1918
1918 was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar).
Events
January-February January 8 - President Woodrow Wilson announces his "Fourteen Points" for the aftermath of World War I. January 24 - a decree of the Council of People's Commissars, introducing the Gregorian calendar in Russia since February 1, issued January 28 - Vladimir Lenin decrees the establishment of the Red Army. February 3 - The Twin Peaks Tunnel begins service in San Francisco as the longest streetcar tunnel in the world (11,920 feet long). February 1 - Russia adopts the Gregorian Calendar. February 8 - The Stars and Stripes newspaper February 14 - The Soviet Union adopts the Gregorian calendar (1 February according to the Julian calendar). As a consequence the anniversary of the Russian Revolution, previously October, now falls in November. February 16 - Lithuania declares its independence from both Russia and Germany February 24 - Estonia declares its independence from Russia February 26 – Hong Kong Jockey Club burns – 604 dead
March-April March 1 - German submarine U 19 sinks HMS Calgarian off Rathlin Island, Nothern Ireland. March 3 - World War I: Germany, Austria and Bolshevist Russia sign the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk ending Russia's involvement in the war. March 5 - The Soviet Russia moves its national capital from Petrograd to Moscow March 6 - 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 - World War I: Finland forms an alliance with Germany. March 12 – Moscow becomes the capital of Soviet Russia March 19 - The U.S. Congress establishes time zones and approves daylight saving time (DST went into effect on March 31). March 21 - World War I: Second Battle of the Somme begins March 23 - The giant German cannon Big Bertha begins to shell Paris from 114 km (75 miles) away March 23 - 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 – one of them perforates his lung. He dies the following morning in hospital. March 25 - for the first time Belarus declares independence. April 1 - The Royal Flying Corps and the Royal Naval Air Service are merged to form the Royal Air Force.
May-July May 15 - 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 - The Sedition Act of 1918 is approved by US Congress. May 26 - The Democratic Republic of Georgia is established. May 28 - Armenia gains independence from the Ottoman Empire June 1 - World War I: Battle for Belleau Wood begins. July - The Siberian Expedition is launched to extract the Czechoslovak Legion from the Russian civil war. July 4 - Change of emperor of the Ottoman Empire from Mehmed V (Resad) (1909-1918) to Mehmed VI (Vahdettin) (1918-1922) July 9 - Great train wreck of 1918: In Nashville, Tennessee, an inbound local train collides with an outbound express killing 101. July 15 - World War I: Second Battle of the Marne - The battle begins near the River Marne with a German attack. July 16 - Russian Revolution: At Ekaterinburg, Bolsheviks execute Czar Nicholas II of Russia and his family.
August-October August - "Spanish Flu" Influenza becomes pandemic; over twenty-five million people die in the following six months (three times as many as died during the war). August 1 - British anti-Bolshevik forces occupy Archangel, Russia. August 10 commander is told to help White Russians August 8 - World War I: Battle of Amiens - 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 - Strike of 20,000 London policemen with demands of increased pay and union recognition. August 30 – Fanya Kaplan tries to shoot Lenin. Petrograd head of Cheka is assassinated the same day. September 11 - The Boston Red Sox defeat the Chicago Cubs for the 1918 World Series championship. October 3 - Kaiser makes Max von Baden a German chancellor. October 3 – Poland declares independence. October 8 - World War I - In the Argonne Forest in France, US Corporal Alvin C. York almost single-handedly kills 25 German soldiers and captures 132. October 28 - Czechoslovakia gains its independence from Austria-Hungary. October 28 - New Polish government in Western Galicia (Central Europe)
November November 1 - 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 3 - World War I: Austria-Hungary enters an armistice with the Allies. November 3 - Poland declares its independence from Russia. November 6 - A new Polish government is proclaimed in Lublin. November 8 - German army withdraws its support of the Kaiser November 9 - Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany abdicates and chooses to live in exile in the Netherlands. November 9 - Provisional National Council Minister-President Kurt Eisner declares Bavaria to be a republic. November 11 - World War I ends: Germany signs an armistice agreement with the Allies in a railroad car outside of Compičgne in France. November 11 - Poland's Jozef Pilsudski is offered the position of head of state by all existing governments. Independence Day. November 11 - Emperor Charles I of Austria abdicates. November 12 - Austria becomes a republic. November 14 - Czechoslovakia becomes a republic. November 14 – Jozef Pilsudski becomes the head of state to Poland November 16 - Hungary declares independence from Austria November 18 - Latvia declares its independence from Russia. November 22 - Spartacist League founds German Communist Party
December December 1 - Iceland becomes a self-governing kingdom, yet remains united with Denmark. December 1 - New voting laws in Sweden. Votes no longer dependent on taxable assets. One person, one vote. December 1 - Following the March 27 incorporation of Bessarabia and Bucovina, Transylvania unites with Romania. December 1 - The Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (later known as the Kingdom of Yugoslavia) is proclaimed. December 4 - US President Woodrow Wilson sails for the Paris_Peace_Conference, becoming the first US president to travel to Europe while in office.December 27 - Beginning of Great Poland Uprising, the Poles in Greater Poland (or Grand Duchy of Poznań rise against the Germans
Unknown dates Finnish Civil War between the Reds and the Whites, January - April.Habsburg Empire ceases to exist.Grand Duchy of Baden ceases to exist. British occupy Palestine Katla erupts in Iceland. Native American Church is founded. Ernest Ansermet founds the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande.
