What Happened in 1918 — Events, Births & Deaths

The Finnish Declaration of Independence is recognized by Russia, Sweden, Germany and France.

U.S. President Woodrow Wilson announces his "Fourteen Points" as conditions for ending World War I.

Battle of Bear Valley: The last battle of the American Indian Wars.

The Minnie Pit Disaster coal mining accident occurs in Halmer End, Staffordshire, in which 155 men and boys die.

Finnish Civil War: The first serious battles take place between the Red Guards and the White Guard.

The Gregorian calendar is introduced in Russia by decree of the Council of People's Commissars effective February 14 (New Style).

The Ukrainian People's Republic declares independence from Soviet Russia.

Finnish Civil War: A group of Red Guards hangs a red lantern atop the tower of Helsinki Workers' Hall to symbolically mark the start of the war.

Beginning of the Finnish Civil War.

Finnish Civil War: The Red Guard rebels seize control of the capital, Helsinki; members of the Senate of Finland go underground.

Ukrainian–Soviet War: The Bolshevik Red Army, on its way to besiege Kyiv, is met by a small group of military students at the Battle of Kruty.

Ukrainian–Soviet War: An armed uprising organized by the Bolsheviks in anticipation of the encroaching Red Army begins at the Kiev Arsenal, which will be put down six days later.

A series of accidental collisions due to poor visibility leads to the loss of two Royal Navy submarines with over a hundred lives, and damage to another five British warships.

Finnish Civil War: The Suinula massacre, which changes the nature of the war in a more hostile direction, takes place in Kangasala.

The Twin Peaks Tunnel in San Francisco, California begins service as the longest streetcar tunnel in the world at 11,920 feet (3,630 meters) long.

Stephen W. Thompson shoots down a German airplane; this is the first aerial victory by the U.S. military.

SS Tuscania is torpedoed off the coast of Ireland; it is the first ship carrying American troops to Europe to be torpedoed and sunk.

British women over the age of 30 who meet minimum property qualifications, get the right to vote when Representation of the People Act 1918 is passed by Parliament.

Soviet Russia adopts the Gregorian calendar.

The Council of Lithuania unanimously adopts the Act of Independence, declaring Lithuania an independent state.

The last Carolina parakeet dies in captivity at the Cincinnati Zoo.

Estonian Declaration of Independence.

World War I: German forces capture Tallinn to virtually complete the occupation of Estonia.

Russia signs the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, agreeing to withdraw from World War I, and conceding German control of the Baltic States, Belarus and Ukraine. It also conceded Turkish control of Ardahan, Kars and Batumi.

A case of influenza is recorded at Camp Funston, Kansas, conventionally marking the beginning of the worldwide Spanish flu pandemic.

Moscow becomes the capital of Russia again after Saint Petersburg held this status for most of the period since 1713.

Finnish Civil War: The battle of Tampere begins.

Finnish Civil War: Battle of Länkipohja is infamous for its bloody aftermath as the Whites execute 70–100 capitulated Reds.

The US Congress establishes time zones and approves daylight saving time.

World War I: The first phase of the German spring offensive, Operation Michael, begins.

First World War: On the third day of the German Spring Offensive, the 10th Battalion of the Royal West Kent Regiment is annihilated with many of the men becoming prisoners of war.

The Belarusian People's Republic is established.

The National Council of Bessarabia proclaims union with the Kingdom of Romania.

General John J. Pershing, during World War I, cancels 42nd 'Rainbow' Division's orders to Rolampont for further training and diverted it to the occupy the Baccarat sector. Rainbow Division becomes "the first American division to take over an entire sector on its own, which it held longer than any other American division-occupied sector alone for a period of three months".

Finnish Civil War: On the so-called "Bloody Maundy Thursday of Tampere", the Whites force the Reds to attack the city center, where the city's fiercest battles being fought in Kalevankangas with large casualties on both sides. During the same day, an explosion at the Red headquarters of Tampere kills several commanders.

Beginning of the bloody March Events in Baku and other locations of Baku Governorate.

Massacre of ethnic Azerbaijanis is committed by allied armed groups of Armenian Revolutionary Federation and Bolsheviks. Nearly 12,000 Azerbaijani Muslims are killed.

Daylight saving time goes into effect in the United States for the first time.

Finnish Civil War: The battle of Tampere ends.

