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2nd January: American Statesman and diplomat John Hay announces the Open-Door Policy to promote trade with China.
As articulated by U.S. Secretary of State John Hay in his Open Door Note of September 6, 1899, and circulated between representatives of Great Britain, Germany, France, Italy, Japan, and Russia, the Open Door Policy proposed that all countries should maintain free and equal access to all of China’s coastal ports of trade as had previously been stipulated by the 1842 Treaty of Nanking ending the First Opium War. -
5th February: The United States and the United Kingdom sign a treaty for the Panama Canal.
Hay–Pauncefote Treaty, (1900–01), either of two agreements between Britain and the United States, the second of which freed the United States from a previous commitment to accept international control of the Panama Canal. -
7th March: The Germany German liner SS Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse becomes the first ship to send Wireless telegraphy wireless signals to shore.
Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse became the first liner to have a commercial wireless telegraphy system when the Marconi Company installed one in February 1900. Communications were demonstrated with systems installed at the Borkum Island lighthouse and Borkum Riff lightship 30 km (16 nmi; 19 mi) northwest of the island, as well as with British stations, and the first ship-to-shore message was sent on 7 March. By 1911 her call sign was DKW. -
15th April: Philippine–American War: Filipinos Filipino guerrillas launch a surprise attack on U.S. infantry and begin a Siege of Catubig four-day siege of Catubig, Northern Samar Catubig, Philippines.
In the Siege of Catubig, Filipino guerrillas launch a surprise attack against a detachment of American soldiers, and after a four-day siege, Americans evacuate the town of Catubig in Samar. June – General Arthur MacArthur, Jr. proclaims a 90-day amnesty and offers 30 pesos per rifle. -
24th May: Second Boer War: The United Kingdom annexes the Orange Free State.
Between 1899 and 1902, the British Army fought a bitter colonial war against the Boers in South Africa. Although outnumbered, the Boers were a skilled and determined enemy. After initial setbacks and a long period of guerrilla warfare, the British eventually prevailed, but not without adopting controversial tactics. -
14th June: The Reichstag (German Empire) called Reichstag approves a second law that allows the expansion of the German navy.
The Naval Laws (German: Flottengesetze, "Fleet Laws") were five separate laws passed by the German Empire, in 1898, 1900, 1906, 1908, and 1912. These acts, championed by Kaiser Wilhelm II and his Secretary of State for the Navy, Grand Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz, committed Germany to building up a navy capable of competing with the Royal Navy of the United Kingdom. -
20th June: Boxer Rebellion: The Imperial Chinese Army begins a Siege of the International Legations called 55-day siege of the Beijing Legation Quarter or Legation Quarter in Beijing, China.
Siege of the International Legations, (20 June–14 August 1900), engagement of the Boxer Rebellion in China. Placed under siege by Chinese soldiers, the foreign legations in Peking (Beijing, China) held out for fifty-five days until relieved by an international expeditionary force. -
29th July: In Italy, King Umberto I of Italy is assassinated by the Anarchism or anarchist Gaetano Bresci.
Assassination. On the evening of 29 July 1900, Italian-American anarchist Gaetano Bresci assassinated Umberto in Monza by shooting him four times. Bresci claimed he wanted to avenge the people killed in Milan during the suppression of the riots of May 1898. -
17th September: Philippine–American War: Filipino people Filipinos under Juan Cailles defeat United States Americans under Colonel (United States) Colonel Benjamin F. Cheatham at Mabitac.
The Battle of Mabitac (Filipino: Labanan sa Mabitac, Spanish: Batalla de Mabitac) was an engagement in the Philippine–American War, when on September 17, 1900, Filipinos under General Juan Cailles defeated an American force commanded by Colonel Benjamin F. Cheatham, Jr. -
7th November: Battle of Leliefontein, a battle during which the Royal Canadian Dragoons win three Victoria Crosses.
The Battle of Leliefontein (also known as the Battle of Witkloof) was an engagement between British-Canadian and Boer forces during the Second Boer War on 7 November 1900, at the Komati River 30 kilometres (19 mi) south of Belfast at the present day Nooitgedacht Dam. -
January 1: The Australian colonies federate.
