1920

1920 is a leap year starting on Thursday (link will take you to calendar)

Events

January

• January 7 – Forces of Russian White admiral Kolchak surrender in Krasnoyarsk.
• January 9 – Britain announces it will build 1,000,000 homes for war veterans.
• January 10 – League of Nations holds its first meeting and ratifies the Treaty of Versailles ending World War I.
• January 15 – Prohibition goes into effect in the United States with the Eighteenth Amendment coming into effect.
• January 16 – Allies demand that the Netherlands extradite the German Kaiser, who has fled there.
• January 19 – The United States Senate votes against joining the League of Nations.
• January 22 – The Australian Country Party is officially formed.
• January 23 – The Netherlands refuses to extradite the German Kaiser.
• January 28 – The Spanish legion is founded and stationed in North Africa to fight rebels in Morocco.
• January 28 – Turkey gives up the Ottoman Empire and all non-Turkish areas.

February

• February 1 – The Royal Canadian Mounted Police begin operations.
• February 2 – Estonia's independence is recognised.
• February 2 – France occupies Memel.
• February 9 – League of Nations gives Spitzbergen to Norway.
• February 10 – Jozef Haller de Hallenburg performs symbolic engagement of Poland with the sea, celebrating restitution of Polish access to open sea.
• February 17 – Woman named Anna Anderson tries to commit suicide in Berlin and is taken to mental hospital, where she claims she is Anastasia.
• February 14 – The League of Women Voters is founded in Chicago.
• February 22 – In Emeryville, California, the first dog race track to employ an imitation rabbit opens.
• February 24 – Adolf Hitler presents his national socialist program in Munich.

March

• March – World's first peaceful establishment of a social democratic government takes place in Sweden. Hjalmar Branting takes over when Nils Edén resigns.
• March 1 – Hungarian Admiral and statesman Miklós Horthy becomes the Regent of Hungary
• March 1 – The United States Railroad Administration returns control of American railroads to its constituent railroad companies.
• March 13-March 17 – Wolfgang Kapp fails in his coup attempt in Germany due to public resistance and a general strike.
• March 15 ? Red Army of Ruhr, communist army 60.000 men strong, formed
• March 19 – US Congress refuses to ratify Versailles Treaty.
• March 23 – Admiral Horthy declares that Hungary is a monarchy without anyone on the throne.
• March 26 – German government asks France for permission to use its own troops against rebellious Ruhr Red Army in the French-occupied area.
• March 26 – The Black and Tans special constables arrive in Ireland
• March 29 – Sir William Robertson, who enlisted in 1877, becomes a field marshal in the British Army, the first man to rise to this rank from private
• March 31 – Government of Ireland Act 1920 is presented in British parliament.

April-May

• April 2 – German army marches to Ruhr to fight Red Ruhr Army.
• April 4 – Jerusalem pogrom of April, 1920 ? Violence between Arabic and Jewish resident in Jerusalem ? governor declares the state of siege
• April 6 – French troops occupy Frankfurt.
• April 19 – Germany and Bolshevist Russia agree to the exchange of prisoners of war.
• April 23 – National council in Turkey denounces the government of sultan Mehmed VI and announces a temporary constitution.
• April 24 – Polish-Soviet War: Polish and Ukrainian troops attack Soviet army occupying Ukraine.
• May 2 – The first game of the Negro National League baseball is played in Indianapolis, Indiana.
• May 7 – Polish-Soviet War: Polish troops occupy Kyiv. Ukrainian government returns to the city.
• May 16 – Referendum in Switzerland is favorable to joining League of Nations.
• May 16 – In Rome, Pope Benedict XV canonizes Joan of Arc as a saint.
• May 17 – French and Belgian troops leave the cities they have occupied in Germany.
• May 17 – First flight of KLM, Dutch air company, from Amsterdam to London.
• May 27 – Thomas Masaryk becomes president of Czechoslovakia.
• May 29 – Great Horncastle flood. 20 people killed.

