1918: Difference between revisions

1918 in various calendars
Gregorian calendar	1918; MCMXVIII
Ab urbe condita	2671
Armenian calendar	1367; ԹՎ ՌՅԿԷ
Assyrian calendar	6668
Baháʼí calendar	74–75
Balinese saka calendar	1839–1840
Bengali calendar	1325
Berber calendar	2868
British Regnal year	8 Geo. 5 – 9 Geo. 5
Buddhist calendar	2462
Burmese calendar	1280
Byzantine calendar	7426–7427
Chinese calendar	丁巳年 (Fire Snake); 4615 or 4408; — to —; 戊午年 (Earth Horse); 4616 or 4409
Coptic calendar	1634–1635
Discordian calendar	3084
Ethiopian calendar	1910–1911
Hebrew calendar	5678–5679
Hindu calendars
- Vikram Samvat	1974–1975
- Shaka Samvat	1839–1840
- Kali Yuga	5018–5019
Holocene calendar	11918
Igbo calendar	918–919
Iranian calendar	1296–1297
Islamic calendar	1336–1337
Japanese calendar	Taishō 7; (大正７年)
Javanese calendar	1848–1849
Juche calendar	7
Julian calendar	Gregorian minus 13 days
Korean calendar	4251
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

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

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Revision as of 13:37, 2 May 2019

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.

This year is famous 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, events of World War I have the "WWI" prefix.

January

January – 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 Russia, Sweden, Germany and France.
January 8 – Woodrow Wilson delivers his Fourteen Points speech.
January 9 – Battle of Bear Valley: U.S. troops engage Yaqui Indian 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 12 – Finland enacts a "Mosaic Confessors" law, granting Finnish Jews civil rights.
January 15
- The keel of HMS Hermes is laid in Britain, the first purpose-designed aircraft carrier to be laid down.
- The Red Army is formed.
January 18
- The Russian Constituent Assembly meets.
- The Historic Concert for the Benefit of Widows and Orphans of Austrian and Hungarian Soldiers is held at the Konzerthaus, Vienna.^[2]
January 19 – The Russian Constituent Assembly proclaims the Russian Democratic Federative Republic, but is dissolved by the Bolshevik government on the same day.
January 25 – The Ukrainian People's Republic declares independence from Bolshevik Russia.
January 27 – The Finnish Civil War begins with the Battle of Kämärä.

February

February 1 – 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 6 – Women's suffrage in the United Kingdom: Representation of the People Act gives most women over 30 the vote.^[3]
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 the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic.
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 21 – The last captive Carolina parakeet (the last breed of parrot native to the eastern United States) dies at the Cincinnati Zoo.
February 24 – Estonia declares its independence from Russia, after seven centuries of foreign rule; German forces capture Tallinn the following day.

March

March 1 – WWI: German submarine U-19 sinks HMS Calgarian 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 (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 Hewitt-Sperry Automatic Airplane developed by Elmer 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 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.
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' (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. 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 – Dr. 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 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 there.^[5]
- First Ostend Raid: The British Royal Navy unsuccessfully attempts to seal off the German U-boat base there.
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 take Rostov 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 there.
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.^[6]
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..^[7]
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 – Canadian women (excluding Quebec) are granted the right to vote in federal elections.^[8]
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 – August – The "Spanish 'flu" becomes pandemic.^[9] Over 30 million people die in the following 6 months.
June 1 – WWI: The Battle of Belleau Wood begins.
June 4 – RMS Kenilworth Castle, one of the Union-Castle Line steamships, collides with her escort destroyer 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.
June 10 – WWI: The Austro-Hungarian dreadnought battleship SMS Szent István is sunk by two Italian 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 murdered 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.

July

July 3 – Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War: The Siberian Intervention is launched by the Allies, to extract the Czechoslovak Legion from the Russian Civil War.
July 4 – Mehmed VI succeeds as 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 9 – Great Train Wreck of 1918: in Nashville, Tennessee, an inbound local train collides with an outbound express, killing 101.
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.
July 15 – WWI: Second Battle of the Marne: The battle begins near the River Marne, with a German attack.

July 17
- WWI: RMS Carpathia (famed for rescuing survivors of the 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.^[10]
- Execution of the Romanov family: By order of the Bolshevik Party, and carried out by the Cheka, former emperor Nicholas II, his wife Alexandra Feodorovna, their children, Olga, Tatiana, Maria, Anastasia, Alexei and retainers are shot at the Ipatiev House, in Ekaterinburg, Russia.

