1919

Events

January

• January 1
• * The Czechoslovak Legions occupy much of the self-proclaimed "free city" of Pressburg, enforcing its incorporation into the new republic of Czechoslovakia.
• * HMY Iolaire sinks off the coast of the Hebrides; 201 people, mostly servicemen returning home to Lewis and Harris, are killed.
• January 2–22 - Russian Civil War: The Red Army's Caspian-Caucasian Front begins the Northern Caucasus Operation against the White Army, but fails to make progress.
• January 3 - The Faisal–Weizmann Agreement is signed by Emir Faisal and Zionist leader Chaim Weizmann, for Arab–Jewish cooperation in the development of a Jewish homeland in Palestine, and an Arab nation in a large part of the Middle East.
• January 5 - In Germany:
• * Spartacist uprising in Berlin: The Marxist Spartacus League, with the newly formed Communist Party of Germany and the Independent Social Democratic Party, begin mass demonstrations, which will be suppressed by armed force within a week.
• * The German Workers' Party, predecessor of the Nazi Party, is formed by the merger of Anton Drexler's Committee of Independent Workmen with journalist Karl Harrer's Political Workers' Circle.
• January 7 - Estonian War of Independence: With Soviet Russian forces just 40 km outside of the capital Tallinn, Estonian forces start a general and successful counter-offensive against the Red Army.
• January 8 - The funeral of Theodore Roosevelt, 26th President of the United States, is held at Christ Church Oyster Bay, Long Island; Roosevelt had died in his sleep at the age of 60, two days earlier.
• January 8–22 - Russian Civil War, Southern Front: The Red Army attacks and defeats the White Don Army under Pyotr Krasnov in the Voronezh–Povorino Operation.
• January 9
• * Friedrich Ebert orders the Freikorps into action in Berlin.
• * Estonian War of Independence: Battle of Tapa - Estonian forces liberate Tapa, Estonia, from the Red Army.
• * A group of socialist and liberal deputies table a motion to make Luxembourg a republic. A crowd gathers at the barracks of the Corps of Volunteers, close to the Chamber. A crowd led by Émile Servais, a left-wing politician, rushes the Chamber and soldiers refuse to disperse them. A Committee of Public Safety is formed, but the rebellion is quelled by the French Army under General de La Tour.
• January 10–12 - The Freikorps attacks Spartacist supporters around Berlin.
• January 11
• *Romania annexes Transylvania.
• *The Georgian genocide occurs in Alagir.
• January 12–May 19 - Russian Civil War: On the Southern Front, the Armed Forces of South Russia under General Anton Denikin fight against the Red Army for the possession of the strategic region of the Donbass.
• January 13 - Workers' councils in Berlin end the general strike; the Spartacist uprising is over.
• January 14 - Estonian War of Independence: Estonian forces liberate Tartu from the Red Army.
• January 15
• * Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht are murdered following the Spartacist uprising.
• * Great Molasses Flood: A wave of molasses released from an exploding storage tank sweeps through Boston, Massachusetts, killing 21 people and injuring 150.
• January 16
• * The Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, authorizing Prohibition, is ratified.
• * Pianist Ignacy Jan Paderewski becomes the second Prime Minister of Poland.
• January 18
• *The Paris Peace Conference opens in France, with delegates from 27 nations attending for meetings at the Palace of Versailles.
• * Estonian War of Independence: Estonian forces liberate Narva, expelling the Red Army from Northern Estonia.
• * Bentley Motors Limited is founded in England.
• January 19–28 - Russian Civil War: The Red Army begins the counter offensive in the Perm area against the White forces.
• January 19
• * The Monarchy of the North is established in Northern Portugal.
• * 1919 German federal election, first under the Weimar Republic and the first in Germany with female suffrage.
• January 21 - Dáil Éireann meets for the first time in the Mansion House, Dublin. It comprises Sinn Féin members elected in the 1918 general election who, in accordance with their manifesto, have not taken their seats in the Parliament of the United Kingdom, but chosen to declare an independent Irish Republic. In the first shots of the Anglo-Irish War, two Royal Irish Constabulary men are killed in an ambush at Soloheadbeg, County Tipperary.
• January 23 - Khotyn Uprising: pro-Ukrainian partisans capture the city of Khotyn in Romania.
• January 25 - The League of Nations is founded in Paris, France.
• January 31 - Battle of George Square: The British Army is called in to deal with riots, during negotiations over working hours in Glasgow, Scotland.

