What happened in 1927

31 events　World 4, Japan 1, North America 10, Europe 6, USSR / Russia 1, Asia 6, Middle East 2, Latin America 1

Highlights of 1927

Jan 1EuropeThe British Broadcasting Company becomes the British Broadcasting Corporation, when its royal charter of incorporation takes effect. John Reith becomes the first Director-General.
Jan 11WorldLouis B. Mayer, head of film studio Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), announces the creation of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, at a banquet in Los Angeles, California.
Mar 14North AmericaPan American World Airways is founded by Juan T. Trippe.
Apr 27Latin AmericaThe Carabineros de Chile (Chilean national police force and gendarmerie) are created.
May 20Middle EastBy the Treaty of Jeddah, the United Kingdom recognizes the sovereignty of Ibn Saud over the Kingdom of Hejaz and Nejd, the future Saudi Arabia.
Aug 1AsiaThe Communist Chinese People's Liberation Army is formed, during the Nanchang Uprising.

Jan 10Fritz Lang's futuristic film Metropolis is released in Germany.
Jan 11Louis B. Mayer, head of film studio Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), announces the creation of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, at a banquet in Los Angeles, California.
Jan 24U.S. Marines invade Nicaragua by orders of President Calvin Coolidge, intervening in the Nicaraguan Civil War, and remaining in the country until 1933.
Jun 29Solar eclipse of June 29, 1927: A total eclipse of the sun takes place over Wales, northern England, southern Scotland, Norway, northern Sweden, northmost Finland, and the northmost extremes of Russia.

Mar 71927 Kita Tango earthquake: A 7.0 earthquake kills at least 2,925 in the Toyooka and Mineyama areas of western Honshu, in Japan.

Feb 19In the United States, the silent romantic comedy film It starring Clara Bow, is released, popularising the concept of the "It girl".
Mar 14Pan American World Airways is founded by Juan T. Trippe.
Apr 22The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 strikes 700,000 people, in the greatest natural disaster in American history through this time.
May 11The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which will create the Academy Awards, is founded in the United States.
May 18Bath School disaster: A series of violent attacks by a school official results in 45 deaths, mostly of children, in Bath Township, Michigan, United States.
May 20Charles Lindbergh makes the first solo, nonstop transatlantic airplane flight, from New York City to Paris, France, in his single-engined aircraft, the Spirit of St. Louis.
Aug 7The Peace Bridge opens between Fort Erie, Ontario, and Buffalo, New York.
Oct 6The Jazz Singer, starring Al Jolson, premieres at the Warner Theater in New York City. Although not the first sound film, and containing very little recorded speech, it is the first to become a box-office hit, popularizing "talkies" (although silent films continue to be made for some time).
Nov 12The Holland Tunnel opens to traffic, as the first vehicular tunnel under the Hudson River, linking New Jersey with New York City.
Nov 21The Columbine Mine massacre: Colorado state police open fire on 500 rowdy but unarmed miners during a strike, killing 6.

Jan 1The British Broadcasting Company becomes the British Broadcasting Corporation, when its royal charter of incorporation takes effect. John Reith becomes the first Director-General.
Apr 12The Royal and Parliamentary Titles Act 1927 renames the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland as the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. The change acknowledges that the Irish Free State is no longer part of the Kingdom.
Jul 10Timothy Coughlan, Bill Gannon and Archie Doyle, members of the anti-Treaty Irish Republican Army, shoot dead Kevin O'Higgins, Vice-President of the Executive Council of the Irish Free State and Minister for Justice, as O'Higgins is walking to Mass in Dublin.
Jul 15July Revolt of 1927: After police in Vienna fire on an angry crowd, 85 protesters (mostly members of the Social Democratic Party of Austria) and 5 policemen are left dead; more than 600 people are injured.
Jul 24The Menin Gate is dedicated as a war memorial at Ypres, Belgium.
Aug 22200 people demonstrate in Hyde Park, London, against the death sentences on Italian American anarchists Sacco and Vanzetti. Other protests are held across the world at this time.

Jun 9The Soviet Union executes 20 people for alleged espionage in retaliation for the assassination two days earlier of Pyotr Voykov, the Soviet ambassador to Poland, at the railway station in Warsaw. Voykov had been shot by 19-year-old Boris Kowerda, an exiled Russian, in retaliation for having signed the death warrants in 1918 for Tsar Nicholas II and the Russian Imperial Family.

Mar 24Nanking Incident: After six foreigners have been killed in Nanking, and it appears that Kuomintang and Chinese Communist Party forces will overrun the foreign consulates, warships of the U.S. Navy and the British Royal Navy fire shells and shoot to disperse the crowds.
Apr 12April 12 Incident (Shanghai Massacre): Kuomintang troops kill a number of communist-supporting workers in Shanghai. The 1st United Front between the Nationalists and Communist ends, and the Civil War lasting until 1949 begins.
May 22The 7.6 Gulang earthquake affects Gansu in northwest China with a maximum Mercalli intensity of XI (Extreme), leaving over 40,000 dead.
Aug 1The Communist Chinese People's Liberation Army is formed, during the Nanchang Uprising.
SepThe Autumn Harvest Uprising occurs in China.
Dec 19Three members of the revolutionary movement for Indian independence – Pandit Ram Prasad Bismil, Thakur Roshan Singh and Ashfaqulla Khan – are executed by the British Raj. Rajendra Nath Lahiri had been executed two days before.

May 20By the Treaty of Jeddah, the United Kingdom recognizes the sovereignty of Ibn Saud over the Kingdom of Hejaz and Nejd, the future Saudi Arabia.
Jul 11The 1927 Jericho earthquake strikes Palestine, killing around 300 people; it is the largest ever recorded in this part of the Middle East. The effects are especially severe in Nablus, but damage and fatalities are also reported in many areas of Palestine and Transjordan, such as Amman, Salt, Jordan, and Lydda.

Apr 27The Carabineros de Chile (Chilean national police force and gendarmerie) are created.