World War I: Manfred von Richthofen, a.k.a. The Red Baron, shoots down his 79th and 80th victims, his final victories before his death the following day.

World War I: German fighter ace Manfred von Richthofen, better known as "The Red Baron", is shot down and killed over Vaux-sur-Somme in France.

World War I: The British Royal Navy makes a raid in an attempt to neutralise the Belgian port of Bruges-Zeebrugge.

World War I: First tank-to-tank combat, during the second Battle of Villers-Bretonneux. Three British Mark IVs meet three German A7Vs.

World War I: Germany repels Britain's second attempt to blockade the port of Ostend, Belgium.

Cape Town Mayor, Sir Harry Hands, inaugurates the two-minute silence.

The Finnish Civil War ends when the Whites take over Fort Ino, a Russian coastal artillery base on the Karelian Isthmus, from Russian troops.

The Sedition Act of 1918 is passed by the U.S. Congress, making criticism of the government during wartime an imprisonable offense. It will be repealed less than two years later.

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.

The Democratic Republic of Georgia is established.

The Azerbaijan Democratic Republic and the First Republic of Armenia declare their independence.

Armenia defeats the Ottoman Army in the Battle of Sardarabad.

World War I: Western Front: Battle of Belleau Wood: Allied Forces under John J. Pershing and James Harbord engage Imperial German Forces under Wilhelm, German Crown Prince.

World War I: U.S. Marine Corps suffers its worst single day's casualties during the Battle of Belleau Wood while attempting to recapture the wood at Château-Thierry (the losses are exceeded at the Battle of Tarawa in November 1943).

World War I: The Austro-Hungarian battleship SMS Szent István sinks off the Croatian coast after being torpedoed by an Italian MAS motorboat; the event is recorded by camera from a nearby vessel.

The Hammond Circus Train Wreck kills 86 and injures 127 near Hammond, Indiana.

First airmail service in Canada from Montreal to Toronto.

World War I: Allied forces under John J. Pershing and James Harbord defeat Imperial German forces under Wilhelm, German Crown Prince in the Battle of Belleau Wood.

Mehmed V died at the age of 73 and Ottoman sultan Mehmed VI ascends to the throne.

The Left SR uprising in Russia starts with the assassination of German ambassador Wilhelm von Mirbach by Cheka members.

In Nashville, Tennessee, an inbound local train collides with an outbound express, killing 101 and injuring 171 people, making it the deadliest rail accident in United States history.

The Imperial Japanese Navy battleship Kawachi blows up at Shunan, western Honshu, Japan, killing at least 621.

World War I: The Second Battle of the Marne begins near the River Marne with a German attack.

Tsar Nicholas II of Russia and his immediate family and retainers are executed by Bolshevik Chekists at the Ipatiev House in Yekaterinburg, Russia.

The RMS Carpathia is sunk off Ireland by the German SM U-55; five lives are lost.

The first general strike in Canadian history takes place in Vancouver.

World War I: The Battle of Amiens begins a string of almost continuous Allied victories with a push through the German front lines (Hundred Days Offensive).

World War I: The Battle of Amiens ends.

Women enlist in the United States Marine Corps for the first time. Opha May Johnson is the first woman to enlist.

Bayerische Motoren Werke AG (BMW) is established as a public company in Germany.

The Battle of Lake Baikal is fought between the Czechoslovak Legion and the Red Army.

Bolshevik revolutionary leader Moisei Uritsky is assassinated.

World War I: The Second Battle of the Somme begins.

Mexican Revolution: Battle of Ambos Nogales: U.S. Army forces skirmish against Mexican Carrancistas as part of the Mexican Border War.

World War I: Bapaume taken by the New Zealand Division in the Hundred Days Offensive.

Fanni Kaplan shoots and seriously injures Bolshevik leader Vladimir Lenin, which, along with the assassination of Bolshevik senior official Moisei Uritsky days earlier, prompts the decree for Red Terror.

World War I: Start of the Battle of Mont Saint-Quentin, a successful assault by the Australian Corps during the Hundred Days Offensive.

Russian Civil War: The Red Army captures Kazan.

World War I: Allied troops break through the Bulgarian defenses on the Macedonian front.

The battle of Megiddo begins in which British forces attack the right flank of the Ottoman army during World War I.

