Thanksgiving 1918: what was happening around the world
When Americans sat down to their holiday dinner in 1918, the guns had been silent for seventeen days. The armistice had been agreed in the Compiègne Forest, in a railway carriage, and it stopped the fighting on the Western Front at 11 in the morning on 11 November; the final day of fighting by itself cost 2,738 lives. The influenza pandemic, misleadingly called the Spanish flu, was another matter: it had begun that year and would last into 1920.
The news at home that fortnight ran from the solemn to the everyday. Joseph F. Smith, president of the LDS Church since 1901, died in Salt Lake City nine days before the holiday, and four days before it Frank King's comic strip Gasoline Alley first appeared. That month Moina Michael wore a silk poppy to a YMCA conference and handed out more, an early step towards the remembrance poppy. Six days after the holiday President Wilson sailed for the peace conference in Paris, the first sitting American president to go to Europe, and two days after that an earthquake of magnitude 7.2 struck the west coast of Vancouver Island.
In Europe the end of the fighting did not bring peace everywhere. On the holiday itself Soviet troops attacked the border town of Narva, starting Estonia's war of independence. Latvia had declared its republic ten days earlier, and Hungary had become a republic two days before that. In Lwów, Polish soldiers and civilians turned on the city's Jewish population for three days. In the United Kingdom a new law let women over 21 stand for the House of Commons, and on 1 December Allied troops began occupying the Rhineland while Iceland became a sovereign kingdom sharing a king with Denmark. The next day the playwright Edmond Rostand, author of Cyrano de Bergerac, died of the flu in Paris.
Further afield, the war's last campaigns were closing and new ones opening. The Mesopotamian campaign ended, and in Egypt the nationalist Wafd Party was founded. In East Africa, Lettow-Vorbeck's German force, which had heard of the armistice only on 14 November, surrendered formally on 25 November. A congress at Kars proclaimed a South-Western Caucasian Republic, the newly independent Armenia and Georgia went to war over their borderlands, and in Cilicia the Franco-Turkish War began. On 3 December an annular eclipse of the sun was seen from Santiago, Buenos Aires and Montevideo, and a week later ANZAC soldiers killed the men of Sarafand al-Amar, a village in Palestine, and burned it down.
23 events, one card per happening, mostly from 14 November 1918 to 12 December 1918; 9 of them from outside Europe and North America.
How sure we are: events with no label are high confidence. A grey label such as Exact day uncertain says why one detail is less certain; a yellow label such as Sources differ on the date marks a low-confidence event where the sources disagree or are thin. The notes say where. Dates are in the Gregorian calendar; where a country still used another calendar, the notes give the original. How events are checked
The background
The war had just stopped; the pandemic had not.
War & conflictWidely known
Armistice ends fighting on the Western Front
· Compiègne Forest, France · Europe
17 days before Thanksgiving Day
Agreed in a railway carriage in the Compiègne Forest, the Armistice took effect at 11:00 in the morning, Paris time, on 11 November 1918. Germany had first asked President Wilson for terms based on his Fourteen Points.
Why it is interesting. Troops kept fighting right up to the deadline, and the last day of the war alone cost 2,738 lives.
Notes and dating details
Signed about 5:00 a.m. and in force 11:00 a.m. Paris time on 11 November 1918.
A global influenza pandemic caused by an H1N1 virus began in 1918 and lasted into 1920. The earliest probable cases were documented in Haskell County, Kansas, though its true origin is uncertain.
Why it is interesting. Called the Spanish flu, a misleading name that arose because newspapers in neutral Spain reported the outbreak freely while wartime censors elsewhere held back bad news.
Notes and dating details
Dates differ within the article: infobox gives February 1918 to April 1920 and an index case in January 1918; lead gives earliest probable cases in March 1918. Wikidata gives January 1918. Stored as year. Geographic origin described as indeterminate. Source family: wikimedia.
On 28 November 1918 the Soviet 6th Rifle Division assaulted the border town of Narva, beginning Estonia's defensive war against Soviet Russia. It ended in an Estonian victory and the 1920 Treaty of Tartu.
Why it is interesting. Estonia declared independence in February 1918 but had to fight Soviet Russia to keep it.
Notes and dating details
Infobox gives the war as 28 November 1918 - 2 February 1920; Wikidata gives an end of 1920-01-03.
From two weeks before the holiday to two weeks after.
Everyday life
Moina Michael wears a silk poppy, helping start the remembrance poppy
· United States · North America
During November 1918
Some details uncertain.
At a conference of YMCA overseas war secretaries in November 1918, Moina Michael wore a silk poppy and handed out more. The poem 'In Flanders Fields' inspired the symbol, and Anna Guérin later set up the first 'Poppy Days'.
