18 March on the globe: what happened in the world on this day, and who was born

Roman Senate annuls Tiberius' will and proclaims Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus Germanicus (aka Caligula = Little Boots) emperor.

A fire began in Rome that resulted in the destruction of the Temple of Apollo Palatinus.

Pope Zosimus is elected following the death of Pope Innocent I.

An earthquake in the Levant and the Arabian Peninsula leaves up to 20,000 dead.

Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor, declares himself King of Jerusalem in the Sixth Crusade.

First Mongol invasion of Poland: Mongols overwhelm Polish armies in Kraków in the Battle of Chmielnik and plunder the city.

Charles I of Anjou acquired a claim on the Kingdom of Jerusalem in exchange for a significant sum of money.

Jacques de Molay, the 23rd and final Grand Master of the Knights Templar, is burned at the stake.

Albert II of Habsburg becomes King of the Romans.

Valletta is made the capital city of Malta.

Susenyos is formally crowned Emperor of Ethiopia.

The Third Anglo-Powhatan War begins in the Colony of Virginia.

English lord John Berkeley sells his half of New Jersey to the Quakers.

New York governor George Clarke's complex at Fort George is burned in an arson attack, starting the New York Conspiracy of 1741.

American Revolution: The British Parliament repeals the Stamp Act.

Flanders Campaign of the French Revolution, Battle of Neerwinden.

The first modern republic in Germany, the Republic of Mainz, is declared by Andreas Joseph Hofmann.

Six farm labourers from Tolpuddle, Dorset, England are sentenced to be transported to Australia for forming a trade union.

The British soldier-explorer John Wood came close to rediscovering the ancient Greco-Bactrian city of Ai-Khanoum in modern Afghanistan.

Revolutions of 1848: A rebellion arises in Milan which in five days of street fighting drove Marshal Radetzky and his Austrian soldiers from the city.

The premiere of William Henry Fry's Leonora in Philadelphia is the first known performance of a grand opera by an American composer.

Spain would annex annex the Dominican Republic, which would last for four years.

American Civil War: The Congress of the Confederate States adjourns for the last time.

Declaration of the Paris Commune; President of the French Republic, Adolphe Thiers, orders the evacuation of Paris.

Canadian governor general Lord Stanley of Preston pledged to donate an award to Canada's top-ranked amateur ice hockey club, now known as the Stanley Cup, the oldest professional sports trophy in North America.

Phoebe, a satellite of Saturn, becomes the first to be discovered with photographs, taken in August 1898, by William Henry Pickering.

The Kumasi Mutiny of 1901 begins.

The construction of the House with Chimaeras commenced in Kyiv.

Macario Sakay issues Presidential Order No. 1 of his Tagalog Republic.

Romanian inventor Traian Vuia became the first person to fly a heavier-than-air monoplane with an unassisted takeoff.

King George I of Greece is assassinated in the recently liberated city of Thessaloniki.

World War I: During the Battle of Gallipoli, three battleships are sunk during a failed British and French naval attack on the Dardanelles.

Mongolian Revolution of 1921: The Mongolian People's Army defeats local Chinese forces at Altanbulag, Selenge (then known as Maimachen). This battle was seen as the birthday of the People's Army and completed the expulsion of Chinese militants in Mongolia.

The Kronstadt rebellion is suppressed by the Red Army.

The second Peace of Riga is signed between Poland and the Soviet Union.

In India, Mohandas Gandhi is sentenced to six years in prison for civil disobedience, of which he serves only two.

The 1925 Tri-State tornado hits the Midwestern states of Missouri, Illinois, and Indiana, killing 695 people.

Spanish Civil War: Spanish Republican forces defeat the Italians at the Battle of Guadalajara.

The New London School explosion in New London, Texas, kills 300 people, mostly children.

Mexico creates Pemex by expropriating all foreign-owned oil reserves and facilities.

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.

The War Relocation Authority is established in the United States to take Japanese Americans into custody.

Mount Vesuvius in Italy erupts, killing 26 people, causing thousands to flee their homes, and destroying dozens of Allied bombers.

World War II: 40th Infantry Division, spearheaded by the 185th US Infantry Regiment, lands unopposed in Tigbauan, forcing the Japanese forces to surrender and General Macario Peralta and Gen. Gen. Eichelberger to declare the Liberation of Panay, Romblon and Guimaras.

Soviet consultants leave Yugoslavia in the first sign of the Tito–Stalin split.

An earthquake hits western Turkey, killing at least 1,070 people.

The Hawaii Admission Act is signed into law.

Tibetan uprising: After the 14th Dalai Lama sought refuge at Sera Monastery in Lhasa, Tibet, Chinese forces bombarded the monastery, inflicting severe destruction and killing hundreds of Buddhist monks.

The Évian Accords end the Algerian War of Independence, which had begun in 1954.

Cosmonaut Alexei Leonov, leaving his spacecraft Voskhod 2 for 12 minutes, becomes the first person to walk in space.

United Arab Airlines Flight 749 crashes on approach to Cairo International Airport in Cairo, Egypt, killing 30 people.

The supertanker Torrey Canyon runs aground off the Cornish coast.

