August 1921

[August 1], 1921 (Monday)

• The first congress of the South African Communist Party concludes, in Cape Town.
• Born: Jack Kramer, US tennis player and commentator, in Las Vegas

  [August 2], 1921 (Tuesday)

• The Spanish outposts of Nadar and Selouane in Morocco fall to rebel forces in the aftermath of the Battle of Annual.
• Died: Enrico Caruso, 48, Italian operatic tenor

  [August 3], 1921 (Wednesday)

• A Pact of Pacification between Italian leader Benito Mussolini and his Fascist Revolutionary Party, the Italian Socialist Party and the General Confederation of Labor. It is widely rejected.
• Russian poet Nikolay Gumilyov is arrested in the Soviet Union by the Cheka on charges of being a monarchist, suspected of involvement in the Tagantsev Conspiracy; see August 26.
• The "Waratahs", an Australian representative rugby union side, play the first match of their New Zealand tour at Whangarei, defeating North Auckland.

  [August 4], 1921 (Thursday)

• The Italian coaster strikes a mine in the Adriatic Sea off the coast of Foggia and sinks, with the loss of one crew member. Survivors are rescued by the Greek ship.
• The US submarine USS S-12 is launched at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in New Hampshire, by the wife of Gordon Woodbury, who was US Assistant Secretary of the Navy.

  [August 5], 1921 (Friday)

• The first broadcast of a baseball game is aired by US radio station KDKA, as the Pittsburgh Pirates defeat the Philadelphia Phillies 8–5 at Forbes Field.

  [August 6], 1921 (Saturday)

• In the wake of the Upper Silesia plebiscite of March 1921, an expert report by the Committee of the Allied Supreme Council recommends a redefinition of the border between Poland and Germany, on the basis of which the greater part of the Upper Silesian industrial district is awarded to Poland.

  [August 7], 1921 (Sunday)

• The Campeonato del Centenario football championship opens in Mexico.
• Born: Manitas de Plata, Spanish-French guitar virtuoso, in Sète, France, under the name Ricardo Baliardo
• Died: Alexander Blok, 40, Russian poet, dramatist and critic

  [August 8], 1921 (Monday)

• Born: Esther Williams, US champion swimmer and actress, in Inglewood, California

  [August 9], 1921 (Tuesday)

• The import duty on tobacco brought into the Settlements of Singapore, Penang and Malacca is raised by up to 50%.

  [August 10], 1921 (Wednesday)

[August 11], 1921 (Thursday)

• While on holiday at Lubec, Maine, future US president Franklin D. Roosevelt suffers the first signs of paralysis, which are diagnosed by a local doctor as resulting from a bad cold.
• Giovanni De Briganti wins the 1921 Schneider Trophy race at Venice, Italy, in a Macchi M.7 with an average speed of 189.7 km/h.
• Born: Alex Haley, US writer, in Ithaca, New York

  [August 12], 1921 (Friday)

• The French cargo ship St Clair catches fire at Mex, Egypt; it is beached and later declared a total loss.

  [August 13], 1921 (Saturday)

• Herbert Greenfield replaces Charles Stewart as Premier of Alberta, Canada.
• Stormont Castle is designated as the future home of Northern Ireland's Parliament.

  [August 14], 1921 (Sunday)

• Antonio Maura becomes President of the Council of Ministers of Spain in a coalition government, after the fall of the government of Manuel Allendesalazar.
• The 1921 Massawa earthquake in Eritrea results in an unknown number of deaths.

  [August 15], 1921 (Monday)

• Russian famine of 1921–22: At a conference in Geneva, organised by the International Committee of the Red Cross and the League of Red Cross Societies, the International Committee for Russian Relief was set up under the leadership of Fridtjof Nansen.
• A workers' congress begins at Izamal in Mexico, in the course of which Felipe Carrillo Puerto is elected President of the Socialist Party of the Southeast. Carrillo's opening speech is made in the Yucatec Maya language.

