The year began as tensions over nuclear weapons on the Korean peninsula rose to fever pitch.
But in a seemingly impossible feat of diplomacy, Donald Trump secured a meeting with North Korean Leader Kim Jong Un, becoming the first United States President to meet a North Korean leader.
"We have developed a very special bond. So people are going to be impressed, people are going to be very happy. And we're going to take care of a very big and dangerous problem for the world."
North Korea continued its streak of positive diplomacy when Kim Jong-Un became the first leader of his country since the end of the Korean War to cross the military line that divides the two Koreas.
However questions remain over whether this will lead to any real changes on the peninsula.
In the United States, the midterm elections called Donald Trump’s popularity into question.
The Democrats won control of the House of Representatives, which President Trump managed to characterise as "an incredible day" for his Republican Party.
"The Republican Party defied history to expand our Senate majority while significantly beating expectations in the House for the mid-term and mid-term year."
While the world marked 100 years since the end of the First World War, which those that were living it had called 'The war to end all wars', there were still many conflicts raging through 2018.
Thousands of people starved and continue to starve as a result of the war in Yemen, described with sadness by the United Nations humanitarian coordinator in Yemen, Lisa Grande.
"I think many of us felt, as we went into the 21st century, that it was unthinkable that we could see a famine like we saw in Ethiopia, that we saw in Bengal, that we saw in parts of the Soviet Union. That was just unacceptable. Many of us had confidence that that would never happen again, and yet the reality is that in Yemen that is precisely what we are looking at."
Meanwhile the war in Syria entered its eighth year as the Assad government and allied forces continued their quest to drive out I-S.
Britain had a flashback to the Cold War when an ex-Russian spy-turned British double-agent and his daughter were poisoned with the Soviet-era chemical weapon, novichok.
While the nerve agent failed to kill the intended targets, traces of the poison killed a British civilian, appalling UK Home Secretary Sajid Javid and the world.
"It is completely unacceptable for our people to be either deliberate or accidental targets, or for our streets, our towns, our parks to be dumping grounds for poison."
Britain also remained riven by Brexit, with the deadline for negotiations marching inexorably closer, sparking criticism from the British people and opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn.
In more positive news out of Europe, the British royal family dazzled the world as Prince Harry married American actress Meghan Markle.
Shortly after the wedding, the new couple visited Australia.
Prince Harry opened the Invictus Games, which he founded for wounded, injured or sick armed services personnel and veterans. "Our Invictus family has turned these games into a symbol of strength, honour and optimism for a new generation. You are the role models to us all."
In Australia it was a dramatic year for politics, with the country earning worldwide notoriety as the country with a revolving door of Prime Ministers - the latest being Scott Morrison after Malcolm Turnbull was toppled.
Global news organisations like the BBC scrambled to make sense of the state of politics Down Under.
BBC PRESENTER: "Blimey Phil, Australia now readying for a new Prime Minister... the seventh in 11 years?"
REPORTER: "Yes, they'll have to start oiling that revolving that revolving door at Parliament House in Canberra."
Mr Turnbull didn't emulate his predecessor Tony Abbott and retire to the back bench: he quit politics completely.
It set off an historic by-election in the previously unassailable Liberal seat of Wentworth, where independent candidate Kerryn Phelps swept to power.
Liberal backbencher Craig Laundy spoke candidly to the media about the result. "It was pretty clear that the people of Wentworth were not real happy with how their local member, the former Prime Minister, had been treated."
In addition to leadership turmoil in the LIberal party, the Nationals endured not one, but two sex scandals.
Nationals leader and Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce was dragged into the spotlight after he fathered a child with an ex-staffer.
It prompted then-Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull to introduce a new code of conduct for members of parliament.
"Barnaby made a shocking error of judgement. In doing so, he has set off a world of woe for those women and appalled all of us."
Later, when Scott Morrison became P-M, he made Malcolm Turnbull's planned apology to victims and survivors of child sexual abuse in Australia.
"Today Australia confronts a trauma, an abomination, hiding in plain sight for far too long. ... To the children we failed, sorry. To the whistleblowers who we did not listen to, sorry. To the spouses, partners, wives, husbands, children, who have dealt with the consequences of abuse cover ups and obstruction, sorry."
The Banking Royal Commission - that the government had repeatedly said was unnecessary - finally got underway, and its revelations were deeply shocking to many.
Senator Pauline Hanson voiced her anger at the consequences of banking misconduct, as a torrent of bad behaviour was revealed, including charging customers who had died and charging customers for services they never received.
"There have been suicides committed. It is atrocious what has happened and it breaks my heart," she said
The Australian media landscape changed forever when two industry giants, Nine and Fairfax, merged.
The ABC also faced upheaval.
First the Managing Director Michelle Guthrie was fired, quickly followed by Chairman Justin Milne's resignation as a result of public backlash and questions of political interference.
Bushfires in Queensland were unprecedented, as noted by Premier Annastacia Palaszcuk, destroying property but sparing lives.
"No-one has ever recorded these kinds of conditions, ever in the history of Queensland."
Australia lived upto its reputation as a land of flooding rains, and drought - parts of Queensland and all of New South Wales were declared drought-affected and farmers struggled to cope.
"We're suffering right now, we're starting to cut water. If we don't get rain in the next month or six weeks, we're going to run out of water. Full stop."
Nature took its toll around the globe, with hurricanes making landfall in the United States and the Philippines.
California suffered the worst wildfires in its history, and Greece was devastated by fires, with destroyed coastal towns saying they were not warned in time and did not have evacuation plans.
Earthquakes and a tsunami rocked Indonesia, and a volcanic eruption on Hawaii destroyed homes in an unstoppable lava flow.
Unprecedented summer temperatures saw Europe and Japan swelter through a heatwave affecting most of the northern hemisphere.
While in winter, what was dubbed a "polar vortex" buried North America, Europe and northern China in ice and snow.
The United Nations' climate change spokeswoman, Patricia Espinosa, added her voice to scientists' repeated warnings that the world is already suffering the effects of climate change.
"The effects that are happening are affecting communities around the world, casualties, destruction in so many places, suffering, a lot of suffering derived from the consequences of climate change," said Patricia Espinosa, at United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.
And it was an action-packed year in sport.
There was the World Cup in Russia ...
"France are the 2018 world champions!
... and the winter Olympics in South Korea saw records shattered and the two Koreas come closer, competing as one team.
A Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast delivered another international event to Australian shores.
But the jubilation was shattered when Australia’s cricket team brought global condemnation, caught cheating in a test match in South Africa, permanently staining reputations, says English cricketer Michael Vaughan, "The first and foremost thing that they are going to be remembered for whenever they finish, doesn't matter how many Ashes series they win, how many world cups they win, they're going to be remembered as the team that cheated."
Captain Steve Smith and vice-captain David Warner stepped down from their roles and received unprecedented sanctions from Cricket Australia, a weeping Smith giving an emotional apology to fans and the nation.
"I just want to say I'm sorry, for the pain that I've brought Australia and the fans. It's devastating and I'm truly sorry."
But the story that enthralled the world this year happened in a corner of Thailand where a young football team became the centre of an epic story of survival and rescue.
Striving to get the boys out of an elaborate cave network, the world truly came together.
Australian Federal Police's Glen McEwan commended the efforts, including that of Australian diver, Doctor Richard Harris. "It's amazing what the human being can do. You know there are extraordinary people doing extraordinary things."
A year of highs and lows, but certainly one to remember.
