1918

January 1

• Last day of the Julian calendar in Finland. [1]

January 2

• Sijbe K Bakker vicar/theologist (Christian-Socialism), dies at age 42. [1]

January 3

• US employment service opens as a unit of Department of Labor. [1]

January 5

• British premier Lloyd George demand for unified peace. [1]

January 6

• Georg F L P Cantor German mathematician collection, dies at age 72. [1]

January 7

• Death of Julius Wellhausen in Gottingen, Germany; Biblical scholar, professor of Old Testament at the University of Greifswald. [37]

January 8

• Michael Hertz composer, dies at age 73. [1]
• Mississippi becomes first state to ratify 18th amendment (prohibition). [1]
• US President Woodrow Wilson outlines to the American Congress his 14 points for peace after WWI. [1] [37]

January 14

• Finland and USSR adopts New Style (Gregorian) calendar. [1]

January 19

• Soviets disallows a Constitution Assembly. [1]

January 22

• Ukraine proclaimed a free republic (German puppet). [1]

January 25

• Russia declared a republic of Soviets. [1]

January 26

• US food administrator Hoover calls for "wheatless" and "meatless" days for war effort. [1]

January 27

• "Tarzan of the Apes", first Tarzan film, premieres at Broadway Theater. [1]

January 28

• John McCrae Canadian poet/physician, dies. [1]
• Strike on Berlin ammunitions factory. [1]
• Trotsky becomes leader of Reds. [1]

January 31

• Russia adopts Gregorian calendar, next day is February 14. [66.54]

February 1

• Franz Lehárs opera "Wo die Lerche singt" premieres in Budapest. [1]
• Kern, Bolton and Wodehouse's musical premieres in New York City, New York. [1]

February 3

• Twin Peaks Tunnel longest (11,920 feet) streetcar tunnel begins service. [1]

February 5

• First US pilot to down an enemy airplane, Stephen W Thompson. [1]
• Separation of church and state begins in USSR. [1]

February 6

• Britain grants women (30 and over) the vote. [1]
• Gustav Klimt Austrian painter/cartoonist, dies at age 55. [1]

February 7

• Alexander Sergeyevich Taneyev composer, dies at age 68. [1]

February 8

• "Stars and Stripes", weekly US armed forces newspaper, first published. [1]

February 9

• Army chaplain school organized at Fort Monroe Virginia. [1]
• Emiel van der Straeten [Delrue], Flemish playwright, dies at age 30. [1]
• Sacha Guitry's "Deburan" premieres in Paris. [1]

February 10

• Abdül-Hamid II 34th sultan of Turkey (lost Serbia/Egypt), dies at age 65. [1]

February 14

• H Atteridge and S Rombergs musical "Sinbad" premieres in New York City, New York. [1]
• Russia adopts New Style (Gregorian) calendar. [1]

February 15

• First WWI US army troop ship torpedoed and sunk by Germany, off Ireland. [1]
• Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania adopt the Gregorian calendar. [1]

February 16

• Lithuania declares independence from Russia and Germany (National Day). [1]

February 17

• Wilfrid Laurier Canadian Prime Minister (1896-1911), dies. [1]

February 21

• Australians chase Turkish troop out of Jericho, Dutch Palestine. [1]

February 22

• Germany claims Baltic states, Finland and Ukraine from Russia. [1]

February 24

• Estonia declares independence from Russia. [1]

February 26

• Stands at Hong Kong Jockey Club collapse and burn, killing 604. [1] [187.219]

March 1

• Johan Gustaf Emil Sjogren composer, dies at age 64. [1]

March 3

• Richard Göring's "Seeschlacht" premieres in Berlin. [1]
• Russia withdraws from WWI, signs Treaty of Brest-Litovsk with Germany and Austria. [1]

March 4

• Eugene D'Harcourt composer, dies at age 58. [1]
• Terek Autonomous Republic established in RSFSR (until 1921). [1]

March 6

• US naval collier "Cyclops" disappears in Bermuda Triangle. [1]

