January
January 1: Iolaire sinks.
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 Scotland; 206 die.
Edsel Ford succeeds his father as head of the Ford Motor Company.
January 5
Spartacist uprising: Socialist demonstrations in Berlin, Germany turn into an attempted communist revolution.
In Germany, the German Workers' Party (Deutsche Arbeiterpartei, DAP), predecessor of the Nazi Party, is formed by merger of Anton Drexler's Committee of Independent Workmen with journalist Karl Harrer's Political Worker's Circle.
January 7
The beginning of Tragic Week (Argentina); an anarchist uprising in Buenos Aires is suppressed by official forces.
Estonian War of Independence: The Soviet Red Army meets resistance from Estonian forces.
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 9 – Friedrich Ebert orders the Freikorps into action in Berlin.
January 10–12 – The Freikorps attacks Spartacist supporters around Berlin.
January 11
Romania annexes Transylvania.
Georgians genocide in Alagir.
January 13 – Worker's councils in Berlin end the general strike; the Spartacist uprising is over.
January 15
Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht are murdered following the Spartacist uprising.
Boston Molasses Disaster: A wave of molasses released from an exploding storage tank sweeps through Boston, Massachusetts, killing 21 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
World War I: The Paris Peace Conference opens at the Palace of Versailles, France. Bentley Motors Limited is founded in England.
January 19
The Monarchy of the North is established in Northern Portugal.
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 (RIC) men are killed in an ambush at Soloheadbeg in Tipperary.
Gojong, the first emperor of the Korean Empire, dies.
January 23 – The Khotin Uprising breaks out in Khotyn, Ukraine.
January 25 – The League of Nations is founded in Paris.
January 31
Battle of George Square: The British Army is called in to deal with riots and protests against high rents in Glasgow, Scotland.
Estonian War of Independence: The Red Army is expelled from the entire territory of Estonia.
David Kirkwood being detained by police during the Battle of George Square
February
February 3 – Soviet troops occupy Ukraine.
February 4-5 – Pressburg (Bratislava) becomes capital of Slovakia. February 6 – The Seattle General Strike begins in the United States, affecting over 65,000 workers.
February 11
Friedrich Ebert is elected first President of Germany.
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 14 – The Polish–Soviet War begins with the Battle of Bereza Kartuska.
February 25 – Oregon places a one cent per US gallon (0.26¢/liter) 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 Secretary of War Newton D. Baker.
March
March 1 – The March 1st Movement against Japanese colonial rule in Korea is formed.
March 2 – Founding Congress of the Comintern opens in Moscow.
March 3 – The Supreme Court of the United States upholds the conviction of Charles Schenck.
March 4 – The Communist International (Comintern) is founded.
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.
March 9 – The Egyptian Revolution of 1919 breaks out.
March 15–17 – Members of the American Expeditionary Forces convene in Paris for the first American Legion caucus.
March 21 – The Hungarian Soviet Republic is established by Béla Kun.
March 23 – In Milan, Italy, Benito Mussolini founds his Fascist political movement.
March 23–24 – Charles I, last Emperor of Austria, leaves Austria for exile in Switzerland.
March 27 – The name Bratislava is officially adopted for the city of Pressburg.
March 31 – A general strike begins in the Ruhr.
April
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: British and Gurkha troops massacre 379 Sikhs at Jallianwala Bagh in Amritsar in the Punjab Province (British India).
Eugene V. Debs enters prison at the Atlanta Federal Penitentiary in Atlanta, Georgia for speaking out against the draft during World War I.
April 15 – 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 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 by hanging.
April 30 – Several bombs are intercepted in the first wave of the 1919 United States anarchist bombings.
May
May 1
A large left-wing demonstration in France leads to a violent confrontation with the police.
Riots break out in Cleveland, Ohio; 2 people are killed, 40 injured, and 116 arrested.
May 2 – Weimar Republic troops and the Freikorps occupy Munich and crush the Bavarian Soviet Republic.
May 3 – Amānullāh Khān attacks British government in India.
