Directory

1919 CE

The Treaty of Versailles ends World War I between Germany and Allied Powers, imposing reparations and redrawing borders; the Greco-Turkish War begins as Greece invades Anatolia, sparking the Turkish War of Independence; the Polish–Soviet War erupts over borderlands between Poland and Soviet Russia; the Irish War of Independence starts as the Irish Republican Army fights British rule; the May Fourth Movement rises in China against imperialism and Japanese encroachment; and the Hungarian Soviet Republic briefly becomes Europe’s first communist state before falling in the Hungarian–Romanian War.

Geopolitics & Diplomacy

  • January 1 – The Czechoslovak Legions occupy much of the self-proclaimed "free city" of Pressburg (later Bratislava), enforcing its incorporation into the new republic of Czechoslovakia.source
  • January 3 – The Faisal–Weizmann Agreement is signed by Emir Faisal (representing the Arab Kingdom of Hejaz) and Zionist leader Chaim Weizmann, for Arab–Jewish cooperation in the development of a Jewish homeland in Palestine, and an Arab nation in a large part of the Middle East.source
  • January 14 – Estonian War of Independence: Estonian forces liberate Tartu from the Red Army.source
  • January 18 – Estonian War of Independence: Estonian forces liberate Narva, expelling the Red Army from Northern Estonia.source
  • January 18 – The Paris Peace Conference opens in France, with delegates from 27 nations attending for meetings at the Palace of Versailles.source
  • January 19 – 1919 German federal election, first under the Weimar Republic and the first in Germany with female suffrage.source
  • January 21 – Dáil Éireann meets for the first time in the Mansion House, Dublin. It comprises Sinn Féin members elected in the 1918 general election who, in accordance with their manifesto, have not taken their seats in the Parliament of the United Kingdom, but chosen to declare an independent Irish Republic. In the first shots of the Anglo-Irish War, two Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC) men are killed in an ambush at Soloheadbeg, County Tipperary.source
  • February 1 – Estonian War of Independence: Estonian forces liberate Valga and Võru, expelling the Red Army from the entire territory of Estonia.source
  • February 10 – The Inter-Allied Women's Conference convenes to compile a list of women's issues to present to the delegates of the Paris Peace Conference.source
  • February 11 – Friedrich Ebert is elected the first President of Germany (Reichspräsident), by the Weimar National Assembly.source
  • February 26 – Grand Canyon National Park: An act of the United States Congress establishes most of the Grand Canyon as a United States National Park.source
  • February 28 – An independence mission to the U.S., funded by the Philippine legislature, sets out from Manila to present its case to United States Secretary of War Newton D. Baker.source
  • May 30 – By agreement with the United Kingdom, later confirmed by the League of Nations, Belgium is given the mandate over part of German East Africa (Ruanda-Urundi).source
  • June 4 – Women's rights: The United States Congress approves the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which would guarantee suffrage to women, and sends it to the states for ratification.source
  • June 28 – The Treaty of Versailles is signed, formally ending World War I, five years to the day since the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. John Maynard Keynes, who has been present at the conference and is unhappy with the terms of the treaty, brings out his own analysis later in the year, entitled The Economic Consequences of the Peace.source
  • July 3 – Estonian and Latvian Wars of Independence: The pro-German Baltische Landeswehr signs a peace treaty with Estonia and Latvia. The pro-German Prime Minister of Latvia Andrievs Niedra resigns, and Latvian forces take over Riga on July 8.source
  • August 8 – The Anglo-Afghan Treaty of 1919, signed in Rawalpindi, ends the Third Anglo-Afghan War, with the United Kingdom recognising the right of the Emirate of Afghanistan to manage its own foreign affairs and Afghanistan recognising the Durand Line as the border with British India.source
  • August 11 – In Germany, the Weimar Constitution is proclaimed to be in effect (ratified).source
  • August 21 – Friedrich Ebert becomes the first President of Germany (Reichspräsident) under the Weimar Constitution.source
  • September 17 – German South West Africa is placed under South African administration.source
  • October 10 – Estonia adopts a radical land reform, nationalizing 97% of agrarian lands, mostly still belonging to the Baltic German nobility.source
  • October 13 – The Convention relating to the Regulation of Aerial Navigation is signed, in Paris, France.source
  • October 26 – 1919 Luxembourg general election, the first in the duchy with female suffrage, following constitutional amendments of May 15.source
  • December 1 – American-born Nancy Astor, Viscountess Astor, becomes the first woman to take her seat in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, having become the second to be elected on November 28.source