March 7

• H Carroll and J McCarthy's musical "Oh, Look!" premieres in New York City, New York. [1]
• President Wilson authorizes US Army's Distinguished Service Medal. [1]

March 9

• Russian Bolshevik Party becomes the Communist Party. [1]
• Ukrainian mobs massacre Jews of Seredino Buda. [1]
• Wageningen Agricultural College Netherlands opens. [1]
• [Benjamin] Franc[lin] Wedekind German writer/press secretary, dies at age 53. [1]

March 11

• Moscow becomes capital of revolutionary Russia. [1]
• Save the Redwoods League founded. [1]

March 13

• American Red Magen David (Jewish Red Cross) forms. [1]
• Karel Stecker composer, dies at age 57. [1]
• William Courtleigh actor (Susie Snowflake), dies at age 26. [1]

March 14

• First concrete ship to cross the Atlantic (Faith) is launched, San Francisco. [1]

March 15

• Jose Silvestre de los Dolores White Lafitte composer, dies at age 82. [1]
• Juliette Marie Olga Lili Boulanger composer, dies at age 24. [1]
• Lili Boulanger composer, dies at age 24. [1]

March 16

• Geoffrey O'Hara's "K-K-K-Katy" song published. [1]

March 18

• Socialist Youth AJC organizes in Amsterdam. [1]
• Willem Coenen composer, dies at age 80. [1]

March 19

• US Congress authorizes time zones and approves daylight saving time. [1] [5]
• S Potter becomes first US pilot to shoot down a German seaplane. [1]
• Willem H de Beaufort Dutch historian/liberal politician, dies at age 73. [1]

March 21

• During WWI Germany launches Somme offensive. [1]

March 23

• Alick Wickham dives 200' into Australia's Yarra River. [1]
• Cesar Cortinas composer, dies at age 27. [1]
• Crépy-en-Laonnoise: German artillery shells Paris France, 256 killed. [1]
• Lithuania proclaims independence. [1]
• Paris bombs "Thick Bertha's Dike" (nickname for the widow Krupp). [1]

March 24

• Theophile Ysaye composer, dies at age 53. [1]

March 25

• Claude A Debussy French composer (Iberia/La mer), dies in Paris France at age 55. [1]

March 26

• César A Cui Lithuanian fort builder/composer, dies at age 83. [1]

March 31

• First daylight savings time in US goes into effect. [1]

April 1

• England's Royal Flying Corps replaced by Royal Air Force. [1]
• Henry Miller's Theater opens at 124 W 43rd Steet New York City, New York. [1]
• Karl Fritjof Valentin composer, dies at age 64. [1]

April 3

• House of Representatives accepts American Creed written by William Tyler. [1]

April 4

• Battle of Somme ends. [1]
• Food riot in Amsterdam. [1]

April 5

• Paul Vidal de la Blanche French geographer, dies at age 73. [1]

April 9

• Latvia proclaims independence from Russia. [1]

April 13

• Electrical fire kills 38 mental patients at Oklahoma State Hospital. [1]

April 14

• Douglas Campbell is first US ace pilot (shooting down 5th German plane). [1]

April 15

• Clemenceau publishes secret French/Austrian documents. [1]

April 21

• "Red Baron" [Manfred von Richtofen] shot down in WWI at age 25. [1]

April 23

• Battle of Zeebrugge ends. [1]
• Dover Patrol overthrows Germany U-boat in East Sea. [1]

April 24

• The first tank-to-tank combat occurs at Villers-Bretonneux, France, when three British Mark IVs meet three German A7Vs. [5]

April 29

• Gavrilo Princip Bosnian murderer of arch duke Ferdinand, dies at age 22. [1]

May 2

• General Motors acquires the Chevrolet Motor Company of Delaware. [5]

May 10

• HMS Vindictive sunk to block entrance of Ostend Harbor. [1]

May 13

• First US airmail stamps issued (24 cents). [1]

May 15

• The US Post Office Department begins the first regular airmail service (between New York, Philadelphia, and Washington DC) inaugurated. [1] [290.12]
• Greek troops lands at Smyrna. [1]

