What Happened in 1923 — Events, Births & Deaths

Juan de la Cierva makes the first autogyro flight.

Lithuanian residents of the Memel Territory rebel against the League of Nations' decision to leave the area as a mandated region under French control.

Occupation of the Ruhr: Troops from France and Belgium occupy the Ruhr area to force Germany to make its World War I reparation payments.

During the Irish Civil War the Irish Free State Army executes 10 members of the anti-treaty Irish Republican Army

Texas Tech University is founded as Texas Technological College in Lubbock, Texas.

Greece becomes the last European country to adopt the Gregorian calendar.

Howard Carter unseals the burial chamber of Pharaoh Tutankhamun.

US magazine Time publishes its first issue.

Charlie Daly and three other members of the Irish Republican Army are executed by Irish Free State forces.

The Arts Club of Chicago hosts the opening of Pablo Picasso's first United States showing, entitled Original Drawings by Pablo Picasso, becoming an early proponent of modern art in the United States.

Insulin becomes generally available for use by people with diabetes.

Racially motivated Nihon Shōgakkō fire lit by a serial arsonist kills 10 children in Sacramento, California.

The Duke of York (the future King George VI) weds Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon at Westminster Abbey.

Wembley Stadium is opened, named initially as the Empire Stadium.

The first 24 Hours of Le Mans is held in France. Run annually in June thereafter, it became the oldest endurance racing event in the world.

Bulgaria's military takes over the government in a coup.

The Treaty of Lausanne, settling the boundaries of modern Turkey, is signed in Switzerland by Greece, Bulgaria and other countries that fought in World War I.

U.S. Vice President Calvin Coolidge becomes president upon the death of President Warren G. Harding.

The United Kingdom gives the name "Ross Dependency" to part of its claimed Antarctic territory and makes the Governor-General of the Dominion of New Zealand its administrator.

The first British Track and Field championships for women are held in London, Great Britain.

Captain Lowell Smith and Lieutenant John P. Richter perform the first mid-air refueling on De Havilland DH-4B, setting an endurance flight record of 37 hours.

The Great Kantō Earthquake devastates Tokyo and Yokohama, killing about 105,000 people.

Los Solidarios rob a branch of the Bank of Spain in Xixón, stealing more than half a million pesetas to fund the purchase of rifles to fight the coming 1923 Spanish coup d'état.

Kantō Massacre: Amid rumors that Koreans had been conducting acts of sabotage in the aftermath of the 1923 Great Kantō earthquake, lynch mobs of Japanese begin massacring thousands of civilians over the course of several weeks, mainly ethnic minorities such as Koreans and Chinese.

Maiden flight of the first U.S. airship, the USS Shenandoah.

The International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL) is formed.

Honda Point disaster: Nine US Navy destroyers run aground off the California coast. Seven are lost, and twenty-three sailors killed.

Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the founder of the Republic of Turkey, founds the Republican People's Party.

Following a military coup in Spain, Miguel Primo de Rivera takes over, setting up a dictatorship.

The German government calls off the passive resistance to the French and Belgian occupation of the Ruhr.

The Mandate for Palestine takes effect, creating Mandatory Palestine.

The Mandate for Syria and Lebanon takes effect.

The First American Track and Field championships for women are held.

The Turkish National Movement enters Constantinople.

Ankara becomes the capital of Turkey.

The German Rentenmark is introduced in Germany to counter hyperinflation in the Weimar Republic.

Walt Disney and his brother, Roy, found the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio, today known as The Walt Disney Company.

The royalist Leonardopoulos–Gargalidis coup d'état attempt fails in Greece, discrediting the monarchy and paving the way for the establishment of the Second Hellenic Republic.

Turkey becomes a republic following the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire.

The first of 160 consecutive days of 100° Fahrenheit at Marble Bar, Western Australia.

Beer Hall Putsch: In Munich, Adolf Hitler leads the Nazis in an unsuccessful attempt to overthrow the German government.

In Munich, police and government troops crush the Nazi Beer Hall Putsch.

Adolf Hitler is arrested in Munich for high treason for his role in the Beer Hall Putsch.

Thousands of Irish Republicans end the 1923 Irish hunger strikes, five die from starvation.

United Kingdom and Nepal formally sign an agreement of friendship, called the Nepal–Britain Treaty of 1923, which superseded the Treaty of Sugauli signed in 1816.