Australia became a nation on 1 January 1901 when six British colonies—New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia and Tasmania—united to form the Commonwealth of Australia. -
January 22: Edward VII becomes King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions and Emperor of India upon the death of Queen Victoria.
Accession. When Queen Victoria died on 22 January 1901, Edward became King of the United Kingdom, Emperor of India and, in an innovation, King of the British Dominions. -
March 2: Platt Amendment limits the autonomy of Cuba in exchange for withdrawal of American troops.
The Platt Amendment, an amendment to a U.S. army appropriations bill, established the terms under which the United States would end its military occupation of Cuba (which had begun in 1898 during the Spanish-American War) and "leave the government and control of the island of Cuba to its people." -
September 6: Assassination of William McKinley. Vice President Theodore Roosevelt assumes office as President of the United States following McKinley's death on September 14.
On September 6, 1901, the popular President William McKinley was shot at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, while his Vice President, Theodore Roosevelt, was in Vermont at a speaking engagement. Over the next eight days, McKinley’s health condition varied until he died on September 14. -
September 7: Boxer Rebellion defeated by international coalition. They impose heavy financial sanctions on China.
Boxer Rebellion, officially supported peasant uprising (1900) that attempted to drive all foreigners from China. -
December 12: Guglielmo Marconi receives the first trans-Atlantic radio signal.
At Signal Hill on December 12, 1901, Guglielmo Marconi and his assistant, George Kemp, confirmed the reception of the first transatlantic radio signals. With a telephone receiver and a wire antenna kept aloft by a kite, they heard Morse code for the letter "S" transmitted from Poldhu, Cornwall. -
January 13: Unification of Saudi Arabia begins.
On 23 September 1932, Ibn Saud proclaimed the union of his dominions into the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Ibn Saud's eldest son Saud became crown prince in 1933. -
May 20: Cuba given independence by the United States.
Following the defeat of Spain in 1898, the United States remained in Cuba as an occupying power until the Republic of Cuba was formally installed on May 19, 1902. On May 20, 1902, the United States relinquished its occupation authority over Cuba, but claimed a continuing right to intervene in Cuba. -
May 31: Second Boer War ends in British victory.
By 1902, the British had crushed the Boer resistance, and on May 31 of that year, the Peace of Vereeniging was signed, ending hostilities. The treaty recognized the British military administration over Transvaal and the Orange Free State, and authorized a general amnesty for Boer forces. -
July 12: Arthur Balfour becomes Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
After Salisbury's retirement, Balfour served as prime minister from July 12, 1902, to December 4, 1905. He sponsored and secured passage of the Education Act (Balfour Act; 1902), which reorganized the local administration of elementary and secondary schools. -
July 17: Willis Carrier invents the first modern electrical air conditioning unit.
On July 17, 1902, Willis Carrier solved one of mankind's most elusive challenges by controlling the indoor environment through modern air conditioning. His invention enabled countless industries while promoting global productivity, health and personal comfort. -
October 5: Independence of Bulgaria.
Bulgaria proclaimed its full independence from the Ottoman Empire on September 22 (October 5), 1908. That same day Horace G. Knowles, U.S. Minister to Romania and Serbia and Diplomatic Agent in Bulgaria, sent a telegram to the Secretary of State informing him that Bulgaria had proclaimed her independence. -
November 18: Independence of Panama, the Hay–Bunau-Varilla Treaty is signed by the United States and Panama.
The Hay-Herrán Treaty, negotiated with the nation of Colombia in 1903, allowed the United States rights to the land surrounding the planned canal. -
February 15: The first teddy bear is invented.
The first "Teddy bear" was put on sale on this day in history, Feb. 15, 1903. Named after President Theodore Roosevelt, the stuffed bear was first sold by Morris Michtom, a Brooklyn, New York, resident who owned a candy shop, the website for the National Parks Service (NPS) says. -
June 11: King Alexander I of Serbia and his wife Queen Draga are assassinated in a military coup.
Early in the morning of June 11th, 1903, King Alexander Obrenovic of Serbia and his Queen were brutally murdered by a group of insurgent officers, who ransacked the royal palace of Belgrade in a fervour of inebriated patriotism. -
July 1: The first Tour de France is held.
Le Tour de France has been pushing man and machine to their limits since 1903. But much has changed since the early days of the Tour: from a mostly national attraction, it has become the world’s largest annual multi-day sporting event, drawing billions of fans from across the globe. -
August 4: Pius X becomes Pope.
