1919 - What happened in 1919 ?

January 1919

Wednesday 15:

Ignace Paderewski becomes Premier of Poland.

Thursday 16:

Temperance movement: The 18th Amendment, authorizing Prohibition, was passed by the Congress of the United States. It went into effect one year later, on January 16th, 1920.

Saturday 18:

1919 - Bentley Motors is founded.

Tuesday 21:

Meeting in the Mansion House Dublin, the Sinn Féin adopts Ireland's first constitution.

Saturday 25:

The League of Nations is founded.

February 1919

Saturday 01:

The first Miss America is crowned (New York City).

Wednesday 05:

Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks, and D.W. Griffith launch United Artists.

Sunday 23:

Benito Mussolini forms the Fascist Party in Italy.

Tuesday 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.

Wednesday 26:

An act of the U.S. Congress establishes most of the Grand Canyon as a United States National Park (see Grand Canyon National Park).

March 1919

Saturday 01:

March 1st Movement begins in Korea.

Sunday 02:

The first Communist International meets in Moscow.

Saturday 15:

The American Legion forms in Paris.

Friday 21:

The Chinese High School is established in Singapore by Tan Kah Kee.

Sunday 23:

In Milan, Italy, Benito Mussolini founds his Fascist political movement.

April 1919

Sunday 13:

Amritsar massacre: British and Gurkha troops massacre at least 379 unarmed demonstrators in Amritsar, India

Wednesday 16:

Mohandas Gandhi organizes a day of "prayer and fasting" in response to the British slaughter of Indian protestors in the Amritsar Massacre.

Saturday 19:

Leslie Irvin of the United States makes the first successful parachute jump and free fall.

May 1919

Thursday 15:

The Winnipeg General Strike began. By 11:00, virtually the entire working population of Winnipeg had walked off the job.

Friday 16:

US Navy Naval Curtiss aircraft NC-4 commanded by Albert Cushing Read leaves Trepassey, Newfoundland, for Lisbon via the Azores on the first transatlantic flight.

Saturday 17:

Committee of One Thousand forms to oppose Winnipeg General Strike.

Tuesday 27:

The NC-4 aircraft arrives in Lisbon after completing the first transatlantic flight.

Thursday 29:

Observation of shifted star positions during a solar eclipse confirm Albert Einstein's theory of relativity (see Arthur Eddington).

June 1919

Wednesday 04:

Women's rights: The U.S. 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.

Saturday 07:

Sette Giugno: Riot in Malta; four people killed.

Saturday 14:

John Alcock and Arthur Whitten Brown depart St. John's, Newfoundland on the first nonstop transatlantic flight.

Friday 20:

150 die at the Teatro Yaguez fire, Mayagüez, Puerto Rico.

Saturday 28:

The Treaty of Versailles is signed, ending World War I with Germany.

July 1919

Sunday 06:

The British dirigible R-34 lands in New York, completing the first crossing of the Atlantic by an airship.

Friday 11:

Eight-hour working day and free Sunday made into law in the Netherlands.

Sunday 13:

The British airship R-34 lands in Norfolk, England, completing the first airship return journey across the Atlantic in 182 hours of flight.

Thursday 31:

German national assembly adopts the Weimar constitution (to enter into force August 14)

August 1919

Monday 11:

Constitution of Weimar Republic adopted

Tuesday 19:

Afghanistan gains independence from the United Kingdom.

September 1919

Wednesday 10:

Austria and the Allies sign the Treaty of Saint-Germain recognizing the independence of Poland, Hungary, Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia.

Thursday 11:

US Marines invade Honduras.

Tuesday 16:

The American Legion is incorporated.

October 1919

Thursday 02:

US President Woodrow Wilson suffers a massive stroke, leaving him partiallyparalyzed.

Tuesday 07:

1919 - First London-Amsterdam airline service (Britain Aerial Transport and KLM).

Thursday 09:

Black Sox scandal: The Cincinnati Reds "win" the World Series.

Tuesday 28:

Prohibition begins: The U.S. Congress passes the Volstead Act over President Woodrow Wilson's veto.

November 1919

Monday 10:

The first national convention of the American Legion is held in Minneapolis, Minnesota (convention ended on November 12).

Tuesday 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.

Thursday 27:

Haiti becomes a signatory to the Buenos Aires copyright treaty.

Friday 28:

Lady Astor is elected to be the first female member of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.

December 1919

Monday 01:

Lady Astor becomes first female member of the British Parliament to take her seat (she had been elected to that position on November 28).

Wednesday 17:

Uruguay becomes a signatory to the Buenos Aires copyright treaty.

Sunday 21:

Municipal elections held in Senegal (First round, second round is held December 28). The multiracial lists of the Independent Socialist Republican Party (PRSI) wins in all four municipalities.

Tuesday 30:

Lincoln's Inn in London admits its first female bar student.