Important Historical Events of the year 1920, Year 1920 in History
List of 1920 Major News Events in History, Most Important Historical Events in 1920
What happened in the year 1920?
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| January 2, 1920 | The second Palmer Raid, ordered by the US Department of Justice, results in 6,000 suspected communists and anarchists being arrested and held without trial. |
| January 3, 1920 | Over 640 are killed after a magnitude 6.4 earthquake strikes the Mexican states Puebla and Veracruz. |
| January 7, 1920 | The New York State Assembly refuses to seat five duly elected Socialist assemblymen. |
| January 8, 1920 | The steel strike of 1919 ends in failure for the Amalgamated Association of Iron, Steel and Tin Workers labor union. |
| January 10, 1920 | The Treaty of Versailles takes effect, officially ending World War I for all combatant nations except the United States. |
| January 10, 1920 | League of Nations Covenant automatically enters into force after the Treaty of Versailles is ratified by Germany. |
| January 13, 1920 | The Reichstag Bloodbath of January 13, 1920, the bloodiest demonstration in German history.[6][7] |
| January 16, 1920 | The League of Nations holds its first council meeting in Paris, France. |
| January 17, 1920 | Alcohol Prohibition begins in the United States as the Volstead Act goes into effect. |
| January 19, 1920 | The United States Senate votes against joining the League of Nations. |
| January 19, 1920 | The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is founded. |
| January 23, 1920 | The Netherlands refuses to surrender the exiled Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany to the Allies. |
| January 28, 1920 | Foundation of the Spanish Legion. |
| January 30, 1920 | Japanese carmaker Mazda is founded, initially as a cork-producing company. |
| February 2, 1920 | The Tartu Peace Treaty is signed between Estonia and Russia. |
| February 9, 1920 | Under the terms of the Svalbard Treaty, international diplomacy recognizes Norwegian sovereignty over Arctic archipelago Svalbard, and designates it as demilitarized. |
| February 10, 1920 | Józef Haller de Hallenburg performs the symbolic wedding of Poland to the sea, celebrating restitution of Polish access to open sea. |
| February 10, 1920 | About 75% of the population in Zone I votes to join Denmark in the 1920 Schleswig plebiscites. |
| February 13, 1920 | The Negro National League is formed. |
| February 14, 1920 | The League of Women Voters is founded in Chicago. |
| February 20, 1920 | An earthquake kills between 114 and 130 in Georgia and heavily damages the town of Gori. |
| February 24, 1920 | Nancy Astor becomes the first woman to speak in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom following her election as a Member of Parliament (MP) three months earlier. |
| February 24, 1920 | The Nazi Party (NSDAP) was founded by Adolf Hitler in the Hofbräuhaus beer hall in Munich, Germany |
| February 29, 1920 | The Czechoslovak National Assembly adopts the Constitution. |
| March 12, 1920 | The Kapp Putsch begins when the Marinebrigade Ehrhardt is ordered to march on Berlin. |
| March 13, 1920 | The Kapp Putsch briefly ousts the Weimar Republic government from Berlin. |
| March 14, 1920 | In the second of the 1920 Schleswig plebiscites, about 80% of the population in Zone II votes to remain part of Weimar Germany. |
| March 19, 1920 | The United States Senate rejects the Treaty of Versailles for the second time (the first time was on November 19, 1919). |
| March 22, 1920 | Azeri and Turkish army soldiers with participation of Kurdish gangs attack the Armenian inhabitants of Shushi (Nagorno Karabakh). |
| March 28, 1920 | Palm Sunday tornado outbreak of 1920 affects the Great Lakes region and Deep South states. |
| April 3, 1920 | Attempts are made to carry out the failed assassination attempt on General Mannerheim, led by Aleksander Weckman by order of Eino Rahja, during the White Guard parade in Tampere, Finland.[13] |
| April 15, 1920 | Two security guards are murdered during a robbery in South Braintree, Massachusetts. Anarchists Sacco and Vanzetti would be convicted of and executed for the crime, amid much controversy. |
| April 23, 1920 | The Grand National Assembly of Turkey (TBMM) is founded in Ankara. The assembly denounces the government of Sultan Mehmed VI and announces the preparation of a temporary constitution. |
