Modern Era
Treaty of Vereeniging (1902): The End of the Second Boer War
The Boer republics accepted British sovereignty in return for amnesty, reconstruction aid and a promise of eventual self-government.
Era · c. 1800 – 1945
Modern Era
Industry, science and global conflict: the century and a half that built the modern world.
Modern Era
Mount Pelee Eruption (1902): The Destruction of Saint-Pierre
A pyroclastic flow destroyed Saint-Pierre in minutes, killing about 28,000 people, the deadliest volcanic eruption of the twentieth century.
Modern Era
Wright Brothers' First Flight (1903): The Birth of Aviation
The Wright Flyer made four powered, controlled, sustained flights, the longest covering 852 feet (260 m) in 59 seconds.
Modern Era
Younghusband Expedition (1903-1904): Britain's Invasion of Tibet
British forces reached Lhasa and imposed the Anglo-Tibetan Convention of 1904, but Britain soon withdrew and later recognised Chinese suzerainty over Tibet.
Modern Era
Entente Cordiale (1904): Britain and France End Old Rivalries
Britain and France resolved their main colonial disputes and began a diplomatic partnership that grew into the Triple Entente with Russia.
Modern Era
Siege of Port Arthur (1904-1905): Trench Warfare in Manchuria
Japanese victory; the Russian garrison surrendered and the Russian Pacific Squadron was destroyed, at a cost of tens of thousands of Japanese casualties.
Modern Era
Herero and Nama Genocide (1904-1908) in German South West Africa
German forces crushed the uprisings, killing an estimated majority of the Herero and about half of the Nama; Germany formally recognised the killings as genocide in 2021.
Modern Era
Russo-Japanese War (1904-1905): Japan Defeats a European Power
Japanese victory; Russia ceded southern Sakhalin and its Manchurian leases and recognised Japanese dominance in Korea in the Treaty of Portsmouth.
Modern Era
Panama Canal (1904-1914): Building the Path Between the Seas
The United States completed a lock canal across Panama, linking the Atlantic and Pacific; it opened on 15 August 1914 and remained under US control until 1999.
Modern Era
General Slocum Disaster (1904): Fire on New York's East River
An estimated 1,021 people died; the captain was imprisoned and federal steamboat inspection was reformed, while Little Germany in Manhattan declined.
Modern Era
Russian Revolution of 1905: Bloody Sunday to October Manifesto
The tsar granted a constitution-like manifesto and an elected Duma, but kept most of his power and crushed the revolt by 1907.
Modern Era
Tongmenghui (1905): Sun Yat-sen's Revolutionary Alliance
The alliance launched a series of failed uprisings, then helped lead the Xinhai Revolution of 1911 and became the core of the Kuomintang in 1912.