What Happened in 1919 — Events, Births & Deaths

The German Workers' Party, which would become the Nazi Party, is founded in Munich.

Montenegrin guerrilla fighters rebel against the planned annexation of Montenegro by Serbia, but fail.

Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht, two of the most prominent communists in Germany, are clubbed and then shot to death by members of the Freikorps at the end of the Spartacist uprising.

Great Molasses Flood: A wave of molasses released from an exploding storage tank sweeps through Boston, Massachusetts, killing 21 and injuring 150.

Nebraska becomes the 36th state to approve the Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. With the necessary three-quarters of the states approving the amendment, Prohibition is constitutionally mandated in the United States one year later.

World War I: The Paris Peace Conference opens in Versailles, France.

Ignacy Jan Paderewski becomes Prime Minister of the newly independent Poland.

A revolutionary Irish parliament is founded and declares the independence of the Irish Republic. One of the first engagements of the Irish War of Independence takes place.

Act Zluky is signed, unifying the Ukrainian People's Republic and the West Ukrainian National Republic.

The First Regional Congress of Peasants, Workers and Insurgents is held by the Makhnovshchina at Velykomykhailivka.

The Order of the White Rose of Finland is established by Baron Gustaf Mannerheim, the regent of Finland.

The Battle of George Square takes place in Glasgow, Scotland, during a campaign for shorter working hours.

Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks, and D. W. Griffith launch United Artists.

The five-day Seattle General Strike begins, as more than 65,000 workers in the city of Seattle, Washington, walk off the job.

Friedrich Ebert (SPD) is elected President of Germany.

The Second Regional Congress of Peasants, Workers and Insurgents is held by the Makhnovshchina at Huliaipole.

The Polish–Soviet War begins.

The Ukrainian People's Republic asks the Entente and the United States for help fighting the Bolsheviks.

German socialist Kurt Eisner is assassinated. His death results in the establishment of the Bavarian Soviet Republic and parliament and government fleeing Munich, Germany.

President Woodrow Wilson signs an act of Congress establishing the Grand Canyon National Park.

March 1st Movement begins in Korea under Japanese rule.

The first Communist International meets in Moscow.

Ukrainian War of Independence: The Kontrrazvedka is established as the counterintelligence division of the Revolutionary Insurgent Army of Ukraine.

The American Legion is founded.

The Hungarian Soviet Republic is established becoming the first Communist government to be formed in Europe after the October Revolution in Russia.

In Milan, Italy, Benito Mussolini founds his Fascist political movement.

The Tetiev pogrom occurs in Ukraine, becoming the prototype of mass murder during the Holocaust.

Mexican Revolution leader Emiliano Zapata is ambushed and shot dead by government forces in Morelos.

The Third Regional Congress of Peasants, Workers and Insurgents is held by the Makhnovshchina at Huliaipole.

Jallianwala Bagh massacre: British Indian Army troops led by Brigadier-General Reginald Dyer kill approximately 379–1,000 unarmed demonstrators including men and women in Amritsar, India. Approximately 1,500 are injured.

Mohandas Gandhi organizes a day of "prayer and fasting" in response to the killing of Indian protesters in the Jallianwala Bagh massacre by the British colonial troops three days earlier.

Polish–Lithuanian War: The Polish Army launches the Vilna offensive to capture Vilnius in modern Lithuania.

The Estonian Constituent Assembly is held in Estonia, which marks the birth of the Estonian Parliament, the Riigikogu.

May Fourth Movement: Student demonstrations take place in Tiananmen Square in Beijing, China, protesting the Treaty of Versailles, which transferred Chinese territory to Japan.

Edward George Honey proposes the idea of a moment of silence to commemorate the Armistice of 11 November 1918 which ended World War I.

Uruguay becomes a signatory to the Buenos Aires copyright treaty.

The Winnipeg general strike begins. By 11:00, almost the whole working population of Winnipeg had walked off the job.

Greek occupation of Smyrna. During the occupation, the Greek army kills or wounds 350 Turks; those responsible are punished by Greek commander Aristides Stergiades.

A naval Curtiss NC-4 aircraft commanded by Albert Cushing Read leaves Trepassey, Newfoundland, for Lisbon via the Azores on the first transatlantic flight.

Mustafa Kemal Atatürk lands at Samsun on the Anatolian Black Sea coast, initiating what is later termed the Turkish War of Independence.

Sheikh Mahmud Barzanji, a Kurdish sheikh and at-the-time governor of the Slêmanî Province of British Iraq, initiates the first Mahmud Barzanji revolt.

The NC-4 aircraft arrives in Lisbon after completing the first transatlantic flight.

Albert Einstein's theory of general relativity is tested (later confirmed) by Arthur Eddington and Andrew Claude de la Cherois Crommelin.

Prohibition comes into force in Finland.

Anarchists simultaneously set off bombs in eight separate U.S. cities.

Women's rights: The U.S. Congress approves the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which guarantees suffrage to women, and sends it to the U.S. states for ratification.

