1918

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Year

This article is about the year 1918. For other uses, see 1918 (disambiguation).

Calendar year

Millennium:	2nd millennium
Centuries:	19th century 20th century 21st century
Decades:	1890s 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s
Years:	1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921

1918 by topic
Subject
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By country
Australia Belgium Bulgaria Brazil Canada China France Germany Hungary India Ireland Italy Japan Mexico New Zealand Norway Ottoman Syria Palestine (British administered) Philippines Russia South Africa Spain Sweden United Kingdom United States
Lists of leaders
Sovereign states Sovereign state leaders Territorial governors Religious leaders Law
Birth and death categories
Births Deaths
Establishments and disestablishments categories
Establishments Disestablishments
Works category
Works Introductions
v t e

1918 in various

Minguo calendar

ROC 7 民國7年
Nanakshahi calendar	450
Thai solar calendar	2460–2461
Tibetan calendar	阴火蛇年 (female Fire-Snake) 2044 or 1663 or 891     — to — 阳土马年 (male Earth-Horse) 2045 or 1664 or 892

Wikimedia Commons has media related to 1918.

1918 (MCMXVIII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar and a common year starting on Monday of the Julian calendar, the 1918th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 918th year of the 2nd millennium, the 18th year of the 20th century, and the 9th year of the 1910s decade. As of the start of 1918, the Gregorian calendar was 13 days ahead of the Julian calendar, which remained in localized use until 1923.

Calendar year

This year is noted for the end of the First World War, on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month, as well as for the Spanish flu pandemic that killed 50–100 million people worldwide.

Events

Below, the events of World War I have the "WWI" prefix.

February 16: The Act of Independence of Lithuania

January

Main article: January 1918

• 1918 flu pandemic: The "Spanish flu" (influenza) is first observed in Haskell County, Kansas.^[1]
• January 4 – The Finnish Declaration of Independence is recognized by Soviet Russia, Sweden, Germany and France.
• Yaqui Native American warriors in a minor skirmish in Arizona, and one of the last battles of the American Indian Wars
  between the United States and Native Americans.
• January 15
  • The keel of HMS Hermes is laid in Britain, the first purpose-designed aircraft carrier to be laid down.
  • 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.^[2]
• Russian Democratic Federative Republic
  but is dissolved by the Bolshevik government on the same day.
• Russia
  .
• January 27 – The Finnish Civil War begins with the Battle of Kämärä.
• January 27 - The adventure film "Tarzan of the Apes" is the first movie released featuring the hero created by Edgar Rice Burroughs.
• January 28 – Porvenir massacre: Texas Rangers, U.S. Cavalry soldiers and local ranchers kill 15 unarmed Mexican villagers, both men and boys.

February

Main article: February 1918

• Cattaro Mutiny
  : Austrian sailors in the Gulf of Cattaro (Kotor), led by two Czech Socialists, mutiny.
• February 5 – The SS Tuscania is torpedoed off the Irish coast; it is the first ship carrying American troops to Europe to be torpedoed and sunk.

February 23: Estonian Declaration of Independence

• February 6 – Women's suffrage in the United Kingdom: Representation of the People Act gives most women over 30 the vote.^[3]
• February 13 – A magnitude (M_w) 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.
• Cincinnati Zoo
  .
• February 23 – Estonian Declaration of Independence from Russia, after seven centuries of foreign rule; German forces capture Tallinn the following day.

March

Main article: March 1918

• March 1 – WWI: German submarine U-19 sinks HMS Calgarian off Rathlin Island, Northern Ireland.
• 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 (established on 4 May 1928). 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.^[4]
  • The first pilotless drone, the
    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 began.^[5]
• March 19 – The United States Congress establishes time zones, and approves daylight saving time (DST goes into effect on March 31).
• 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.
• 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' (Kaiser Wilhelm Geschütz), begins to shell Paris from 114 km (71 mi) away.
  • In London at the Wood Green Empire, Chung Ling Soo (William E. Robinson, U.S.-born magician) dies during his trick, where he is supposed to "catch" two separate bullets (but one of them perforates his lung). He dies the following morning in a hospital.
• March 25
  • The
    Belarusian People's Republic
    declares independence.
  • Dr.
    Alien Enemies Act
    , and imprisoned for the duration of WWI.
• March 26 – Dr. Marie Stopes publishes her influential book Married Love in the U.K.
• 31 March
  , back to the Jordan Valley.
• Bolshevik and Armenian Revolutionary Federation forces suppress a Muslim revolt in Baku, Azerbaijan
  , resulting in up to 30,000 deaths.

