28 June 1919: Versailles, five years to the day after Sarajevo
On 28 June 1919, five years on from the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, Germany signed the peace treaty at Versailles. The fortnight around it was full of other news.
How sure we are: events with no label are high confidence. A grey label such as Exact day uncertain says why one detail is less certain; a yellow label such as Sources differ on the date marks a low-confidence event where the sources disagree or are thin. The notes say where. Dates are in the Gregorian calendar; where a country still used another calendar, the notes give the original. How events are checked
The signing
The treaty, and two Asian stories already running when it was signed.
Politics & diplomacyWidely known
Treaty of Versailles is signed between Germany and the Allies
· Versailles, France · Europe
On 28 June
The treaty signed at the Palace of Versailles formally ended war between Germany and most of its enemies. Germany, kept out of the talks, had to disarm, cede territory and pay reparations, and its Article 231, blaming Germany and its allies for the losses, earned the name War Guilt clause.
Why it is interesting. The treaty was signed on the fifth anniversary of Archduke Franz Ferdinand's assassination.
On 4 May 1919 students gathered at Tiananmen, angry at the government's feeble reaction to the Versailles decision letting Japan keep former German territories in Shandong. The demonstrations sparked nationwide protests and a surge of Chinese nationalism.
Why it is interesting. Protests about a faraway peace treaty in Paris grew into a nationwide movement that shaped twentieth-century China.
Afghan troops crossed into British India close to where the Khyber Pass begins on its western side, and took Bagh. The new emir, Amanullah Khan, had declared jihad against the British, and the treaty signed on 8 August returned control of foreign affairs to the Afghans.
Why it is interesting. British aircraft raided Kabul, and that helped persuade the new Afghan emir to seek an armistice.
Notes and dating details
Wikidata gives 1919-05-06; lead and infobox give 3 May 1919 as the start. War ended 8 August 1919.
A fleet sunk, a blockade lifted and great sporting events back after the war.
War & conflict
German sailors scuttle the High Seas Fleet at Scapa Flow
· Scapa Flow, Orkney Islands, Scotland · Europe
7 days before 28 June
Admiral Ludwig von Reuter, fearing British seizure of the interned ships, signalled the fleet to stand by around 10:00 a.m. on the day the treaty signing was set for noon. British guard ships beached some vessels, but 52 of the 74 interned ships sank.
Why it is interesting. Wrecks from the scuttled fleet still supply low-background steel.
· North Sea and English Channel approaches to Germany · At sea
14 days after 28 June
Some details uncertain.
The Entente blockade ran from 1914 to 1919, restricting sea supplies to Germany and the other Central Powers. The last remaining restrictions were lifted on 12 July 1919, after Germany signed the Treaty of Versailles. A 1928 study put the German civilian toll at 424,000, against the 763,000 claimed in December 1918.
Why it is interesting. The blockade continued after the 1918 armistice, and the German civilian toll is still disputed.
Notes and dating details
The article says the last remaining limits were removed on 12 July 1919, and Wikidata gives 1919-07-12 for the end. The infobox lists the Atlantic and Mediterranean as locations, but the body describes the British closing of the North Sea and the English Channel against Germany, so the place follows the body.
Inter-Allied Games open at Pershing Stadium near Paris
· Paris, France · Europe
6 days before 28 June
From 22 June to 6 July 1919, athletes who were serving or had served in the war competed in a single multi-sport meeting just outside Paris. US forces and the YMCA built the stadium, and the United States gave it to France afterwards.
Why it is interesting. The US built a stadium for the games, then gave it to France when they ended.
Notes and dating details
The infobox gives opening 22 June 1919; the lead gives 22 June to 6 July 1919.
The 39th Wimbledon was the first held after a four-year break caused by the First World War. Gerald Patterson won the men's singles, and Suzanne Lenglen won the women's singles and, with Elizabeth Ryan, the women's doubles.
Notes and dating details
The lead and infobox give 23 June to 7 July 1919. Wikidata gives an end date of 8 July.
The 1919 Tour de France begins, the first after the First World War
· Paris, France · Europe
1 day after 28 June
Firmin Lambot of Belgium won the 13th Tour. Eugene Christophe wore the newly introduced yellow jersey first but lost his chance of winning when his fork broke, and wartime damage to French roads made riding hard.
Why it is interesting. The yellow jersey made its first appearance in this Tour.
Notes and dating details
Infobox gives 29 June – 27 July 1919. First stage ran Paris to Le Havre.
Alcock and Brown make the first non-stop transatlantic flight
· St. John's, Dominion of Newfoundland (now Canada), to Clifden, United Kingdom (now Ireland) · At sea
14 days before 28 June
John Alcock and Arthur Brown, British aviators, crossed in a Vickers Vimy, a First World War bomber they had modified, from Lester's Field to Clifden, County Galway, and won the Daily Mail's 10,000 pound prize. Almost 200 letters went along. King George V knighted both a week later.
Why it is interesting. Almost 200 letters rode along, making this the earliest airmail across the Atlantic.
