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.
The ceasefire that effectively ended the First World War took place on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month of this year. Also in this year, the Spanish flu pandemic killed 50–100 million people worldwide.
In Russia, this year runs with only 352 days. As the result of Julian to Gregorian calendar switch, 13 days needed to be skipped. Wednesday, January 31 (Julian Calendar) was immediately followed by Thursday, February 14 (Gregorian Calendar).
Contents
Events
World War I will be abbreviated as "WWI"
January
January – 1918 flu pandemic: The "Spanish flu" (influenza) is first observed in Haskell County, Kansas.
January 4 – The Finnish Declaration of Independence is recognized by Soviet Russia, Sweden, Germany and France.
January 8 – American president Woodrow Wilson presents the Fourteen Points as a basis for peace negotiations to end the war.
January 9 – Battle of Bear Valley: U.S. troops engage Yaqui Native American warriors in a minor skirmish in Arizona. This is 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 Red Army (The Workers and Peasants Red Army) is formed in 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.
January 19 – The Russian Constituent Assembly proclaims the Russian Democratic Federative Republic but is dissolved by the Bolshevik government on the same day.
January 22 – The Ukrainian People's Republic declares independence from Bolshevik Russia.
January 25 – The Third All-Russian Congress of Soviets establishes the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic.
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 3 – Finnish Civil War: Battle of Oulu – The White Guard defeats the Reds.
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.
February 10 – Deposed Sultan of the Ottoman Empire Abdul Hamid II dies in Istanbul.
February 13 – A magnitude (Mw) 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.
February 23 – Estonian Declaration of 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.
The first pilotless drone, the Hewitt-Sperry Automatic Airplane developed by Elmer Ambrose 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 15 – Finnish Civil War: The battle of Tampere begins.
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.
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 6 – Finnish Civil War: The battle of Tampere ends.
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.
First Ostend Raid: The British Royal Navy unsuccessfully attempts to seal off the German U-boat base here.
April 28 – WWI: Gavrilo Princip, assassin of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, dies in Terezín, 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 capture Rostov-on-Don 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 here.
May 11 – The Mountainous Republic of the Northern Caucasus is officially established.
May 12 - The HMT Olympic rams into the SM U-103, sinking it. resulting in the deaths of 9 people
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.
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.
May 16
The Sedition Act of 1918 is approved by the U.S. Congress.
The victory military parade by the Finnish White Guard is held in Helsinki celebrating their decisive victory in the Finnish Civil War. The day also begin to be celebrated on the Defence Forces Flag Day before it is moved in 1942 to the June 4th.
May 20 – The small town of Codell, Kansas is hit for the third year in a row, on the same date, by a tornado.
June
June–August – The "Spanish flu" becomes pandemic. 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 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 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.
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 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 14 – WWI:
Second Battle of the Marne: The battle begins near the River Marne, with a German attack.
Quentin Roosevelt, Theodore Roosevelt's youngest son, is killed in action during the Second Battle of the Marne.
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.
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.
July 18 – The Cheka kill the Martyrs of Alapayevsk, six further members of the Romanov family and retainers, by throwing them down a mineshaft.
August
August 2 – North Russia Intervention: Anti-Bolshevik forces stage a coup at Arkhangelsk, and an occupation by Allied forces follows.
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.
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".
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
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.
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 – The 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.
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, 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.
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: The Armistice of Villa Giusti is signed between Austria-Hungary and the Allies near Padua.
Poland declares its independence from Russia.
German Revolution: Kiel mutiny by sailors in the German fleet at Kiel while throughout northern Germany soldiers and workers begin to establish revolutionary councils on the Russian soviet model.
November 4 – WWI: The Armistice of Villa Giusti comes into effect, ending 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.
Proclamation of the republic in Germany by Philipp Scheidemann in Berlin, on the Reichstag balcony. One of several significant events on 9 November in German history.
December
December 1
By the Danish–Icelandic Act of Union, Iceland regains independence, but remains in personal union with 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 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, in particular ending Serbia's existence as a sovereign state for the next 87 years (it would not regain its sovereignty until 2006).
