1919
1919 (
MCMXIX) was a
common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar).
January
*
January 1 "
Iolaire sinking disaster
*
January 1 "
Edsel Ford succeeds his father as head of the
Ford Motor Company*
January 5 "
Spartacist uprising " Socialist demonstrations in Berlin turn into attempted communist revolution
*
January 9 " Spartacus revolutionary council folds "
Friedrich Ebert orders
Freikorps into action
*
January 10-
January 12 " Freikorps attack Spartacus supporters around Berlin
*
January 11 "
Romania annexes
Transylvania.
*
January 13 " Worker's councils in Berlin end the
general strike " Spartacus week is over
*
January 15 " Murder of
Rosa Luxemburg and
Karl Liebknecht in the aftermath of Spartacus uprising
*
January 15 "
The Boston Molasses Disaster: Wave of
molasses sweeps through
Boston, killing 21 and injuring 150
*
January 15 "
Ignacy Jan Paderewski becomes Premier of
Poland*
January 16 " The
18th Amendment, authorizing
Prohibition, goes into effect in the
United States*
January 18 "
World War I: A
peace conference opens in
Versailles,
France.
*
January 18 "
Bentley Motors is founded
*
January 21 " the First
Dáil Éireann meets in the
Mansion House in Dublin. It is from this meeting that the Irish state dates its existence.
*
January 23 " The
Uprising of Khotin breaks out in
Romania.
*
January 25 " The
League of Nations is founded
February-April
*
February 3 " Soviet troops occupy
Ukraine*
February 11 "
Friedrich Ebert (SPD), is elected President of Germany.
*
February 14 "
Polish-Soviet War begins
*
February 25 "
Oregon places a 1 cent per US gallon (26 ¢/L)
tax on
gasoline, becoming the first
U.S. state to levy a
gasoline tax.
*
February 26 " An act of the
United States Congress establishes most of the
Grand Canyon as a
United States National Park (see
Grand Canyon National Park).
*
March 1 "
March 1st Movement against
Japanese colonial rule in
Korea.
*
March 2 " The first
Communist International meets in
Moscow*
March 15 " The
American Legion forms in
Paris*
March 21 "
The Chinese High School was established in Singapore by Mr.
Tan Kah Kee*
March 21 -
Hungarian Soviet Republic established by
Bela Kun.
*
March 23 " In
Milan,
Italy,
Benito Mussolini founds his
Fascist political movement.
*
March 31 "
General strike begins in the
Ruhr*
April 6-
April 7 " Communist
People's Republic of Munich founded
*
April 13 " At the
Amritsar Massacre,
British and
Gurkha troops
massacre 379 Indians.
*
April 14 " Emperor of Austria moves to exile in Switzerland
*
April 23 "
Constituent Assembly of
Estonia convenes to its first session
*
April 25 "
Bauhaus movement founded
*
April 25 "
ANZAC day is celebrated for the first time in Australia.
*
April 25 "
Pancho Villa takes
Parral in Mexico " hangs mayor and his two sons
May-June
*
May 1 " Large left-wing demonstration in France leads to a violent confrontation with the police
*
May 1 "
Weimar Republic troops and
Freikorps take over
Munich and crush the
Soviet Republic of Bavaria*
May 1 " The
May Day Riots of 1919 break out in
Cleveland, Ohio " two people killed, forty injured, and one hundred and sixteen arrested
*
May 3 "
People's Republic of Munich is crushed
*
May 4 "
May Fourth Movement opposes foreign colonizers in China
*
May 15 "
Winnipeg launches
general strike for better wages and working conditions.
*
May 16 "
US Navy Naval
Curtiss aircraft
NC-4 commanded by
Albert Cushing Read departs Trepassey,
Newfoundland, for
Lisbon via the
Azores on the first
transatlantic flight
*
May 16-
Greek Army invades
Izmir*
May 17 " Committee of One Thousand forms to oppose
Winnipeg General Strike*
May 19 -
Mustafa Kemal Atatürk lands on
Samsun on the
Turkish Black Sea Coast to start the
Turkish War of Independence.
*
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).
*
May 25 " Volcano
Kelut erupts in
Java " 16.000 dead
*
May 29 "
Einstein's theory of
general relativity confirmed by
Arthur Eddington's observation of a total eclipse of the
Sun.
