Directory

1908 CE

The devastating 1908 Messina earthquake strikes southern Italy, killing around 82,000 and leveling Messina and Reggio Calabria; The 1908 Summer Olympics in London introduce standardized rules and the opening ceremony parade; The mysterious Tunguska event flattens over 2,000 square kilometers of Siberian forest, likely from a meteoroid airburst; The Lisbon Regicide sees King Carlos I of Portugal and his heir Luís Filipe assassinated, shocking the nation; The Young Turk Revolution forces Sultan Abdul Hamid II to restore the Ottoman constitution; The Ford Model T begins mass production, revolutionizing global transportation.

Geopolitics & Diplomacy

  • April 8 – H. H. Asquith of the Liberal Party takes office as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, succeeding Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman.source
  • June 26 – Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim, a future President of Finland, meets the 13th Dalai Lama in Shanxi, China, becoming only the third European to be granted an audience with him.source
  • July 23 – Young Turk Revolution: The Committee of Union and Progress (CUP) issues a formal ultimatum to Sultan Abdul Hamid II, to restore the constitution of 1876 within the Ottoman Empire; it is restored the following day.source
  • August 24 – After an intense power struggle, Sultan Abdelaziz of Morocco is deposed and is succeeded by his brother Abd al-Hafid.source
  • October 5 – Bulgaria declares its independence from the Ottoman Empire; Ferdinand I of Bulgaria becomes Tsar.source
  • November 3 – 1908 United States presidential election: Republican candidate William Howard Taft defeats William Jennings Bryan, 321 electoral votes to 162.source
  • November 15 – King Leopold II of Belgium formally relinquishes his personal control of the Congo Free State (becoming Belgian Congo) to Belgium, following evidence collected by Roger Casement of maladministration.source
  • November 19 – Women's suffrage is passed in Victoria, Australia.source
  • December 2 – Emperor Puyi ascends the Chinese throne at age 2 in succession to his uncle. He will reign for 3 years, then again for 11 days, and finally for 11 years as a puppet emperor.source

Conflict & Security

  • March 23 – American diplomat Durham Stevens, an employee of Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, is assassinated in San Francisco by two Korean immigrants, unhappy with his recent support for the increasing Japanese presence in Korea.source
  • July 3 – Young Turk Revolution in the Ottoman Empire: Major Ahmed Niyazi, with 200 followers (Ottoman troops and civilians), begins an open revolution by defecting from the 3rd Army Corps in Macedonia, decamping into the hill country.source
  • October 6 – The Bosnian crisis begins, after the Austro-Hungarian Empire annexes Bosnia and Herzegovina from the Ottoman Empire.source

Exploration & Expansion

  • January 1 – The British Nimrod Expedition led by Ernest Shackleton sets sail from New Zealand for Antarctica on the Nimrod.source
  • March 27 – The first Scout troop outside the U.K. is formed in Gibraltar.source
  • A 40,000-year-old Neanderthal boy skeleton is found at Le Moustier in southwest France, by Otto Hauser.source
  • April 21 – Frederick Cook claims to have reached the North Pole on this date.source
  • May 14–October 31 – The Franco-British Exhibition (1908) is held in London.source
  • May 26 – At Masjed Soleyman in southwest Persia, the first major commercial oil discovery in the Middle East is made. The rights to the resource are quickly acquired by the United Kingdom.source
  • July 6 – Robert Peary sets sail for the North Pole.source
  • October 1 – Penny Post is established between the United Kingdom and United States.source