April

Main article: April 1918

Styles of Lucy, Lady Duff-Gordon, as presented in a vaudeville circuit pantomime and sketched by Marguerite Martyn

of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch in April 1918

• 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.^[5]
• 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.^[6]
  • First Ostend Raid: The British Royal Navy unsuccessfully attempts to seal off the German U-boat base here.
• Terezin, Austria-Hungary
  , after three years in prison.
• 4 May
  , with their withdrawal back to the Jordan Valley.

May

Main article: May 1918

• May 1 – WWI: German troops enter Don Host Oblast; they capture Rostov-on-Don on May 8.
• 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 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.^[7]
• 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.^[8]
• 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.
• 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.^[9]
• 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.

June

June 10: Austro-Hungarian battleship Szent István sunk by Italian torpedo boats

Szent István

Main article: June 1918

• June–August – The "Spanish flu" becomes pandemic.^[10] Over 30 million people die in the following 6 months.
• June 1 – WWI: The Battle of Belleau Wood begins.
• HMS Rival while trying to avoid her other escort, the cruiser HMS Kent
  .
• June 5 – The Afrikaner Broederbond, a confidential cultural organisation, is founded in Johannesburg.
• June 8 – V603 Aquilae, the brightest nova observed since Kepler's of 1604, is discovered.
• MAS motor torpedo boats off the Dalmatian
  coast.
• June 12
  • Grand Duke Michael of Russia is murdered, thereby becoming the first of the Romanovs to be killed by the Bolsheviks.
  • WWI: The first airplane bombing raid by an American unit in France is carried out.
• June 16 – The Declaration to the Seven, a British government response to a memorandum issued anonymously by seven Syrian notables, is published.
• June 22 – Suspects in the Chicago Restaurant Poisonings are arrested, and more than 100 waiters are taken into custody for poisoning restaurant customers with a lethal powder called Mickey Finn.
• June 29 – Bronx International Exposition of Science, Arts and Industries opens in New York; Brazil is the only international exhibitor and the exposition closes at the end of the season.^[11]

July

Main article: July 1918

• Siberian Intervention is launched by the Allies, to extract the Czechoslovak Legion from the Russian Civil War
  .
• Sultan of the Ottoman Empire on the death of his half-brother Mehmed V (Reşâd, who has reigned since 1909), himself reigning until the Sultanate is abolished in 1922
  .
• July 12 – The Imperial Japanese Navy battleship Kawachi blows up off Tokuyama, Yamaguchi, western Honshu, Japan, killing at least 621.
• July 13 – The National Czechoslovak Committee is established.
• July 14 – The film The Glorious Adventure is released in the United States, featuring Mammy Lou, who becomes one of the oldest people ever to star in a film, at a claimed age of 114.
• River Marne
  , with a German attack.

Execution of the Romanov family

• July 17
  • WWI:
    RMS Titanic) is torpedoed and sunk off the east coast of Ireland, by Imperial German Navy submarine U-55; 218 of the 223 on board are rescued.^[12]
  • Maria, Anastasia, Alexei and retainers are shot at the Ipatiev House, in Ekaterinburg, Russia
    .
• July 21 – WWI: Attack on Orleans – Imperial German submarine SM U-156 surfaces and fires on a small convoy of barges and defending flying boats off the Cape Cod town of Orleans, Massachusetts.^[13]