Conflict & Security

  • January 7 – Estonian War of Independence: With Soviet Russian forces just 40 km outside of the capital Tallinn, Estonian forces start a general and successful counter-offensive against the Red Army.source
  • January 9 – Estonian War of Independence: Battle of Tapa – Estonian forces liberate Tapa, Estonia, from the Red Army.source
  • January 16 – The Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, authorizing Prohibition, is ratified.source
  • February 11 – The Seattle General Strike ends, when Federal troops are summoned by the State of Washington's Attorney General.source
  • February 14 – The Polish–Soviet War begins, with the Battle of Bereza Kartuska.source
  • February 16–21 – Estonian War of Independence: Uniformed peasants in Saaremaa rebel against the government of Estonia; the rebellion is crushed by government forces, leaving more than 200 dead.source
  • March 3–April – Russian Civil War: Beginning of the Chapan War as peasants of the provinces of Samara and Simbirsk rebel against Soviet rule.source
  • March 8 – British authorities in Egypt arrest populist leader Saad Zaghloul, exiling him to Malta, triggering the Egyptian Revolution of 1919.source
  • April 13 – Amritsar Massacre: Under the command of Reginald Dyer, detachments of the 9th Gorkha Rifles and the 59th Scinde Rifles massacre 379 Sikh civilians at Jallianwala Bagh in Amritsar, in the Punjab Province.source
  • April 13 – Eugene V. Debs enters prison at the Atlanta Federal Penitentiary in Atlanta, Georgia for speaking out against conscription in the United States during World War I.source
  • May 15 – Greek landing at Smyrna: The Hellenic Army lands at Smyrna assisted by ships of the British Royal Navy.source
  • May 19 – Mustafa Kemal Atatürk lands at Samsun on the Anatolian Black Sea coast, marking the start of the Turkish War of Independence. The anniversary of this event is also an official day of Turkish Youth.source
  • May 25 – Estonian War of Independence: Estonian forces capture Pskov from the Red Army, and soon hand it over to the White forces.source
  • May 27 – Siege of Spin Boldak (Third Anglo-Afghan War). This is the last time the British Army uses an escalade.source
  • June 5 – Estonian and Latvian Wars of Independence: The advancing pro-German Baltische Landeswehr initiates war against Estonia in Northern Latvia.source
  • June 15 – Pancho Villa attacks Ciudad Juárez, Mexico. When the bullets begin to fly to the American side of the border, two units of the United States 7th Cavalry Regiment cross the border, to push Villa's forces from American territory.source
  • June 20–25 – Russian Civil War, Southern Front: The White Volunteer Army defeats the exhausted Red forces in the Kharkiv Operation, capturing the industrial city of Kharkiv.source
  • June 21 – Bloody Saturday of the Winnipeg general strike: Royal North-West Mounted Police fire a volley of bullets into a crowd of unemployed war veterans, killing two.source
  • June 26 – British Foreign Office official St John Philby and T. E. Lawrence arrive in Cairo for discussions about Arab unrest in Egypt, having been flown by Canadian pilot Harry Yates in a Handley Page bomber which set off from England on June 21.source
  • July 5–20 – Russian Civil War, Eastern or Siberian Front, Ekaterinburg Operation: The Red Army captures the city of Ekaterinburg in the Ural Mountains from the White rule of Admiral Alexander Kolchak.source
  • August 18 – Russian Civil War: North Russia intervention – The Bolshevik fleet at Kronstadt, protecting Petrograd on the Baltic Sea, is substantially damaged by British Royal Navy Coastal Motor Boats (torpedo boats) and military aircraft in a combined operation.source
  • November 11 – The first Remembrance Day is observed in the British Empire with a two-minute silence at 11:00 hours.source
  • November 11 – Russian Civil War: The Northwestern Army of General Nikolai Yudenich retreats to Estonia and is disarmed.source
  • November 16 – After Entente pressure, Romanian forces withdraw from Budapest and allow Admiral Horthy to march in.source

Exploration & Expansion

  • May 8–27 – United States Navy Curtiss flying boat NC-4, commanded by Albert Cushing Read, makes the first transatlantic flight, from Naval Air Station Rockaway to Lisbon via Trepassey, Newfoundland (departs May 16) and the Azores (arrives May 17). (On May 30–31 it flies on to Plymouth in England.)source
  • June 14–15 – A Vickers Vimy piloted by British aviator John Alcock, with navigator Arthur Whitten Brown, makes the first nonstop transatlantic flight, from St. John's, Newfoundland, to Clifden, Connemara, Ireland.source
  • September 6 – The U.S. Army expedition across North America, which started July 7, ends in San Francisco.source
  • September 12 – Gabriele D'Annunzio, with his entourage, marches into Fiume and convinces Italian troops to join him.source

