Directory

1910 CE

The death of Edward VII ends the Edwardian era and begins George V’s reign in the United Kingdom; The Mexican Revolution ignites a decade-long struggle reshaping the nation’s politics and society; The Great January Comet of 1910 captivates observers worldwide with a spectacular celestial display; The 5 October 1910 revolution in Portugal topples the monarchy and establishes the First Portuguese Republic; The Great Fire of 1910 burns over three million acres in the northwestern United States, one of the largest wildfires in American history; The Tonypandy riots erupt in Wales during a coal miners’ strike, highlighting labor unrest and industrial hardships.

Geopolitics & Diplomacy

  • January 8 – Treaty of Punakha: The Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan becomes a protectorate of the British Empire.source
  • January 15 – Amidst the constitutional crisis caused by the House of Lords rejecting the People's Budget, the January 1910 United Kingdom general election is held resulting in a hung parliament with neither Liberals nor Conservatives gaining a majority.source
  • March 3 – Morocco signs accords with France in Paris, permitting the French to occupy Casablanca and Oujda in return for military training, as part of refinancing of loans.source
  • March 17 – Progressive Republicans in the United States House of Representatives rebel against Speaker Joseph Gurney Cannon, removing him from the Rules Committee and stripping him of his power to appoint committee chairmen.source
  • May 31 – The Union of South Africa is created.source
  • August 22 – The Japan–Korea Treaty of 1910, by which the Empire of Japan formally annexes the Korean Empire, is signed (it becomes effectively void in 1945, which is formally recognised in 1965).source
  • August 28 – Montenegro is proclaimed an independent kingdom, under Nicholas I.source
  • August 29 – Emperor Sunjong of Korea abdicates and the country's monarchy is abolished.source
  • October 5 – 5 October 1910 revolution: The First Portuguese Republic is proclaimed in Lisbon; King Manuel II of Portugal flees to England.source

Conflict & Security

  • January 6 – Abé people in the French West Africa colony of Côte d'Ivoire rise against the colonial administration; the rebellion is brutally suppressed by the military.source
  • February 20 – Boutros Ghali, the first native-born Prime Minister of Egypt, is assassinated in Cairo.source
  • March 23 – A rebellion by Rif tribesmen in Spanish Morocco is finally suppressed after 8 months. During the conflict, an estimated 8,000 Berbers and 2,000 Spanish soldiers have been killed.source
  • March – Albanian revolt of 1910: An uprising against Ottoman rule breaks out in Albania.source
  • July 4 – Jack Johnson defeats James J. Jeffries by technical knockout in the 15th round at Reno, Nevada, in the bout billed as the "Fight of the Century". Johnson retains his world heavyweight boxing title over the previously undefeated Jeffries, who had been promoted as boxing's "Great White Hope". The result sparks race riots across more than 25 states, leaving at least 20 people dead.source
  • July 24 – Ottoman forces capture the city of Shkodër to put down the Albanian Revolt of 1910.source
  • July – First Girl Guide troops registered in the United Kingdom, under the supervision of Agnes Baden-Powell.source
  • November 18 – Black Friday: 300 suffragettes clash with police outside the Parliament of the United Kingdom over the failure of the Conciliation Bill.source
  • November 20 – The Mexican Revolution begins, when Francisco I. Madero proclaims the elections of 1910 null and void, and calls for an armed revolution against the illegitimate presidency/dictatorship of Porfirio Díaz.source
  • November 22 – Revolt of the Lash at Rio de Janeiro: Mutineers in the Brazilian Navy, led by João Cândido, seize control of the new dreadnought battleship Minas Geraes and other ships, whose guns are aimed at the city as the crews demand improvements in their conditions (which are conceded on November 26 by the Brazilian government).source
  • December 19 – The second 1910 United Kingdom general election (the last to be fought with an all-male electorate) concludes with confirmation of a majority for the Liberal Party in alliance with the Irish Parliamentary Party, resolving the battle of wills between the House of Commons of the United Kingdom and the House of Lords by giving a majority for restriction of the powers of the Lords and support for the Irish Home Rule movement.source

Exploration & Expansion

  • January 11 – Charcot Island is discovered by the Antarctic expedition led by French explorer Jean-Baptiste Charcot on the ship Pourquoi Pas?source
  • February 12 – Chinese expedition to Tibet: A force of 2,000 Chinese troops march into Lhasa, the capital of Tibet; the 13th Dalai Lama, Thubten Gyatso, is forced to flee to British India.source
  • June 3 – The Norwegian Antarctic Expedition, led by Roald Amundsen on the steamer Fram, departs from Christiania (modern-day Oslo). No announcement until later in the year of Amundsen's intention to reach the South Pole.source
  • June 15 – The British Antarctic Expedition, led by Robert Falcon Scott on the whaler Terra Nova, departs from Cardiff for the South Pole.source

