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| 1920 |
1920
1920 (MCMXX) 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 1,000,000 homes for war veterans. The promise will never be fulfilled in full.
- January 9 - Thousands of onlookers watch as "The Human Fly" George Polley, climbs the New York Woolworth Building. He has reached the 30th floor when a policeman arrests him for climbing without a permit
- 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 in the United States with the Eighteenth Amendment coming into effect.
- January 16 - Allies demand that the Netherlands extradite the German Kaiser, who has fled there.
- January 19 - The United States Senate votes against joining the League of Nations.
- January 22 - The Australian Country Party is officially formed.
- January 23 - The 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 the Ottoman Empire and all non-Turkish areas.
February
- February 1 - The Royal Canadian Mounted Police begin operations.
- February 2 - Estonia's independence is recognised.
- 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 racing 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 Regent of Hungary
- March 1 - The United States Railroad Administration returns control of American railroads to its constituent railroad companies.
- 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-May
- 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 6 - The short-lived Far Eastern Republic declared in eastern Siberia
- April 11 - Mexican Revolution - Alvaro Obregon flees from Mexico City during a trial intended to ruin his reputation - he flees to Guerrero where he joins Fortunato Maycotte
- April 19 - Germany and Bolshevist Russia agree to the exchange of prisoners of war.
- April 20 - Alvaro Obregon announces in Chilpancingo that he intends to fight against the rule of Venustiano Carranza
- 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 2 - The first game of the Negro National League baseball is played in Indianapolis, Indiana.
- May 7 - Polish-Soviet War: Polish troops occupy Kyiv. Ukrainian government returns to the city.
- May 7 - Venustiano Carranza leaves Mexico City in a large train
- May 9 - Alvaro Obregon's troops enter Mexico City
- May 15 - Maria Bochkareva executed in Soviet Union
- 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 20 - Venustiano Carranza arrives in San Antonio Tlaxcalantongo. Troops of Rodolfo Herrero attack him at night and shoot him
- May 24 - Venustiano Carranza is buried in Mexico City - all of his mourning allies are arrested. Adolfo de la Huerta is elected provisional president
- May 24 - French president Paul Deschanel falls out of a train and is later found wandering along the railroad track, wearing pajamas.
- May 27 - Thomas Masaryk becomes president of Czechoslovakia.
- May 29 - Great Horncastle flood. 20 people killed.
June-July
- June 4 - Treaty of Trianon, Treaty of Peace between The Allied and Hungary.
- June 12 - Polish-Soviet War: Red Army retakes Kyiv.
- June 13 - The United States Postal Service rules that children may not be sent via parcel post
- June 15 - New border treaty between Germany and Denmark gives northern Schleswig to Denmark.
- June 22 - Greece attacks Turkish troops.
- 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 Faisal I of Syria is deposed and occupies Damascus and Aleppo
- July 17 - Republic of Mirdite proclaimed near Albanian-Serbian border with Yugoslav support
- July 22 - Polish-Soviet War: Poland sues for peace with Bolshevist Russia.
- July 25 - First transatlantic two-way radio broadcast.
- July 26 - Pancho Villa takes over Sabina and contacts de la Huerta to offer his conditional surrender. He signs his surrender in July 28
- July 29 - The United States Bureau of Reclamation begins contruction of the Link River Dam as part of the Klamath Reclamation Project.
August-September
- 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.
- 19 August-25 August - Second Silesian Uprising, the Poles in Upper Silesia rise against the Germans
- August 20 - The first commercial radio station in the United States, 8MK (WWJ), begins operations in Detroit, Michigan.
- September 4 - La Tercio de Extranjenos, the "Regiment of Foreigners" (modern-day Spanish Legion) inaugurated in Spain
- September 5 - Presidential elections begin in Mexico
- September 8 - Gabriele D'Annunzio declares Fiume a free state.
- September 16 - The Wall Street bombing: a bomb in a horse wagon explodes in front of the J.P.Morgan building in New York City - 39 dead, 400 injured
- September 20 - The first soldier joins the Spanish Legion.
- 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-November
- October 9 - Polish troops take Vilnius
- October 10 - In the Carinthian Plebiscite a large part of Carinthia Province votes to become part of Austria rather than of the Yugoslavia.
- 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
- October 26 - Alvaro Obregon is announced elected president of Mexico
- October 27 - League of Nations moves its headquarters to Geneve, Switzerland
- 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 a 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 16 - Queensland and Northen Territory Aviation Services (Qantas) is founded by Hudson Fysh and Paul McGinniss.
- November 17 - Council of League of Nations accepts the constitution of Danzig(Gdansk) 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.
- November 28 - The Third Cork Brigade Flying Column under Gen. Tom Barry successfully ambush two lorries of British soldiers at Kilmichael ,Co.Cork.
December
- December 1 - Álvaro Obregón becomes 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.
- December 25 - Foundation of The Rosicrucian Fellowship's Spiritual Healing Temple "The Ecclesia" at Mount Ecclesia, Oceanside, California (USA).
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, Illinois from New York City, New York.
- Bricks of wine are widely sold throughout U.S.
