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.

In the 1900s, the 20th century.

Geopolitics & Diplomacy

April 5 – The Italian Parliament enacts a basic law to unite all of the parts of southern Somalia into an area called Somalia Italiana.Italy source
5 April – Portuguese legislative election, 1908.Portugal source
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 22 — The Qing government issues the Outline of Imperial Constitution, based on the Meiji Constitution of Japan, which establishes a framework for local and national legislative elections to be held.China 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
10 September – At the 1908 Icelandic prohibition referendum, a ban on importing alcohol is approved by 60.1% of voters.Iceland source
October 5 – Bulgaria declares its independence from the Ottoman Empire; Ferdinand I of Bulgaria becomes Tsar.source
8 October – The capital of Australia is chosen, settling a feud between rivals Melbourne and Sydney.Australia 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
15 November - The emergence of Umbanda through Zélio Fernandino de Moraes.Brazil source
November 19 – Women's suffrage is passed in Victoria, Australia.source
November 30 – Root–Takahira AgreementJapan 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
Johann Heinrich von Bernstorff is appointed German ambassador to the United States.Germany source

Conflict & Security

1 February – The Lisbon Regicide, assassination of King Carlos I of Portugal and Luís Filipe, Prince Royal of PortugalPortugal source
March 17 – the Tinnevely riot breaks out in TirunelveliIndia source
May - The Hispano-French Exposition of 1908 opens in Zaragoza, marking the hundredth anniversary of the first siege of Zaragoza.Spain source
June 23 – Mohammad Ali Shah Qajar exploited divisions with the ranks of the reformers to eliminate the Majlis. Vladimir Liakhov, a Russian Cossack Brigade commander, shelled Majlis and executed several leaders of Constitutional Movement.Iran 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
July 12 - Bombing of Amalthea HarbourSweden source
August 14 – Springfield Race Riot of 1908 in Springfield, Illinois.United States source
October 6 – The Bosnian crisis begins, after the Austro-Hungarian Empire annexes Bosnia and Herzegovina from the Ottoman Empire.source
December 19: Coup d'état led by Juan Vicente GómezVenezuela source
Auckland defend the Ranfurly Shield against Marlborough (32–0), Wellington (24–3), Taranaki (9–0) and Otago (11–5)New Zealand source

Exploration & Expansion

January 1 – The British Nimrod Expedition led by Ernest Shackleton sets sail from New Zealand for Antarctica on the Nimrod.source
10 March – Australians Douglas Mawson and Edgeworth David accompanied by Ernest Shackleton and others are the first people to scale Mount Erebus in Antarctica.Australia 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
28 May – Cape Western – Milnerton to Ascot, 2 mi.South Africa source
16 June: The Kasato Maru arrives at the Port of Santos with the first official group of Japanese immigrants to Brazil.Brazil source
July 6 – Robert Peary sets sail for the North Pole.source
23 August – The Denmark expedition returns to Copenhagen.Denmark source
October 1 – Penny Post is established between the United Kingdom and United States.source
New Zealand Trotting Cup: DurbarNew Zealand source
Perth Racecourse, the most northerly in Britain, opened for National Hunt racing.Scotland source
José Toribio Medina - Los Restos Indígenas de PichilemuSpain source
Great White Fleet voyage (1907–1909)United States source

Religion & Belief

29 June – the Apostolic constitution Sapienti consilio, issued by Pope Pius X, brings the Roman Catholic Church in Britain under regular canon law rather than being missionary territory.United Kingdom source
October 13 – The Church of the Nazarene is organized officially at Pilot Point, Texas as the Pentecostal Church of the Nazarene. This is the official "birthday" of the denomination.United States source
14 October – John Ballinger is appointed first librarian of the National Library of Wales.Wales source
Isaac Albéniz - Iberia, Livre 4France source
Þórhallur Bjarnarson became the sixth Bishop of Iceland, succeeding Hallgrímur Sveinsson in the position.Iceland source
Monarch – Victor Emmanuel III (1900–1946)Italy source
Heavyweight – M. Ryan (Invercargill)New Zealand source
St Mary's Episcopal Church in Glasgow is raised to the status of St Mary's Cathedral, Glasgow, within the Scottish Episcopal Church.Scotland source