Technology & Infrastructure

  • February 12 – The first around-the-world car race, the 1908 New York to Paris Race, begins.source
  • March 4 – Bank of Communications, a major financial services provider in China, is founded in Beijing.source
  • June 29 – Kohlerer-Bahn by Bleichert opens in Bolzano, South Tyrol, the first modern aerial enclosed cable car solely for passenger service.source
  • July 1 – comes into force internationally as a distress signal (originally for ship-to-shore wireless telegraphy).source
  • August 8 – Wilbur Wright flies in France for the first time, demonstrating controlled powered flight in Europe.source
  • August 8 – The Hoover Company of Canton, Ohio, acquires manufacturing rights to the upright portable vacuum cleaner patented on June 22 by James M. Spangler.source
  • August 17 – “Fantasmagorie”, an animated short film by Émile Cohl, which is widely regarded as the first animated cartoon is officially released.source
  • September 10 – The first Minas Geraes-class Dreadnought battleship for Brazil, Minas Geraes, is launched at Armstrong Whitworth's yard on the River Tyne in England, catalysing the "South American dreadnought race".source
  • October 1 – Official launch of Henry Ford's Ford Model T automobile, the first having left the Ford Piquette Avenue Plant in Detroit, Michigan, on September 27. The initial price is set at US$850.source
  • October 29 – Olivetti, the well-known typewriter and business equipment company, is founded in Italy.source
  • December 16 – Construction begins on the , at the Harland and Wolff Shipyard in Belfast.source

Science & Discovery

  • January 3 – A total solar eclipse is visible in the Pacific Ocean and is the 46th solar eclipse of Solar Saros 130.source
  • March 29 – French aviator Henri Farman makes the world's first flight with a passenger, Léon Delagrange.source
  • Clifford W. Beers's memoir of psychiatric abuse, A Mind That Found Itself, was published.source
  • June 28 – An annular solar eclipse is visible from Central America, North America, Atlantic Ocean and Africa and is the 33rd solar eclipse of Solar Saros 135.source
  • June 30 (June 17 OS) – The Tunguska event near the Podkamennaya Tunguska River in Krasnoyarsk Krai, Siberia, Russian Empire, is believed to have been caused by the air burst of a large meteoroid or comet fragment, at an altitude of 5 – 10 above the Earth's surface.source
  • July 8 – French aviator Léon Delagrange makes the world's first flight with a female passenger, his partner and fellow sculptor Thérèse Peltier.source
  • November 25 – The Christian Science Monitor newspaper is first published, in the United States.source
  • December 23 – A hybrid solar eclipse is visible from Atlantic Ocean and is the 23rd solar eclipse of Solar Saros 140.source

Crime & Justice

  • February 1 – Lisbon Regicide: King Carlos I of Portugal and Prince Luis Filipe are shot dead in Lisbon.source
  • November 6 – Western bandits Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid are supposedly killed in Bolivia, after being surrounded by a large group of soldiers. There are many rumors to the contrary however, and their grave sites are unmarked.source

Disasters & Accidents

  • January 13 – A fire breaks out at the Rhoads Opera House in Boyertown, Pennsylvania, killing 171 people.source
  • March 4 – The Collinwood school fire near Cleveland, Ohio kills 175.source
  • April 20 – Sunshine rail disaster: A rear-end collision of two trains in Melbourne, Australia kills 44 people and injures more than 400.source
  • July 11–12 – The steamship Amalthea, housing 80 British strikebreakers in Malmö harbour, Sweden, is bombed by Anton Nilson; 1 is killed, 20 injured.source
  • July 27–28 – The 1908 Hong Kong typhoon sinks the passenger steamer Ying King, causing 421 deaths.*July 29 - The White Star Line company begins the construction of the Titanicsource
  • September 17 – At Fort Myer, Virginia, Thomas Selfridge becomes the first person to die in an airplane crash. The pilot, Orville Wright, is severely injured in the crash but recovers.source

Climate & Environment

  • December 28 – The 7.1 Messina earthquake shakes Southern Italy with a maximum Mercalli intensity of XI (Extreme), killing between 75,000 and 200,000.source
  • This is the coldest recorded year since 1880, according to NASA reports.source

