Middle East
Front
(383)1918
January
- 28
- Arabs destroy the Dead Sea flotillaAt dawn on 28 January 1918 Abdullah al-Fair's Bedouin raided the Al-Mazraa landing, sank the Turkish grain flotilla on the Dead Sea and took 60 prisoners.
- End of the operations at TafilehOn 28 January 1918 the operations at Tafileh ended. The Arabs held the town and stopped shipping on the Dead Sea, but snow halted their march north.
February
March
- 24
- Fighting at Es SaltOn 24–25 March 1918 London infantry broke weak defences below the hills of Moab; on the evening of the 25th Australian horsemen rode into Es Salt unopposed.
- British occupy KermanshahOn 24 March 1918 the first British detachment reached Kermanshah, fifty riflemen of the Hampshire Regiment with Lt-Col. Capper and Consul Kennion.
April
- 05
- Turks retake VanIn early April 1918 Ottoman troops returned to ruined Van, held by the Russians and Armenians since 1915. The Armenians had left the town beforehand.
- Turks take SarıkamışOn 5 April 1918 the Turks regained Sarıkamış, scene of Enver's defeat in 1914–15. The Armenians had left the town in the night, fearing encirclement.
May
- 28
- Azerbaijan declares independenceOn 28 May 1918 the Azerbaijani National Council proclaimed Azerbaijan's independence in Tiflis. Its capital, Baku, was however in Bolshevik hands.
- Armenian independenceOn 28 May 1918 the Armenian National Council in Tiflis resolved to assume power over the Armenian lands. The day counts as the birth of independent Armenia.
June
- 12
- Germans occupy TiflisIn June 1918 German battalions came to Tiflis at the Georgian government's invitation. On the night of 11/12 June they left to guard the Turkish border.
- Baku Commune troops take KurdamirOn 12 June 1918 the troops of Bolshevik Baku took Kurdamir station after a short fight. The Turks, named by the chronology as its captors, entered it in July.
July
August
- 04
- The British in BakuOn 4 August 1918 the first British detachment, a few dozen men strong, reached Baku from Enzeli. The next day the city's defenders repulsed a Turkish assault.
- Arrest of the committee at EnzeliIn early August 1918 the British arrested the Bolshevik revolutionary committee in Enzeli, accusing it of collaborating with the Jangalis.
September
- 20
- Capture of Nazareth and BeisanOn 20 September 1918 British cavalry reached the Jezreel Valley, took Afula and Beisan and burst into Nazareth. Liman von Sanders barely escaped capture.
- Execution of the Baku commissarsOn 20 September 1918, in the desert beyond Krasnovodsk, Transcaspian SRs shot 26 leaders of the Baku Commune, among them Stepan Shaumian.
October
- 30
- Key eventArmistice of MudrosOn 30 October 1918, aboard the battleship Agamemnon at Mudros, the Ottoman Empire signed an armistice with the Entente. Fighting ended at noon on 31 October.
- Surrender at SharqatOn 30 October 1918 the encircled Turkish Tigris Group surrendered on the Tigris at Sharqat. Ismail Hakki Bey gave himself up with several thousand men.
November
- 09
- Occupation of AlexandrettaOn 9 November 1918 British and French warships entered the Gulf of Alexandretta. Mustafa Kemal wished to defend the port, but Constantinople made him yield.
- Anglo-French DeclarationIn early November 1918 Britain and France declared that they sought the "complete liberation" of Syria and Mesopotamia and governments chosen by their peoples.