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.
December 6 – A magnitude (Mw) 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.
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.
Births
January
January 1 – Patrick Anthony Porteous, Scottish recipient of the Victoria Cross (d. 2000)
January 2
Willi Graf, member of the White Rose resistance group in Nazi Germany (d. 1943)
Gudrun Zapf-von Hesse, German typographer, calligrapher and book-binder (d. 2019)
January 10 – Arthur Chung, 1st President of Guyana (d. 2008)
January 11 – Kassim Al-Rimawi, Prime Minister of Jordan (d. 1982)
January 15
João Figueiredo, 30th President of Brazil (d. 1999)
Gamal Abdel Nasser, 2nd President of Egypt (d. 1970)
January 16 – Stirling Silliphant, American writer, producer (d. 1996)
January 17
Kamal Amrohi, Indian director, screenwriter (d. 1993)
George M. Leader, American politician (d. 2013)
January 20 – Juan García Esquivel, Mexican bandleader (d. 2002)
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)
February
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)
Helen Stephens, American runner (d. 1994)
February 4 – Ida Lupino, Anglo-American actress, screenwriter, director and producer (d. 1995)
February 6 – Lothar-Günther Buchheim, German author (d. 2007)
February 7 – Marguerite Narbel, Swiss biologist and politician (d. 2010)
February 8 – Fred Blassie, American professional wrestler, novelty singer (Pencil Neck Geek) (d. 2003)
February 12 – Julian Schwinger, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1994)
February 14 – William L. Snyder, American film producer (d. 1998)
February 15 – Smilja Avramov, Serbian academic, authority and educator in international law (d. 2018)
February 19 – Fay McKenzie, American silent film actress (d. 2019)
February 22
Don Pardo, American television announcer (Saturday Night Live) (d. 2014)
March
March 1
Roger Delgado, British actor (d. 1973)
João Goulart, 24th President of Brazil (d. 1976)
Duncan White, Ceylonese athlete, Olympic medallist (d. 1998)
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 – James Tobin, American economist, Nobel Memorial Prize laureate (d. 2002)
March 9
Marguerite Chapman, American actress (d. 1999)
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 12
Elaine de Kooning, American artist (d. 1989)
William E. Nichol, American politician from Nebraska (d. 2006)
March 16 – Frederick Reines, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1998)
April
April 1 – 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)
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 16 – Spike Milligan, Irish comedian (d. 2002)
April 17
William Holden, American actor (d. 1981)
Anne Shirley, American actress (d. 1993)
April 18
Gabriel Axel, Danish film director (d. 2014)
Shinobu Hashimoto, Japanese screenwriter (d. 2018)
April 20 – Kai Siegbahn, Swedish physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2007)
May
May 1
Jack Paar, American television show host (The Tonight Show) (d. 2004)
Li Yaowen, Chinese politician, general and diplomat (d. 2018)
May 4
Kakuei Tanaka, 40th Prime Minister of Japan (d. 1993)
Ana Enriqueta Terán, Venezuelan poet (d. 2017)
May 6
Henrietta Boggs, Costa Rican-American author, journalist and activist (d. 2020)
Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, 1st President of the United Arab Emirates (d. 2004)
May 9
Orville Freeman, American politician (d. 2003)
Mike Wallace, American journalist (d. 2012)
May 11 – Richard Feynman, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1988)
May 12 – Julius Rosenberg, American-born Soviet spy (d. 1953)
May 15
