Directory

1918 CE

The Spanish flu pandemic begins, killing an estimated 50 million worldwide; The Armistice of 11 November 1918 ends fighting on the Western Front and concludes World War I; The Dissolution of Austria-Hungary leads to new states such as Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, Austria, and Hungary; The German Revolution of 1918–1919 forces Kaiser Wilhelm II to abdicate and creates the Weimar Republic; The Hundred Days Offensive breaks German lines and collapses military resistance; The Murder of the Romanov family ends the Russian imperial dynasty.

Geopolitics & Diplomacy

  • January 4 – The Finnish Declaration of Independence is recognized by Soviet Russia, Sweden, Germany and France.source
  • January 8 – American president Woodrow Wilson presents the Fourteen Points as a basis for peace negotiations to end the war.source
  • February 6 – Women's suffrage in the United Kingdom: Representation of the People Act gives most women over 30 the vote.source
  • March 3 – WWI: The Central Powers and Bolshevist Russia sign the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, ending Russia's involvement in the war.source
  • March 19 – The United States Congress establishes time zones, and approves daylight saving time (DST goes into effect on March 31).source
  • April 9 – Union of Bessarabia with Romania: Bessarabia votes to become part of the Kingdom of Romania.source
  • April 22 – Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia declare their independence from Russia as the Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic.source
  • May 24 – Women in Canada, excluding residents of Quebec, are granted the right to vote in federal elections.source
  • May 26 – The Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic is abolished; Georgia declares its independence as the Democratic Republic of Georgia.source
  • May 28 – Armenia and Azerbaijan declare their independence as the First Republic of Armenia and the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic respectively.source
  • October 3 – Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany appoints Max von Baden Chancellor of Germany.source
  • October 3 – King Ferdinand I of Bulgaria abdicates in the wake of the Bulgarian military collapse in WWI. He is succeeded by his son, Boris III.source
  • October 4 – Wilhelm II of Germany forms a new, liberal government to sue for peace.source
  • November 1 – The Polish–Ukrainian War is inaugurated, by the proclamation of the West Ukrainian People's Republic in Galicia, with a capital at Lwów.source
  • November 9 – Proclamation of the republic in Germany by Philipp Scheidemann in Berlin, on the Reichstag balcony. One of several significant events on 9 November in German history.source
  • November 9 – Provisional National Council Minister-President Kurt Eisner declares Bavaria to be a republic.source
  • November 11 – Poland regains independence, after 123 years of partitions. Józef Piłsudski is appointed Commander-in-Chief.source
  • November 14 – Charles Edward, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, announces he is ceasing to rule Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, leading to the establishment of the Free State of Coburg and the Free State of Saxe-Gotha.source
  • November 16 – The Hungarian Democratic Republic is declared, marking Hungary's independence from Austria.source
  • November 26 – The Podgorica Assembly ('Great National Assembly of the Serb People in Montenegro') votes for a "union of the people" between the kingdoms of Montenegro and Serbia and for deposition of the exiled King Nicholas I of Montenegro.source
  • December 1 – The Union of Alba Iulia is proclaimed: Following the March 27 incorporation of Bessarabia and Bucovina, Transylvania unites with the Kingdom of Romania.source
  • December 4 – President Woodrow Wilson departs by ship to the Paris Peace Conference, becoming the first United States President to travel to Europe while holding office.source
  • December 16 – Vincas Mickevičius-Kapsukas declares the formation of the Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic, a puppet state created by the Russian SFSR to justify the Lithuanian–Soviet War.source
  • December 25 – Der Stahlhelm, Bund der Frontsoldaten, is formed in Germany as a nationalist veterans' organization.source

