1918

Events

January

• January – 1918 flu pandemic: The "Spanish flu" is first observed in Haskell County, Kansas.
• January 4 – The Finnish Declaration of Independence is recognized by Soviet Russia, Sweden, Germany and France.
• January 8 – American president Woodrow Wilson presents the Fourteen Points as a basis for peace negotiations to end the war.
• January 9 – Battle of Bear Valley: U.S. troops engage Yaqui Native American warriors in a minor skirmish in Arizona. This is one of the last battles of the American Indian Wars between the United States and Native Americans.
• January 15
• * The keel of is laid in Britain, the first purpose-designed aircraft carrier to be laid down.
• * The Red Army is formed in the Russian SFSR and Soviet Union.
• January 18 – The Historic Concert for the Benefit of Widows and Orphans of Austrian and Hungarian Soldiers is held at the Konzerthaus, Vienna.
• January 19 – The Russian Constituent Assembly proclaims the Russian Democratic Federative Republic but is dissolved by the Bolshevik government on the same day.
• January 22 – The Ukrainian People's Republic declares independence from Bolshevik Russia.
• January 25 – The Third All-Russian Congress of Soviets establishes the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic.
• January 27 – The Finnish Civil War begins with the Battle of Kämärä.
• January 28 – Porvenir massacre: Texas Rangers, U.S. Cavalry soldiers and local ranchers kill 15 unarmed Mexican villagers, both men and boys.

  February

• February 1 – Cattaro Mutiny: Austrian sailors in the Gulf of Cattaro, led by two Czech Socialists, mutiny.
• February 3 – Finnish Civil War: Battle of Oulu – The White Guard defeats the Reds.
• February 5 – The is torpedoed off the Irish coast; it is the first ship carrying American troops to Europe to be torpedoed and sunk.

• February 6 – Women's suffrage in the United Kingdom: Representation of the People Act gives most women over 30 the vote.
• February 10 – Deposed Sultan of the Ottoman Empire Abdul Hamid II dies in Istanbul.
• February 13 – A magnitude 7.2 earthquake shakes the Chinese city of Shantou leaving 1,000 dead and causing a moderate tsunami.
• February 14 – Russia switches from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar; the date skips from January 31 to February 14.
• February 16 – The Council of Lithuania adopts the Act of Independence of Lithuania, declaring Lithuania's independence from Germany, Russia or any other state.
• February 18 – Operations against the Marri and Khetran tribes in Balochistan by British authorities begin.
• February 19 – WWI: The Capture of Jericho by the Egyptian Expeditionary Force begins the British occupation of the Jordan Valley.
• February 19–25 – WWI: The Imperial Russian Navy evacuates Tallinn through thick ice, over the Gulf of Finland.
• February 23 – Estonian Declaration of Independence from Russia, after seven centuries of foreign rule; German forces capture Tallinn the following day.

  March

• March 1 – WWI: German submarine sinks off Rathlin Island, Northern Ireland.
• March 3 – WWI: The Central Powers and Bolshevist Russia sign the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, ending Russia's involvement in the war.
• March 6
• * The Finnish Army Corps of Aviation is founded as a forerunner of the Finnish Air Force. 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 Viking symbol on the plane as his personal lucky insignia.
• * The first pilotless drone, the Hewitt-Sperry Automatic Airplane developed by Elmer Ambrose Sperry and Peter Cooper Hewitt, is test-flown in Long Island, New York, but development is scrapped in 1925, after its guidance system proves unreliable.
• March 7 – WWI: Finland forms an alliance with Germany.
• March 8 – WWI: The Battle of Tell 'Asur is launched by units of the British Army's Egyptian Expeditionary Force against Ottoman defences from the Mediterranean Sea, across the Judaean Mountains to the edge of the Jordan Valley; it ends on March 12, with the move of much of the front line north into Ottoman territory.
• March 12 – Moscow becomes the capital of Soviet Russia.
• March 15 – Finnish Civil War: The battle of Tampere begins.
• March 19 – The United States Congress establishes time zones, and approves daylight saving time.
• March 21–July 18 – WWI: The Spring Offensive by the German Army along the Western Front fails to make a breakthrough, despite large losses on each side, including nearly 20,000 British Army dead on the first day, Operation Michael, on the Somme.
• March 21 – WWI: The First Transjordan attack on Amman by units of the Egyptian Expeditionary Force begins, with the passage of the Jordan River.
• March 23
• * WWI: The giant German cannon, the 'Paris Gun', begins to shell Paris from away.
• * In London at the Wood Green Empire, Chung Ling Soo dies during his trick, where he is supposed to "catch" two separate bullets. He dies the following morning in a hospital.
• March 25
• * The Belarusian People's Republic declares independence.
• * Karl Muck, music director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, is arrested under the Alien Enemies Act, and imprisoned for the duration of WWI.
• March 26 – Marie Stopes publishes her influential book Married Love in the U.K.
• March 27 – WWI: The First Battle of Amman is launched by units of the Egyptian Expeditionary Force, during the First Transjordan attack on Amman; it ends with their withdrawal on 31 March, back to the Jordan Valley.
• March 30 – March Days: Bolshevik and Armenian Revolutionary Federation forces suppress a Muslim revolt in Baku, Azerbaijan, resulting in up to 30,000 deaths.