Births
January
- January 1 - Virgilio Savona, Italian singer and songwriter (Quartetto Cetra)
- January 2 - Isaac Asimov, Russian-born author (d. 1992)
- January 3 - Renato Carosone, Italian musician and singer (d. 2001)
- January 5 - Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli, Italian pianist (d. 1995)
- January 6 - Sun Myung Moon, Korean evangelist
- January 6 - John Maynard Smith, English biologist (d. 2004)
- January 6 - Early Wynn, baseball player (d. 1999)
- January 12 - Bill Reid, Canadian artist (d. 1998)
- January 19 - Javier Pérez de Cuéllar, Peruvian United Nations Secretary General
- January 20 - Federico Fellini, Italian film director (d. 1993)
- January 20 - DeForest Kelley, American actor (d. 1999)
- January 20 - John O'Connor, American Catholic cardinal
- January 23 - Gottfried Böhm, German architect
- January 30 - Delbert Mann, American television and film director
February-March
- February 7 - An Wang, Chinese-born computer pioneer (d. 1990)
- February 11 - Farouk I, King of Egypt (d. 1965)
- February 11 - Billy Halop, American actor (d. 1976)
- February 11 - Paul Peter Piech, American artist (d. 1996)
- February 12 - William Roscoe Estep, American Baptist historian (d. 2000)
- February 17 - Ivo Caprino, Norwegian film director (d. 2001)
- February 18 - Bill Cullen, American game show host (d. 1990)
- February 18 - Eddie Slovik, U.S. Army private (d. 1945)
- February 26 - Tony Randall, American actor (d. 2004)
- February 29 - Howard Nemerov, American poet (d. 1991)
- March 3 - James Doohan, Canadian-born actor (d. 2005)
- March 3 - Ronald Searle, British cartoonist
- March 10 - Boris Vian , French writer, poet, singer and musician
- March 11 - Nicolaas Bloembergen, Dutch physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
- March 14 - Hank Ketcham, American cartoonist (d. 2001)
- March 15 - Lawrence Sanders, American novelist (d. 1998)
- March 15 - E. Donnall Thomas, American physician, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
- March 16 - Leo McKern, Australian actor (d. 2002)
- March 17 - Mujibur Rahman, Prime Minister of Bangladesh (d. 1975)
- March 19 - Kjell Aukrust, Norwegian poet and artist (d. 2002)
- March 20 - Pamela Harriman, English-born U.S. Ambassador to France (d. 1997)
- March 22 Werner Klemperer, German actor (d. 2000)
- March 25 - Patrick Troughton, British actor (d. 1987)
- March 25 - Arthur Wint, Jamaican runner (d. 1992)
April
- April 1 - Toshirô Mifune, Japanese actor (d. 1997)
- April 2 - Jack Webb, American actor, director, and producer (d. 1982)
- April 5 - Arthur Hailey, American writer
- April 6 - Edmond H. Fischer, Swiss-American biochemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
- April 7 - Ravi Shankar, Indian sitar player
- April 11 - Peter O'Donnell, British cartoonist and writer
- April 15 - Thomas Stephen Szasz, Hungarian-born psychiatrist and writer
- April 13 - Liam Cosgrave, President of Ireland
- April 27 - Guido Cantelli, Italian conductor (d. 1956)
- April 29 - Harold Shapero, American composer
May
- May 2 - Jean-Marie Auberson, Swiss conductor (d. 2004)
- May 6 - Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara, first Prime Minister of Fiji and President of Fiji (d. 2004)
- May 9 - Richard Adams, English author
- May 18 - Pope John Paul II (d. 2005)
- May 18 - Lucia Mannucci, Italian singer (Quartetto Cetra)
- May 23 - Helen O'Connell, American singer (d. 1993)
- May 26 - Peggy Lee, American singer (d. 2002)
- May 28 - Gene Levitt, American television writer, producer, and director (d. 1999)
- May 29 - John Harsanyi, Hungarian-born economist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2000)
- May 30 - Franklin Schaffner, American film and television director (d. 1989)
June-July
- June 2 - Tex Schramm, American football team president and general manager (d. 2003)
- June 12 - Dave Berg, American cartoonist (d. 2002)
- June 12 - Jim Siedow, American actor (d. 2003)
- June 16 - José López Portillo, President of Mexico (d. 2004)
- June 17 - François Jacob, French biologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
- June 25 - Ozan Marsh, American pianist
- July 10 - David Brinkley, American television reporter (d. 2003)
- July 10 - Owen Chamberlain, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
- July 17 - Juan Antonio Samaranch, Spanish International Olympic Committee president
- July 21 - Isaac Stern, Ukrainian-born violinist (d. 2001)
- July 24 - Bella Abzug, American politician (d. 1998)
- July 25 - Rosalind Franklin, British crystallographer (d.1958)
August-December
- August 8 - Leo Chiosso, Italian poet
- August 16 - Charles Bukowski, American writer (d. 1994)
- August 18 - Bob Kennedy, baseball player and manager (d. 2005)
- August 21 - Christopher Robin Milne, English author and bookseller (d. 1996)
- August 22 - Ray Bradbury, American writer
- August 29 - Charlie Parker, American jazz saxophonist and composer (d. 1955)
- September 10 - Fabio Taglioni, Italian motorcycle engineer (d. 2001)
- September 14 - Mario Benedetti, Uruguayan writer
- September 14 - Lawrence Klein, American economist, Nobel Prize laureate
