100 Years Ago Today

[Sailor Steve]

January 6, 1919


10,000 German Marxists gather in the streets, awaiting the expected revolution. Rosa Luxemburg urges the Spartacists not to try to seize power before they have popular support. They riot anyway.*

Max Heindel, Danish-American occultist, astrologer and mystic, dies in Oceanside, California, USA, at age 54.

*It was previously noted here that Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg were killed this day. Newer information shows the book I used (Martin Gilbert's The First World War) to once again be in error. They were killed on the 15th and will be noted on that day.


January 7, 1919

The Greek Orthodox Church celebrates Christmas according to the Julian Calender (on which it is December 25).

The Industrial and Commercial Workers' Union of South Africa is founded, led by Clements Kadalie.

Montenegrin guerrilla fighters attempt to prevent Serbia's annexation of Montenegro, but fail.

Henry Ware Eliot, American industrialist, philanthropist and father of poet T. S. Eliot, dies at 75.

[Jimbuna]

8th January 1919

Aftermath of War

Fighting in Berlin between Government party and Spartacists.

Sir Douglas Haig's despatch of 21 December 1918 published (May-Nov 1918)

Turks completely evacuate the Caucasus.

Ship Losses:

Westgate (United Kingdom) The cargo ship collided with Bayano ( United Kingdom) and foundered in the Atlantic Ocean off the Wolf Rock, Cornwall.

[Sailor Steve]

January 8, 1919


The USPD (Unabhängige Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands, or Independent Social Democratic Party of Germany) invites German President Friedrich Ebert to talk, prompting the KDP (German Communist Party) to resign from the Revolutionary Committee. Ebert then orders the Freikorps to attack the Spartacists. The riots are quelled, many Spartacists arrested, and 156 insurgents and 17 Freikorps soldiers are killed.

Former President Theodore Roosevelt is buried in Youngs Memorial Cemetery, Oyster Bay, New York after a simple funeral service at Christ Church, the Episcopalian Church he and his family attended. His son Archibald was present, his son Quentin having been killed in the War, and his sons Theodore, Jr, and Kermit still being on active service in Europe. Archie sent a telegram to his brothers: "The Old Lion is dead." Among the mourners were Vice President Thomas R. Marshall, Charles Evans Hughes, Warren Harding, Henry Cabot Lodge, and William Howard Taft.

Tributes to Theodore Roosevelt:

"Death had to take Roosevelt sleeping, for if he had been awake, there would have been a fight."
-Vice President Thomas R. Marshall

House Chaplain Dr. Henry Couden opened the ceremony by invoking Roosevelt as "One of the nation’s noblest sons—a writer, a speaker, a scientist, a patriot, a soldier, a statesman."
-House Chaplain Dr. Henry Couden

"We can not approach Theodore Roosevelt along the beaten path of eulogy, or satisfy ourselves with the empty civilities of commonplace funeral tributes, for he did not make his life journey over main-traveled roads, nor was he ever commonplace."
-Senator Henry Cabot Lodge, Sr. of Massachusetts

Roosevelt's commanders recommended him for the Medal of Honor for his actions at San Juan Hill in the Spanish-American War. In the 1990s this request was revived and on January 16, 2001, President Bill Clinton gave the presentation, making Theodore Roosevelt the only President to be awarded the Medal of Honor.

[Jimbuna]

9th January 1919

Aftermath of War

Fighting in Berlin between Government party and Spartacists.

Martial law in Berlin; Spartacist movement spreads to Westphalia.

In response to Italy’s claims on former Austro-Hungarian lands due to the presence of Italian inhabitants, President Wilson jokes, “Sorry we cannot give you New York.”

Ship Losses:

Knut Jarl (Norway) The cargo ship collided with Impoco ( United Kingdom) and Munin ( Norway) in the River Seine at Rouen, France and was beached.

[Jimbuna]

10th January 1919

Aftermath of War

British take over administration of Baghdad, and French of European Turkish railways.

New British Government appointments published.

Germany pro-government soldiers man a barricade made up of newspapers in Berlin.


Violet street fighting erupts in Berlin as anti-Communist Freikorps and Communist Spartacists clash. Spartacist machine gunners engaging in street fighting in Berlin.


Ship Losses:

Fleetwing (United Kingdom) The schooner was driven ashore at Bels Point, Caernarfonshire and was wrecked with the loss of one of her five crew.
Northumbria (United Kingdom) The cargo ship struck two mines and sank in the North Sea with the loss of twelve of her fourteen crew; six are buried at Embleton, Northumberland.
War Marvel (United Kingdom) The cargo ship lost her rudder and sprang a leak in the Atlantic Ocean and was abandoned. All 38 crew were rescued by Absaroka ( United States).

[Sailor Steve]

January 10, 1919


Airco DH.4s of the Royal Air Force's No. 2 (Communications) Squadron are converted for transporting passengers and mail between London and Paris, in support of the Versailles Peace Conference.

