Chronology of World History

Copyright © 2007-2008 Ken Polsson
internet e-mail: kpolsson@islandnet.com
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to this site, not to copy these pages to other web sites.
URL: http://www.islandnet.com/~kpolsson/worldhis/

References are numbered in [brackets], which are listed here. A number after the dot gives the page in the source.

Last updated: 2008 April 30.


1918

January 1
  • Last day of the Julian calendar in Finland. [1]
January 2
  • Sijbe K Bakker vicar/theologist (Christian-Socialism), dies at 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 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 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 12
  • Montréal Canadien Joe Malone scores five goals beating Ottawa 9-4. [1]
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 55. [1]

February 7
  • Alexander Sergeyevich Taneyev composer, dies at 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 30. [1]
  • Sacha Guitry's "Deburan" premieres in Paris. [1]
February 10
  • Abdül-Hamid II 34th sultan of Turkey (lost Serbia/Egypt), dies at 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]
March 1
  • Johan Gustaf Emil Sjogren composer, dies at 64. [1]
March 2
  • Birth of Peter O'Sullevan Ireland, horse racing commentator. [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 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 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 57. [1]
  • William Courtleigh actor (Susie Snowflake), dies at 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 82. [1]
  • Juliette Marie Olga Lili Boulanger composer, dies at 24. [1]
  • Lili Boulanger composer, dies at 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 80. [1]
March 19
  • US Congress authorizes time zones and approves daylight saving time. [1]
  • S Potter becomes first US pilot to shoot down a German seaplane. [1]
  • Willem H de Beaufort Dutch historian/liberal politician, dies at 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 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 53. [1]
March 25
  • Claude A Debussy French composer (Iberia/La mer), dies in Paris France at 55. [1]
March 26
  • César A Cui Lithuanian fort builder/composer, dies at 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 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 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 25. [1]
April 23
  • Battle of Zeebrugge ends. [1]
  • Dover Patrol overthrows Germany U-boat in East Sea. [1]
  • National Urban League forms. [1]
  • Percy Thomson Dean Lieutenant-commander, killed at Zeebrugge, dies. [1]
April 29
  • Gavrilo Princip Bosnian murderer of arch duke Ferdinand, dies at 22. [1]
May 10
  • HMS Vindictive sunk to block entrance of Ostend Harbor. [1]
May 13
  • First US airmail stamps issued (24 cents). [1]
May 15
  • First regular airmail service (between New York, Philadelphia and Washington DC) inaugurated. [1]
  • Greek troops lands at Smyrna. [1]
May 16
  • Eusapia Palladino Napolitan, dies at 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 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 80. [1]
May 28
  • Tatars declares Azerbaijan, in Russian Caucasus, independent. [1]
May 30
  • Georgi V Plechanov Russian revolutionary theorist, dies. [1]
June 3
  • 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 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, Tenn. [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 began 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 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 began 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]
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]
November 10
  • Independence of Poland proclaimed by Jozef Pilsudski. [1]
November 11
  • Armistice Day-WW I ends (at 11 AM on Western Front). [1]
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
  • Danish parliament passed an act to grant Iceland independence. [1]
  • Serbian-Croatian-Slovic kingdom proclaimed in Belgrade. [1]
December 2
  • Margit Kaffka writer, dies at 38. [1]
December 4
  • Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (Yugoslavia) proclaimed. [1]
  • President Wilson sails for Versailles Peace Conference in France, first chief executive to travel outside US while in office. [1]
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 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 16
  • Jack Dempsey knocks out Carl Morris in 14 seconds. [1]
December 18
  • Henryk Jarecki composer, dies at 72. [1]
December 19
  • Robert Ripley began 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 83. [1]
December 26
  • Bertram Luard-Selby composer, dies at 65. [1]
December 28
  • George H White last post Reconstruction congressman (Pennsylvania), dies. [1]
December 30
  • John E Hoover decides to be called J Edgar Hoover. [1]

End of 1918. Next: 1919.
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1870-1871 1872-1874 1875-1877 1878-1879 1880-1882 1883-1884 1885-1887 1888-1889 1890-1892 1893-1894
1895-1897 1898-1899 1900-1901 1902-1904 1905-1907 1908-1909 1910-1911 1912 1913 1914
1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920-1921 1922 1923 1924 1925
1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935
1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945
1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955
1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965
1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975
1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985
1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995
1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005
2006 2007 2008


A list of references to all source material is available.

Other web pages of interest:

  • This Day in History
  • Chronology of Sports
  • Chronology of Gambling
  • Chronology of Extreme Weather
  • Chronology of World War II
  • Chronology of Space Exploration
  • Chronology of Sweden
  • Chronology of Personal Computers
  • Chronology of Notable Births
  • Chronology of Notable Deaths
  • Last updated: 2008 April 30.
    Copyright © 2007-2008 Ken Polsson (email: kpolsson@islandnet.com).
    URL: http://www.islandnet.com/~kpolsson/worldhis/
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