Conflict & Security

  • February 3 – Finnish Civil War: Battle of Oulu – The White Guard defeats the Reds.source
  • March 21–July 18 – WWI: The Spring Offensive by the German Army along the Western Front fails to make a breakthrough, despite large losses on each side, including nearly 20,000 British Army dead on the first day, Operation Michael, on the Somme.source
  • March 30 – March Days: Bolshevik and Armenian Revolutionary Federation forces suppress a Muslim revolt in Baku, Azerbaijan, resulting in up to 30,000 deaths.source
  • April 30 – WWI: The Second Transjordan attack on Shunet Nimrin and Es Salt, launched by units of the Egyptian Expeditionary Force, ends on 4 May, with their withdrawal back to the Jordan Valley.source
  • May 14 – The Three Minute Pause, initiated by the daily firing of the Noon Gun on Signal Hill, is instituted by Cape Town Mayor Sir Harry Hands. It will inspire the introduction of the two-minute silence in November 1919.source
  • June 10 – WWI: The Austro-Hungarian dreadnought battleship SMS Szent István is sunk by two Italian MAS motor torpedo boats off the Dalmatian coast.source
  • July 3 – Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War: The Siberian Intervention is launched by the Allies, to extract the Czechoslovak Legion from the Russian Civil War.source
  • August 2 – North Russia Intervention: Anti-Bolshevik forces stage a coup at Arkhangelsk, and an occupation by Allied forces follows.source
  • August 16 – The Battle of Lake Baikal is fought by the Czechoslovak legion, against the Red Army.source
  • September 3 – The Bolshevik government of Russia publishes the first official announcement of the Red Terror, a period of repression against political opponents, as an "Appeal to the Working Class" in the newspaper Izvestia.source
  • September 18 – WWI: Battle of Épehy – British approach the Hindenburg Line along the St Quentin Canal.source
  • The Capture of Damascus begins, with the Charge at Irbid by the 4th Cavalry Division (India).source
  • The British Army's Egyptian Expeditionary Force launches the Battle of Megiddo, incorporating the Battle of Sharon, and the Battle of Nablus, an attack in the Judaean Mountains. This day are fought the Battle of Tulkarm, and the Battle of Arara, which break the Ottoman front line stretching from the Mediterranean coast to the Judaean Mountains, while the Battle of Tabsor extends into September 20.source
  • Battle of St Quentin Canal begins; Allied forces advance towards the Hindenburg Line.source
  • October 30 – The Armistice of Mudros ends conflict between the Ottoman Empire and the Allies of World War I, and grants independence to the Mutawakkilite Kingdom of Yemen.source
  • October 31 – Revolution overthrows the pro-Habsburg government in Hungary, effectively dissolving the Austro-Hungarian Empire.source
  • November 3 – WWI: The Armistice of Villa Giusti is signed between Austria-Hungary and the Allies near Padua.source
  • November 3 – German Revolution: Kiel mutiny by sailors in the German fleet at Kiel while throughout northern Germany soldiers and workers begin to establish revolutionary councils on the Russian soviet model.source
  • November 20 – U-boats start to rendezvous off Harwich, to begin the surrender of the High Seas Fleet to the British Royal Navy; in the following week the German warships are escorted to internment in Scapa Flow.source
  • November 21 – Lwów pogrom: Polish troops, volunteers and freed criminals massacre at least 320 Ukrainian Christians and Jews in Lwów, Galicia.source
  • November 22 – The Belgian royal family returns to Brussels after the war, King Albert I having commanded the Allied army group in the September–October Courtrai offensive, which liberated his country.source
  • November 25 – General Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck, German commander in German East Africa, signs a ceasefire at Abercorn in Northern Rhodesia.source
  • November 28 – Estonian War of Independence: The Red Army invades Estonia, starting the war. The Commune of the Working People of Estonia is established as a Soviet puppet state in Narva on the next day.source
  • December 27 – Greater Poland Uprising (1918–19): Poles in Greater Poland (the former Grand Duchy of Posen) rise up against the Germans, ignited by a patriotic speech made in Poznań by pianist and politician Ignacy Jan Paderewski.source

Exploration & Expansion

  • March 6 – The Finnish Army Corps of Aviation is founded as a forerunner of the Finnish Air Force (established on 4 May 1928). The blue swastika is adopted as its symbol, as a tribute to the Swedish explorer and aviator Eric von Rosen, who donated the first plane. Von Rosen had painted the Viking symbol on the plane as his personal lucky insignia.source

Religion & Belief

  • February 16 – The Council of Lithuania adopts the Act of Independence of Lithuania, declaring Lithuania's independence from Germany, Russia or any other state.source

Economy & Finance

  • May 2 – General Motors acquires the Chevrolet Motor Company of Delaware.source

Technology & Infrastructure

  • January 15 – The keel of is laid in Britain, the first purpose-designed aircraft carrier to be laid down.source
  • March 6 – The first pilotless drone, the Hewitt-Sperry Automatic Airplane developed by Elmer Ambrose Sperry and Peter Cooper Hewitt, is test-flown in Long Island, New York, but development is scrapped in 1925, after its guidance system proves unreliable.source
  • April 1 – The Royal Flying Corps and the Royal Naval Air Service in Britain are merged to form the Royal Air Force, the first autonomous Air Force in the world.source
  • May 15 – The United States Post Office Department begins the world's third regular airmail service, between New York City, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C.source
  • May 21 – The United States Army Aviation Section is separated from the Signal Corps, and divided into the Division of Military Aeronautics and the Bureau of Aircraft Production.source
  • June 29 – Bronx International Exposition of Science, Arts and Industries opens in New York; Brazil is the only international exhibitor and the exposition closes at the end of the season.source
  • November 30 – Ernest Ansermet conducts the first concert by the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande.source

