1918 January


January 8th
In 1918, President Woodrow Wilson presents fourteen specific war aims for World W ar I, and these later become the basis of the Treaty of Versailles which ends the war.
In 1918, The Council of People's Commissars appoints J. V. Stalin a member of a commission for working out measures in regard to the food policy of the Soviet Government.
January 10-18th
In 1918, Stalin takes part in the work of the Third All-Russian Congress of Soviets.
January 11th
In 1918, At a meeting of the Central Committee of the Party, J. V. Stalin speaks in support ol V. I. Lenin's proposal for the conclusion of peace with the Germans.
January 15th
In 1918, Stalin makes a report at a meeting of the Bolshevik group at the Third Congress of Soviets on a Federation of Soviet Republics.
At the Third Congress of Soviets, J. V. Stalin makes a report on the national question and replies to the discussion. The congress approves a resolution on federal institutions of the Russian Republic, moved by J. V. Stalin.
January 24th
In 1918, At a meeting of the Central Committee of the Party where the convening of the Seventh Party Congress is discussed, J. V. Stalin speaks in favor of revising the Programme of the RSDLP(B).
On instructions of the C.C. of the Bolshevik Party, J. V. Stalin conducts a conference of members of the revolutionary wings of a number of socialist parties of Europe and America.
January 26th
In 1918, Food Administrator Herbert Hoover, in an attempt to save meats and grain, asks the American public to voluntarily observe "wheatless Mondays and Wednesdays, meatless Tuesdays, porkless Thursdays and Saturdays."
January 28th
In 1918, V. I. Lenin and J. V. Stalin send a telegram to the Soviet peace delegation in Brest-Litovsk on the need for the immediate conclusion of peace with Germany.

1918 February


February 1st
In 1918, Russia adopts Gregorian calender (becomes Feb 14).
February 5th
In 1918, first US pilot to down an enemy airplane, Stephen W Thompson.
February 8th
In 1918, "The Stars and Stripes", the weekly newspaper of the American Expeditionary Forces, was published for the first time. It was discontinued after World War I.
February 15th
In 1918, first WW I US army troop ship torpedoed & sunk by Germany, off Ireland.
February 16th
In 1918, Lithuania declares its independence from Russia & Germany (National Day).
February 21st
In 1918, In connection with the offensive launched by the German army, V. I. Lenin and J. V. Stalin issue a directive to the Petrograd city and district committees of the Bolshevik Party to organize resistance to the German invaders and to mobilize the bourgeoisie to dig trenches under the control of the workers. A similar directive is sent by J. V. Stalin to the Bolsheviks in Kiev.
February 22nd
In 1918, Germany claims Baltic states, Finland & Ukraine from Russia.
February 23rd
In 1918, At a meeting of the Central Committee of the Party, J. V. Stalin supports V. I. Lenin against Trotsky and Bukharin on the subject of the Brest peace.
February 24th
In 1918, Estonia declares independence from Russia.
In 1918, In a communication by direct wire to the People's Secretariat of the Ukrainian Soviet Republic, J. V. Stalin instructs it to send a peace delegation to Brest and outlines the tactics the delegation should pursue in its negotiations with the German imperialists.
February 26th
In 1918, the worst disaster in sports history occurred as 604 spectators were killed when the grandstand of the Hong Kong Jockey club collapsed.