- September 22 - William H. Riker, American political scientist (d. 1993)
- September 29 - Peter D. Mitchell, English chemist, Nobel Prize laureate
- October 1 - Charles Daudelin, Canadian sculptor (d. 2001)
- October 1 - Walter Matthau, American actor (d. 2000)
- October 6 - Pietro Consagra, Italian sculptor (d. 2005)
- October 8 - Frank Herbert, American author (d. 1986)
- October 9 - Jens Bjørneboe, Norwegian author (d. 1976)
- October 15 - Mario Puzo, American author (d. 1999)
- October 29 - Baruj Benacerraf, Venezuelan-born immunologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
- October 31 - Fritz Walter, German football player (d. 2002)
- November 5 - Douglass North, American economist, Nobel Prize laureate
- November 21 - Stan Musial, baseball player
- November 23 - Paul Celan, Romanian-born poet (d. 1970)
- November 25 - Tuanku Syed Putra ibni Almarhum Syed Hassan Jamalullail, King of Malaysia (d. 2000)
- November 25 - Ricardo Montalban, Mexican actor
- November 25 - Noel Neill, American actress
- November 27 - Abe Lenstra, Dutch football player (d. 1985)
- December 6 - Dave Brubeck, American jazz pianist and composer
- December 6 - George Porter, English chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2002)
- December 9 - Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, President of the Italian Republic
- December 24 - Evgeniya Rudneva, Russian World War II heroine (d. 1944)
- December 30 - Jack Lord, American actor (d. 1998)
Date unknown
- Patrick Campbell Rodger, Scottish Anglican bishop (d. 2002)
Deaths
- January 2 - Paul Adam, French writer (b. 1862)
- January 3 - Zygmunt Janiszewski, Polish mathematician (b. 1888)
- January 4 - Benito Pérez Galdós, Spanish novelist (b. 1843)
- January 6 - Hieronymus Georg Zeuthen, Danish mathematician (b. 1839)
- January 7 - Edmund Barton, Prime Minister of Australia (b. 1849)
- January 18 - Giovanni Capurro, Italian poet (b. 1825)
- January 24 - William Percy French, Irish songwriter and entertainer (b. 1854)
- January 24 - Amedeo Modigliani, Italian painter and sculptor (tuberculosis) (b. 1884)
- January 24 - William Plunket, 5th Baron Plunket, British diplomat and administrator (b. 1864)
- January 26 - Jeanne Hébuterne, French artist, model, and common-law wife of Amedeo Modigliani (suicide) (b. 1898)
- February 2 - Field E. Kindley, American World War I aviator (b. 1896)
- February 3 - Frank Brown, Governor of Maryland (b. 1846)
- February 6 - Augustus F. Goodridge, Canadian merchant and politician (b. 1839)
- February 7 - Aleksandr Kolchak, Russian naval commander (b. 1874)
- February 15 - Joseph Burton Sumner, founder of Sumner, Mississippi (b. 1837)
- February 20 - Joseph J. Fern, Mayor of Honolulu (b. 1872)
- February 20 - Robert Peary, American Arctic explorer (b. 1856)
- February 27 - William Sherman Jennings, Governor of Florida (b. 1863)
- March 1 - John H. Bankhead, U.S. Senator from Alabama (b. 1842)
- March 1 - William A. Stone, Governor of Pennsylvania (b. 1846)
- March 1 - Joseph Trumpeldor, Russian Zionist (b. 1880)
- March 4 - Roswell P. Bishop, U.S. Congressman from Michigan (b. 1843)
- March 11 - Julio Garavito Armero, Colombian astronomer (b. 1865)
- March 13 - Charles Lapworth, English geologist (b. 1842)
- March 26 - William Chester Minor, American surgeon (b. 1834)
- March 26 - Mary Augusta Ward, Tasmanian novelist (b. 1851)
- March 31 - Paul Bachmann, German mathematician (b. 1837)
- March 31 - Edwin Warfield, Governor of Maryland (b. 1848)
- April 8 - John Brashear, American astronomer (b. 1840)
- April 8 - Charles Tomlinson Griffes, American composer (b. 1884)
- April 9 - Moritz Cantor, German historian of mathematics (b. 1829)
- April 21 - Maria L. Sanford, American educator (b. 1836)
- April 26 - Srinivasa Ramanujan, Indian mathematician (b. 1887)
- May 1 - Princess Margaret of Connaught, Crown Princess of Sweden (b. 1882)
- May 9 - Agnes Macdonald, wife of John A. Macdonald, Prime Minister of Canada (b. 1836
- May 11 - James Colosimo, Italian-born gangster (b. 1877)
- May 11 - William Dean Howells, American writer (b. 1837)
- May 16 - Levi P. Morton, Vice President of the United States (b. 1824)
- May 21 - Venustiano Carranza, President of Mexico (b. 1859)
- May 21 - Eleanor H. Porter, American novelist (b. 1868)
- May 23 - Svetozar Borojevic, Austro-Hungarian field marshal (b. 1856)
- May 30 - George Ernest Morrison, Australian adventurer (b. 1862)
- June 5 - Rhoda Broughton, Welsh writer (b. 1840)
- June 5 - Julia A. Moore, American poet (b. 1847)
- June 6 - James Dunsmuir, Canadian politician (b. 1851)
- June 13 - Essad Pasha, Prime Minister of Albania (b. 1863)
- June 14 - Gabrielle Réjane, French actress (b. 1856)
- June 14 - Max Weber, German political economist (b. 1864)
- June 18 - Jewett W. Adams, Governor of Nevada (b. 1835)
- June 18 - John Macoun, Irish born naturalist (b. 1831)
- June 20 - Marie Adolphe Carnot, French chemist, mining engineer, and politician (b. 1839)
- June 20 - John Grigg, New Zealand astronomer (b. 1838)
- June 27 - Adolphe Basile Routhier, Canadian poet (b. 1839)
- July 1 - calendar for any leap year starting on Thursday (dominical letter DC), e.g. 2004.
