What Happened in 1921 — Events, Births & Deaths

World premiere of the science fiction play R.U.R. by the Czech writer Karel Čapek in a theater in Hradec Králové.

Greco-Turkish War: The First Battle of İnönü, the first battle of the war, begins near Eskişehir in Anatolia.

The Marxist Left in Slovakia and the Transcarpathian Ukraine holds its founding congress in Ľubochňa.

The British K-class submarine HMS K5 sinks in the English Channel; all 56 on board die.

The first Constitution of Turkey is adopted, making fundamental changes in the source and exercise of sovereignty by consecrating the principle of national sovereignty.

Bolsheviks launch a revolt in Georgia as a preliminary to the Red Army invasion of Georgia.

Constituent Assembly of the Democratic Republic of Georgia adopts the country's first constitution.

Rezā Shāh takes control of Tehran during a successful coup.

After Russian forces under Baron Roman von Ungern-Sternberg drive the Chinese out, the Bogd Khan is reinstalled as the emperor of Mongolia.[citation needed]

Georgian capital Tbilisi falls to the invading Russian forces after heavy fighting and the Russians declare the Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic.

The International Working Union of Socialist Parties is founded in Vienna.

The Australian cricket team captained by Warwick Armstrong becomes the first team to complete a whitewash of The Ashes, something that would not be repeated for 86 years.

Following mass protests in Petrograd demanding greater freedom in the RSFSR, the Kronstadt rebellion begins, with sailors and citizens taking up arms against the Bolsheviks.

The short-lived socialist Labin Republic is proclaimed.

Spanish Prime Minister Eduardo Dato Iradier is assassinated while on his way home from the parliament building in Madrid.

Six members of a group of Irish Republican Army activists known as the Forgotten Ten are hanged in Dublin's Mountjoy Prison.

Talaat Pasha, former Grand Vizir of the Ottoman Empire and chief architect of the Armenian genocide, is assassinated in Berlin by a 23-year-old Armenian, Soghomon Tehlirian.

The Second Polish Republic adopts the March Constitution.

The second Peace of Riga is signed between Poland and the Soviet Union.

The Kronstadt rebellion is suppressed by the Red Army.

Mongolian Revolution of 1921: The Mongolian People's Army defeats local Chinese forces at Altanbulag, Selenge (then known as Maimachen). This battle was seen as the birthday of the People's Army and completed the expulsion of Chinese militants in Mongolia.

Irish War of Independence: One of the biggest engagements of the war takes place at Crossbarry, County Cork. About 100 Irish Republican Army (IRA) volunteers escape an attempt by over 1,300 British forces to encircle them.

The Upper Silesia plebiscite, mandated by the Versailles Treaty to determine a section of the border between Weimar Germany and Poland, is held.

The New Economic Policy is implemented by the Bolshevik Party in response to the economic failure as a result of war communism.

The 1921 Women's Olympiad begins in Monte Carlo, becoming the first international women's sports event.

The Royal Australian Air Force is formed.

The Autonomous Government of Khorasan, a military government encompassing the modern state of Iran, is established.

Emir Abdullah establishes the first centralised government in the newly created British protectorate of Transjordan.

The Jaffa riots begin.

Ireland is partitioned under British law by the Government of Ireland Act 1920, creating Northern Ireland and Southern Ireland.

West Virginia becomes the first state to legislate a broad sales tax, but does not implement it until a number of years later due to enforcement issues.

The creation of the Communist Party of Romania.

The United States Congress passes the Emergency Quota Act establishing national quotas on immigration.

The Tulsa race massacre kills at least 39, but other estimates of black fatalities vary from 55 to about 300.

Mikhail Tukhachevsky orders the use of chemical weapons against the Tambov Rebellion, bringing an end to the peasant uprising.

The village of Knockcroghery, Ireland, is burned by British forces.

Workers of Buckingham and Carnatic Mills in the city of Chennai, India, begin a four-month strike.

The Irish village of Knockcroghery is burned by British forces.

Serbian King Alexander I proclaims the new constitution of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, known thereafter as the Vidovdan Constitution.

U.S. President Warren G. Harding appoints former President William Howard Taft as Chief Justice of the United States.

World War I: U.S. President Warren G. Harding signs the Knox–Porter Resolution formally ending the war between the United States and Germany.

A truce in the Irish War of Independence comes into effect.

The Red Army captures Mongolia from the White Army and establishes the Mongolian People's Republic.

Former president of the United States William Howard Taft is sworn in as 10th chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, becoming the only person ever to hold both offices.

Rif War: The Spanish Army suffers its worst military defeat in modern times to the Berbers of the Rif region of Spanish Morocco.

Researchers at the University of Toronto, led by biochemist Frederick Banting, prove that the hormone insulin regulates blood sugar.

Adolf Hitler becomes leader of the National Socialist German Workers' Party.

Major League Baseball Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis confirms the ban of the eight Chicago Black Sox, the day after they were acquitted by a Chicago court.

Bolshevik–Makhnovist conflict: Mikhail Frunze declares victory over the Makhnovshchina.

Tannu Uriankhai, later Tuvan People's Republic is established as a completely independent country (which is supported by Soviet Russia).

British airship R-38 experiences structural failure over Hull in England and crashes in the Humber Estuary; of her 49 British and American training crew, only four survive.

Russian Civil War: The Red Army dissolves the Makhnovshchina after driving the Revolutionary Insurgent Army out of Ukraine.

In Atlantic City, New Jersey, the first Miss America Pageant, a two-day event, is held.

The Legion of Mary, the largest apostolic organization of lay people in the Catholic Church, is founded in Dublin, Ireland.

Margaret Gorman, a 16-year-old, wins the Atlantic City Pageant's Golden Mermaid trophy; pageant officials later dubbed her the first Miss America.

A storage silo in Oppau, Germany, explodes, killing 500–600 people.

The World Series is broadcast on radio for the first time.

KDKA in Pittsburgh's Forbes Field conducts the first live broadcast of a football game.

Soviet republics sign the Treaty of Kars to formalize the borders between Turkey and the South Caucasus states.

The Crimean Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic is formed as part of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic.

The Portuguese Prime Minister and several officials are murdered in the Bloody Night coup.

President Warren G. Harding delivers the first speech by a sitting U.S. president against lynching in the Deep South.

The Saalschutz Abteilung (hall defense detachment) of the Nazi Party is renamed the Sturmabteilung (storm detachment) after a large riot in Munich.

Japanese prime minister Hara Takashi is assassinated in Tokyo.

The National Fascist Party (Partito Nazionale Fascista or PNF) is founded in Italy.

The Tomb of the Unknowns is dedicated by U.S. President Warren G. Harding at Arlington National Cemetery.

The Communist Party of Spain is founded, and issues the first edition of Mundo obrero.

During The Troubles in Ulster (1920–1922), 15 Irish Nationalists are killed in Belfast in one day.

Warren G. Harding, 29th President of the United States, signs the Willis–Campbell Act into law, prohibiting doctors from prescribing beer or liquor for medicinal purposes.

The Football Association bans women's football in England from league grounds, a ban that stays in place for 50 years.

The Anglo-Irish Treaty is signed in London by British and Irish representatives.

Opening of Visva-Bharati College, also known as Santiniketan College, now Visva Bharati University, India.