December 18 is the 352nd day of the year (353rd in leap years ) in the Gregorian calendar . There are 13 days remaining until the end of the year. This date is slightly more likely to fall on a Tuesday, Friday or Sunday (58 in 400 years each) than on Wednesday or Thursday (57), and slightly less likely to occur on a Monday or Saturday (56).
218 BC – Second Punic War : Battle of the Trebia – Hannibal 's Carthaginian forces defeat those of the Roman Republic .
1271 – Kublai Khan renames his empire "Yuan" (元 yuán), officially marking the start of the Yuan dynasty of Mongolia and China.
1622 – Portuguese forces score a military victory over the Kingdom of Kongo at the Battle of Mbumbi in present-day Angola .
1655 – The Whitehall Conference ends with the determination that there was no law preventing Jews from re-entering England after the Edict of Expulsion of 1290.
1777 – The United States celebrates its first Thanksgiving , marking the recent victory by the American rebels over British General John Burgoyne at Saratoga in October.
1787 – New Jersey becomes the third state to ratify the U.S. Constitution .
1793 – Surrender of the frigate La Lutine by French Royalists to Lord Samuel Hood ; renamed HMS Lutine , she later becomes a famous treasure wreck.
1833 – The national anthem of the Russian Empire , "God Save the Tsar! ", is first performed.
1865 – US Secretary of State William Seward proclaims the adoption of the Thirteenth Amendment , prohibiting slavery throughout the USA.
1878 – The Al-Thani family become the rulers of the state of Qatar .
1892 – Premiere performance of The Nutcracker by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky in Saint Petersburg , Russia.
1898 – Gaston de Chasseloup-Laubat sets the first officially recognized land speed record of 39.245 mph (63.159 km/h) in a Jeantaud electric car.
1900 – The Upper Ferntree Gully to Gembrook, Victoria Narrow-gauge (2 ft 6 in or 762 mm) Railway (now the Puffing Billy Railway ) in Victoria , Australia is opened for traffic.
1916 – World War I : The Battle of Verdun ends when German forces under Chief of staff Erich von Falkenhayn are defeated by the French, and suffer 337,000 casualties.
1917 – The resolution containing the language of the Eighteenth Amendment to enact Prohibition is passed by the United States Congress .
1932 – The Chicago Bears defeat the Portsmouth Spartans in the first NFL Championship Game .
1935 – The Lanka Sama Samaja Party is founded in Ceylon .
1939 – World War II : The Battle of the Heligoland Bight , the first major air battle of the war, takes place.
1944 – World War II: Seventy-seven B-29 Superfortress and 200 other aircraft of U.S. Fourteenth Air Force bomb Hankow, China , a Japanese supply base.
1958 – Project SCORE , the world's first communications satellite , is launched.
1966 – Saturn 's moon Epimetheus is discovered by astronomer Richard Walker.
1972 – Vietnam War : President Richard Nixon announces that the United States will engage North Vietnam in Operation Linebacker II , a series of Christmas bombings, after peace talks collapsed with North Vietnam on the 13th.
1973 – Soviet Soyuz Programme : Soyuz 13 , crewed by cosmonauts Valentin Lebedev and Pyotr Klimuk , is launched from Baikonur in the Soviet Union .
1973 – The Islamic Development Bank is founded.
1981 – First flight of the Russian heavy strategic bomber Tu-160 , the world's largest combat aircraft , largest supersonic aircraft and largest variable-sweep wing aircraft built.
1999 – NASA launches into orbit the Terra platform carrying five Earth Observation instruments, including ASTER , CERES , MISR , MODIS and MOPITT .
2002 – California gubernatorial recall : Then Governor of California Gray Davis announces that the state would face a record budget deficit of $ 35 billion, roughly double the figure reported during his reelection campaign one month earlier.
2005 – The Chadian Civil War begins when rebel groups, allegedly backed by neighbouring Sudan , launch an attack in Adré .
2006 – The first of a series of floods strikes Malaysia . The death toll of all flooding is at least 118, with over 400,000 people displaced.