On August 4, 1903, the College of Cardinals in Vatican City elects Cardinal Giuseppe Sarto as the new Pope after the lengthy illness and death of Pope Leo XIII. He chooses the name Pius X, and leads the Catholic Church until his death in 1914. -
December 17: First controlled heavier-than-air flight of the Wright Brothers.
After several unsuccessful attempts, on December 17, 1903, at Kill Devil Hills near Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, Orville Wright completed the first powered flight of a heavier-than-air aircraft known as the Wright Flyer. The flight lasted just 12 seconds, traveled 120 feet, and reached a top speed of 6.8 miles per hour. -
February 8: A Japanese surprise attack on Port Arthur (Lushun) starts the Russo-Japanese War.
8, 1904. President Theodore Roosevelt. Armed conflict between Russia and Japan began on this day in 1904 when the Japanese navy launched a surprise attack on Port Arthur and blockaded the Russian Far East fleet in what is now northeast China. -
April 8: Entente cordiale signed between Britain and France.
Entente Cordiale, (April 8, 1904), Anglo-French agreement that, by settling a number of controversial matters, ended antagonisms between Great Britain and France and paved the way for their diplomatic cooperation against German pressures in the decade preceding World War I (1914–18). -
June 21: Trans-Siberian railway is completed.
The world's longest railway was completed on 21 July 1904. The world's longest single railway journey, 5,772 miles (9289 km) from Moscow to Vladivostok by way of Nizhny Novgorod, Yekaterinburg, Omsk, Novosibirsk and Irkutsk, nowadays takes about a week. -
January 22: The Revolution of 1905 in Russia erupts.
The Russian Revolution of 1905, also known as the First Russian Revolution, began on 22 January 1905. A wave of mass political and social unrest then began to spread across the vast areas of the Russian Empire. The unrest was directed primarily against the Tsar, the nobility, and the ruling class. -
June 7: The Norwegian Parliament declares the union with Sweden dissolved, and Norway achieves full independence.
The dissolution of the union between Norway and Sweden was the result of a conflict over the question of a separate Norwegian consular service. The fact that Norway did not have its own foreign service missions, and was subordinate to Sweden in all matters of foreign policy, was a clear indication of Norway’s lesser role in the union. On 7 June 1905 the Storting passed a resolution unilaterally dissolving the union. -
September 5: The Russo-Japanese War ends in Japanese victory.
Under the terms of the treaty, which was signed by both parties on September 5, 1905, Russia turned over Port Arthur to the Japanese, while retaining the northern half of Sakhalin Island, which lies off its Pacific coast (they would gain control of the southern half in the aftermath of World War II). -
September 26: Albert Einstein's formulation of special relativity.
On September 26, 1905 (received June 30), Albert Einstein published his annus mirabilis paper on what is now called special relativity. Einstein's paper includes a fundamental description of the kinematics of the rigid body, and it did not require an absolutely stationary space, such as the aether. -
October 16: The British Indian Province of Bengal, partitioned by the Viceroy of India, Lord Curzon, despite strong opposition.
October 16: The British Indian Province of Bengal, partitioned by the Viceroy of India, Lord Curzon, despite strong
opposition. -
December 5: Liberal Henry Campbell-Bannerman becomes Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman, (born September 7, 1836, Glasgow, Scotland—died April 22, 1908, London, England), British prime minister from December 5, 1905, to April 5, 1908. His popularity unified his own Liberal Party and the unusually strong cabinet that he headed. -
April 18: An earthquake in San Francisco, California, magnitude 7.9, kills 3,000.
San Francisco earthquake of 1906, major earthquake with a magnitude of 7.9 that occurred on April 18, 1906, at 5:12 am off the northern California coast. -
July 13: Alfred Dreyfus is exonerated and reinstated as a major in the French Army; the Dreyfus Affair ends.
The Dreyfus affair (French: affaire Dreyfus, pronounced [afɛːʁ dʁɛfys]) was a political scandal that divided the Third French Republic from 1894 until its resolution in 1906. L'Affaire Dreyfus has come to symbolise modern injustice in the Francophone world;[1] it remains one of the most notable examples of a complex miscarriage of justice and antisemitism. The role played by the press and public opinion proved to be influential in the conflict. -
August 16: An earthquake in Valparaíso, Chile, magnitude 8.2, kills 20,000.
