Date·Lore

On This Day · The 230th day of the year

August 18

August 18's record stretches 418 years, from 1590 to 2008. Its center of gravity is the 20th century, and conflict is a recurring thread.

♌ZodiacLeo ◈BirthstonePeridot ❀Birth flowerGladiolus

Leo is the sign for August 18 — read more on the Leo page, or see August's birthstone & birth flower.

Compiled & reviewed by · Last reviewed September 6, 2026

What happened on August 18?

August 18 is the 230th day of the year. It marks 10 notable events in history, dated between 1590 and 2008. Famous people born on August 18 include Klára Dán von Neumann, Rainer Woelki and John Debney.

Released on August 18

Movies, games, albums & shows

2023

  • Game Bomb Rush Cyberfunk
  • Game The Texas Chain Saw Massacre

2022

  • Game Red Matter 2
  • Game Quake Champions
  • Game Thymesia
  • Game Cursed to Golf
  • Game We Are OFK
  • Movie The Next 365 Days

Release data from TMDB & IGDB.

Events

10 notable moments
  1. 1590

    John White (colonist and artist)

  2. 1612

    Pendle witches

  3. 1864

    American Civil War

  4. 1891

    1891 Martinique hurricane

  5. 1920

    Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution

  6. 1937

    Blackwater Fire of 1937

  7. 1940

    World War II

  8. 1965

    Vietnam War

  9. 1983

    Hurricane Alicia

  10. 2008

    Pervez Musharraf

Famous birthday twins

Born on August 18

Klára Dán von Neumann

b. 1911

Rainer Woelki

b. 1956

John Debney

b. 1956

Patrick Swayze

b. 1952

Hugues Aufray

b. 1929

Franz Joseph I

b. 1830

Antonio Salieri

b. 1750

Roman Polanski

b. 1933

Deaths

  • 2018Kofi Annan
  • 1945Subhas Chandra Bose
  • 1850Honoré de Balzac
  • 1620Wanli Emperor
  • 1258Theodore II Laskaris

Holidays & observances

  • —Christian feast day: Agapitus of Palestrina
  • —Christian feast day: Alberto Hurtado
  • —Christian feast day: Daig of Inniskeen
  • —Christian feast day: Evan (or Inan)
  • —Christian feast day: Fiacre
  • —Christian feast day: Florus and Laurus
  • —Christian feast day: Helena of Constantinople (Roman Catholic Church)
  • —Christian feast day: August 18 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)

The factual record above — event titles, dates, names, and observances — is drawn from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) license. DateLore adds curation, structure, and original editorial commentary. DateLore is not affiliated with the Wikimedia Foundation.

About the author

Roman Tailor compiles and reviews every date on DateLore. He's the writer and editor behind the site's editorial essays and the day-by-day almanac. Corrections and questions are welcome — read more about DateLore or get in touch.

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