1918
1918 (
MCMXVIII) was a
common year starting on Tuesday of the
Gregorian calendar (see link for calendar) or a
common year starting on Wednesday of the
Julian calendar.
January
*
January 28 â€" Breakout of the
Finnish Civil WarFebruary
*
February 16 â€"
Lithuania declared its independence.
*
February 24 â€"
Estonia declared its independence.
March-April
*
March 1 â€" German submarine
U 19 sinks
HMS Calgarian off
Rathlin Island, Northern Ireland.
*
March 3 â€"
World War I: Germany,
Austria and
Bolshevist Russia sign the
Treaty of Brest-Litovsk ending Russia's involvement in the war.
*
March 5 â€" The Soviet Russia moves its national capital from
Petrograd to
Moscow*
March 6 â€"
Finnish Air Force founded. 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 Buddhist symbol on the plane as his personal lucky insignia.
*
March 7 â€" World War I:
Finland forms an alliance with Germany.
*
March 12 â€"
Moscow becomes the capital of Soviet Russia
*
March 19 â€" The
U.S. Congress establishes
time zones and approves
daylight saving time (DST went into effect on
March 31).
*
March 21 â€" World War I:
Second Battle of the Somme begins
*
March 23 â€" The giant German cannon, the so called
Paris Gun begins to shell Paris from 114 km (75 miles) away
*
March 23 â€" In London at the
Wood Green Empire,
Chung Ling Soo (William E Robinson, US-born magician) dies during his trick where he was supposed to "catch" two separate bullets â€" one of them perforates his lung. He dies the following morning in hospital.
*
March 23 â€" The
Social Revolutionary Party declares
Belorussia independent;
Bolshevik armies soon crush them
*
March 25 â€" for the first time
Belarus declares independence.
*
April 1 â€" The
Royal Flying Corps and the
Royal Naval Air Service are merged to form the
Royal Air Force.
May-July
*
May 1 â€" German troops enter
Don province â€" they take
Rostov May 6*
May 2 â€"
General Motors acquires the
Chevrolet Motor Company of
Delaware.
*
May 15 â€" The Post Office Department (later renamed the
USPS) begins the first regular
airmail service in the world (between
New York City,
Philadelphia and
Washington, DC).
*
May 16 â€" The
Sedition Act of 1918 is approved by US Congress.
*
May 26 â€" The
Democratic Republic of Georgia is established.
*
may 28 â€"
Azerbaijan declared independence and established the
Azerbaijan Democratic Republic. This first Muslim republic in the world.
*
May 28 â€"
Armenia gains independence from the
Ottoman Empire*
June 1 â€" World War I:
Battle for Belleau Wood begins.
*
July 3â€" The
Siberian Expedition is launched to extract the Czechoslovak Legion from the Russian civil war.
*
July 4 â€" Change of
emperor of the
Ottoman Empire from
Mehmed V (Resad) (
1909-1918) to
Mehmed VI (Vahdettin) (1918-
1922)
*
July 9 â€"
Great train wreck of 1918: In
Nashville, Tennessee, an inbound local train collides with an outbound express killing 101.
*
July 13 â€" The National Czechoslovak Committee was established.
*
July 15 â€" World War I:
Second Battle of the Marne â€" The battle begins near the
River Marne with a German attack.
*
July 17 â€" By order of the
Bolshevik Party and carried out by
Cheka,
Emperor Nicholas II of Russia, his immediate family, and retainers were murdered at the Ipatiev House in
Ekaterinburg, Russia.
August-October
* August â€" "
Spanish Flu"
Influenza becomes
pandemic; over twenty-five million people die in the following six months (almost two times as many as died during the war).
*
August 1 â€" British anti-Bolshevik forces occupy
Archangel, Russia.
August 10 commander is told to help
White Russians*
August 1 â€" Emma Susan Daugherty Banister becomes the first female sheriff in the United States following the death of her husband,
John Riley Banister.
*
August 8 â€" World War I:
Battle of Amiens â€"
Canadian troops, backed by
Australians, begin a string of almost continuous victories with a push through the German front lines. German General
Erich Ludendorff will later call this the "black day of the German army."
*
August 30 â€" Strike of 20,000 London policemen with demands of increased pay and union recognition.
