Modern Era
Dreyfus Affair (1894-1906): The Scandal That Divided France
Dreyfus was convicted twice but finally cleared by France's highest court in July 1906 and reinstated in the army; the affair reshaped French politics.
Era · c. 1800 – 1945
Modern Era
Industry, science and global conflict: the century and a half that built the modern world.
Modern Era
Manchester Ship Canal (1894): Bringing the Sea to Manchester
Ocean-going ships could reach Manchester directly, making it one of Britain's leading ports and breaking Liverpool's grip on its trade.
Modern Era
First Sino-Japanese War (1894-1895): Japan's Rise Over Qing China
Japan defeated Qing China; under the Treaty of Shimonoseki China recognised Korean independence, ceded Taiwan and the Pescadores and paid a large indemnity.
Modern Era
Oscar Wilde Trials (1895): The Fall of a Victorian Celebrity
Wilde lost his libel case and was convicted of gross indecency, receiving the maximum sentence of two years' hard labour.
Modern Era
Cuban War of Independence (1895-1898) and José Martí
Cuban insurgents fought Spain to a costly stalemate until US intervention in 1898 ended Spanish rule; Cuba then passed under US military occupation until 1902.
Modern Era
Kiel Canal (1895): Linking the North Sea and the Baltic
A 98 km canal let warships and merchant vessels pass between the North Sea and the Baltic without sailing around Denmark.
Modern Era
Lumière Brothers' First Film Screening (1895): Birth of Cinema
The first commercial projection of films to a paying audience launched cinema as a public entertainment that spread worldwide within months.
Modern Era
Niagara Falls Power Plant (1895): Tesla's AC Harnesses the Falls
The plant proved that large-scale alternating-current generation and long-distance transmission were practical, shaping electric power systems worldwide.
Modern Era
Discovery of X-Rays (1895): Wilhelm Röntgen's Accidental Find
Röntgen identified a new, penetrating form of radiation that revolutionised medical diagnosis and opened the age of modern physics.
Modern Era
Jameson Raid (1895-1896): The Failed Coup Against the Transvaal
The raiders surrendered at Doornkop; Rhodes resigned as Cape premier and Anglo-Boer relations were badly damaged.
Modern Era
Assassination of Empress Myeongseong (1895): Korea's Queen Min
The queen was killed and her body burned; Japan's standing in Korea collapsed and King Gojong fled to the Russian legation in 1896.
Modern Era
Klondike Gold Rush (1896-1899): The Stampede to the Yukon
An estimated 100,000 people set out for the Klondike, around 30,000-40,000 reached Dawson City, and Canada created the Yukon Territory in 1898 before the rush faded in 1899.