2006 – United Arab Emirates holds its first-ever elections .
2015 – Kellingley Colliery , the last deep coal mine in Great Britain , closes.
1406 – Richard Olivier de Longueil , French Roman Catholic bishop and cardinal (d. 1470)
1481 – Sophie of Mecklenburg , Duchess of Mecklenburg, Duchess of Saxony (d. 1503)
1505 – Philipp von Hutten , German explorer (d. 1546)
1507 – Ōuchi Yoshitaka , Japanese daimyo (d. 1551)
1602 – Simonds d'Ewes , English historian and politician (d. 1650)
1610 – Charles du Fresne, sieur du Cange , French philologist and historian (d. 1688)
1620 – Heinrich Roth , German missionary and scholar (d. 1668)
1626 – Christina, Queen of Sweden (d. 1689)
1660 – Countess Johanna Magdalene of Hanau-Lichtenberg (d. 1715)
1661 – Christopher Polhem , Swedish physicist and inventor (d. 1751)
1662 – James Douglas, 2nd Duke of Queensberry , Scottish colonel and politician, Secretary of State for Scotland (d. 1711)
1707 – Charles Wesley , English missionary and composer (d. 1788)
1725 – Johann Salomo Semler , German historian and theologian (d. 1791)
1734 – Jean-Baptiste Rey , French conductor and composer (d. 1810)
1800 – James Watney , English brewer and businessman (d. 1884)
1824 – John Hall , English-New Zealand politician, 12th Prime Minister of New Zealand (d. 1907)
1825 – Charles Griffin , American general (d. 1876)
1825 – John S. Harris , American surveyor and politician (d. 1906)
1835 – Lyman Abbott , American minister, theologian, and author (d. 1922)
1847 – Augusta Holmès , French pianist and composer (d. 1903)
1849 – Henrietta Edwards , Canadian activist and author (d. 1931)
1851 – Graciano López Jaena , Filipino journalist (d. 1896)
1856 – J. J. Thomson , English physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1940)
1860 – Edward MacDowell , American pianist and composer (d. 1908)
1861 – Lionel Monckton , English composer and critic (d. 1924)
1863 – Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria (d. 1914)
1867 – Foxhall P. Keene , American polo player and horse breeder (d. 1941)
1869 – Edward Willis Redfield , American painter and educator (d. 1965)
1870 – Saki , British short story writer (d. 1916)
1873 – Francis Burton Harrison , American general and politician, 6th Governor-General of the Philippines (d. 1957)
1875 – Matt McGrath , Irish-American hammer thrower (d. 1941)
1878 – Joseph Stalin , Georgian-Russian marshal and politician, 4th Premier of the Soviet Union (d. 1953)
1879 – Paul Klee , Swiss-German painter and educator (d. 1940)
1882 – Richard Maury , American-Argentinian engineer, designed the Salta–Antofagasta railway (d. 1950)
1884 – Emil Starkenstein , Czech pharmacologist, co-founded clinical pharmacology (d. 1942)
1886 – Ty Cobb , American baseball player and manager (d. 1961)
1887 – Bhikhari Thakur , Indian actor, singer, and playwright (d. 1971)
1888 – Gladys Cooper , English actress and singer (d. 1971)
1888 – Robert Moses , American urban planner, designed the Northern State Parkway and Southern State Parkway (d. 1981)
1890 – Edwin Howard Armstrong , American engineer, invented FM radio (d. 1954)
1896 – Gerald Barry , English colonel and cricketer (d. 1977)
1897 – Fletcher Henderson , American pianist and composer (d. 1952)
1899 – Peter Wessel Zapffe , Norwegian philosopher and author (d. 1990)
1904 – George Stevens , American director, producer, screenwriter, and cinematographer (d. 1975)
1907 – Bill Holland , American race car driver (d. 1984)
1907 – Lawrence Lucie , American guitarist and educator (d. 2009)
1908 – Celia Johnson , English actress (d. 1982)
1908 – Paul Siple , American geographer and explorer (d. 1969)