May 4
The May Fourth Movement opposes foreign colonizers in China erupts.
The League of Red Cross Societies is founded in Paris.
May 6 – Beginning of the Third Anglo-Afghan War.
May 8 – Edward George Honey proposes the idea of a moment of silence to commemorate the Armistice of World War I.
May 8–27 – United States Navy Curtiss flying boat NC-4 commanded by Albert Cushing Read makes the first transatlantic flight, from Naval Air Station Rockaway to Lisbon via Trepassey, Newfoundland (departs May 16) and the Azores (arrives May 17). (On May 30–31 it flies on to Plymouth in England.)
May 9 – In Belgium, a new electoral law introduces universal manhood suffrage and gives the franchise to certain classes of women.
May 15
The Hellenic Army lands at Smyrna on ships of the British Royal Navy.
Law providing for full women's suffrage in the Netherlands is introduced.
Winnipeg General Strike: Workers in Winnipeg launch a strike for better wages and working conditions.
May 17 – The Committee of One Thousand forms to oppose the Winnipeg General Strike.
May 19
Mustafa Kemal Atatürk lands at Samsun on the Anatolian Black Sea coast, marking the start of the Turkish War of Independence. The anniversary of this event is also an official day of Turkish Youth.
Volcano Kelud erupts in Java, killing about 5,000.
May 23 – The University of California opens its second campus in Los Angeles. Initially called Southern Branch of the University of California (SBUC), it is eventually renamed the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).
May 27
Fyodor Raskolnikov is exchanged for fourteen British prisoners of war.
Siege of Spin Boldak (Third Anglo-Afghan War): last time the British Army uses an escalade. May 29
Einstein's theory of general relativity is tested by Arthur Eddington's observation of the "bending of light" during a total solar eclipse in Príncipe, and by Andrew Crommelin in Sobral, Ceará, Brazil (confirmed November 19). The Republic of Prekmurje formally declares independence from Hungary.
May 30 – By agreement with the United Kingdom, later confirmed by the League of Nations, Belgium is given the mandate over part of German East Africa (Ruanda-Urundi).
June
"The Big Four" during the Paris Peace Conference (from left to right, David Lloyd George, Vittorio Orlando, Georges Clemenceau, Woodrow Wilson).
June – Earl W. Bascom, rodeo cowboy and artist, along with his father John W. Bascom at Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada, designs and makes rodeo's first reverse-opening side-delivery bucking chute, now the world standard.
June 2 – Eight mail bombs are sent to prominent figures as part of the 1919 United States anarchist bombings.
June 4 – Women's rights: The United States 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.
June 6 – The Hungarian Red Army attacks the Republic of Prekmurje.
June 7 – Sette Giugno on Malta: British troops fire on a mob protesting against the colonial government, killing four.
June 14–15 – A Vickers Vimy piloted by John Alcock DSC with navigator Arthur Whitten Brown makes the first nonstop transatlantic flight, from St. John's, Newfoundland, to Clifden, Connemara, Ireland.
June 15 – Pancho Villa attacks Ciudad Juárez, Mexico. When the bullets begin to fly to the American side of the border, two units of the United States 7th Cavalry Regiment cross the border to repulse Villa's forces away from American territory.
June 17 – English Police Sergeant Thomas Green killed during the Epsom Riot by Canadian troops
June 18 – The biggest football club in Central America, Liga Deportiva Alajuelense, is founded in Costa Rica.
June 21
Winnipeg General Strike: Royal Northwest Mounted Police fire a volley of bullets into a crowd of unemployed war veterans, killing two.
Scuttling of the German fleet in Scapa Flow: Admiral Ludwig von Reuter scuttles the German fleet interned in Scapa Flow, Scotland; nine German sailors are killed.
June 23 – Estonian War of Independence – Battle of Cēsis: The Estonian army is victorious in northern Latvia against the pro-German Baltische Landeswehr.
June 26 – British Foreign Office official St John Philby and T. E. Lawrence arrive in Cairo for discussions about Arab unrest in Egypt having been flown by Canadian pilot Harry Yates in a Handley Page bomber which set off from England on June 21.