Eddy Arnold, American country music singer (d. 2008)
Joseph Wiseman, Canadian actor (d. 2009)
May 16 – Wilf Mannion, English footballer (d. 2000)
May 17 – Birgit Nilsson, Swedish soprano (d. 2005)
June
June 2
Anton Hafner, German fighter pilot (d. 1944)
Kathryn Tucker Windham, American writer, storyteller (d. 2011)
June 6 – Edwin G. Krebs, American biochemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 2009)
June 8 – Robert Preston, American actor (The Music Man) (d. 1987)
June 9 – John Hospers, American philosopher (d. 2011)
June 10 – Patachou, French singer (d. 2015)
June 11 – Hendra Gunawan, Indonesian painter and sculptor (d. 1983)
June 15 – François Tombalbaye, 1st President of Chad (d. 1975)
June 17 – Ajahn Chah Subaddho, Buddhist teacher (d. 1992)
June 18
Jerome Karle, American chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2013)
Franco Modigliani, Italian-born economist, Nobel Memorial Prize laureate (d. 2003)
Elisabeth Waldo, (d. 2026)
June 22
Cicely Saunders, English Anglican nurse, social worker, physician and writer (d. 2005)
Yeoh Ghim Seng, Singaporean politician, acting President of Singapore (d. 1993)
July
July 1
Ahmed Deedat, South African writer, public speaker (d. 2005)
Pedro Yap, Filipino lawyer (d. 2003)
July 2
Athos Bulcão, Brazilian painter, sculptor (d. 2008)
Indumati Bhattacharya, Indian politician (d. 1990)
July 3 – Lorenzo Robledo, Spanish actor (d. 2006)
July 4
King Tāufaʻāhau Tupou IV of Tonga (d. 2006)
Alec Bedser, English cricketer (d. 2010)
Eric Bedser, English cricketer (d. 2006)
July 5
Zakaria Mohieddin, Egyptian general, politician (d. 2012)
Nikos Papatakis, Greek Ethiopian-born naturalised French filmmaker (d. 2010)
Miguel Ángel Sanz Bocos, Spanish fighter pilot (d. 2018)
July 6
Sebastian Cabot, English actor (d. 1977)
Francisco Moncion, Dominican-American dancer, charter member of New York City Ballet (d. 1995)
July 7 – Jing Shuping, Chinese businessman (d. 2009)
July 8
Paul B. Fay, American businessman, soldier, and diplomat, 12th United States Secretary of the Navy (d. 2009)
August
August 1
Artur Brauner, German film producer and entrepreneur (d. 2019)
Zhou Xuan, Chinese singer, actress (d. 1957)
August 2 – Dada Vaswani, Indian spiritual leader (d. 2018)
August 3 – Cheng Kaijia, Chinese nuclear physicist and engineer (d. 2018)
August 4 – Noel Willman, Irish actor (d. 1988)
August 5
Kondapalli Koteswaramma, Indian communist leader, feminist, revolutionary and writer (d. 2018)
Betty Oliphant, co-founder of National Ballet of Canada (d. 2004)
August 12 – Guy Gibson, British bomber pilot, leader of the "Dam Busters" raid (d. 1944)
August 13
Noor Hassanali, 2nd President of Trinidad and Tobago (d. 2006)
Frederick Sanger, English biochemist, double Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2013)
August 19 – Shankar Dayal Sharma, 9th President of India (d. 1999)
August 20 – Crystal Bennett, British archaeologist, pioneering researcher on Jordan (d. 1987)
August 21 – Bruria Kaufman, American-born Israeli physicist (d. 2010)
August 22
September
September 1 – Phyllis Wallbank, English educationalist (d. 2020)
September 3 – Helen Wagner, American soap opera actress (d. 2010)
September 4 – Gerald Wilson, American jazz trumpeter (d. 2014)
September 6 – Ludwig Hörmann, German cyclist (d. 2001)
September 8 – Derek Barton, British chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1998)
September 9 – Oscar Luigi Scalfaro, 9th President of Italy (d. 2012)
September 13 – Ray Charles, American musician, singer and songwriter (d. 2015)
September 14 – James George, Canadian diplomat (d. 2020)
September 15 – Nipsey Russell, American comedian, poet, and dancer (d. 2005)