June-July

• June 4 – Treaty of Trianon, Treaty of Peace between The Allied and Hungary.
• June 12 – Polish-Soviet War: Red Army retakes Kyiv.
• June 15 – New border treaty between Germany and Denmark gives northern Schleswig to Denmark.
• June 22 – Greece attacks Turkish troops.
• July 1 ? Germany declares its neutrality in the war between Poland and Soviet Russia
• July 2 – Polish-Soviet War: Red Army continues offensive into Poland.
• July 10 – Arthur Meighen becomes Canada's ninth prime minister.
• July 12 – Bolshevist Russia recognizes independent Lithuania.
• July 13 – London County Council bars foreigners from council jobs.
• July 14 ? France declares that Faisal I of Syria is deposed and occupies Damascus and Aleppo
• July 22 – Polish-Soviet War: Poland sues for peace with Bolshevist Russia.

* July 25 – First transatlantic two-way radio broadcast.

August-September

• August 2 – British parliament passes bill to restore order in Ireland, suspending jury trials.
• August 3 – Catholics riot in Belfast.
• August 10 – Ottoman sultan Mehmed VI's representatives signs the Treaty of Sevres.
• August 11 – Bolshevik Russia recognizes independent Estonia and Latvia.
• August 13 – August 25 – Polish-Soviet War: The Red Army is defeated in the Battle of Warsaw.
• August 15 – Town Hall of Templemore, Ireland, is burned down during the riots.
• August 18 – 19th Amendment to US constitution is passed, guaranteeing women's suffrage.
• 19 August-25 August – Second Silesian Uprising, the Poles in Upper Silesia rise against the Germans
• August 20 – The first commercial radio station in the United States, 8MK (WWJ), begins operations in Detroit, Michigan.
• September 8 – Gabriele D'Annunzio declares Fiume a free state.
• September 16 – The Wall Street bombing: a bomb in a horse wagon explodes in front of the J.P.Morgan building in New York City – 39 dead, 400 injured
• September 22 – Flying Squad formed in London Metropolitan Police.
• September 29 – First domestic radio sets come to stores in USA – Westinghouse radio costs $10.
• September 29 – Adolf Hitler's makes first public political speech, in Austria.

October-November

• October 9 ? Polish troops take Vilnius
• October 10 – In the Carinthian Plebiscite a large part of Carinthia Province votes to become part of Austia rather than of the Yugoslavia.
• October 12 – Polish-Soviet War After Polish army captures Tarnopol, Dubno, Minsk, and Dryssa, the ceasefire is enforced.
• October 18 ? Thousands of unemployed demonstrate in London ? 50 injured
• November 2 – Warren G. Harding defeats James M. Cox in the U.S. presidential election, the first national U.S. election in which women have the right to vote.
• November 2 – In the United States, KDKA AM of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (owned by Westinghouse) starts broadcasting as a commercial radio station. The first broadcast was the results of the U.S. presidential election, 1920.
• November 11 – Unknown Soldier buried in Westminster Abbey.
• November 15 – In Geneva, the first assembly of the League of Nations is held.
• November 17 – Council of League of Nations accepts the constitution of Danzig free state.
• November 21 – Bloody Sunday – British forces open fire on spectators and players during a Football match in Dublin's Croke Park, following the assassinations of 12 British agents.

December

• December 1 – Álvaro Obregón becomes president of Mexico.
• December 5 – Referendum in Greece is favorable to reinstatement of monarchy.
• December 11 – Martial law in Ireland.
• December 16 – Finland joins the League of Nations.
• December 16 – 8.6 Richter scale Earthquake causes landslide in Gansu Province, China – 180.000 dead.
• December 23 – United Kingdom and France ratify the border between French-held Syria and British-held Palestine.

Undated

• Number of US Americans move to Paris to escape the Prohibition
• France prohibits selling of contraceptives.
• Roman Ungern von Sternberg conquers Urga and declares himself as a ruler of Mongolia.
• Kurd rebellion in Turkey begins.
• Johnny Torrio invites Al Capone to Chicago from New York.