February

• February 1 - Estonian War of Independence: Estonian forces liberate Valga and Võru, expelling the Red Army from the entire territory of Estonia.
• February 3 - Russian Civil War: Soviet troops occupy Ukraine.
• February 4–5 - Pressburg becomes the capital of Slovakia.
• February 5
• *United Artists is incorporated in the United States by D. W. Griffith, Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks as a motion picture producer.
• *Russian Civil War: Soviet troops occupy the city of Kyiv after the Battle of Kiev.
• February 10 - The Inter-Allied Women's Conference convenes to compile a list of women's issues to present to the delegates of the Paris Peace Conference.
• February 11
• * Friedrich Ebert is elected the first President of Germany, by the Weimar National Assembly.
• * The Seattle General Strike ends, when Federal troops are summoned by the State of Washington's Attorney General.
• February 12 - Ethnic Germans and Hungarian inhabitants of Pressburg start a protest against its incorporation into Czechoslovakia, but the Czechoslovak Legions open fire on the unarmed demonstrators.
• February 13 - Portugal's Monarchy of the North ends as a result of a revolt in Porto by civilians and National Republican Guard members.
• February 14 - The Polish–Soviet War begins, with the Battle of Bereza Kartuska.
• February 16–21 - Estonian War of Independence: Uniformed peasants in Saaremaa rebel against the government of Estonia; the rebellion is crushed by government forces, leaving more than 200 dead.
• February 25 - Oregon places a one cent per US gallon tax on gasoline, becoming the first U.S. state to levy a gasoline tax.
• February 26 - Grand Canyon National Park: An act of the United States Congress establishes most of the Grand Canyon as a United States National Park.
• February 28
• * Amānullāh Khān becomes King of Afghanistan.
• * An independence mission to the U.S., funded by the Philippine legislature, sets out from Manila to present its case to United States Secretary of War Newton D. Baker.

  March

• March 1 - The March 1st Movement against Japanese colonial rule in Korea is formed.
• March 2 - The Founding Congress of the Comintern opens in Moscow.
• March 3–April - Russian Civil War: Beginning of the Chapan War as peasants of the provinces of Samara and Simbirsk rebel against Soviet rule.
• March 4
• * The Communist International is founded.
• * Russian Civil War: The White forces in Siberia under the command of Admiral Alexander Kolchak attack the positions of the Red Army in the Spring Offensive. The Whites crush the 5th Red Army under Jan Blumberg, and capture Okhansk, Osa, Sarapul and finally Ufa over the next days.
• March 4–5 - Kinmel Park Riots by troops of the Canadian Expeditionary Force awaiting repatriation at Kinmel Camp, Bodelwyddan, in North Wales. Five men are killed, 28 injured, and 25 convicted of mutiny.
• March 5 - A. Mitchell Palmer becomes United States Attorney General, through recess appointment.
• March 8
• * The Rowlatt Act is passed by the Imperial Legislative Council in London, indefinitely extending the emergency provisions of the Defence of India Act 1915.
• * British authorities in Egypt arrest populist leader Saad Zaghloul, exiling him to Malta, triggering the Egyptian Revolution of 1919.
• March 11–June 8 - Russian Civil War: The Cossacks of the Upper Don rebel against Bolshevik rule in the Vyoshenskaya Uprising and join the White forces.
• March 15–17 - Members of the American Expeditionary Forces convene in Paris for the first American Legion caucus.
• March 17 - Birth of the Commonwealth of the Philippines.
• March 21 - The Hungarian Soviet Republic is established by Béla Kun.
• March 23 - Benito Mussolini founds his Italian Fascist political movement in Milan.
• March 23–24 - Charles I, the last Emperor of Austria, leaves Austria for exile in Switzerland.
• March 26 - Queen of the South F.C. is formed in Dumfries, Scotland.
• March 27 - The name Bratislava is officially adopted for the city of Pressburg.

  April

• April 5 - Pinsk massacre: 35 Jews are killed by the Polish Army without trial after being accused of Bolshevism.
• April 6–7 - The Bavarian Soviet Republic is founded.
• April 10 - Mexican Revolution leader Emiliano Zapata is ambushed and shot dead in Morelos.
• April 12 - French serial killer Henri Désiré Landru is arrested.
• April 13
• * Amritsar Massacre: Under the command of Reginald Dyer, detachments of the 9th Gorkha Rifles and the 59th Scinde Rifles massacre 379 Sikh civilians at Jallianwala Bagh in Amritsar, in the Punjab Province.
• * Eugene V. Debs enters prison at the Atlanta Federal Penitentiary in Atlanta, Georgia for speaking out against conscription in the United States during World War I.
• April 15 - The Save the Children Fund is created in the UK to raise money for the relief of German and Austrian children.
• April 20 - The French Army blows up the bridge over the Dniester at Bender, Moldova, to protect the city from the Bolsheviks.
• April 22–June 20 - Russian Civil War: Counteroffensive of Eastern Front - The Reds go on the offensive on the Siberia Front: General Gaya Gai defeats the White forces near Orenburg after a 3-day battle. Over the next weeks, the Red Army pushes the Whites behind the Ural Mountains.
• April 23 - The Estonian Constituent Assembly convenes its first session.
• April 25
• * The Bauhaus architectural and design movement is founded in Weimar, Germany.
• * Anzac Day is observed for the first time in Australia.
• * Pancho Villa takes Parral, Chihuahua, in Mexico, and executes the mayor and his two sons.
• April 30 - First wave of 1919 United States anarchist bombings: several bombs sent by followers of the Italian anarchist Luigi Galleani are intercepted.