Science & Discovery

  • June 8 – V603 Aquilae, the brightest nova observed since Kepler's of 1604, is discovered.source
  • July 14 – The film The Glorious Adventure is released in the United States, featuring Mammy Lou, who becomes one of the oldest people ever to star in a film, at a claimed age of 114.source

Health & Medicine

  • January – 1918 flu pandemic: The "Spanish flu" (influenza) is first observed in Haskell County, Kansas.source
  • Conscription Crisis of 1918 in Ireland: A general strike is held here against conscription.source
  • June–August – The "Spanish flu" becomes pandemic. Over 30 million people die in the following 6 months.source
  • August 3 – WWI: Australian hospital ship is torpedoed and sunk in the English Channel on passage from Le Havre to Southampton by German submarine with the loss of 123 of the 801 people on board.source

Crime & Justice

  • March 25 – Karl Muck, music director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, is arrested under the Alien Enemies Act, and imprisoned for the duration of WWI.source
  • June 12 – Grand Duke Michael of Russia is murdered, thereby becoming the first of the Romanovs to be killed by the Bolsheviks.source
  • June 22 – Suspects in the Chicago Restaurant Poisonings are arrested, and more than 100 waiters are taken into custody for poisoning restaurant customers with a lethal powder called Mickey Finn.source
  • July 17 – Execution of the Romanov family: By order of the Bolshevik Party, and carried out by the Cheka, former emperor Nicholas II, his wife Alexandra Feodorovna, their children, Olga, Tatiana, Maria, Anastasia, Alexei and retainers are shot at the Ipatiev House, in Ekaterinburg, Russia.source

Disasters & Accidents

  • February 5 – The is torpedoed off the Irish coast; it is the first ship carrying American troops to Europe to be torpedoed and sunk.source
  • March 1 – WWI: German submarine sinks off Rathlin Island, Northern Ireland.source
  • June 4 – RMS Kenilworth Castle, one of the Union-Castle Line steamships, collides with her escort destroyer HMS Rival while trying to avoid her other escort, the cruiser HMS Kent.source
  • July 12 – The Imperial Japanese Navy battleship Kawachi blows up off Tokuyama, Yamaguchi, western Honshu, Japan, killing at least 621.source
  • July 17 – WWI: (famed for rescuing survivors of the ) is torpedoed and sunk off the east coast of Ireland, by Imperial German Navy submarine U-55; 218 of the 223 on board are rescued.source
  • July 18 – The Cheka kill the Martyrs of Alapayevsk, six further members of the Romanov family and retainers, by throwing them down a mineshaft.source
  • United States Coast Guard cutter Tampa is torpedoed and sunk in the Bristol Channel by German submarine with the loss of all 131 on board, the greatest loss of life for any US combat vessel in the war.source
  • October 12 – Cloquet Fire: The city of Cloquet, Minnesota, and nearby areas are destroyed in a fire, killing 453.source
  • October 25 – The steamer Princess Sophia sinks on Vanderbilt Reef near Juneau, Alaska; 353 people die, in the greatest maritime disaster in the Pacific Northwest.source
  • November 1 – Malbone Street Wreck: The worst rapid transit accident in world history occurs under the intersection of Malbone Street and Flatbush Avenue, in Brooklyn, New York City, with at least 93 dead.source
  • November 9 – British battleship is sunk by a German submarine off Trafalgar, with the loss of around fifty lives (the last major naval engagement of WWI).source
  • December 5 – Estonian War of Independence: The British light cruiser strikes a mine and sinks near Saaremaa in the Baltic Sea, killing 11 sailors.source

