American activist, co-founded the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (d. 2011)
• 1923 – Andy Granatelli, American race car driver and businessman (d. 2013)
• 1925 – Alessandro Alessandroni, Italian musician (d. 2017)
• 1925 – James Pickles, English journalist, lawyer, and judge (d. 2010)
• 1926 – Peter Graves, American actor and director (d. 2010)
• 1927 – John Kander, American pianist and composer
• 1927 – George Plimpton, American journalist and actor (d. 2003)
• 1927 – Lillian Vernon, German-American businesswoman and philanthropist, founded the Lillian Vernon Company (d. 2015)
• 1928 – Miguel Poblet, Spanish cyclist (d. 2013)
• 1928 – Fidel V. Ramos, Filipino general and politician, 12th President of the Philippines
• 1929 – Samuel Pisar, Polish-American lawyer and author (d. 2015)
• 1930 – James J. Andrews, American mathematician and academic (d. 1998)
• 1931 – John Fraser, Scottish actor
• 1932 – John Updike, American novelist, short story writer, and critic (d. 2009)
• 1933 – Unita Blackwell, American civil rights activist and politician (d. 2019)
• 1934 – Roy Chapman, English footballer and manager (d. 1983)
• 1934 – Charley Pride, American country music singer and musician
• 1935 – Ole Barndorff-Nielsen, Danish mathematician and statistician
• 1935 – Frances Cress Welsing, American psychiatrist and author (d. 2016)
• 1936 – F. W. de Klerk, South African lawyer and politician, 2nd State President of South Africa, Nobel Prize laureate
• 1937 – Rudi Altig, German cyclist and sportscaster (d. 2016)
• 1937 – Mark Donohue, American race car driver (d. 1975)
• 1938 – Carl Gottlieb, American actor and screenwriter
• 1938 – Shashi Kapoor, Indian actor and producer (d. 2017)
• 1938 – Kenny Lynch, English singer-songwriter and actor (d. 2019)
• 1938 – Timo Mäkinen, Finnish race car driver (d. 2017)
• 1938 – Machiko Soga, Japanese actress (d. 2006)
• 1939 – Ron Atkinson, English footballer and manager
• 1939 – Jean-Pierre Wallez, French violinist and conductor
• 1941 – Wilson Pickett, American singer-songwriter (d. 2006)
• 1942 – Kathleen Collins, African-American filmmaker and playwright (d. 1988)
• 1943 – Dennis Linde, American singer-songwriter (d. 2006)
• 1944 – Amnon Lipkin-Shahak, Israeli general and politician, 22nd Transportation Minister of Israel (d. 2012)
• 1944 – Frank McRae, American football player and actor
• 1944 – Dick Smith, Australian publisher and businessman, founded Dick Smith Electronics and Australian Geographic
• 1945 – Hiroh Kikai, Japanese photographer
• 1945 – Michael Reagan, American journalist and radio host
• 1945 – Susan Tyrrell, American actress (d. 2012)
• 1945 – Eric Woolfson, Scottish singer-songwriter, pianist, and producer (d. 2009)
• 1946 – Michel Leclère, French race car driver
• 1947 – Patrick Barlow, English actor and playwright
• 1947 – Patrick Chesnais, French actor, director, and screenwriter
• 1947 – David Lloyd, English cricketer, journalist, and sportscaster
• 1947 – B. J. Wilson, English rock drummer (d. 1990)
• 1948 – Guy Lapointe, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
• 1948 – Brian Lloyd, Welsh footballer
• 1948 – Eknath Solkar, Indian cricketer (d. 2005)
• 1949 – Åse Kleveland, Norwegian singer and politician, Norwegian Minister of Culture
• 1950 – James Conlon, American conductor and educator
• 1950 – Brad Dourif, American actor
• 1950 – Linda Partridge, English geneticist and academic
• 1950 – Larry Perkins, Australian race car driver
• 1951 – Paul Barber, English actor
• 1951 – Ben Cohen, American businessman and philanthropist, co-founded Ben and Jerry's
• 1951 – Bill Frisell, American guitarist and composer
• 1951 – Timothy N. Philpot, American lawyer, author, and judge
• 1952 – Will Durst, American journalist and actor
• 1952 – Pat Eddery, Irish jockey and trainer (d. 2015)
• 1952 – Bernie Tormé, Irish singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2019)
• 1952 – Mike Webster, American football player (d. 2002)
• 1953 – Franz Wright, Austrian-American poet and translator (d. 2015)
• 1953 – Takashi Yoshimatsu, Japanese composer
