February 1918

February

• 01

  • Central Powers recognise UkraineOn 1 February 1918 at Brest Czernin declared that the Central Powers recognised the Ukrainian People's Republic as an independent, sovereign state.
  • The East Persian Cordon is extendedOn 1 February 1918 Indian troops of the East Persian Cordon began moving north into Khorasan to replace the Russians withdrawing from there.
  • Mutiny at KotorOn 1 February 1918 sailors on Austro-Hungarian ships in the Bay of Kotor hoisted red flags and demanded peace. The mutiny collapsed after three days.
• 03

  • Supreme War Council's powers extendedAt their Versailles session the Allies decided to create a general reserve under a committee headed by Foch. The committee first met on 3 February 1918.
• 04

  • British assurances to HusseinIn February 1918 London answered King Hussein after the Turks exposed the Sykes–Picot Agreement, assuring him it would keep its pledge to liberate the Arabs.
• 05

  • Sinking of the TuscaniaOn 5 February 1918 UB-77 torpedoed the troopship Tuscania, carrying over 2,000 American soldiers, between Islay and Rathlin. About 170–210 people died.
• 06

  • German ultimatum to RomaniaIn early February 1918 Mackensen gave Romania four days to open peace talks. The Brătianu government, which had taken the country into the war, resigned.
  • British women get the voteOn 6 February 1918 the Representation of the People Act gave the vote to 8.4m British women over 30 and to all men from 21. The electorate nearly tripled.
• 09

  • Key eventPeace of Brest-Litovsk with UkraineOn 9 February 1918 the Central Powers made peace with the Ukrainian People's Republic at Brest. For grain they promised it Chełm Land, angering the Poles.
  • Averescu becomes prime minister of RomaniaOn 9 February 1918 King Ferdinand asked General Averescu to form a government. The victor of Mărăști was to talk peace with the Central Powers.
• 10

  • Neither war nor peaceOn 10 February 1918 at Brest Trotsky said Russia was leaving the war and demobilising but would not sign an annexationist peace. The Germans were stunned.
• 11

  • Wilson's Four PrinciplesOn 11 February 1918 Wilson answered Hertling and Czernin before Congress, set out four principles of peace and called self-determination a principle of action.
  • Suicide of KaledinOn 11 February 1918 the Don Cossack ataman Alexey Kaledin laid down his powers and shot himself in Novocherkassk. The Cossacks would not defend the Don.
  • Resignation of the Kucharzewski governmentOn 11 February 1918 Jan Kucharzewski's government resigned in protest against the Treaty of Brest, which gave the Chełm Land to Ukraine.
• 14

  • Russia adopts the Gregorian calendarIn Soviet Russia Wednesday 31 January 1918 was followed by Thursday 14 February, as a Sovnarkom decree switched the country to the Gregorian calendar.
• 15

  • German destroyer raid in the Strait of DoverOn the night of 14/15 February 1918 German torpedo boats fell on the British barrage in the Strait of Dover. They sank 7 drifters and a trawler; 89 men died.
  • Allied Maritime Transport Council is set upOn 15 February 1918 four powers' representatives settled at the Foreign Office how the Allied Maritime Transport Council would work, and convened it for March.
  • Battle of RarańczaOn the night of 15–16 February 1918 Colonel Haller's Second Brigade of the Legions broke through the Austrian front at Rarańcza in protest at the Ukraine peace.
• 16

  • Shelling of DoverJust after midnight on 16 February 1918 a German submarine shelled Dover. 22 shells fell in three minutes, killing a girl of 13 and wounding 7 people.
  • Act of Independence of LithuaniaOn 16 February 1918 the Taryba in Vilna proclaimed the restoration of an independent, democratic Lithuania with Vilna as capital, now with no tie to Germany.
• 17

  • Dunsterville at EnzeliOn 17 February 1918 General Dunsterville's mission reached Enzeli on the Caspian Sea. The Bolsheviks who ran the port would not let it sail on to Baku.
• 18

  • Key eventOperation Faustschlag beginsAt noon on 18 February 1918 the armistice on the Eastern Front expired. The Germans advanced and that same day, almost without a fight, took Dvinsk and Lutsk.
  • Dismissal of RobertsonAfter a dispute over the general reserve the government removed Gen. William Robertson from the staff. On 19 February 1918 Henry Wilson became CIGS.
• 19

  • Bolsheviks agree to peaceOn the night of 18–19 February 1918 Lenin's government told Berlin by radio it would sign peace on the Brest terms. The Germans did not halt their offensive.
• 20

  • Balfour on the Ukrainian treatyOn 20 February 1918, says the British war chronicle, Balfour told the Polish National Committee that London rejected the Central Powers' peace with Ukraine.
• 21

  • British take JerichoOn 21 February 1918 Australian horsemen rode into Jericho, abandoned by the Turks. The Ottomans withdrew across the Jordan and the British reached the river.
  • Ministry of InformationOn 21 February 1918 Bonar Law announced in the Commons the line-up of Lord Beaverbrook's new Ministry of Information. Lord Northcliffe took enemy propaganda.
• 22

  • Start of the Ice MarchOn the night of 22–23 February 1918 some 4,000 volunteers under Kornilov and Alekseyev left Rostov-on-Don and set off across the steppe towards the Kuban.
• 23

  • Inter-Allied socialist conference in LondonOn 23 February 1918 Entente socialists and trade unionists adopted a memorandum on war aims in London, demanding a league of nations and an independent Poland.
• 24

  • Turks retake TrebizondOn 24 February 1918 Ottoman troops entered Trebizond without a fight. After the Russian Caucasus Army fell apart, the Turks were regaining lands lost in 1916.
  • Germans take DorpatOn 24 February 1918 the Germans entered Dorpat (Tartu), the university town of Livonia, unopposed. That day the Estonians declared independence in Tallinn.
  • Wolf returns homeOn 24 February 1918 the raider Wolf returned to Kiel after 451 days at sea, with 467 prisoners on board. That day her prize Igotz Mendi ran aground off Skagen.
  • Estonia declares independenceOn 24 February 1918, as the Bolsheviks fled and the Germans neared, the Estonian Salvation Committee proclaimed the Republic of Estonia in Tallinn.
  • Start of peace talks in BucharestOn 24 February 1918 at Buftea near Bucharest Kühlmann and Czernin opened peace talks with Romania's prime minister. Averescu refused to give up Dobruja.
• 25

  • Germans take Reval and PskovOn 25 February 1918 the Germans entered Reval (Tallinn), and in the night after a brief fight they took Pskov. The road to Petrograd lay open before them.
  • Convention of BobruiskOn 25–26 February 1918 at Bobruisk Gen. Dowbor-Muśnicki's I Polish Corps agreed with the Germans that it would be treated as a neutral force and keep its arms.
  • British recognition of EstoniaIn late February 1918 London told Tõnisson in Stockholm it would provisionally recognise the Estonian Constituent Assembly as a de facto independent body.
  • Food rationing in BritainFrom 25 February 1918 meat, butter and margarine could be bought in London and the surrounding counties only with cards. They were meant to end the queues.
• 26

  • Sinking of the hospital ship Glenart CastleOn 26 February 1918 UC-56 torpedoed the lit hospital ship Glenart Castle in the Bristol Channel. 153 people died, including all the nurses.
• 28

  • Peace talks resumeOn 28 February 1918 a Soviet delegation under Sokolnikov reached Brest to sign peace on German terms. The Germans refused to halt their offensive.