Previous year | Next year
This kind of year has 53 weeks in the ISO 8601 week - day format. Furthermore, ISO week 10 (which begins March 1) and all subsequent ISO weeks occur earlier than in any other kind of year.
| Century |
Year |
| 19th century: |
1824 |
1852 |
1880 |
| 20th century: |
1920 |
1948 |
1976 |
| 21st century: |
2004 |
2032 |
2060 |
2088 |
| 22nd century: |
2128 |
2156 |
2184 |
Category:Thursday
Category:Weeks
ko:목요일로 시작하는 윤년
th:ปีอธิกสุรทินที่วันแรกเป็นวันพฤหัสบดี
January 7
January 7 is the seventh day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. There are 358 days remaining (359 in leap years).
The day is 人日 (Jinjitsu), 七草の節句 in Japan.
Events
- 1325 - Alfonso IV becomes King of Portugal.
- 1558 - France takes Calais, the last continental possession of England.
- 1566 - Pius V becomes Pope.
- 1598 - Boris Godunov seizes the throne of Russia.
- 1601 - Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex leads revolt in London against Queen Elizabeth
- 1608 - Fire destroys Jamestown,Virginia.
- 1610 - Galileo Galilei observes the four largest moons of Jupiter for the first time. He named them and in turn the four are called the Galilean moons.
- 1782 - The first American commercial bank opens (Bank of North America).
- 1785 - Frenchman Jean-Pierre Blanchard and American John Jeffries travel from Dover, England to Calais, France in a gas balloon, becoming the first togreen-white-red tricolour as official flag. It is the birthday of the flag of Italy.
- 1835 - HMS Beagle anchors off the Chonos Archipelago.
- 1894 - W.K. Dickson receives a patent for motion picture film.
- 1896 - Fannie Farmer publishes her first cookbook.
- 1901 - Alferd Packer is released from prison after serving 18 years for cannibalism.
- 1904 - The distress signal "CQD" is established only to be replaced two years later by "SOS."
- 1911 - Mary Pickford marries Owen Moore.
- 1922 - Dáil Éireann ratifies the Anglo-Irish Treaty by 64-57 votes.
- 1924 - George Gershwin completes Rhapsody in Blue.
- The International Hockey Federation (FIH) is founded in Paris by seven member states: Austria, Belgium, Czechoslovakia, France, Hungary, Spain, and Switserland.
- 1926 - George Burns marries Gracie Allen.
- 1927 - First international telephone call - New York City to London.
- The Harlem Globetrotters play their first game.
- 1935 - World War II: Benito Mussolini and French Foreign Minister Pierre Laval sign the Italo-French agreements.
- 1942 - World War II: Siege of the Bataan Peninsula begins.
- 1945 - British General Bernard Montgomery holds a press conference in which he claims credit for victory in the Battle of the Bulge.
- 1950 - A fire at the Mercy Hospital in Davenport, Iowa kills 41 people.
- 1953 - President Harry Truman announces that the United States has developed a hydrogen bomb.
- 1954 - The first public demonstration of a machine translation system was held in New York at the head office of IBM.
- 1959 - The United States recognizes the new Cuban government of Fidel Castro
- 1975 - OPEC agrees to raise crude oil prices by 10%.
- 1979 - Phnom Penh fell to the advancing Vietnamese troops, so driving out Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge.
- 1980 - President Jimmy Carter authorizes legislation giving $1.5 billion in loans to bail out Chrysler Corporation.
- 1984 - Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
- 1989 - Akihito becomes Emperor of Japan.
- 1990 - The Leaning Tower of Pisa is closed to the public due to safety concerns.
- 1996 - One of the worst blizzards in American history hits eastern states killing more than 100.
- 1999 - The impeachment trial of President Bill Clinton begins.