August

Main article: August 1918

• North Russia Intervention: British anti-Bolshevik forces occupy Arkhangelsk
  .
• August 3 – WWI: Australian hospital ship HMAT Warilda is torpedoed and sunk in the English Channel on passage from Le Havre to Southampton by German submarine SM UC-49 with the loss of 123 of the 801 people on board.^[14]
• August 8 – WWI: Battle of Amiens – British, Canadian and Australian troops begin a string of almost continuous victories, the 'Hundred Days Offensive', with an 8-mile push through the German front lines, taking 12,000 prisoners. German General Erich Ludendorff later calls this the "black day of the German Army".^[15]
• August 10 – Russian Revolution: The British commander in Archangel is told to help the White Russians.
• Czechoslovak legion, against the Red Army
  .
• Second Battle of the Somme
  begins.
• August 23 – The Bessarabian Peasants' Party is created.
• Carrancistas and their German advisors at Nogales, Arizona
  , in the only battle of WWI fought on United States soil.
• August 30
  • In response to the October Revolution in Russia, Vladimir Lenin is shot and wounded by Fanny Kaplan in Moscow, but survives.
  • Moisei Uritsky, the Petrograd head of the Cheka, is assassinated.

Lenin

, depicted by Vladimir Pchelin

September

Main article: September 1918

• September – WWI: British armies and their Arab allies roll into Syria.
• Bolshevik government of Russia publishes the first official announcement of the Red Terror, a period of repression against political opponents, as an "Appeal to the Working Class" in the newspaper Izvestia.^[16]
• September 4 – WWI: Battle of Mont Saint-Quentin concludes with the Australian Corps breaking the German line.
• September 5 – Russian Civil War: The Kazan Operation begins. The event continues for 5 days, and solidifies the Red Army's power in Russia over the White Army.
• September 12 – WWI: Battle of Havrincourt – British take a German salient.
• September 12–15 – WWI: Battle of Saint-Mihiel – Americans take a German salient.
• September 14 – WWI: The Balkan front offensive by the Serbian Army begins.
• Balkans Campaign: The Allied Army of the Orient defeats Bulgarian
  defenders.
• September 18 – WWI: Battle of Épehy – British approach the Hindenburg Line along the St Quentin Canal.
• September 19 – WWI:
  • The British Army's Egyptian Expeditionary Force launches the Battle of Megiddo, incorporating the Battle of Sharon, and the Battle of Nablus, an attack in the Judaean Mountains. This day are fought the Battle of Tulkarm, and the Battle of Arara, which break the Ottoman front line stretching from the Mediterranean coast to the Judaean Mountains, while the Battle of Tabsor extends into September 20.
  • The Third Transjordan attack in the Jordan Valley begins.
• September 20 – WWI: The British Army's Desert Mounted Corps launches the
  • 5th Cavalry Division (British Indian Army)
    ;
  • 4th Cavalry Division (British Indian Army)
    ;
  • Capture of Jenin by the Australian Mounted Division, almost encircling the Yildirim Army Group still in the Judaean Mountains.
• September 25 – WWI:
  • The Battle of Megiddo ends with the
    Capture of Tiberias
    .
  • The Third Transjordan attack ends with ANZAC Mounted Division victory at the Second Battle of Amman, with the subsequent capture at Ziza of the Ottoman II Corps, and more than 10,000 Ottoman and German prisoners.
• September 26 – WWI:
  • The
    Meuse-Argonne Offensive begins, the largest and bloodiest operation of the war for the American Expeditionary Forces
    .
  • The
    Capture of Damascus begins, with the Charge at Irbid
    by the 4th Cavalry Division.
• September 27 – WWI:
  • The Battle of the Canal du Nord, launched by British and Empire forces, continues the advance towards the Hindenburg Line.
  • The Battle of Jisr Benat Yakub, launched by the Australian Mounted Division, continues the advance towards Damascus.
• September 29 – WWI:
  • Battle of St Quentin Canal begins; Allied forces advance towards the Hindenburg Line.
  • Bulgaria requests an armistice.
• September 30 – WWI:
  • The Charge at Kaukab is begun by units of the Australian Mounted Division.
  • The Charge at Kiswe is begun by 4th Cavalry Division, continuing the Desert Mounted Corps' advance to Damascus.