1910 – Abe Burrows , American author, playwright, and director (d. 1985)
1910 – Eric Tindill , New Zealand rugby player, cricketer, and umpire (d. 2010)
1911 – Jules Dassin , American-Greek actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2008)
1912 – Benjamin O. Davis, Jr. , American general and pilot (d. 2002)
1913 – Alfred Bester , American author and screenwriter (d. 1987)
1913 – Willy Brandt , German politician, 4th Chancellor of Germany , Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1992)
1913 – Ray Meyer , American basketball player and coach (d. 2006)
1916 – Douglas Fraser , Scottish-American trade union leader and academic (d. 2008)
1916 – Betty Grable , American actress, singer, and dancer (d. 1973)
1917 – Ossie Davis , American actor and activist (d. 2005)
1920 – Robert Leckie , American soldier and author (d. 2001)
1922 – Jack Brooks , American colonel, lawyer, and politician (d. 2012)
1922 – Esther Lederberg , American microbiologist (d. 2006)
1923 – Edwin Bramall, Baron Bramall , English field marshal and politician, Lord Lieutenant of Greater London
1924 – Cicely Tyson , American actress
1927 – Ramsey Clark , American lawyer and politician, 66th United States Attorney General
1927 – Roméo LeBlanc , Canadian journalist and politician, 25th Governor General of Canada (d. 2009)
1928 – Mirza Tahir Ahmad , Indian-English caliph and author (d. 2003)
1928 – Harold Land , American tenor saxophonist (d. 2001)
1929 – Gino Cimoli , American baseball player (d. 2011)
1929 – Józef Glemp , Polish cardinal (d. 2013)
1930 – Moose Skowron , American baseball player (d. 2012)
1931 – Alison Plowden , English historian and author (d. 2007)
1931 – Bill Thompson , American television host (d. 2014)
1932 – Norm Provan , Australian rugby league player, coach, and businessman
1932 – Roger Smith , American actor, producer, and screenwriter
1934 – Marc Rich , Belgian-American businessman, founded Glencore (d. 2013)
1934 – Boris Volynov , Russian colonel, engineer, and astronaut
1935 – Rosemary Leach , English actress
1935 – Jacques Pépin , French-American chef and author
1936 – Malcolm Kirk , English rugby player and wrestler (d. 1987)
1937 – Nancy Ryles , American politician (d. 1990)
1938 – Chas Chandler , English bass player and producer (d. 1996)
1938 – Joel Hirschhorn , American songwriter and composer (d. 2005)
1939 – Michael Moorcock , English author and songwriter
1939 – Harold E. Varmus , American biologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
1940 – John Cooper , English sprinter and hurdler (d. 1974)
1941 – Sam Andrew , American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2015)
1941 – Wadada Leo Smith , American trumpet player and composer
1941 – Joan Wallach Scott , American historian, author, and academic
1942 – Lenore Blum , American mathematician and academic
1943 – Bobby Keys , American saxophone player (d. 2014)
1943 – Keith Richards , English singer-songwriter, guitarist and producer
1943 – Alan Rudolph , American director and screenwriter
1944 – Crispian Steele-Perkins , English trumpet player and educator
1945 – Jean Pronovost , Canadian ice hockey player and coach
1946 – Steve Biko , South African activist, founded the Black Consciousness Movement (d. 1977)
1946 – Steven Spielberg , American director, producer, and screenwriter, co-founded DreamWorks
1947 – Leonid Yuzefovich , Russian author and screenwriter
1948 – Bill Nelson , English singer-songwriter and guitarist
1948 – Mimmo Paladino , Italian sculptor and painter
1948 – Laurent Voulzy , French-English singer-songwriter and guitarist
1949 – David A. Johnston , American volcanologist and geologist (d. 1980)