World War I: British forces capture Haifa, Acre, and Es Salt from the Ottoman Empire.

World War I: The end of the Battle of Megiddo, the climax of the British Army's Sinai and Palestine campaign under General Edmund Allenby.

World War I: The Meuse-Argonne Offensive began which would last until the total surrender of German forces.

World War I: The Fifth Battle of Ypres begins.

World War I: Bulgaria signs the Armistice of Salonica ending its participation.

World War I: The Hindenburg Line is broken by an Allied attack.

World War I: Germany's Supreme Army Command tells Kaiser Wilhelm II and Imperial Chancellor Georg Michaelis to open negotiations for an armistice to end the war.

Ukrainian War of Independence: Insurgent forces led by Nestor Makhno defeats the Central Powers at the battle of Dibrivka.

Tsar Boris III of Bulgaria accedes to the throne.

World War I: An explosion kills more than 100 people and destroys a Shell Loading Plant in New Jersey.

World War I: Corporal Alvin C. York kills 28 German soldiers and captures 132, for which he was awarded the Medal of Honor.

The Finnish Parliament elects Prince Frederick Charles of Hesse as King of Finland, but he never accedes to the throne due to Germany's defeat in World War I.

RMS Leinster is torpedoed and sunk by UB-123, killing 564, the largest loss of life on the Irish Sea.

The 7.1 Mw San Fermín earthquake shakes Puerto Rico. The quake and resulting tsunami kill up to 116 people.

World War I: Italian victory in the Battle of Vittorio Veneto.

British forces attack Turkish forces under Mustafa Kemal in the battle of Aleppo, which the British capture the following day.

World War I: Erich Ludendorff, quartermaster-general of the Imperial German Army, is dismissed by Kaiser Wilhelm II for refusing to cooperate in peace negotiations.

World War I: A new Polish government in western Galicia is established, triggering the Polish–Ukrainian War.

World War I: Czech politicians peacefully take over the city of Prague, thus establishing the First Czechoslovak Republic.

World War I: The Ottoman Empire signs the Armistice of Mudros with the Allies.

World War I: Lands of the Crown of Saint Stephen, a state union of Kingdom of Hungary and Triune Kingdom of Croatia, Slavonia and Dalmatia is abolished with decisions of Croatian and Hungarian parliaments.

World War I: The Aster Revolution terminates the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867, and Hungary achieves full sovereignty.

The German Revolution of 1918–19 begins when 40,000 sailors take over the port in Kiel.

World War I: The Armistice of Villa Giusti between Italy and Austria-Hungary is implemented.

Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany abdicates after the German Revolution, and Germany is proclaimed a Republic.

The Western Union Cable Office in North Sydney, Nova Scotia, receives a top-secret coded message from Europe (that would be sent to Ottawa and Washington, D.C.) that said on November 11, 1918, all fighting would cease on land, sea and in the air.

World War I: Allied troops occupy Constantinople, the capital of the Ottoman Empire.

Latvia declares its independence from Russia.

Vojvodina, formerly Austro-Hungarian crown land, proclaims its secession from Austria-Hungary to join the Kingdom of Serbia.

The Montenegrin Podgorica Assembly votes for a "union of the people", declaring assimilation into the Kingdom of Serbia.

The Makhnovshchina is established.

The Soviet Forces move against Estonia when the 6th Red Rifle Division strikes the border town of Narva, marking the beginning of the Estonian War of Independence.

Friedrich Karl von Hessen, a German prince elected by the Parliament of Finland to become King of Finland, renounces the throne.

Portuguese President Sidónio Pais is assassinated.

The 1918 United Kingdom general election occurs, the first where women were permitted to vote. In Ireland the Irish republican political party Sinn Féin wins a landslide victory with nearly 47% of the popular vote.

Giacomo Puccini's comic opera Gianni Schicchi premieres at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City.

Darwin Rebellion: Up to 1,000 demonstrators march on Government House in Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia.

Region of Međimurje is captured by the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes from Hungary.

The Great Poland Uprising against the Germans begins.

Ukrainian War of Independence: The Revolutionary Insurgent Army of Ukraine occupies Yekaterinoslav and seizes seven airplanes from the UPRAF, establishing an Insurgent Air Fleet.

Constance Markievicz, while detained in Holloway prison, becomes the first woman to be elected Member of Parliament (MP) to the British House of Commons.