What are the important events that happened on February 18? Here are historical events, facts, and some myths about this day.

February 18: Facts & Myths About This Day

February 18 is the 49^th day of the year 2025 in the Gregorian calendar. There are 316 days remaining until the end of this year. The day of the week is Tuesday.

Under the Julian calendar, this day is February 5, 2025 – a Tuesday. Both day of the week are the same but did you notice the difference with the Gregorian calendar?

When this day started, 28,997,280 minutes has elapsed since midnight of January 1, 1970 – the Unix epoch.

Strange as it may, if we name this day after a polygon then it will be called ‘tetracontaenneagon’ day.

Aquarius is the zodiac sign of a person born on this day. Amethyst is the modern birthstone for this month. Bloodstone is the mystical birthstone from Tibetan origin that dates back over a thousand years.

According to the lunisolar Chinese calendar, there are 364 days remaining before the start of the next Chinese New Year.

The ancient Maya civilization believes that the end of the world will happen on December 21, 2012. There are now 4,442 days since this fabled cataclysmic event.

February 18 Historical Events

• 1781 –
  Fourth Anglo-Dutch War: Captain Thomas Shirley opened his expedition against Dutch colonial outposts on the Gold Coast of Africa (present-day Ghana).
• 1865 –
  Union forces under Major General William T. Sherman set the South Carolina State House on fire during the burning of Columbia.
• 1932 –
  The Empire of Japan declares Manzhouguo (the obsolete Chinese name for Manchuria) independent from the Republic of China.
• 1955 –
  Operation Teapot: Teapot test shot “Wasp” is successfully detonated at the Nevada Test Site with a yield of 1.2 kilotons. Wasp is the first of fourteen shots of the Teapot series.
• 1958 –
  New Year’s Day in Chinese calendar. Start of the year of the Earth Dog in Chinese astrology.
• 1965 –
  The Gambia becomes independent from the United Kingdom.
• 1970 –
  The Chicago Seven are found not guilty of conspiring to incite riots at the 1968 Democratic National Convention.
• 1972 –
  The California Supreme Court in the case of People v. Anderson, 6 Cal.3d 628 invalidates the state’s death penalty and commutes the sentences of all death row inmates to life imprisonment.
• 2001 –
  Seven-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion Dale Earnhardt dies in an accident during the Daytona 500.
• 2003 –
  Nearly 200 people die in the Daegu subway fire in South Korea.

Who were born on February 18?

• 1486 –
  Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, Bengali yogi (d. 1534)
• 1745 –
  Alessandro Volta, Italian physicist (d. 1827)
• 1892 –
  Wendell Willkie, American politician (d. 1944)
• 1922 –
  Allan Melvin, American actor (d. 2008)
• 1926 –
  Nalini Jaywant, Indian actress (d. 2010)
• 1955 –
  Raymond Rougeau, Canadian wrestler
• 1978 –
  Josip Šimunić, Croatian footballer
• 1981 –
  Alex Rios, American baseball player
• 1981 –
  Larry Sweeney, American professional wrestler
• 1983 –
  Jason Maxiell, American basketball player

Who died on February 18?

• 1748 –
  Otto Ferdinand von Abensberg und Traun, Austrian field marshal (b. 1677)
• 1778 –
  Joseph Marie Terray, French statesman (b. 1715)
• 1803 –
  Johann Wilhelm Ludwig Gleim, German poet (b. 1719)
• 1895 –
  Karl Abs, German professional wrestler (b. 1851)
• 1911 –
  Billy Murdoch, Australian cricketer (b. 1854)
• 1931 –
  Milan Šufflay, Croatian politician (b. 1879)
• 1945 –
  Ivan Chernyakhovsky, Russian general (b. 1906)
• 1976 –
  Wallace Berman, American Artist
• 2001 –
  Eddie Mathews, American baseball player (b. 1931)
• 2009 –
  Al-Tayyib Salih, Sudanese novelist and columnist (b. 1929)