*
August 30 â€"
Fanya Kaplan tries to shoot
Lenin. Petrograd head of
Cheka is assassinated the same day.
*
September 11 â€" The
Boston Red Sox defeat the
Chicago Cubs for the
1918 World Series championship. (their last World Series win until
2004)
*
September 28 â€"
Don Voisko adopts a constitution including declaration of
independence. Collapse of
Imperial Germany makes it void
*
October 3 â€"
Kaiser makes
Max von Baden German chancellor.
*
October 8 â€" World War I â€" In the
Argonne Forest in
France, US Corporal
Alvin C. York almost single-handedly kills 25 German soldiers and captures 132.
*
October 18 â€" The city of
Mayagüez, Puerto Rico was nearly destroyed by an earthquake and a tsunami.
*
October 18 â€" Washington Declaration proclaimed the independent Czechoslovak Republic.
*
October 25 â€" The
Princess Sophia sinks on
Vanderbilt Reef near
Juneau, Alaska, 353 people die in the greatest maritime disaster in the Pacific Northwest.
*
October 28 â€"
Czechoslovakia declares its independence on
Austria-Hungary.
*
October 28 â€" New Polish government in Western
Galicia (Central Europe)*
October 30 â€" Martin Declaration was published demanding embodying Slovakia into the forming Czech state.
*
October 30 -
Mutawakkilite Kingdom of Yemen declares independence from the
Ottoman Empire.
November
*
November 1 â€"
Malbone Street Wreck: the worst
rapid transit accident in world history occurs under the intersection of Malbone Street and Flatbush Avenue,
Brooklyn, New York City, with at least 93
dead.
*
November 1 â€"
Ruthenia in eastern
Czechoslovakia declares brief
independence*
November 3 â€" World War I: Austria-Hungary enters an armistice with the
Allies.
*
November 3 â€"
Poland declares its independence from Russia.
*
November 4 â€" World War I:
Austria-Hungary surrenders to
Italy.
*
November 4 â€" Mutiny in the German fleet at
Kiel begin the
German Revolution.
*
November 6 â€" A new Polish government is proclaimed in
Lublin.
*
November 8 â€" German army withdraws its support of the Kaiser
*
November 9 â€" Kaiser
Wilhelm II of Germany abdicates and chooses to live in exile in the
Netherlands.
*
November 9 â€" Provisional National Council Minister-President
Kurt Eisner declares
Bavaria to be a
republic.
*
November 11 â€" World War I ends: Germany signs
an armistice agreement with the Allies in a
railroad car outside of
Compiègne in
France.
*
November 11 â€" Poland regains independence after 123 years of
partitions.
Józef Piłsudski is appointed
Commander-in-Chief.
*
November 11 â€" Emperor
Charles I of Austria abdicates.
*
November 12 â€"
Austria becomes a
republic.
*
November 14 â€"
Czechoslovakia becomes a
republic.
*
November 14 â€"
Józef Piłsudski is appointed
head of state of
Poland*
November 16 â€"
Hungary declares independence from
Austria*
November 16 â€"
Hungarian People's Republic declared
*
November 18 â€"
Latvia declares its independence from Russia.
*
November 22 â€"
Spartacist League founds German Communist Party
*
November 22 â€"
Belgian royal family returns to
Brussels after the war
*
November 26 â€" the
Podgorica Assembly voted for "union of the people", declaring a joining into the Kingdom of
Serbia*
November 28 â€" Soviet Russia invades
Estonia.
December
*
December 1 â€"
Iceland becomes a self-governing kingdom, yet remains united with
Denmark.
*
December 1 â€" New voting laws in
Sweden. Votes no longer dependent on taxable assets. One person, one vote.
*
December 1 â€" Proclamation of Union of
Alba Iulia. Following the
March 27 incorporation of
Bessarabia and
Bucovina,
Transylvania unites with
Romania.
*
December 1 â€" The Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (later known as the
Kingdom of Yugoslavia) is proclaimed.
*
December 4 â€" US President
Woodrow Wilson sails for the
Paris Peace Conference, becoming the first US president to travel to
Europe while in office.
*
December 20 â€"
Thomas Garrigue Masaryk returned to the Czechoslovak Republic.