September 16 – Ismail Mohamed Ali, Malaysian politician (d. 1998)
September 17 – Chaim Herzog, 6th President of Israel 1983–1993 (d. 1997)
September 19 – Joseph Zeller, American politician (d. 2018)
September 22 – Henryk Szeryng, Polish-born violinist (d. 1988)
September 24 – Emerante Morse, Haitian singer, dancer and folklorist (d. 2018)
September 26 – Peng Chang-kuei, Taiwanese chef (d. 2016)
October
October 4 – Kenichi Fukui, Japanese chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1998)
October 6 – Goh Keng Swee, former Deputy Prime Minister of Singapore (d. 2010)
October 8 – Jens Christian Skou, Danish chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2018)
October 9
E. Howard Hunt, American Watergate break-in coordinator (d. 2007)
Bebo Valdés, Cuban pianist, bandleader, composer and arranger (d. 2013)
October 10 – Gaston Mialaret, French pedagogist and professor (d. 2016)
October 13
Jack MacGowran, Irish film actor (d. 1973)
Robert Walker, American actor (d. 1951)
October 14 – Thelma Coyne Long, Australian tennis player (d. 2015)
October 16
Louis Althusser, French philosopher (d. 1990)
Géori Boué, French operatic singer (d. 2017)
Henri Vernes, Belgian author (d. 2021)
October 17 – Rita Hayworth, American actress (d. 1987)
October 18
Konstantinos Mitsotakis, former Greek Prime Minister (d. 2017)
November
November 1 – Ken Miles, British sports car racing engineer and driver (d. 1966)
November 2
Raimon Panikkar, Spanish theologian (d. 2010)
Ivor Wynne, Canadian educator and university administrator (d. 1970)
November 3 – Russell B. Long, United States Senator from Louisiana (d. 2003)
November 4
Art Carney, American actor, best known for his role in The Honeymooners (d. 2003)
Cameron Mitchell, American actor (d. 1994)
November 7
Paul Aussaresses, French general (d. 2013)
Billy Graham, American evangelist, spiritual adviser to several U.S. Presidents (d. 2018)
November 8
Teoh Seng Khoon, Malaysian badminton player (d. 2018)
Hermann Zapf, German typeface designer (d. 2015)
November 9
Spiro Agnew, Vice president of the United States (d. 1996)
Choi Hong Hi, South Korean general, martial artist (d. 2002)
Su Beng, Taiwanese dissident and political activist (d. 2019)
December
December 3 – Abdul Haris Nasution, Indonesian general (d. 2000)
December 7
Jórunn Viðar, Icelandic pianist, composer (d. 2017)
Liu Yichang, Hong Kong writer and novelist (d. 2018)
December 8 – Gérard Souzay, French baritone (d. 2004)
December 10 – Anatoly Tarasov, Russian ice-hockey player and coach (d. 1995)
Fergus Anckorn
December 11 – Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, Russian writer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2008)
December 12 – Joe Williams, American jazz singer (d. 1999)
December 13 – Rosalia Lombardo, Italian child known as The Sleeping Beauty (d. 1920)
December 14 – B. K. S. Iyengar, Indian yoga teacher (d. 2014)
December 15 – Jeff Chandler, American actor (d. 1961)
December 17
Dusty Anderson, American actress and model (d. 2007)
Duchess Woizlawa Feodora of Mecklenburg, German royal (d. 2019)
December 18 – Joyce Reynolds, English classicist and academic (d. 2022)
December 21
Francisco Miró Quesada Cantuarias, Peruvian philosopher (d. 2019)
Deaths
January
January 2 – Katharine A. O'Keeffe O'Mahoney, Irish-born American teacher and writer (b. 1855)
January 6 – Georg Cantor, German mathematician (b. 1845)
January 8
Johannes Pääsuke, Estonian photographer, filmmaker (b. 1892)
Ellis H. Roberts, American politician (b. 1827)
January 9
Max Ritter von Müller, German World War I fighter ace (killed in action) (b. 1887)