*
June 4 "
Women's rights: The
United States Congress approves the
19th Amendment to the United States Constitution, which would guarantee
suffrage to
women, and sends it to the
U.S. states for ratification.
*
June 14 "
John Alcock and
Arthur Brown depart
St. John's, Newfoundland on the first nonstop transatlantic flight (they landed at
Clifden,
County Galway,
Ireland the next day). [
1]
*
June 15 "
Pancho Villa attacks
Ciudad Juarez. When the bullets begin to fly to the US side of the border, 2 units of the US 7th Cavalry regiment cross the border and repulse Villa's forces
*
June 21 "
Royal Canadian Mounted Police fire a volley into a crowd of unemployed war veterans, killing two, during
Winnipeg General Strike.
*
June 21 " Admiral
Ludwig von Reuter scuttles the
German fleet in
Scapa Flow,
Orkney. Nine Germans died.
*
June 28 " The
Treaty of Versailles is signed, ending
World War I.
July-November
*
July 6 " The British
dirigible R34 lands in New York, completing the first crossing of the
Atlantic by an airship.
*
July 31 " Strike of
policemen in London and Liverpool for recognition of the National Union of Police and Prison Officers. Over 2,000 strikers are dismissed.
*
August 11 " In
Germany, the
Weimar Constitution is passed into
law.
*
August 18 " Destruction of Bolshevik fleet at
Kronstadt near
Petrograd by British aircraft and torpedo boats in combined operation.
*
August 19 "
Afghanistan gains independence from the
United Kingdom.
*
16 August-
26 August "
First Silesian Uprising, the Poles in
Upper Silesia rise against the Germans
*
August 31 "
American Communist Party is established
*
September 10 "
Treaty of Saint-Germain is signed, ending
World War I with Austria.
*
September 10-
September 15: The
Florida Keys Hurricane kills 600 in the
Gulf of Mexico,
Florida and
Texas.
*
September 23 "
Belenenses is founded.
*
September 27 " Last British troops leave
Archangel,
Russia and leave fighting to the Russians
*
September 28 "
Omaha Riot "
lynch mob besieges the police station and courthouse in
Omaha, Nebraska and lynch alleged black rapist Will Brown
*
October 1 "
Elaine Race Riot breaks out in Arkansas
*
October 2 " US President
Woodrow Wilson suffers a massive stroke, leaving him partially
paralyzed.
*
October 9 "
Black Sox scandal: The
Cincinnati Reds "win" the
World Series.
*
October 9 "
Boston police strike*
October 13 "
Convention relating to the Regulation of Aerial Navigation signed.
*
October 28 "
Prohibition begins: The
United States Congress passes the
Volstead Act over President
Woodrow Wilson's veto.
* November " At end of month health officials declare the global
Spanish Flu Pandemic over
*
November 10 " The first national convention of the
American Legion is held in
Minneapolis, Minnesota (convention ended on
November 12).
*
November 11 " The
Centralia Massacre in
Centralia, Washington results the deaths of four members of the
American Legion and the lynching of a local leader of the
IWW.
*
November 16 " Admiral Horthy conquers Budapest from
Bela Kuns Soviet Republic
*
November 27 " The
Treaty of Neuilly is signed between Allies and Bulgaria.
*
November 28 " The American-born
Lady Astor is elected to the
British House of Commons, becoming the first female MP to take a seat on
December 1.
December
*
December 5 "
Turkish ministry of war releases
Greeks,
Armenians and
Jews from
military service*
December 12 "
Gabriele D'Annunzio with his entourage marches into
Fiume and convinces the Italian troops to join him
*
December 14 -
Alabama celebrates the first
centenary of its statehood.
*
December 25 - The opening of
Cliftonhill stadium in
Coatbridge the home of
Albion Rovers F.C. The match saw them lose 2 - 0 to St. Mirren.
*
December 30 "
Lincoln's Inn, in
London admits its first female bar student.
Unknown dates
* The
Åland Islands vote for a return to
Swedish rule in a referendum.
*
Les Champs Magnetiques, the first
automatic book, is written by
Andre Breton and
Philippe Soupault.
* XWA (now CFCF), in
Montreal, Quebec, is the first public
radio station in
North America to go on the air.
* Various strikes in USA: Strike of US railroad workers; Longshoreman's strike; The Great Steel Strike; General strike in Seattle, Washington.
*
Female suffrage in
Germany and
Luxembourg*
Henri Desire Landru captured
*
Marcel Tolkowsky's
Diamond Design is published.
