Timeline November 1918

Events in November 1918 21

• 1880 – 1918 Guillaume Apollinaire (1880-1918) Died 9 November 1918, aged 38 French poet and art critic Guillaume Apollinaire, a leading champion of Cubism and coiner of the term 'Surrealism', died of the Spanish flu in Paris two days before the Armistice. He had earlier been wounded in the head while serving at the front. His experimental poetry collections, including Calligrammes, influenced a generation of avant-garde writers.
• 1888 – 1918 Wilhelm II Last German Emperor Wilhelm II pursued aggressive foreign policies and led Germany during World War I before abdicating in 1918.
• 1893 – 1918 Wilfred Owen (1893-1918) Died 4 November 1918, aged 25 English war poet Wilfred Owen was killed in action crossing the Sambre-Oise Canal in France, exactly one week before the Armistice ended World War I. His poems, including Dulce et Decorum Est and Anthem for Doomed Youth, portrayed the horror of trench warfare with unflinching realism. Most of his work was published posthumously and became central to the canon of war literature.
• 1914 – 1918 Start of World War I The Great War Triggered by the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, leading to global conflict.
• 1918 Meuse-Argonne Offensive Largest American military operation of World War I American and French forces launched a massive offensive along the Meuse River and through the Argonne Forest, aiming to cut German rail lines supplying the Western Front. It became the largest and deadliest operation of the war for the American Expeditionary Forces, with over 26,000 US soldiers killed. The offensive continued until the Armistice ended the fighting.
• 1918 The Meuse-Argonne Offensive Argonne, France The largest operation in American military history to that point, involving 1.2 million troops and costing 26,000 American dead in six weeks.
• 1918 Fritz Haber awarded Nobel Prize in Chemistry Chemist honoured for synthesizing ammonia from nitrogen Fritz Haber received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for developing a process to synthesize ammonia from atmospheric nitrogen, a breakthrough that enabled mass production of fertilizer and dramatically increased global food output. The award proved controversial given Haber's wartime role developing chemical weapons for Germany. The Haber-Bosch process remains fundamental to industrial agriculture today.
• 1918 Max Planck awarded Nobel Prize in Physics Physicist honoured for founding quantum theory Max Planck was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for his discovery of energy quanta, work originally published in 1900 that laid the foundation for quantum theory. The award was announced during World War I, with the ceremony delayed by wartime conditions. Planck's quantum hypothesis fundamentally reshaped modern physics.
• 1918 Austria-Hungary signs an armistice Villa Giusti, Italy The empire dissolved into successor states faster than the terms could be implemented. Its army had simply gone home.
• 1918 – 1919 German Revolution of 1918 End of the Monarchy Mass protests that replaced the imperial government with the democratic Weimar Republic.
• 1918 – 2018 Billy Graham (1918-2018) Died 21 February 2018, aged 99 American evangelist who preached to millions worldwide and served as a spiritual advisor to numerous US presidents. He led large-scale crusades broadcast on television and radio across decades. His ministry helped shape modern American evangelicalism.
• 1918 Abdication of Wilhelm II End of the German monarchy Kaiser Wilhelm II abdicated during the German Revolution, ending the German Empire and monarchy.
• 1918 Kaiser Wilhelm II abdicates German Revolution topples the Hohenzollern monarchy Amid mutinies, strikes, and revolutionary uprisings across Germany, Kaiser Wilhelm II abdicated the throne and fled to the Netherlands, ending the German Empire. Chancellor Philipp Scheidemann proclaimed a republic in Berlin the same day. The collapse of the monarchy paved the way for the Weimar Republic and Germany's request for an armistice two days later.
• 1918 – 1996 Spiro Agnew (1918-1996) Died 17 September 1996, aged 77 Spiro Agnew served as the 39th Vice President of the United States under Richard Nixon before resigning in 1973 amid a criminal investigation into bribery and tax evasion. He pleaded no contest to a single charge and left office in disgrace. He spent his later years as a businessman largely out of public life.
• 1918 The Kaiser abdicates Spa, Belgium Wilhelm II was told the army would no longer follow him, and fled to the Netherlands the next morning. He lived there until 1941.
• 1918 Independence Day Restoration of Statehood Poland regained sovereignty following the collapse of the partitioning powers after WWI.
• 1918 Poland regains independence Second Polish Republic founded Poland re-emerged as an independent nation after World War I.
• 1918 Poland regains independence Poland restored as a sovereign state after 123 years of partition Józef Piłsudski assumed military command in Warsaw as Poland reconstituted itself as an independent state after being partitioned among Russia, Prussia, and Austria since the late 18th century. The date is commemorated as Poland's National Independence Day. The newly restored country immediately faced border conflicts with several neighbours.
• 1918 The Armistice Compiègne, France Signed in a railway carriage at 5:10 a.m. and effective at 11 a.m. Around 2,700 men died in the six hours in between, on a front where everyone knew the war was ending at eleven.
• 1918 – 1920 Allied occupation of Istanbul -- the empire dismembered Allied forces occupy Istanbul on 13 November 1918 -- three days after the Armistice of Mudros. British, French, Italian and Greek troops patrol the city; Allied warships anchor in the Bosphorus. The Paris Peace Conference produces the Treaty of Sèvres (10 August 1920), which dismembers the empire: Greece receives Thrace and the Smyrna region (with a plebiscite after five years); Armenia becomes independent; Kurdistan receives autonomy; Britain and France retain their League of Nations mandates in the Middle East. The sultan (Mehmed VI) signs the treaty, discrediting the sultanate. Mustafa Kemal, operating from Ankara, refuses to recognise it.
• 1918 Latvia declares independence Latvian National Council proclaims independent republic The Latvian People's Council declared the independence of the Republic of Latvia in Riga amid the collapse of German occupation authority at the end of World War I. Kārlis Ulmanis became the country's first prime minister. Latvia secured lasting independence only after a subsequent war fought against Soviet and German forces.