Notes and dating details
Wikidata gives November 1918; the body gives the conference in November 1918 without a day. The first use is described only as near the end of the war.
· Salt Lake City, Utah, United States · North America
9 days before Thanksgiving Day
Joseph F. Smith, an American religious leader, became the sixth president of the LDS Church on 17 October 1901 and held the office until his death. His uncle was Joseph Smith, who founded the Latter Day Saint movement, and Heber J. Grant succeeded him as church president.
Frank King's strip first appeared on 24 November 1918, following patriarch Walt Wallet, his family and neighbours. King let his characters age over generations, bringing real-time continuity to comic strips.
Notes and dating details
English Wikipedia says the strip began in the Chicago Tribune; its infobox first-appearance date is November 24, 1918.
Wilson sails for the Paris Peace Conference, the first sitting US president in Europe
· United States to France · Europe
6 days after Thanksgiving Day
Wilson sailed for the Paris Peace Conference on 4 December 1918 and reached Brest on 13 December; no sitting American president had visited Europe or left North America before. The conference itself got under way formally on 18 January 1919.
Why it is interesting. In 1917 Wilson had commissioned about 150 academics to prepare principles for peace talks, and their work became the Fourteen Points, the basis of Germany's surrender terms.
Notes and dating details
Wikidata gives 4 December 1918. English Wikipedia's Paris Peace Conference article gives only December 1918, as the month Wilson reached Europe; its SS George Washington article says Wilson sailed for Europe aboard that ship on 4 December 1918 and was escorted into Brest on 13 December, so the day is stored.
A magnitude 7.2 earthquake strikes Vancouver Island, British Columbia
· West coast of Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada · North America
8 days after Thanksgiving Day
A moment magnitude 7.2 earthquake hit shortly before 1 a.m. local time on 6 December 1918, with its epicentre on Vancouver Island's west coast just east of Stewardson Inlet. It damaged the Estevan Point lighthouse.
Why it is interesting. It was felt as far away as northern Washington state and interior British Columbia, and it was caused by movement on the Nootka transform fault.
Notes and dating details
Local date 6 December 1918; the quake struck at 12:41 a.m. Pacific time, which was 08:41:07 UTC on the same day. Wikidata gives 6 December 1918.
Outside Europe and North America, the war's last campaigns ended and new conflicts began.
War & conflict
Mesopotamian campaign ends
· Ottoman Iraq · Middle East
14 days before Thanksgiving Day
Date may use an older calendar.
British imperial forces fought the Ottomans for Ottoman Iraq, from the landing at Fao to protect the oil fields until the fighting there ended in November 1918. They suffered defeat at the siege of Kut and captured Baghdad in March 1917.
Why it is interesting. The siege of Kut was labelled the Allies' worst defeat of the First World War.
Notes and dating details
The body puts the end of the Mesopotamian war at 14 November 1918, about two weeks after the Armistice of Mudros was signed on 30 October; French Wikipedia has the fighting last only until the October armistice, and the English page carries a note about unreliable sources, so confidence is medium. Calendar not stated in source (Ottoman Empire).
The Wafd Party, an Egyptian nationalist and liberal party, was founded in November 1918 after taking shape during the First World War. It later became a leading force in Egyptian politics.
Notes and dating details
Body text says founded in November 1918; the infobox gives 'foundation: 1919'. Wikidata gives 1918. Source family: wikimedia.
· German East Africa and neighbouring territories · Africa
3 days before Thanksgiving Day
Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck's German colonial forces learned of the armistice at 07:30 on 14 November 1918, waited for confirmation, and surrendered formally on 25 November. German East Africa then became British and Belgian territory.
Why it is interesting. The Germans in East Africa heard of the armistice on 14 November but waited for confirmation before surrendering formally on 25 November.
Notes and dating details
Infobox end date is also 25 November 1918, as are the African theatre article's infobox and the Lettow-Vorbeck article (surrender offered at Abercorn). Wikidata's item for the wider African theatre of the war lists 23 November 1918 as its end, unsourced; the theatre article's own 23 November refers to Lettow-Vorbeck's 1917 crossing into Mozambique, not a surrender.
Kars congress declares a South-Western Caucasian Republic
· Kars, Ottoman Empire (now Turkey) · Middle East
3 days after Thanksgiving Day
Date may use an older calendar.
A congress in Kars declared an independent South-Western Caucasian Republic and chose Cihangirzade Ibrahim Bey as its president. The provisional government lasted until British forces broke it up in April 1919.
Notes and dating details
Calendar not stated in source; the region had been Ottoman and Russian, so the date was flagged for checking. The lead also gives 1 December 1918 as the start of its existence. The name Provisional National Government of South-West Caucasia was settled on in March 1919.