* The
International Astronomical Union is founded.
*
World League Against Alcoholism established by
Anti-Saloon League.
*
Langdon Brown Gilkey "
American Christian Protestant Ecumenical theologian (d.
2004)
January-April
*
January 1 "
J. D. Salinger, American novelist
*
January 5 "
Hector Abhayavardhana, Sri Lankan Trotskyist theoretician
*
January 13 "
Robert Stack, American actor (d.
2003)
*
January 14 "
Andy Rooney, American journalist
*
January 23 "
Hans Hass, Austrian zoologist
*
January 23 "
Ernie Kovacs, American comedian (d.
1962)
*
January 25 "
Edwin Newman, American journalist and writer
*
January 26 "
Valentino Mazzola, Italian footballer (d.
1949)
*
January 27 "
Ross Bagdasarian, American musician and actor (d.
1972)
*
January 31 "
Jackie Robinson, baseball player (d.
1972)
*
February 5 "
Red Buttons, American actor (d.
2006)
*
February 5 "
Andreas Papandreou,
Prime Minister of Greece (d.
1996)
*
February 11 "
Eva Gabor, Hungarian actress (d.
1995)
*
February 11 "
Eddie Robinson, American football coach
*
February 12 "
Forrest Tucker, American actor (d.
1986)
*
February 13 "
Tennessee Ernie Ford, American musician (d.
1991)
*
February 24 "
Árpád Bogsch, Hungarian turned American international civil servant (d.
2004)
*
February 26 "
Rie Mastenbroek, Dutch swimmer (d.
2003)
*
March 2 "
Jennifer Jones, American actress
*
March 15 "
Lawrence Tierney, American actor (d.
2002)
*
March 17 "
Nat King Cole, American singer (d.
1965)
*
March 24 "
Lawrence Ferlinghetti, American author and publisher
*
March 24 "
Robert Heilbroner, American economist (d.
2005)
*
March 29 "
Eileen Heckart, American actress (d.
2001)
*
March 30 "
McGeorge Bundy, U.S. National Security Advisor (d.
1996)
*
April 1 "
Joseph Murray, American surgeon, recipient of the
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine*
April 8 "
Ian Douglas Smith,
Prime Minister of Rhodesia*
April 19 "
Merce Cunningham, American dancer and choreographer
*
April 22 "
Donald J. Cram, American chemist,
Nobel Prize laureate (d.
2001)
May-August
*
May 1 "
Dan O'Herlihy, Irish film actor (d.
2005)
*
May 3 "
John Cullen Murphy, American comic strip artist (d.
2004)
*
May 3 "
Pete Seeger, American singer and musician
*
May 7 "
Eva Peron, wife of Argentine President
Juan Peron (d.
1952)
*
May 8 "
Lex Barker, American actor (d.
1973)
*
May 16 "
Liberace, American pianist (d.
1987)
*
May 18 " Dame
Margot Fonteyn, English ballet dancer (d.
1991)
*
May 20 "
George Gobel, American comedian (d.
1991)
*
May 23 "
Betty Garrett, American actress and dancer
*
June 4 "
Robert Merrill, American baritone (d.
2004)
*
June 5 "
Richard Scarry, American children's author (d.
1994)
*
June 19 "
Pauline Kael, American film critic (d.
2001)
*
June 21 "
Gérard Pelletier, French journalist, politician, and diplomat (d.
1997)
*
June 26 "
Richard Neustadt, American political historian (d.
2003)
*
July 6 "
Ernst Haefliger, Swiss tenor
*
July 7 "
Jon Pertwee, British actor (d.
1996)
*
July 15 "
Iris Murdoch, Irish novelist (d.
1999)
*
July 20 "
Edmund Hillary, New Zealand mountaineer
*
July 31 "
Maurice Boitel, French painter*
Site dedicated to Maurice Boitel's work*
August 11 "
Ginette Neveu, French violinist (d.
1949)
*
August 15 "
Benedict Kiely, Irish author
*
August 25 "
George Wallace, segregationist politician (d.
1998)
*
August 28 "
Godfrey Hounsfield, English electrical engineer and inventor, recipient of the
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d.
2004)
September-December
*
September 11 "
Ota Sik, Czech economist and politician (d.
2004)
*
September 21 "
Fazlur Rahman, Pakistani Islamic scholar (d.