October

Main article: October 1918

• captures Damascus
  .
• October 2 – WWI: The Charge at Khan Ayash is begun north of Damascus, by the 3rd Light Horse Brigade.
• October 3
  • Kaiser
    Chancellor of Germany
    .
  • King Ferdinand I of Bulgaria abdicates in the wake of the Bulgarian military collapse in WWI. He is succeeded by his son, Boris III.
  • WWI: The Pursuit to Haritan by the Desert Mounted Corps begins.
• October 4
  • Wilhelm II of Germany
    forms a new, liberal government to sue for peace.
  • The T. A. Gillespie Company Shell Loading Plant explosion in New Jersey kills 100+, and destroys enough ammunition to supply the Western Front for 6 months.
• October 7 – The Regency Council (Poland) declares Polish independence from the German Empire, and demands that Germany cede the Polish provinces of Poznań, Upper Silesia and Polish Pomerania.
• October 8–10 – WWI: Second Battle of Cambrai: British and Canadian troops take Cambrai from the Germans and the First and Third British Armies break through the Hindenburg Line.
• Alvin C. York
  almost single-handedly kills 25 German soldiers and captures 132.
• October 9 – Landgrave Prince Frederick Charles of Hesse is elected King of Finland.
• Mercalli intensity
  of IX (Violent), killing 76–116 people. A destructive tsunami contributes to the damage and loss of life.
• Cloquet Fire: The city of Cloquet, Minnesota
  , and nearby areas are destroyed in a fire, killing 453.
• October 18 – The Washington Declaration proclaims the independent Czechoslovak Republic.
• October 24 – WWI: The Battle of Vittorio Veneto opens.
• October 25
  • WWI: Aleppo is captured, by Prince Feisal's Sheifial Forces.
  • The steamer Princess Sophia sinks on Vanderbilt Reef near Juneau, Alaska; 353 people die, in the greatest maritime disaster in the Pacific Northwest.
• October 26 – WWI – Charge at Haritan: Units of the Desert Mounted Corps battle with Ottoman forces for the last time in WWI.
• October 28
  • Czechoslovakia declares its independence from Austria-Hungary.
  • A new Polish government is declared in Western Galicia (Eastern Europe).
• October 29
  • The
    Wilhelmshaven mutiny of the German High Seas Fleet
    breaks out.
  • The State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs declares its independence from Austria-Hungary.
• October 30
  • The Martin Declaration is published, including Slovakia in the formation of the Czecho-Slovak state.
  • The Armistice of Mudros ends conflict between the Ottoman Empire and the Allies of World War I, and grants independence to the Mutawakkilite Kingdom of Yemen.
• Austro-Hungarian Empire
  .

November

Main article: November 1918

• November 1
  • The Polish–Ukrainian War is inaugurated, by the proclamation of the West Ukrainian People's Republic in Galicia, with a capital at Lwów.
  • Serbian forces recapture Belgrade.
  • Malbone Street Wreck: The worst rapid transit accident in world history occurs under the intersection of Malbone Street and Flatbush Avenue, in Brooklyn
    , New York City, with at least 93 dead.
• November 3
  • WWI: Austria-Hungary enters an armistice with the
    Allies, at the Villa Giusti in Padua
    .
  • Poland declares its independence from Russia.
  • German Revolution: In Kiel, sailors in the German fleet mutiny, and throughout northern Germany soldiers and workers begin to establish revolutionary councils, on the Russian soviet model.
• November 4 – WWI: The Armistice of Villa Giusti ends warfare between Italy and Austria-Hungary, on the Italian Front.
• November 6 – A new Polish government is proclaimed in Lublin.
• November 7 – King Ludwig of Bavaria flees his country.
• November 8 – The German army withdraws its support of the Kaiser. The German Armistice delegation arrives at the Forest of Compiègne in France.