Economy & Finance

February – Republican leader Tom Clarke opened a tobacconist shop in Dublin under the name of T. S. Ó'Cléirigh which became a centre for Irish Republican Brotherhood activity.Ireland source
February – The Converse Rubber Shoe Company (also known as the Boston Rubber Shoe Company) is formed in Malden, Massachusetts.United States source
8 April – David Lloyd George becomes Chancellor of the Exchequer, while Winston Churchill enters the Cabinet for the first time, as President of the Board of Trade.United Kingdom source
19 April – Confédération syndicale belge organization is founded.Belgium source
13 November – The Australian Labor Party withdraws its support for the minority government of Prime Minister Alfred Deakin, forcing his replacement with Andrew Fisher.Australia source
November – The North and South Wales Bank is absorbed into the London City and Midland Bank, bringing an end to banknote issue in Wales.Wales source
10 December – the National Farmers' Union is founded.United Kingdom source
The American Temperance University closes.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
March 4 – One of earlier financial service founded in this nation, China Bank of Communications was founded.China 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 – SOS comes into force internationally as a distress signal (originally for ship-to-shore wireless telegraphy).source
8 July – The paper coffee filter, created by German housewife Melitta Bentz, is patented.Germany 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
10 September - 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".Brazil 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
October 29 – The Italian business machine manufacturer Olivetti is founded in Ivrea, producing typewriters.Italy source
6 November: The North Island Main Trunk railway linking Wellington and Auckland is completed, with the last spike driven in by Prime Minister Joseph Ward at Manganui-o-te-Ao and commemorated by the Last Spike Monument.New Zealand source
December 16 – Construction begins on the RMS Olympic, at the Harland and Wolff Shipyard in Belfast.source
Unknown date – Yasui Sewing Machine, as predecessor of Brother Industries founded in Nagoya.Japan source
The Cape Government Railways places two 4-6-2 Pacific type narrow gauge tank steam locomotives in passenger service on the Walmer branch in Port Elizabeth.South Africa source
El hotel eléctrico, directed by Segundo de ChomónSpain source

Science & Discovery

1 January – Harry Bensley leaves for his would-be trip around the world pushing a pram and wearing an iron mask, beginning from Trafalgar Square in London.United Kingdom source
January 3 – A total solar eclipse is visible in the Pacific Ocean and is the 46th solar eclipse of Solar Saros 130.source
26 January – the 1st Glasgow Scout Group is granted the oldest Scout Group registration known.Scotland source
5 March – Edgeworth David leads the party attempting the ascent of Mount Erebus in the Antarctic.Wales source
March 26 – The US Thomas Flyer car sails for Alaska at the head of a motor race from New York to Paris.United States 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 km 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
December 27 – Italian newsstands saw the first issue of Il Corriere dei Piccoli, the first mainstream publication primarily dedicated to comics. The first issue introduced readers to the adventures of Bilbolbul, a little black kid drawn by Attilio Mussino that is considered the first Italian comic character.Italy source
The Venus of Willendorf was discovered.Austria source
The Grain Growers Guide is first published.Canada source
Featherweight – W. Elliott (Timaru)New Zealand source

Health & Medicine

January 1 – Georgia introduces a law prohibiting alcohol.United States source
30 March – Commonwealth Quarantine service came into operation and took over quarantine stations in every state.Australia source
8 April – The Invercargill Tragedy occurs, in which James Reid Baxter kills his family and then himself.New Zealand source
14 November – Dr Elizabeth Garrett Anderson is the first woman in England to be elected as a mayor (of Aldeburgh).United Kingdom source
Auckland. Three cultivars of the Feijoa are introduced into New Zealand.New Zealand source
The Opium and Narcotics Act is passed banning certain drugs in Canada.Canada source
Anne of Green Gables is first published, having a great effect on Prince Edward Island.Canada source
Hallucinations pharmaceutiques ou le Truc du potardFrance source

Crime & Justice

28 January – Municipal Library Elevator CoupPortugal source
January 30 – Mahatma Gandhi is released from prison by Jan Smuts after having been tried and sentenced to 2 months in prison earlier in the month.South Africa source
February 1 – Lisbon Regicide: King Carlos I of Portugal and Prince Luis Filipe are shot dead in Lisbon.source
April 5 – Cyrille Van Hauwaert from Belgium wins the 2nd Milan–San Remo.Italy source
May – the trial of the Alipore bomb case commences (and continues until 1909)India source
8 September – Former Minister of Justice Peter Adler Alberti turns himself in to the police for embezzlement of DKK 18 million (roughly DKK 1 billion as of 2006).Denmark 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
Flori van Acker, Portrait of Godelieve du Bus de GésigniesBelgium source
Middleweight – J. Smith (Auckland)New Zealand source
Vicente Blasco Ibáñez - Blood and Sand (Sangre y arena)Spain 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
March 4 – The Collinwood School Fire, near Cleveland, Ohio, kills 174 people.United States source
19 April – The Guildhall in Derry was largely destroyed by fire.Ireland 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 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
August 2 – A fire in the Kootenay region kills 70.Canada source
18 August – Maypole Colliery disaster: an underground explosion at Abram in the Lancashire Coalfield, kills 76 miners.United Kingdom source
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
September 17 – At Fort Myer, Virginia, U.S.A. Thomas Selfridge becomes the first person to die in an airplane crash. The pilot, Orville Wright, is severely injured in the crash, but makes a recovery.United States source
21 December – The Coal Mines Regulation Act 1908 (8 Edw. 7. c. 57) ("Eight Hours Act") limits the amount of time spent by coal miners underground.Wales source
Blackball, New Zealand coal miners strike for 11 weeks, an important step in the formation of the New Zealand Labour Party.New Zealand source
1908 bombardment of the MajlisRussia source