The 1906 Valparaíso earthquake hit Valparaíso, Chile, on August 16 at 19:55 local time. Its epicenter was offshore from the Valparaíso Region, and its intensity was estimated at magnitude 8.2 Mw.[2] This earthquake occurred thirty minutes after the 1906 Aleutian Islands earthquake. -
September 28: The US begins the Second Occupation of Cuba.
The U.S. intervention in Cuba in 1906, commonly referred to as the Second Intervention, began on September 28, 1906 with the resignation of the Cuban president and his cabinet and ended on January 28, 1909 when the U.S. relinquished control of the state to its newly elected president. -
October 23: Brazilian inventor Alberto Santos-Dumont takes off and flies his 14-bis to a crowd in Paris.
While some remained skeptical of the reported achievements of the Wright Brothers, which were conducted in secrecy away from the public eye, the success of the flamboyant Santos-Dumont was plain for all to see on October 23, 1906, when his 14-bis biplane flew about 200 feet at a height of around 15 feet. -
December 30: The Muslim League is formed by Nawab Salimullah Khan of Dacca.
On 30 December 1906, around 3000 delegates attended a conference of the Muhammadan Educational Conference at Dhaka in which the ban on politics was removed and a motion was moved to form the AIML. The name was proposed by Nawab Khwaja Sir Salimullah Bahadur and seconded by Hakim Ajmal Khan. -
March 15 – 16: Elections to the new Parliament of Finland are the first in the world with woman candidates, as well as the first elections in Europe where universal suffrage is applied.
Parliamentary elections were held in the autonomous Grand Duchy of Finland on 15 and 16 March 1907. They were the first parliamentary election in which members were elected to the new Parliament of Finland by universal suffrage and the first in the world in which female members were elected. -
July 24: Japan–Korea Treaty of 1907.
The treaty provided that Korea should act under the guidance of a Japanese resident general. The effect of the treaty's provisions was that the administration of internal affairs was turned over to Japan.[1] -
April 8: Liberal H. H. Asquith becomes Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
Early in April 1908 Campbell-Bannerman resigned and died some days later. Asquith, generally regarded as his inevitable successor, became prime minister and was to hold the office for nearly nine years. He appointed David Lloyd George to the Exchequer and made Winston Churchill president of the Board of Trade. -
May 26: First commercial Middle-Eastern oilfield established, at Masjed Soleyman in southwest Persia.
May 26, 1908: Mideast Oil Discovered There Will Be Blood. 1908: A British company strikes oil in Persia (now Iran). It's the first big petroleum find in the Middle East, and it sets off a wave of exploration, extraction and exploitation that will change the region's — and the world's — history. -
June 30: The Tunguska impact devastates thousands of square kilometres of Siberia.
Tunguska event, enormous explosion that is estimated to have occurred at 7:14 am plus or minus one minute on June 30, 1908, at an altitude of 5–10 km (15,000–30,000 feet), flattening some 2,000 square km (500,000 acres) and charring more than 100 square km of pine forest near the Podkamennaya Tunguska River. -
July: Young Turk Revolution in the Ottoman Empire.
They led a rebellion against the absolute rule of Sultan Abdulhamid II ( r. 1876–1909) in the 1908 Young Turk Revolution. With this revolution, the Young Turks helped to establish the Second Constitutional Era in the same year, ushering in an era of multi-party democracy for the first time in the country's history. (side note the date is not exact but I had to set a day it is for July in general) -
July 26: Founding of the Bureau of Investigation (BOI)
This was a time when America needed a new kind of agency to protect and defend against rampant crime; a brief history about how and why the FBI was formed. -
October 1: The Ford Motor Company invents the Model T.
On October 1, 1908, the first production Model T Ford is completed at the company's Piquette Avenue plant in Detroit. Between 1908 and 1927, Ford would build some 15 million Model T cars. It was the longest production run of any automobile model in history until the Volkswagen Beetle surpassed it in 1972. -
October 5: Independence of Bulgaria.