• 1955 – Francis G. Slay, American lawyer and politician, 45th Mayor of St. Louis
• 1955 – Jeff Stelling, English journalist and game show host
• 1956 – Rick Martel, Canadian wrestler
• 1956 – Deborah Jeane Palfrey, American madam (d. 2008)
• 1956 – Ingemar Stenmark, Swedish skier
• 1957 – Christer Fuglesang, Swedish physicist and astronaut
• 1958 – Richard de Zoysa, Sri Lankan journalist and author (d. 1990)
• 1959 – Luc Besson, French director, producer, and screenwriter, founded EuropaCorp
• 1960 – Richard Biggs, American actor (d. 2004)
• 1960 – Guy Carbonneau, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
• 1960 – James Plaskett, Cypriot-English chess player
• 1961 – Grant Hart, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2017)
• 1962 – Michael Andrews, Australian rugby league player
• 1962 – Irene Cara, American singer-songwriter, actress, and producer
• 1962 – Brian Fisher, American baseball player
• 1962 – Thomas Ian Griffith, American actor and martial artist
• 1962 – James McMurtry, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor
• 1962 – Etsushi Toyokawa, Japanese actor and director
• 1962 – Volker Weidler, German race car driver and engineer
• 1963 – Jeff LaBar, American guitarist
• 1963 – Vanessa L. Williams, American model, actress, and singer
• 1964 – Bonnie Blair, American speed skater
• 1964 – Alex Caffi, Italian race car driver
• 1964 – Jo Churchill, British politician
• 1964 – Courtney Pine, English saxophonist and clarinet player
• 1964 – Isabel Noronha, Mozambican film director
• 1966 – Jerry Cantrell, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
• 1966 – Peter Jones, English businessman
• 1966 – Brian Watts, Canadian golfer
• 1967 – Miki Berenyi, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
• 1968 – Prince Eudes, Duke of Angoulême
• 1968 – Miguel Herrera, Mexican footballer and manager
• 1968 – Temur Ketsbaia, Georgian footballer and manager
• 1968 – Paul Marsden, English businessman and politician
• 1969 – Andy Cutting, English accordion player and composer
• 1969 – Vassily Ivanchuk, Ukrainian chess player
• 1969 – Shaun Udal, English cricketer
• 1970 – Queen Latifah, American rapper, producer, and actress
• 1971 – Wayne Arthurs, Australian tennis player
• 1971 – Mike Bell, American wrestler (d. 2008)
• 1971 – Mariaan de Swardt, South African-American tennis player, coach, and sportscaster
• 1971 – Kitty Ussher, English economist and politician
• 1972 – Dane Cook, American comedian, actor, director, and producer
• 1972 – Reince Priebus, American lawyer and politician
• 1973 – Luci Christian, American voice actress and screenwriter
• 1974 – Laure Savasta, French basketball player, coach, and sportscaster
• 1974 – Stuart Zender, English bass player, songwriter, and producer
• 1975 – Sutton Foster, American actress, singer, and dancer
• 1975 – Brian Griese, American football player and sportscaster
• 1975 – Kimmo Timonen, Finnish ice hockey player
• 1975 – Tomas Žvirgždauskas, Lithuanian footballer
• 1976 – Giovanna Antonelli, Brazilian actress and producer
• 1976 – Tomo Ohka, Japanese baseball player
• 1976 – Scott Podsednik, American baseball player
• 1976 – Mike Quackenbush, American wrestler, trainer, and author, founded Chikara wrestling promotion
• 1977 – Zdeno Chára, Slovak ice hockey player
• 1977 – Danny Murphy, English international footballer, midfielder and sportscaster
• 1977 – Fernando Rodney, Dominican-American baseball player
• 1977 – Willy Sagnol, French footballer and manager
• 1977 – Terrmel Sledge, American baseball player and coach
• 1978 – Fernandão, Brazilian footballer and manager (d. 2014)
• 1978 – Brooke Hanson, Australian swimmer
• 1978 – Brian Scalabrine, American basketball player, coach, and sportscaster
• 1978 – Jonas Wallerstedt, Swedish footballer, coach, and manager
• 1979 – Adam Levine, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and television personality
• 1980 – Sébastien Frey, French footballer
• 1980 – Sophia Myles, English actress
• 1980 – Alexei Yagudin, Russian figure skater
• 1981 – Tora Berger, Norwegian biathlete
