March Days– Soviet-Armenian forces bombarded Baku, Azerbaijan during a crackdown against a Musavat revolt in the city. By evening, a delegation from Musavat met and agreed to sign an ultimatum to order all those involved in the revolt to stand down if shelling ceased.[12]
Federal militia exchanged fire with armed protesters against conscription in Quebec City on Easter Monday, resulting in five deaths and hundreds of injuries. Total damages from the weekend of rioting were estimated at $300,000.[14]
Royal NavydestroyerHMSFalcon was cut in two by trawler in the North Sea during a routine convoy patrol. All crew were rescued although a crewman died from his injuries.[15]
March Days– Fighting in Baku, Azerbaijan subsided as thousands of Muslims fled to the city of Elisabethpol. An estimated 12,000 civilians in Baku, mostly Muslim, were massacred over four days, while the Armenian forces reported 2,500 casualties.[21][22]
Operation Michael– British forces halted the German advance at Ancre, France, ending the first stage of the Spring Offensive.[43] The offensive had cost the Allies some c.255,000 men including 177,739 killed, British casualties. As well, the German captured 75,000 prisoners and some 1,300 artillery pieces. German casualties were also massive, with 250,000 casualties.[44] Despite advancing more than 65km (40mi) and capturing 3,100 km2 (1,200 sq mi) of French territory, the offensive achieved few of the strategic objectives of the operation.[45]
Battle of Rautu– The Red Guards broke through the White Guard line and attempted to escape to Petrograd. However, the column was caught in a machine gun cross-fire in a valley near Kuolemanlaakso, Finland at the Russian-Finnish border, where 400 men were slaughtered along with dozens of civilians from the nearby village. Another 800 to 900 Red Guards were taken prisoner. The Whites Guards lost 270 casualties in the final two days of the battle. The Kuolemanlaakso valley was nicknamed the "Valley of Death" following the massacre.[36]
Royal Air Force pilot Lieutenant C. H. Noble-Campbell of No. 38 Squadron was wounded in the head by machine-gun fire while attacking German Zeppelin L 62 but was able to return safely to base. It was the only occasion on which an attacking airman was wounded in combat with an airship.[49]
Battle of Tampere– The last Red Guards surrendered at Tampere, Finland. Casualties varied for either side, with casualties for the White Guards ranging from 600 to 1,000 lost. Some accounts listed more than 1,200 Red Guards killed in action and another thousand executed following the battle. Another 11,000 prisoners were taken to a concentration camp.[46]
Finnish Civil War– Following a major defeat at Tampere, the Red Guard command ordered their soldiers, families and other civilian supporters to retreat to the eastern half of Finland and to form a new front at the Kymijoki River. By mid-April, 25,000 people loyal to the Red Guards along passed through the town of Hämeenlinna, Finland.[51]
The German submarine UB-53 sighted German Zeppelin L 59 catching fire accidentally and crashing into the sea near the Strait of Otranto with the loss of all hands. The airship was on the outbound leg of a flight from Yambol, Bulgaria, in an attempt to bomb the Royal Navy base at Malta.[55]
Finish composer Leevi Madetoja lost his brother Yrjö Madetoja during the Battle of Antrea, presumably captured and killed by the Finnish Red Guards during fighting around Kavantsaari. Madetoja later composed a three-movement piano suite titled The Garden of Death for the memory of his lost brother.[62]
Battle of Ahvenkoski– The German detachment force of 800 soldiers retreated west of Ahvenkoski, Finland under the mistaken assumption the Red Guards had superior numbers at Kotka. Instead, the Finnish force of roughly 500 dug into positions on the Kymijoki River until reinforcements arrived.[64]
Battle of the Lys– With the British situation on the Western Front looking dire, British commanding officer GeneralDouglas Haig issued a general order for troops to keep fighting "with our backs to the wall and believing in the justice of our cause" to protect "the safety of our homes and the freedom of mankind".[65]
German battleship SMSRheinland ran aground at the Åland Islands of Sweden with the loss of two crew. She was salvaged and returned to service in May.[70]
An assembly of Baltic Germans passed a resolution to call upon the German Empire to recognize a collection of Baltic states as monarchy called the United Baltic Duchy with the capital being Riga. However, the recognition did not come until September 22, and the German Revolution permanently stopped any chance of forming a nation.[74]
Battle of Helsinki– German forces attacked the main headquarters of the Red Guards in Helsinki and completed their capture of the city. Some 4,000 to 6,000 Red Guards were captured and another 400 were killed in fighting. Some 10,000 supporters also fled the city.[77]
The Military Service Bill, which included conscription in Ireland, became law. A conference of nationalist parties, Sinn Féin and labour movements met in Dublin to organize a nation-wide opposition to conscription.[89]
German flying ace Manfred von Richthofen shot down and killed British ace Richard Raymond-Barker, making him the 80th and final kill for the notorious "Red Baron". Richthofen would be killed himself the following day.[95][96]
RAF pilot Roy Brown, credited for shooting down "The Red Baron".Sergeant Cedric Popkin (second right, middle row) with his artillery unit, also credited for shooting down "The Red Baron".