Bulgaria proclaimed its full independence from the Ottoman Empire on September 22 (October 5), 1908. That same day Horace G. Knowles, U.S. Minister to Romania and Serbia and Diplomatic Agent in Bulgaria, sent a telegram to the Secretary of State informing him that Bulgaria had proclaimed her independence. -
December 2: Pu Yi, the last Emperor of China, assumes the throne.
Aisin-Giro Puyi or Emperor Puyi (Chinese: 溥仪, February 7, 1906–October 17, 1967) was the last Emperor of China. He was crowned emperor in 1908 at the age of three. His era name as Qing emperor, "Xuantong", means "proclamation of unity". On February 12, 1912, during the Xinhai Revolution, he was forced to abdicate. -
December 28: The 1908 Messina earthquake in southern Italy, magnitude 7.1, kills 70,000 people.
The earthquake almost levelled Messina. At least 91% of structures in Messina were destroyed or irreparably damaged and 75,000 people were killed in the city and suburbs. Reggio Calabria and other locations in Calabria also suffered heavy damage, with some 25,000 people killed. -
March 4: William Howard Taft is inaugurated as President of the United States; deep divisions in his Republican Party over tariffs.
Distinguished jurist, effective administrator, but poor politician, William Howard Taft spent four uncomfortable years in the White House. Large, jovial, conscientious, he was caught in the intense battles between Progressives and conservatives, and got scant credit for the achievements of his administration. -
March 10: Anglo-Siamese Treaty of 1909 signed (effective on July 9).
Bangkok Treaty signed on March 10, 1909, with ratifications exchanged in London on July 9, 1909. (Great Britain, Foreign Office, Treaty Series 1909, No. 19, Command 4703, London.) The Treaty formally ceded the four southern Malay states under Siamese suzerainty to the protection of Great Britain. -
March 12: Indian Councils Act passed.
The Indian Councils Act 1909, commonly known as the Morley–Minto or Minto–Morley Reforms, was an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that brought about a limited increase in the involvement of Indians in the governance of British India. -
April 6: Robert E. Peary claims to have reached the North Pole though the claim is subsequently heavily contested.
1909: American explorer Robert Peary claims to have reached the geographic North Pole on this date. If true, it makes him the first person to attain "the Big Nail" (the English translation of the way Eskimos referred to the pole). That is, unless Frederick Cook got there a year earlier, as he claimed to have done. -
April 13: A countercoup fails in the Ottoman Empire.
It consisted of a general uprising against the CUP within Istanbul, largely led by reactionary groups, particularly Islamists opposed to the secularising influence of the CUP and supporters of absolutism, although liberal opponents of the CUP within the Liberty Party also played a lesser role. The crisis ended after eleven days, when troops loyal to the CUP restored order in Istanbul and deposed Abdul Hamid. -
July 16: A revolution forces Mohammad Ali Shah, Persian Shah of the Qajar dynasty to abdicate in favor of his son Ahmad Shah Qajar.
On 16 July 1909, the parliament voted to place Mohammad Ali Shah's 11-year-old son, Ahmad Shah on the throne. Mohammad Ali Shah abdicated following the new Constitutional Revolution and he has since been remembered as a symbol of dictatorship. -
February 8: Boy Scouts of America is founded.
On February 8, 1910, the Boy Scouts of America was incorporated under the laws of the District of Columbia. From that day forth, Scouts have celebrated February 8 as the birthday of Scouting in the United States. -
May 6: George V becomes King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions and Emperor of India upon the death of Edward VII.
The Prince of Wales was proclaimed King George V following his father's death on 6 May 1910, and his Coronation took place at Westminster Abbey on 22 June 1911. -
May 31: Union of South Africa created.
On May 31, 1910, four colonies were joined together to create the Union of South Africa, a self-governing Dominion in the British Empire. While the new nation was sovereign when it came to its domestic affairs, the United Kingdom maintained control over its relations with the wider world. -
August 28: Kingdom of Montenegro is proclaimed independent.
The Kingdom of Montenegro (Serbian: Краљевина Црна Горa, romanized: Kraljevina Crna Gora) was a monarchy in southeastern Europe, present-day Montenegro, during the tumultuous period of time on the Balkan Peninsula leading up to and during World War I. -
August 29: Imperial Japan annexes Korea.