June 28
The Treaty of Versailles is signed, formally ending World War I. John Maynard Keynes, who had been present at the conference and was unhappy with the terms of the treaty, brings out his own analysis later in the year, entitled The Economic Consequences of the Peace.
International Labor Organization (ILO) is established as an agency of the League of Nations.
July
July 2 – The Syrian National Congress in Damascus: Arab nationalists announce independence.
July 2–6 – British airship R34 makes the first transatlantic flight by dirigible, and the first westbound flight, from RAF East Fortune, Scotland, to Mineola, New York.
July 7 – The United States Army sends a convoy across the continental U.S., starting in Washington, D.C., to assess the possibility of crossing North America by road. This crossing takes many months to complete, because the building of the U.S. Highway System has not commenced.
July 11 – The eight-hour day and free Sunday become law for workers in the Netherlands.
July 19 – The Foreign Ministry of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic is established by decree of the chancellory for foreign affairs. July 21 – Wingfoot Air Express crash: The dirigible Wingfoot Air Express catches fire over downtown Chicago. Two passengers, one aircrewman and ten people on the ground are killed. However, two people parachute to the ground safely. July 27 – The Chicago Race Riot of 1919 begins when a white man throws stones at a group of four black teens on a raft.
July 31 – British police strike in London and Liverpool for recognition of the National Union of Police and Prison Officers; over 2,000 strikers are dismissed.
August
Romanian troops entering Budapest
Leonid Perfetsky picture showing a conflict between the soldiers of Ukrainian Galician Army and Volunteer Army in the streets of Kiev during their joint operation against the Bolsheviks, under the command of General Denikin, Aug 1919.
August 1 – Béla Kun's Hungarian Soviet Republic collapses.
August 3 – Romanian army liberates Timișoara from the Hungarian occupation.
August 4 – Romanian army occupies Budapest.
August 8 – Treaty of Rawalpindi ends the Third Anglo-Afghan War.
August 11 – In Germany, the Weimar Constitution is proclaimed to be in effect (ratified).
August 18 – The Bolshevik fleet at Kronstadt, near Petrograd, Russia, on the Baltic Sea, is mostly destroyed by German warplanes and torpedo boats in a combined operation.
August 19 – Afghanistan gains independence from the United Kingdom.
August 16–26 – First Silesian Uprising: The Poles in Upper Silesia rise against the Germans.
Friedrich Ebert becomes president in Weimar, Germany
August 21– Friedrich Ebert becomes first president in Germany
August 31 – The American Communist Party is established.
September
September 3 – Jan Smuts becomes the second Prime Minister of South Africa.
September 6 – The U.S. Army expedition across America, which started July 7, ends in San Francisco.
September 10 – The Treaty of Saint-Germain is signed, ending World War I with Empire of Austria-Hungary.
September 10–15: The Florida Keys hurricane kills 600 in the Gulf of Mexico, Florida and Texas.
September 12– Gabriele D'Annunzio, with his entourage, marches into Fiume and convinces Italian troops to join him.
September 17 – German South-West Africa is placed under South African administration.
September 21 – The Steel strike of 1919 begins across the United States.
September 27 – The last British Army troops leave Archangel and leave fighting to the Russians.
October
October 2 – President of the United States Woodrow Wilson suffers a serious stroke, rendering him an invalid for the remainder of his life (died 1924).
October 9 – In Major League Baseball, the Cincinnati Reds win the World Series, five games to three, over the Chicago White Sox, whose players are later found to have lost intentionally.
October 13 – The Convention relating to the Regulation of Aerial Navigation is signed.
October 16 – In Germany, Adolf Hitler gives his first speech for the German Workers' Party (DAP).
October 16 – The historic Condado Vanderbilt Hotel is inaugurated in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
October 28 – Prohibition in the United States is authorized: The United States Congress passes the Volstead Act over President Woodrow Wilson's veto. Prohibition goes into effect on January 17, 1920, under the provisions of the 18th Amendment to the United States Constitution.