Reichstag

balcony

• November 9
  • Kaiser
    Wilhelm II of Germany
    abdicates and chooses to live in exile in the Netherlands.
  • The German Republic is proclaimed by Philipp Scheidemann in Berlin, on the Reichstag balcony.
  • Provisional National Council Minister-President Kurt Eisner declares Bavaria to be a republic.
  • British battleship HMS Britannia is sunk by a German submarine off Trafalgar, with the loss of around fifty lives (the last major naval engagement of WWI).

November 11: Front page of The New York Times on Armistice Day

• November 11
  • End of WWI: Armistice of 11 November 1918 – Germany signs an armistice agreement with the Allies, between 5:12 AM and 5:20 AM, in the "Compiègne Wagon", Marshal Foch's railroad car, in the Forest of Compiègne in France. It becomes official on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month.^[17] At 10:59 U.S. soldier Henry Gunther becomes (probably) the last killed in action.
  • Poland regains independence, after 123 years of
    Commander-in-Chief
    .
  • Emperor Charles I of Austria gives up his absolute power, but does not abdicate.
  • Loppem Agreements: Start of a series of political meetings between King Albert I and Belgian liberals and socialists.
  • Red Week: Pieter Jelles Troelstra gives a speech calling for socialist revolution in the Netherlands.
• November 12 – Austria becomes a republic.
• November 13
  • The Allied
    Occupation of Constantinople
    begins.
  • Frederick II, Grand Duke of Baden, relinquishes all governing duties.
• November 14
  • Czechoslovakia becomes a republic.
  • The Second Polish Republic is proclaimed with Józef Piłsudski as head of state.
  • The provisional government of Baden proclaims the "Free People's Republic of Baden" (Freie Volksrepublik Baden).
  • Ernest Louis, Grand Duke of Hesse, is forced from his throne, leading to the establishment of the People's State of Hesse.
  • Frederick Francis IV, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin abdicates his throne, leading to the establishment of the Free State of Mecklenburg-Schwerin.
  • Charles Edward, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, announces he is ceasing to rule Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, leading to the establishment of the Free State of Coburg.
  • German East African troops are informed of the November 11 armistice.
• Hungarian Democratic Republic is declared, marking Hungary's independence from Austria
  .
• November 18 – Latvia declares its independence from Russia.
• November 20 – U-boats start to rendezvous off Harwich, to begin the surrender of the High Seas Fleet to the British Royal Navy; in the following week the German warships are escorted to internment in Scapa Flow.^[18]
• November 21 – Lwów pogrom: Polish troops, volunteers and freed criminals massacre at least 320 Ukrainian Christians and Jews in Lwów, Galicia.
• November 22
  • The
    Spartacist League
    founds the German Communist Party.
  • The Belgian royal family returns to Brussels after the war, King Albert I having commanded the Allied army group in the September–October Courtrai offensive, which liberated his country.
  • Frederick II, Grand Duke of Baden, abdicates; the Grand Duchy of Baden gives way to the Republic of Baden.
• November 23 – British military government of Palestine begins.^[19]
• November 25 – General Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck, German commander in German East Africa, signs a ceasefire at Abercorn in Northern Rhodesia.
• November 26 – The Podgorica Assembly ('Great National Assembly of the Serb People in Montenegro') votes for a "union of the people" between the kingdoms of Montenegro and Serbia and for deposition of the exiled King Nicholas I of Montenegro.^[20]
• November 28 – Estonian War of Independence: The Red Army invades Estonia, starting the war. The Commune of the Working People of Estonia is established as a Soviet puppet state in Narva on the next day.
• November 29 – Serbia annexes Montenegro, suspending the latter's existence as a sovereign state for nearly the entirety of the following 88 years.^[21]
• November 30 – Ernest Ansermet conducts the first concert by the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande.