Japan made sweeping changes in Korea. It began a process of Japanization, eventually functionally banning the use of Korean names and the Korean language altogether. It also created infrastructure and industry. Railroads, ports, and roads were constructed, although in numerous cases workers were subjected to extremely poor working circumstances and discriminatory pay. -
October 5: The 5 October 1910 revolution in Portugal and proclamation of the First Portuguese Republic.
The 5 October 1910 revolution was the overthrow of the centuries-old Portuguese monarchy and its replacement by the First Portuguese Republic. It was the result of a coup d'état organized by the Portuguese Republican Party. -
November 20: Beginning of the Mexican Revolution (Plan of San Luis Potosí).
Written by Francisco I. Madero while in exile in Texas, the Plan called for an end to Porfirio Díaz's long presidential reign known as the Porfiriato, the provisional presidency for legitimate winner Madero, and for Mexicans to unite against despotism on November 20, 1910. -
January 18: Eugene B. Ely lands on the deck of the USS Pennsylvania stationed in San Francisco harbor, marking the first time an aircraft lands on a ship.
About ten minutes after Ely took off, he was overhead the anchored ship. He set up his approach and when he was approximately 75 feet (23 meters) astern of Pennsylvania, he cut his engine and glided to a landing. The airplane was flying at about 40 miles per hour (64 kilometers per hour) when the hooks engaged the cables, which quickly slowed it to a stop. Eugene B. Ely landed aboard USS Pennsylvania at 11:01 a.m. -
March 25: Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in New York City results in the deaths of 146 workers and leads to sweeping workplace safety reforms.
Workers in the factory, many of whom were young women recently arrived from Europe, had little time or opportunity to escape. The rapidly spreading fire killed 146 workers. The building had only one fire escape, which collapsed during the rescue effort. Long tables and bulky machines trapped many of the victims. -
September 29: The Italo-Turkish war which led to the capture of Libya by Italy, begins.
Nine days later, the Italian ambassador in Istanbul gave an ultimatum to the Ottoman government: Libya had to be ceded to the Kingdom of Italy in 24 hours. The Turks did not respond in time to the ultimatum and on 29 September 1911, the war began. -
October 10: Xinhai Revolution, which overthrew the Qing dynasty of China, begins.
The Wuchang Uprising was an armed rebellion against the ruling Qing dynasty that took place in Wuchang (now Wuchang District of Wuhan), Hubei, China on 10 October 1911, beginning the Xinhai Revolution that successfully overthrew China's last imperial dynasty. -
November 3: Swiss race car driver and automotive engineer Louis Chevrolet co-founds the Chevrolet Motor Company in Detroit with his brother Arthur Chevrolet, William C. Durant and others.
On November 3, 1911, Chevrolet co-founded the Chevrolet Motor Car Company with his brother Arthur Chevrolet, William C. Durant, and investment partners William Little (maker of the Little automobile) and Dr. Edwin R. Campbell, son-in-law of Durant and friend of Samuel McLaughlin of the McLaughlin Car Company of Canada Ltd. The company was established in Detroit. -
December 12: New Delhi becomes the capital of British India.
On 12th December, 1911, at the historic Delhi Durbar, the George V, the Emperor of the British Empire proclaimed the shifting of the capital of India from Calcutta to Delhi. After announcement of Delhi as the Capital of India, the preparation for the building a new city started with majesty, pomp and show. -
December 14: Roald Amundsen first reaches the South Pole.
At around 3pm on 14 December 1911, Amundsen raised the flag of Norway at the South Pole. He had reached the Pole a full 33 days before Captain Scott arrived. Amundsen and his crew returned to their base camp on 25 January 1912, 99 days and roughly 1400 nautical miles after their departure. -
February 8: The African National Congress is founded.
The ANC was founded on 8 January 1912 in Bloemfontein and is the oldest liberation movement in Africa. The 1914 South African Native National Congress delegation to Britain (L-R: Walter Rubusana, Thomas Mapikela, Saul Msane, John Dube, and Sol Plaatje). -
February 12: End of the Chinese Empire. Republic of China established.
On February 12, 1912, Hsian-T'ung, the last emperor of China, is forced to abdicate following Sun Yat-sen's republican revolution. A provisional government was established in his place, ending 267 years of Manchu rule in China and 2,000 years of imperial rule. -
February 14: Arizona becomes the last state to be admitted to the continental Union.