Religion & Belief

  • June 14–23 – Edinburgh Missionary Conference is held in Scotland, presided over by John Mott, launching the modern ecumenical movement and the modern missions movement.source

Technology & Infrastructure

  • January 22 – Completion of construction of New York City's Metropolitan Life Insurance Company Tower, at 700 ft the world's tallest building at this time, is celebrated.source
  • March 4 – The Rogers Pass avalanche buries a group of Canadian Pacific Railway workers clearing tracks in the Selkirk Mountains at Rogers Pass (British Columbia), making it the worst snowslide accident in Canadian history.source
  • March 8 – In France, Raymonde de Laroche is awarded Pilot's license No. 36 by the Federation Aeronautique Internationale, becoming the first woman authorized to fly an airplane.source
  • March 10 – Release of In Old California, the first film made in Hollywood, California, directed by D. W. Griffith.source
  • April 5 – The Transandine Railway connecting Chile and Argentina is inaugurated.source
  • June 2 – Charles Rolls became the first person to fly across the English Channel and back without stopping.source
  • June 22 – DELAG Zeppelin dirigible Deutschland makes the first commercial passenger flight, from Friedrichshafen to Düsseldorf in Germany; the flight takes 9 hours.source
  • July 22 – A wireless telegraph sent from the results in the identification, arrest and execution of murderer Dr. Crippen.source
  • November 7 – The first air flight for the purpose of delivering commercial freight takes place in the United States. The flight, made by Wright brothers pilot Philip Parmalee, is between Dayton and Columbus, Ohio.source
  • November 14 – In the first takeoff from a ship by a fixed-wing aircraft, Eugene Ely takes off from a temporary platform erected over the bow of the light cruiser USS Birmingham in Hampton Roads, Virginia.source
  • December 3 – Modern neon lighting is first demonstrated by Georges Claude at the Paris Motor Show.source
  • Henry Ford sells 10,000 automobiles.source
  • Hitachi, an electromechanics company, is founded as a mining machine repair factory in Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan.source

Science & Discovery

  • January 12 – Great January Comet of 1910 first observed (perihelion: January 17).source
  • April 10 – Halley's Comet becomes visible with the naked eye (perihelion: April 20); Earth passes through its tail about May 19 (its next visit will be in 1986).source
  • October 20 – The hull of White Star ocean liner is launched, at the Harland and Wolff shipyards in Belfast.source
  • Infrared photographs are first published by Professor Robert Williams Wood, in the Royal Photographic Society's journal.source

Health & Medicine

  • January 31 – American-born medical practitioner Hawley Harvey Crippen poisons his wife, Cora, and buries her body in the cellar of their London home (probable date).source
  • March 20 – The first clinic for treatment of occupational diseases is opened in Milan (Italy).source
  • Approximate date of origin of Manchurian plague, a form of pneumonic plague which by December is spreading through northeastern China, killing more than 40,000.source

Crime & Justice

  • March 10 – Slavery in China, which has existed since the Shang dynasty, is made illegal.source

Disasters & Accidents

  • January 31 – A coal mine explosion at the Colorado Fuel and Iron Company in Primero, Colorado, kills 75 miners.source
  • February 1 – A coal mine explosion at the Browder Coal Company in Drakesboro, Kentucky kills 34 miners.source
  • February 2 – A coal mine explosion at the Palau mine at Las Esperanzas in the State of Coahuila in Mexico kills 68 miners.source
  • February 5 – A coal mine explosion at the Jefferson Clearfield Coal Company mine at Ernest, Pennsylvania, kills 11 miners (10 Hungarian) but another 110 are able to escape.source
  • February 9 – French liner General Chanzy sinks in the Mediterranean after striking rocks off Menorca, with only one survivor of the 157 on board.source
  • March 27 – A fire during a barn-dance in Ököritófülpös, Hungary, kills 312 people after ballroom decorations catch alight.source
  • July 12 – Charles Rolls becomes the first British aviation fatality when his French-built Wright aeroplane suffers a broken rudder at an altitude of 80 ft m and crashes during a contest at Bournemouth.source
  • December 21 – Pretoria Pit disaster: a coal mine explosion at the Hulton Colliery Company of Westhoughton in Lancashire, England, kills 344 miners, with just one survivor.source

