100 Years Ago Today

[Jimbuna]

8th May 1921

Celebrations of Joan the Arc on the anniversary of the Battle of Orleans.




Crown Prince Hirohito of Japan arrives in Portsmouth, England as he begins his tour of Europe.

[Jimbuna]

9th May 1921

USS Langley being converted into the U.S. Navy’s first aircraft carrier at the Norfolk Navy Yard.


Crown Prince Hirohito with King George V traveling to Buckingham Palace.

[Jimbuna]

10th May 1921

Joseph Wirth becomes the new Chancellor of Germany as the previous cabinet resigned due to threats of new Allied sanctions and the start of the Third Silesian Uprising.

[Jimbuna]

11th May 1921

Germany, in a note to the Allies, accepts unconditionally the reparation terms set forth in the ultimatum of May 5


Docks destroyed by the spring breakup of ice at Nenana, Alaska.

[Jimbuna]

12th May 1921

French Marshal Franchet d’Esperey decorates General Lebocq at a ceremony.


Floating dock delivered by Germany to Britain as part of reparations.


Ship Losses:

Stad Schiedam (Netherlands) The cargo ship ran aground at Marstenen Bo, Norway, and was beached.

[Jimbuna]

13th May 1921

Sergeant Stubby, the unofficial mascot of the U.S. 102nd Infantry Regiment and the most decorated war dog of the Great War, at an animal’s parade in Washington D.C.


Transport of a 24-ton door for the Hibernia Bank and Trust’s vault in New Orleans.


Ship Losses:

Miztec (United States) The barge foundered in Lake Superior 10 nautical miles (19 km) off Vermillion Point, Michigan, with the loss of all seven crew.

[Jimbuna]

14th May 1921

Liner Aquitania leaving the port of Southampton.


Edward, Prince of Wales, kicking a football before the match between the Tottenham Hotspur and Fulham at Sandhurst College.


Karatara (United Kingdom) The coaster caught fire 20 nautical miles (37 km) off Cape Town, South Africa and was abandoned. All passengers and crew were rescued. Karatara was subsequently towed into Cape Town extensively damaged.
Wollongbar (United Kingdom )The cargo ship was wrecked at Byron Bay, New South Wales, Australia.

[Jimbuna]

15th May 1921

The 1921 Italian general elections take place, with votes split between the Socialist Party (24.7%), the Christian-democratic People’s Party (20.4%) and the National Blocs (19.1%). Benito Mussolini, leading the Italian Fasces of Combat, is elected for the first time.

[Jimbuna]

16th May 1921

Crown Prince Hirohito reviewing British troops at Kenley Airfield during his tour of Europe.


Ship Losses:

City of Pascagoula (Italy) The schooner caught fire at Genoa and was scuttled.

[Jimbuna]

17th May 1921

Soldiers guarding three huge casks of tobacco after they were retrieved from River Liffey, Ireland.

[Jimbuna]

18th May 1921

The 1921 British Mount Everest reconnaissance expedition sets out from India to search for possible routes for ascending the mountain.


Franklin Knight Lane, former U.S. Secretary of the Interior who presided over the creation of the National Park Service, has passed away.


Albert Grass, grandson of a Sioux chief, is buried with Army honors in Cannon Ball, N.D., as 100 fellow tribesmen chant in mourning. The soldier, 21, was killed in France in 1918, the first Sioux casualty of WWI

[Jimbuna]

19th May 1921

Edward Douglass White, the Chief Justice of the U.S., dies in office. He sided with the majority in Plessy v. Ferguson, which upheld the legality of segregation. He also upheld the legality of conscription during the Great War.

[Jimbuna]

20th May 1921

Royal Navy cruiser HMS Calcutta docked near the Philadelphia Navy Yard.


"U.S. Will Never Enter League, Harvey Tells Britain; France Won't Agree Not to Seize Ruhr"


Ship Losses:

Manuel Carsi (Spain) The cargo ship sprang a leak and sank in the Mediterranean Sea 20 nautical miles (37 km) off Cape Vilano, Algeria. Her crew were rescued.

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21st May 1921

Polish militias in Upper Silesia as they revolt against German rule.

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22nd May 1921

The Battle of Annaberg begins during the Third Silesian Civil War.