Births

January

• January 1 – Virgilio Savona, Italian singer and songwriter (Quartetto Cetra)
• January 2 – Isaac Asimov, Russian-born author (d. 1992)
• January 3 – Renato Carosone, Italian musician and singer (d. 2001)
• January 5 – Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli, Italian pianist (d. 1995)
• January 6 – Early Wynn, Baseball Hall of Famer (d. 1999)
• January 6  – Sun Myung Moon, Korean evangelist
• January 19 – Javier Pérez de Cuéllar, Peruvian United Nations Secretary General
• January 20 – Federico Fellini, Italian film director (d. 1993)
• January 20  – DeForest Kelley, American actor (d. 1999)
• January 20  – John O'Connor, Roman Catholic Cardinal of New York City
• January 23 – Ray Abrams, tenor saxophonist
• January 23  – Gottfried Böhm, architect
• January 27 – Frankie Albert, American football star
• January 30 – Delbert Mann, American television and director
• January 31 – Paul Warnke, diplomat

February-March

• February 7 – An Wang, Chinese-born computer pioneer (d. 1990)
• February 11 – Billy Halop, American actor (d. 1976)
• February 11  – Daniel Francis Galouye, American science fiction author
• February 11  – Farouk I, last King of Egypt (d. 1965)
• February 11  – Paul Peter Piech, artist (d. 1996)
• February 12 – William Roscoe Estep, American Baptist historian (d. 2000)
• February 17 – Ivo Caprino, Norwegian film director (d. 2001)
• February 18 – Bill Cullen, American game show host (d. 1990)
• February 18  – Eddie Slovik, U.S. Army private (d. 1945)
• February 26 – Tony Randall, American actor (d. 2004)
• February 29 – Howard Nemerov, American poet, winner of the Pulitzer Prize (d. 1991)
• March 3 – Ronald Searle, British cartoonist
• March 3  – James Doohan, Canadian actor
• March 14 – Hank Ketcham, American cartoonist (d. 2001)
• March 15 – Lawrence Sanders, American novelist (d. 1998)
• March 16 – Leo McKern, Australian actor (d. 2002)
• March 17 – Mujibur Rahman, Prime Minister of Bangladesh (d. 1975)
• March 19 – Kjell Aukrust, Norwegian poet and artist (d. 2002)
• March 25 – Arthur Wint, Jamaican runner (d. 1992)

April-July

• April 1 – Toshirô Mifune, Japanese actor (d. 1997)
• April 2 – Jack Webb, American actor, director, and producer (d. 1982)
• April 5 – Arther Hailey, American writer
• April 7 – Ravi Shankar, Indian sitar player
• April 10 – Frank Cavaliero, pigeon racer and real estate tycoon
• April 11 – Peter O'Donnell, British cartoonist and writer
• April 15 – Thomas Stephen Szasz, Hungarian-born psychiatrist and writer
• April 13 – Liam Cosgrave, fifth Taoiseach of Ireland
• April 27 – Guido Cantelli, Italian conductor (d. 1956)
• April 29 – Harold Shapero, American composer
• May 2 – Jean-Marie Auberson, Swiss conductor (d. 2004)
• May 6 – Ross Hunter, producer
• May 6  – Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara, first Prime Minister and President of Fiji (d. 2004)
• May 9 – Richard Adams, English author
• May 18 – Pope John Paul II (d. 2005)
• May 18  – Lucia Mannucci, Italian singer (Quartetto Cetra)
• May 23 – Helen O'Connell, American singer (d. 1993)
• May 26 – Peggy Lee, American singer (d. 2002)
• May 30 – Franklin Schaffner, American film and television director (d. 1989)
• June 12 – Dave Berg, American cartoonist (Mad Magazine) (d. 2002)
• July 17 – Juan Antonio Samaranch, Spanish International Olympic Committee president
• July 21 – Isaac Stern, Ukrainian-born violinist (d. 2001)

