1918

Years: 1915 1916 1917 - 1918 - 1919 1920 1921
Decades: 1880s 1890s 1900s - 1910s - 1920s 1930s 1940s
Centuries: 19th century - 20th century - 21st century

1918 was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar).

Contents

1 Events

Events

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 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 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 - "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 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 Compiègne 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 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