1919
year
1919 (MCMXIX) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar and a common year starting on Tuesday of the Julian calendar, the 1919th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 919th year of the 2nd millennium, the 19th year of the 20th century, and the 10th and last year of the 1910s decade. As of the start of 1919, the Gregorian calendar was 13 days ahead of the Julian calendar, which remained in localized use until 1923.
Events
January
January 1
The Czechoslovak Legions occupy much of the self-proclaimed "free city" of Pressburg (later Bratislava), enforcing its incorporation into the new republic of Czechoslovakia.
HMY Iolaire sinks off the coast of the Hebrides; 201 people, mostly servicemen returning home to Lewis and Harris, are killed.
January 2–22 – Russian Civil War: The Red Army's Caspian-Caucasian Front begins the Northern Caucasus Operation against the White Army, but fails to make progress.
January 3 – The Faisal–Weizmann Agreement is signed by Emir Faisal (representing the Arab Kingdom of Hejaz) and Zionist leader Chaim Weizmann, for Arab–Jewish cooperation in the development of a Jewish homeland in Palestine, and an Arab nation in a large part of the Middle East.
January 5 – In Germany:
Spartacist uprising in Berlin: The Marxist Spartacus League, with the newly formed Communist Party of Germany and the Independent Social Democratic Party, begin mass demonstrations, which will be suppressed by armed force within a week.
The German Workers' Party (Deutsche Arbeiterpartei, DAP), predecessor of the Nazi Party, is formed by the merger of Anton Drexler's Committee of Independent Workmen with journalist Karl Harrer's Political Workers' Circle.
January 7 – Estonian War of Independence: With Soviet Russian forces just 40 km outside of the capital Tallinn, Estonian forces start a general and successful counter-offensive against the Red Army.
January 8 – The funeral of Theodore Roosevelt, 26th President of the United States, is held at Christ Church Oyster Bay, Long Island; Roosevelt had died in his sleep at the age of 60, two days earlier.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “1919” is year. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through year, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “year” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 9, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q2157. The Library of Congress control number is sh2006008818. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1919 and 1923.
The absence of detail may reflect summary conventions rather than a lack of surviving documentation. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
- Search vocabulary
- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “1919”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow 1919 primary sources, 1919 archive and year research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “1919”?
- Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
- Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “1919” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.