| April 25, 1920 | At the San Remo conference, the principal Allied Powers of World War I adopt a resolution to determine the allocation of Class "A" League of Nations mandates for administration of the former Ottoman-ruled lands of the Middle East. |
| April 26, 1920 | Ice hockey makes its Olympic debut at the Antwerp Games with center Frank Fredrickson scoring seven goals in Canada's 12–1 drubbing of Sweden in the gold medal match. |
| April 28, 1920 | The Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic is founded. |
| May 2, 1920 | The first game of the Negro National League baseball is played in Indianapolis. |
| May 3, 1920 | A Bolshevik coup fails in the Democratic Republic of Georgia. |
| May 5, 1920 | Authorities arrest Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti for alleged robbery and murder. |
| May 7, 1920 | Kyiv Offensive: Polish troops led by Józef Piłsudski and Edward Rydz-Śmigły and assisted by a symbolic Ukrainian force capture Kyiv only to be driven out by the Red Army counter-offensive a month later. |
| May 7, 1920 | Treaty of Moscow: Soviet Russia recognizes the independence of the Democratic Republic of Georgia only to invade the country six months later. |
| May 9, 1920 | Polish–Soviet War: The Polish army under General Edward Rydz-Śmigły celebrates its capture of Kiev with a victory parade on Khreshchatyk. |
| May 16, 1920 | In Rome, Pope Benedict XV canonizes Joan of Arc. |
| May 29, 1920 | The Louth flood of 1920 was a severe flash flooding in the Lincolnshire market town of Louth, resulting in 23 fatalities in 20 minutes. It has been described as one of the most significant flood disasters in the United Kingdom during the 20th century. |
| June 4, 1920 | Hungary loses 71% of its territory and 63% of its population when the Treaty of Trianon is signed in Paris. |
| June 11, 1920 | During the U.S. Republican National Convention in Chicago, U.S. Republican Party leaders gathered in a room at the Blackstone Hotel to come to a consensus on their candidate for the U.S. presidential election, leading the Associated Press to coin the political phrase "smoke-filled room". |
| June 15, 1920 | Following the 1920 Schleswig plebiscites, Northern Schleswig is transferred from Germany to Denmark. |
| July 10, 1920 | Arthur Meighen becomes Prime Minister of Canada. |
| July 11, 1920 | In the East Prussian plebiscite the local populace decides to remain with Weimar Germany. |
| July 12, 1920 | The Soviet–Lithuanian Peace Treaty is signed, by which Soviet Russia recognizes the independence of Lithuania. |
| July 15, 1920 | Aftermath of World War I: The Parliament of Poland establishes Silesian Voivodeship before the Polish-German plebiscite. |
| July 20, 1920 | The Greek Army takes control of Silivri after Greece is awarded the city by the Paris Peace Conference; by 1923 Greece effectively lost control to the Turks. |
| July 21, 1920 | The Belfast Pogrom begins with the one day removal of thousands of Belfast shipyard, factory and mill workers from their jobs. |
| July 29, 1920 | Construction of the Link River Dam begins as part of the Klamath Reclamation Project. |
| August 10, 1920 | World War I: Ottoman sultan Mehmed VI's representatives sign the Treaty of Sèvres that divides up the Ottoman Empire between the Allies. |
| August 11, 1920 | The Latvian–Soviet Peace Treaty, which relinquished Russia's authority and pretenses to Latvia, is signed, ending the Latvian War of Independence. |
| August 13, 1920 | Polish–Soviet War: The Battle of Warsaw begins and will last till August 25. The Red Army is defeated. |
| August 14, 1920 | The 1920 Summer Olympics, having started four months earlier, officially open in Antwerp, Belgium, with the newly-adopted Olympic flag and the Olympic oath being raised and taken at the Opening Ceremony for the first time in Olympic history.[27] |
| August 15, 1920 | Polish–Soviet War: Battle of Warsaw, so-called Miracle at the Vistula. |
| August 16, 1920 | US baseball player Ray Chapman of the Cleveland Indians is hit on the head by a fastball thrown by Carl Mays of the New York Yankees. Next day, Chapman will become the second player to die from injuries sustained in a Major League Baseball game. |
| August 16, 1920 | The congress of the Communist Party of Bukhara opens. The congress would call for armed revolution. |
| August 16, 1920 | Polish–Soviet War: The Battle of Radzymin concludes; the Soviet Red Army is forced to turn away from Warsaw. |