Charles-Émile Reynaud, French inventor (b. 1844)
January 10 – María Dolores Rodríguez Sopeña, Spanish Roman Catholic religious sister and Blessed (b. 1848)
January 21 – Emil Jellinek, German automobile entrepreneur (b. 1853)
January 26 – Grand Duke Nicholas Konstantinovich of Russia (b. 1850)
January 28 – John McCrae, Canadian soldier, surgeon and poet (b. 1872)
January 31 – Ivan Puluj, Ukrainian physicist and inventor (b. 1845)
February
February 1 – Princess Leonilla Bariatinskaya, Russian aristocrat (b. 1816)
February 2 – John L. Sullivan, American boxer, World Heavyweight Champion (b. 1858)
February 4 – Akiyama Saneyuki, Japanese admiral (b. 1868)
February 6 – Gustav Klimt, Austrian painter (b. 1862), Spanish flu
February 8 – Louis Renault, French jurist, educator and Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1843)
February 10
Sultan Abdul Hamid II of the Ottoman Empire (b. 1842)
Ernesto Teodoro Moneta, Italian pacifist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1833)
February 11 – Alexey Kaledin, Russian general (suicide) (b. 1861)
February 14 – Sir Cecil Spring Rice, British diplomat (b. 1859)
February 15 – Vernon Castle, British-born American dancer (b. 1887)
February 16 – Károly Khuen-Héderváry, 2-time Prime Minister of Hungary (b. 1849)
February 23
Adolphus Frederick VI, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (b. 1882)
Thomas Brassey, 1st Earl Brassey, British politician and colonial administrator (b. 1836)
March
March 2 – Prince Mirko of Montenegro (b. 1879)
March 9 – Frank Wedekind, German playwright (b. 1864)
March 10 – Hans-Joachim Buddecke, German flying ace (killed in action) (b. 1890)
March 13 – César Cui, Lithuanian composer (b. 1835)
March 14
Lucretia Garfield, First Lady of the United States (b. 1832)
Gennaro Rubino, Italian anarchist who unsuccessfully tried to assassinate King Leopold II of Belgium (b. 1859)
March 15 – Adolf Ritter von Tutschek, German fighter ace (killed in action) (b. 1891)
March 23 – T. P. Cameron Wilson, English poet, novelist (b. 1888)
March 25
Claude Debussy, French composer (b. 1862)
Walter Tull, first Black infantry officer to serve in the British Army (b. 1888)
March 27
Henry Adams, American historian (b. 1838)
Martin Sheridan, American Olympic athlete (b. 1881), Spanish flu
March 29 – Alfred Gaselee, British general (b. 1844)
April
April 1
Isaac Rosenberg, British war poet (killed in action) (b. 1890)
Paul von Rennenkampf, Russian general (executed) (b. 1854)
April 4 – Hermann Cohen, German philosopher (b. 1842)
April 5 – King George Tupou II of Tonga (b. 1874)
April 11 – Otto Wagner, Austro-Hungarian architect, urban planner (b. 1841)
April 19 – William Hope Hodgson, English author (b. 1877)
April 20
Jussi Merinen, Finnish politician (executed) (b. 1873)
Karl Ferdinand Braun, German physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1850)
Paul Gautsch von Frankenthurn, Austrian statesman, Prime Minister (b. 1851)
April 21
Friedrich II, Duke of Anhalt (b. 1856)
Manfred von Richthofen, German fighter pilot, top-scoring ace of World War I (killed in action) (b. 1892)
April 27 – Jacques Duchesne, French general (b. 1837)
April 28 – Gavrilo Princip, Yugoslav assassin (b. 1894)
May
May 2
Ernie Parker, Australian tennis champion (killed in action) (b. 1883)
Jüri Vilms, Estonian politician (b. 1889)
May 14 – James Gordon Bennett Jr., American newspaper publisher (b. 1841)
May 17 – William Drew Robeson I, African-American minister, father of singer and actor Paul Robeson (b. 1844)
May 18 – Blandine Merten, German nun and Blessed (b. 1883)
May 19
Ferdinand Hodler, Swiss painter (b. 1853)