November
November 1 – The Coal Strike of 1919 begins in the United States by the United Mine Workers under John L. Lewis. Final agreement comes on December 10.
November 7 – The first Palmer Raid is conducted on the second anniversary of the Russian Revolution. Over 10,000 suspected communists and anarchists are arrested in twenty-three different U.S. cities.
November 9 – Felix the Cat appears in Feline Follies, marking the first cartoon character to become popular.
November 10 – Supreme Court of the United States upholds conviction of Jacob Abrams for inciting resistance to the war effort against Soviet Russia.
November 10–12 – The first national convention of the American Legion is held in Minneapolis.
November 11
First Remembrance Day observed in the British Empire with a two minute silence at 11:00 hrs, following an original suggestion by Australian-born soldier and journalist Edward George Honey ("Warren Foster"). The Centralia Massacre in Centralia, Washington (United States), originating at an Armistice Day parade, results in the deaths of four members of the American Legion, and the lynching of a local leader of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW).
November 16 – After Entente pressure, Romanian forces withdraw from Budapest and allow Admiral Horthy to march in.
November 19 – The Treaty of Versailles fails a critical ratification vote in the United States Senate. It will never be ratified by the U.S.
November 27 – The Treaty of Neuilly-sur-Seine is signed between the Allies and Bulgaria.
November 30 – Health officials declare the global "Spanish" flu pandemic has ceased.
December
December 1
American-born Nancy Astor, Viscountess Astor, becomes the first woman to take her seat in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, having become the second to be elected on November 28. XWA (now CINW), in Montreal, becomes the first public radio station in North America to go on the air.
December 5 – The Turkish Ministry of War releases Greeks, Armenians and Jews from military service.
December 19 – The fictional character Ham Gravy makes his début in Thimble Theatre Comics.
December 21 – The United States deports 249 people, including Emma Goldman, to Russia on the USAT Buford.
December 25 – Cliftonhill Stadium in Coatbridge, Scotland, opens as the home of Albion Rovers F.C.. They lose the opening match 2–0 to St. Mirren.
January 1: Iolaire sinks.
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 Scotland; 206 die.
Edsel Ford succeeds his father as head of the Ford Motor Company.
January 5
Spartacist uprising: Socialist demonstrations in Berlin, Germany turn into an attempted communist revolution.
In Germany, the German Workers' Party (Deutsche Arbeiterpartei, DAP), predecessor of the Nazi Party, is formed by merger of Anton Drexler's Committee of Independent Workmen with journalist Karl Harrer's Political Worker's Circle.
January 7
The beginning of Tragic Week (Argentina); an anarchist uprising in Buenos Aires is suppressed by official forces.
Estonian War of Independence: The Soviet Red Army meets resistance from Estonian forces.
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 9 – Friedrich Ebert orders the Freikorps into action in Berlin.
January 10–12 – The Freikorps attacks Spartacist supporters around Berlin.
January 11
Romania annexes Transylvania.
Georgians genocide in Alagir.
January 13 – Worker's councils in Berlin end the general strike; the Spartacist uprising is over.
January 15
Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht are murdered following the Spartacist uprising.
Boston Molasses Disaster: A wave of molasses released from an exploding storage tank sweeps through Boston, Massachusetts, killing 21 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
World War I: The Paris Peace Conference opens at the Palace of Versailles, France. Bentley Motors Limited is founded in England.
January 19
The Monarchy of the North is established in Northern Portugal.
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 (RIC) men are killed in an ambush at Soloheadbeg in Tipperary.
Gojong, the first emperor of the Korean Empire, dies.
January 23 – The Khotin Uprising breaks out in Khotyn, Ukraine.
January 25 – The League of Nations is founded in Paris.
January 31
Battle of George Square: The British Army is called in to deal with riots and protests against high rents in Glasgow, Scotland.
Estonian War of Independence: The Red Army is expelled from the entire territory of Estonia.
David Kirkwood being detained by police during the Battle of George Square
February
February 3 – Soviet troops occupy Ukraine.
