What happened on 18 January?

10 events from the Ever-When timeline, ranked by how much they mattered.

1. 1871 German unification Bismarck welds the German states into a single empire under Prussian leadership.
2. 1871 Founding of the German Empire Wilhelm I crowned Kaiser at Versailles; unifies Germany.
3. 1701 Kingdom of Prussia proclaimed Elector Frederick III crowns himself King in Prussia at Königsberg; rise of Brandenburg-Prussia as a kingdom begins.
4. 1919 Paris Peace Conference Allied powers convene to draft the post-war peace treaties.
5. 1689 Born: Charles-Louis de Montesquieu Author of The Spirit of the Laws; theorist of the separation of powers.
6. 1992 Deng Xiaoping's southern tour Deng Xiaoping's 1992 tour reaffirms economic reforms.
7. 1486 Henry VII marries Elizabeth of York Lancastrian Henry Tudor marries Yorkist heiress; symbolically ends the Wars of the Roses.
8. 1535 Pizarro founds Lima Turning his back on Cusco in the mountains, Pizarro plants his City of Kings on the coast, facing Spain — a capital for shipping silver home, not for ruling Andeans. For three cent
9. 1991 Scud missiles hit Israel Saddam answers the air war by firing Scuds at Tel Aviv and Haifa, gambling that Israeli retaliation will shatter the Arab members of the coalition. Washington begs Israel to sit st
10. 1654 Treaty of Pereyaslav Khmelnytsky's Cossacks swear allegiance to the tsar in return for protection against Poland — the moment Moscow's claim over Ukraine begins, disputed ever since.