1988)
*
September 27 "
James H. Wilkinson, English mathematician (d.
1986)
*
October 3 "
James M. Buchanan, American economist,
Nobel Prize laureate
*
October 5 "
Donald Pleasence, English actor (d.
1995)
*
October 11 "
Art Blakey, American jazz drummer (d.
1990)
*
October 12 "
Doris Miller, U.S. Navy cook (d.
1943)
*
October 16 "
Kathleen Winsor, American writer (d.
2003)
*
October 18 "
Pierre Elliott Trudeau,
Prime Minister of Canada (d.
2000)
*
October 18 "
Anita O'Day, American jazz singer
*
October 22 "
Doris Lessing, British writer
*
October 26 "
James E. Myers, American songwriter (d.
2001)
*
October 26 "
Mohammad Reza Pahlavi,
Shah of Iran (d.
1980)
*
November 3 "
Jesús Blasco, Spanish comic book author (d.
1995)
*
November 5 "
Myron Floren, American accordionist (d.
2005)
*
November 10 "
Mikhail Kalashnikov, Russian firearms inventor
*
November 14 "
Lisa Otto, German soprano
*
November 15 "
Roy Burden, Canadian World War II pilot (d.
2005)
*
November 18 "
Andrée Borrel, French World War II heroine (d.
1944)
*
November 28 "
Keith Miller, Australian sportsman (d.
2004)
*
December 6 "
Paul de Man, Belgian-born literary critic (d.
1983)
*
December 8 "
Mieczyslaw Weinberg, Polish composer (d.
1996)
*
December 9 "
William Lipscomb, American chemist,
Nobel Prize laureate
*
December 31 "
Tommy Byrne, baseball player
*
January 4 -
Georg von Hertling,
Chancellor of Germany (b.
1843)
*
January 6 -
Theodore Roosevelt, 26th
President of the United States (b.
1858)
* January 6 -
Max Heindel, Christian occultist, astrologer, and mystic (b.
1865)
*
January 7 -
Henry Ware Eliot American industrialist and philantropist (b.
1843)
*
January 15 -
Karl Liebknecht, German politician (executed) (b.
1871)
*
January 15 -
Rosa Luxemburg, German politician (executed)
*
January 18 -
Prince John of the United Kingdom (b.
1905)
*
January 27 -
Endre Ady, Hungarian poet (b.
1877)
*
February 17 -
Wilfrid Laurier, seventh
Prime Minister of Canada (b.
1841)
*
April 4 - Sir
William Crookes, English chemist and physicist (b.
1832)
*
April 10 -
Emiliano Zapata, Mexican revolutionary (b.
1879)
*
April 15 -
Jane Delano, American nurse and founder or the American Red Cross Nursing Service (b.
1862)
*
May 3 -
Eugen Levine, Communist revolutionary, leader of the short lived
Bavarian Soviet Republic (b.
1883)
*
May 4 -
Milan Rastislav Štefánik, Slovak general, politician, and astronomer (b.
1880)
*
May 6 -
L. Frank Baum, American writer (b.
1856)
*
May 14 -
Henry John Heinz, American businessman (b.
1844)
*
June 29 -
José Gregorio Hernández, Venezuelan medician and saint (b.
1864)
*
June 30 -
John Strutt, 3rd Baron Rayleigh, English physicist,
Nobel Prize laureate (b.
1842)
*
July 15 -
Hermann Emil Fischer, German chemist,
Nobel Prize laureate (b.
1852)
*
July 26 - Sir
Edward Poynter, British painter (b.
1836)
*
August 9 -
Ruggiero Leoncavallo, Italian composer (b.
1857)
*
August 11 -
Andrew Carnegie, Scottish-born businessman and philanthropist (b.
1835)
*
October 7 -
Alfred Deakin, second
Prime Minister of Australia (b.
1856)
*
October 13 -
Karl Adolph Gjellerup, Danish writer,
Nobel Prize laureate (b.
1857)
*
October 18 -
Viscount William Astor, American financier and statesman (b.
1848)
*
November 15 -
Alfred Werner, German chemist,
Nobel Prize laureate (b.
1866)
*
December 3 -
Pierre-Auguste Renoir, French painter (b.
1841)
*
Physics "
Johannes Stark*
Chemistry " not awarded
*
Physiology or Medicine "
Jules Bordet*
Literature "
Carl Friedrich Georg Spitteler