December

• December 1
  • By the
    King of Denmark
    , who also becomes the King of Iceland.
  • New voting laws in Sweden makes votes no longer dependent on taxable assets, each adult having one vote.
  • The
    Bucovina, Transylvania unites with the Kingdom of Romania
    .
  • The Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (which later becomes the Kingdom of Yugoslavia) is proclaimed, in particular ending Serbia's existence as a sovereign state for the next 87 years (it would not regain its sovereignty until 2006).^[21]

Flag of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes

• Paris Peace Conference
  , becoming the first United States President to travel to Europe while holding office.
• December 5 – Estonian War of Independence: The British light cruiser HMS Cassandra strikes a mine and sinks near Saaremaa in the Baltic Sea, killing 11 sailors.^[22]
• December 6: A magnitude (M_w) 7.2 earthquake shakes British Columbia.
• December 14
  • Prince Frederick Charles of Hesse renounces the Finnish throne.
  • Portuguese President Sidónio Pais is assassinated.
  • Giacomo Puccini's comic opera Gianni Schicchi premiered at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City.^[23]
• Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic, a puppet state created by the Russian SFSR to justify the Lithuanian–Soviet War
  .
• Darwin Rebellion in Australia: Disaffected workers march on Government House, Darwin, demanding the resignation of the Administrator of the Northern Territory, John A. Gilruth
  .
• Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk
  returns to the Czechoslovak Republic.
• December 21 – Estonian War of Independence: The Red Army captures Tartu, Estonia.
• December 25 – Der Stahlhelm, Bund der Frontsoldaten, is formed in Germany as a nationalist veterans' organization.
• Greater Poland Uprising (1918–19): Poles in Greater Poland (the former Grand Duchy of Posen) rise up against the Germans, ignited by a patriotic speech made in Poznań by pianist and politician Ignacy Jan Paderewski
  .
• Holloway Prison (London), becomes the first woman elected to (but does not take her seat in) the British House of Commons.^[24]
• Georgian–Armenian War
  .

• The Native American Church is formally founded in Oklahoma.
• The
  repeal of Prohibition
  in the United States.
• United Business Media
  is founded in London, as United Newspapers Ltd.
• Around 1,000 pilot whales are stranded in the Chatham Islands.

Births

January

João Figueiredo

Gamal Abdel Nasser

Nicolae Ceaușescu

John Forsythe

• January 1
  • Nat Jaffe, American swing jazz pianist (d. 1945)
  • Patrick Anthony Porteous, Scottish recipient of the Victoria Cross (d. 2000)
• January 2 – Gudrun Zapf-von Hesse, German typographer, calligrapher and book-binder (d. 2019)
• January 9 – Alma Ziegler, American female professional baseball player (d. 2005)
• January 10 – Arthur Chung, 1st President of Guyana (d. 2008)
• Kassim Al-Rimawi, Prime Minister of Jordan (d. 1982
  )
• January 12 – Mike Laffin, Canadian politician, dentist (d. 2019)
• January 14 – Dimitri Tsafendas, South African criminal (d. 1999)
• January 15
  • João Figueiredo, 30th President of Brazil (d. 1999)
  • Ira B. Harkey Jr., American newspaper editor (d. 2006)
  • Gamal Abdel Nasser, 2nd President of Egypt (d. 1970)
  • Deryck Stapleton, British Royal Air Force officer (d. 2018)
• January 16
  • Nel Benschop, Dutch poet (d. 2005)
  • Allan Ekelund, Swedish film producer (d. 2009)
  • Stirling Silliphant, American writer, producer (d. 1996)
• January 17
  • Kamal Amrohi, Indian director, screenwriter (d. 1993)
  • George M. Leader, American politician (d. 2013)
• January 19
  • Peter Hobbs, American actor (d. 2011)
  • John H. Johnson, African-American publisher, founder of Ebony (d. 2005)
• January 20
  • Juan García Esquivel, Mexican bandleader (d. 2002)
  • Nevin S. Scrimshaw, American food scientist (d. 2013)
• January 21
  • Chicháy, Filipino actress (d. 1993)
  • Richard Winters, U.S. Army officer (d. 2011)
• January 22 – Elmer Lach, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 2015)
• January 23 – Gertrude B. Elion, American scientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 1999)
• January 24 – Oral Roberts, American neo-Pentecostal televangelist (d. 2009)
• January 25 – Ernie Harwell, American baseball sportscaster (d. 2010)
• January 26
  • Nicolae Ceaușescu, Romanian communist politician and leader (d. 1989)
  • Philip José Farmer, American writer (d. 2009)
  • Vito Scotti, American character actor (d. 1996)
• January 27
  • Skitch Henderson, English-born musician, bandleader (d. 2005)
  • Elmore James, American musician (d. 1963)
• January 29
  • Luis Aguilar, Mexican actor, and singer (d. 1997)
  • John Forsythe, American actor (Dynasty) (d. 2010)
• January 30 – Bazilije Pandžić, Croatian historian, archivist and orientalist (d. 2019)
• January 31 – Millie Dunn Veasey, African-American civil rights activist (d. 2018)