Climate & Environment

  • January 21 – The Great Flood of Paris begins when the Seine overflows its banks.source
  • March 1 – The Wellington, Washington avalanche sweeps away two Great Northern Railway (U.S.) passenger trains in the Cascade Mountains, killing 96, making it the worst snowslide accident in United States history.source
  • August 20 – The Great Fire of 1910 ("Big Blowup"), a wildfire that burns 4,700 square miles in the Inland Northwest of the United States, due to dry weather.source
  • October 7 – Baudette fire of 1910, a wildfire that burns ca. 350,000 square miles in Minnesota and Ontario, including several towns.source

Culture & Society

  • March 18 – The first filmed version of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein comes out. Considered to be the first horror movie, it stars actor Charles Ogle as the monster.source
  • June 5 – The Nanyang industrial exposition ("Nanking Exposition"), an official world's fair, opens in Qing dynasty China.source
  • June 25 – The ballet The Firebird, the first major work by Russian composer Igor Stravinsky, commissioned by Diaghilev's Ballets Russes, is premièred in Paris, bringing the composer international fame.source
  • July 9–10 – 'Fowler's match': the Eton v Harrow cricket match at Lord's ground in London, known after the captain of Eton College, Robert St Leger Fowler, and described as "what might just be the greatest cricket match of all time".source
  • September 1 – Sport Club Corinthians Paulista is founded in Brazil by railwaymen; its Association football team will be the first FIFA Club World Cup champions in 2000.source
  • December 10 – Giacomo Puccini's opera La fanciulla del West has its world première at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City, conducted by Arturo Toscanini and starring Enrico Caruso and Emmy Destinn.source

Births

  • January 10 – Allal al-Fassi, Moroccan politician, writer, poet and Islamic scholar (d. 1974)source
  • March 4 – Tancredo Neves, President of Brazil (d. 1985)source
  • March 23 – Akira Kurosawa, Japanese screenwriter, producer and director (d. 1998)source
  • March 27 – Hugh Nibley, American scholar and Latter-day Saint apologist (d. 2005)source
  • April 23 – Yolande Le Calvez, French geologist, palaeontologist, geological engineer (d. 2001)source
  • April 27 – Chiang Ching-kuo, President of the Republic of China (d. 1988)source
  • May 1 – Raya Dunayevskaya, Russian-born philosopher, founder of Marxist humanism in the United States (d. 1987)source
  • June 4 – Christopher Cockerell, British engineer, inventor of the hovercraft (d. 1999)source
  • June 16 – Juan Velasco Alvarado, general and President of Peru (d. 1977)source
  • June 19 – Abe Fortas, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States (d. 1982)source
  • June 23 – Gordon B. Hinckley, 15th president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (d. 2008)source
  • September 28 – Diosdado Macapagal, 9th President of the Philippines (d. 1997)source
  • October 1 – Bonnie Parker, American outlaw, member of Barrow Gang (d. 1934)source
  • October 7 – Ngô Đình Nhu, Vietnamese archivist and politician, State Counsellor of South Vietnam (d. 1963)source

Deaths

  • January 12 – Bass Reeves, one of the first African-American Deputy U.S. Marshals west of the Mississippi River (b. 1838)source
  • February 9 – Miguel Febres Cordero, Ecuadorian Roman Catholic religious brother (b. 1854)source
  • March 28 – David Josiah Brewer, American Associate Justice of the Supreme Court (b. 1837)source
  • May 6 – George V becomes King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland upon the death of his father, Edward VII.source
  • June 5 – William Sydney Porter (alias O. Henry), American novelist (b. 1862)source
  • June 7 – Goldwin Smith, British-born Canadian historian and journalist (b. 1823)source
  • July 3 – Tokugawa Akitake, Japanese daimyō, the last lord of Mito Domain, younger brother of the last shōgun Tokugawa Yoshinobu (b. 1853)source
  • July 4 – Melville Fuller, American Chief Justice (b. 1833)source
  • August 6 – Klemens Bachleda, Polish Tatra guide and mountain rescuer (b. 1851)source
  • August 13 – Florence Nightingale, British nurse (b. 1820)source
  • August 26 – William James, American psychologist, philosopher (b. 1842)source
  • October 23 – Vajiravudh (Rama VI) is crowned King of Siam, after the death of his father, King Chulalongkorn (Rama V).source
  • November 23 – Hawley Harvey Crippen, American murderer (executed) (b. 1862)source
  • December 3 – Mary Baker Eddy, American religious leader, founder of Christian Science (b. 1821)source