Raoul Lufbery, Franco-American fighter pilot (killed in action) (b. 1885)
May 21
Sofia Hjulgrén, Finnish politician (executed) (b. 1875)
Wilho Laine, Finnish politician (executed) (b. 1875)
May 23
Gerard Noel, British admiral (b. 1845)
Mariano Ponce, Filipino diplomat, politician and writer (b. 1863)
May 24 – József Kiss, Austro-Hungarian fighter pilot (killed in action) (b. 1896)
May 30 – Georgi Plekhanov, Russian revolutionary, philosopher (b. 1856)
June
June 1 – Roderic Dallas, Australian fighter pilot (killed in action) (b. 1891)
June 3 – Count Richard von Bienerth-Schmerling, Austrian noble, statesman and former Prime Minister (b. 1863)
June 4 – Charles W. Fairbanks, 26th Vice President of the United States (b. 1852)
June 10 – Arrigo Boito, Italian poet, composer (b. 1842)
June 13 – Grand Duke Michael Romanov (assassinated) (b. 1878)
June 15 – Frank Miles Day, American architect (b. 1861)
June 16 – Bazil Assan, Romanian engineer and explorer (b. 1860)
June 19 – Francesco Baracca, Italian fighter pilot (air crash) (b. 1888)
June 26 – Kyrion II of Georgia, Georgian Orthodox patriarch, Saint (b. 1855)
June 27 – Joséphin Péladan, French occultist (b. 1858)
July
July 3 – Sultan Mehmed V of the Ottoman Empire (b. 1844)
July 9 – James McCudden, British fighter pilot (air crash) (b. 1895)
July 14 – Quentin Roosevelt, youngest son of United States President Theodore Roosevelt, fighter pilot (killed in action) (b. 1897)
July 17 – Executed members of the Romanov family:
Former Emperor Nicholas II of Russia (b. 1868)
Former Empress Alexandra Feodorovna of Russia (b. 1872)
Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna of Russia (b. 1895)
Grand Duchess Tatiana Nikolaevna of Russia (b. 1897)
Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaevna of Russia (b. 1899)
Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna of Russia (b. 1901)
Former Tsarevich Alexei Nikolaevich of Russia (b. 1904)
July 18
Prince Constantine Constantinovich of Russia (executed) (b. 1891)
Prince Igor Constantinovich of Russia (executed) (b. 1894)
Grand Duke Sergei Mikhailovich of Russia (executed) (b. 1869)
Grand Duchess Elisabeth of Russia (Princess Elisabeth of Hesse and by Rhine) (executed) (b. 1864)
July 20 – Francis Lupo, American soldier (b. 1895)
August
August 1
John Riley Banister, American policeman, cowboy (b. 1854)
Gabriel Guérin, French World War I fighter ace (air crash) (b. 1892)
August 5 – Peter Strasser, German naval officer, airship commander (killed in action) (b. 1876)
August 9
Marianne Cope, German-born American Roman Catholic nun and saint (b. 1838)
František Plesnivý, Austro-Hungarian architect (b. 1845)
August 10
Jean Brillant, Canadian soldier, Victoria Cross recipient (killed in action) (b. 1890)
Erich Löwenhardt, German World War I fighter ace (air crash) (b. 1897)
Aleksander Uurits, Estonian painter, graphic artist (b. 1888)
August 12 – Anna Held, French actress (b. 1872)
August 22 – Korbinian Brodmann, German neurologist (b. 1868)
August 30 – William Duncan, British missionary in Canada and the United States (b. 1832)
September
Mudbir al-Far'un, Arab chieftain, leader of 1913 Euphrates rebellion
September 2 – Sir John Forrest, Australian explorer and politician, 1st Premier of Western Australia (b. 1847)
September 5 – Nikolay Maklakov, Russian politician, former minister of the Interior (b. 1871)
September 6 – Elizabeth Yates, New Zealand politician (b. 1845)
September 8
Francis Mary of the Cross Jordan, German Roman Catholic priest and venerable (b. 1848)
Mikael of Wollo, Ethiopian army commander and Ras of Wollo (b. 1850)
September 12 – Sir George Reid, 4th Prime Minister of Australia (b. 1845)