*
December 27 â€" Beginning of
Great Poland Uprising, the Poles in
Greater Poland (or
Grand Duchy of Poznań} rise against the Germans.
*
December 28 â€"
Constance Markiewicz becomes the first woman elected to the
House of Commons.
Unknown dates
*
Finnish Civil War between the Reds and the Whites, January â€" April.
*
Habsburg Empire ceases to exist.
*
Grand Duchy of Baden ceases to exist.
* British occupy
Palestine*
Katla erupts in
Iceland, 12. October â€" 4. Nóvember.
*
Native American Church is founded.
*
Ernest Ansermet founds the
Orchestre de la Suisse Romande.
*
John Riley Banister becomes sheriff of
Coleman County,
Texas.
*
Clifton Hillegass, American author born (d.
2001)
*
Association Against the Prohibition Amendment founded to promote
repeal of prohibition in U.S.
*
United Business Media founded in London (as United Newspapers Ltd.)
January
*
January 1 -
Patrick Anthony Porteous, Scottish recipient of the
Victoria Cross (d.
2000)
*
January 10 -
Arthur Chung,
President of Guyana*
January 15 -
Gamal Abdal Nasser,
President of Egypt (d.
1970)
*
January 16 -
Nel Benschop, Dutch poet (d.
2005)
*
January 16 -
Stirling Silliphant, American writer and producer (d.
1996)
*
January 19 -
John H. Johnson, American publisher (d.
2005)
*
January 20 -
Esquivel, Mexican musician (d.
2002)
*
January 21 -
Richard D. Winters, U.S. Army officer
*
January 23 -
Gertrude B. Elion, American scientist, recipient of the
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d.
1999)
*
January 25 -
Ernie Harwell, American baseball sportscaster
*
January 26 -
Nicolae CeauÅŸescu, Romanian dictator (d.
1989)
*
January 26 -
Philip José Farmer, American writer
*
January 27 -
Skitch Henderson, English-born musician and bandleader (d.
2005)
*
January 29 -
John Forsythe, American actor
February
*
February 1 -
Muriel Spark, Scottish author (d.
2006)
*
February 2 -
Hella Haasse, Dutch writer
*
February 3 -
Helen Stephens, American runner (d.
1994)
*
February 6 -
Lothar-Günther Buchheim, German author
*
February 7 -
Markey Robinson, Northern Irish painter (d.
1999)
*
February 8 -
Fred Blassie, American professional wrestler (d.
2003)
*
February 12 -
Julian Schwinger, American physicist,
Nobel Prize laureate (d.
1994)
*
February 17 -
William Bronk, American poet (d.
1999)
*
February 22 -
Robert Pershing Wadlow, American record-holder as the tallest man (d.
1940)
*
February 25 -
Barney Ewell, American athlete (d.
1996)
*
February 25 -
Bobby Riggs, American tennis player (d.
1995)
*
February 26 -
Theodore Sturgeon, American writer (d.
1985)
March
*
March 1 -
Roger Delgado, British actor (d.
1973)
*
March 1 -
João Goulart,
President of Brazil (d.
1976)
*
March 3 -
Arthur Kornberg, American biochemist, recipient of the
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine*
March 3 -
Fritz Thiedemann, German equestrian (d.
2000)
*
March 5 -
James Tobin, American economist,
Nobel Prize laureate (d.
2002)
*
March 9 -
George Lincoln Rockwell, American Nazi leader (d.
1967)
*
March 9 -
Mickey Spillane, American writer (d.
2006)
*
March 11 -
Jack Coe, American evangelist (d.
1956)
*
March 12 -
Elaine de Kooning, American artist (d.
1989)
*
March 16 -
Frederick Reines, American physicist,
Nobel Prize laureate (d.
1998)
*
March 17 -
Mercedes McCambridge, American actress (d.
2004)
*
March 18 -
Al Benton, baseball player (d.
1968)
*
March 18 -
Bob Broeg, American sports writer (d.
2005)
*
March 22 -
Cheddi Jagan,
President of Guyana (d.
1997)
*
March 25 -
Howard Cosell, American attorney, lecturer, and sports journalist (d.
1995)
*
March 29 -
Pearl Bailey, American singer and actress (d.
1990)
April
*
April 9 -
Jørn Utzon, Danish architect
*
April 16 -
Spike Milligan, Irish comedian (died
2002)
*
April 17 -
William Holden, American actor (d.