February 4-5 – Pressburg (Bratislava) becomes capital of Slovakia. February 6 – The Seattle General Strike begins in the United States, affecting over 65,000 workers.
February 11
Friedrich Ebert is elected first President of Germany.
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 14 – The Polish–Soviet War begins with the Battle of Bereza Kartuska.
February 25 – Oregon places a one cent per US gallon (0.26¢/liter) 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 Secretary of War Newton D. Baker.
March
March 1 – The March 1st Movement against Japanese colonial rule in Korea is formed.
March 2 – Founding Congress of the Comintern opens in Moscow.
March 3 – The Supreme Court of the United States upholds the conviction of Charles Schenck.
March 4 – The Communist International (Comintern) is founded.
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.
March 9 – The Egyptian Revolution of 1919 breaks out.
March 15–17 – Members of the American Expeditionary Forces convene in Paris for the first American Legion caucus.
March 21 – The Hungarian Soviet Republic is established by Béla Kun.
March 23 – In Milan, Italy, Benito Mussolini founds his Fascist political movement.
March 23–24 – Charles I, last Emperor of Austria, leaves Austria for exile in Switzerland.
March 27 – The name Bratislava is officially adopted for the city of Pressburg.
March 31 – A general strike begins in the Ruhr.
April
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: British and Gurkha troops massacre 379 Sikhs at Jallianwala Bagh in Amritsar in the Punjab Province (British India).
Eugene V. Debs enters prison at the Atlanta Federal Penitentiary in Atlanta, Georgia for speaking out against the draft during World War I.
April 15 – 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 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 by hanging.
April 30 – Several bombs are intercepted in the first wave of the 1919 United States anarchist bombings.
May
May 1
A large left-wing demonstration in France leads to a violent confrontation with the police.
Riots break out in Cleveland, Ohio; 2 people are killed, 40 injured, and 116 arrested.
May 2 – Weimar Republic troops and the Freikorps occupy Munich and crush the Bavarian Soviet Republic.
May 3 – Amānullāh Khān attacks British government in India.
May 4
The May Fourth Movement opposes foreign colonizers in China erupts.
The League of Red Cross Societies is founded in Paris.
May 6 – Beginning of the Third Anglo-Afghan War.
May 8 – Edward George Honey proposes the idea of a moment of silence to commemorate the Armistice of World War I.
May 8–27 – United States Navy Curtiss flying boat NC-4 commanded by Albert Cushing Read makes the first transatlantic flight, from Naval Air Station Rockaway to Lisbon via Trepassey, Newfoundland (departs May 16) and the Azores (arrives May 17). (On May 30–31 it flies on to Plymouth in England.)
May 9 – In Belgium, a new electoral law introduces universal manhood suffrage and gives the franchise to certain classes of women.
May 15
The Hellenic Army lands at Smyrna on ships of the British Royal Navy.
Law providing for full women's suffrage in the Netherlands is introduced.
Winnipeg General Strike: Workers in Winnipeg launch a strike for better wages and working conditions.
May 17 – The Committee of One Thousand forms to oppose the Winnipeg General Strike.
May 19
Mustafa Kemal Atatürk lands at Samsun on the Anatolian Black Sea coast, marking the start of the Turkish War of Independence. The anniversary of this event is also an official day of Turkish Youth.
Volcano Kelud erupts in Java, killing about 5,000.
May 23 – The University of California opens its second campus in Los Angeles. Initially called Southern Branch of the University of California (SBUC), it is eventually renamed the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).
May 27
Fyodor Raskolnikov is exchanged for fourteen British prisoners of war.
Siege of Spin Boldak (Third Anglo-Afghan War): last time the British Army uses an escalade. May 29
Einstein's theory of general relativity is tested by Arthur Eddington's observation of the "bending of light" during a total solar eclipse in Príncipe, and by Andrew Crommelin in Sobral, Ceará, Brazil (confirmed November 19). The Republic of Prekmurje formally declares independence from Hungary.
May 30 – By agreement with the United Kingdom, later confirmed by the League of Nations, Belgium is given the mandate over part of German East Africa (Ruanda-Urundi).