Economy & Finance

  • January 18 – Bentley Motors Limited is founded in England.source
  • February 25 – Oregon places a one cent per US gallon (0.26¢/liter) tax on gasoline, becoming the first U.S. state to levy a gasoline tax.source
  • October 29–November 29 – First Annual Meeting of the International Labour Conference.source
  • December 26 – American baseball player Babe Ruth is traded by the Boston Red Sox to the New York Yankees for $125,000, the largest sum ever paid for a player at this time, a deal made public at the beginning of January 1920.source
  • Severe inflation in Germany sees the Papiermark rise to 47 marks against the United States dollar by December, compared to 12 marks in April.source

Technology & Infrastructure

  • April 20 – The French Army blows up the bridge over the Dniester at Bender, Moldova, to protect the city from the Bolsheviks.source
  • June – Earl W. Bascom, rodeo cowboy and artist, along with his father John W. Bascom at Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada, designs and makes rodeo's first reverse-opening side-delivery bucking chute, which becomes the world standard.source
  • October 7 – The Dutch airline KLM is founded (as of 2025, it is the world's oldest airline still flying under its original name).source
  • October 16 – In Germany, Adolf Hitler gives his first speech for the German Workers' Party (DAP).source
  • December 25 – Cliftonhill Stadium in Coatbridge, Scotland, opens as the home of Albion Rovers F.C. They lose the opening match 2–0 to St Mirren.source

Science & Discovery

  • May 29 – Eddington experiment: Einstein's theory of general relativity is tested by Arthur Eddington's observation of the "bending of light" during a total solar eclipse in Príncipe, and by Andrew Crommelin in Sobral, Ceará, Brazil (confirmed November 19).source
  • July 2–6 – British airship R34 makes the first transatlantic flight by dirigible, and the first westbound flight, from RAF East Fortune, Scotland, to Mineola, New York.source
  • July 28 – The International Astronomical Union is founded in Paris, France.source

Health & Medicine

  • April 15 – The Save the Children Fund is created in the UK to raise money for the relief of German and Austrian children.source
  • October 2 – President of the United States Woodrow Wilson suffers a serious stroke, rendering him an invalid for the remainder of his life.source
  • October 28 – Prohibition in the United States: The United States Congress passes the Volstead Act, over President Woodrow Wilson's veto. Prohibition goes into effect on January 17, 1920, under the provisions of the Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution.source

Crime & Justice

  • January 15 – Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht are murdered following the Spartacist uprising.source
  • March 5 – A. Mitchell Palmer becomes United States Attorney General, through recess appointment.source
  • April 10 – Mexican Revolution leader Emiliano Zapata is ambushed and shot dead in Morelos.source
  • April 12 – French serial killer Henri Désiré Landru is arrested.source
  • April 25 – Pancho Villa takes Parral, Chihuahua, in Mexico, and executes the mayor and his two sons.source
  • July 31 – British police strikes in London and Liverpool for recognition of the National Union of Police and Prison Officers; over 2,000 strikers are dismissed.source
  • November 7 – The first of the Palmer Raids is conducted on the second anniversary of the Russian Revolution: over 10,000 suspected communists and anarchists are arrested in 23 different U.S. cities by the end of January 1920.source
  • November 10 – Abrams v. United States: The Supreme Court of the United States upholds the conviction of Abrams for inciting resistance to the war effort against Soviet Russia.source

Disasters & Accidents

  • January 1 – HMY Iolaire sinks off the coast of the Hebrides; 201 people, mostly servicemen returning home to Lewis and Harris, are killed.source
  • July 21 – Wingfoot Air Express crash: The dirigible Wingfoot Air Express catches fire over downtown Chicago. Two passengers, one aircrewman and ten people on the ground are killed; however, two people parachute to the ground safely.source
  • August 1 – Béla Kun's Hungarian Soviet Republic collapses.source
  • December 21 – The United States deports 249 people, including Emma Goldman, to Russia on the USAT Buford.source

Climate & Environment

  • January 15 – Great Molasses Flood: A wave of molasses released from an exploding storage tank sweeps through Boston, Massachusetts, killing 21 people and injuring 150.source
  • May 4 – The May Fourth Movement erupts in China as a result of the decision at the Paris Peace Conference to transfer former German concessions in Jiaozhou Bay to Japan rather than return sovereign authority to China.source
  • May 19 – Volcano Kelud erupts in Java, killing about 5,000.source
  • September 10–15 – The Florida Keys hurricane kills 600 in the Gulf of Mexico, Florida and Texas.source

