100 Years Ago Today

[Jimbuna]

1st April 1920

The German Workers' Party becomes the National Socialist German Workers' Party.

Members of the 'Red Artillery' or German communists load a trench mortar during disturbances at the Ruhr.


Toshiro Mifune (future Japanese actor) is born in Qingdao, China, which is currently under Japanese occupation after it was captured from German colonial control.


Ship Losses:

Murre (United States Bureau of Fisheries) The fishery patrol vessel struck a rock in Keku Strait in the Territory of Alaska and was beached to prevent her from sinking. She was refloated, repaired, and returned to service.

[Jimbuna]

2nd April 1920

German Reichswehr units are sent in to the Ruhr region to crush the Ruhr Red Army. Men of the Red Army preparing to fight.


President of Uruguay José Batlle y Ordóñez engages in a pistol duel with deputy Washington Beltrán Barbat (pictured) and kills him.


Ship Losses:

USCGC Leader (United States Coast Guard) The motorboat was destroyed by fire.
Saffo (Regia Marina) The torpedo boat sank after running aground on the coast of Ottoman Turkey near Scalanova Bay.

[Jimbuna]

3rd April 1920

A wealthy Albanian landowner with his guards.


Ship Losses:

Britannia (United Kingdom) The cargo ship foundered in North Sea off Robin Hood's Bay, Yorkshire. All sixteen crew survived.
Rosegg (Norway) The cargo ship ran aground at Goswick, Northumberland, United Kingdom.
Sologne (France) The tug came ashore at Ryhope, County Durham, United Kingdom and sank.
Steinsund (Norway) The four-masted barque departed Bordeaux, France for Newport News, Virginia, United States. No further trace, presumed foundered in the Atlantic Ocean with the loss of all hands.

[Jimbuna]

4th April 1920

France announced that it would send troops to occupy the German cities of Frankfurt, Darmstadt, Homburg and Hanau, located within the neutral zone in the Ruhr Valley, because Germany had declined to withdraw its troops at French Prime Minister Millerand's request.


Riots begin in Jerusalem during the Nebi Musa festival as Muslim Palestinians attack the Jewish Quarter. In the following days, five Jews and four Muslim Arabs are killed. Scene from the Nebi Musa festival before the riot.


Ship Losses:

Malabar (United Kingdom) The cargo ship ran aground near the Barns Ness Lighthouse, Lothian. Her crew were rescued. She broke in two on 6 April.

[Jimbuna]

5th April 1920

British and French officers and commissioners in charge of occupying the Rhineland at Marienburg, Germany.


An American soldier performs a horse stunt at a field meet in Fort Washington, Maryland.


After eight hours of fighting, Japanese Imperial Army troops took control of the Russian city of Vladivostok (Urajiosutoku) in order to stop the advance of Soviet troops. The Japan's imperial flag replaced the Russian ensign over all city government buildings.

Ship Losses:

Aughinish (United Kingdom) The cargo ship struck a submerged object and was beached on Montague Island, New South Wales, Australia. She was refloated on 12 April.
Verdun (France) The auxiliary schooner caught fire in the River Seine and was a total loss.

[Jimbuna]

6th April 1920

Captured German submarine U-111 in drydock at the Philadelphia Navy Yard.


Germany. Immediately after the German troops crossed the line, the French government itself gave orders to its own troops to advance, and Frankfurt was occupied on April 6 and Homburg on the following day. (French troops seize Frankfurt and German cities).


Belgian troops on guard at a Rhine River bridgehead in the Ruhr District where the Germans are now fighting the communists in the neutral zone, Ruhr, Germany.

[Jimbuna]

7th April 1920

Edward, Prince of Wales, at the historic Hotel Coronado in San Diego, California during his North American Tour.


British security forces in Jerusalem searching Palestinians after riots broke out against the Jewish population.


Ship Losses:

Olinda (United States) The cargo ship ran aground off Manati, Cuba. She was refloated on 14 April.

[Jimbuna]

9th April 1920

Although the U.S. Senate had failed to ratify the Treaty of Versailles, the U.S. House of Representatives approved an alternative to officially declaring the end of World War I, voting 242 to 150 "to declare war with Germany at an end".

British troops resting outside the Old City of Jerusalem with the Dome of the Rock in the background.


Edward, Prince of Wales, tries out surfing during his visit to Hawaii.


Franklin D. Roosevelt, the Assistant Secretary of the Navy, participating in a paper chase game outside Washington D.C.


Large demonstrations occur in Guatemala City against President Estrada Cabrera. Government troops begin attacking protesters with machine guns and shelling.

[Jimbuna]

10th April 1920

Germany's government notified all German states to cooperate in reducing the army to 200,000 men as agreed in the Treaty of Versailles.

Ship Losses:

Powel (United States) The cargo ship was abandoned in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Florida. Her crew survived.

[Jimbuna]

11th April 1920

A damaged DH.9 plane after it crashed in Burma during an attempted journey from Britain to Australia.


Middle East. Campaign of Cilicia: the French garrison of Ourfa evacuates the city after a siege of sixty-one days.

Ship Losses:

Bastia (Italy) The cargo ship caught fire at Naples. She was scuttled the next day.
Roye (France) The auxiliary sailing vessel arrived at Salonica, Greece on fire. She was a total loss.

[Jimbuna]

12th April 1920

Teresa of the Andes (the first Chilean to be declared a Saint) has passed away.


Ship Losses:

Zilia (Italy) The auxiliary sailing vessel caught fire at Oporto, Portugal and was scuttled.

[Jimbuna]

13th April 1920

Mikhail Tukhachevsky, the 'Red Napoleon', is photographed.


Ship Losses:

Meditation (United Kingdom) The schooner was abandoned in the Atlantic Ocean 5 nautical miles (9.3 km) north of Faial Island, Azores, Portugal.

[Jimbuna]

14th April 1920

After a disability of more than six months because of a stroke, U.S. President Woodrow Wilson met with his Cabinet for the first time since September 2.


A delegation of Armenian veterans of the Great War parade in Washington D.C.


Manuel Estrada Cabrera, President of Guatemala, is overthrown by rebel forces. He spends the rest of his life in prison.


Vilnius, Poland - 14 April 1920: Marshal Jozef Pilsudski (second from the right) at the first anniversary celebrations of the successful Vilna offensive. Vilnius, then Poland (today Lithuania)


Ship Losses:

Flensburg (Germany) The fishing trawler struck a mine and sank in the North Sea off List, Schleswig-Holstein.

[Jimbuna]

15th April 1920

Women wearing hats made out of recycled silk that used to hold artillery cartridges.


Ship Losses:

Eagle Wing (United States) The schooner sprang a leak and was beached at Santa Cruz del Norte, Cuba.

[Jimbuna]

16th April 1920

Lenin and 32 communists rode in a train through Germany, took a ferry to Sweden, another train to Finland finally arriving in Petrograd, Russia, on April 16, 1917. Lenin gave a speech to supporters calling for a continent-wide European revolution. Stalin was not present.


The death sentence of Robert Stroud, who would become famous as the "Birdman of Alcatraz", was commuted to life imprisonment by U.S. President Wilson.


Ship Losses:

Svelviksand I (Norway) The auxiliary sailing ship was wrecked on the Knock Sand, North Sea. Her crew sought refuge on the Knock Lightship ( United Kingdom).