August-December

• August 8 – Leo Chiosso, Italian poet
• August 16 – Charles Bukowski, American writer (d. 1994)
• August 18 – Bob Kennedy, Major League Baseball player and manager (d. 2005)
• August 21 – Christopher Robin Milne, son of A.A. Milne (d. 1996)
• August 22 – Ray Bradbury, American science fiction writer
• August 29 – Charlie Parker, American jazz saxophonist and composer (d. 1955)
• September 10 – Fabio Taglioni, Italian motorcycle engineer (d. 2001)
• September 14 – Mario Benedetti, Uruguayan writer
• September 22 – William H. Riker, American political scientist (d. 1993)
• October 1 – Walter Matthau, American actor (d. 2000)
• October 1  – Charles Daudelin, Canadian sculptor (d. 2001)
• October 8 – Frank Herbert, American author (d. 1986)
• October 9 – Jens Bjørneboe, Norwegian author (d. 1976)
• October 15 – Mario Puzo, American author (d. 1999)
• October 31 – Fritz Walter, German football player (d. 2002)
• November 21 – Stan Musial, Baseball Hall of Famer
• November 23 – Paul Celan, Romanian-born German poet (d. 1970)
• November 25 – Tuanku Syed Putra ibni Almarhum Syed Hassan Jamalullail, Raja of Perlis and 3rd Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia (d. 2000)
• December 6 – Dave Brubeck, American jazz pianist and composer
• December 24 – Evgeniya Rudneva, Soviet World War II heroine (d. 1944)
• Patrick Campbell Rodger, Anglican bishop (d. 2002)