• 1981 – Fabian Cancellara, Swiss cyclist
• 1981 – Leslie Djhone, French sprinter
• 1981 – Jang Na-ra, South Korean singer and actress
• 1981 – Kasib Powell, American basketball player
• 1981 – Tom Starke, German footballer
• 1981 – Doug Warren, American soccer player
• 1981 – Lovro Zovko, Croatian tennis player
• 1982 – Mantorras, Angolan footballer
• 1982 – Chad Cordero, American baseball player
• 1982 – Timo Glock, German race car driver
• 1982 – Adam Pally, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
• 1983 – Ethan Carter III, American wrestler
• 1983 – Stéphanie Cohen-Aloro, French tennis player
• 1983 – Andy Sonnanstine, American baseball player
• 1983 – Tomasz Stolpa, Polish footballer
• 1984 – Simone Padoin, Italian footballer
• 1984 – Rajeev Ram, American tennis player
• 1984 – Vonzell Solomon, American singer and actress
• 1985 – Ana Beatriz, Brazilian race car driver
• 1985 – Marvin Humes, English singer
• 1985 – Vince Lia, Australian footballer
• 1986 – Lykke Li, Swedish singer-songwriter
• 1986 – Abdennour Chérif El-Ouazzani, Algerian footballer
• 1987 – Rebecca Soni, American swimmer
• 1989 – Francesco Checcucci, Italian footballer
• 1989 – Lily Collins, English-American actress
• 1989 – Shreevats Goswami, Indian cricketer
• 1989 – Kana Nishino, Japanese singer-songwriter
• 1989 – Paul Marc Rousseau, Canadian guitarist and producer
• 1989 – Ming Xi, Chinese model
• 1991 – Dylan Mattingly, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
• 1991 – Sam Williams, Australian rugby league player
• 1992 – Ryan Truex, American race car driver
• 1992 – Takuya Terada, Japanese singer, actor, and model
• 1997 – Ciara Bravo, American actress
• 1997 – Rieko Ioane, New Zealand rugby union player

Deaths

• 978 – Edward the Martyr, English king (b. 962)
• 1076 – Ermengarde of Anjou, Duchess of Burgundy (b. 1018)
• 1086 – Anselm of Lucca, Italian bishop (b. 1036)
• 1227 – Pope Honorius III (b. 1148)
• 1272 – John FitzAlan, 7th Earl of Arundel (b. 1246)
• 1308 – Yuri I of Galicia
• 1314 – Jacques de Molay, Frankish knight (b. 1244)
• 1314 – Geoffroy de Charney, Preceptor of Normandy for the Knights Templar
• 1321 – Matthew III Csák, Hungarian oligarch (b. c.1260/5)
• 1582 – Juan Jauregui, attempted assassin of William I of Orange (b. 1562)
• 1675 – Arthur Chichester, 1st Earl of Donegall, Irish soldier (b. 1606)
• 1689 – John Dixwell, English soldier and politician (b. 1607)
• 1745 – Robert Walpole, English scholar and politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1676)
• 1768 – Laurence Sterne, Irish novelist and clergyman (b. 1713)
• 1781 – Anne Robert Jacques Turgot, French economist and politician, Controller-General of Finances (b. 1727)
• 1823 – Jean-Baptiste Bréval, French cellist and composer (b. 1753)
• 1835 – Christian Günther von Bernstorff, Danish-Prussian politician and diplomat (b. 1769)
• 1845 – Johnny Appleseed, American gardener and missionary (b. 1774)
• 1871 – Augustus De Morgan, Indian-English mathematician and academic (b. 1806)
• 1898 – Matilda Joslyn Gage, American author and activist (b. 1826)
• 1900 – Hjalmar Kiærskou, Danish botanist (b. 1835)
• 1907 – Marcellin Berthelot, French chemist and politician, French Minister of Foreign Affairs (b. 1827)
• 1913 – George I of Greece (b. 1845)
• 1918 – Henry Janeway Hardenbergh, American architect, designed the Plaza Hotel (b. 1847)
• 1930 – Jean Leon Gerome Ferris, American painter (b. 1863)
• 1936 – Eleftherios Venizelos, Greek journalist, lawyer, and politician, 93rd Prime Minister of Greece (b. 1864)
• 1939 – Henry Simpson Lunn, English businessman, founded Lunn Poly (b. 1859)
• 1941 – Henri Cornet, French cyclist (b. 1884)
• 1947 – William C. Durant, American businessman, co-founded General Motors and Chevrolet (b. 1861)
• 1954 – Walter Mead, English cricketer (b. 1868)
• 1956 – Louis Bromfield, American environmentalist and author (b. 1896)
• 1962 – Walter W. Bacon, American accountant and politician, 60th Governor of Delaware (b. 1880)
• 1964 – Sigfrid Edström, Swedish businessman, 4th President of the International Olympic Committee (b. 1870)