1981)
*
April 20 -
Kai Siegbahn, Swedish physicist,
Nobel Prize laureate
*
April 22 -
Mickey Vernon, baseball player
*
April 26 -
Fanny Blankers-Koen, Dutch athlete (d.
2004)
May
*
May 1 -
Jack Paar, American television show host (d.
2004)
*
May 3 -
Benjamin C. Thompson, American architect (d.
2002)
*
May 9 -
Mike Wallace, American journalist
*
May 9 -
Orville L. Freeman, American politician (d.
2003)
*
May 11 -
Richard Feynman, American physicist,
Nobel Prize laureate (d.
1988)
*
May 12 -
Julius Rosenberg, American-born Soviet spy (d.
1953)
*
May 15 -
Eddy Arnold, American singer
*
May 16 -
Wilf Mannion, English footballer (d.
2000)
*
May 17 -
Birgit Nilsson, Swedish soprano (d.
2005)
*
May 20 -
Edward B. Lewis, American geneticist, recipient of the
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d.
2004)
June
*
June 6 -
Edwin G. Krebs, American biochemist, recipient of the
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine*
June 18 -
Jerome Karle, American chemist,
Nobel Prize laureate
*
June 18 -
Franco Modigliani, Italian-born economist,
Nobel Prize laureate (d.
2003)
July
*
July 4 -
Ann Landers, American advice columnist (d.
2002)
*
July 4 -
Abigail Van Buren, American advice columnist and twin sister to Ann Landers
*
July 5 -
George Rochberg, American composer (d.
2005)
*
July 9 -
Jarl Wahlström, Salvation Army general (d.
1999)
*
July 13 -
Alberto Ascari, Italian race car driver (d.
1955)
*
July 14 -
Ingmar Bergman Swedish film director
*
July 15 -
Bertram N. Brockhouse, Canadian physicist,
Nobel Prize laureate (d.
2003)
*
July 17 -
Carlos Manuel Arana Osorio,
President of Guatemala (d.
2003)
*
July 18 -
Nelson Mandela,
President of South Africa, recipient of the
Nobel Peace Prize*
July 24 -
Ruggiero Ricci, Italian-born violinist
*
July 25 -
Jane Frank, American artist
*
July 27 -
Leonard Rose, American cellist (d.
1984)
*
July 29 -
Edwin O'Connor, American novelist and
Pulitzer Prize for Fiction winner (d.
1968)
*
July 31 -
Paul D. Boyer, American chemist,
Nobel Prize laureate
August
*
August 3 -
Sidney Gottlieb, American Central Intelligence Agency official (d.
1999)
*
August 5 -
Betty Oliphant, co-founder of National Ballet of Canada (d.
2004)
*
August 8 -
Brian Stonehouse, English painter and World War II spy (d.
1998)
*
August 13 -
Frederick Sanger, English biochemist,
Nobel Prize laureate
*
August 25 -
Leonard Bernstein, American composer and conductor (d.
1990)
*
August 30 -
Ted Williams, American baseball player (d.
2002)
September
*
September 4 -
Paul Harvey, American radio broadcaster
*
September 8 -
Derek Harold Richard Barton, British chemist,
Nobel Prize laureate (d.
1998)
*
September 22 -
Henryk Szeryng, Polish-born violinist (d.
1988)
*
September 27 -
Martin Ryle, English radio astronomer, recipient of the
Nobel Prize in Physics (d.
1984)
October
*
October 4 -
Kenichi Fukui, Japanese chemist,
Nobel Prize laureate (d.
1998)
*
October 8 -
Jens Christian Skou, Danish chemist,
Nobel Prize laureate
*
October 17 -
Rita Hayworth, American actress (d.
1987)
*
October 19 -
Louis Althusser, French philosopher (d.
1990)
*
October 27 â€"
Mihkel Mathiesen, Estonian statesman (d.
2003)
*
October 27 -
Teresa Wright, American actress (d.
2005)
*
October 31 -
Ian Stevenson, American parapsychologist
November
*
November 3 -
Russell B. Long, U.S. Senator from Louisiana (d.
2003)
*
November 4 -
Art Carney, American actor (d.
