Once upon a time: November 18

1307 – William Tell shoots an apple off his son's head.
1493 – Christopher Columbus first sights the island now known as Puerto Rico.
1494 – French King Charles VIII occupies Florence, Italy.
1686 – Charles Francois Felix operates on King Louis XIV of France's anal fistula after practicing the surgery on several peasants.
1730 – Frederick II (known as Frederick the Great), King of Prussia, is granted a royal pardon and released from confinement.
1803 – The Battle of Vertières, the last major battle of the Haitian Revolution, is fought, leading to the establishment of the Republic of Haiti, the first black republic in the Western Hemisphere.
1809 – In a naval action during the Napoleonic Wars, French frigates defeat British East Indiamen in the Bay of Bengal.
1863 – King Christian IX of Denmark decides to sign the November constitution that declares Schleswig to be part of Denmark. This is seen by the German Confederation as a violation of the London Protocol and leads to the German–Danish war of 1864.
1865 – Mark Twain's short story The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County is published in the New York Saturday Press.
1883 – American and Canadian railroads institute five standard continental time zones, ending the confusion of thousands of local times.
1903 – The Hay-Bunau-Varilla Treaty is signed by the United States and Panama, giving the United States exclusive rights over the Panama Canal Zone.
1904 – General Esteban Huertas steps down after the government of Panama fears he wants to stage a coup.
1909 – Two United States warships are sent to Nicaragua after 500 revolutionaries (including two Americans) are executed by order of José Santos Zelaya.
1916 – World War I: First Battle of the Somme – in France, British Expeditionary Force commander Douglas Haig calls off the battle which started on July 1, 1916.
1918 – Latvia declares its independence from Russia.
1926 – George Bernard Shaw refuses to accept the money for his Nobel Prize, saying, "I can forgive Alfred Nobel for inventing dynamite, but only a fiend in human form could have invented the Nobel Prize".
1928 – Release of the animated short Steamboat Willie, the first fully synchronized sound cartoon, directed by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks, featuring the third appearances of cartoon characters Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse. This is also considered by the Disney corporation to be Mickey's birthday. (congratulations Mickey mouse!)

form: wikipedia