On Tuesday, 3 December 1918, an annular eclipse was visible from Santiago, Buenos Aires and Montevideo. It also crossed a corner of South West Africa and part of southwestern Angola.
France and the Turkish National Forces fought a series of conflicts in Cilicia and southern Anatolia from December 1918 to October 1921. French troops had first landed at Mersin on 17 November 1918, drawn by the Sykes-Picot Agreement and a refugee crisis after the Armenian genocide.
Why it is interesting. Turkey remembers it as the Southern Front, France as the Cilicia Campaign.
Notes and dating details
Wikidata gives 1918-12 (month). The infobox gives 7 December 1918 (the lead and French Wikipedia say only December 1918), and the first French landing at Mersin was on 17 November 1918, so the day is uncertain. Calendar not stated in source (Ottoman Empire).
· Borchaly (Lori) and Akhalkalaki districts · Middle East
9 days after Thanksgiving Day
A border dispute over Lori and Akhalkalaki broke into open fighting between newly independent Georgia and Armenia. Armenian forces came within 10 kilometers of Tiflis before Georgian counterattacks; Allied intervention brought a ceasefire.
Why it is interesting. Two states that had just declared independence fought over borderlands, and each side later claimed success.
Notes and dating details
Source family: wikimedia. Ceasefire took effect at midnight on 31 December. Wikidata dates agree (7 to 31 December). Region chosen for the Caucasus.
Around 200 ANZAC soldiers attacked the village of Sarafand al-Amar and a Bedouin camp, killing the village's men and burning it down. Troops had grown angry at petty thefts and an alleged murder, and a New Zealand soldier, Leslie Lowry, had been killed the night before.
Notes and dating details
Infobox gives 40-137 dead; no figure is used here because estimates vary.
New states, new fighting and the first months of the peace.
Politics & diplomacy
First Hungarian Republic is proclaimed
· Budapest, Hungary · Europe
12 days before Thanksgiving Day
The republic was proclaimed in the wake of Austria-Hungary's collapse, replacing the Kingdom of Hungary. No other state recognised it. Mihály Károlyi, its first president, gave a speech after the proclamation, and its first official name was the Hungarian People's Republic.
Notes and dating details
Infobox lists several other dates for the run-up (31 October, 13 November).
On 18 November 1918 an independent Latvian republic was set up, after the Russian Revolution left a power vacuum. The land had known Teutonic, Swedish, Polish-Lithuanian and Russian rule.
Why it is interesting. After centuries under Teutonic, Swedish, Polish-Lithuanian and Russian rule, Latvia declared its own republic.
Notes and dating details
Infobox: declared 18 November 1918; recognised 26 January 1921.
Polish soldiers and civilians attacked the Jewish population of Lwów over three days during the Polish-Ukrainian War. An estimated 52 to 150 Jewish residents were killed.
Notes and dating details
Casualty figures vary: lead estimates 52-150 Jewish dead and 340 victims in total; Morgenthau's 1919 report put Jewish deaths at 64. Now Lviv, Ukraine.
Parliament (Qualification of Women) Act receives royal assent
· United Kingdom · Europe
7 days before Thanksgiving Day
Sources differ on the date.
The act let women over 21 stand for election to the House of Commons. Lord Robert Cecil introduced it, and Parliament rushed it through so women could contest the December 1918 general election. Nancy Astor became the first woman to take a Commons seat, on 1 December 1919.
Notes and dating details
The 21 November 1918 assent date comes from the English infobox only; the body text gives no assent date and the German article gives none. Wikidata also lists 1 January 1918 as a publication date, which differs.
The Allies held German land on the Rhine's west bank plus four bridgeheads across it, to secure France and Belgium and guarantee German reparations. The occupation ended on 30 June 1930.
Why it is interesting. The occupation closed five years sooner than Versailles had planned.
Notes and dating details
The English article places the occupied area in Germany.
Act of Union creating the Kingdom of Iceland is signed
· Iceland and Denmark · Europe
3 days after Thanksgiving Day
The Act of Union with Denmark recognised Iceland as a fully sovereign state sharing a king with Denmark. Iceland asked Denmark to represent it abroad. A national referendum replaced the kingdom with a republic on 17 June 1944.
Notes and dating details
The Act of Union was an agreement between Iceland and Denmark dated 1 December 1918; neither the Kingdom of Iceland article nor the Act of Union article names a signing place, so the place is given as the two countries.
The French dramatist, best known for Cyrano de Bergerac of 1897, died in Paris on 2 December 1918 of the flu pandemic. His 1894 Les Romanesques was later adapted into the musical The Fantasticks.
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