Births
- 1355 - Thomas of Woodstock, 1st Duke of Gloucester, son of Edward III of England (d. 1397)
- 1502 - Pope Gregory XIII (d. 1585)
- 1528 - Jeanne d'Albret, Queen of Navarre (d. 1572)
- 1647 - Wilhelm Ludwig, Duke of Württemberg (d. 1677)
- 1685 - Jonas Alströmer, Swedish industrialist (d. 1761)
- 1706 - Johann Heinrich Zedler, German publisher (d. 1751)
- 1718 - Israel Putnam, American Revolutionary War general (d. 1790)
- 1768 - Joseph Bonaparte, King of Naples (d. 1844)
- 1800 - Millard Fillmore, 13th President of the United States (d. 1874)
- 1831 - Heinrich von Stephan, German labor organizer (d. 1897)
- 1834 - Johann Philipp Reis, German physicist and inventor (d. 1874)
- 1844 - Bernadette Soubirous, French saint (d. 1879)
- 1860 - Emanuil Manolov, Bulgarian composer (d. 1902)
- 1871 - Felix Édouard Justin Émile Borel, French mathematician, politician, and resistance fighter (d. 1956)
- 1873 - Adolph Zukor, Hungarian producer (d. 1976)
- 1875 - Thomas Hicks, American runner (d. 1963)
- 1891 - Zora Neale Hurston, American author (d. 1960)
- 1896 - Arnold Ridley, British playwright and actor (d. 1984)
- 1899 - Francis Poulenc, French composer (d. 1963)
- 1903 - Warren Hull, American actor (d. 1974)
- 1903 - Alan Napier, English actor (d. 1988)
- 1908 - Red Allen, American musician (d. 1967)
- 1910 - Faiz Ahmed Faiz, Pakistani poet (d. (1984)
- 1910 - Orval Faubus, Governor of Arkansas (d. 1994)
- 1911 - Butterfly McQueen, American actress (d. 1995)
- 1912 - Charles Addams, American cartoonist (d. 1988)
- 1913 - Johnny Mize, baseball player (d. 1993)
- 1916 - Paul Keres, Estonian chess player (d. 1975)
- 1922 - Vincent Gardenia, Italian-born actor (d. 1992)
- 1922 - Jean-Pierre Rampal, French flutist (d. 2000)
- 1923 - Hugh Kenner, Canadian literary critic (d. 2003)
- 1925 - Gerald Durrell British naturalist, zookeeper, author, and television presenter (d. 1995)
- 1928 - William Peter Blatty, American screenwriter
- 1929 - Terry Moore, American actress
- 1934 - Charlie Jenkins, American runner
- 1935 - Kenny Davern, American jazz clarinetist
- 1935 - Valeri Kubasov, cosmonaut
- 1941 - Iona Brown, British violinist and conductor (d. 2004)
- 1941 - John E. Walker, English chemist, Nobel Prize laureate
- 1942 - Vasily Alexeev, Russian weightlifter
- 1945 - Tony Conigliaro, American baseball player (d. 1990)
- 1946 - Jann Wenner, American publisher
- 1948 - Kenny Loggins, American singer
- 1949 - Steven Williams, American actor
- 1950 - Erin Gray, American actress
- 1956 - David Caruso, American actor
- 1957 - Nicholson Baker, American novelist
- 1957 - Katie Couric, American television host
- 1957 - Julian Solis, Puerto Rican boxer
- 1964 - Nicolas Cage, American actor
- 1966 - Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy, American publicist (d. 1999)
- 1967 - Mark Lamarr, British comedian
- 1971 - David Yost, American actor
- 1976 - Eric Gagné, Canadian baseball player
- 1976 - Alfonso Soriano, Dominican Major League Baseball player
- 1977 - Dustin Diamond, American actor
- 1979 - Bipasha Basu, Indian model and actress
- 1980 - Mariangel Ruiz, Venezuelan hostees, actress, and model
- 1990 - Liam Aiken, American Actor
Deaths
- 1400 - Thomas Holland, 1st Duke of Surrey, English politician (executed) (b. 1374)
- 1536 - Catherine of Aragon, queen of Henry VIII of England (b. 1485)
- 1566 - Louis de Blois, Flemish mystic (b. 1506)
- 1619 - Nicholas Hilliard, English painter
- 1625 - Ruggiero Giovannelli, Italian composer
- 1658 - Theophilus Eaton, Connecticut colonist (b. 1590)
- 1694 - Charles Gerard, 1st Earl of Macclesfield, English royalist general
- 1700 - Raphael Fabretti, Italian antiquarian (b. 1618)
- 1758 - Allan Ramsay, Scottish poet (b. 1686)
- 1767 - Thomas Clap, first president of Yale University (b. 1703)
- 1770 - Carl Gustaf Tessin, Swedish politician (b. 1695)
- 1783 - William Tans'ur, English hymnist (b. 1700)
- 1786 - Jean-Étienne Guettard, French physician and scientist (b. 1715)
- 1830 - Thomas Lawrence, English painter (b. 1769)
- 1864 - Caleb Blood Smith, U.S. Secretary of the Interior (b. 1808)
- 1872 - James Fisk, American entrepreneur (b. 1834)
- 1878 - François-Vincent Raspail, French chemist (b. 1794)
- 1893 - Jožef Stefan, Slovenian physicist, mathematician, and poet (b. 1835)
- 1920 - Edmund Barton, first Prime Minister of Australia (b. 1849)
- 1943 - Nikola Tesla, Serbian-born inventor and electrical engineer (b. 1856)
- 1951 - René Guénon, French-Egyptian author (b. 1886)
- 1964 - Cyril Davies, American musician (b. 1932)
- 1972 - John Berryman, American poet (b. 1914)
- 1984 - Alfred Kastler, French physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1902))
- 1986 - Juan Rulfo, Mexican novelist (b. 1917)
- 1988 - Trevor Howard, English actor (b. 1913)
- 1989 - Hirohito, Emperor of Japan (b. 1901)
- 1990 - Bronko Nagurski, American football player(b. 1908)
- 1995 - Murray Rothbard, American economist (b. 1926)
- 1996 - Károly Grósz, Hungarian politician (b. 1930)
- 1998 - Vladimir Prelog, Croatian chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b.1906)
- 2000 - Don Martin, American illustrator (b. 1931)
- 2002 - Gyula Várady, Hungarian footballer (b. 1919)
- 2002 - Jon Lee, Welsh drummer (Feeder) (suicide) (b. 1968)
- 2002 - Avery Schreiber, American actor (b. 1935)
- 2005 - Pierre Daninos, French novelist (b. 1913)
- 2005 - Eileen Desmond, Irish politician (b. 1932)
Holidays and observances
- Catholicism - Feast day of St. Raymond of Penafort.