Climate & Environment

  • February 13 – A magnitude (M w ) 7.2 earthquake shakes the Chinese city of Shantou leaving 1,000 dead and causing a moderate tsunami.source
  • May 20 – The small town of Codell, Kansas is hit for the third year in a row, on the same date, by a tornado.source
  • October 11 – The magnitude (M w ) 7.1 San Fermín earthquake shakes Puerto Rico with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent), killing 76–116 people. A destructive tsunami contributes to the damage and loss of life.source
  • December 6 – A magnitude (M w ) 7.2 earthquake shakes British Columbia.source
  • December 28 – Sinn Féin enjoys a landslide victory of the Irish seats at the 1918 United Kingdom general election, winning 73 of the 105 seats in Ireland. In accordance with their manifesto, Sinn Féin members will not take their seats in the Palace of Westminster but will form the First Dáil in Dublin. Countess Constance Markievicz, while detained in Holloway Prison (London), becomes the first woman elected to (but does not take her seat in) the British House of Commons.source

Culture & Society

  • January 18 – The Historic Concert for the Benefit of Widows and Orphans of Austrian and Hungarian Soldiers is held at the Konzerthaus, Vienna.source
  • February 14 – Russia switches from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar; the date skips from January 31 to February 14.source
  • March 26 – Marie Stopes publishes her influential book Married Love in the U.K.source
  • May 16 – The victory military parade by the Finnish White Guard is held in Helsinki celebrating their decisive victory in the Finnish Civil War. The day also begin to be celebrated on the Defence Forces Flag Day before it is moved in 1942 to the June 4th.source
  • June 16 – The Declaration to the Seven, a British government response to a memorandum issued anonymously by seven Syrian notables, is published.source
  • October 9 – Landgrave Prince Frederick Charles of Hesse is elected King of Finland.source
  • October 30 – The Martin Declaration is published, including Slovakia in the formation of the Czecho-Slovak state.source
  • November 11 – Red Week: Pieter Jelles Troelstra gives a speech calling for socialist revolution in the Netherlands.source
  • December 14 – Prince Frederick Charles of Hesse renounces the Finnish throne.source
  • December 14 – Giacomo Puccini's comic opera Gianni Schicchi premiered at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City.source

Births

  • January 23 – Gertrude B. Elion, American scientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 1999)source
  • February 12 – Julian Schwinger, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1994)source
  • March 16 – Frederick Reines, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1998)source
  • March 29 – Sam Walton, founder of Wal-Mart (d. 1992)source
  • April 8 – Betty Ford, First Lady of the United States (d. 2011)source
  • May 4 – Kakuei Tanaka, 40th Prime Minister of Japan (d. 1993)source
  • May 11 – Richard Feynman, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1988)source
  • July 29 – Edwin O'Connor, American novelist, Pulitzer Prize for Fiction winner (d. 1968)source
  • August 12 – Guy Gibson, British bomber pilot, leader of the "Dam Busters" raid (d. 1944)source
  • August 13 – Frederick Sanger, English biochemist, double Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2013)source
  • October 9 – E. Howard Hunt, American Watergate break-in coordinator (d. 2007)source
  • November 4 – Art Carney, American actor, best known for his role in The Honeymooners (d. 2003)source
  • November 7 – Billy Graham, American evangelist, spiritual adviser to several U.S. Presidents (d. 2018)source
  • December 11 – Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, Russian writer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2008)source

Deaths

  • March 27 – Martin Sheridan, American Olympic athlete (b. 1881), Spanish flusource
  • August 9 – Marianne Cope, German-born American Roman Catholic nun and saint (b. 1838)source
  • September 12 – Sir George Reid, 4th Prime Minister of Australia (b. 1845)source
  • September 20 – Prince Erik, Duke of Västmanland (b. 1889), Spanish flusource
  • October 16 – Felix Arndt, American pianist, composer (b. 1889), Spanish flusource
  • October 18 – Daudo Okelo, Ugandan Roman Catholic martyr and saint (executed) (b. ca. 1900)source
  • October 18 – Jildo Irwa, Ugandan Roman Catholic martyr and saint (executed) (b. 1906)source
  • October 25 – Amadeo de Souza Cardoso, Portuguese painter (b. 1887), Spanish flusource
  • October 31 – István Tisza, 2-time Prime Minister of Hungary (assassinated) (b. 1861)source
  • November 5 – Samuel Liddell MacGregor Mathers, British occultist (b. 1854), Spanish flusource
  • November 6 – Alan Arnett McLeod, Canadian soldier (b. 1899), Spanish flusource
  • November 9 – Guillaume Apollinaire, French poet (b. 1880), Spanish flusource
  • November 15 – Sir Robert Anderson, British police officer (b. 1841), Spanish flusource
  • November 22 – Rose Cleveland, de facto First Lady of the United States (b. 1846), Spanish flusource