Modern Era
Siege of Ladysmith (1899-1900): The 118-Day Siege in Natal
The garrison held out until Buller's army broke through the Tugela Heights and relieved the town on 28 February 1900.
Era · c. 1800 – 1945
Modern Era
Industry, science and global conflict: the century and a half that built the modern world.
Modern Era
Philippine-American War (1899-1902): US Conquest of the Islands
US victory; the First Philippine Republic was destroyed and the Philippines became an American colony until 1946.
Modern Era
Siege of Mafeking (1899-1900): Baden-Powell's 217-Day Defence
The garrison held out for 217 days until a relief column arrived; the news set off wild celebrations across Britain.
Modern Era
Boxer Rebellion (1899-1901): Uprising and Siege of the Legations
The Eight-Nation Alliance relieved the legations and occupied Beijing; the Boxer Protocol of 1901 imposed a huge indemnity and foreign garrisons on China.
Modern Era
Second Boer War (1899-1902): Britain Against the Boer Republics
British victory; the two Boer republics were annexed and later joined the Union of South Africa in 1910.
Modern Era
War of the Golden Stool (1900): Yaa Asantewaa's Asante Uprising
British victory; Asante was annexed as a British colony in 1902, but the Golden Stool itself was never surrendered.
Modern Era
Battle of Spion Kop (1900): The Bloody Hilltop of the Boer War
Boer victory; the British abandoned the summit and the relief of Ladysmith was delayed by more than a month.
Modern Era
Boer War Concentration Camps (1900-1902): Civilians in the War
About 26,000-28,000 Boer civilians, mostly children, and at least 14,000 Black Africans died in the camps, leaving a lasting legacy of bitterness.
Modern Era
Zeppelin LZ 1 (1900): Count Zeppelin's First Rigid Airship
LZ 1 proved a large rigid airship could fly but was too slow and hard to steer; it was scrapped in 1901, yet led to the successful zeppelins of 1906–1914.
Modern Era
Planck's Quantum Hypothesis (1900): The Birth of Quantum Theory
Planck derived the correct law of black-body radiation by treating energy as exchanged in discrete packets, introducing the constant h and the quantum.
Modern Era
Galveston Hurricane of 1900: Deadliest Disaster in US History
The storm surge destroyed much of Galveston and killed an estimated 6,000 to 12,000 people; the city built a seawall and raised its ground level.
Modern Era
Marconi's Transatlantic Radio (1901): Signals Across the Ocean
Marconi reported receiving a wireless signal across the Atlantic, a claim confirmed in principle by shipboard tests in 1902; regular transatlantic wireless service began in 1907.