January, 1921. The Allies from World War I fix German war debts at 132 million gold marks, to be paid out over 42 years. Germany is practically broke and unable to pay, so the German government asks for a postponement of the debt.
February, 1921. Greece defies the League of Nations and declares war on Turkey, invading Anatolia (western Turkey).
February 12, 1921. The Democratic Republic of Georgia is invaded by Bolshevist Russia.
On February 25, the Red Army enters Georgian capital Tbilisi and installs a Moscow-directed communist government. The Russian Communists are expanding their influence and power throughout the region of Eastern Europe.
April 11, 1921. Out of territory taken from the Ottoman Empire, the British create The Emirate of Transjordan, with Abdullah I as emir. The British continue to exercise some control over the region, and a smaller part of the British mandate in Palestine is reserved to fulfill the British promise of a Jewish homeland. More and more Jews are coming to Palestine, especially since the U.S. has tightened its immigration laws to allow very few immigrants from Eastern Europe.
July 11, 1921. The Red Army captures Mongolia from the White Army and establishes the Mongolian People’s Republic. Mongolia will be a close ally of the Soviet Union for the remainder of the twentieth century.
July, 1921. Canadians Sir Frederick Grant Banting and Charles Herbert Best demonstrate that they can control diabetes in dogs by giving them an extract of insulin from the pancreas of healthy dogs. For this work, Banting and laboratory director MacLeod receive the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1923. Banting and Best make the patent for insulin available without charge and do not attempt to control commercial production.
August, 1921. As a result of drought, disease, and civil war, famine is devastating Russia. Lenin appeals to the international community for aid.
September, 1921. The world’s first racing track/highway, the Avus Autobahn in Berlin, Germany opens exclusively to motor traffic. The racing track, also a public highway, is 19.5 kilometers (12 miles) long.
November, 1921. Benito Mussolini declares himself to be “Il Duce” (the leader) of the National Fascist Party of Italy.
December, 1921. The predominantly Catholic counties of southern Ireland become the independent country, the Irish Free State. Northern Ireland, mostly Protestant but with a significant Catholic minority, remains a part of the United Kingdom (Britain). Neither North nor South is entirely satisfied with the compromise.