March 18

37 – The Roman Senate annuls the will of Emperor Tiberius and proclaims Gaius Caesar Germanicus, better known as Caligula, emperor.

1241 – After consolidating the invasion of the Kievan Russia to the east, the  Mongols of Genghis Khan under the command of Subutai Bahadur, invade Poland, overwhelm Polish armies in Kraków and plunder the city.

1644 – The Third Anglo-Powhatan War begins in the Colony of Virginia.

1766 – After only being in effect in the American colonies for a few months, due to great protests, -“No Taxation Without Representation” – the British Parliament repeals the Stamp Act. The protests by the colonists are generally considered to be the prelude of events that finally resulted in the Revolutionary War and American Independence.

1793 – The first modern republic in Germany, the Republic of Mainz, with its capitol at Mainz, directly across the Rhine river from Wiesbaden, is formed.

1845 – John “Johnny Appleseed” Chapman dies in Fort Wayne, Indiana, age 70.

1865 – At Washington City, Georgia, the Congress of the Confederate States adjourns for the last time and disbands.

1874 – King Kalākaua of Hawaii signs a treaty with the United States granting exclusive trade rights.

1925 – During a massive tornado outbreak, the deadliest tornado in U.S history, called the Tri-State Tornado hits the states of Missouri, Illinois, and Indiana, killing 695 people over its 219 mile long track.

1937 – A natural gas leak explodes at the New London School in New London, Texas, killing 300 people, mostly children.

1942 – Less than a month after signing executive order 9066, allowing the internment of U.S. citizens of Japanese descent, President Roosevelt signs executive order 9102 forming the War Relocation Authority to established the internment camps and take Japanese Americans into custody.

1959 – The Hawaii Admission Act is signed into law, with statehood for Hawaii coming into effect on August, 21.

1965 – Cosmonaut Alexei Leonov, leaving his spacecraft Voskhod 2, becomes the first person to walk in space.

1968 – The U.S. Congress repeals the requirement for a gold reserve to back U.S. currency.

1990 – In the largest art theft in US history, 12 paintings, collectively worth around $500 million, are stolen from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston.

2014 – The parliaments of Russia and Crimea sign an accession treaty allowing Russia to annex the Ukrainian territory.