| August 18, 1920 | The Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution is ratified, guaranteeing women's suffrage. |
| August 19, 1920 | The Tambov Rebellion breaks out, in response to the Bolshevik policy of Prodrazvyorstka. |
| August 20, 1920 | The first commercial radio station, 8MK (now WWJ), begins operations in Detroit. |
| August 20, 1920 | The National Football League is organized as the American Professional Football Conference in Canton, Ohio |
| August 25, 1920 | Polish–Soviet War: Battle of Warsaw, which began on August 13, ends with the Red Army's defeat. |
| August 26, 1920 | The 19th amendment to United States Constitution takes effect, giving women the right to vote. |
| August 31, 1920 | Polish–Soviet War: A decisive Polish victory in the Battle of Komarów. |
| September 7, 1920 | Two newly purchased Savoia flying boats crash in the Swiss Alps en route to Finland where they were to serve with the Finnish Air Force, killing both crews. |
| September 16, 1920 | The Wall Street bombing: A bomb in a horse wagon explodes in front of the J. P. Morgan building in New York City killing 38 and injuring 400. |
| September 17, 1920 | The National Football League is organized as the American Professional Football Association in Canton, Ohio.[4] |
| September 20, 1920 | Irish War of Independence: British police known as "Black and Tans" burn the town of Balbriggan and kill two local men in revenge for an IRA assassination. |
| October 4, 1920 | The Mannerheim League for Child Welfare, a Finnish non-governmental organization, is founded on the initiative of Sophie Mannerheim. |
| October 10, 1920 | The Carinthian plebiscite determines that the larger part of the Duchy of Carinthia should remain part of Austria. |
| October 14, 1920 | Finland and Soviet Russia sign the Treaty of Tartu, exchanging some territories. |
| October 25, 1920 | After 74 days on hunger strike in Brixton Prison, England, the Sinn Féin Lord Mayor of Cork, Terence MacSwiney dies. |
| October 30, 1920 | The Communist Party of Australia is founded in Sydney. |
| November 2, 1920 | In the United States, KDKA of Pittsburgh starts broadcasting as the first commercial radio station. The first broadcast is the result of the 1920 United States presidential election. |
| November 7, 1920 | Patriarch Tikhon of Moscow issues a decree that leads to the formation of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia. |
| November 12, 1920 | Italy and the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes sign the Treaty of Rapallo. |
| November 14, 1920 | Pesäpallo, the Finnish version of baseball developed by Lauri Pihkala, is played for the first time at Kaisaniemi Park in Helsinki. |
| November 15, 1920 | The first assembly of the League of Nations is held in Geneva, Switzerland. |
| November 15, 1920 | The Free City of Danzig is established. |
| November 16, 1920 | Qantas, Australia's national airline, is founded as Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services Limited. |
| November 21, 1920 | Irish War of Independence: On "Bloody Sunday" in Dublin, the Irish Republican Army (IRA) assassinated a group of British Intelligence agents, and British forces killed 14 civilians at a Gaelic football match at Croke Park. |
| November 28, 1920 | FIDAC (The Interallied Federation of War Veterans Organisations), the first international organization of war veterans is established in Paris, France. |
| November 28, 1920 | Irish War of Independence: Kilmichael Ambush: The Irish Republican Army ambush a convoy of British Auxiliaries and kill seventeen. |
| December 3, 1920 | Following more than a month of Turkish–Armenian War, the Turkish-dictated Treaty of Alexandropol is concluded. |
| December 11, 1920 | Irish War of Independence: In retaliation for a recent IRA ambush, British forces burn and loot numerous buildings in Cork city. Many civilians report being beaten, shot at, robbed and verbally abused by British forces. |
| December 16, 1920 | The Haiyuan earthquake of 8.5Mw , rocks the Gansu province in China, killing an estimated 200,000. |
| December 19, 1920 | King Constantine I is restored as King of the Hellenes after the death of his son Alexander of Greece and a plebiscite. |
| December 22, 1920 | The GOELRO economic development plan is adopted by the 8th Congress of Soviets of the Russian SFSR. |
| December 24, 1920 | Gabriele D'Annunzio surrendered the Italian Regency of Carnaro in the city of Fiume to Italian Armed Forces. |