1918 March


March 2nd
In 1918, In a conversation by direct wire with the Chairman of the Murmansk Soviet, V. I. Lenin and J. V. Stalin insist on the adoption of urgent diplomatic measures to prevent the occupation of Murmansk by Britain and France.
March 3rd
In 1918, Germany, Austria and Russia signed the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, which ended Russian participation in World War I. (The treaty was annulled by the November 1918 armistice.)
March 6th
In 1918, US naval collier "Cyclops" disappears in Bermuda Triangle.
March 6-8th
In 1918, Stalin takes part in the work of the Seventh Congress of the RCP(B).
March 7th
In 1918, President Wilson authorized the U.S. Army's Distinguished Service Medal recognizing those who performed exceptionally meritorious service during the war.
March 8th
In 1918, The Seventh Congress of the RCP(B) elects J. V. Stalin a member of the Party Central Committee and appoints him to the commission for drafting a new Party programme.
March 9th
In 1918, Russian Bolshevik Party becomes the Communist Party.
In 1918, Stalin is elected a delegate from the Petrograd Soviet to the Fourth Extraordinary All-Russian Congress of Soviets.
March 10th
In 1918, Stalin removes to Moscow together with the Government.
March 11th
In 1918, Moscow became the capital of revolutionary Russia.
March 14th
In 1918, J. V. Stalin's article, "The Ukrainian Knot," appears in Izveslia, No. 47.
In a letter to G. K. Ordjonikidze, Commissar Extraordinary in the Ukraine, V. I. Lenin and J. V. Stalin demand the formation of a united fighting front of the Crimea and the Donets Basin with all Russia to resist the advance of the German forces of occupation.
March 14-16th
In 1918, Stalin takes part in the work of the Fourth Extraordinary All-Russian Congress of Soviets.
March 16th
In 1918, The Fourth Extraordinary All-Russian Congress of Soviets elects J. V. Stalin to the All-Russian Central Executive Committee.
March 19th
In 1918, S Potter becomes first US pilot to shoot down a German seaplane.
In 1918, In a letter to S. Shaumyan and A. Djaparidze, J. V. Stalin urges the necessity of strengthening the military defences of Baku.
March 21st
In 1918, during World War I, Germany launched the Somme Offensive, hop ing to break through the Allied line before American reinforcements could arrive. That was Somme Offensive, huh folks?
March 26th and 27th
In 1918, J. V. Stalin's article, "Transcaucasian Counter-revolutionaries Under a Socialist Mask," appears in Pravda, Nos. 55 and 56.
Night of March 30th
In 1918, Stalin speaks by direct wire with the Chairman of the Tashkent Soviet on the situation in Turkestan.

1918 April


April 1st
In 1918, the Royal Air Force was established in Great Britian; it replaced the Royal Flying Corps of England.
In 1918, The Bolshevik group of the A.R.C.E.C. elects J. V. Stalin to the commission for drafting; the first Constitution of the Russian Soviet Republic.
April 2rd
In 1918, At a meeting of the Council of People's Commissars, J. V. Stalin recommends, in connection with the German advance on Kharkov that peace negotiations be immediately started with the Ukrainian Central Rada.
April 3rd and 4th
In 1918, An interview with J. V. Stalin on the organization of a Russian Federal Republic is published in Pravda, Nos. 62 and 63.
April 5th
In 1918, Stalin speaks at the first meeting of the commission set up by the A.R.C.E.C. for drafting the Constitution of the RSFSR.
April 9th
In 1918, Pravda, No. 67, publishes a message of J. V. Stalin to the Kazan, Ufa, Orenburg, Turkestan and other Soviets under the title "One Immediate Task."
April 12th
In 1918, Stalin makes a report in the Constitution Drafting Commission on the type of federation of the Russian Soviet Republic.
April 14th
In 1918, Douglas Campbell became the first American ace pilot when he shot down his fifth German enemy aircraft.
April 19th
In 1918, Stalin's draft on "General Provisions of the Constitution of the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic" is discussed and approved by the Constitution Drafting Commission.
April 21st
In 1918, Baron Manfred von Richthofen, the German flying ace known as the "Red Baron," was shot down and killed in action during World War I after dowining 80 enemy planes . It was not Snoopy that shot him down. (****)
April 27th
In 1918, The Council of People's Commissars appoints J. V. Stalin plenipotentiary representative of the RSFSR for the negotiation of a peace treaty with the Ukrainian Central Rada.
April 29th
In 1918, Germany's main offensive on the Western Front in World War I ended.
In 1918, Stalin arrives with a delegation in Kursk.

1918 May


May 2nd
In 1918, Stalin leaves Kursk for Moscow to report to the Council of People's Commissars.
May 5th
In 1918, V. I. Lenin and J. V. Stalin send a wireless message to Voronezh, Rostov and Bryansk regarding the conclusion of a truce on the Ukrainian Front.
May 10-16th
In 1918, Stalin conducts a conference on the convening of a constituent congress of Soviets of the Tatar-Bashkir Soviet Republic and delivers speeches at the opening and closing of the conference.
May 23rd
In 1918, J. V. Stalin's article, "The Situation in the Caucasus, "is printed in Pravda, No. 100.
May 26th
In 1918, Georgian Social Democratic Republic declares independence from Russia.
May 29th
In 1918, The Council of People's Commissars appoints J. V. Stalin General Director of Food Affairs in South Russia and vests him with extraordi-nary powers.