  [August 16], 1921 (Tuesday)

• Prince Alexander, "the Unifier", becomes King of Yugoslavia following the death of his father, King Peter.
• Died: King Peter I of Serbia, 77

  [August 17], 1921 (Wednesday)

[August 18], 1921 (Thursday)

[August 19], 1921 (Friday)

• The United Kingdom government publishes the Railways Act 1921, providing for the amalgamation of British railway companies into four large groups, "The Big Four", with effect from January 1, 1923.
• Over 1,300 people have to be rescued from the Isle of Man passenger ferry after it runs aground at New Brighton, Cheshire. King Orry is refloated later that day.
• Born: Gene Roddenberry, US screenwriter and producer, creator of Star Trek, in El Paso, Texas

  [August 20], 1921 (Saturday)

• Molla Mallory defeats her fellow American Mary Browne 4–6, 6–4, 6–2 to win the 1921 U.S. National Championships – Women's Singles tennis tournament for the sixth time.

  [August 21], 1921 (Sunday)

• Berlin police arrest Carl Großmann, serial killer who became known for selling the bodies of his victims as black market meat.

  [August 22], 1921 (Monday)

• The French passenger ship Cordillère is driven ashore on the Tungsha Spit, at the mouth of the Yangtze River in China, along with the British cargo ship Glaucus and the Norwegian cargo ship Henrik, in a typhoon. Cordillère's passengers and some of the crew are taken off on 24 August and all three ships are refloated on 5 September.

  [August 23], 1921 (Tuesday)

• Prince Faisal is crowned King of Iraq, in Baghdad.

  [August 24], 1921 (Wednesday)

• The R38, the world's largest airship, suffers a structural failure and crashes into the Humber Estuary in north-east England, UK; 44 of its crew of 49 are killed.
• 1921 Persian coup d'état: As Cossack forces approach, the rebel forces vacate Rasht.

  [August 25], 1921 (Thursday)

• A U.S.–German Peace Treaty is signed in Berlin, bringing the First World War to an end.
• Future US president Franklin D. Roosevelt, now completely paralysed, is diagnosed with poliomyelitis by Dr Robert Lovett, a Boston specialist.

  [August 26], 1921 (Friday)

• The US cargo ship, on passage from Mobile, Alabama, to Antwerp with a cargo of grain and lumber, runs aground at Sambro Island, Halifax, Nova Scotia. It is abandoned and subsequently wrecked.
• Died:
• *Matthias Erzberger, 45, German politician, assassinated at Bad Griesbach in the Black Forest by right-wing terrorists Heinrich Tillessen and Heinrich Schulz, who had been recruited by Manfred von Killinger, a leading member of the Germanenorden.
• *Nikolay Gumilyov, 35, Russian Acmeist poet and political dissident, executed with 61 others convicted of involvement in the fabricated Tagantsev conspiracy.
• *Sándor Wekerle, 72, Hungarian politician, three times Prime Minister

  [August 27], 1921 (Saturday)

• Born: Georg Alexander, Duke of Mecklenburg, German nobleman, future head of the House of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, in Nice, France

  [August 28], 1921 (Sunday)

• Born: Lidia Gueiler Tejada, first female president of Bolivia, in Cochabamba

  [August 29], 1921 (Monday)

• Loew's State Theatre opens in New York City, United States. The brainchild of motion picture pioneer Marcus Loew, owner of MGM. Guests at the gala opening night included Ethel and Lionel Barrymore, Theda Bara, Billie Burke, Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford.

  [August 30], 1921 (Tuesday)

• Legislative elections are held in the Australian state of Victoria. Harry Lawson's minority Nationalist government remains the largest party.

  [August 31], 1921 (Wednesday)

• The Australian Air Force officially takes the prefix "Royal", becoming the second Royal air arm to be formed in the British Commonwealth, following Britain's Royal Air Force.