September 13 – Eduard, Duke of Anhalt (b. 1861)
September 16 – Maurice Boyau, French World War I fighter ace (killed in action) (b. 1888)
September 18 – Joseph Frank Wehner, American World War I fighter ace (killed in action) (b. 1895)
September 20 – Prince Erik, Duke of Västmanland (b. 1889), Spanish flu
September 27 – Fritz Rumey, German World War I fighter ace (killed in action) (b. 1891)
September 28
True Boardman, American actor (b. 1882), Spanish flu
October
October 4 – Nikolai Skrydlov, Russian admiral (b. 1844)
October 5
Roland Garros, French fighter pilot (killed in action) (b. 1888)
Robbie Ross, British writer (b. 1869)
October 6 – Arthur O'Hara Wood, Australian tennis champion and fighter pilot (killed in action) (b. 1890)
October 7 – Sir Hubert Parry, British composer (b. 1848), Spanish flu
October 8 – Mikhail Alekseyev, Russian general (b. 1857)
October 9 – Raymond Duchamp-Villon, French sculptor (b. 1876)
October 11 – Wallace Lloyd Algie, Canadian soldier (killed in action) (b. 1891)
October 14 – Louis Lipsett, Irish-born British general (killed in action) (b. 1874)
October 15 – Sai Baba of Shirdi, Indian guru, yogi and National saint of India (b. 1838)
October 16 – Felix Arndt, American pianist, composer (b. 1889), Spanish flu
October 18
Radko Dimitriev, Bulgarian, Russian general (executed) (b. 1859)
Jildo Irwa, Ugandan Roman Catholic martyr and saint (executed) (b. 1906)
Daudo Okelo, Ugandan Roman Catholic martyr and saint (executed) (b. ca. 1900)
November
November 1 – Vladimir Vasilyevich Smirnov, Russian general (executed) (b. 1849)
November 2 – Hugh Cairns, Canadian soldier (b. 1896)
November 4
Wilfred Owen, British poet, soldier (killed in action) (b. 1893)
Andrew Dickson White, American academic and diplomat, co-founder of Cornell University (b. 1832)
November 5
Samuel Liddell MacGregor Mathers, British occultist (b. 1854), Spanish flu
William Shea, British actor (b. 1856)
November 6 – Alan Arnett McLeod, Canadian soldier (b. 1899), Spanish flu
November 9
Guillaume Apollinaire, French poet (b. 1880), Spanish flu
Albert Ballin, German shipping magnate (b. 1857)
Sir Peter Lumsden, British general in the Indian Army (b. 1829)
November 11
Victor Adler, Austrian politician (b. 1852)
George Lawrence Price, last Commonwealth soldier to die in WWI (b. 1892)
November 12 – Aleksei Evert, Russian general (executed) (b. 1857; may have died in 1926)
November 14 – Matti Lonkainen, Finnish politician (b. 1874)
December
December 2 – Edmond Rostand, French writer (b. 1868), Spanish flu
December 4 – Princess Teriivaetua of Tahiti (b. 1869), Spanish flu
December 5 – Schalk Willem Burger, Boer military leader, lawyer, politician, statesman, and acting President of the South African Republic (1900–1902) (b. 1852)
December 9 – Samuel Swett Green, American library pioneer (b. 1837)
December 11 – Ivan Cankar, Slovenian writer (b. 1876), Spanish flu
December 13 – Emory Speer, American politician, jurist, and United States district judge from 1885 until 1918 (b. 1848)
December 14 – Sidónio Pais, Portuguese politician, general, diplomat, 66th Prime Minister of Portugal and 4th President of Portugal (b. 1872), assassinated
December 20 – Sultan Ali bin Hamud of Zanzibar (b. 1884)
December 21 – Prince Konrad of Hohenlohe-Waldenburg-Schillingsfürst, Austrian statesman, former Prime Minister (b. 1863)
December 28 – Olavo Bilac, Brazilian poet (b. 1865)
Date unknown
Spring – Vyacheslav Troyanov, Russian general (b. 1875)
Yakov Zhilinsky, Russian general (b. 1853)
Nobel Prizes
Physics – Max Planck
Chemistry – Fritz Haber
Medicine – not awarded
Literature – not awarded
Peace – not awarded