Died today: Wallace Clement Sabine, American physicist, known as "the father of modern architectural acoustics". Born in 1868, Sabine by 1895 was an assistant Physics Professor at Harvard University, when he was given the job of trying to improve the notoriously bad acoustics in the lecture hall at the Fogg Art Museum. With no background in sound at all, Sabine set about the task as he would any other physics problem. He spent several years investigating the acoustic properties of the hall and of the Sanders Theater, considered to have excellent acoustics. After years of experimenting Sabine came up with a formula describing what happens to sound inside various types of lecture and performing halls. Wallace Clement Sabine was dean of Harvard’s Graduate School of Applied Science from 1906 through 1915, worked in aeronautics during WW1, and is remembered as the founder of architectural acoustics.

[Jimbuna]

11th January 1919

Aftermath of War

Poles relieve Lemberg.

British ministers arrive in Paris for Peace Conference.

Republic of Luxemburg proclaimed by small party.

Prince of Wales visiting occupation troops in Cochem, Germany.

[Sailor Steve]

January 11, 1919


"Ultimately one should accept history as it develops."
- Karl Liebknecht, January 11, 1919

Friedrich Ebert's Freikorps troops put down the Spartacist Uprising. In three days of fighting 156 insurgents and 17 Freikorps soldiers have been killed. Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg are missing, and a house-to-house search is instituted.

[Jimbuna]

12th January 1919

Aftermath of War

Large anti-Bolshevik forces in the field in the South.

Supreme War Council sits re: renewal of Armistice.

Chief Representatives consider procedure for Peace Conference.

American occupation troops in Germany sightseeing on the Moselle River on a boat that bears the inscription “Gott mit Uns”


Anti-communist Freikorps gain the upper hand in the fight against the Communist Spartacists in Berlin due to better organization, numbers, and equipment. Freikorps soldiers in the streets of Berlin with a captured British tank.

[Sailor Steve]

January 12, 1919


The leaders of the "Big Four": Prime Minister David Lloyd George of Great Britain, Georges Clemenceau of France, Vittorio Orlando of Italy and President Woodrow Wilson of the United States, meet at the French Foreign Ministry to begin discussions on the fate of Germany and the future of Europe.

Wilson expressed concerns that Germany was not invited to this opening meeting, since this would leave the German people feeling anger that they were left out of planning for their own future. Other, smaller nations were also left out of this preliminary meeting.

[Jimbuna]

13th January 1919

Aftermath of War

Bolsheviks moving on Poland; Kolchak remains Commander-in-chief in Siberia, French General Janin in direction of operations.

Air-raids on Great Britain: tables published.

Arabic troops under Abdullah bin Al-Hussein (later ruler of Jordan) enter the city of Medina after the surrender of the Ottoman garrison. Entirety of the Ottoman possessions in the Arabian peninsula are now under the forces of the Arab Revolt.

The Communist Spartacist Uprising is crushed in Berlin by the anti-communist Freikorps, resulting in over 170 deaths. Freikorps armed with flamethrowers.


On 13th January 1919, the Red Flag was hoisted during a naval mutiny on HMS Kilbride at Milford Haven.

Mutinies in the British Royal Navy are not well documented, but a series of them occurred in the aftermath of World War One (1914 - 1918) when agitation for trade union representation was spreading throughout the Navy. News of these mutinies was suppressed because they highlighted the poor material conditions of British sailors and also their reluctance to fight Russia after the British government had pledged to a policy of peace.

* Between 1852 and 1917 there had only been one pay increase.

* Contrary to what the people were being told, the Foreign Office and Admiralty were making arrangements to intervene in post-revolution Russia and the feeling among servicemen was that those who did not volunteer were left with no option but to mutiny.

[Sailor Steve]

January 13, 1919




American actor Robert Stack, famous for The Untouchables (the original 1950s TV series), Unsolved Mysteries, and showing a comedic bent with others of his era in Airplane!, was born January 13, 1919 in Los Angeles, California, USA. (Died 2003).

[Jimbuna]

14th January 1919

Aftermath of War

Princess Charlotte Adelgonde succeeds her sister as Grand Duchess of Luxemburg.

Germany releases all Allied prisoners of war; the Allies release only sick German prisoners.

German prisoners of war held in France receive packages sent to them by family and friends in Germany.

[Sailor Steve]

January 14, 1919





Andy Rooney, American news correspondent and humorist, famous for his observations on 60 Minutes, is born in Albany, New York (died 2011).

Giulio Andreotti, Italian politician & statesman, Prime Minister of Italy from 1989 to 1992, is born in Rome (died 2013).

[Jimbuna]

15th January 1919

Aftermath of War

German Communist Party founders Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht are captured and executed by the anti-Communist Freikorps.


Ship Losses:

Chaouia (France) The passenger ship struck a mine and sank in the Strait of Messina (38°18′N 15°41′E) with the loss of 476 lives.