Battle of Lahti– Around 1,000 Red Guard reinforcements from Hollola, Finland were dispatched to recapture Lahti, Finland. German forces pushed them back, killing 37 Red Guards and taking another 500 prisoner. A further 300 supporters were arrested in the village over the next three days.[100]
German flying ace Manfred von Richthofen, better known as "The Red Baron", died at Morlancourt Ridge near the Somme River after he was fatally wounded by a single bullet fired on his plane while he pursued Canadian pilot Wop May over the battlefield. Historians debated who fired the fatal shot, with May's commanding squadron leader Roy Brown given official credit since he flew to May's rescue and fired on von Richthofen's plane.[102] However, contemporary analysis of von Richthofen's autopsy suggested the fatal shot more than likely came from ground fire, with Australian artillery gunners Sergeant Cedric Popkin, Snowy Evans or Robert Buie as the ones who actually downed "The Red Baron".[103] The German war ace's record total of 80 victories was only exceeded by French ace René Fonck, who although was only credited with 75 kills, claimed 142. France’s criteria for a “kill” required a third party to witness the crash and “out of control” kills did not count meaning he could have possibly shot down 67 planes out of control. Only six of them needed to crash to overtake Richthofen and since planes that are driven out of control usually crash, it is almost certain he scored significantly higher than the Red Baron.[104][105]
Women in Denmark were allowed to vote for the first time in elections. The Venstre Party won a majority in the Folketing (Danish Parliament), with voter turnout at 75 percent.[110]
Battle of Antrea– The Red Guards surrendered and were allowed to pull back to Vyborg. Both sides lost an equal number of men, with total casualties in the battle at 624.[128]
Finnish Civil War– A German unit of 400 men was dispatched to the village of Syrjäntaka, Finland before dispersing throughout the area, leaving only 150 soldiers in the village. A small unit of German soldiers and White Guards were sent to Hauho but were driven back with 50 casualties.[133]
Battle of Lahti– The Red Guards launched a final attack on Lahti, Finland but the lack of order among the ranks allowed the experienced, disciplined German defenders to beat back the assault.[136]
The first elections were held in Portugal since Sidónio Pais staged a coup d'état in December. The elections were boycotted by the major opposition parties and as a result Pais and the National Republican Party won 108 of the 155 seats in the House of Representatives and 32 of the 73 seats in the Senate.[139]
Battle of Viipuri– The White Guards defeated the last Red Guard resistance and occupied Vyborg, Finland. Around 1,000 Red Guards broke through the line in a dash to the border, but most were captured and about half were shot dead during a massacre of prisoners and civilians that followed.[137]
Battle of Syrjäntaka– The Red Guard overwhelmed German forces at Syrjäntaka and forced them to retreat. However, the Germans were able to capture 150 Red Guards and hand them over to the White Guards, who executed many of them. It was last military victory for the Red Guards in the Finnish Civil War.[133]
Kinloch, Terry (2007). Devils on Horses: In the Words of the Anzacs in the Middle East, 1916–19. Auckland: Exisle Publishing. p.277. ISBN978-0-908988-94-5.
Auger, Martin F. "On the Brink of Civil War: The Canadian Government and the Suppression of the 1918 Quebec Easter Riots" Canadian Historical Review 89/4 (2008), pp. 15-17
Smith, Michael (April 2001). "Anatomy of Rumor: Murder Scandal, the Musavat Party and Narrative of the Russian Revolution in Baku, 1917–1920". Journal of Contemporary History. 36 (2): 228. doi:10.1177/002200940103600202. S2CID159744435. The results of the March events were immediate and total for the Musavat. Several hundreds of its members were killed in the fighting; up to 12,000 Muslim civilians perished; thousands of others fled Baku in a mass exodus
Minahan, James B. (1998). Miniature Empires: A Historical Dictionary of the Newly Independent States. Bloomsbury Academic. p.22. ISBN0-313-30610-9. The tensions and fighting between the Azeris and the Armenians in the federation culminated in the massacre of some 12,000 Azeris in Baku by radical Armenians and Bolshevik troops in March 1918
Polmar, Norman; Noot, Jurrien (1991). Submarines of the Russian and Soviet Navies, 1718–1990. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. pp.239–240. ISBN0-87021-570-1.