• 1965 – Farouk of Egypt (b. 1920)
• 1973 – Johannes Aavik, Estonian philologist and poet (b. 1880)
• 1977 – Marien Ngouabi, Congolese politician, President of the Republic of the Congo (b. 1938)
• 1977 – Carlos Pace, Brazilian race car driver (b. 1944)
• 1978 – Leigh Brackett, American author and screenwriter (b. 1915)
• 1978 – Peggy Wood, American actress (b. 1892)
• 1980 – Erich Fromm, German psychologist and philosopher (b. 1900)
• 1982 – Patrick Smith, Irish farmer and politician, Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine (b. 1901)
• 1983 – Umberto II of Italy (b. 1904)
• 1984 – Charley Lau, American baseball player and coach (b. 1933)
• 1986 – Bernard Malamud, American novelist and short story writer (b. 1914)
• 1988 – Billy Butterfield, American trumpet player and cornet player (b. 1917)
• 1990 – Robin Harris, American comedian (b. 1953)
• 1993 – Kenneth E. Boulding, English-American economist and activist (b. 1910)
• 1996 – Odysseas Elytis, Greek poet and critic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1911)
• 2000 – Eberhard Bethge, German theologian and academic (b. 1909)
• 2001 – John Phillips, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (The Mamas & the Papas) (b. 1935)
• 2002 – R. A. Lafferty, American soldier and author (b. 1914)
• 2003 – Karl Kling, German race car driver (b. 1910)
• 2003 – Adam Osborne, Thai-English engineer and businessman, founded the Osborne Computer Corporation (b. 1939)
• 2004 – Harrison McCain, Canadian businessman, co-founded McCain Foods (b. 1927)
• 2006 – Dan Gibson, Canadian photographer and cinematographer (b. 1922)
• 2007 – Bob Woolmer, Indian-English cricketer, coach, and sportscaster (b. 1948)
• 2008 – Anthony Minghella, English director and screenwriter (b. 1954)
• 2009 – Omid Reza Mir Sayafi, Iranian journalist and blogger (b. 1980)
• 2009 – Natasha Richardson, English-American actress (b. 1963)
• 2010 – Fess Parker, American actor and businessman (b. 1924)
• 2011 – Warren Christopher, American lawyer and politician, 63rd United States Secretary of State (b. 1925)
• 2012 – Furman Bisher, American journalist and author (b. 1918)
• 2012 – William R. Charette, American soldier, Medal of Honor recipient (b. 1932)
• 2012 – William G. Moore Jr., American general (b. 1920)
• 2012 – George Tupou V of Tonga (b. 1948)
• 2013 – Muhammad Mahmood Alam, Pakistani general and pilot (b. 1935)
• 2013 – Henry Bromell, American novelist, screenwriter, and director (b. 1947)
• 2013 – Clay Ford, American lawyer and politician (b. 1938)
• 2014 – Catherine Obianuju Acholonu, Nigerian author, playwright, and academic (b. 1951)
• 2014 – Kaiser Kalambo, Zambian footballer, coach, and manager (b. 1953)
• 2014 – Lucius Shepard, American author and critic (b. 1943)
• 2015 – Zhao Dayu, Chinese footballer and manager (b. 1961)
• 2015 – Thomas Hopko, American priest and theologian (b. 1939)
• 2015 – Grace Ogot, Kenyan nurse, journalist, and politician (b. 1930)
• 2016 – Barry Hines, English author and screenwriter (b. 1939)
• 2016 – Jan Němec, Czech director and screenwriter (b. 1936)
• 2016 – Tray Walker, American football player (b. 1992)
• 2016 – Guido Westerwelle, German lawyer and politician, 15th Vice-Chancellor of Germany (b. 1961)
• 2017 – Chuck Berry, American guitarist, singer and songwriter (b. 1926)
• 2020 – Alfred Worden, Apollo 15 command module pilot (b. 1932)

Holidays and observances

• Anniversary of the Oil Expropriation (Mexico)
• Christian feast day:
  • Alexander of Jerusalem
  • Anselm of Lucca
  • Cyril of Jerusalem
  • Edward the Martyr
  • Fridianus
  • Salvator
  • March 18 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
• Earliest date on which Holy Wednesday can fall, while April 21 is the latest; celebrated on the week before Easter. (Christianity)
• Flag Day (Aruba)
• Gallipoli Memorial Day (Turkey)
• Men's and Soldiers' Day (Mongolia)
• Ordnance Factories' Day (India)
• Sheelah's Day (Ireland, Canada, Australia)
• Teacher's Day (Syria)

External links

• BBC: On This Day
• The New York Times: On This Day
• Historical Events on March 18
• Today in Canadian History