Deaths

• January 2 – Paul Adam, French writer (b. 1862)
• January 3 – Zygmunt Janiszewski, Polish mathematician (b. 1888)
• January 4 – Benito Pérez Galdós, Spanish novelist (b. 1843)
• January 6 – Hieronymus Georg Zeuthen, Danish mathetmatician (b. 1839)
• January 7 – Edmund Barton, Prime Minister of Australia (b. 1849)
• January 18 – Giovanni Capurro, Italian poet (b. 1825)
• January 24 – William Percy French, Irish songwriter and entertainer (b. 1854)
• January 24 – Amedeo Modigliani, Italian painter and sculptor (tuberculosis) (b. 1884)
• January 24 – William Plunket, 5th Baron Plunket, British diplomat and administrator (b. 1864)
• January 26 – Jeanne Hébuterne, French artist, model, and common-law wife of Amedeo Modigliani (suicide) (b. 1898)
• February 2 – Field E. Kindley, American World War I aviator (b. 1896)
• February 3 – Frank Brown, Governor of Maryland (b. 1846)
• February 6 – Augustus F. Goodridge, Canadian merchant and politician (b. 1839)
• February 7 – Aleksandr Kolchak, Russian naval commander (b. 1874)
• February 15 – Joseph Burton Sumner, founder of Sumner, Mississippi (b. 1837)
• February 20 – Joseph J. Fern, Mayor of Honolulu (b. 1872)
• February 20 – Robert Peary, American Arctic explorer (b. 1856)
• February 27 – William Sherman Jennings, Governor of Florida (b. 1863)
• March 1 – John H. Bankhead, U.S. Senator from Alabama (b. 1842)
• March 1 – William A. Stone, Governor of Pennsylvania (b. 1846)
• March 1 – Joseph Trumpeldor, Russian Zionist (b. 1880)
• March 4 – Roswell P. Bishop, U.S. Congressman from Michigan (b. 1843)
• March 11 – Julio Garavito Armero, Colombian astronomer (b. 1865)
• March 13 – Charles Lapworth, English geologist (b. 1842)
• March 26 – William Chester Minor, American surgeon (b. 1834)
• March 26 – Mary Augusta Ward, Tasmanian novelist (b. 1851)
• March 31 – Paul Bachmann, German mathematician (b. 1837)
• March 31 – Edwin Warfield, Governor of Maryland (b. 1848)
• April 8 – John Brashear, American astronomer (b. 1840)
• April 8 – Charles Tomlinson Griffes, American composer (b. 1884)
• April 9 – Moritz Cantor, historian of mathematics (b. 1829)
• April 21 – Maria L. Sanford, American educator (b. 1836)
• April 26 – Srinivasa Ramanujan, Indian mathematician (b. 1887)
• May 1 – Princess Margaret of Connaught, Crown Princess of Sweden (b. 1882)
• May 9 – Agnes Macdonald, wife of John A. Macdonald, Prime Minister of Canada (b. 1836
• May 11 – James Colosimo, Italian-born gangster (b. 1877)
• May 11 – William Dean Howells, American writer (b. 1837)
• May 16 – Levi P. Morton, Vice President of the United States (b. 1824)
• May 21 – Venustiano Carranza, President of Mexico (b. 1859)
• May 21 – Eleanor H. Porter, American novelist (b. 1868)
• May 23 – Svetozar Borojevic, Austro-Hungarian field marshall (b. 1856)
• May 30 – George Ernest Morrison, Australian adventurer (b. 1862)
• June 5 – Rhoda Broughton, Welsh writer (b. 1840)
• June 5 – Julia A. Moore, American poet (b. 1847)
• June 6 – James Dunsmuir, Canadian politician (b. 1851)
• June 13 – Essad Pasha, Prime Minister of Albania (b. 1863)
• June 14 – Gabrielle Réjane, French actress (b. 1856)
• June 14 – Max Weber, German political economist (b. 1864)
• June 18 – Jewett W. Adams, Governor of Nevada (b. 1835)
• June 18 – John Macoun, Irish born naturalist (b. 1831)
• June 20 – Marie Adolphe Carnot, French chemist, mining engineer, and politician (b. 1839)
• June 20 – John Grigg, New Zealand astronomer (b. 1838)
• June 27 – Adolphe Basile Routhier, Canadian who wrote the words to the national anthem (b. 1839)
• July 1 – Delfim Moreira, President of Brazil (b. 1868)
• July 10 – John Fisher, 1st Baron Fisher, British admiral (b. 1841)
• July 11 – Empress Eugénie of France (b. 1826)
• July 14 – Albert Keller, German painter (b. 1844)
• July 22 – William Kissam Vanderbilt, American heir (b. 1849)
• August 1 – Frank Hanly, Governor of Indiana (b. 1863)
• August 1 – Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Indian nationalist (b. 1856)
• August 2 – Ormer Locklear, American stunt flyer (b. 1891)
• August 9 – Samuel Griffith, Australian politician and judge (b. 1845)
• August 10 – Adam Politzer, Austrian otologist (b. 1835)
• August 12 – Hermann Struve, Russian-born German astronomer (b. 1854)
• August 16 – Henry Daglish, Premier of Australia (b. 1866)
• August 16 – Joseph Norman Lockyer, English astronomer (b. 1836)
• August 17 – Ray Chapman, Major League Baseball player (b. 1891)
• August 22 – Anders Zorn, Swedish painter (b. 1860)
• August 26 – James Wilson, Scottish-born American politician (b. 1835)
• August 31 – Wilhelm Wundt, German physiologist and psychologist (b. 1832)
• September 4 – Flora Sheldon, grandmother of George H. W. Bush (b. 1852)
• September 7 – Simon-Napoléon Parent, Premier of Quebec (b. 1855)
• September 10 – Olive Thomas, American actress (b. 1894)
• September 18 – Robert Beaven, Canadian politician (b. 1836)
• September 24 – Peter Carl Fabergé, Russian jeweler (b. 1846)
• September 25 – Jacob Schiff, German-born banker and philanthropist (b. 1847)
• September 30 – William Wilfred Sullivan, Canadian journalist, politician, and jurist (b. 1843)
• October 2 – Winthrop M. Crane, Governor of Massachusetts and Senator from Massachusetts (b. 1853)
• October 10 – Hudson Stuck, English mountaineer (b. 1865)
• October 19 – John Reed, American journalist (b. 1887)
• October 20 – Max Bruch, German composer (b. 1838)
• October 24 – Grand Duchess Marie Alexandrovna of Russia (b. 1853)
• November 4 – Ludwig Struve, Russian astronomer (b. 1858)
• November 13 – Luc-Olivier Merson, French painter and illustrator (b. 1846)
• November 23 – George Callaghan, British admiral (b. 1852)
• November 25 – Gaston Chevrolet, Swiss-born automobile race driver and manufacturer (b. 1892)
• November 30 – Eugene W. Chafin, American politician (b. 1852)
• December 3 – William de Wiveleslie Abney, English astronomer and photographer (b. 1843)
• December 11 – Olive Schreiner, South African writer (b. 1855)
• December 12 – Edward Gawler Prior, Canadian mining engineer and politician (b. 1854)
• December 14 – George Gipp, American college football player (b. 1895)

Nobel Prizes

• Physics – Charles Edouard Guillaume
• Chemistry – Walther Nernst
• Medicine – Schack August Steenberg Krogh
• Literature – Knut Hamsun
• Peace – Thomas Woodrow Wilson