1950 – Gillian Armstrong , Australian director, producer, and screenwriter
1950 – Randy Castillo , American drummer and songwriter (d. 2002)
1950 – Sarath Fonseka , Sri Lankan general and politician
1950 – Leonard Maltin , American historian, author, and critic
1952 – John Leventhal , American songwriter and producer
1953 – Elliot Easton , American guitarist and singer
1954 – John Booth , English race car driver
1954 – Ray Liotta , American actor
1954 – Willi Wülbeck , German runner
1955 – Vijay Mallya , Indian businessman and politician
1955 – Bogusław Mamiński , Polish runner
1957 – Jonathan Cainer , English astrologer and author (d. 2016)
1958 – Geordie Walker , English guitarist
1958 – Julia Wolfe , American composer and educator
1960 – Kazuhide Uekusa , Japanese economist and academic
1960 – Naoko Yamano , Japanese singer, guitarist and composer
1961 – Brian Orser , Canadian figure skater and coach
1961 – Leila Steinberg , American singer, producer, author, and poet
1961 – Daniel S. Loeb , American businessman and philanthropist, founded Third Point Management
1963 – Norman Brown , American singer and guitarist
1963 – Greg D'Angelo , American drummer
1963 – Karl Dorrell , American football player and coach
1963 – Pierre Nkurunziza , Burundian soldier and politician, President of Burundi
1963 – Charles Oakley , American basketball player and coach
1963 – Brad Pitt , American actor and producer
1964 – Stone Cold Steve Austin , American wrestler and producer
1964 – Don Beebe , American football player and coach
1965 – Shawn Christian , American actor, director, and screenwriter
1965 – Manuel Peña Escontrela , Spanish footballer (d. 2012)
1966 – Gianluca Pagliuca , Italian footballer and sportscaster
1967 – Toine van Peperstraten , Dutch journalist
1967 – Mille Petrozza , German singer-songwriter and guitarist
1968 – Mario Basler , German footballer and manager
1968 – Rachel Griffiths , Australian actress
1968 – Alejandro Sanz , Spanish singer-songwriter and guitarist
1968 – Casper Van Dien , American actor and producer
1969 – Santiago Cañizares , Spanish footballer
1969 – Justin Edinburgh , English footballer and manager
1969 – Akira Iida , Japanese race car driver
1970 – DMX , American rapper and actor
1970 – Lucious Harris , American basketball player
1970 – Giannis Ploutarhos , Greek singer-songwriter
1970 – Rob Van Dam , American wrestler
1970 – Jonathan Yeo , English painter
1971 – Barkha Dutt , Indian journalist
1971 – Noriko Matsueda , Japanese pianist and composer
1971 – Arantxa Sánchez Vicario , Spanish tennis player and sportscaster
1972 – Anzhela Balakhonova , Ukrainian pole vaulter
1972 – Raymond Herrera , American drummer and songwriter
1973 – Fatuma Roba , Ethiopian runner
1974 – Peter Boulware , American football player and politician
1974 – Knut Schreiner , Norwegian singer, guitarist, and producer
1975 – Sia Furler , Australian singer-songwriter
1975 – Randy Houser , American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1975 – Trish Stratus , Canadian wrestler and actress
1977 – José Acevedo , Dominican baseball player
1977 – Maria Brink , American singer-songwriter
1977 – Claudia Gesell , German runner
1978 – Daniel Cleary , Canadian ice hockey player
1978 – Ali Curtis , American soccer player
1978 – Katie Holmes , American actress
1980 – Christina Aguilera , American singer-songwriter, producer, and actress
1980 – Neil Fingleton , English actor and basketball player, one of the tallest 25 men in the world (d. 2017)
1980 – Heinz Inniger , Swiss snowboarder
1980 – Benjamin Watson , American football player
1983 – Andy Fantuz , Canadian football player
1984 – Paul Harrison , English footballer