Gold standard: The U.S. Congress repeals the requirement for a gold reserve to back US currency.

The United States begins secretly bombing the Sihanouk Trail in Cambodia, used by communist forces to infiltrate South Vietnam.

Lon Nol ousts Prince Norodom Sihanouk of Cambodia.

U.S. postal workers began an eight-day strike after Congress raised their wages by only 4 percent despite increasing its own pay by 41 percent.

Peru: A landslide crashes into Yanawayin Lake, killing 200 people at the mining camp of Chungar.

Güzel İstanbul, a nude sculpture by Gürdal Duyar in Istanbul, is torn down in the middle of the night.

The punk group the Clash released their first single, "White Riot", described as their "most controversial song" due to its lyrics about class economics and race.

A Vostok-2M rocket at Plesetsk Cosmodrome Site 43 explodes during a fueling operation, killing 48 people.

The first episode of the soap opera Neighbours was broadcast on the Seven Network, later becoming the longest-running drama in Australian television history.

Germans in the German Democratic Republic vote in the first democratic elections in the former communist dictatorship.

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.

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.

A nightclub fire in Quezon City, Philippines kills 162 people.

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.

As per a court order, the feeding tube of Terri Schiavo, an American woman who suffered brain damage, was removed at the request of her husband, fueling a worldwide debate on euthanasia.

The parliaments of Russia and Crimea sign an accession treaty.

The Bardo National Museum in Tunisia is attacked by gunmen. Twenty-four people, almost all tourists, are killed, and at least 50 other people are wounded.

Syrian civil war: The U.S. Air Force carried out an airstrike in al-Baghuz Fawqani, killing as many as 80, a disputed number of whom were civilians.

Israel launches widespread aerial bombardments and attacks on the Gaza Strip, killing at least 591 people, including children.

Grover Cleveland, American lawyer and politician, 22nd and 24th President of the United States (died 1908)

Neville Chamberlain, English businessman and politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (died 1940)

Rudolf Diesel, German engineer, invented the Diesel engine (died 1913)

Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, Russian composer and academic (died 1908)

John Updike, American novelist, short story writer, and critic (died 2009)

F. W. de Klerk, South African lawyer and politician, former State President of South Africa, Nobel Prize laureate (died 2021)

Stéphane Mallarmé, French poet and critic (died 1898)

Luc Besson, French director, producer, and screenwriter, founded EuropaCorp

John C. Calhoun, American lawyer and politician, 7th Vice President of the United States (died 1850)

Nikolai Berdyaev, Russian-French philosopher and theologian (died 1948)

Lily Collins, English-American actress

Adam Levine, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and television personality

Fidel V. Ramos, Filipino general and politician, 12th President of the Philippines (died 2022)

Queen Latifah, American rapper, producer, and actress

Christian Friedrich Hebbel, German poet and playwright (died 1864)

Randal Cremer, English activist and politician, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1908)

Brad Dourif, American actor

Vanessa L. Williams, American model, actress, and singer

Mary Tudor, Queen of France (died 1533)

Frederick III of Denmark (died 1670)

Galeazzo Ciano, Italian journalist and politician, Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs (died 1944)

Wilfred Owen, English soldier and poet (died 1918)

Madame de La Fayette, French author (died 1693)

Robert Donat, English actor (died 1958)

Ingemar Stenmark, Swedish skier

Vasyl Ivanchuk, Ukrainian chess player

Shashi Kapoor, Indian actor and producer (died 2017)

Diogo Dalot, Portuguese footballer

Edgar Cayce, American mystic and psychic (died 1945)

Fabian Cancellara, Swiss cyclist

Timo Glock, German race car driver

Ciara Bravo, American actress

Irene Cara, American singer-songwriter and actress (died 2022)

Willy Sagnol, French footballer and manager

Christian Goldbach, Prussian-German mathematician and academic (died 1764)

René Clément, French director and screenwriter (died 1996)

Peter Graves, American actor and director (died 2010)

Tom Starke, German footballer

Miloš Obrenović, Serbian prince (died 1860)

Wilson Pickett, American singer-songwriter (died 2006)

Bonnie Blair, American speed skater

Ron Atkinson, English footballer and manager

Tora Berger, Norwegian biathlete

Lykke Li, Swedish singer-songwriter

Christer Fuglesang, Swedish physicist and astronaut

Werner Mölders, German colonel and pilot (died 1941)

Giovanna Antonelli, Brazilian actress and producer

Sébastien Frey, French footballer

Al-Zamakhshari, Persian scholar and theologian (died 1144)

Sophia Myles, English actress

Seymour Martin Lipset, American sociologist and academic (died 2006)

Jerry Cantrell, American singer-songwriter and guitarist

Reince Priebus, American lawyer and politician

Danny Murphy, English footballer and sportscaster

Simone Padoin, Italian footballer

Rebecca Soni, American swimmer

Egon Bahr, German journalist and politician, Federal Minister for Special Affairs of Germany (died 2015)

Temur Ketsbaia, Georgian footballer and manager

Adam Elsheimer, German painter (died 1610)

Åse Kleveland, Norwegian singer and politician, Norwegian Minister of Culture