- Christmas Day in the Julian calendar. This is the day on which Christmas is celebrated in most Orthodox churches, e.g. the Coptic Orthodox, Macedonian Orthodox, Serbian Orthodox, Russian Orthodox, Anthiochian Orthodox as well as the Greek Orthodox Church in Athens & Egypt.
- European traditional - Distaff day: women's traditional work begins again after Epiphany.
External links
- [http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/january/7 BBC: On This Day]
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January 6 - January 8 - December 7 - February 7 — listing of all days
ko:1월 7일
ms:7 Januari
ja:1月7日
simple:January 7
th:7 มกราคม
Aleksandr Vasilevich Kolchak
Aleksandr Vasiliyevich Kolchak (Александр Васильевич Колчак in Russian) (November 4 (November 16 NS), 1874 – February 7, 1920) was a Russian naval commander and later head of part of the anti-Bolshevik White forces during the Russian Civil War.
He was born in St. Petersburg, the son of a naval officer. He was educated for a naval career, graduating from the Naval college in 1894 and joining the 7th Naval Battalion of the city. He was soon transferred to the Far East, serving in Vladivostok from 1895 to 1899. He returned to west and was based at Kronstadt, joining the Polar expedition of Toll in 1900 as leader of one of the two groups. After considerable hardship, Kolchak returned in December 1902; the other group, including Toll, was lost. He took part in three Arctic expeditions and for a while was nicknamed "Kolchak-Poliarnyi" ("Kolchak the Polar").
When the Russo-Japanese War began, Kolchak was sent to Port Arthur in March 1904. He commanded a cruiser and won a valour medal. As the siege of the port intensified, he was given a land command. Later wounded, he became a prisoner of war. His poor health led to his repatriation before the end of the war. He became one of the modernisers in the Russian military.
He was on the Naval General Staff from 1906 and joined the Baltic Fleet on the outbreak of war in 1914. Initially on the flagship Pogranichnik, he oversaw the extensive coastal defensive minefields and commanded the naval forces in the Gulf of Riga. He was promoted to Vice-Admiral in August 1916, the youngest man at that rank. He was also made commander of the Black Sea Fleet with orders to counter the U-boat threat and plan an invasion of the Bosporus. As commander of the Black Sea Fleet, Kolchak was very successful at sinking Turkish colliars. There was no railroad linking the coal mines of eastern Turkey with Constantinople, so Kolchak's attacks on the Turkish coal fleet caused the Turks much hardship. In 1916, in a model combined Army-Navy assault, Kolchak helped to take the Turkish city of Trebizond (modern Trabzon). After the February Revolution, as the fleet descended into political chaos, he left the navy in June and travelled to Britain and the USA.
At the time of the revolution in November 1917, he was in Japan and then Manchuria. Kolchak was a supporter of the Provisional Government and returned to Russia, through Vladivostok, in 1918. Kolchak was a absolute supporter of the Allied cause against Germany, and initially hearing of the Bolshevik coup on November 7, 1917, he offered to enlist in the British Army to continue the struggle. Initially, the British were inclined to accept Kolchak’s offer, and there were plans to send Kolchak to Mesopotamia (modern Iraq), but however London decided that Kolchak could do more for the Allied cause by overthrowing the Bolsheviks and bringing Russia back into the war on the Allied side. Reluctantly, Kolchak accepted the British suggestions and with a heavy sense of foreboding, Kolchak returned to Russia. Arriving in Omsk, Siberia, en route to enlisting with the Volunteer Army, he agreed to become a minister in the (White) Siberian Regional Government. Joining a fourteen man cabinet, he was a prestige figure; the government hoped to play on the respect he had with the Allies, especially the head of the British military mission General Alfred Knox.