February

Joey Bishop

Julian Schwinger

• February 1
  • Carlos Fayt, Argentine lawyer, politician and academic (d. 2016)
  • Dame Muriel Spark, Scottish author (d. 2006)
• February 2 – Hella Haasse, Dutch writer (d. 2011)
• February 3
  • Joey Bishop, American entertainer, member of the "Rat Pack" (d. 2007)
  • Martin Greenberg, American poet and translator (d. 2021)
  • Helen Stephens, American runner (d. 1994)
• February 4
  • Clive Bossom, British politician (d. 2017)
  • Ida Lupino, Anglo-American actress, screenwriter, director and producer (d. 1995)
• February 6 – Lothar-Günther Buchheim, German author (d. 2007)
• February 7
  • Markey Robinson, Irish painter (d. 1999)
  • Marguerite Narbel, Swiss biologist and politician (died 2010)
• February 8
  • Fred Blassie, American professional wrestler, novelty singer (Pencil Neck Geek) (d. 2003
    )
  • Walter Newton Read, American lawyer, second chairman of the New Jersey Casino Control Commission (d. 2001)
• February 12 – Julian Schwinger, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1994)
• February 14 – William L. Snyder, American film producer (d. 1998)
• February 15
  • Allan Arbus, American actor (M*A*S*H) (d. 2013)
  • Smilja Avramov, Serbian academic, authority and educator in international law (d. 2018)
  • William T. Young, American businessman (d. 2004)
• Patty Andrews, American singer (The Andrews Sisters) (d. 2013
  )
• February 17 – William Bronk, American poet (d. 1999)
• February 19 – Fay McKenzie, American silent film actress (d. 2019)
• February 21 – Robert E. Thacker, American aviator and test pilot (d. 2020)
• February 22
  • Charlie Finley, American owner of the Oakland A's (1960–80) (d. 1996)
  • Don Pardo, American television announcer (Saturday Night Live) (d. 2014)
  • Robert Pershing Wadlow, American tallest man record-holder (d. 1940
    )
• February 25
  • Barney Ewell, American athlete (d. 1996)
  • Miguel Gallastegui, Spanish pelotari (d. 2019)
  • Bobby Riggs, American tennis player (d. 1995)
• February 26
  • Prime Minister of Grenada (d. 1989
    )
  • Lloyd Geering, New Zealand theologian
  • Theodore Sturgeon, American writer (d. 1985)
• February 28 – Alfred Burke, English actor (d. 2011)