Leon Trotsky bans the planned Fourth Regional Congress of Peasants, Workers and Insurgents.

Sette Giugno: Nationalist riots break out in Valletta, the capital of Malta. British soldiers fire into the crowd, killing four people.

Sir Barton wins the Belmont Stakes, becoming the first horse to win the U.S. Triple Crown.

John Alcock and Arthur Whitten Brown depart from St. John's, Newfoundland on the first nonstop transatlantic flight.

John Alcock and Arthur Brown complete the first nonstop transatlantic flight when they reach Clifden, County Galway, Ireland.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police fire a volley into a crowd of unemployed war veterans, killing two, during the Winnipeg general strike.

Admiral Ludwig von Reuter scuttles the German fleet at Scapa Flow, Orkney. The nine sailors killed are the last casualties of World War I.

Estonian War of Independence: The decisive defeat of the Baltische Landeswehr in the Battle of Cēsis; this date is celebrated as Victory Day in Estonia.

The Treaty of Versailles is signed, ending the state of war between Germany and the Allies of World War I.

The British dirigible R34 lands in New York, completing the first crossing of the Atlantic Ocean by an airship.

The eight-hour day and free Sunday become law for workers in the Netherlands.

The British airship R34 lands in Norfolk, England, completing the first airship return journey across the Atlantic in 182 hours of flight.

The form of government in the Republic of Finland is officially confirmed with the enactment of the Constitution of Finland. For this reason, July 17 is known as the Day of Democracy (Kansanvallan päivä) in Finland.

The dirigible Wingfoot Air Express crashes into the Illinois Trust and Savings Building in Chicago, killing 12 people.

The Chicago Race Riot erupts after a racial incident occurred on a South Side beach, leading to 38 fatalities and 537 injuries over a five-day period.

The Anglo-Afghan Treaty of 1919 is signed. It establishes peaceful relations between Afghanistan and the UK, and confirms the Durand line as the mutual border. In return, the UK is no longer obligated to subsidize the Afghan government.

Germany's Weimar Constitution is signed into law.

Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, who founded the Republic of Turkey, gathers a congress in Sivas to make decisions as to the future of Anatolia and Thrace.

The Republic of German-Austria signs the Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye, ceding significant territories to Italy, Yugoslavia, and Czechoslovakia.

The steel strike of 1919, led by the Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel Workers, begins in Pennsylvania before spreading across the United States.

Ukrainian War of Independence: The Revolutionary Insurgent Army of Ukraine defeats the White Russian Volunteer Army at the Battle of Peregonovka.

Race riots begin in Omaha, Nebraska, United States.

The Elaine massacre in Arkansas commences.

Seven days after suffering a "physical collapse" following a speech in Pueblo, Colorado, U.S. president Woodrow Wilson has a catastrophic stroke at the White House, leaving him physically and mentally incapacitated for the remainder of his presidency.

Cincinnati Reds pitcher Adolfo Luque becomes the first Latin American player to appear in a World Series.

KLM, the flag carrier of the Netherlands, is founded. It is the oldest airline still operating under its original name.

The Cincinnati Reds win the World Series, resulting in the Black Sox Scandal.

Adolf Hitler delivers his first public address at a meeting of the German Workers' Party.

Leeds United F.C. founded at Salem Chapel, Holbeck after the winding up of Leeds City F.C. for making illegal payments to players during World War I

The Fourth Regional Congress of Peasants, Workers and Insurgents is held by the Makhnovshchina at Oleksandrivsk.

The U.S. Congress passes the Volstead Act over President Woodrow Wilson's veto, paving the way for Prohibition to begin the following January.

The first Palmer Raid is conducted on the second anniversary of the Russian Revolution. Over 10,000 suspected communists and anarchists are arrested in 23 U.S. cities.

The Industrial Workers of the World attack an Armistice Day parade in Centralia, Washington, ultimately resulting in the deaths of five people.

Lady Astor is elected as a Member of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. She is the first woman to sit in the House of Commons. (Countess Markievicz, the first to be elected, refused to sit.)

Ukrainian War of Independence: Ukrainian Bolsheviks attempt to assassinate Nestor Makhno as part of the Polonsky conspiracy.

After nearly 20 years of planning and construction, including two collapses causing 89 deaths, the Quebec Bridge opens to traffic.

Ukrainian War of Independence: The Polonsky conspiracy is initiated, with an attempt to assassinate the high command of the Revolutionary Insurgent Army of Ukraine.

Ukrainian War of Independence: The Polonsky conspiracy is suppressed and its participants are executed by the Kontrrazvedka.

American anarchist Emma Goldman is deported to Russia.

Sex Disqualification (Removal) Act 1919 becomes law in the United Kingdom, allowing women to serve as lawyers, civil servants, and in other professions, as well as to serve on juries.

Babe Ruth of the Boston Red Sox is sold to the New York Yankees by owner Harry Frazee, allegedly establishing the Curse of the Bambino superstition.