August

August 2 – 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.^[11]
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".^[12]
August 10 – Russian Revolution: The British commander in Archangel is told to help the White Russians.
August 16 – The Battle of Lake Baikal is fought by the Czechoslovak legion, against the Red Army.
August 21 – WWI: The Second Battle of the Somme begins.
August 23 – The Bessarabian Peasants' Party is created.
August 27 – Battle of Ambos Nogales: U.S. Army forces skirmish against Mexican Carrancistas and their German advisors at Nogales, Arizona, in the only battle of WWI fought on United States soil.
August 30
- 20,000 London policemen strike for increased pay and union recognition.
- 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.

September

September – WWI: British armies and their Arab allies roll into Syria.
September 3 – The 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.^[13]
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.
September 15–18 – WWI: Battle of Dobro Pole in the Vardar Offensive of the 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
- Battle of Nazareth by 5th Cavalry Division (British Indian Army);
- Capture of Afulah and Beisan by the 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 Battle of Haifa, Battle of Samakh, and 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

October 1 – WWI: The Desert Mounted Corps captures Damascus.
October 2 – WWI: The Charge at Khan Ayash is begun north of Damascus, by the 3rd Light Horse Brigade.
October 3
- Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany appoints Max von Baden 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 more 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.
October 8 – WWI: In the Forest of Argonne in France, U.S. Corporal 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.
October 11 – The 7.1 M_w  San Fermín earthquake shakes Puerto Rico with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent), killing 76–116 people. A destructive tsunami contributes to the damage and loss of life.
October 12 – 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.
October 31 – The Hungarian government terminates the personal union with Austria, officially dissolving the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

November

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: Sailors in the German fleet at Kiel 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.

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).

Signatories to the Armistice of 11 November 1918 with Germany, ending WWI, pose outside Marshal Foch's railway carriage

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.^[14] At 10:59 U.S. soldier Henry Gunther becomes (probably) the last killed in action.
- Poland regains independence, after 123 years of partitions. Józef Piłsudski is appointed Commander-in-Chief.
- Emperor Charles I of Austria gives up his absolute power, but does not abdicate.
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
- German East African troops are informed of the armistice on 11 November.
- The provisional government of Baden proclaims the Freie Volksrepublik Baden ("Free People's Republic of Baden").
- Czechoslovakia becomes a republic.
- The Second Polish Republic is proclaimed with Józef Piłsudski as head of state.
November 16 – The 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.^[15]
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 autumn 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.^[16]
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 votes for a "union of the people", declaring its union with the Kingdom of Serbia.
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.
November 30 – Ernest Ansermet conducts the first concert by the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande.

December

December 1
- Iceland regains independence, but remains in personal union with the King of Denmark, who also becomes the King of Iceland until 1944.
- New voting laws in Sweden makes votes no longer dependent on taxable assets, each adult having one vote.
- The Union of Alba Iulia is proclaimed: Following the March 27 incorporation of Bessarabia and Bucovina, Transylvania unites with the Kingdom of Romania.
- The Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (which later becomes the Kingdom of Yugoslavia) is proclaimed.

December 4 – President Woodrow Wilson departs by ship to the 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.^[17]
December 14
- Prince Frederick Charles of Hesse renounces the Finnish throne.
- Portuguese President Sidónio Pais is assassinated.
December 16 – Vincas Mickevičius-Kapsukas declares the formation of the Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic, a puppet state created by the Russian SFSR to justify the Lithuanian–Soviet War.
December 17 – Darwin Rebellion in Australia: Disaffected workers march on Government House, Darwin, demanding the resignation of the Administrator of the Northern Territory, John A. Gilruth.
December 20 – Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk returns to the Czechoslovak Republic.
December 21 – Estonian War of Independence: The Red Army captures Tartu, Estonia.
December 27 – 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.
December 28 – Sinn Féin enjoys a landslide victory in Irish seats in the Irish general election (part of the United Kingdom general election, 1918), following the counting of votes, winning 73 of the 105 seats in Ireland. In accordance with their manifesto, Sinn Féin members will not take their seats in the Palace of Westminster but will form the First Dáil in Dublin. Countess Constance Markievicz, while detained in Holloway Prison (London), becomes the first woman elected to (but does not take her seat in) the British House of Commons.^[18]
December 31 – A British-brokered ceasefire ends the two weeks of fighting in the Georgian–Armenian War.

Date unknown

The Native American Church is formally founded in Oklahoma.
The Association Against the Prohibition Amendment is founded to promote repeal of Prohibition in the United States.
United Business Media is founded in London, as United Newspapers Ltd.
Around 1,000 pilot whales strand in the Chatham Islands.