In November 1918, the unpopular regional government was overthrown in a military coup d'etat. Kolchak had returned to Omsk on November 16 from an inspection tour. He was approached and refused to take power. The Socialist-Revolutionary (SR) Directory leader and members were arrested on November 18 by a troop of Cossacks under ataman Krasilnikov. The remaining cabinet members met and voted for Kolchak to become the head of government with dictatorial powers. He was named Supreme Ruler (Verkhovnyi Pravitel), and he promoted himself to Admiral. The arrested SR politicians were expelled from Siberia and ended up in Europe. The SR leaders in Russia denounced Kolchak and called for him to be killed. Their activities resulted in a small revolt in Omsk on December 22, 1918, which was quickly put down by Cossacks and the Czech Legion, who summarily executed almost 500 rebels. The SRs opened negotiations with the Bolsheviks and in January 1919 the SR People's Army joined with the Red Army.
Kolchak instituted a tough military dictatorship, imprisoning his opponents and forcing workers who had socialised their factories out. He saw his role in military terms – he needed a strong army, regular supplies, and victories, and he did what he saw as necessary to enforce the preconditions to this. He later claimed he "had absolutely no... political objectives... [but tried] only to create an army of the regular type" "...capable of victory over Bolshevism".
He was a political innocent and a patriotic idealist, awkward outside of military issues and with other people and always seeking the simplest explanations. "He does not know life in its severe practical reality and lives in a world of... borrowed ideas" recorded Aleksei Budberg, a contemporary official. Whatever his military successes, he was a poor and careless administrator, his government was notoriously corrupt, and, unchecked, representatives acting in his name did much harm.
Initially the White forces under his command had some success. Kolchak was uncertain about combat on land and gave the majority of the strategic planning to D. A. Lebedev and his staff. The northern army under the Czech Rudolf Gajda seized Perm in late December 1918 and after a pause other forces spread out from this strategic base. The plan was for three main advances – Gajda to take Archangel, Khanzhin to capture Ufa and Perm and the Cossacks under Alexander Dutov to capture Samara and Saratov. Kolchak had put around 110,000 men into the field facing roughly 95,000 Bolshevik troops. Kolchak's good relations with General Knox meant that his forces were almost entirely armed, munitioned and uniformed by the British (up to August 1919 the British spent an official $239 million aiding the Whites, although Churchill disputed this figure at the time as an "absurd exaggeration").
The White forces took Ufa in March 1919 and pushed on from there to take Kazan and approach Samara on the Volga River. Anti-Bolshevik risings in Simbirsk, Kazan, Viatka, and Samara assisted their endeavours. The newly-formed Red Army proved unwilling to fight and retreated, allowing the Whites to advance to a line stretching from Glazov through Orenburg to Uralsk. Kolchak's territories covered over 300,000 km² and held around 7 million people. In April, the alarmed Bolshevik Central Committee made countering Kolchak their top priority. But as the spring thaw arrived Kolchak's position degenerated – his armies had outrun their supply lines, they were exhausted and the Red Army was pouring newly raised troops into the area.
Kolchak had also aroused the dislike of potential allies including the Czech Legion and the Polish 5th Rifle Division. They withdrew from the conflict in October 1918 but remained a presence, their new leader Maurice Janin regarded Kolchak as an instrument of the British and was pro-SR. Kolchak could not count on Japanese aid either; they feared he would interfere with their occupation of Far Eastern Russia and refused him assistance, creating a 'buffer state' to the east of Lake Baikal under Cossack control. The 7,000 or so American troops in Siberia were strictly neutral regarding "internal Russian affairs" and served only to maintain the operation of the Trans-Siberian railroad in the Far East. The American commander William S. Graves personally disliked the Kolchak government, which he saw as royalist and autocratic, a view that was shared by the American President, Woodrow Wilson.
When the Soviet forces managed to reorganise and turn the attack against Kolchak from 1919 he quickly lost ground. The Red counter-attack began in late April at the centre of the White line, aiming for Ufa. The fighting was fierce as, unlike earlier, both sides fought hard. Ufa was taken by the Red Army on June 9 and later that month the Red forces under Tukhachevsky broke through the Urals. Freed from the geographical constraints of the mountains, the Reds made rapid progress, capturing Chelyabinsk on July 25 and forcing the White forces to the north and south to fall back to avoid being isolated. The White forces re-established a line along the Tobol and the Ishim rivers to temporarily halt the Reds. They held that line until October, but the constant loss of men killed or wounded was beyond the White rate of replacement. Reinforced, the Reds broke through on the Tobol in mid-October and by November the White forces were falling back towards Omsk in a disorganised mass. The Reds were sufficiently confident to start redeploying some of their forces southwards to face Anton Denikin.
Kolchak also came under threat from other quarters, local opponents began to agitate and international support began to wane, with even the British turning more towards Denikin. Gajda, dismissed from command of the northern army, staged a abortive coup in mid-November. Omsk was evacuated on November 14 and the Red Army took the city without any serious resistance, capturing large amounts of ammunition, almost 50,000 soldiers, and ten generals. As there was a continued flood of refugees eastwards, typhus became a serious problem.
typhus]
Kolchak had left Omsk on the 13th for Irkutsk along the Trans-Siberian Railroad. Travelling a section of track controlled by the Czecho-Slovaks he was sidetracked and stopped, by December his train had only reached Nizhneudinsk. In late December Irkutsk fell under the control of a leftist group (including SRs) and formed a 'Political Centre'. One of their first actions was to dismiss Kolchak. When he heard of this on January 4, 1920, he announced his resignation, giving his office to Denikin and passing control of his remaining forces around Irkutsk to the ataman, G. M. Semyonov. The transfer of power to Semenov proved a particularly ill-considered move.