Notes and dating details
Took off about 1:45 pm on 14 June 1919 and landed at 8:40 am on 15 June 1919; date_end is the landing day.
Harry Yates flies T. E. Lawrence and Harry St. John Philby to Cairo
· Lympne, England, to Cairo, Egypt · Middle East
2 days before 28 June
Some details uncertain.
The Canadian pilot Harry Yates took off from Lympne in England on 21 June 1919 in a Handley Page bomber with Harry St. John Philby, collected T. E. Lawrence in Crete, and came in to land at Cairo on 26 June. The five-day trip beat the previous record of 15.5 days.
Why it is interesting. As a colonial he got no official recognition and went home to Canada in late 1919.
Notes and dating details
Wikidata gives 26 June 1919. English Wikipedia says the Foreign Office chose Yates on 20 June 1919, that he took off on 21 June, and that he was on approach to Cairo on 26 June, which is stored as the arrival day.
Republic of Aras in Nakhchivan ends as Armenian troops move in
· Nakhchivan, Azerbaijan · Asia
During June 1919
Exact day uncertain.
Armenian troops took the region around mid-June 1919 during the Aras War, ending the short-lived Republic of Aras. That prompted an Azerbaijani and Ottoman advance, and Armenia lost the region again before August.
Notes and dating details
Wikidata gives 1919-06-26; the lead gives mid-June 1919 as when Armenian troops ended the republic, while the infobox gives the end as 18 August. Month stored.
Businessmen, among them the philanthropist Isaac Leib Goldberg, set up the newspaper on 18 June 1919 under the name Hadashot Ha'aretz, meaning News of the Land. Socialist-oriented Zionists from Russia took over a paper of that name from 1918.
Why it is interesting. Haaretz began as a paper sponsored by Britain's military government in Palestine and changed hands in 1919.
Notes and dating details
The lead says Haaretz was founded in 1918; a body sentence says it was first published in 1918 under British military sponsorship and established on 18 June 1919 by businessmen. The infobox and Wikidata give 1919.
Voting ran from 21 to 23 June 1919, with the Hunchaks and the Populists boycotting. The Armenian Revolutionary Federation won by a landslide, taking 72 of the 80 seats.
Why it is interesting. The ARF took 72 of the 80 seats a year before the Soviet takeover ended the first Armenian republic.
Turkish revolutionaries resisted the Allied partition of the Ottoman Empire after its defeat in the First World War. Mustafa Kemal Pasha was the leader and chief spokesman. Conferences across Anatolia and Thrace in 1919 brought the movement into being.
Why it is interesting. Scattered local resistance groups were joined into one movement that ended with a new republic.
Notes and dating details
The infobox gives active dates of 22 June 1919 to 29 October 1923, while the lead says only that it was created in 1919 through several conferences. The article gives Western dates and shows no Rumi date.
· Aydın, Ottoman Empire (now Turkey) · Middle East
1 day before 28 June
A series of clashes in and around Aydın, running from 27 June to 4 July 1919, belonged to the first phase of the Greco-Turkish War. The Greek Army's advance into the Menderes Valley met resistance from local Turkish irregulars, and the result was a Greek victory.
Notes and dating details
The battle ran 27 June to 4 July 1919. The article gives Western dates and shows no Rumi date; Wikidata gives 1919-06-27 with an end of 1919-07-04.
British ultimatum ends the first Saudi-Hashemite war
· Turaba, Kingdom of Hejaz · Middle East
6 days after 28 June
Some details uncertain.
After Ikhwan forces wiped out a Hashemite army at Turaba in late May 1919, Ibn Saud gathered troops there to advance on Hejaz. A British ultimatum on 4 July made him stand down, leaving a ceasefire that held until 1924.
Notes and dating details
The infobox gives July 1918 to 4 July 1919 for the war; the body dates the Turaba battle to 25-26 May 1919 and the British ultimatum to 4 July 1919. Wikidata gives the end date, 4 July 1919.
Four students, among them Saburo Tanaka, founded Kinema Junpo at the Tokyo Institute of Technology, and its first issue is dated 11 July 1919. It is Japan's oldest film magazine and at first covered mainly foreign films.
Notes and dating details
Wikidata, the infobox and the cover caption agree on 11 July 1919.
· Algonquin Hotel, New York City, United States · North America
During June 1919
Writers, critics, actors and wits began lunching at the Algonquin Hotel in June 1919 after a practical joke by the press agent John Peter Toohey. They called themselves The Vicious Circle and kept meeting until about 1929.
Notes and dating details
Wikidata gives 1919 with an end of 1929. The group continued to about 1929.
Villa attacks Ciudad Juarez in the last big battle of his rebels
· Ciudad Juarez, Mexico · North America
13 days before 28 June
Pancho Villa tried to seize Ciudad Juarez from the Mexican Army. His attack provoked US troops guarding El Paso to step in and rout the Villistas, ending the Border War.
Notes and dating details
Wikidata gives 1919 with start 1919-06-15 and end 1919-06-16; the infobox gives June 15-16, 1919.
Joseph Medill Patterson launched the tabloid on 24 June 1919. It started slowly, passed 100,000 copies by its first anniversary and later became the New York Daily News.