May 16

• Eusapia Palladino Napolitan, dies at age 64. [1]

May 18

• Netherlands Indian Volksraad installed in Batavia. [1]
• TNT explosion in chemical factory in Oakdale Pennsylvania kills 200. [1]
• Toivo Kuula composer, dies at age 34. [1]

May 20

• First electrically propelled warship (the New Mexico). [1]

May 21

• House of Representatives passes amendment allowing women to vote. [1]

May 23

• King Oil/Shell refinery on Curaçao officially opens. [1]

May 26

• Georgian Social Democratic Republic declares independence from Russia. [1]

May 27

• Battle of Aisne. [1]
• Henry Adams US literature historian (Esther), dies at age 80. [1]

May 28

• Tatars declares Azerbaijan, in Russian Caucasus, independent. [1]

May 30

• Georgi V Plechanov Russian revolutionary theorist, dies. [1]

June 3

• US Supreme Court rules child labor laws unconstitutional. [1]

June 4

• M Wolf discovers asteroid #894 Erda. [1]

June 6

• Battle of Belleau Wood, first US victory of WW I. [1]

June 8

• Nova Aquila, brightest nova since Kepler's nova of 1604, discovered. [1]

June 12

• First airplane bombing raid by an American unit, France. [1]

June 15

• 1" of snow falls in Northern Pennsylvania. [1]

June 22

• Circus train rammed by troop train kills 68 (Ivanhoe Illinois). [1]
• A circus train wreck kills 86 and injures 127 near Hammond, Indiana. [5]

June 27

• German submarine U84 torpedoes and sinks Union Castle Line's passenger liner Llandovery Castle between Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, to Liverpool, England. The ship was serving as a hospital ship for Canadian forces. [152.18]

June 28

• First flight between Hawaiian Islands. [1]

July 4

• Altar dedicated at full-scale replica of Stonehenge at Maryhill, Washington. [1]

July 9

• 101 killed and 171 injured in worst US train wreck, Nashville, Tennessee, USA. [1]
• US Army's Distinguished Service Cross authorized. [1]

July 10

• Russian Soviet Federal Socialist Republic established. [1]

July 11

• M Wolf discovers asteroid #895 Helio. [1]

July 15

• Second Battle of Marne begins during WW I. [1]

July 16

• Nicholas II Russian tsar, his tsarina and their five kids executed. [1]

July 18

• US and French forces launch Aisne-Marne offensive in WW I. [1]

July 19

• German armies retreat across Marne River in France (WW I). [1]

July 22

• Lightning kills 504 sheep in Utah's Wasatch National Park. [1]

July 25

• Annette Adams sworn in as first woman district attorney of US, California. [1]
• Race riot in Chester Pennsylvania (three blacks and two whites killed). [1]

July 26

• Race riot in Philadelphia (three whites and one black killed). [1]

July 27

• Socony 200, first concrete barge in US, launched to carry oil, New York. [1]

August 8

• Six US soldiers are surrounded by Germans in France, Alvin York is given command and shoots 20 Germans and captures 132 more. [1]

August 11

• Battle of Amiens ends in WW I, Allieds beat Germans. [1]

August 13

• Bayerische Motoren Werke AG (BMW) is established as a public company in Germany. [5]

August 15

• First full length cartoon (The Sinking of the Lusitania). [1]
• US and Russia sever diplomatic ties. [1]

August 17

• Samuel Riddle buys Man o'War for $5,000. [1]

August 20

• Britain opens offensive on Western front during WW I. [1]

August 27

• Dr Joseph L Johnson named minister to Liberia. [1]

September 1

• US troops land in Vladivostok, Siberia, stay until 1920. [1]

September 3

• Five soldiers hanged for alleged participation in Houston riot of 1917. [1]

September 4

• US troops land in Archangel, Russia, stay 10 months. [1]

September 12

• During WW I, US forces launch an attack on German-occupied Saint Mihiel. [1]

September 26

• Meuse-Argonne offensive against Germany begins during WW I. [1]