BirthsJanuary-February January 15 - Gamal Abdal Nasser, President of Egypt (d. 1970) January 16 - Stirling Silliphant, writer, producer (d. 1996) January 20 - Esquivel, musician (d. 2002) January 25 - Ernie Harwell, baseball sportscaster January 26 - Nicolae Ceausescu, Romanian dictator (d. 1989) January 26 - Philip José Farmer, science fiction writer January 27 - Skitch Henderson, musician, band leader January 29 - John Forsythe, actor February 1 - Dame Muriel Spark, author February 3 - Helen Stephens, American sprinter (d. 1994) February 6 - Lothar-Günther Buchheim, author of Das Boot February 8 - Fred Blassie, former professional wrestler (d. 2003) February 22 - Robert Pershing Wadlow, tallest man in the world (d. 1940) February 25 - Bobby Riggs, tennis player (d. 1995) February 25 - Barney Ewell, American athlete (d. 1996) February 26 - Theodore Sturgeon, science fiction writer (d. 1985) February 27 - William Jefferson Blythe III, father of U.S. President Bill Clinton (d. 1946)
March-April March 1 - Joăo Goulart, president of Brazil (1961-March 31, 1964) (d. 1976) March 1 - Roger Delgado, British actor (d. 1973) March 3 - Fritz Thiedemann, equestrian (d. 2000) March 5 - James Tobin, economist (d. 2002) March 9 - Mickey Spillane, mystery writer March 9 - George Lincoln Rockwell, American Nazi leader (d. 1967) March 10 - Heywood Hale Broun, sports journalist, commentator (d. 2001) March 11 - Jack Coe, Second Wave Healing Evangelist (d. 1956) March 16 - Frederick Reines, physicist (1995 Nobel Prize in Physics) (d. 1998) March 17 - Mercedes McCambridge, actress (d. 2004) March 18 - Al Benton, Major League Baseball player (d. 1968) March 25 - Howard Cosell, attorney, lecturer, sports journalist (d. 1995) March 29 - Pearl Bailey, singer, actress (d. 1990) April 9 - Jørn Utzon, Danish architect who designed the Sydney Opera House April 16 - Spike Milligan, comedian (d. 2002) April 26 - Fanny Blankers-Koen, Dutch athlete (d. 2004)
May-August May 9 - Mike Wallace, journalist May 9 - Orville L. Freeman, American politician (d. 2003) May 11 - Richard Feynman, physicist (d. 1988) May 12 - Julius Rosenberg, spy (d. 1953) May 15 - Eddy Arnold, singer May 16 - Wilf Mannion, English footballer (d. 2000) May 17 - Birgit Nilsson, Swedish soprano June 18 - Franco Modigliani, economist (d. 2003) July 4 - Ann Landers, advice columnist (d. 2002) July 4 - Abigail Van Buren, advice columnist and twin sister to Ann Landers July 13 - Alberto Ascari, Italian F1 race car driver (d. 1955) July 14 - Ingmar Bergman Swedish film director July 15 - Bertram N. Brockhouse, Canadian scientist (d. 2003) July 18 - Nelson Mandela, South African prisoner of conscience and president July 24 - Ruggiero Ricci, American violinist July 27 - Leonard Rose, American cellist (d. 1984) August 8 - Brian Stonehouse, painter, SOE agent in WW II (d. 1998) August 13 - Frederick Sanger, molecular biologist August 25 - Leonard Bernstein, American composer and conductor (d. 1990) August 30 - Ted Williams, American baseball player (d. 2002)
September-December September 4 - Paul Harvey, American radio broadcaster September 22 - Henryk Szeryng, violinist (d. 1988) October 19 - Louis Althusser, French Marxist philosopher (d. 1990) December 8 - Gérard Souzay, French baritone (d. 2004) December 11 - Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, Russian writer December 12 - Joe Williams, jazz singer (d. 1999) December 15 - Jeff Chandler, actor (d. 1961) December 21 - Donald Regan, Chief of Staff and U.S. Treasury Secretary (d. 2003) December 21 - Kurt Waldheim, Secretary-General of the United Nations and Federal President of Austria December 23 - José Greco, flamenco dancer (d. 2001) December 25 - Anwar Sadat, Egyptian president (d. 1981)
Deaths January 6 - Georg Cantor, German mathematician January 9 - Émile Reynaud, French science teacher, responsible for the first animated films January 28 - John McCrae, Canadian soldier, poet February 6 - Gustav Klimt, Austrian painter March 25 - Claude Debussy, French composer March 27 - Henry Adams, American historian May 14 - James Gordon Bennett, Jr, newspaper publisherMay 19 - Raoul Lufbery, American World War I pilot July 3 - Sultan Mehmed V of the Ottoman Empire June 10 - Arrigo Boito, Italian poet and composer (b. 1842) July 17 - Tsar Nicholas II of Russia and his family August 18 - Henry Norwest, World War I sniper September 12 - George Reid, fourth Prime Minister of Australia September 28 - Georg Simmel, German sociologist and philosopher October 14 - Samuel Hamilton 'Hamby' Shore, hockey player (b. 1886) 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)
Physics - Max Karl Ernst Ludwig Planck Chemistry - Fritz Haber Medicine - not awarded Literature - not awarded Peace - not awarded
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