Timeline January 1919

Events in January 1919 15

• 1858 – 1919 Theodore Roosevelt 26th President — Trust Buster, conservationist Theodore Roosevelt (Oct 27, 1858 – Jan 6, 1919) was the 26th President 1901-1909, youngest ever at age 42. He busted monopolies, built the Panama Canal, won the Nobel Peace Prize, and created the national parks system.
• 1871 – 1919 Karl Liebknecht (1871-1919) Died 15 January 1919, aged 47 Liebknecht co-founded the Spartacist League and the German Communist Party with Rosa Luxemburg and helped lead the failed January uprising in Berlin. He was captured alongside Luxemburg and killed by Freikorps troops on the same day.
• 1871 – 1919 Rosa Luxemburg (1871-1919) Died 15 January 1919, aged 47 Luxemburg was a Marxist theorist and co-founder of the Spartacist League who helped lead the January 1919 uprising in Berlin. She was captured and murdered by Freikorps soldiers after the revolt was suppressed.
• 1919 Australian Open 1919 — return from war Men: Algernon Kingscote First Australian Championship after World War I.
• 1919 Balliol College, Oxford Oxford, United Kingdom He arrived as a Rhodes Scholar from Adelaide, rowed bow for the university in the Boat Race, and was president of the Balliol boat club. He would spend the rest of his life in England.
• 1919 – 2010 J.D. Salinger (1919-2010) Died 27 January 2010, aged 91 Salinger was an American author best known for his novel The Catcher in the Rye, a defining work of postwar American literature. He lived as a recluse in New Hampshire for decades after achieving fame, publishing almost nothing after the mid-1960s. He died at his home of natural causes.
• 1919 German Workers' Party founded in Munich Small nationalist group later becomes the Nazi Party Anton Drexler founded the German Workers' Party in Munich as a small nationalist, anti-communist political group. Adolf Hitler joined later that year, and the party was renamed the National Socialist German Workers' Party in 1920.
• 1919 Spartacist uprising in Berlin Communist revolt crushed by the German government The Spartacist League, led by Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht, attempted to seize power in Berlin through strikes and armed insurrection. The government crushed the revolt using regular troops and Freikorps paramilitaries, and both leaders were captured and killed.
• 1919 – 2011 Andy Rooney (1919-2011) Died 4 November 2011, aged 92 The American writer delivered wry commentary in his "A Few Minutes with Andy Rooney" segment on CBS's "60 Minutes" for more than three decades. He retired from the broadcast just weeks before his death. He died in New York City from complications following surgery.
• 1919 Boston Molasses Flood Burst storage tank kills 21 in Boston's North End A massive steel tank holding over two million gallons of molasses ruptured in Boston's North End, sending a wave of molasses through the streets at destructive speed. Twenty-one people were killed and dozens injured, and the disaster led to stricter engineering regulations.
• 1919 Eighteenth Amendment ratified United States constitutionally bans alcohol The required three-quarters of states ratified the Eighteenth Amendment, prohibiting the manufacture, sale, and transport of intoxicating liquors nationwide. It took effect in January 1920 and ushered in the Prohibition era.
• 1919 Lawrence at the Paris Peace Conference Paris, France Lawrence attended as Faisal's adviser and interpreter, arguing for Arab independence against a settlement that had been decided in secret three years earlier. He failed.
• 1919 – 1920 The Paris Peace Conference Paris, France Thirty-two states attended; Germany and Russia were not invited. Clemenceau wanted security, Lloyd George a workable Europe, Wilson his principles. The maps drawn here are still being contested.
• 1919 First Dail Eireann convenes in Dublin Irish republicans declare an independent parliament Members elected on a Sinn Fein platform met at the Mansion House in Dublin to form Dail Eireann, an independent parliament asserting Irish sovereignty separate from Westminster. It adopted a Declaration of Independence and issued an appeal to the international community.
• 1919 Irish War of Independence begins IRA ambush at Soloheadbeg kills two policemen Irish Volunteers ambushed and killed two Royal Irish Constabulary officers at Soloheadbeg, County Tipperary, in an action later regarded as the opening shot of the Irish War of Independence. The guerrilla conflict between republican forces and British authorities continued until a truce in 1921.