1920
year
1920 (MCMXX) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar and a leap year starting on Wednesday of the Julian calendar, the 1920th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 920th year of the 2nd millennium, the 20th year of the 20th century, and the 1st year of the 1920s decade. As of the start of 1920, the Gregorian calendar was 13 days ahead of the Julian calendar, which remained in localized use until 1923.
Events
January
January 1
Polish–Soviet War: The Russian Red Army increases its troops along the Polish border from 4 divisions to 20.
Kauniainen in Finland, completely surrounded by the city of Espoo, secedes from Espoo as its own market town.
January 7 – Russian Civil War: The forces of Russian White Admiral Alexander Kolchak surrender in Krasnoyarsk; the Great Siberian Ice March ensues.
January 10
The Treaty of Versailles takes effect, officially ending World War I.
The League of Nations Covenant enters into force. On January 16, the organization holds its first council meeting, in Paris.
January 11 – The Azerbaijan Democratic Republic is recognised de facto by European powers in Versailles.
January 13 – The New York Times ridicules American rocket scientist Robert H. Goddard, which it will rescind following the launch of Apollo 11 in 1969.
January 16
The Allies of World War I demand that the Netherlands extradite ex-German Emperor Wilhelm II who fled there in 1918.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “1920” 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 17, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q2155. The Library of Congress control number is sh98003185. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1920, 1923, 1969 and 1918.
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
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The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “1920”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow 1920 primary sources, 1920 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
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This entry incorporates text from “1920” 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.