1914 Panama Canal is completed
Wars
- World War I (1914–1918)
- The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary in Sarajevo leads to the outbreak of the First World War.
- The Armenian genocide during and just after World War I. It was characterized by the use of massacres and deportations involving forced marches under conditions designed to lead to the death of the deportees, with the total number of Armenian deaths generally held to have been between one and one-and-a-half million.
- The Arab Revolt was an armed uprising of Arabs against the Ottoman Empire.
- Germany signs the Treaty of Versailles after losing the First World War.
- Wadai War (1909–1911)
- Italo-Turkish War (1911–1912)
- First Balkan Wars (1912–1913) – two wars that took place in South-eastern Europe in 1912 and 1913.
- Saudi-Ottoman War (1913)
- Latvian War of Independence (1918–1920) – a military conflict in Latvia between the Republic of Latvia and the Russian SFSR.
Internal conflicts
- The October Revolution in Russia results in the overthrow of capitalism and the establishment of the world’s first self-proclaimed socialist state; political upheaval in Russia culminating in the establishment of the Russian SFSR and the assassination of Emperor Nicholas II and the royal family.
- The Russian Revolution is the collective term for the series of revolutions in Russia in 1917, which destroyed the Tsarist autocracy and led to the creation of the Soviet Union. It led to the Russian Civil War and other conflicts such as the Finnish Civil War, the Ukrainian War of Independence and the Polish–Soviet War.
- The Jallianwala Bagh massacre (1919), at Amritsar in the Punjab Province of British India, sows the seeds of discontent and leads to the birth of the Indian independence movement.
- The Xinhai Revolution causes the overthrow of China’s ruling Qing dynasty, and the establishment of the Republic of China. The Warlord Era (1916–1928) began.
- The Mexican Revolution (1910–1920) Francsico Madero proclaims the elections of 1910 null and void and calls for an armed revolution at 6 p.m. against the illegitimate presidency/dictatorship of Porfirio Díaz. The revolution led to the ousting of Díaz (who ruled from 1876 to 1880 and since 1884) six months later. The revolution progressively became a civil war with multiple factions and phases, culminating with the Mexican Constitution of 1917, but combat would persist for three more years.
Major political change
- Portugal became the first republican country in the century after the 5 October 1910 revolution, ending its long-standing monarchy and creating the First Portuguese Republic in 1911.
- Germany abolished its monarchy and became under the rule of a new elected government called the Weimar Republic.
- On the death of Edward VII, his son George V becomes King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India. The Coronation of George V and Mary takes place on 22 June 1911.
- Dissolution of the German colonial empire, Ottoman Empire, Austria-Hungary and the Russian Empire, reorganization of European states, territorial boundaries, and the creation of several new European states and territorial entities: Austria, Czechoslovakia, Estonia, Finland, Free City of Danzig, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Saar, Ukraine, and Yugoslavia.
- Fourteen Points as designed by United States President Woodrow Wilson advocates the right of all nations to self-determination.
- Rise to power of the Bolsheviks in Russia under Vladimir Lenin, creating the Russian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic, the first state committed to the establishment of communism.
Disasters
- The RMS Titanic, a British ocean liner which was the largest and most luxurious ship at that time, struck an iceberg and sank two hours and 40 minutes later in the North Atlantic during its maiden voyage on April 15, 1912. 1,517 people perished in the disaster.
- On May 29, 1914, the British ocean liner RMS Empress of Ireland collided in thick fog with the SS Storstad, a Norwegian collier, near the mouth of Saint Lawrence River in Canada, sinking in 14 minutes. 1,012 people died.
- On May 7, 1915, the British ocean liner RMS Lusitania was torpedoed by U-20, a German U-boat, off the Old Head of Kinsale in Ireland, sinking in 18 minutes. 1,199 people died.
- On November 21, 1916, HMHS Britannic was holed in an explosion while passing through a channel that had been seeded with enemy mines and sank in 55 minutes.
- From 1918 through 1920, the Spanish flu killed from 17.4 to 100 million people worldwide.
- In 1916, the Netherlands was hit by a North Sea storm that flooded the lowlands and killed 19 people.
- From July 1 to July 12, 1916, a series of shark attacks, known as the Jersey Shore shark attacks of 1916, occurred along the Jersey Shore, killing four and injuring one.
- On January 11, 1914, Sakurajima erupted which resulted in the death of 35 people. In addition, the surrounding islands were consumed, and an isthmus was created between Sakurajima and the mainland.
- In 1917, the Halifax Explosion killed 2,000 people.
- In 1919, the Great Molasses Flood in Boston, Massachusetts killed 21 people and injured 150.
Other significant international events
- The Panama Canal is completed in 1914.
- World War I from 1914 until 1918 dominates the Western world.
- Hiram Bingham rediscovers Machu Picchu on July 24, 1911.
- Islamic movements, such as Liberal Islam and Islamic modernism, that reject orthodox beliefs to varying degrees are at their most prominent position yet.
Technology
- In 1912 articulated trams, were invented and first used by the Boston Elevated Railway.
- The Model T Ford dominated the automobile market, selling more than all other makers combined in 1914.
- In 1919, Alice Parker invented the first system of natural gas-powered central heating for homes
- Gideon Sundback patented the first modern zipper.
- Harry Brearley invented stainless steel.
- Charles Strite invented the first pop-up bread toaster.
- The army tank was invented. Tanks in World War I were used by the British Army, the French Army and the German Army.
Science
- In 1912, Alfred Wegener puts forward his theory of continental drift.
- In 1916, Albert Einstein‘s theory of general relativity.
- Noether’s first theorem was proven by mathematician Emmy Noether in 1915 and was published in 1918
- Max von Laue discovers the diffraction of x-rays by crystals.