1984 – Derrick Tribbett , American bass player and singer
1986 – François Hamelin , Canadian speed skater
1986 – Usman Khawaja , Pakistani-Australian cricketer
1986 – Bill Stull , American football player
1987 – Ayaka , Japanese singer-songwriter and producer
1987 – Miki Ando , Japanese figure skater
1987 – Yuki Furukawa , Japanese actor
1988 – Lizzie Deignan , English cyclist
1988 – Seth Doege , American football player
1988 – Brianne Theisen-Eaton , Canadian heptathlete
1988 – Imad Wasim , Pakistani cricketer
1990 – Sierra Kay , American singer-songwriter
1992 – Ryan Crouser , American shot putter
821 – Theodulf of Orléans , Spanish bishop and poet (b. 750)
1075 – Edith of Wessex (b. 1025)
1111 – Al-Ghazali , Persian jurist, philosopher, theologian, and mystic (b. 1058)
1133 – Hildebert , French poet and scholar (b. 1055)
1290 – Magnus III , king of Sweden (b. 1240)
1442 – Pierre Cauchon , French Catholic bishop (b. 1371)
1495 – Alfonso II of Naples (b. 1448)
1651 – William Brabazon, 1st Earl of Meath , English lawyer and politician (b. 1580)
1692 – Veit Ludwig von Seckendorff , German scholar and politician (b. 1626)
1737 – Antonio Stradivari , Italian instrument maker (b. 1644)
1787 – Soame Jenyns , English poet and politician (b. 1704)
1799 – Jean-Étienne Montucla , French mathematician and historian (b. 1725)
1803 – Johann Gottfried Herder , German philosopher, theologian, and poet (b. 1744)
1829 – Jean-Baptiste Lamarck , French soldier, biologist, and academic (b. 1744)
1843 – Thomas Graham, 1st Baron Lynedoch , Scottish-English general and politician (b. 1748)
1848 – Bernard Bolzano , Bohemian priest and mathematician (b. 1781)
1869 – Louis Moreau Gottschalk , American pianist and composer (b. 1829)
1880 – Michel Chasles , French mathematician and academic (b. 1793)
1892 – Richard Owen , English biologist, anatomist, and paleontologist (b. 1804)
1919 – John Alcock , English captain and pilot (b. 1892)
1922 – Sir Carl Meyer, 1st Baronet , German-English banker and businessman (b. 1851)
1925 – Hamo Thornycroft , English sculptor and academic (b. 1850)
1932 – Eduard Bernstein , German theorist and politician (b. 1850)
1936 – Andrija Mohorovičić , Croatian meteorologist and seismologist (b. 1857)
1939 – Ernest Lawson , Canadian-American painter (b. 1873)
1961 – Leo Reisman , American violinist and bandleader (b. 1897)
1969 – Charles Dvorak , American pole vaulter and coach (b. 1878)
1971 – Bobby Jones , American golfer and lawyer (b. 1902)
1971 – Diana Lynn , American actress (b. 1926)
1973 – Allamah Rasheed Turabi , Indian-Pakistani religious leader and philosopher (b. 1908)
1974 – Harry Hooper , American baseball player, coach, and manager (b. 1887)
1975 – Theodosius Dobzhansky , Ukrainian geneticist and biologist (b. 1900)
1977 – Michio Nishizawa , Japanese baseball player and manager (b. 1921)
1977 – Louis Untermeyer American poet, anthologist, critic (b. 1885)
1980 – Dobriša Cesarić , Croatian poet and translator (b. 1902)
1980 – Alexei Kosygin , Russian soldier and politician, 8th Premier of the Soviet Union (b. 1904)
1982 – Hans-Ulrich Rudel , German colonel and pilot (b. 1916)
1985 – Xuân Diệu , Vietnamese poet and author (b. 1916)
1987 – Conny Plank , German keyboard player and producer (b. 1940)
1988 – Niyazi Berkes , Turkish Cypriot-English sociologist and academic (b. 1908)
1990 – Anne Revere , American actress (b. 1903)
1990 – Paul Tortelier , French cellist and composer (b. 1914)
1990 – Joseph Zubin , Lithuanian-American psychologist and academic (b. 1900)
1991 – George Abecassis , English race car driver (b. 1913)
1992 – Mark Goodson , American game show producer, created Family Feud and The Price Is Right (b. 1915)