Culture & Society

  • January 25 – The League of Nations is founded in Paris, France.source
  • February 5 – United Artists (UA) is incorporated in the United States by D. W. Griffith, Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks as a motion picture producer.source
  • March 1 – The March 1st Movement against Japanese colonial rule in Korea is formed.source
  • March 2 – The Founding Congress of the Comintern opens in Moscow.source
  • March 4 – The Communist International (Comintern) is founded.source
  • March 23 – Benito Mussolini founds his Italian Fascist political movement in Milan.source
  • March 26 – Queen of the South F.C. is formed in Dumfries, Scotland.source
  • April 25 – The Bauhaus architectural and design movement is founded in Weimar, Germany.source
  • April 25 – Anzac Day is observed for the first time in Australia.source
  • May 4 – The League of Red Cross Societies is formed in Paris.source
  • May 14 – The University College of Wales, Aberystwyth, establishes probably the world's first chair in International Politics, endowed by David Davies and his sisters in honour of Woodrow Wilson, with Alfred Eckhard Zimmern as first professor.source
  • May 15 – Winnipeg general strike: Workers in Winnipeg, Canada, begin a strike for better wages and working conditions; the strike lasts for six weeks.source
  • May 23 – The University of California opens its second campus in Los Angeles. Initially called Southern Branch of the University of California (SBUC), it is eventually renamed the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).source
  • June 18 – The second most popular football club in Costa Rica, Liga Deportiva Alajuelense, is founded.source
  • June 28 – The International Labour Organization (ILO) is established as an agency of the League of Nations.source
  • July 11 – The eight-hour day and free Sunday become law for workers in the Netherlands.source
  • September 21 – The Steel strike of 1919 begins across the United States.source
  • October 9 – In Major League Baseball, the Cincinnati Reds win the World Series, five games to three, over the Chicago White Sox, whose players are later found to have lost intentionally.source
  • November 1 – The Coal Strike of 1919 begins in the United States, by the United Mine Workers under John L. Lewis; a final agreement is reached on December 10.source
  • November 9 – Felix the Cat debuts in Feline Follies.source
  • December 4 – The French Opera House in New Orleans, Louisiana is destroyed by fire.source
  • December 23 – Sex Disqualification (Removal) Act 1919 becomes law in the United Kingdom, removing legal disabilities on women entering the secular professions.source

Births

  • March 20 – Gerhard Barkhorn, German World War II fighter ace (d. 1983)source
  • April 1 – Joseph Murray, American surgeon, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 2012)source
  • April 22 – Donald J. Cram, American chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2001)source
  • July 20 – Sir Edmund Hillary, New Zealand mountaineer, conqueror of Mount Everest (d. 2008)source
  • August 9 – Joop den Uyl, Dutch politician, Prime Minister of the Netherlands from 1973 to 1977 (d. 1987)source
  • August 25 – George Wallace, American politician, 45th Governor of Alabama (d. 1998)source
  • October 3 – James M. Buchanan, American economist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2013)source
  • October 5 – Boris Shcherbina, Soviet politician, known for his role in the aftermath of the Chernobyl disaster (d. 1990)source
  • October 14 – Edward L. Feightner, United States Navy officer (d. 2020)source
  • October 17 – Zhao Ziyang, Premier of the People's Republic of China (d. 2005)source
  • October 18 – Pierre Trudeau, 15th Prime Minister of Canada (d. 2000)source
  • November 28 – Keith Miller, Australian sportsman and Air force pilot (d. 2004)source
  • December 9 – William Lipscomb, American chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2011)source
  • December 13 – Hans-Joachim Marseille, German World War II fighter ace (d. 1942)source

Deaths

  • January 6 – Jacques Vaché, French writer, associated with Surrealism (b. 1895)source
  • January 15 – Rosa Luxemburg, German communist politician; assassinated (b. 1871)source
  • January 16 – Rodrigues Alves, Brazilian politician, 5th President of Brazil; Spanish flu (b. 1848)source
  • January 16 – Ismail Kemal, Albanian politician, 1st Prime Minister of Albania (b. 1844)source
  • March 16 – Yakov Sverdlov, Bolshevik revolutionary and politician, Spanish flu (b. 1885)source
  • April 4 – Francisco Marto, Portuguese witness of Marian apparitions, canonized, Spanish flu (b. 1908)source
  • April 23 – Prince Tsunehisa Takeda, member of the Japanese imperial family, Spanish flu (b. 1882)source
  • June 19 – Petre P. Carp, twice Prime Minister of Romania (b. 1837)source
  • June 30 – John William Strutt, 3rd Baron Rayleigh, English physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1842)source
  • August 9 – Ernst Haeckel, German biologist, naturalist and philosopher (b. 1834)source
  • August 27 – Louis Botha, Boer general, statesman, 1st Prime Minister of South Africa; Spanish flu (b. 1862)source
  • August 27 – South African Prime Minister Louis Botha dies in office of 'Spanish flu'.source
  • October 7 – Alfred Deakin, 2nd Prime Minister of Australia (b. 1856)source
  • November 11 – The Centralia Massacre in Centralia, Washington (United States), originating at an Armistice Day parade, results in the deaths of four members of the American Legion and the lynching of a local leader of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW).source