December 1918 in History

Events in History

Dec 1 Danish parliament passes an act to grant Iceland independence under Danish crown
Dec 1 Yugoslavia declares independence with a monarchy proclaimed in Belgrade

Dec 4 US President Woodrow Wilson sails for Versailles Peace Conference in France

Dec 5 Oil refinery on Curacao opens
Dec 9 French troops occupies Mainz
Dec 13 US army of occupation crosses Rhine, enters Germany
Dec 14 David Loyd George's coalition Government wins a clear majority in the UK general election
Dec 14 Sinn Féin candidates win 73 of 105 Irish seats in UK general election, though all will refuse to take seats in Westminster, instead meeting at a Dail Eireann in Dublin
Dec 15 American Jewish Congress holds its 1st meeting
Dec 16 German troops evacuate Finland, give over Kiev in the Ukraine to revolutionary forces and pull back from Estonia as Bolshevik forces move in
Dec 17 A conference of workers' and soldiers' councils take control of German government in Berlin, until elections in January selects new national assembly
Dec 19 Robert Ripley begins his "Believe It or Not" column (NY Globe)

Dec 20 Eugene O'Neill's "Moon of the Caribees" premieres in NYC

Dec 20 The Allies turn their attention to Bolshevik expansion in the East, landing troops in Crimea and Latvia
Dec 26 After spending Christmas with American troops in France, Wilson goes to London for preliminary discussions about the forthcoming peace conference
Dec 27 The Great Poland Uprising against the Germans begins.

Dec 30 John E Hoover decides to be called J. Edgar Hoover

Dec 3 Abdul Haris Nasution, Indonesian army general, born in Koetanopan, North Sumatera, Dutch East Indies (d. 2000)
Dec 6 Harold Horace Hopkins, British physicist and inventor (Endoscope), born in Leicester, England (d. 1994)
Dec 9 Jerome Beatty Jr., American author of children's literature (Matthew and Maria Looney books), born in New Rochelle, New York (d. 2002)

Dec 11 Russian writer (Cancer Ward, Nobel Prize for Literature 1970), born in Kislovodsk, Russia

Dec 12 Nilda Pinto, Curacao writer (Nanzi), born in Otrobanda (d. 1954)
Dec 14 B.K.S. Iyengar, Indian yoga advocate, born in Bellur, Kolar district, Kingdom of Mysore (d. 2014)
Dec 16 Henry Clarke, American fashion photographer (Vogue), born in Los Angeles, California (d. 1996)
Dec 21 Donald Regan, US Secretary of the Treasury (1981-85) and White House Chief of Staff (1985-87), born in Cambridge, Massachusetts (d. 2003)

Dec 21 Austrian 4th Secretary-General of the United Nations (1972-81) and 9th President of Austria (1986-92), born in Sankt Andrä-Wördern, Austria

Dec 23 Helmut Schmidt, German politician, Chancellor of West Germany (SPD, 1974- 82), born in Hamburg (d. 2015)
Dec 25 Ahmed Ben Bella, Algerian politician, first President of Algeria (1963-65), born in Maghnia, Algeria (d. 2012)

Dec 25 3rd President of Egypt (1970-81, Nobel 1978), born in Monufia, Egypt

Dec 26 George Rallis, Greek politician, Prime Minister of Greece (d. 2006)
Dec 27 John Celardo, American comic strip artist (Tarzan), born in Staten Island, New York (d. 2012)
Dec 30 W. Eugene Smith, American photojournalist (Saipan, Walk to Paradise Garden), born in Wichita, Kansas (d. 1979)

Dec 17 Philippine Senator (and later 2nd President) Manuel L. Quezon (40) weds first cousin Aurora Aragon (30) in Hong Kong

Dec 30 Gangster Al Capone (19) marries Mae Josephine Coughlin, mother of his child

Dec 2 Edmond Rostand, French poet and dramatist (Cyrano de Bergerac), , dies during the flu epidemic at 50
Dec 2 Margit Kaffka, Hungarian writer, dies in the flu pandemic at 38
Dec 11 Ivan Cankar, Slovene author, poet, novelist and playwright (Erotika, The Bailiff Yerney and His Rights), dies of pneumonia at 42, a complication of the Spanish flu
Dec 14 Sidónio Pais, Portuguese politician (4th President of Portugal, 66th Prime Minister of Portugal), murdered at 46
Dec 22 Albijn van de Abeele, Flemish author and painter, dies at 83
Dec 22 Randolph Bourne, American writer (Education and Living), dies at 32
Dec 28 George H White, last post Reconstruction congressman (Penn), dies
Dec 28 Olavo Bilac, Brazilian poet (b. 1865)