1920

Events

   * January 7 - Forces of Russian White general Kolcak surrender in
     Krasnojarsk
   * January 9 - Britain announces it will build 100.000 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
   * January 16 - Prohibition begins in USA. Many liquor-loving Americans
     move to France.
   * January 16 - Allies demand that Netherlands extradite German Kaiser who
     has fled there
   * January 19 - The United States Senate votes against joining the League
     of Nations
   * January 23 - Netherlands refuses to extradite Kaiser
   * January 28 - Spanish legion is founded and stationed in North Africa to
     fight rebels in Morocco
   * January 28 - Turkey gives up Ottoman empire and non-turkish areas.
   * February 1 - The Royal Canadian Mounted Police begin operations.
   * February 2 - Estonia declares its independence from Russia
   * February 2 - France occupies Memel
   * February 9 - League of Nations gives Spitzbergen to Norway
   * 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,
     Illinois.
   * 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 - World's first peaceful establishment of a social democratic
     government takes place in Sweden. Hjalmar Branting takes over when Nils
     EdŽn resigns.
   * March 13-March 17 - Wolfgang Kapp fails in his coup attempt in Germany
     due to public resistance and a general strike
   * 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 31 - Government of Ireland Act presented in British parliament
   * April 2 - German army marches to Ruhr to fight Ruhr Red Army
   * April 4 - Riots between Jews and Arabs in Jerusalem.
   * 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 - Russian-Polish War: Polish troops attack Russia
   * May 7 - Russian-Polish War: Polish troops occupy Kiev
   * 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 30 - Jeanne d'Arc is canonized.
   * June 4 - Hungary loses 71% of its territory and 63% of its population
     in Treaty of Trianon.
   * June 12 - Russian-Polish War: Red Army retakes Kiev
   * June 15 - New border treaty between Germany and Denmark gives northern
     Schleswig to Denmark
   * June 22 - Greece attack Turkish troops
   * July 2 - Russian-Polish War: Red Army invades 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 22 - Russian-Polish War: Poland sues for peace with Bolshevist
     Russia
   * July 25 - Telecommunications: first transatlantic two-way radio
     broadcast.
   * 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 signed the
     Treaty of Sevres.
   * August 11 - Bolshevik Russia recognizes independent Estonia and Latvia.
   * August 13 - August 21 - Russian-Polish War: The Red Army is defeated at
     the gates of Warsav
   * 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.
   * August 20 - The first commercial radio station, 8MK (WWJ), begins
     operations in Detroit, Michigan.
   * September 8 - Gabriele D'Annunzio declares Fiumen free state
   * September 16 - Bomb in Wall Street kills 35, hundreds wounded
   * 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 first public political speech in Austria
   * 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 - Westinghouse company begins its radio program in
     Pittsburg, USA
   * November 11 - Unknown Soldier buried in Westminster Abbey
   * November 17 - Council of League of Nations accepts the constitution of
     Danzig free state
   * November 21 - IRA bomb kills 14 policemen in Ireland.
   * 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 - 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.
   * France prohibits selling of contraceptives
   * Roman von Ungern-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

Art, Culture & Fashion

   * 1920 in music
        o Gustav Holst - Planets
        o Mamie Smith - has hit record with "The Crazy Blues"
   * 1920 in sports
        o Summer Olympic Games in Antwerp Belgium
        o January 3 - Boston Red Sox owner Harry Frazee sells Babe Ruth to
          the New York Yankees for $125,000 and a $350,000 loan. This was
          the prelude to an extraordinary Major League season during which
          the Bambino would hit 54 home runs, Cleveland shortshop Ray
          Chapman would be killed by a pitch from Carl Mays and Eddie
          Cicotte and Shoeless Joe Jackson would confess to their roles in
          the Black Sox scandal.
        o February 13 - The National Negro Baseball League is formed.
        o September 17- The American Professional Football Association, the
          forerunner to the National Football League is formed in Canton,
          Ohio.
        o August 16 - Ray Chapman of the Cleveland Indians is hit in his
          head and fatally wounded with a fastball from Carl Mays of the New
          York Yankees. Chapman will die early the next day, becoming the
          only person to ever die from a major league baseball game (as of
          2003).