1993 – Helm Glöckler , German race car driver (b. 1909)
1993 – Sam Wanamaker , American-English actor, director, and producer (b. 1919)
1994 – Roger Apéry , Greek-French mathematician and academic (b. 1916)
1994 – Lilia Skala , Austrian-American actress (b. 1896)
1995 – Brian Brockless , English organist, composer, and conductor (b. 1926)
1995 – Ross Thomas , American author (b. 1926)
1995 – Konrad Zuse , German engineer, designed the Z3 computer (b. 1910)
1996 – Yulii Borisovich Khariton , Russian physicist and academic (b. 1904)
1996 – Irving Caesar , American composer (b. 1895)
1997 – Chris Farley , American comedian and actor (b. 1964)
1998 – Lev Dyomin , Russian colonel, pilot, and astronaut (b. 1926)
1999 – Robert Bresson , French director and screenwriter (b. 1901)
2000 – Stan Fox , American race car driver (b. 1952)
2000 – Randolph Apperson Hearst , American businessman (b. 1915)
2000 – Kirsty MacColl , British singer-songwriter (b. 1959)
2001 – Gilbert Bécaud , French singer-songwriter, pianist, and actor (b. 1927)
2001 – Dimitris Dragatakis , Greek violinist and composer (b. 1914)
2001 – Marcel Mule , French saxophonist and educator (b. 1901)
2002 – Necip Hablemitoğlu , Turkish historian and academic (b. 1954)
2002 – Ray Hnatyshyn , Canadian lawyer and politician, 24th Governor General of Canada (b. 1934)
2002 – Wayne Owens , American lawyer and politician (b. 1937)
2004 – Anthony Sampson , English journalist and author (b. 1926)
2005 – Alan Voorhees , American engineer and urban planner (b. 1922)
2006 – Joseph Barbera , American animator, director, and producer, co-founded Hanna-Barbera (b. 1911)
2006 – Ruth Bernhard , German-American photographer (b. 1905)
2006 – Shaukat Siddiqui , Pakistani author and activist (b. 1923)
2007 – Hans Billian , Polish-German actor, director, and screenwriter (b. 1918)
2007 – Gerald Le Dain , Canadian lawyer and judge (b. 1924)
2007 – William Strauss , American author and playwright (b. 1947)
2007 – Alan Wagner , American businessman and critic (b. 1931)
2008 – Majel Barrett , American actress and producer (b. 1932)
2008 – Mark Felt , American FBI agent and informant (b. 1913)
2010 – Phil Cavarretta , American baseball player and manager (b. 1916)
2010 – Jacqueline de Romilly , French philologist, author, and scholar (b. 1913)
2010 – Tommaso Padoa-Schioppa , Italian economist and politician, Italian Minister of Economy and Finances (b. 1940)
2010 – James Pickles , English judge and journalist (b. 1925)
2011 – Václav Havel , Czech poet, playwright, and politician, 1st President of the Czech Republic (b. 1936)
2012 – Frank Macchiarola , American lawyer and academic (b. 1941)
2012 – Mustafa Ould Salek , Mauritanian colonel and politician, President of Mauritania (b. 1936)
2012 – Jim Whalen , American football player (b. 1943)
2012 – Anatoliy Zayaev , Ukrainian footballer, coach, and manager (b. 1931)
2013 – Ken Hutcherson , American football player (b. 1952)
2013 – Graham Mackay , South African-English businessman (b. 1949)
2014 – Donald J. Albosta , American soldier and politician (b. 1925)
2014 – Gideon Ben-Yisrael , Israeli soldier and politician (b. 1923)
2014 – Larry Henley , American singer-songwriter (b. 1937)
2014 – Virna Lisi , Italian actress (b. 1936)
2014 – Mandy Rice-Davies , English model and actress (b. 1944)
2014 – Robert Simpson , American meteorologist and author (b. 1912)
2015 – Luc Brewaeys , Belgian pianist, composer, and conductor (b. 1959)
2015 – Helge Solum Larsen , Norwegian businessman and politician (b. 1969)
2016 – Zsa Zsa Gabor , Hungarian-American actress and socialite (b. 1917)
Holidays and observances [ edit ]
External links [ edit ]