What happened in 1923

World1

• Sep 29The League of Nations Mandate for Palestine (1922) comes into effect, officially creating under British administration the protectorates of Palestine and the separate Emirate of Transjordan under Abdullah I. The French-administered Mandate for Syria and Lebanon also takes effect.

Japan3

• Sep 1The Great Kantō earthquake devastates Tokyo and Yokohama, killing more than 100,000 people.
• Sep 1The Kantō Massacre begins and continues for several weeks. Ethnic Koreans are killed by lynch mobs based on rumors that Koreans are committing crimes and plotting to overthrow the government. The death toll (and even the occurrence of) the massacre is disputed, with figures ranging from a few dozen to over 6,000 deaths. Most of the deaths are of Korean people, although it is said that other ethnic minorities and even Japanese people with unusual dialects are also killed.
• Dec 27Toranomon Incident: In Tokyo, Crown Prince Hirohito of Japan survives an assassination attempt by communist student Daisuke Nanba.

North America4

• Mar 3The first issue of TIME magazine is published.
• Aug 2Vice President Calvin Coolidge becomes the 30th president of the United States, upon the death of President Warren G. Harding in San Francisco.
• Sep 8Honda Point disaster: Nine United States Navy destroyers run aground off the California coast.
• Oct 16Roy and Walt Disney found The Walt Disney Company, at this time known as the Disney Brothers Studio.

Europe23

• Jan 11Despite strong British protests, troops from France and Belgium occupy the Ruhr area, to force Germany to make reparation payments.
• JanJanuary 17 (or 9) – First flight of the first rotorcraft, Juan de la Cierva's Cierva C.4 autogyro, in Spain. (It is first demonstrated to the military on January 31.)
• JanJanuary 5 – Lithuania begins the Klaipėda Revolt to annex the Klaipėda Region (Memel Territory).
• Apr 28The original Wembley Stadium in London, England, opens its doors to the public for the first time, staging the FA Cup Final between Bolton Wanderers and West Ham United.
• May 20British Prime Minister Bonar Law resigns, due to ill health.
• May 23Belgium's Sabena Airlines is created.
• May 24The Irish Civil War ends.
• May 26The first 24 Hours of Le Mans motor race is held, and is won by André Lagache and René Léonard.
• Jul 24The Treaty of Lausanne (1923), settling the boundaries of the modern Republic of Turkey, is signed in Switzerland by Greece, Bulgaria and other countries that fought in the First World War, bringing an end to the Ottoman Empire after 624 years.
• Sep 7At the International Police Conference in Vienna, the International Criminal Police Commission (ICPC), better known as Interpol, is set up.
• Sep 10The Irish Free State joins the League of Nations.
• Nov 1The Finnish flag carrier airline Finnair is started, as Aero oy.
• Nov 8Beer Hall Putsch: In Munich, Adolf Hitler leads the Nazis in an unsuccessful attempt to overthrow the Bavarian government; police and troops crush the attempt the next day in one of several significant events on 9 November in German history. 20 people die as a result of associated violence.
• Nov 11Adolf Hitler is arrested for his leading role in the Beer Hall Putsch.
• Nov 15Hyperinflation in the Weimar Republic: Hyperinflation in Germany reaches its height. One United States dollar is worth 4,200,000,000,000 Papiermark (4.2 trillion on the short scale). Gustav Stresemann abolishes the old currency and replaces it with the Rentenmark, at an exchange rate of one Rentenmark to 1,000,000,000,000 (one trillion on the short scale) Papiermark (effective November 20).

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USSR / Russia3

• Mar 9Vladimir Lenin suffers his third stroke, which renders him bedridden and unable to speak; consequently he retires from his position as Chairman of the Soviet government.
• Mar 17Dobrolyot is formed as the first Soviet civil aviation service; it will become part of flag carrier Aeroflot.
• Jul 10Large hailstones kill 23 people in Rostov, Soviet Union.

Asia2

• Oct 1The Johor–Singapore Causeway opens to public traffic.
• Dec 21The Nepal–Britain Treaty is the first to define the international status of Nepal as an independent sovereign country.

Middle East5

• Mar 6The Egyptian Feminist Union (Arabic: الاتحاد النسائي المصري), the first nationwide feminist movement in Egypt, is founded at the home of activist Huda Sha'arawi.
• Apr 19The Egyptian Constitution of 1923 is adopted, introducing a parliamentary system of democracy in the country.
• Sep 9Turkish head of state Mustafa Kemal Atatürk founds the Republican People's Party (CHP).
• Oct 13Ankara replaces Istanbul (Constantinople), as the capital of Turkey.
• Oct 29Turkey becomes a republic, following the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire; Kemal Atatürk is elected as first president.

Africa1

• Mar 1Eskom, the largest electricity producer in Africa, is established in South Africa.

Oceania1

• Feb 9Billy Hughes, having resigned as Prime Minister of Australia, after the Country Party refuses to govern in coalition with him as the leader of the Nationalist Party, is succeeded by Stanley Bruce. A Liberal–National Coalition will persist in the politics of Australia for at least 100 years.