For both New Mexico and Arizona, the road to statehood was protracted and contentious. However, after much effort, on January 6, 1912 New Mexico became the 47th state and on February 14, 1912 Arizona became the 48th state in the Union. -
March 30: Morocco becomes a protectorate of France.
Crisis (March 30, 1912-August 18, 1955): France established a protectorate over Morocco as a result of the signing of the Treaty of Fez on March 30, 1912. Prior to 1912, Morocco had been an independent kingdom for several centuries. -
April 15: Sinking of the RMS Titanic.
RMS Titanic sank in the early morning hours of 15 April 1912 in the North Atlantic Ocean, four days into her maiden voyage from Southampton to New York City. The largest ocean liner in service at the time, Titanic had an estimated 2,224 people on board when she struck an iceberg at around 23:40 (ship's time). -
July 30: Emperor Meiji dies, ending the Meiji Era; his son, the Emperor Taishō, becomes Emperor of Japan.
Japan had developed within less than 30 years from a feudal country into the preeminent Asian power. On July 30 of 1912, Emperor Meiji died. His son Yoshihito followed his father to the throne. With him the Meiji era ended officially and the Taisho era began. -
August 25: The Kuomintang, the Chinese nationalist party, is founded.
The Kuomintang (KMT) is a Chinese political party that ruled mainland China from 1927 to 1949 prior to its relocation to Taiwan as a result of the Chinese Civil War. The name of the party translates as "China's National People's Party" and was historically referred to as the Chinese Nationalists. -
October 8: The First Balkan War begins.
On October 8, 1912, Montenegro declared war on Turkey; Serbia, Bulgaria, and Greece followed suit on October 17. Surprisingly, the Ottoman army was quickly and decisively defeated, as the Balkan forces drove the Turks from almost all of their territory in southeastern Europe over the course of a month. -
January 23: In the 1913 Ottoman coup d'état, Ismail Enver comes to power.
The 1913 Ottoman coup d'état (January 23, 1913), also known as the Raid on the Sublime Porte (Turkish: Bâb-ı Âlî Baskını), was a coup d'état carried out in the Ottoman Empire by a number of Committee of Union and Progress (CUP) members led by Ismail Enver Bey and Mehmed Talaat Bey, in which the group made a surprise raid on the central Ottoman government buildings. -
February 9 – 19: La Decena Trágica in Mexico City.
The Ten Tragic Days (Spanish: La Decena Trágica) during the Mexican Revolution is the name given to the multi-day coup d'état in Mexico City by opponents of Francisco I. Madero, the democratically elected president of Mexico, between 9-19 February 1913. -
March 4: Woodrow Wilson is inaugurated as President of the United States.
The first inauguration of Woodrow Wilson as the 28th president of the United States was held on Tuesday, March 4, 1913, at the East Portico of the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C. This was the 32nd inauguration and marked the commencement of the first four-year term of Woodrow Wilson as president and Thomas R. -
May 29: Igor Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring infamously premiers in Paris.
The work's premiere on May 29, 1913, at the Théatre des Champs-Elysées in Paris, was scandalous. In addition to the outrageous costumes, unusual choreography and bizarre story of pagan sacrifice, Stravinsky's musical innovations tested the patience of the audience to the fullest. -
May 30: Treaty of London.
A peace treaty signed in London on May 30, 1913, the Ottoman Empire lost almost all of its remaining European territory, including all of Macedonia and Albania. Albanian independence was insisted upon by the European powers, and Macedonia was to be divided among the Balkan allies. -
August 10: Treaty of Bucharest.
The Treaty of Bucharest, signed August 10, was negotiated by local states, rather than by the great powers. By its terms, Bulgaria lost a considerable amount of territory and Serbia and Greece received control of most of Macedonia. -
October 7: Ford Motor Company introduces the first moving assembly line.
On October 7, 1913, the chassis also went on the moving assembly line, so that all the major components of the Model T were being assembled using this technique. Ford rapidly improved its assembly lines, and by 1916 the price of the Model T had fallen to $360 and sales were more than triple their 1912 level. -
December 23: The Federal Reserve System is created.
It took many months and nearly straight party-line voting, but on December 23, 1913, the Senate passed and President Woodrow Wilson signed the Federal Reserve Act.