2003)
*
November 10 -
Ernst Otto Fischer, German chemist,
Nobel Prize laureate
*
November 13 -
Jack Elam, American actor (d.
2003)
December
*
December 8 -
Gérard Souzay, French baritone (d.
2004)
*
December 9 -
Jerome Beatty, Jr., author of children's literature
*
December 11 -
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, Russian writer,
Nobel Prize laureate
*
December 12 -
Joe Williams, American jazz singer (d.
1999)
*
December 15 -
Jeff Chandler, American actor (d.
1961)
*
December 21 -
Donald Regan, Chief of Staff and U.S. Treasury Secretary (d.
2003)
*
December 21 -
Kurt Waldheim,
President of Austria and
Secretary-General of the United Nations*
December 23 -
José Greco, Italian-born flamenco dancer (d.
2001)
*December 23 -
Helmut Schmidt Chancellor of Germany*
December 25 -
Anwar Sadat,
President of Egypt, recipient of the
Nobel Peace Prize (d.
1981)
*
January 6 -
Georg Cantor, German mathematician (b.
1845)
*
January 9 -
Émile Reynaud, French science teacher and maker of the first animated films (b.
1844)
*
January 28 -
John McCrae, Canadian soldier and poet (b.
1872)
*
February 6 -
Gustav Klimt, Austrian painter (b.
1862)
*
February 10 -
Ernesto Teodoro Moneta, Italian pacifist, recipient of the
Nobel Peace Prize (b.
1833)
*
March 10 -
Jim McCormick, Baseball player (b.
1856)
*
March 13 -
César Cui, Lithuanian composer (b.
1835)
*
March 25 -
Claude Debussy, French composer (b.
1862)
*
March 27 -
Henry Adams, American historian (b.
1838)
*
April 20 -
Karl Ferdinand Braun, German phyicist,
Nobel Prize laureate (b.
1850)
*
April 21 -
Manfred von Richthofen, "Red Baron", German World War I pilot (b,
1892)
*
April 28 -
Gavrilo Princip, Assassin of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria (b.
1894)
*
May 14 -
James Gordon Bennett, Jr., American newspaper publisher (b.
1841)
*
May 19 -
Raoul Lufbery, American World War I pilot (b.
1885)
*
June 10 -
Arrigo Boito, Italian poet and composer (b.
1842)
*
July 3 - Sultan
Mehmed V of the Ottoman Empire (b.
1844)
*
July 17 (N.S.) - Family of Tsar
Nicholas II of Russia (b.
1868)
**
Tsarina Alexandra of Russia (b.
1872)
**
Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna of Russia (b.
1895)
**
Grand Duchess Tatiana Nikolaevna of Russia (b.
1897)
**
Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaevna of Russia (b.
1899)
**
Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna of Russia (b.
1901)
**
Tsarevich Alexei of Russia (b.
1904)
*
July 22 -
Indra Lal Roy, Indian World War I pilot (killed in combat) (b.
1898)
*
August 1 -
John Riley Banister, American law officer, cowboy, and Texas Ranger (b.
1854)
*
August 18 -
Henry Norwest, Canadian World War I sniper (b.
1884)
*
September 12 -
George Reid, fourth
Prime Minister of Australia (b.
1845)
*
September 28 -
Georg Simmel, German sociologist and philosopher (b.
1858)
*
October 5 -
Roland Garros, French pilot (shot down) (b.
1888)
*
October 15 -
Shirdi Sai Baba, Indian
guru and
fakir (b. circa
1838)
*
October 22 -
Myrtle Gonzalez, American stage and screen actress (b.
1891)
*
November 4 -
Wilfred Owen, English poet (killed in action) (b.
1893)
*
November 9 -
Guillaume Apollinaire, French poet (b.
1880)
*
November 19 -
Joseph Fielding Smith, president of
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (b.
1838)
*
December 11 -
Ivan Cankar, Slovenian writer (b.
1876)
*
December 28 -
Olavo Bilac, Brazilian poet (b.
1865)
*Unknown date -
Eugenio Lucas Villamil, Spanish painter (b.
1858)
*
Physics -
Max Karl Ernst Ludwig Planck*
Chemistry -
Fritz Haber*
Medicine - not awarded
*
Literature - not awarded
*
Peace - not awarded
