1920: Meaning (information, definition, explanation, facts)

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 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 - 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 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 Ottoman empire and non-turkish areas.

February

• 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 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, 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

• 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 the Regent of Hungary
• 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

• 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

• May 7 - Polish-Soviet War: Polish troops occupy Kiev. 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.
• May 30 - Jeanne d'Arc is canonized.

June

• June 4 - Treaty of Trianon, Treaty of Peace between The Allied and Hungary.
• June 12 - Polish-Soviet War: Red Army retakes Kiev.
• June 15 - New border treaty between Germany and Denmark gives northern Schleswig to Denmark.
• June 22 - Greece attacks Turkish troops.

July

• 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 Feisal 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

• 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.
• August 20 - The first commercial radio station, 8MK (WWJ), begins operations in Detroit, Michigan.

September

• September 8 - Gabriele D'Annunzio declares Fiume a free state.
• September 16 - Bomb in a horse wagon explodes before the J.P.Morgan building in New York City - 31 dead
• 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

• October 9 ? Polish troops take Vilnius
• October 10 - The outwitted Carinthian Plebiscite, where Slovenia loses a larger part of Carinthia province.
• 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

• 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 the first 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 ? Alvaro Obregon becomes a 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.

• January 2 - Isaac Asimov, author (d. 1992)
• January 6 - Early Wynn, Baseball Hall of Famer
• January 6 - Sun Myung Moon, evangelist
• January 19 - Javier Pérez de Cuéllar, United Nations Secretary General
• January 20 - Federico Fellini, Italian film director (d. 1993)
• January 20 - DeForest Kelley, actor (d. 1999)
• January 20 - John O'Connor, Cardinal of New York City (d. 2000)
• January 23 - Ray Abrams, tenor saxophonist
• January 23 - Gottfried Böhm, architect
• January 27 - Frankie Albert, US 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, US science fiction author
• February 11 - Farouk I, last King of Egypt (1936-1952)
• February 11 - Paul Peter Piech, artist
• February 12 - William Roscoe Estep, Baptist historian and professor of Church history emeritus at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary (d. 2000)
• February 18 - Bill Cullen, game show host (d. 1990)
• February 18 - Jack Palance, actor
• February 18 – Eddie Slovik, private, U.S. Army (d. 1945)
• February 26 - Tony Randall, actor (The Odd Couple) (d. 2004)
• February 29 - Howard Nemerov, winner of the Pulitzer Prize
• March 3 - Ronald 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)
• March 25 - Arthur Wint, Jamaican runner
• April 1 - Toshirô 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 13 - Liam Cosgrave, fifth Taoiseach of Ireland
• April 27 - Guido Cantelli, conductor (d. 1956)
• April 29 - Harold Shapero, composer
• May 2 - Jean-Marie Auberson, Swiss conductor (d. 2004)
• May 6 - Ross Hunter, producer (d. 1996)
• May 6 - Kamisese Mara, first Prime Minister of Fiji (d. 2004)
• May 9 - Richard Adams, author
• May 18 - Karol Wojtyla, future pope John Paul II
• May 23 - Helen O'Connell, singer (d. 1993)
• May 26 - Peggy Lee, singer (d. 2002)
• May 30 - Franklin Schaffner, film director (d. 1989)
• July 20 - Juan Antonio Samaranch, Spanish sports official and IOC president
• June 12 - Dave Berg, cartoonist for Mad Magazine
• August 16 - Charles Bukowski, US writer
• August 22 - Ray Bradbury, US science fiction writer
• August 29 - Charlie Parker, jazz musician (d. 1955)
• September 10 - Fabio Taglioni, automotive engineer
• September 22 - William H. Riker, political scientist
• October 1 - Walter Matthau, US actor (d. 2000)
• October 1 - Charles Daudelin, Canadian sculptor (d. 2001)
• October 15 - Mario Puzo, author (The Godfather)
• October 31 - Fritz Walter, football player
• November 21 - Stan Musial, Baseball Hall of Famer
• December 6 - Dave Brubeck, jazz musician
• Tuanku Syed Putra ibni Almarhum Syed Hassan Jamalullail, later Raja of Perlis and 3rd Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia.

• January 7 - Edmund Barton, first Prime Minister of Australia
• 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
• March 1 - John H. Bankhead, United States Senator (b. 1842)
• March 1 - Joseph Trumpeldor, early Zionist activist (b. 1880)
• March 20 - Paul Bachmann, mathematician
• April 20 - Tony Jackson, jazz musician (b. 1876)
• May 9 - Susan Agnes Bernard-Macdonald, First Lady of Canada
• May 11 - William Dean Howells, writer (b. 1837)
• May 30 - George Ernest Morrison, Australian adventurer, journalist
• June 14 - Max Weber father of the science of sociology
• July 10 - Jackie Fisher, First Sea Lord (b. 1841)
• July 22 – William Kissam Vanderbilt, railway magnate
• August 1 - Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Indian political activist
• October 20 - Max Bruch, composer
• October 24 - Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna of Russia, (The Dowager Duchess of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha), only daughter of Emperor Alexander II of Russia

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