1918 June


June 1st
In 1918, J. V. Stalin's article, "The Don and the North Caucasus (Machinations and the Facts)," is printed in Pravda, No. 108.
June 4th
In 1918, Stalin leaves Moscow for Tsaritsyn.
In 1918, at Chateau-Thierry, the U.S. Second D ivision halted German forces advancing toward Paris.
June 6th
In 1918, Stalin arrives in Tsarifcsyn.
In 1918, the World War I Battle of Belleau Wood, which resulted in a U.S. victory over the Germans, began in France.
June 7th
In 1918, In a telegram to V. I. Lenin, J. V. Stalin informs him of the measures taken to get the transport system going, to establish revolutionary order in Tsaritsyn, and to dispatch grain to the center.
In 1918, U.S. Marines win name of "Devil Hounds" for fierce fighting in France.
June 12th
In 1918, first airplane bombing raid by an American unit, France.
June 13th
In 1918, Stalin wires V. I. Lenin informing him of the improvement in the transport system and of the plan for the procurement of grain and its dispatch to Moscow.
June 15th
In 1918, 1" of snow falls in Northern Pennsylvania.
June 25th
In 1918, Stalin arrives in Kamyshin to restore the transport system and to organize the dispatch of food.
June 29th
In 1918, Stalin informs V. I. Lenin by direct wire from Tsaritsyn that a number of through trains with food have left for the North.

1918 July


July 4th
In 1918, nearly 100 ships are launched at ports around the U.S. as a patriotic gesture.
July 7th
In 1918, V. I. Lenin and J. V. Stalin exchange telegrams on the revolt of the "Left" Socialist-Revolutionaries.
In a letter to V. I. Lenin, J. V. Stalin informs him of the military situation in the Tsaritsyn area and about Turkestan.
July 8th
In 1918, the Aisne-Marne Offensive begins, marking the turning po int for the Allies.
In 1918, Stalin writes to S. Shaumyan in Baku on the home and foreign policies of the RSFSR and Azerbaijan.
July 9th
In 1918, Congress authorized the Distinguished Service Medal.
In 1918, 101 people were killed and 171 were injured as an inbound local train collided with an outbound express in Na shville, Tennessee.
July 10th
In 1918, In a letter to V. I. Lenin, J. V. Stalin protests against the orders of Trotsky which were leading to the collapse of the Tsaritsyn Front and the loss of the North Caucasian region.
July 11th
In 1918, Enrico Caruso bypassed opera for a short time to join the war (WWI) effort. Caru so recorded "Over There", the patriotic song written by George M. Cohan.
July 15th
In 1918, in the Second Battle of the Marne, German forces attack e ast and west of the Reims but make no substantial gains.
In 1918, Stalin wires the People's Commissariat of Military Affairs urging the rendering of immediate aid to Soviet Turkestan.
July 16th
In 1918, Russia's Czar Nicholas II, his empress and their five children were executed by the Bolsheviks.
July 17th
In 1918, After an inspection of the Tsaritsyn Front, J. V. Stalin wires V. I. Lenin reporting his findings.
July 18th
In 1918, Stalin informs V. I. Lenin by direct wire that between July 12 and 16 five trainloads of food have been sent to Moscow.
In 1918, during World War I, American and French forces launched a counter-offe nsive against the Germans between the Aisne and Marne Rivers in France.
In 1918, the Aisne-Marne offensive is launched by more than 250,000 Americans with French units to counter a German attack (Second Battle of the Marne on July 15).
July 19th
In 1918, during World War I, German armies began a retreat across the Marne River in France following the failure of their last big offensive on French soil.
In 1918, A Military Council of the North Caucasian Military Area is set up, headed by J. V. Stalin.
July 20th
In 1918, In a telegram to S. Shaumyan, J. V. Stalin, on behalf of the A.R.C.E.C. and the Council of People's Commissars, insists that the Baku Soviet pursue an independent foreign policy and vigorously combat agents of foreign capitalism.
July 22nd
In 1918, Lightning kills 504 sheep in Utah's Wasatch Nat ional Park.
July 24th
In 1918, Stalin discusses with V. I. Lenin by direct wire the food situation in Moscow and Petrograd.

