| 93571 | August 18 | Event | 1940 – World War II: The Hardest Day air battle, part of the Battle of Britain. At that point, the largest aerial engagement in history with heavy losses sustained on both sides. |
| 93572 | August 18 | Event | 1945 – Sukarno takes office as the first president of Indonesia, following the country's declaration of independence the previous day. |
| 93573 | August 18 | Event | 1950 – Julien Lahaut, the chairman of the Communist Party of Belgium is assassinated by far-right elements. |
| 93574 | August 18 | Event | 1958 – Vladimir Nabokov's controversial novel Lolita is published in the United States. |
| 93575 | August 18 | Event | 1958 – Brojen Das from Bangladesh swims across the English Channel in a competition, as the first Bengali and the first Asian to do so. He came first among 39 competitors. |
| 93576 | August 18 | Event | 1963 – American civil rights movement: James Meredith becomes the first black person to graduate from the University of Mississippi. |
| 93577 | August 18 | Event | 1965 – Vietnam War: Operation Starlite begins: United States Marines destroy a Viet Cong stronghold on the Van Tuong peninsula in the first major American ground battle of the war. |
| 93578 | August 18 | Event | 1966 – Vietnam War: The Battle of Long Tan ensues after a patrol from the 6th Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment clashes with a Viet Cong force in Phước Tuy Province. |
| 93579 | August 18 | Event | 1971 – Vietnam War: Australia and New Zealand decide to withdraw their troops from Vietnam. |
| 93580 | August 18 | Event | 1976 – In the Korean Demilitarized Zone at Panmunjom, the Axe murder incident results in the death of two US soldiers. |
| 93581 | August 18 | Event | 1977 – Steve Biko is arrested at a police roadblock under the Terrorism Act No. 83 of 1967 in King William's Town, South Africa. He later dies from injuries sustained during this arrest bringing attention to South Africa's apartheid policies. |
| 93582 | August 18 | Event | 1983 – Hurricane Alicia hits the Texas coast, killing 22 people and causing over US$1 billion in damage (1983 dollars). |
| 93583 | August 18 | Event | 1989 – Leading presidential hopeful Luis Carlos Galán is assassinated near Bogotá in Colombia. |
| 93584 | August 18 | Event | 2005 – A massive power blackout hits the Indonesian island of Java, affecting almost 100 million people, one of the largest and most widespread power outages in history. |
| 93585 | August 18 | Event | 2008 – President of Pakistan Pervez Musharraf resigns under threat of impeachment. |
| 93586 | August 18 | Event | 2008 – War of Afghanistan: Uzbin Valley ambush occurs. |
| 93587 | August 18 | Birth | 1450 – Marko Marulić, Croatian poet and author (d. 1524) |
| 93588 | August 18 | Birth | 1542 – Charles Neville, 6th Earl of Westmorland (d. 1601) |
| 93589 | August 18 | Birth | 1579 – Countess Charlotte Flandrina of Nassau (d. 1640) |
| 93590 | August 18 | Birth | 1596 – Jean Bolland, Flemish priest and hagiographer (d. 1665) |
| 93591 | August 18 | Birth | 1605 – Henry Hammond, English churchman and theologian (d. 1660) |
| 93592 | August 18 | Birth | 1606 – Maria Anna of Spain (d. 1646) |
| 93593 | August 18 | Birth | 1611 – Marie Louise Gonzaga, French wife of John II Casimir Vasa (d. 1650) |
| 93594 | August 18 | Birth | 1657 – Ferdinando Galli-Bibiena, Italian architect and painter (d. 1743) |
| 93595 | August 18 | Birth | 1685 – Brook Taylor, English mathematician and theorist (d. 1731) |
| 93596 | August 18 | Birth | 1692 – Louis Henri, Duke of Bourbon (d. 1740) |
| 93597 | August 18 | Birth | 1700 – Baji Rao I, Indian emperor (d. 1740) |
| 93598 | August 18 | Birth | 1720 – Laurence Shirley, 4th Earl Ferrers, English politician (d. 1760) |
| 93599 | August 18 | Birth | 1750 – Antonio Salieri, Italian composer and conductor (d. 1825) |
| 93600 | August 18 | Birth | 1754 – François, marquis de Chasseloup-Laubat, French general and engineer (d. 1833) |