Births

   * January 2 - Isaac Asimov, author
   * January 6 - Early Wynn, Baseball Hall of Famer
   * January 6 - Sun Myung Moon, evangelist
   * January 19 - Javier PŽrez de CuŽllar, United Nations Secretary General
   * January 20 - Federico Fellini, italian film director (d. 1993)
   * January 20 - DeForest Kelly, actor (d. 1999)
   * January 20 - John O'Connor, Cardinal of New York City (d. 2000)
   * January 23 - Ray Abrams, tenor saxophonist
   * January 23 - Gottfried Bšhm, architect
   * January 27 - Frankie Albert, American football star (d. 2002)
   * January 30 - Delbert Mann, director
   * January 31 - Paul Warnke, diplomat (d. 2001)
   * February 7 - An Wang, computer pioneer (d. 1990)
   * February 8 - Lana Turner, actress (d. 1995)
   * February 11 - Billy Halop, actor.
   * February 11 - Daniel Francis Galouye, American science fiction author.
   * February 11 - Farouk I, last King of Egypt (1936-1952).
   * February 11 - Paul Peter Piech, artist.
   * February 18 - Jack Palance, actor
   * February 18 - Bill Cullen, game show host (d. 1990)
   * February 26 - Tony Randall, actor
   * February 29 - Howard Nemerov, American, winner of the Pulitzer Prize
   * March 3 - Roland Searle, illustrator
   * March 3 - James Doohan, actor
   * March 14 - Hank Ketcham, cartoonist (Dennis the Menace) (d. 2001)
   * March 15 - Lawrence Sanders, novelist (d. 1998)
   * March 16 - Leo McKern, actor (d. 2002)
   * March 17 - Mujibur Rahman, Prime Minister of Bangladesh (d. 1975)
   * April 1 - Toshir™ Mifune, actor (d. 1997)
   * April 2 - Jack Webb, actor, director, producer (d. 1982)
   * April 7 - Ravi Shankar, musician
   * April 11 - Peter O'Donnell, creator of Modesty Blaise.
   * April 29 - Harold Shapero, composer
   * May 6 - Ross Hunter, producer (d. 1996)
   * May 9 - Richard Adams, author
   * May 18 - Karol Wojtyla, future pope John Paul II
   * May 23 - Helen O'Connell, singer
   * May 26 - Peggy Lee, singer (d. 2002)
   * May 30 - Franklin Schaffner, film director (d. 1989)
   * June 12 - Dave Berg, cartoonist for Mad Magazine
   * August 16 - Charles Bukowski, American writer
   * August 22 - Ray Bradbury, American science fiction writer
   * September 10 - Fabio Taglioni, automotive engineer
   * September 22 - William H. Riker, political scientist
   * October 1 - Walter Matthau, American actor (d. 2000)
   * October 1 - Charles Daudelin, Canadian sculptor (d. 2001)
   * October 15 - Mario Puzo, author of The Godfather
   * October 31 - Fritz Walter, football player

Deaths

   * January 7 ?Kolcak, Russian White general; executed
   * January 24 - Amedeo Modigliani, painter, sculptor
   * February 15 - Joseph Burton Sumner, founder and first mayor of Sumner,
     Mississippi, USA.
   * February 20 - Robert Peary, explorer
   * May 30 - George Ernest Morrison, Australian adventurer, journalist
   * June 14 - Max Weber father of the science of sociology
   * August 1 - Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Indian political activist
   * October 20 - Max Bruch, composer
   * October 24 - The Dowager Duchess of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, nŽe Grand
     Duchess Maria Alexandrovna of Russia, only daughter of Emperor
     Alexander II of Russia

Nobel Prizes

   * Physics - Charles Edouard Guillaume
   * Chemistry - Walther Nernst
   * Medicine - Schack August Steenberg Krogh
   * Literature - Knut Hamsun
   * Peace - LŽon Victor Auguste Bourgeois