1918 August


August 1st
In 1918, British troops enter Vladivostok.
August 4th
In 1918, In a letter to V. I. Lenin, J. V. Stalin informs him of the military and food situation in the South.
August 6th
In 1918, Stalin signs an order of the North Caucasian Military Council on the reorganization of all agencies engaged in supplying the front.
August 8th
In 1918, Stalin and K. E. Voroshilov. who are at Kotelnikovo Station, give orders to the commander of the southern sector of the Tsaritsyn Front for the transfer of forces in connection with the offensive of the Krasnov bands.
In 1918, six US soldiers were surrounded by Germans in France, Alvin York is given command & shoots 20 Germans & captures 132 more.
August 11th
In 1918, Battle of Amiens ends in WW I, All ieds beat Germans.
August 13th
In 1918, Stalin signs an order of the Military Council proclaiming a state of siege in the city and Gubernia of Tsaritsyn.
August 14th
In 1918, Stalin signs an order of the Military Council mobilizing the bourgeois of Tsaritsyn for the digging of trenches.
August 15th
In 1918, the United States and Russia severed diplomatic ties.
August 17th
In 1918, Stalin wires to Parkhomenko in Moscow informing him that the situation on the Tsaritsyn Front has improved.
August 19th
In 1918, Stalin and K. E. Voroshilov are at Sarepta in connection with the military operations at the front.
August 20th
In 1918, the British opened its offensive on the Western front during World War I.
August 24th
In 1918, Stalin and K. E. Voroshilov sign the operations order for the offensive on the Tsaritsyn Front.
August 26th
In 1918, In connection with the need for armoured cars at the front, J. V. Stalin and K. E. Voroshilov sign an order for the reorganization of the Tsaritsyn ordnance works.
August 30th
In 1918, Nikolai Lenin survived an attempted assassination in Moscow. It was 4 years before he was strong enough for an operation. The trauma eventually led to his death. Fanny Kaplan, a member of the Social Revolutionary Party, fired three shots at Lenin. She was executed Sep 3, 1918.
August 31st
In 1918, Stalin and K. E. Voroshilov send a telegram to Y. M. Sverdlov. Chairman of the A.R.C.E.C., in connection with the villainous attempt on the life of V. I. Lenin.

1918 September


September 4th
In 1918, U.S. troops land in Archangel, Russia, and stay 10 months.
September 6th
In 1918, Stalin informs the Council of People's Commissars by wire of the success of the Soviet offensive in the Tsaritsyn area.
September 8th
In 1918, Stalin wires V. I. Lenin informing him that a counter-revolutionary revolt of the Gruzoles Regiment organized in Tsaritsyn by the Socialist-Revolutionaries has been suppressed.
September 10th
In 1918, At a meeting in Tsaritsyn, J.V. Stalin, on behalf of the Council of People's Commissars and the North Caucasian Military Council, congratulates the regiments which distinguished themselves in action at Tsaritsyn and presents them with banners inscribed: "For Military Valour."
September 12th
In 1918, Stalin leaves for Moscow to report to V. I. Lenin on the situation on the Southern Front.
In 1918, during World War I, forces led by Gen. John J. Pershing launched an attack on the German-occupied St. Mihiel salient north of Verdu n, France.
September 15th
In 1918, V. I. Lenin, Y. M. Sverdlov and J.V. Stalin confer on questions concerning the Tsaritsyn Front.
September 17th
In 1918, Stalin is appointed Chairman of the newly-formed Revolutionary Military Council of the Southern Front.
September 19th
In 1918, Stalin examines questions of the composition and activities of the Collegium of the People's Commissariat for the Affairs of Nationalities.
V. I. Lenin and J. V. Stalin wire congratula-tions to the revolutionary troops of the Tsaritsyn Front.
September 21st
In 1918, Izvestia publishes an interview with J.V. Stalin on the situation on the Tsaritsyn Front.
September 22nd
In 1918, Stalin returns to Tsaritsyn from Moscow.
September 26th
In 1918, the Battle of Meuse-Argonne begins, wh ere 1,200,000 U.S. troops are committed to the attack (the largest number in army history).
September 28th
In 1918, Stalin presides at the first meeting of the Revolutionary Military Council of the Southern Front, where the question is discussed of dividing the military units of the front into four armies.
September 29th
In 1918, allied forces scored a decisive breakthrough of the Hindenburg Line in Germany during Wor ld War I.