Edmonds, J. E.; Davies, C. B.; Maxwell-Hyslop, R. G. B. (1995) [1937]. Military Operations France and Belgium, 1918 March–April: Continuation of the German Offensives. History of the Great War Based on Official Documents by Direction of the Historical Section of the Committee of Imperial Defence. Vol.II (Imperial War Museum & Battery Pressed.). London: Macmillan. pp.121–129. ISBN978-0-89839-223-4.
Coulthard-Clark, Chris (1998). Where Australians Fought: The Encyclopaedia of Australia's Battles (1sted.). St Leonards, New South Wales: Allen and Unwin. p.140. ISBN1-86448-611-2.
Roselius, Aapo (2006). Amatöörien sota. Rintamataisteluiden henkilötappiot Suomen sisällissodassa 1918. Helsinki: Prime Minister's Office of Finland. pp.31–51. ISBN978-952-53549-2-8.
Erickson, Edward J. (2001). Ordered to Die: A History of the Ottoman Army in the First World War: Foreword by General Hüseyiln Kivrikoglu. Contributions in Military Studies. Vol.201. Westport Connecticut: Greenwood Press. p.134. ISBN978-0-313-31516-9.
Leivo, Teemu (27 August 2011). "Kyminlinnan taistelu 8.4.1918" (in Finnish). Finnish Military History Society. Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 1 September 2017.
Battles Nomenclature Committee (1922). The Official Names of the Battles and other Engagements fought by the Military Forces of the British Empire during the Great War, 1914–1919, and the Third Afghan War 1919. London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office (Cmd. 1138). p.45.
"Taistelut Leppävaarassa" (in Finnish). Helsingin Reservin Sanomat. 19 August 2011. Archived from the original on 18 October 2016. Retrieved 8 November 2016.
"Hyökkäys Helsinkiin" (in Finnish). Helsingin Reservin Sanomat. 16 September 2011. Archived from the original on 22 January 2023. Retrieved 8 November 2016.
Loima, Jyrki (2004). "Raudun taistelu ja venäläiset". Venäläissurmat Suomessa vuosina 1914-22. Helsinki: Prime Minister's Office of Finland. ISBN952-53544-5-8.
Shores, Christopher F.; Franks, Norman; Guest, Russell F. (1990). Above the Trenches: a Complete Record of the Fighter Aces and Units of the British Empire Air Forces 1915–1920. London, UK: Grub Street. pp.313–314. ISBN978-0-948817-19-9.
Franks, Norman and Alan Bennett. The Red Baron's Last Flight: A Mystery Investigated. London: Grub Street, 2007, First edition 1997. ISBN1-904943-33-0 p. 9
Maurer, Maurer (1969). "U.S. Air Service Victory Credits World War I"(PDF). U.S.A.F. Historical Studies No. 133. Maxwell AFB: Historical Research Division, Air University. Archived from the original(PDF) on 20 September 2012. Retrieved 24 October 2012.
Monique Leijenaar; Kees Niemöller (1997). "The Netherlands". In Pippa Norris (ed.). Passages to Power: Legislative Recruitment in Advanced Democracies. Cambridge University Press. p.132. ISBN978-0-521-59908-5. Retrieved 20 August 2012.
Becke, Major A.F. (1936). Order of Battle of Divisions Part 2A. The Territorial Force Mounted Divisions and the 1st-Line Territorial Force Divisions (42-56). London: His Majesty's Stationery Office. p.34. ISBN1-871167-12-4.
Falls, Cyril; A. F. Beck (1930). Military Operations Egypt & Palestine from June 1917 to the End of the War. Official History of the Great War Based on Official Documents by Direction of the Historical Section of the Committee of Imperial Defence. Vol.2 Part 1. London: HM Stationery Office. pp.377–378. OCLC644354483.
Westerlund, Lars (2004). "Me odotimme teitä vapauttajina ja te toitte kuolemaa – Viipurin valloituksen yhteydessä teloitetut venäläiset". Venäläissurmat Suomessa 1914–22: Osa 2.2. Sotatapahtumat 1918–22. Prime Minister's Office of Finland. p.162. ISBN952-5354-45-8.
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