It appears that Kolchak was then promised safe passage by the Czecho-Slovaks to the British military mission in Irkutsk. Instead, he was handed over to the leftist authorities in Irkutsk on January 14. On January 20 the government in Irkutsk gave power to a Bolshevik military committee. Kolchak was "investigated" before a commission of five men from January 21 to February 6. Following the arrival of an order from Moscow, he was summarily sentenced to death along with his Prime Minister, V. Pepelaev. They were executed by firing squad in the early morning and the bodies were disposed of in a local river, the Ushakovka. The Red Army did not enter Irkutsk until March 7, and only then was the news of Kolchak's death officially released.
Admiral Kolchak is a controversial historic figure in post-Soviet Russia. The movement "For Faith and Fatherland" has attempted to rehabilitate his reputation. Two rehabilitation requests have been denied, by a regional military court in 1999 and by the Supreme Court of Russia in 2001. In 2004, the Constitutional Court of Russia returned the Kolchak case to the military court for another hearing. Monuments dedicated to Kolchak were built in St. Petersburg in 2002 and in Irkutsk in 2004, despite objections from some former Communist and left-wing politicians and former Soviet army veterans.
See also
- White movement
- Russian Civil War
External link
- [http://www.gwpda.org/naval/pers0002.htm An essay on Aleksandr Kolchak], including a photo
Kolchak, Aleksandr
Kolchak, Aleksandr
Kolchak, Aleksandr
Kolchak, Aleksandr
Kolchak, Aleksandr
Kolchak, Aleksandr
ja:アレクサンドル・コルチャーク
January 9
January 9 is the 9th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. There are 356 days remaining (357 in leap years).
Events
- 1431 - The trial of Joan of Arc begins in Rouen, the seat of the English occupation government.
- 1760 - Afghans defeat Marathas in Battle of Barari Ghat.
- 1768 - Philip Astley stages the first modern circus (London).
- 1788 - Connecticut becomes the fifth state to join the United States.
- 1793 - Jean-Pierre Blanchard becomes the first to fly in a balloon in the United States.
- 1806 - Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson is buried in St. Paul's Cathedral.
- 1839 - The French Academy of Sciences announces the Daguerreotype photography process.
- 1857 - Fort Tejon earthquake, with an estimated magnitude of 7.9
- 1858 - Anson Jones, final President of the Republic of Texas commits suicide.
- 1861 - Mississippi becomes the second state to secede from the Union, preceding the American Civil War.
- 1863 - American Civil War: Battle of Fort Hindman
- 1878 - Humbert I becomes King of Italy.
- 1880 - The Great Gale of 1880 devastates parts of Oregon and Washington with high wind and heavy snow.
- 1882 - Oscar Wilde gives his first lecture on "The English Renaissance of Art" in New York.
- 1894 - New England Telephone and Telegraph installs the first battery-operated telephone switchboard in Lexington, Massachusetts.
- 1903 - Hallam Tennyson, 2nd Baron Tennyson, son of the famous poet Alfred Tennyson, becomes the second Governor-General of Australia
- 1905 - According to the Julian Calendar which was used at the time, Russian workers stage a march on the Winter Palace that ends in the massacre by Czarist troops known as Bloody Sunday, setting off the Russian Revolution of 1905.
- 1912 - Marines invade Honduras.
- 1916 - The Ottoman Empire prevails in the Battle of Çanakkale, as the last British troops are evacuated.
- 1917 - Battle of Rafa
- 1923 - Juan de la Cierva makes first autogiro flight.
- 1929 - The Seeing Eye is established with the mission to train dogs to assist the blind (Nashville, Tennessee).
- 1937 - The first issue of Look magazine goes on sale in the United States.
- 1945 - The United States invades Luzon in the Philippines.
- 1951 - United Nations headquarters officially opens in New York City.
- 1956 - First "Dear Abby" column appears in newspapers.
- 1960 - Construction of the Aswan Dam begins in Egypt.
- 1962 - The NFL prohibits grabbing face masks.
- 1964 - Several Panamanian youths put up the Panamanian flag, and are fired on from the Canal Zone, setting off four days of anti-imperialist insurrection around the country.
- 1972 - RMS Queen Elizabeth is destroyed by fire (Hong Kong harbor).
- 1977 - Super Bowl XI: Oakland Raiders defeat Minnesota Vikings, 32-14.
- 1984 - Clara Peller is featured in the "Where's the Beef?" commercial campaign for Wendy's Restaurants for the first time.
- 1986 - After losing a patent battle with Polaroid, Kodak leaves the instant camera business.
- 1989 - The Sega Genesis is released in New York, New York and Los Angeles, California.
- 1991 - The Soviets storm Vilnius to stop Lithuanian independence.
- 1995 - Valer | | |
