Modern Era
Battle of Warsaw (1920): Poland Halts the Red Army on the Vistula
Decisive Polish victory; the Soviet Western Front was destroyed and the war ended with the Peace of Riga in March 1921.
Era · c. 1800 – 1945
Modern Era
Industry, science and global conflict: the century and a half that built the modern world.
Modern Era
Nineteenth Amendment (1920): American Women Win the Vote
The US Constitution was amended so that no state could deny citizens the vote on account of sex, though many women of colour remained excluded in practice.
Modern Era
League of Nations (1920): The First Attempt at World Government
The first permanent international organisation for keeping the peace was created; it settled several disputes in the 1920s but failed to stop aggression in the 1930s and was dissolved in 1946.
Modern Era
Haiyuan Earthquake (1920): China's Great Ningxia Earthquake
One of the deadliest earthquakes in recorded history; an estimated 200,000 to 270,000 people died and whole villages were buried by landslides.
Modern Era
Discovery of Insulin (1921): Banting, Best and Diabetes
Insulin was isolated and used successfully on patients, making type 1 diabetes a survivable condition; Banting and Macleod received the 1923 Nobel Prize.
Modern Era
Tulsa Race Massacre (1921): The Destruction of Greenwood
Some 35 blocks of Greenwood were burned, an estimated 75-300 people were killed and thousands of Black residents were left homeless; no one was convicted.
Modern Era
Kronstadt Rebellion (1921): Sailors Rise Against the Bolsheviks
The Red Army stormed the fortress across the ice and crushed the revolt; the Bolsheviks introduced the New Economic Policy and banned party factions the same month.
Modern Era
Great Fire of Smyrna (1922): The Burning of a Cosmopolitan City
The Greek, Armenian and European quarters of Smyrna were destroyed and their surviving Christian inhabitants fled or were evacuated by sea.
Modern Era
Irish Civil War (1922-1923): The Treaty Split in Ireland
Victory for the pro-Treaty Irish Free State government; anti-Treaty forces were ordered to dump their arms in May 1923.
Modern Era
March on Rome (1922): How Mussolini's Fascists Took Power
King Victor Emmanuel III refused to declare martial law and appointed Mussolini prime minister, creating the first fascist-led government.
Modern Era
Treaty of Lausanne (1923): Founding Peace of Modern Turkey
The Allies recognised the sovereignty and borders of the new Turkish state, abolished the capitulations and accepted the compulsory Greek-Turkish population exchange.
Modern Era
Beer Hall Putsch (1923): Hitler's Failed Coup in Munich
The coup collapsed under police fire at the Feldherrnhalle; Hitler was tried for treason and imprisoned, and the Nazi Party was temporarily banned.