March

João Goulart

James Tobin

Frederick Reines

Pearl Bailey

• March 1
  • Franz Becker, German footballer (d. 1965)
  • Roger Delgado, British actor (d. 1973)
  • João Goulart, 24th President of Brazil (d. 1976)
  • James N. Morgan, American economist (d. 2018)
• March 2 – Martin Flannery, British politician (d. 2006)
• March 3
  • Arthur Kornberg, American biochemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 2007)
  • Fritz Thiedemann, German equestrian (d. 2000)
• March 4 – Margaret Osborne duPont, American female tennis player (d. 2012)
• March 5
  • Shlomo Lorincz, member of Israeli Knesset for Agudat Yisrael (d. 2009)
  • James Tobin, American economist, Nobel Memorial Prize laureate (d. 2002)
• March 9
  • George Lincoln Rockwell, American Nazi leader (d. 1967)
  • Mickey Spillane, American writer (d. 2006)
• March 10 – Günther Rall, German ace fighter pilot (d. 2009)
• March 11 – Jack Coe, American evangelist (d. 1956)
• March 12 – Elaine de Kooning, American artist (d. 1989)
• March 13 – Eddie Pellagrini, American baseball player, coach (d. 2006)
• March 14 – John McCallum, Australian actor (d. 2010)
• Puisne Justice (d. 2009
  )
• March 16 – Frederick Reines, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1998)^[25]
• March 17 – Viviane Gauthier, Haitian dancer (d. 2017)
• March 18 – Bob Broeg, American sports writer (d. 2005)
• March 20 – Jack Barry, American television game show host, producer (d. 1984)
• March 22 – Cheddi Jagan, 4th President of Guyana (d. 1997)
• March 23
  • Kazu Naoki, Japanese soccer player (d. 1940s)
  • Stick McGhee, American jump blues singer, guitarist, and songwriter (d. 1961)
  • Émile Derlin Zinsou, President of Benin (d. 2016)
• March 25 – Howard Cosell, American attorney, lecturer, and sports journalist (d. 1995)
• March 26 – Lloyd McCuiston, American politician (d. 2021)
• March 28 – Gonzalo Facio Segreda, Costa Rican lawyer, politician, and diplomat (d. 2018)
• March 29
  • Pearl Bailey, African-American singer, actress (d. 1990)
  • Shirley Jameson, American female baseball player (d. 1993)
  • Wal-Mart (d. 1992
    )

William Holden

Kai Siegbahn

• April 1
  • Milt Earnhart, American politician (d. 2020)
  • Diarmuid Larkin, Irish artist and art educationist (d. 1989)
• April 6
  • Alfredo Ovando Candía, 48th President of Bolivia (d. 1982)
  • George Corones, Australian Masters swimmer (d. 2020)
• April 7 – Bobby Doerr, American baseball player (d. 2017)
• April 8
  • Betty Ford, First Lady of the United States (d. 2011)
  • Charles P. Roland, American historian (d. 2022)
• April 9 – Jørn Utzon, Danish architect (d. 2008)
• April 10 – H. S. Doreswamy, Indian activist, journalist (d. 2021)
• April 11 – Jean-Claude Servan-Schreiber, French journalist, politician (d. 2018)
• April 14 – Mary Healy, American actress, variety entertainer and singer (d. 2015)
• April 15 – Edmund Jones, American politician (d. 2019)
• April 16
  • Spike Milligan, Irish comedian (d. 2002)
  • Murray Westgate, Canadian actor (d. 2018)
• April 17
  • William Holden, American actor (d. 1981)
  • Frank Popper, French historian (d. 2020)
  • Anne Shirley, American actress (d. 1993)
• April 18
  • Gabriel Axel, Danish film director (d. 2014)
  • Shinobu Hashimoto, Japanese screenwriter (d. 2018)
  • Clifton Hillegass, American author, founder of CliffsNotes (d. 2001)
  • Claudio Teehankee, Filipino lawyer (d. 1989)
• April 20
  • Edward L. Beach Jr., American naval officer, author (d. 2002)
  • Kai Siegbahn, Swedish physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2007)
• April 22
  • William Jay Smith, American poet (d. 2015)
  • Mickey Vernon, American baseball player (d. 2008)
• April 24 – Lou Dorfsman, American graphic designer (d. 2008)
• April 26 – Fanny Blankers-Koen, Dutch athlete (d. 2004)
• April 27 – John Rice, American baseball umpire (d. 2011)
• April 28
  • Mildred Persinger, American feminist (d. 2018)
  • Karl-Eduard von Schnitzler, East German journalist, host of the television show Der schwarze Kanal (d. 2001)
  • Rodger Wilton Young, United States Army soldier, remembered in the song "The Ballad of Rodger Young" (d. 1943
    )
• April 29
  • George Allen, American football coach (d. 1990)
  • Nils Östensson, Swedish Olympic cross-country skier (d. 1949)

May

Mike Wallace

Richard Feynman

Eddy Arnold

Yasuhiro Nakasone