September 29

• Allied forces scored a decisive breakthrough of the Hindenburg Line. [1]

October 3

• Boris becomes king of Bulgaria. [1]

October 8

• Sgt Alvin York single-handedly kills 25, captures 132 Germans. [1]

October 12

• First use of iron lung (Boston's Children Hospital). [1]
• Cloquet Minnesota and 25 other communities destroyed by forest fire, 559 die. [1]

October 17

• Yugoslavia proclaims itself a republic. [1]
• First use of American Code Talkers in World War I, by members of the Choctaq tribe in radio communications. [397.73]

October 18

• Tomás declares the freedom of Czechoslovakia. [371.88]

October 21

• Margaret Owen sets world typing speed record of 170 wpm for one min. [1]

October 25

• Canadian steamship "Princess Sophia" hit a reef off Alaska, 398 die. [1]

October 28

• Czechoslovakia gains independence as Austria-Hungary breaks up. [1]

October 30

• Slovakia asks for creation of Czechoslovakian state. [1]

October 31

• Count Stephen Tisza Hungarian Prime Minister assassinated by soldiers. [1]

November 1

• 97 die in New York City subway's worst accident. [1]

November 3

• Austro-Hungarian Empire dissolves. [1]
• Poland proclaims independence from Russia after WW I. [1]

November 6

• Republic of Poland proclaimed. [1]

November 7

• Goddard demonstrates tube-launched solid propellant rockets. [1]
• United Press erroneously reports WW I armistice had been signed. [1]

November 9

• Bavaria proclaims itself a republic. [1]
• Kaiser Wilhelm II abdicates after German defeat in WW I. [1]
• The German monarch is discarded by the majority Socialists and Philipp Scheidemann proclaims the German Republic. [474.40]

November 10

• Independence of Poland proclaimed by Jozef Pilsudski. [1]

November 11

• (0500 hours) Germany signs an armistice agreement with the Allies in a railroad car outside Compiegne, France. [129]
• (1100 hours) The Great War ends, after Germany, the last of the Central Powers, surrenders to the Allies. [1] [129]

November 12

• Emperor Karl of Austria-Hungary abdicates, Austria becomes a republic. [1]

November 14

• Republic of Czechoslovakia created with T.G. Masaryk as President. [1]

November 16

• Hungarian People's Republic declared. [1]

November 18

• Latvia declares independence from Russia. [1]

December 1

• The US Weather Bureau issues its first official aviation weather forecast. [290.13]
• Danish parliament passes an act to grant Iceland independence. [1]
• Serbian-Croatian-Slovic kingdom proclaimed in Belgrade. [1]

December 2

• Margit Kaffka writer, dies at age 38. [1]

December 4

• Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (Yugoslavia) proclaimed. [1]
• U.S. President Woodrow Wilson sails to the peace talks in Versailles, becoming the first U.S. president to travel to Europe while in office. [1] [5]

December 5

• Oil refinery on Curaçao opens. [1]

December 9

• French troops occupies Mainz. [1]

December 11

• Ivan Cankar Slavic author (Hlapec Jernej), dies at age 42. [1]

December 13

• US army of occupation crosses the Rhine, enters Germany. [1]
• Woodrow Wilson, becomes first to make a foreign visit as President (France). [1]

December 14

• Giacomo Puccini's opera "Il Trittico" premieres in New York City, New York. [1]
• Sidonio Pais prince of Portugal, murdered. [1]

December 15

• American Jewish Congress holds its first meeting. [1]

December 18

• Henryk Jarecki composer, dies at age 72. [1]

December 19

• Robert Ripley begins his "Believe It or Not" column (New York Globe). [1]

December 20

• Eugene O'Neill's "Moon of the Caribees" premieres in New York City, New York. [1]

December 22

• Albijn van de Abeele Flemish author/mayor/painter, dies at age 83. [1]

December 26

• Bertram Luard-Selby composer, dies at age 65. [1]

December 28

• George H White last post Reconstruction congressman (Pennsylvania), dies. [1]