June
"The Big Four" during the Paris Peace Conference (from left to right, David Lloyd George, Vittorio Orlando, Georges Clemenceau, Woodrow Wilson).
June – Earl W. Bascom, rodeo cowboy and artist, along with his father John W. Bascom at Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada, designs and makes rodeo's first reverse-opening side-delivery bucking chute, now the world standard.
June 2 – Eight mail bombs are sent to prominent figures as part of the 1919 United States anarchist bombings.
June 4 – Women's rights: The United States 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.
June 6 – The Hungarian Red Army attacks the Republic of Prekmurje.
June 7 – Sette Giugno on Malta: British troops fire on a mob protesting against the colonial government, killing four.
June 14–15 – A Vickers Vimy piloted by John Alcock DSC with navigator Arthur Whitten Brown makes the first nonstop transatlantic flight, from St. John's, Newfoundland, to Clifden, Connemara, Ireland.
June 15 – Pancho Villa attacks Ciudad Juárez, Mexico. When the bullets begin to fly to the American side of the border, two units of the United States 7th Cavalry Regiment cross the border to repulse Villa's forces away from American territory.
June 17 – English Police Sergeant Thomas Green killed during the Epsom Riot by Canadian troops
June 18 – The biggest football club in Central America, Liga Deportiva Alajuelense, is founded in Costa Rica.
June 21
Winnipeg General Strike: Royal Northwest Mounted Police fire a volley of bullets into a crowd of unemployed war veterans, killing two.
Scuttling of the German fleet in Scapa Flow: Admiral Ludwig von Reuter scuttles the German fleet interned in Scapa Flow, Scotland; nine German sailors are killed.
June 23 – Estonian War of Independence – Battle of Cēsis: The Estonian army is victorious in northern Latvia against the pro-German Baltische Landeswehr.
June 26 – British Foreign Office official St John Philby and T. E. Lawrence arrive in Cairo for discussions about Arab unrest in Egypt having been flown by Canadian pilot Harry Yates in a Handley Page bomber which set off from England on June 21.
June 28
The Treaty of Versailles is signed, formally ending World War I. John Maynard Keynes, who had been present at the conference and was unhappy with the terms of the treaty, brings out his own analysis later in the year, entitled The Economic Consequences of the Peace.
International Labor Organization (ILO) is established as an agency of the League of Nations.
July
July 2 – The Syrian National Congress in Damascus: Arab nationalists announce independence.
July 2–6 – British airship R34 makes the first transatlantic flight by dirigible, and the first westbound flight, from RAF East Fortune, Scotland, to Mineola, New York.
July 7 – The United States Army sends a convoy across the continental U.S., starting in Washington, D.C., to assess the possibility of crossing North America by road. This crossing takes many months to complete, because the building of the U.S. Highway System has not commenced.
July 11 – The eight-hour day and free Sunday become law for workers in the Netherlands.
July 19 – The Foreign Ministry of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic is established by decree of the chancellory for foreign affairs. July 21 – Wingfoot Air Express crash: The dirigible Wingfoot Air Express catches fire over downtown Chicago. Two passengers, one aircrewman and ten people on the ground are killed. However, two people parachute to the ground safely. July 27 – The Chicago Race Riot of 1919 begins when a white man throws stones at a group of four black teens on a raft.
July 31 – British police strike in London and Liverpool for recognition of the National Union of Police and Prison Officers; over 2,000 strikers are dismissed.
August
Romanian troops entering Budapest
Leonid Perfetsky picture showing a conflict between the soldiers of Ukrainian Galician Army and Volunteer Army in the streets of Kiev during their joint operation against the Bolsheviks, under the command of General Denikin, Aug 1919.
August 1 – Béla Kun's Hungarian Soviet Republic collapses.
August 3 – Romanian army liberates Timișoara from the Hungarian occupation.
August 4 – Romanian army occupies Budapest.
August 8 – Treaty of Rawalpindi ends the Third Anglo-Afghan War.
August 11 – In Germany, the Weimar Constitution is proclaimed to be in effect (ratified).
