1910s Timeline

The Manchurian plague of 1910–1911 was a pneumonic plague that killed 60,000 people.

Image source: Manchurian plague

The RMS Titanic, the largest and most luxurious ship of its time, struck an iceberg and sank two hours and forty minutes later in the North Atlantic during its maiden voyage on April 15, 1912.

Image source: Sinking of the Titanic

On May 29, 1914, the British ocean liner RMS Empress of Ireland collided in thick fog with the SS Storstad near the mouth of the Saint Lawrence River in Canada, sinking in just 14 minutes.

Image source: RMS Empress of Ireland

In 1916, the Netherlands was hit by a North Sea storm that flooded the lowlands and killed 19 people.

Image source: Flood of 1916

From July 1 to July 12, 1916, a series of shark attacks occurred along the Jersey Shore, killing four people and injuring one.

Image source: Jersey Shore shark attacks of 1916

The Halifax Explosion of December 6, 1917, in Nova Scotia killed 2,000 people, making it one of the largest man-made explosions prior to nuclear weapons.

Image source: Halifax Explosion

From 1918 through 1920, the Spanish flu pandemic killed from 17.4 to 100 million people worldwide, infecting roughly a third of humanity.

Image source: Spanish flu

In January 1919, the Great Molasses Flood in Boston, Massachusetts killed 21 people and injured 150 when a massive storage tank burst and sent a wave of molasses through the streets.

Image source: Great Molasses Flood

In 1911, Charles Thomson Rees Wilson invented the cloud chamber, a device that made the paths of charged particles visible and became an essential tool in particle physics.

Image source: Cloud chamber

Hiram Bingham rediscovered Machu Picchu on July 24, 1911, bringing the remote Inca citadel to international attention.

Image source: Machu Picchu

In 1912, Alfred Wegener put forward his theory of continental drift, proposing that the continents slowly moved across the Earth's surface.

Image source: Continental drift

Victor Hess's daring balloon experiments in 1912 led to the discovery of cosmic rays, radiation originating from beyond Earth's atmosphere.

Image source: Victor Hess

In 1913, the Haber process was first utilized on an industrial scale, enabling large-scale synthesis of ammonia for fertilizers and explosives.

Image source: Haber process

In 1913, Niels Bohr introduced the Bohr model, his revolutionary model of the atom that described electrons orbiting the nucleus in discrete energy levels.

Image source: Bohr model

The Panama Canal was completed in 1914, connecting the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans and transforming global trade routes.

Image source: Panama Canal

The Model T Ford dominated the automobile market in 1914, selling more cars than all other makers combined.

Image source: Ford Model T

In 1916, Jan Czochralski invented the Czochralski process, a method of growing single crystals that later became fundamental to semiconductor production.

Image source: Czochralski method

In 1916, Albert Einstein published his theory of general relativity, revolutionizing the understanding of gravity as the curvature of spacetime.

Image source: General relativity

In 1912, the feature film Oliver Twist was released, along with D.W. Griffith's The Musketeers of Pig Alley, an early landmark in American cinema.

The 1912 Summer Olympics were held in Stockholm, Sweden, and are noted for their efficient organization and the introduction of electronic timing devices.

Image source: 1912 Summer Olympics

The first crossword puzzle was published on December 21, 1913, appearing in The New York World newspaper.

Image source: Crossword

Charlie Chaplin débuted his trademark mustached, baggy-pants 'Little Tramp' character in Kid Auto Races at Venice in 1914.

Image source: Kid Auto Races at Venice

The first jazz music was recorded by the Original Dixieland Jass Band for Victor Records (#18255) in late February 1917.

Image source: Original Dixieland Jass Band

Tarzan of the Apes starring Elmo Lincoln was released in 1918, becoming the first Tarzan film. That same year, the four Warner brothers opened their first major film studio in Burbank.

Image source: Tarzan of the Apes (1918 film)

Prohibition in the United States began on January 16, 1919, with the ratification of the Eighteenth Amendment, banning the manufacture, sale, and transportation of alcohol.

Image source: Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution

The Balkan Wars were two wars that took place in South-eastern Europe in 1912 and 1913, reshaping the map of the region and heightening tensions among European powers.

Image source: Balkan Wars

On June 28, 1914, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir presumptive to the Austro-Hungarian throne, was assassinated in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, triggering the chain of events that led to World War I.

Image source: Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand

Within 33 days of the archduke's murder, World War I broke out in Europe on August 1, 1914. The conflict dominated the Western world and dragged on until a truce was declared on November 11, 1918.

Image source: World War I

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 and influencing American opinion against Germany.

Image source: Sinking of RMS Lusitania

On November 21, 1916, HMHS Britannic was holed in an explosion while passing through a channel seeded with enemy mines and sank in 55 minutes while serving as a hospital ship.

Image source: HMHS Britannic

The Jallianwala Bagh massacre of 1919 at Amritsar in the Punjab Province of British India sowed the seeds of discontent and led to the birth of the Indian independence movement.

Image source: Jallianwala Bagh massacre

Following the November 11, 1918 armistice, the controversial and one-sided Treaty of Versailles was signed on June 28, 1919, imposing harsh terms and reparations on Germany that destabilized its postwar economy.

Image source: Treaty of Versailles