A chronological timetable of historical events that occurred on this day in history. Historical facts of the day in the areas of military, politics, science, music, sports, arts, entertainment and more. Discover what happened today in history.
January 18
| 1486 | Henry VII marries Elizabeth of York. | |
| 1701 | Frederick III, the elector of Brandenburg, becomes king of Prussia. | |
| 1778 | Captain James Cook discovers the Hawaiian Islands, naming them the ‘Sandwich Islands’ after the First Lord of the Admiralty, Lord Sandwich. | |
| 1836 | Jim Bowie arrives at the Alamo to assist its Texas defenders. | |
| 1862 | John Tyler, former president of the U.S., is buried at Hollywood Cemetery in Richmond. | |
| 1902 | The Isthmus Canal Commission in Washington shifts its support from Nicaragua to Panama as a favored canal site. | |
| 1910 | Aviator Eugene Ely performs his first successful take off and landing from a ship in San Francisco. | |
| 1916 | The Russians force the Turkish 3rd Army back to Erzurum. | |
| 1942 | General MacArthur repels the Japanese in Bataan. The United States took the lead in the Far East war criminal trials. | |
| 1945 | The German Army launches its second attempt to relieve the besieged city of Budapest from the advancing Red Army. | |
| 1948 | Ghandi breaks a 121-hour fast after halting Muslem-Hindu riots. | |
| 1962 | The United States begins spraying foliage with herbicides in South Vietnam, in order to reveal the whereabouts of Vietcong guerrillas. | |
| 1964 | Plans are disclosed for the World Trade Center in New York. | |
| 1978 | The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) isolate the cause of Legionnaire’s disease. | |
| 1991 | Iraq starts firing Scud missiles at Israeli cities. | |
| Born on January 18 | ||
| 1782 | Daniel Webster, congressman from New Hampshire, Massachusetts senator, and secretary of state before the Civil War. | |
| 1813 | Joseph Glidden, inventor. | |
| 1858 | Daniel Hale Williams, physician who performed the first open heart surgery, founder of Chicago’s Provident Hospital. | |
| 1882 | A.A. [Alan Alexander] Milne, novelist, humorist and journalist (Winnie the Pooh). | |
| 1892 | Oliver Hardy, film comedian, one half of Laurel and Hardy. | |
| 1904 | Cary Grant, U.S. film actor (Gunga Din, Bringing Up Baby, The Philadelphia Story, North by Northwest). | |
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