August 18 – The Bolshevik fleet at Kronstadt, near Petrograd, Russia, on the Baltic Sea, is mostly destroyed by German warplanes and torpedo boats in a combined operation.
August 19 – Afghanistan gains independence from the United Kingdom.
August 16–26 – First Silesian Uprising: The Poles in Upper Silesia rise against the Germans.
Friedrich Ebert becomes president in Weimar, Germany
August 21– Friedrich Ebert becomes first president in Germany
August 31 – The American Communist Party is established.
September
September 3 – Jan Smuts becomes the second Prime Minister of South Africa.
September 6 – The U.S. Army expedition across America, which started July 7, ends in San Francisco.
September 10 – The Treaty of Saint-Germain is signed, ending World War I with Empire of Austria-Hungary.
September 10–15: The Florida Keys hurricane kills 600 in the Gulf of Mexico, Florida and Texas.
September 12– Gabriele D'Annunzio, with his entourage, marches into Fiume and convinces Italian troops to join him.
September 17 – German South-West Africa is placed under South African administration.
September 21 – The Steel strike of 1919 begins across the United States.
September 27 – The last British Army troops leave Archangel and leave fighting to the Russians.
October
October 2 – President of the United States Woodrow Wilson suffers a serious stroke, rendering him an invalid for the remainder of his life (died 1924).
October 9 – In Major League Baseball, the Cincinnati Reds win the World Series, five games to three, over the Chicago White Sox, whose players are later found to have lost intentionally.
October 13 – The Convention relating to the Regulation of Aerial Navigation is signed.
October 16 – In Germany, Adolf Hitler gives his first speech for the German Workers' Party (DAP).
October 16 – The historic Condado Vanderbilt Hotel is inaugurated in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
October 28 – Prohibition in the United States is authorized: The United States Congress passes the Volstead Act over President Woodrow Wilson's veto. Prohibition goes into effect on January 17, 1920, under the provisions of the 18th Amendment to the United States Constitution.
November
November 1 – The Coal Strike of 1919 begins in the United States by the United Mine Workers under John L. Lewis. Final agreement comes on December 10.
November 7 – The first Palmer Raid is conducted on the second anniversary of the Russian Revolution. Over 10,000 suspected communists and anarchists are arrested in twenty-three different U.S. cities.
November 9 – Felix the Cat appears in Feline Follies, marking the first cartoon character to become popular.
November 10 – Supreme Court of the United States upholds conviction of Jacob Abrams for inciting resistance to the war effort against Soviet Russia.
November 10–12 – The first national convention of the American Legion is held in Minneapolis.
November 11
First Remembrance Day observed in the British Empire with a two minute silence at 11:00 hrs, following an original suggestion by Australian-born soldier and journalist Edward George Honey ("Warren Foster"). The Centralia Massacre in Centralia, Washington (United States), originating at an Armistice Day parade, results in the deaths of four members of the American Legion, and the lynching of a local leader of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW).
November 16 – After Entente pressure, Romanian forces withdraw from Budapest and allow Admiral Horthy to march in.
November 19 – The Treaty of Versailles fails a critical ratification vote in the United States Senate. It will never be ratified by the U.S.
November 27 – The Treaty of Neuilly-sur-Seine is signed between the Allies and Bulgaria.
November 30 – Health officials declare the global "Spanish" flu pandemic has ceased.
December
December 1
American-born Nancy Astor, Viscountess Astor, becomes the first woman to take her seat in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, having become the second to be elected on November 28. XWA (now CINW), in Montreal, becomes the first public radio station in North America to go on the air.
December 5 – The Turkish Ministry of War releases Greeks, Armenians and Jews from military service.
December 19 – The fictional character Ham Gravy makes his début in Thimble Theatre Comics.
December 21 – The United States deports 249 people, including Emma Goldman, to Russia on the USAT Buford.
December 25 – Cliftonhill Stadium in Coatbridge, Scotland, opens as the home of Albion Rovers F.C.. They lose the opening match 2–0 to St. Mirren.