Climate & Environment

April 14 – The first Hauser Dam in Montana fails, causing severe flooding and damage downstream.United States source
April 24 – The seventh deadliest tornado in U.S. history strikes the towns of Amite, Louisiana, Pine, Louisiana and Purvis, Mississippi, killing 143 and injuring 770.United States source
July 1 – Carson National Forest is established.United States source
September 28 – the Great Musi flood kills 15,000 peopleIndia source
November 16 – Devastating flooding in Port ElizabethSouth Africa source
December 28 – The 7.1 Mw Messina earthquake shakes Southern Italy with a maximum Mercalli intensity of XI (Extreme), killing between 75,000 and 200,000.source
December 28 – A 7.1 magnitude earthquake hits in Sicily and Calabria, southern Italy. The cities of Messina and Reggio Calabria were almost completely destroyed and between 75,000 and 200,000 people died. Moments after the earthquake, a 12-meter (39-foot) tsunami struck nearby coasts, causing even more devastation.Italy source
This is the coldest recorded year since 1880, according to NASA reports.source
Labour shortage begin to occur and the emigration to the United States almost stops.Denmark source

Culture & Society

8 January – The General Velásquez football club is founded.Chile source
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 4 – The Pretoria branch of the Transvaal University College, precursor to the University of Pretoria, is established.South Africa source
March 8 – Juventus wins the 1908 Italian Football Championship.Italy source
March 9 – Football Club Internazionale is founded in Milan, Italy.source
Arthur Mee's The Children's Encyclopædia begins publication in London.source
21 April – Knattspyrnufélagið Víkingur is established.Iceland source
April 30 – Masako, Princess Tsune, sixth daughter of Emperor Meiji, marries Prince Tsunehisa Takeda.Japan 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
30 October - Pedro de Alcântara, Prince of Grão-Pará, renounces his claim on the Brazilian throne in order to marry Countess Elisabeth Dobržensky de Dobrženicz.Brazil source
December 2 — Aisin Gioro Puyi ascended the throne at the age of three as the Xuantong Emperor, the twelfth and final ruler of the Qing dynasty.China source
German association football club BFC Nord 08 Berlin is founded.Germany source

Births

January 8 – William Hartnell, British actor (died 1975)source
January 9 – Simone de Beauvoir, French feminist writer (died 1986)source
April 5 – Bette Davis, American actress (died 1989)source
April 11 – Masaru Ibuka, electronics industrialist, co-founder of Sony (died 1997)Japan source
May 20 – James Stewart, American actor (died 1997)source
23 May – Annemarie Schwarzenbach, author and photographer (died 1942)Switzerland source
May 28 – Ian Fleming, English novelist (died 1964)source
June 26 – Salvador Allende, President of Chile (died 1973)source
July 2 – Thurgood Marshall, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States (died 1993)source
August 5 – Harold Holt, 17th Prime Minister of Australia (died 1967)source
August 27 – Donald Bradman, Australian cricketer (died 2001)source
August 27 – Lyndon B. Johnson, 36th President of the United States (died 1973)source
September 18 – Viktor Ambartsumian, Soviet Armenian astrophysicist (died 1996)source
October 16 – Enver Hoxha, Albanian communist dictator (died 1985)source
22 October - José Escobar Saliente, comic book writer and artist (died 1994)Spain source
October 28 – Arturo Frondizi, 35th President of Argentina (died 1995)source
November 14 – Joseph McCarthy, American politician (died 1957)source
30 November: José Antonio de Armas Chitty (died 1995) — historian, poet, chronicler, essayist, biographer and researcher.Venezuela source

Deaths

January 9 – Wilhelm Busch, German painter, poet (born 1832)source
1 February – Carlos I of Portugal, king (born 1863)Portugal source
March 3 – Sidney Hill, English philanthropist (born 1829)source
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
April 22 – Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (born 1836)source
May 26 – Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, Sikh Empire-born founder of the Ahmadiyya movement in Islam (born 1835)source
20 June - Federico Chueca, composer (born 1846)Spain source
June 21 – Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, Russian composer (born 1844)source
June 24 – Grover Cleveland, 22nd and 24th President of the United States (born 1837)source
July 3 – Joel Chandler Harris, American author (born 1848)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
29 September - Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis, novelist, poet, playwright, short story writer, and monarchist (born 1839)Brazil source
October 26 – Enomoto Takeaki, politician, President of the Republic of Ezo (born 1836)Japan source
October – Gus Rogers, American vaudevillian (born 1869)source
November 7 – Butch Cassidy, American outlaw (born 1866)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
November 15 – Empress Dowager Cixi of China (born 1835)source
November 25 – A fire breaks out on SS Sardinia as it leaves Malta's Grand Harbour, resulting in the ship's grounding and the deaths of at least 118 people.source