1918 October


October 3rd
In 1918, Stalin and K. E. Voroshilov send a telegram to V. I. Lenin demanding that the Central Committee discuss the activities of Trotsky which menace the Southern Front with collapse.
October 6th
In 1918, Stalin again leaves for Moscow.
October 8th
In 1918, Sergeant Alvin C. York almost single-handedly killed 25 German soldiers and captured 132 in the Argonne Forest in France during Worl d War I. He was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor.
In 1918, By decision of the Council of People's Commissars J. V. Stalin is appointed a member of the Revolutionary Military Council of the Republic.
October 11th
In 1918, Stalin returns to Tsaritsyn from Moscow.
J. V. Stalin informs Y. M. Sverdlov by direct wire of the situation on the Tsaritsyn Front.
October 15th
In 1918, After the war, Hitler was a member of the Freikorps.
October 16th
In 1918, A "Letter to the Poor Peasants of the Don," signed by J. V. Stalin and other members of the Military Council, is printed in the newspaper Soldat Revolutsii, No. 58.
October 17th
In 1918, Last ship sunk by a U-boat in WWI (SS Lucia).
October 18th
In 1918, new state of Czechoslovakia.
In 1918, Stalin wires V. I. Lenin informing him of the rout of Krasnov's armies at Tsaritsyn.
October 19th
In 1918, Stalin leaves Tsaritsyn for Moscow.
October 22nd
In 1918, Stalin wires congratulations to the revolutionary regiments which routed the white-guard forces at Tsaritsyn.
In 1918, At the Second Congress of the Ukrainian Communist Party (Bolsheviks) J. V. Stalin is elected a member of its Central Committee.
October 25th
In 1918, the Canadian steamship Princess Sophia foundered after hitting s reef off the coast of Alaska, resulting in the deaths of the nearly 400 people aboard.
October 29th
In 1918, Stalin addresses a plenary meeting of the Moscow Soviet on the situation on the Southern Front.
J. V. Stalin's article, "The Logic of Facts (In Reference to the 'Theses' of the Central Committee of the Mensheviks)," is printed in Pravda, No. 234.

1918 November


November 1st
In 1918, New York City: derailment of subway t rain in Malbone St. tunnel in Brooklyn left 92 dead.
November 6th
In 1918, Stalin's article, "The October Revolution (October 24 and 25, 1917, in Petrograd)," is printed in Pravda, No. 241.
November 6-9th
In 1918, Stalin takes part in the work of the Sixth Extraordinary All-Russian Congress of Soviets.
November 7th
In 1918, during World War I, an erroneous report from the United Press that an armistice had been signed set off celebrations across the country.
November 9th
In 1918, The Sixth Extraordinary All-Russian Congress of Soviets elects J. V. Stalin a member of the A.R.C.E.C.
November 11th
In 1918, On behalf of the C.C., RCP(B), J. V. Stalin greets the First Congress of Moslem Communists in Moscow.
In 1918, fighting in World War I came to an end with the signing of an armistice between the Allies and Germany. Today became known as Armstice Day.
In 1918, Poland was divided between three countries Austria, Germany and Russia, and on this day, Poland proclaimed independence from those three states.
November 13th
In 1918, new Republic of Austria.
In 1918, The All-Russian Central Executive Committee elects J. V. Stalin a member of its Presidium.
November 16th
In 1918, new Republic of Hungary.
November 17th
In 1918, Stalin's article, "Partition Wall," is printed in Zhizn Natsionalnostei, No. 2.
November 18th
In 1918, Latvia declares independence from Russia.
November 20th
In 1918, Hitler back in Munchen.
November 24th
In 1918, new state of Yugoslavia.
In 1918, Stalin's article, "Don't Forget the East," Is printed in Zhizn Natsionalnostei, No. 3.
November 30th
In 1918, Stalin is appointed a member and Vice-Chairman of the Council of Workers' and Peasants' Defense.

1918 December


December 1st
In 1918, Stalin speaks in the discussion at the first meeting of the Council of Workers' and Peasants' Defense.
In 1918, V. I. Lenin and J. V. Stalin arc empowered by the Council of Defense to endorse the decisions of its commissions.
December 3rd
In 1918, Stalin presides at a meeting of the Council of Defense commission on improving railway transport.
December 7th
In 1918, The Council of People's Commissars approves a decree drafted by J. V. Stalin recognizing the independence of the Estland Soviet Republic.
December 11th
In 1918, At a meeting of the Council of Defense, J. V. Stalin makes reports on improving railway transport, on political agitation work in, and the appointment of commissars to, divisions in process of formation, and on the quartering of military units.
December 22nd
In 1918, Stalin's article, "Things Are Moving," is printed in Zhizn Natsionalnostei, No. 7.
December 25th
In 1918, Stalin discusses the state structure of Byelorussia with responsible officials of the Byelorussian National Commissariat.
In 1918, Stalin gives instructions by direct wire to Myasnikov in Smolensk on the organization of the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic and the Byelorussian C.P.(B).
December 29th
In 1918, Stalin reports on the food situation in the war area at a meeting of the Council of Defense.
December 30th
In 1918, On V. I. Lenin's recommendation, the C.C., RCP(B) decides to send J. V. Stalin to the Eastern Front.


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