January 8
January 8
Wilson announces his 14 Points
In an address before a joint meeting of Congress, U.S. President Woodrow Wilson discusses the aims of the United States in World War I and outlines his “14 Points” for…
A Year In History: 1918
Also Within This Year in History:
1918
World War I ended in 1918, when Germany signed an armistice agreement with the victorious Allies. The war had cost the lives of more than 9 million combatants plus millions of civilians. Meanwhile, an even more deadly threat emerged: the influenza pandemic, which would take another 50 million lives worldwide. Bolshevik revolutionaries executed the Romanov family, ending 300 years of Russian imperial rule. On the U.S. homefront, Congress enacted daylight savings time, only to repeal it the following year.
January 8
January 8
President Wilson delivers “Fourteen Points” speech
The Fourteen Points speech of President Woodrow Wilson was an address delivered before a joint meeting of Congress on January 8, 1918, during which Wilson outlined his vision for a…
January 20
January 20
Goeben and Breslau battle the Allies in the Aegean
On the morning of January 20, 1918, British and German forces clash in the Aegean Sea when the German battleships Goeben and Breslau attempt a surprise raid on Allied forces…
January 22
January 22
Ukraine declares its independence
Soon after the Bolsheviks seized control in immense, troubled Russia in November 1917 and moved toward negotiating peace with the Central Powers, the former Russian state of Ukraine declares its…
January 27
January 27
Workers prepare to strike in Germany
Plagued by hunger and increasingly frustrated with the continuing Great War, hundreds of thousands of long‑suffering German workers prepare for a massive strike in Berlin. Although the year 1917 had…
February 5
February 5
U.S. steamship Tuscania is torpedoed and sinks
On February 5, 1918, the Anchor line steamship Tuscania, traveling as part of a British convoy and transporting over 2,000 American soldiers bound for Europe, is torpedoed and sinks off…
February 8
February 8
U.S. Army resumes publication of Stars and Stripes
On this day in 1918, the United States Army resumes publication of the military newsletter Stars and Stripes. Begun as a newsletter for Union soldiers during the American Civil War,…
February 9
February 9
Ukraine signs peace treaty with Central Powers
The first peace treaty of World War I is signed when the newly declared independent state of Ukraine officially comes to terms with the Central Powers at 2 a.m. in…
February 11
February 11
Russia’s General Kaledin dies by suicide
Russian General Alexei Maximovitch Kaledin, a commander of Russian forces during World War I and a staunch opponent of the Bolsheviks, dies by suicide on this day in 1918. Kaledin,…
February 21
February 21
Allied troops capture Jericho
On the morning of February 21, 1918, combined Allied forces of British troops and the Australian mounted cavalry capture the city of Jericho in Palestine after a three‑day battle with…
February 22
February 22
Montana passes law against sedition
Swept along by hysterical fears of treacherous German spies and domestic labor violence, the Montana legislature passes a Sedition Law that severely restricts freedom of speech and assembly. Three months…
March 3
March 3
Russia makes a separate peace
Bolshevik Russia signs the Treaty of Brest‑Litovsk with the Central Powers, abandoning the Allied war effort and granting independence to its Polish and Baltic territories, the Ukraine, and Finland. Russia’s…
March 3
March 3
Treaty of Brest‑Litovsk concluded
On March 3, 1918, in the city of Brest‑Litovsk, located in modern‑day Belarus near the Polish border, Russia signs a treaty with the Central Powers ending its participation in World…
March 4
March 4
First cases reported in deadly 1918 flu pandemic
Just before breakfast on the morning of March 4, Private Albert Gitchell of the U.S. Army reports to the hospital at Fort Riley, Kansas, complaining of the cold‑like symptoms of…
March 7
March 7
Finland signs treaty with Germany
Four days after Russia signs a humiliating peace treaty with the Central Powers at Brest‑Litovsk, the newly declared independent state of Finland reaches a formal peace settlement with Germany. Though…
March 8
March 8
Russian Bolshevik Party becomes the Communist Party
On March 8, 1918, the ascendant Bolshevik Party formally changes its name to the All‑Russian Communist Party. It was neither the first nor the last time the party would alter…
March 21
March 21
Second Battle of the Somme begins
During World War I, the Second Battle of the Somme, the first major German offensive in more a year, begins on the western front. After five hours of bombardment from…
March 21
March 21
Germany begins major offensive on the Western Front
On March 21, 1918, near the Somme River in France, the German army launches its first major offensive on the Western Front in two years. At the beginning of 1918,…
March 23
March 23
Paris hit by shells from new German gun
At 7:20 in the morning on March 23, 1918, an explosion in the Place de la Republique in Paris announces the first attack of a new German gun. The Pariskanone,…
March 24
March 24
German forces cross the Somme River
On March 24, 1918, German forces cross the Somme River, achieving their first goal of the major spring offensive begun three days earlier on the Western Front. Operation Michael, engineered…