  April

• April 1 – The Royal Flying Corps and the Royal Naval Air Service in Britain are merged to form the Royal Air Force, the first autonomous Air Force in the world.
• April 5 – Sālote succeeds as Queen of Tonga; she will remain on the throne until her death in 1965.
• April 6 – Finnish Civil War: The battle of Tampere ends.
• April 8 – Operations against the Marri and Khetran tribes in Balochistan end with surrender to the British authorities.
• April 9 – Union of Bessarabia with Romania: Bessarabia votes to become part of the Kingdom of Romania.
• April 21 – WWI: Manfred von Richthofen, "The Red Baron", the war's most successful fighter pilot, dies in combat at Morlancourt Ridge near the Somme River.
• April 22 – Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia declare their independence from Russia as the Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic.
• April 23 – WWI:
• * Conscription Crisis of 1918 in Ireland: A general strike is held here against conscription.
• * Zeebrugge Raid: The British Royal Navy attempts to seal off the German U-boat base here.
• * First Ostend Raid: The British Royal Navy unsuccessfully attempts to seal off the German U-boat base here.
• April 28 – WWI: Gavrilo Princip, assassin of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, dies in Terezin, Austria-Hungary, after three years in prison.
• April 30 – WWI: The Second Transjordan attack on Shunet Nimrin and Es Salt, launched by units of the Egyptian Expeditionary Force, ends on 4 May, with their withdrawal back to the Jordan Valley.

  May

• May 1 – WWI: German troops enter Don Host Oblast; they capture Rostov-on-Don on May 8.
• May 2 – General Motors acquires the Chevrolet Motor Company of Delaware.
• May 7 – WWI: The British capture Kirkuk.
• May 9 – WWI – Second Ostend Raid: The British Royal Navy unsuccessfully attempts, for a second time, to seal off the German U-boat base here.
• May 11 – The Mountainous Republic of the Northern Caucasus is officially established.
• May 12 - The rams into the SM U-103, sinking it. resulting in the deaths of 9 people
• May 14 – The Three Minute Pause, initiated by the daily firing of the Noon Gun on Signal Hill, is instituted by Cape Town Mayor Sir Harry Hands. It will inspire the introduction of the two-minute silence in November 1919.
• May 15
• * The Finnish Civil War ends.
• * The United States Post Office Department begins the world's third regular airmail service, between New York City, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C.
• May 16 – The Sedition Act of 1918 is approved by the U.S. Congress.
• May 20 – The small town of Codell, Kansas is hit for the third year in a row, on the same date, by a tornado.
• May 21 – The United States Army Aviation Section is separated from the Signal Corps, and divided into the Division of Military Aeronautics and the Bureau of Aircraft Production.
• May 24 – Women in Canada, excluding residents of Quebec, are granted the right to vote in federal elections.
• May 26 – The Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic is abolished; Georgia declares its independence as the Democratic Republic of Georgia.
• May 27 – WWI: The Third Battle of the Aisne commences.
• May 28 – Armenia and Azerbaijan declare their independence as the First Republic of Armenia and the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic respectively.
• May 29 – WWI: The week-long Battle of Sardarabad concludes with defending Armenian forces victorious over the Ottomans.
• May 29–30 – WWI: Battle of Skra di Legen – The Greek National Defence Army Corps defeats the Bulgarians.