Why it is interesting. The first US daily in tabloid format sold 2.4 million copies a day at its 1947 peak.
Notes and dating details
The infobox gives 24 June 1919 (as Illustrated Daily News); the body gives the same launch date.
Brazil and Argentina play a benefit match for Roberto Chery
· Rio de Janeiro, Brazil · South America
3 days after 28 June
Brazil and Argentina played a friendly at the Estadio das Laranjeiras on 1 July 1919 to honour Uruguayan goalkeeper Roberto Chery, who had died in Rio at 23. Argentina replaced Uruguay's players, who declined to take part.
Notes and dating details
Wikidata gives the year 1919; the lead and infobox give 1 July 1919.
Black Buffalo Soldiers of the 10th Cavalry fought local police in Bisbee, Arizona, after a clash between a military policeman and several soldiers grew into a street battle. Police arrested at least fifty soldiers, eight people were badly hurt and a bystander died.
Notes and dating details
Wikidata gives 1919-07-03, matching the infobox and lead.
On 4 July 1919 Augusto B. Leguia, former president and president-elect, led a coup against the departing Jose Pardo y Barreda government, backed by Lima's gendarmerie. He feared his victory would not be recognised.
Notes and dating details
The coup happened in the early hours of 4 July 1919 at the Government Palace in Lima. Wikidata, the lead and the infobox agree.
Peace on paper; fighting and new beginnings on the ground.
Politics & diplomacy
Slovak Soviet Republic is declared in Prešov
· Prešov, Czechoslovakia (now Slovakia) · Europe
12 days before 28 June
This brief communist state covered part of southeastern Slovakia, with Prešov as its capital. The Czech journalist Antonín Janoušek established and headed it. It was inspired by the Hungarian Soviet Republic and relied on Budapest.
Notes and dating details
Proclaimed 16 June 1919 and ended 7 July 1919 with the Hungarian withdrawal. Wikidata gives 1919-06-16.
The British physicist John William Strutt, 3rd Baron Rayleigh, died at Witham in 1919. He had won the 1904 Nobel Prize in Physics for discovering argon and explained why the sky is blue.
Why it is interesting. Rayleigh's study of light scattering gave a physical explanation for why the sky is blue.
Notes and dating details
Wikidata gives the place as Terling Place; the infobox and body give Witham, England.
· Don Host Oblast, Donbass and central Russia · Europe
5 days after 28 June
In July 1919 the White Armed Forces of South Russia launched a campaign to capture Moscow, which Denikin believed would decide the civil war. It took Poltava and Kursk, but Red counterattacks beat it in autumn.
Notes and dating details
The infobox gives 3 July - 18 November 1919; Wikidata gives only the end date, 18 November 1919.
A ceasefire stops the Landeswehr's war with Estonia and returns Ulmanis to Riga
· Riga, Latvia · Europe
5 days after 28 June
On 3 July 1919, with Estonian troops on the edge of Riga, a ceasefire was made at the Entente's demand. Kārlis Ulmanis's government was put back in Riga, and the pro-German Baltische Landeswehr passed under the Latvian Provisional Government and was sent against the Red Army.
Why it is interesting. The German VI Reserve Corps was ordered out of Latvia, but its men joined the West Russian Volunteer Army instead, and fighting around Riga flared again in October.
Notes and dating details
Wikidata gives July 1919. English Wikipedia's Estonian War of Independence article gives 3 July 1919 for the ceasefire and the return of the Ulmanis government to Riga. German Wikipedia's Baltische Landeswehr article also gives 3 July for the armistice signed at Strasdenhof near Riga, after which the Niedra government resigned and Ulmanis formed a new one. Wikipedia's 1919 year page calls it a peace treaty and gives 8 July for Latvian forces taking Riga; the articles describe a ceasefire, so that wording is not used. Latvia and Estonia used the Gregorian calendar.
Bella Wright is shot dead, beginning the Green Bicycle Case
· Little Stretton, Leicestershire, England · Europe
7 days after 28 June
Bella Wright was found shot near Little Stretton, Leicestershire, with a single bullet wound to the face. She had been seen cycling that evening with a man on a green bicycle. Ronald Light, a mathematics teacher, was tried and acquitted.
Why it is interesting. She was seen with a man on a green bicycle on the evening she died, and authors still disagree about who was to blame.
Magnus Hirschfeld's Institute for Sexual Science opens in Berlin
· Tiergarten, Berlin, Germany · Europe
8 days after 28 June
The private non-profit institute opened in the Tiergarten district on 6 July 1919, with Hirschfeld heading it. It studied and treated sexual and gender matters, and after the Nazis took power youth brigades burned its books in the street.
Why it is interesting. Described as the world's first sexology research centre, the institute later had its books burned in the street by Nazi youth brigades.
Notes and dating details
The institute was inaugurated with a speech by Hirschfeld on 1 July 1919 and opened on 6 July 1919. Wikidata gives opening 6 July 1919 and a dissolution date of 6 May 1933; the infobox says dissolved 1934.
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