Tag: 100 Years Ago

16 AUGUST 1923

Jan Smuts, the Prime Minister of South Africa, speaking at a Congress of the South African Party, said that all nations great and small needed to rally around Great Britain to avoid a global disaster.

The Belgian Government said that they were still examining the British note on war reparations and the occupation of the Ruhr Valley, but said they were taking it seriously despite the angry French response.

Calvin Coolidge, the new President of the United States, said that he would reject any proposal to cancel or reduce the amount owed by France or any other country to the United States.

Éamon de Valera, the Irish Republican leader, was arrested by Free State troops shortly after commencing an election speech in the market town of Ennis.

15 AUGUST 1923

The by-election result in South Portsmouth was announced with the Unionist party holding onto the seat. Herbert Cayzer, the Unionist candidate, secured 11,884 votes and Henry Merrick Lawson, the Liberal candidate, secured 9,763 votes.

Gustav Stresemann, the new Chancellor in Germany, announced that he was willing for the question of the legality of the French occupation of the Ruhr Valley to be decided by an International Court of Arbitration.

14 AUGUST 1923

The German Government announced that it was ceasing the repayment of all war reparations saying that the country was in plight and its citizens in danger of starvation.

The French Government reacted angrily to the British note stating that their occupation of the Ruhr Valley was illegal.

Sir Charles Monro was appointed as the Governor of Gibraltar.

William Cosgrave, the President of Ireland, unveiled a memorial in Ireland to the two Irish leaders Arthur Griffith and Michael Collins.

13 AUGUST 1923

The Cuno Government in Germany resigned leaving Gustav Stresemann to become the new Chancellor.

The British Government said that the French occupation in the Ruhr Valley was both illegal and also detrimental to peace and trade.

David Lloyd George, the former Prime Minister, said in a speech in Conway that it would be a a great tragedy if the sacrifices of the Great War had been in vain.

12 AUGUST 1923

The British Government sent a note to the French Government saying that it disagreed with its foreign policy with relation to Germany. It stated that the occupation of the Ruhr Valley was illegal was welcomed by the German Government.

Wilhelm Cuno, the Chancellor of Germany, offered his resignation over growing problems in the country.

11 AUGUST 1923

The media reported that the increase in food prices in Germany compared with wages was causing great unrest which the communists were exploiting.

David Lloyd George, the former Prime Minister, said that the Ruhr occupation was “a blunder of the first magnitude”.

400 farmers and potato growers met in Perth, Scotland, to pass a resolution which urged the Government to prevent the introduction of foreign potatoes for as long as there were adequate supplies at home.

10 AUGUST 1923

Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin, in a message to the Unionist candidate at South Portsmouth, said that it was the intention of the Government to persist steadily in their plan to find a satisfactory solution to the grave problems facing the nation.

David Lloyd George, the former Prime Minister, said at a meeting in Mold that the danger in Europe was a nationalism that had gone wrong. He said that the continent was suffering from menancing and ravaging patriotisms that had burst their banks.

The body of President Warren Harding arrived at Marion for burial. Over 100,000 people visited the town, where the President had been brought up, to witness the funeral.

The National Gallery at Millbank accepted the offer from Samuel Courtauld of £50,000 to purchase modern foreign pictures for the gallery.

9 AUGUST 1923

Wilhelm Cuno, the Chancellor of Germany, said that the French demands in connection with the Ruhr valley were impossible and stated Germany’s determination to continue passive resistance.

The League of Nations Mixed Commission for the Reduction of Armaments passed the second reading of the Mutual Guarantee Treaty.

The state funeral of President Warren Harding took place at Washington.

A communist plot, instigated from Moscow, was discovered in Finland where 200 arrests were made.

8 AUGUST 1923

The Government said that Cabinet would discuss tomorrow their response to the French note on German war reparations.

The German currency collapsed again, this time trading at 17 million marks to the £1.

The mutual guarantee pact providing for the defence of signatory nations was approved by the Mixed Commission of the League of Nations.

7 AUGUST 1923

Limits on trading foreign currency were lifted in Germany, leading to the mark falling to 7,500,000 to the £1.

A large crowd mobbed delegates at the opening of the Irish Trade Union Congress in Dublin.

Field-Marshal Viscount Allenby unveiled a war memorial to the 5th Welsh Regiment in Pontypridd and also opened a memorial park.