Culture & Society

  • January 15 – Alpha Kappa Alpha, the first race inclusive sorority is founded on the campus of Howard University in Washington, D.C.source
  • January 24 – Robert Baden-Powell's Scouting for Boys begins publication in London. The book eventually sells over 100 million copies, and effectively begins the worldwide Boy Scout movement.source
  • February 3 – Panathinaikos A.O., a well-known professional multi-sports club of Greece, is founded in Athens.source
  • February 29 – The State Normal and Industrial School for Women, precursor to James Madison University, is founded in Harrisonburg, Virginia.source
  • March 4 – The Pretoria branch of Transvaal University College, precursor to the University of Pretoria, is established.source
  • March 9 – Football Club Internazionale is founded in Milan, Italy.source
  • Arthur Mee's The Children's Encyclopædia begins publication in London.source
  • July 13–25 – The 1908 Summer Olympics are held in London. (Originally scheduled to be in Rome, but changed due to the Mount Vesuvius eruption of 1906. Figure skating events are held in London from October 28–29.)source
  • July 19 – Feyenoord, the first Dutch football club to win the UEFA Champions League, is founded at Rotterdam, Netherlandssource
  • July 24 – Italian Dorando Pietri wins the Olympic marathon (run from Windsor Castle to London) in one of the most dramatic arrivals in Olympic history, only to be disqualified soon afterwards for receiving assistance; victory is awarded to Irish-American Johnny Hayes.source
  • July 26 – The Federal Bureau of Investigation is founded in the United States.source
  • August 28 – American Messenger Company, predecessor of United Parcel Service, is founded in Washington (state).source
  • September 28 – Classes begin at Benjamin Franklin Institute of Technology in Boston, Massachusetts, established under the terms of Franklin's will.source
  • October 8 – The University of Omaha, precursor of the University of Nebraska Omaha, is founded as a private non-sectarian college.source

Births

  • January 8 – William Hartnell, British actor (died 1975)source
  • January 15 – Edward Teller, Hungarian-born American physicist (died 2003)source
  • February 6 – Amintore Fanfani, 32nd Prime Minister of Italy (died 1999)source
  • May 1 – Krystyna Skarbek, Polish-born British World War II SOE operative (died 1952)source
  • May 20 – James Stewart, American actor (died 1997)source
  • July 1 – Azam Khan, Pakistani general and Governor of East Pakistan (died 1994)source
  • July 2 – Thurgood Marshall, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States (died 1993)source
  • August 8 – Arthur Goldberg, American politician, diplomat and Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States (died 1990)source
  • August 27 – Donald Bradman, Australian cricketer (died 2001)source
  • September 18 – Viktor Ambartsumian, Soviet Armenian astrophysicist (died 1996)source
  • September 21 – Charles Upham, New Zealand soldier, twice winner of the Victoria Cross (died 1994)source
  • October 28 – Arturo Frondizi, 35th President of Argentina (d. 1995)source
  • November 3 – Giovanni Leone, 68th Prime Minister of Italy, 6th President of Italy (died 2001)source
  • November 28 – Claude Lévi-Strauss, Belgian-born French anthropologist (died 2009)source

Deaths

  • January 9 – Wilhelm Busch, German painter, poet (born 1832)source
  • February 29 – John Hope, 1st Marquess of Linlithgow, 1st Governor-General of Australia (born 1860)source
  • February 29 – Pat Garrett, Sheriff in the Old West; shot Billy the Kid in 1881 (born 1850)source
  • March 3 – Sidney Hill, English philanthropist (born 1829)source
  • April 22 – Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (born 1836)source
  • June 2 – Sir Redvers Buller, British general, Victoria Cross recipient (born 1839)source
  • June 14 – Frederick Stanley, 16th Earl of Derby, Governor-General of Canada, founder of the Stanley Cup (born 1841)source
  • June 21 – Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, Russian composer (born 1844)source
  • July 20 – Demetrius Vikelas, 1st President of the International Olympic Committee (born 1835)source
  • August 7 – Antonio Starabba, Marchese di Rudinì, 12th Prime Minister of Italy (born 1839)source
  • September 25 – Frank Robison, American baseball executive, early owner of the St. Louis Cardinals (born 1852)source
  • October 11 – Rita Cetina Gutiérrez, Mexican educator, poet and activist (born 1846)source
  • November 14 – The Guangxu Emperor of China dies, probably poisoned. The following day, his aunt and the power behind the throne, Empress Dowager Cixi, dies.source
  • December 22 – Jacob Parrott, the first person to receive the American Medal of Honor, one of six presented on March 25, 1863, to the heroes of the Great Locomotive Chase during the American Civil War (born 1843)source