1918: Definition and Links by Encyclopedian.com

Centuries: 19th century - 20th century - 21st century

Decades: 1860s 1870s 1880s 1890s 1900s - 1910s - 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s

Years: 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 - 1918 - 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923

Events:

January 8 - President Woodrow Wilson announces his "Fourteen Points" for the aftermath of World War I
February 3 - The Twin Peaks Tunnel[?] begins service as the longest streetcar tunnel in the world (11,920 feet long).
February 1 - Russia adopts the Gregorian Calendar
February 8 - The Stars and Stripes newspaper publishes for the first time
February 14 - The Soviet Union adopts the Gregorian calendar (1 February according to the Julian calendar). As a consequence the anniversary of the Russian Revolution, previously October, now falls in November.
February 16 - Lithuania declares its independence from both Russia and Germany
March 3 - Germany, Austria and Russia sign the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk ending Russia's involvement in World War I.
March 5 - The Soviet Union moves the national capital from Petrograd to Moscow
March 6 - Finnish Airforce founded. 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 buddhist symbol on the plane as his personal lucky insignia.
March 7 - World War I: Finland forms an alliance with Germany.
March 19 - The United States Congress establishes time zones and approves daylight saving time (DST went into effect on March 31).
March 21 - World War I: Second Battle of the Somme[?] begins
April 1 - The Royal Flying Corps is replaced by the Royal Air Force.
May 15 - The Post Office Department (later renamed the USPS) begins the first regular airmail[?] service in the world (between New York City, Philadelphia and Washington, DC).
May 26 - The first Republic of Georgia is established.
July 4 - Change of emperor of the Ottoman Empire from Mehmed V (Resad) (1909-1918) to Mehmed VI (Vahdettin) (1918-1922)
August - "Spanish Flu" Influenza becomes pandemic; over twenty-five million people die in the following six months (three times as many as died during the war).
December - New voting laws in Sweden. Votes no longer dependent on taxable assets. One person, one vote.

Finnish Civil War between the Reds and the Whites, January - April.
Fighting in World War I ends.
Habsburg Empire Ceases to exist
Grand Duchy of Baden Ceases to exist
Iceland becomes an independent state, under the Danish crown, with foreign affairs handled by Denmark.
Poland gains its independence.

Art, Culture & Fashion

1918 in film
- February 14 - The movie Tarzan of the Apes[?] is released.
1918 in literature
- The Magnificent Ambersons by Booth Tarkington
- Eminent Victorians by Lytton Strachey
1918 in music
1918 in sports

Births:

January 15 - Gamal Abdal Nasser, President of Egypt (+ 1970)
January 15 - Robert Byrd, American politician
January 16 - Stirling Silliphant[?], writer, producer (+ 1996)
January 20 - Esquivel, musician
January 26 - Nicolae Ceausescu, Romanian dictator (+ 1989)
January 26 - Philip Jose Farmer, science fiction writer
January 27 - Skitch Henderson[?], musician, band leader
January 29 - John Forsythe[?], actor
February 1 - Dame Muriel Spark, author
February 6 - Lothar-Günther Buchheim[?], author of Das Boot
February 8 - Fred Blassie, former professional wrestler (+ 2003)
February 25 - Bobby Riggs[?], tennis player (+ 1995)
February 26 - Theodore Sturgeon, science fiction writer (+ 1985)
March 3 - Fritz Thiedemann[?], equestrian (+ 2000)
March 5 - James Tobin, economist
March 9 - Mickey Spillane, mystery writer
March 9 - George Lincoln Rockwell[?], American Nazi leader (+ 1967)
March 10 - Heywood Hale Broun[?], sports journalist, commentator (+ 2001)
March 16 - Frederick Reines, physicist (1995 Nobel Prize in Physics)
March 17 - Mercedes McCambridge[?], actress
March 25 - Howard Cosell[?], attorney, lecturer, sports journalist (+ 1995)
March 29 - Pearl Bailey[?], singer, actress (+ 1990)
April 16 - Spike Milligan, comedian
April 25 - Ella Fitzgerald, jazz singer (+ 1996)
May 9 - Mike Wallace[?], journalist
May 9 - Orville L. Freeman[?], American politician (+ 2003)
May 11 - Richard Feynman, physicist (+ 1988)
May 12 - Julius Rosenberg, spy (+ 1953)
May 15 - Eddy Arnold[?], singer
July 4 - Ann Landers, advice columnist (+ 2002)
July 4 - Abigail Van Buren, advice columnist and twin sister to Ann Landers
July 14 - Ingmar Bergman Swedish film director
July 18 - Nelson Mandela, South African prisoner of conscience and president.
August 13 - Frederick Sanger, molecular biologist
August 25 - Leonard Bernstein, American composer and conductor
August 30 - Ted Williams, American baseball player
October 19 - Louis Althusser, French Marxist philosopher
December 11 - Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, Russian writer
December 21 - Donald Regan, Chief of Staff and U.S. Treasury Secretary (+ 2003)
December 25 - Anwar Sadat, Egyptian president

Deaths:

January 6 - Georg Cantor, German mathematician.
February 6 - Gustav Klimt, Austrian painter
March 25 - Claude Debussy, French composer.
July 3 - Sultan Mehmed V of the Ottoman Empire
June 10 - Arrigo Boito, poet and composer
July 16 - Tsar Nicholas II of Russia and his family.
September 28 - Georg Simmel, German sociologist and philosopher.

Nobel Prizes:

Physics - Max Karl Ernst Ludwig Planck
Chemistry - Fritz Haber
Medicine - not awarded
Literature - - not awarded
Peace - not awarded